The power quality impact of an inverter-driven air conditioner under extremely high temperature environments

The nation-wide phenomena of extreme climate frequently occur in recent years because of global warming. Especially, the atmospheric temperature in Shanghai in 2013 was recorded as the highest among last 100 years, where residential users resort to air conditioners against the hot summer. Thereby, people are paying more attention to the harmonic pollution from inverter-driven air conditioners, which is the majority of the air conditioner market. This paper presents the test results of inverter-driven air conditioners in the enthalpy difference lab under extreme temperatures. The analysis shows that inverter-driven air conditioners will generate more harmonic pollution, which might exceeds the limit of Chinese standard (GB 17625. 1-2012), to the power grid as the temperature in the outer space increases.