Operational effects of electric arc furnaces on the power quality in power system by presenting new model of electric arcs

Abstract

Electric Arc Furnaces (EAFs) are unbalanced, nonlinear and time varying loads, which can cause many problems in the power system quality. As the use of arc furnace loads increases in industry, the importance of the power quality problems increase too. So in order to optimize the usages of electric power in EAFs, it is necessary to minimize the effects of arc furnace loads on quality in power systems as much as possible. So it is essential to present an accurate and real model for the analysis of these loads operations. Therefore, in this paper, a new model based on statistical sampling for the EAF is presented. This model has included random states of the arc extensively, and adjusts desirably with real operation of the EAF in the steel industries. On the other hand, in order to take an accurate modeling, the voltage flicker has been considered sinusoidal and randomly. Also to get an exact approach in evaluation and analysis of power system along with the EAF, the whole parameters of furnace load and the system are considered. In this regard, it can be claimed that in system analysis, by applying the proposed model, the error resulted from modeling process has largely reduced comparing with other models. Finally, the simulation is performed using PSCAD/EMTDC software. The results of the simulation show the validity of the proposed method in the entire power system. © 2011 CRL Publishing Ltd.