International Journal of scientific research and management

(IJSRM) ||Volume||1||Issue||9 ||Pages|| 458-462 ||2013||

Website: www.ijsrm.in ISSN (e): 2321-3418

A Survey of Voltage Sags and Voltage Swells

Phenomena in Power Quality Problems
Reza Sedaghati1, Navid Mehdizadeh Afroozi2, Yaser Nemati3, Ahmad Rohani4, Ali Reza Toorani 5,
Navid Javidtash6, Ali Heydarzadegan7 and Hossein Sedaghati8
1,3,4,5,6,7,8
Department of Electrical Engineering, Islamic Azad University,
Beyza Branch, Beyza, Iran.

2
MWPI University of Applied Science and Technology

Abstract: Power quality is very important issue recently due to the impact on electricity suppliers, equipment manufacture and customers.
Power quality is described as the variation of voltage, current and frequency in a power system. It refers to a wide variety of
electromagnetic phenomena that characterize the voltage and current at a given time and at a given location in the power system.
Nowadays, there are so many industries using high technology for manufacturing and process unit. This technology requires high quality
and high reliability of power supply. The industries like semiconductor, computer, and the equipments of manufacturing unit are very
sensitive to the changes of quality in power supply. Power Quality problems encompass a wide range of disturbances such as voltage
sags/swells, flicker, harmonics distortion, impulse transient, and interruptions. Voltage sags/swells can occurs more frequently than other
Power quality phenomenon. These sags/swells are the most important power quality problems in the power distribution system. The
objective and scope of this paper is study of power quality phenomena in distribution systems.
Keywords: power quality, voltage, current, frequency, distribution system, control.

