Some power quality (PQ) potential problems have very few outwardly detectable signs. Voltage sags are called blinks in some trouble reports as the lights have a noticeable change in intensity, as does voltage fluctuations...
With the fourth heat wave of the past summer in the Northeast becoming a distant memory, some of the power-related issues that surfaced then are still worth revisiting. The laws of physics don’t change with the seasons, even...
While working on the renovation of a second-floor master bedroom and bathroom, my business partner and I found ourselves with limited electrical-supply options. Most of the old circuits were disconnected, and the new wiring...
In the past, the harmonic frequencies we were most concerned with went up to the 50th at 60 hertz (Hz), which is 3,000 Hz, or the 40th at 50 Hz, which is 2,000 Hz. The PQ standards, such as IEEE 519 and IEC 61000-4-7,...
By the time this issue is published, I will have retired for the second time from one of the power quality industry’s leading instrumentation manufacturers. When I “retired” the first time after 31 years in the engineering...
According to the NFPA’s Trends and Patterns of U.S. Fire Loss report in 2017, “The fire death rate per million population fell 70% from 34.4 in 1977 to 10.2 in 2015.” The decline is largely attributed to the increased...
Following up on a home inspection for the prospective buyer of a single-family home, the inspector’s report listed two electrical items: two receptacles had reversed neutral and line connections and two others were ungrounded...
One of the most fundamental parameters in power quality is often taken for granted. The late-19th century “Battle of the Currents” between Tesla and Westinghouse (who favored alternating current) against Edison (who favored...
In the past year, a group of volunteers working on IEEE Standards for the Power and Engineering Society, particularly those in the Power Quality Subcommittee, have published four standards. Considering one of the most well...
During the Q&A portion of a seminar I recently gave to a regional power quality group on PQ standards, a discussion of IEEE 1547, Standard for Interconnection and Interoperability of Distributed Energy Resources with...
Though I have been working in the power quality industry for more than 40 years, I still find it fun to solve power-quality related problems, particularly the more unusual ones. Lately, the more unusual are becoming more of...
With the unprecedented amount of unregulated information available on the internet, one can find a wealth of facts and fiction on a given subject. Power quality is no exception. Even those skilled in the art can be misled by...
