Analysis and Mitigation of Harmonics Caused by Air Conditioners in a Distribution System

Abstract

Due to the rise in power electronic based appliances and loads in distribution systems, grave concerns about the harmonic distortion level in the power system network are growing. Consequently, it became essential for the sustainable and robust design of a distribution system that the intensity of the harmonic pollution caused by different non-linear loads at residential level should be investigated. In addition, it is also of extreme importance to mitigate these harmonic distortions using new techniques. Thus, this paper is considering the Air Conditioners (ACs) load; which is a particularly swiftly escalating load, with nonlinearity, in hot areas and this results in harmonics contaminations. Therefore, this paper simulates a model of the harmonics distortion of air conditioners using ETAP software for the simulation of a low voltage network in Pakistan as an example of a warm territory. The results of this investigation confirm an alarming level of harmonic distortion in Pakistani distribution systems. Furthermore, the work introduces and implements a harmonics mitigation technique to considerably minimize the harmonic pollution using power conditioners.