Experimental assessment of harmonic contributions using a ternary pulse sequence

Harmonic contributions of utility and customer may feature significant variations due to network switchings and changing operational modes. In order to correctly define the impacts on the grid voltage distortion the frequency dependent impedance characteristic of the studied network should be accurately measured in the real-time mode. This condition can be fulfilled by designing a stimuli generator measuring the grid impedance as a response to injected interference and producing time-frequency plots of harmonic contributions during considered time interval. In this paper a prototype of a stimuli generator based on programmable voltage source inverter is developed and tested. The use of ternary pulse sequence allows fast wide-band impedance measurements that meet the requirements of real-time assessment of harmonic contributions. The accuracy of respective analysis involving impedance determination and calculation of harmonic contributions is validated experimentally using reference characteristics of laboratory test set-up with varying grid impedance.