Power Quality Monitoring for PQES

The importance of power quality cannot be overstated, especially when it involves power quality at the edge of the grid. However, assessing that quality is often computationally intensive and far too often involves a reactive approach to dealing with detected irregularities in quality.

There are innovative PQES solutions on the market that can efficiently assess power quality with a high level of accuracy while also providing critical data analysis to support more proactive approaches to any issues detected.

Power Quality

Power quality refers to the degree to which a power supply's voltage, waveform, and frequency conform to established standards such as IEC61000-4-30. Good power quality is best described as a steady supply voltage that...

• Stays within the prescribed range
• Remains at a steady AC frequency that is close to the rated value
• Possesses a smooth voltage curve waveform that resembles a sine curve as well as the correct frequency and voltage magnitude
   

In PQES (Power Quality Edge Sensing), monitoring focuses on the quality at the edge of the power grid. This is important because many systems depend on consistent, good power quality for proper functioning. For example, voltage dips, swells, and transients lead to brownouts, flickering, and short/long-term power interruptions. This, in turn, leads to shorter equipment lifespans and lower energy efficiency, both of which are costly for the end-users.

Because of the significant impact that power quality at the edge of the grid can have on end-users, the demand for PQES monitoring technology has risen in recent years.

Power Quality at the Edge

Unstable power has a significant effect on both utilities and end-users. For end-users, in particular, unstable power has a negative impact on equipment performance and lifecycle. Critical issues include power frequency variations, transients, voltage imbalance, voltage fluctuation, waveform distortions, and others.

Because of these problems, a well-defined need exists for PQES monitoring solutions. First, system performance does need to be characterized at the edge, and specific incidents and events need documentation.

Second, AI and data analytics are required for effective predictive maintenance. One of the most beneficial aspects of PQES monitoring lies in predictive maintenance, where system data such as harmonics signatures are used to predict potential failure modes. Furthermore, maintenance teams can use such data to address potential failures before they happen. In addition, predictive maintenance data can be used for the optimized scheduling of maintenance, allowing downtime to be scheduled when it will have minimal impact.

Other benefits of implementing PQES monitoring solutions include demand profiling, evidence of aging equipment, and performance optimization.

PQES Solutions

The Analog Devices ADE9430, whose typical application circuit is shown in Figure 1, is a highly accurate, fully integrated, polyphase energy and power quality monitoring device in compliance with applicable standards such as IEC 1159, IEC 61000-4-30, and EN50160.

Figure 1. Typical application circuit for the ADE9430. Image source.

The ADE9430 provides complete power quality monitoring via instantaneous total, fundamental measurements on rms, phase angle, frequency, power factor active, reactive, and apparent powers and energies. The tight integration of acquisition and calculation engines simplifies the implementation and certification of energy and power quality monitoring systems. In addition, it absorbs most of the complexity involved with calculations for power quality monitoring.

In addition, the ADE9430 can accurately monitor energy over a wide range due to superior analog performance and a DSP core. And advanced power quality features are available through an optional ADSWPQ-CLS Power Quality Library, whose calculations are performed per IEC 61000-4-30 Class S. This library is available for download through the MyAnalog online interface option “Power Quality Monitoring.”

By combining an ARM Cortex host microcontroller with the optional ADSW-PQ-CLS Power Quality Library, the ADE9430 enables the design of standalone monitoring systems, protection systems, or low-cost nodes for uploading data into the cloud.

Conclusion

PQES monitoring systems are vital to modern power distribution systems. The Analog Devices ADE9430 is a highly accurate, effective solution that provides complete power monitoring and tightly integrated acquisition and calculation engines. And for those interested in exploring this solution's capabilities, the EVAL-ADE9430 evaluation board is available. Contact us via email sales.enquiry@excelpoint.com.sg today to learn more about how the ADE9430 can empower your edge sensing needs.

Top image credit: iStock.com/hxdyl