11th IMEKO TC-4 Symp.

- Trends in Electrical Measurement and Instrumentation - September 13-14, 2001 - Lisbon, Portugal

DIGITAL MEASUREMENT OF POWER SYSTEM HARMONIC MAGNITUDE

AND PHASE ANGLE

R. Micheletti (1), R. Pieri (2)

(1)
Department of Electrical Systems and Automation, University of Pisa, Via Diotisalvi, 2 I-56126 Pisa, Italy
Phone. +39 050 565111, Fax. +39 050 565333, E-mail: Roberto.Micheletti@dsea.unipi.it
(2)
Department of Electrical Systems and Automation, University of Pisa, Via Diotisalvi, 2 I-56126 Pisa, Italy
Phone. +39 050 565111, Fax. +39 050 565333, E-mail: Renzo.Pieri @dsea.unipi.it

Abstract - The paper deals with the measurement of
harmonic magnitude and phase angle of a periodic voltage
v(t) in power systems. The proposed procedure is based on
Walsh spectrum measurement followed by digital
computation to provide the Fourier spectrum of v(t) in
magnitude and phase. Computer simulation results are
presented to validate this method.
Keywords - Harmonic magnitude and phase angle, Power
systems, Walsh spectrum, Fourier spectrum.
1. INTRODUCTION
The usual representation of a periodic time-varying
signal is the Fourier series. The coefficients of the equation
can be obtained according to two main approaches. In the
first, the input signal is sampled, converted into digital form
and the Fourier integral calculation is used in order to
obtain the coefficients. If the period is known, this method
requires only one cycle of the signal: however the main
drawback is the awkward and the time-consuming
multiplications by cosine and sine coefficients of Fourier
processing. Variations have been suggested processing the
digitized data using Fast Fourier Transform algorithms:
they allow accurate measurements but the disadvantage is
the large amount of computation involved [1].
In this paper a digital technique of measuring the phase
angle of the harmonics as well their magnitudes is
presented. The method is firstly based on Walsh spectrum
measurement with successive digital computation to
provide the Fourier spectrum of the periodic voltage in
magnitude and phase [2]. This measurement method is fast
and accurate and doesnt require expensive instrumentation;
moreover it is particularly well-suited to power-frequency
waveform measurements [3]-[6].
The Walsh method, in common with Fourier method,
requires that the periodic voltage v(t) be frequency limited,
which implies that its Walsh spectrum is made up of an
infinite series of cal and sal terms. However, if the highest
harmonic order of v(t) is H, then measurement of only S
cal components and S sal components (with S H) permits
to obtain exactly the Fourier spectrum of v(t) except for the
roundoff and truncation errors in digital processing.
The extraction of the cosine and sine coefficients of
v(t) from the truncated measure of cal and sal coefficients is
achieved by way of a Walsh to Fourier matrix conversion
process; a subsequent matrix multiplication provides for
compensation for the Walsh spectral truncation.
The compensation matrix takes the form of a diagonal
matrix with fixed elements; each converted Fourier spectral
component requires to be multiplied by a correction factor
which is fixed for a given harmonic.
The Walsh method is attractive for use at power system
frequency, for then the synchronization of the Walsh waves
with v(t) is not difficult. It is evident that Walsh spectra are
superior to the Fourier spectra, in that the multiplication
with sine and cosine functions, respectively, is obviated by
simple reversal of signs (Walsh waves assume values of
plus and minus one). Moreover both odd and even
harmonics can be measured.
2. PRINCIPLE OF OPERATION
The Fourier series of a periodic waveform v(t) is written
v( t ) = a 0 + [a n cos nt + b n sin nt ] (1)
n =1
where
2 T
a n =
T 0 v(t) cos n t dt (2)
2 T
b n =
T 0 v(t) sin n t dt (3)
and T=2/ is the period of the fundamental frequency
at 50 Hz.
Walsh functions, which are shown in Fig. 1 up to sal8(t),
can be used as an alternative orthogonal family for the
series representation of a periodic waveform according to

ISBN 972-98115-4-7 2001 IT 92


v(t) = A 0 + [A n cal n (t) + B n sal n (t) ] (4)
A1 B1
n =1
A2 B2
(9)
where A= . B= .
1 T
(5) . .
A n =
T 0 v(t) cal n (t) dt
AS BS
1 T
(6)
B n =
T 0 v(t) sal n (t) dt
represent the cal spectrum and sal spectrum of v(t),
respectively.
1 T
(7)
A 0 =
T 0 v(t) wal 0 (t) dt The element of the Walsh to Fourier conversion
matrices Fa and Fb, are the Fourier coefficients of the
Walsh functions calm(t) and salm(t), respectively.
Thus

w al0(t) sal1(t) cal1(t) sal2(t)

