An efficient module for flicker assessment of electric arc furnaces

Voltage flicker is one of the key power quality concerns for the systems feeding arc furnace installations. The severity of flicker due to arc furnaces is influenced by several factors including arc furnace design and rating, system strength at PCC, use of flicker mitigation technology, etc. An evaluation tool has been developed using EMTP-RV as a platform that can be used to simulate and measure flicker indices (P_inst and P_st) for an electric arc furnace operation. The user-friendly tool enables the user to evaluate the impact of various system parameters on the resultant flicker values at desired locations in the system. A case study has been included to demonstrate the use of the module and the results are compared against the hand calculation approach.