Electric arc furnace modelling from a “power quality” point of view

Arc furnaces are mainly used in steel production for the recycling of scrap. Due to the dynamic behaviour of the arc during the melting process, an arc furnace is a major source of perturbations on a high voltage network. Whether AC or DC is used to supply the furnace, the perturbations are of random nature and encompass a frequency range from DC to a few hundreds of Hertz. In the literature different modelling techniques are proposed to describe the electrical phenomena of AC and DC arc furnaces. In order to establish a "status quaestionis", an overview is given of the most recent literature on electric arc furnace modelling from a "Power Quality" point of view.