disturbances in the voltage waveform [3]. Along with

1. Introduction technology advance, the organization of the worldwide
economy has evolved towards globalization and the profit
The electric power system is considered to be composed of margins of many activities tend to decrease. The increased
three functional blocks: generation, transmission and sensitivity of the vast majority of processes (industrial, services
distribution. For a reliable power system, the generation unit and even residential) to PQ problems turns the availability of
must produce adequate power to meet customer’s demand, electric power with quality a crucial factor for competitiveness
transmission systems must transport bulk power over long in every activity sector. The most critical areas are the
distances without overloading or jeopardizing system stability continuous process industry and the information technology
and distribution systems must deliver electric power to each services. When a disturbance occurs, huge financial losses may
customer’s premises from bulk power systems. Distribution happen, with the consequent loss of productivity and
system locates the end of power system and is connected to the competitiveness. There are a lot of power quality problems
customer directly, so the power quality mainly depends on occurred in reality such as harmonic distortion, voltage swell
distribution system[1]. The reason behind this is that the and etc. In this paper, it focused on power quality problems [4].
electrical distribution network failures account for about 90% Power quality phenomena include all possible situations in
of the average customer interruptions. In the earlier days, the which the waveform of the supply voltage (voltage quality) or
major focus for power system reliability was on generation and load current (current quality) deviate from the sinusoidal
transmission only as these more capital cost is involved in waveform at rated frequency with amplitude corresponding to
these. In addition their insufficiency can cause widespread the rated rms value for all three phases of a three-phase system.
catastrophic consequences for both society and its environment. The wide range of power quality disturbances covers sudden,
But now a day’s distribution systems have begun to receive short duration variations, e.g. impulsive and oscillatory
more attention for reliability assessment [2]. transients, voltage sags, short interruptions, as well as steady
Power Quality (PQ) related issues are of most concern state deviations, such as harmonics and flicker. One can also
nowadays. The widespread use of electronic equipment, such distinguish, based on the cause, between disturbances related to
as information technology equipment, power electronics such the quality of the supply voltage and those related to the quality
as adjustable speed drives (ASD), programmable logic of the current taken by the load [5].
controllers (PLC), energy-efficient lighting, led to a complete To the first class belong, among others, voltage dips and
change of electric loads nature. These loads are simultaneously interruptions, mostly caused by faults in the power system.
the major causers and the major victims of power quality These disturbances may cause tripping of “sensitive” electronic
problems. Due to their non-linearity, all these loads cause equipment with disastrous consequences in industrial plants
Reza Sedaghati, IJSRM volume 1 issue 9 Dec 2013 [www.ijsrm.in] Page 458
where tripping of critical equipment can bear the stoppage of [10]. A new device which is named Inter-line Dynamic Voltage
the whole production with high costs associated. One can say Restorer is discussed in [11].
that in this case it is the source that disturbs the load. To avoid The custom power devices which are increasingly being used to
consistent money losses, industrial customers often decide to reduce voltage sag and swell are mainly Dynamic Voltage
install mitigation equipment to protect their plants from such Restorer (DVR), Distributed Static Compensator (D-
disturbances [6]. STATCOM) and Solid State Transfer Switch (SSTS) [12].
The second class covers phenomena due to low quality of the However, there are many other problems that make the power
current drawn by the load. In this case, it is the load that quality worse, such as voltage harmonics, notch and the
disturbs the source. A typical example is current harmonics distortion by nonlinear load currents [13].
drawn by disturbing loads like diode rectifiers, or unbalanced
currents drawn by unbalanced loads. Customers do not
experience any direct production loss related to the occurrence
of these power quality phenomena. But poor quality of the 2. Definition of Power Quality
current taken by many customers together will ultimately result
Power quality is a term that means different things to different
in low quality of the power delivered to other customers: both
people. Institute of Electrical and Electronic Engineers (IEEE)
harmonics and unbalanced currents ultimately cause distortion
Standard IEEE1100 defines power quality as [14] “the concept
and respectively, unbalance in the voltage as well. Therefore,
of powering and grounding sensitive electronic equipment in a
proper standards are issued to limit the quantity of harmonic
manner suitable for the equipment.” As appropriate as this
currents, unbalance and/or flicker that a load may introduce. To
description might seem, the limitation of power quality to
comply with limits set by standards, customers often have to
“sensitive electronic equipment” might be subject to
install mitigation equipment [1].
disagreement. Electrical equipment susceptible to power
In recent years, both industrial and commercial customers of
quality or more appropriately to lack of power quality would
utilities have reported a rising tide of misadventures related to
fall within a seemingly boundless domain. All electrical
power quality. The trouble stems from the increased refinement
devices are prone to failure or malfunction when exposed to
of today’s automated equipment, whether variable speed drives
one or more power quality problems. The electrical device
or robots, automated production lines or machine tools,
might be an electric motor, a transformer, a generator, a
programmable logic controllers or power supplies in
computer, a printer, communication equipment, or a household
computers. They and their like are far vulnerable to
appliance. All of these devices and others react adversely to
disturbances on the utility system than were the previous
power quality issues, depending on the severity of problems. A
generation of electromechanical equipment and the previous
simpler and perhaps more concise definition might state:
less automated production and information systems [2]. A
“Power quality is a set of electrical boundaries that allows a
growing number of loads are sensitive to customers’ critical
piece of equipment to function in its intended manner without
processes which have costly consequences if disturbed by
significant loss of performance or life expectancy.” This
either poor power quality or power interruption [3].
definition embraces two things that we demand from an
For the reasons described above, there is a growing interest in
electrical device: performance and life expectancy. Any power-
equipment for mitigation of power quality disturbances,
related problem that compromises either attribute is a power
especially in newer devices based on power electronics called
quality concern. Along with definitions of the terms,
“custom power devices”[4] able to deliver customized
explanations are included in parentheses where necessary.
solutions to power quality problems [3].
A well-established definition of power quality does not exist
The concept of Custom Power was introduced by N.G.
because it depends on one’s reference frame. For instance,
Hingorani [2]. The term Custom Power describes the value-
whilst one customer considers a certain voltage waveform as
added power that electric utilities and other service providers
having a “sufficient quality” in order to maintain the production
will offer their customers in the future. The improved level of
working properly, another customer can realize that the same
reliability of this power, in terms of reduced interruptions and
voltage has a “poor quality”.
less variation, will stem from an integrated solution to present
One aspect of common agreement is to consider the power
problems, of which a prominent feature will be the application
quality as a customer driven issue, i.e. the customers point of
of power electronic controllers to the utility distribution
view is determinant for indicating the quality of the power (in
systems and/or at the supply and of many industrial and
fact, the quality of the voltage). Based on this assumption, a
commercial customers and industrial parks [4].
power quality problem can be defined as [15]:
Many techniques are used to mitigate voltage sag and swells,
“Any power problem manifested in voltage/current or leading
but the use of a custom power device is considered to be the
to frequency deviations that results in failure or misoperation
most efficient method. Like Flexible AC Transmission Systems
of customer equipment”.
(FACTS) for transmission systems, the term custom power
This definition means that the decisive measurement of power
pertains to the use of power electronics controllers in a
quality is taken from the performance and productivity of end-
distribution system, especially, to deal with various power
user equipment (customer). If the electric power is inadequate
quality problems. Just as FACTS improves the power transfer
for those needs, the quality is said to be “lacking”.
capabilities and stability margins, custom power makes sure
customers get pre-specified quality and reliability of supply [4].
DVR has been used to compensate the voltage sag in [5, 6,
7&8]. The DVR with Uninterruptible Power Supply (UPS) was
proposed for sag reduction [9]. Adaptive Neural Network with
Dynamic Voltage Restorer was applied to solve sag’s problem

