Electric power quality education and testing laboratory with local utility contribution

Abstract

An education and testing laboratory with local utility contribution for electric power quality (PG) studies is presented in this paper. The laboratory functions as an instructional and as a research environment for graduate and senior level undergraduate students. The laboratory structure is discussed in terms of system set up and hardware and software tools utilised to conduct the experiments. Automated PQ event detection and classification tools developed by the students are presented to set an example for some of the PQ-related studies conducted in the laboratory. The local utility company contributes to the studies performed in the laboratory by providing unlimited access to the real-life PQ event data acquired by data loggers connected to its feeder lines. The utilisation and importance of this real-life data in PQ education is also presented.