2 2 2 2

2 T
0 0 0 0
a n, m =
T 0 cal m (t) cos n t dt (10)

-2 -2 -2 -2
0 0.01 0.02 0 0.01 0.02 0 0.01 0.02 0 0.01 0.02
cal2(t) sal3(t) cal3(t) sal4(t)
2 T
(11)
b n, m = 0 sal (t) sin n t dt
2 2 2 2
m
T
0 0 0 0

-2 -2 -2 -2
0 0.01 0.02 0 0.01 0.02 0 0.01 0.02 0 0.01 0.02
2
cal4(t)
2
sal5(t)
2
cal5(t)
2
sal6(t)
where n is the index of row (corresponding to the
harmonic order) and m is the index of column. Moreover
0 0 0 0
the elements of the conversion matrix Fa assume the same
-2 -2 -2 -2
absolute value of the conversion matrix Fb, but their signs
2
0 0.01
cal6(t)
0.02
2
0 0.01
sal7(t)
0.02
2
0 0.01
cal7(t)
0.02
2
0 0.01
sal8(t)
0.02
may differ. The conversion matrices are essentially semi-
infinite; when applied in (8) however they are truncated to
0 0 0 0 SxS element square matrices. Also an additional matrix
multiplication is required which compensated for the Walsh
-2
0 0.01 0.02
-2
0 0.01 0.02
-2
0 0.01 0.02
-2
0 0.01 0.02 spectral truncation

Ka a* = a Kb b* = b (12)
Fig. 1 Walsh functions up to the eighth order.
where a and b are the desired cosine and sine
coefficients, respectively. The simplest form of
The procedure for the Walsh series determination and the compensation occurs when S = 2k-1, i.e., the highest
corresponding Fourier derivation is given below. harmonic order in v(t) doesn't exceed the third, or the
Consider a periodic voltage v(t) whose period is T at the seventh, or the fifteenth,.
fundamental frequency of 50 Hz. Signal v(t) is sampled Then compensation takes the form of a diagonal matrix,
systematically with sampling frequency fs . with fixed elements
The Walsh coefficients An and Bn are obtained
2
according to (5), (6), (7). To yield the Fourier spectrum of n/2 k + 1
v(t), An and Bn are first multiplied by Walsh-Fourier (13)
conversion matrices Fa and Fb, respectively, to give sin( n/2 k + 1 )
approximations a*, b* to the cosine and sine coefficients of
v(t):
where n is the harmonic order.
a* = Fa A b* = Fb B (8)
3. COMPUTER SIMULATION RESULTS
where
The measurement algorithm has been verified by
computer simulation to investigate the validity of this

93
technique. The program generates an input voltage that is 1.273 0 0.527 0 0.105 0 0.253
sampled with sampling frequency fs = 100 kHz; its
0 1.273 0 0 0 0.527 0
waveform is shown in Fig. 2.
0.424 0 1.025 0 0.685 0 0.284
0 0 0 1.273 0 0 0.
0.255 0 0.615 0 0.920 0 0.381
0 0.424 0 0 0 1.025 0
0.182 0 0.075 0 0.379 0 0.914

80

60 30.5046 41.4398
40 6.3403 9.1580
) 20
2.5416 11.9204
V
(
e
g
a
tl
o
v
. 5.0116 = 6.3810 = a *
t 0
u

3.8010 4.0863
p
n
I

-20

2.0578 0.5825
-40

3.6125 0.9971
-60
0 0.002 0.004 0.006 0.008 0.01 0.012 0.014 0.016 0.018 0.02
time (s)

Fig. 2 Waveform of the input voltage

1.273 0 0.527 0 0.105 0 0.253

0 1.273 0 0 0 0.527 0
Let the highest harmonic in the input voltage be the 0.424 0 1.025 0 0.685 0 0.284
seventh (i.e., k=3) and that the Walsh truncated spectrum, 0 0 0 1.273 0 0 0.
according to (4), (5), (6), (7) results
0.255 0 0.615 0 0.920 0 0.381
0 0.424 0 0 0 1.025 0
0.182 0 0.075 0 0.379 0 0.914

-5.00wal0(t)+30.5046cal1(t)6.3403cal2(t)+2.5416cal3(t)-
5.0116cal4(t)-3.8010cal5(t)-2.0578cal6(t)+3.6125cal7(t) 19.5930 26.7350
+19.5930sal1(t)+12.1964sal2(t)-2.0463sal3(t)+3.9259sal4(t)
12.1964 16.6391
-0.7127sal5(t)-2.1051sal6(t)-2.5048sal7(t)
2.0463 5.9965
. 3.9259 = 4.9986 = b *
0.7127 4.0311
2.1051 3.0194
In applying (8) the Fourier spectrum is obtained in
terms of Walsh spectrum 2.5048 1.1577

Next we apply the compensation matrices (12):

94
 1 . 0130
80
1 . 0530
1 . 1242 60

a= 1 . 2337 . 40

1 . 3941
20
1 . 6260 )
V
(

)t
1 . 9638 (
v 0

-20

-40

41 . 4938 42 . 0312 -60

0 0.002 0.004 0.006 0.008 0.01 0.012 0.014 0.016 0.018 0.02
9 . 1580 9 . 6436 time (s)

11 . 9204 13 . 4004
. 6 . 3810 = 7 . 8722 Fig. 3 Waveform of v(t).
4 . 0863 5 . 6969
0 . 5825 0 . 9472
0 . 9971 1 . 9581
The results obtained of magnitude and phase angle of
the harmonics are illustrated in Table I.

