A review of total harmonic distortion factors for the measurement of harmonic and interharmonic pollution in modern power systems

Abstract

Harmonic distortion is one of the disturbances that most affects the quality of the electrical system. The widespread use of power electronic systems, especially power converters, has increased harmonic and interharmonic emission in a wide range of frequencies. Therefore, there are new needs in the measurement of harmonic distortion in modern electrical systems, such as measurement in the supra-harmonic range (>2 kHz) and the measurement of interharmonics. The International Electrotechnical Commission (IEC) standards define new total harmonic distortion (THD) rates based on the concept of frequency groupings. However, the rates defined in the IEC standards have shortcomings when measuring signals such as those present in the outputs of power systems with abundant interharmonic content and presence of components in the supra-harmonic range. Therefore, in this work, a comparison is made between the different THD factors currently defined, both in the literature and in the standards, to show which of them are the most suitable for assessing harmonic and interharmonic contamination in power system signals such as those present at the output of inverters.