Estimation of net harmonic currents due to dispersed nonlinear loads within residential areas

The paper deals with the problem of estimating net harmonic currents injected by groups of nonlinear appliances present within typical domestic customers mix. To this aim a simulation based “bottom-up” approach accounting for the cancellation phenomena among individual contributions has been adopted and extended. The nonlinear appliances considered are television set, personal computer, fluorescent and compact fluorescent lamp. The simultaneous operation of linear load has been taken into due account in order to simulate more closely real-life conditions. The simulation results are organised in tables which provide the estimate of main net harmonic currents (3^rd, 5^th and 7^th) likely to be monitored at the low voltage busbars supplying an end-use area composed exclusively of domestic customers. The validity of the methodology proposed has been tested by comparing simulation results with some field measurements from the residential area investigated