Harmonics and It’s Effects

HARMONICS AND IT’S EFFECTS

WHAT IS HARMONICS?.

• Harmonics are sinusoidal voltages or currents having frequencies that are whole multiples of the frequency at which the supply system is designed to operate (e.g. 50Hz or 60 Hz). * Harmonics are simply a technique to analyze the current drawn by computers, electronic ballasts, variable frequency drives and other equipment which have modem “transformer-less” power supplies. * There are two important concepts to bear in mind with regard to power system harmonics. * The first is the nature of harmonic-current producing loads (non-linear loads) and the second is the way in which harmonic currents flow and how the resulting harmonic voltages develop. * There is a law in electrical engineering called Ohm’s Law. This basic law states that when a voltage is applied across a resistance, current will flow. This is how all electrical equipment operates. The voltage we apply across our equipment is a sine wave which operates 60 Hertz (cycles per second).

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