Metrological characterization of a measurement station for power quality evaluation

In recent years the rapid growth in the importance of power quality (PQ) has created a demand for highly effective monitoring instruments, able to evaluate different PQ parameters. Instrument suppliers propose for the PQ measuring systems a variety of sizes and configurations, owing to the growing application fields. The metrological characterization of these instruments is a problem, because they must satisfy different requirements. In this paper we discuss the characterization of PQ analyzers, starting from an overview of current main international standards. Moreover, in the paper a testing procedure is proposed, reporting also the characterization results obtained with a multifunction PQ analyzer prototype.