Power electronics, power quality and modern analytical tools: the impact on electrical engineering education

The new power electronics context characterized by the proliferation of sensitive electronics equipment supplied by an electrical network with very high levels of distortion, which are in part generated by the massive utilization of power electronics applications, creates an environment in which traditional circuit modeling analysis and techniques cannot be applied straightforwardly. High harmonic distortion, voltage notches, high frequency noise, etc., are among the typical situations in which sensitive electronic devices are being operated. As a consequence of the new electrical environment, the currents and voltages on the electrical network substantially and randomly deviate from a sinusoidal form. Thus the state of the electrical system cannot be fully analyzed by traditional methods. Due to the consequent dynamics of distortion generation, propagation and interaction with the system, one would need a more powerful technique to efficiently analyze the system performance in the presence of nonstationary distortions. This paper briefly presents the basic concepts for some of the new analytical tools for signal processing and identification, their similarities and differences with respect to traditional techniques, and underlines how these new techniques are changing engineering design and ultimately Specifically, wavelet theory, genetic algorithms, expert systems, fuzzy logic, and neural network concepts are reviewed for their potential applications in power quality analysis.