Analysis of Errors in Active Power and Energy Measurements Under Random Harmonic Distortion Conditions

Abstract As harmonic distortion of voltage and current is reality in the power system, the need for accurate measurement of electrical power and energy goes beyond the instruments’ specifications and calibration procedures regarding pure sine wave signals. Several international standards and recommendations provide test signals for examination of electricity meters under non-sinusoidal conditions, however, not all of the test signal parameters’ possible states are faithfully represented in those documents. Because the high order harmonics may possess random amplitudes and phase shifts in relation to components at fundamental frequency, it is important that the meter’s performance is verified with random waveforms as well. The non-linear dependence between the measured power/energy and the phase shifts, both between fundamental and harmonic components, provides additional complexity of such an analysis. Simple test signals, which are in accordance with the standards’ demands and propositions, are used for determination of the measurement error in case of different harmonic distortion parameter change. In order for a general error function for any measurement device to be determined, mathematical modelling, regarding the results from multiple tests, is performed. The mathematical model presents a strong dependence between a single component’s phase shifts and a meter’s error and it provides a systematization of all signal parameters’ influence on the measurement accuracy.