An Approach to the Determination of the Harmonic Content of a Waveform by Analysis of its DC Component

Abstract

This experimental work is part of a larger project investigating the possibility of using a programmable controller (PLC) for condition monitoring of generators. Analysis of a generator's output current signature can yield information regarding its status. This paper proposes an approach based on the DC component of the generator's output voltage to determine whether it is sinusoidal or complex and to generate a binary signal to flag which condition applies. An Arduino microcontroller is used to make that determination and to generate a PLC compatible signal to flag the results. A series of experiments was carried out in order to test the capability of the proposed system over a range of harmonics. While this work is at an early stage, the results to date show promise and further work is proposed.