Power quality in power drive systems

Abstract

stall. The electrical system should not only be able to provide cheap, safe and secure energy to the consumer, but also to compensate for the continually changing load demand. During that process the quality of power could be distorted by faults on the system, or by the switching of heavy loads within the customers facilities. In the early days of power systems, distortion did not impose severe problems towards end-users or utilities. Engineers first raised the issue in the late 1980s when they discovered that the majority of total equipment interruptions were due to power quality disturbances. Highly interconnected transmission and distribution lines have highlighted the previously small issues in power quality due to the wide propagation of power quality disturbances in the system. The reliability of power systems has improved due to the growth of interconnections between utilities. In the modern industrial world, many electronic and electrical control devices are part of automated processes in order to increase energy efficiency and productivity. However, these control devices are characterized by extreme sensitivity in power quality variations, which has led to growing concern over the quality of the power supplied to the customer. From the end-user point of view, is important not only the quality of power but also the quantity of power used to supply the loads, that is, the quantity of money the user has to pay for the power supply. Thus, the work of this thesis is the characterization of a power drive system focused on : minimization of Power supplied by the Grid (Ultracapacitors; optimiziation of Power supplied by the Grid ( Active Front End).