A platform for developing and testing a power quality meter

Abstract

According to the rapid growth in the use of equipment that generates PQ disturbances, PQ problems will be faced with in not only domestic appliances but also utilities as well as industries. Many researchers or designers are trying to become more developed in solving these power quality problems by using many methods or algorithms. In this thesis, two major platforms will be applied for developing power quality meter. They are PQ platform and arbitrary platform. The PQ platform is based on DSP (Digital Signal Processing) Evaluation Board TMS320C5515. This board is connected with ADS8556chip having two analog input signals of voltage and current for ADC channels, 16 bit resolution and sampling rate of 20KSamples/sec. The designer can write a C program on a personal computer for implementing various algorithms such as calculating fast Fourier transform (FFT) , root mean square (RMS) values of voltage and current, power factor, real power, apparent power of sample voltage and current,etc and download the program to the DSP board for execution. The arbitrary platform is based on Data Acquisition Module National Instrument USB6216. Various waveforms such as pure sinusoidal wave, voltage sag and transients, and other distorted waveforms can be programmed on the computer and download to the DAQ board in real time. This project can monitor power line measurement parameters such as active and reactive energy, RMS values of voltage and current, power factor, line frequency, harmonics contents of voltage and current, and abnormalities e.g.sag, swell, flicker, spike and blackout. Moreover the new methods or algorithms may be implemented on the platforms to improve the quality of power.