Table I - Magnitude and phase angle of the harmonics

Harmonic Magnitude Phase angle

1 . 0130 order (V) (rad)
1 . 0530 0 -5.0000
1 . 1242 1 50.0002 0.9984
b = 1 . 2337 . 2 20.0001 -0.5031
3 15.0003 -1.1047
1 . 3941
4 10.0001 -0.9063
1 . 6260 5 8.0024 0.7922
1 . 9638 6 5.0002 0.1906
7 3.0005 -0.7110

26 . 7350 27 . 0813
16 . 6391 17 . 5215 Fig. 4 shows the instantaneous error of v(t) with respect
5 . 9965 6 . 7410 to the input voltage. As we can see, the instantaneous error
4 . 9986 = 6 . 1668 is within 0.25 V.
4 . 0311 5 . 6199
3 . 0194 4 . 9096
1 . 1577 2 . 2735

0.2

Thus 0.15

0.1

0.05

v(t) = 5.00 + 42.0312 cos t 9.6436 cos 2t )

V
(
r
o
0

rr

13.4004 cos 3t 7.8722 cos 4t + 5.6969 cos 5t + E -0.05

0.9472 cos 6t 1.9581 cos 7t +

-0.1

-0.15

27.0813 sin t + 17.5215 sin 2t + 6.7410 sin 3t +

-0.2

6.1668 sin 4t + 5.6199 sin 5t + 4.9096 sin 6t + -0.25

2.2735 sin 7t 0 0.002 0.004 0.006 0.008 0.01

time (s)
0.012 0.014 0.016 0.018 0.02

Fig. 4 Instantaneous error of v(t) with respect to the input voltage.

Fig. 3 shows the waveform of v(t).

95
 Results obtained with the proposed method are then The method is based on Walsh spectrum measurement
compared with those obtained via the fast Fourier transform followed by digital computation for obtaining the Fourier
(FFT) algorithm. spectrum.
Fig. 5 shows the frequency content of the input voltage. This measurement method is fast and accurate and
doesnt require expensive instrumentation; moreover it is
particularly well-suited to power-frequency waveform
6000
Frequency content of the input voltage
measurements, for then the synchronization of the Walsh
waves with the input voltage is not difficult. It is evident
5000 that Walsh spectra are superior to the Fourier spectra, in
that the multiplication with sine and cosine functions,
yt
si
n
4000 respectively, is obviated by simple reversal of signs (Walsh
e
d
l waves assume values 1). Moreover both odd and even
ar 3000
c
e
t harmonics can be measured.
p
s
r 2000
e
w
o
P
1000 REFERENCES

0 [1] Handbook of Measurement Science Ed. by P. H. Sydenham, New

0 50 100 150 200 250 300 350 400
Frequency (Hz)
York, John Wiley, 1982.
[2] R., Kitai: On-line measurement of power system harmonic magnitude
and phase angle, IEEE Trans. Intrum. Meas., Vol. IM-27, n. 1, pp. 79-81,
Fig. 5 Frequency content of the input voltage. 1978.
[3] D.J., Kish, G.H., Heydt: An introduction to power systems analysis
using Walsh functions, Proc. North American Power Symposium. IEEE
Inspection of Fig. 5 confirms that the proposed method Comp. Soc. Press., Los Alamitos, CA, USA, pp. 480-9, 1993.
[4] J., Sun, H., Grotstollen: Walsh functions method for the control of
based on Walsh spectrum gives good results compared with active power filters, Proc. Symposium Power Electronics Circuits. Hong
those obtained via the FFT algorithm. Kong Polytech, Hong Kong, pp. 112-15, 1994.
[5] F.H.J., Altuve, V.I., Diaz, M.E, Vazquez: Fourier and Walsh digital
filtering algorithms for distance protection, Proc. IEEE Power Industry
Computer Application Conference, New York, NY, USA, pp. 423-8, 1995.
4. CONCLUSION [6] D.V., Coury, H.G.F., Brito: Digital filters applied to computer relaying
(of power lines), Proc. IEEE International Conference on Power System
This paper has described a digital technique of Technology POWERCOM 98, New York, NY, USA, pp. 1062-66, 1998.
measuring the magnitude and phase angle of the harmonics
of a periodic voltage v(t) in power systems.

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