Generation of the power quality disturbances in LabVIEW software environment

Software controlled procedure for classification and generation of the typical power quality disturbances, is presented in this paper. Generation procedure is functionally based on the virtual instrumentation concept, including software application developed using graphical programming package LabVIEW and D/A data acquisition card NI PCI 6713, installed in standard PC environment. Besides standard undisturbed three-phase voltage signal waveforms, six different categories of the PQ disturbances characteristic for real-time power distribution networks, can be simulated on the basis of developed virtual instruments: voltage swells, sags, interruptions, high-order voltage harmonics, swells with harmonics and sags with harmonics. Each of simulated PQ disturbances can be predefined and easily changed according to user requirements, using various combinations of the knobs and controls implemented on the virtual instrument front panel. Data acquisition 8-channel card NI 6713 provides real-time generation of the disturbances using analog output channels, which can be applied for testing and verification of the instruments developed for measurement and processing of the basic PQ parameters.