Simulation Model and Experimental Setup for Power Quality Disturbances Methodologies Testing and Validation

Interest in Power quality (PQ) has increasingly evolved over the past decade. PQ problems occur due to frequency variation, voltage swells, voltage sags, light flicker, voltage transients, harmonics, unbalanced 3-phase signal. All these factors influence the PQ by introducing harmonics and voltage variations which can be harmful for the appliances connected to the grid. The recognition of PQ disturbances (PQD) in electrical power distribution system, especially in smart grids, has become a crucial topic for system equipment and end-user. The methods used in detecting and classifying power system problems basically involve the stages of preprocessing, feature extraction and classification. However, PQD mathematical approaches still need to be investigated and tested. Novel methodologies have been developed in recent years, but they need comprehensive setup to verify if the detection and classification of PQD are correctly performed. In this paper a MATLAB/Simulink model and an experimental setup to extract features from measured waveforms of nonlinear loads for automatic detection and classification of power quality events is presented. This approach can be applied to a large set of disturbances.