Reza Sedaghati, IJSRM volume 1 issue 9 Dec 2013 [www.ijsrm.in] Page 459
3. Problem Associated with Power Quality  Voltage sags(dips)
A voltage sag, sometimes known as a voltage dip, is a short
Power quality problems are associated to an extensive number term reduction in the rms voltage. The IEC electrotechnical
of electromagnetic phenomena in power systems with a broad vocabulary, IEC 60050 [18], defines a voltage sag as any
range of time. For instance, it includes impulsive transients (in “sudden reduction of the voltage at a point in the electrical
the range of nanoseconds) as well as frequency deviations (in system, followed by voltage recovery after a short period of
the range of some seconds7). A comprehensive description of time, from half a cycle to a few seconds”. Voltage sags are
the categories and characteristics of power systems characterised by their duration and depth. Duration is the
electromagnetic phenomena related to variations in the voltage length of time for which the voltage remains below a threshold.
magnitude is available in [16]. The classification takes the The concept of depth is somewhat a misnomer as a sag is
voltage into account, as the quality of the voltage is the characterised by the retained voltage, that is the voltage which
addressed issue in most of the cases. However, it is well known persists during the sag, as opposed to the voltage decrease or
that there is always a close relationship between voltages and ‘lost’ voltage. While the IEC definition does not give a set of
currents in a power system. Specifications regarding current are definitive durations or level of retained voltage that must be
applied to dimensioning an equipment or in the case of observed for a disturbance to be classified as a voltage sag,
harmonics. There are a number of different types of power IEEE Std 1159 [16] defines a voltage sag as a variation in the
quality disturbances and also a number of different ways to rms voltage of duration greater than ½ a cycle and less than 1
define and categorize them. Here follows one possible list of minute with a retained voltage of between 10% and 90% of
power quality disturbances types, categorized in one of many nominal. This is the generally accepted definition of a voltage
possible ways. sag. Any disturbance that persists for less than ½ cycle is
considered transient phenomena while voltage variations or
A. Long Duration Voltage Variations disturbances of duration greater than 1 minute with retained
Deviations in the operating rms values during longer time than voltages of less than 90 % of nominal may be considered as
one minute are usually considered long-duration variations. either sustained undervoltages or interruptions. Voltage sags
According to the amplitude variation, they can be related to are caused by large currents interacting with network
permanent faults, load variations, and switching operations in impedances. The two main causes of voltage sags are network
the system. As an example, switching a capacitor bank or a faults and the starting of equipment which draw large currents,
large load can cause noticeable changes in the voltage. If the particularly direct-on-line motors. A voltage sag (Figure 1) is a
countermeasures, in this case the voltage regulation, acts very short-duration reduction in rms voltage caused by faults on the
slowly, the voltage change can be characterized as a long- power system and the starting of large loads, such as motors
duration variation. Depending on the magnitude of the voltage [19].
change, long-duration voltage variations can be classified as
[17]:

Undervoltage – decrease in the rms voltage to less than 90% of the nominal
voltage.
Overvoltage – increase in the rms voltage to more than 110% of the nominal
voltage.
Sustained Interruption – supply voltage equal to zero for more than one
minute. These interruptions are usually permanent and require human
intervention to repair the system. Although utilities use the term “outage” as a
sustained interruption for reliability reporting purposes, the term “outage”
should be avoided in the power quality context. The reason is that end-users
associate the term “outage” to any interruption of power that shuts down a Figure 1: An example of voltage sag.
process, even when the power supplied by the utility is restored in a few
cycles. Meanwhile, in the reliability context, the term “outage” refers to the
state of a component in a system that has failed to function as expected. The
sustained interruptions are studied in the area of reliability, where the duration
It is said that a voltage sag has taken place in an electrical
and number of these interrupts are computed by different indexes.
network point when the voltage in one or more phases falls
suddenly beneath an established limit (generally a 90% of the
normal voltage), and recovers after a short period of time
B. Short Duration Voltage Variations
(usually between 10 ms and some seconds). The maximum
This type of voltage variation is mainly caused by either fault
limit of this period is probably the most controversial issue
conditions – and associated fault currents - or energization of
about the voltage sag definition: some authors consider that a
large loads that require high starting currents. Depending on
voltage sag exists when its duration reaches 1 min, or even 3
the electrical distance - related to impedance, type of
min. The expected number of events during one year can
grounding, and connection of transformers - between the
oscillate between ten and a thousand. Based on the time
fault/load location and the analyzed node, the disturbance can
duration and voltage magnitude, sag is further classified as:
cause a temporary loss of voltage (denoted interruption) or
temporary voltage reduction (denoted sag or dip) or voltage a) Instantaneous Sag: Instantaneous sag is said to occur when the r.m.s
rises (denoted swells) at different nodes of the system. In any voltage decreases to between 0.1 and 0.9 per unit for time duration of
case, the impact on the voltage during the disturbance is of 0.008333 second to 0.5 second.
short-duration, until protective devices start operating.

Reza Sedaghati, IJSRM volume 1 issue 9 Dec 2013 [www.ijsrm.in] Page 460
b) Momentary Sag: Momentary sag is said to occur when the r.m.s voltage
decreases to between 0.1 and 0.9 per unit for time duration of 0.5 second to 3
seconds.

c) Temporary Sag: Temporary sag is said to occur when the r.m.s voltage
decreases to between 0.1 and 0.9 per unit for time duration of 3 to 60 seconds.

• General causes of voltage sags

 Voltage sags due to faults
Voltage sags can caused by faults (more than 70% are weather
related such as lightning) on the transmission or distribution
system or by switching of loads with large amounts of initial
starting or inrush current such as motors, transformers, and
large dc power supply [20]. Voltage sag due to fault can be
critical to the operation of a power plant. The magnitude of Figure 2: Example of distribution of sags propagating from
voltage sag can be equal in each phase or unequal respectively different power system levels.
and it depends on the nature of the fault whether it is
symmetrical or unsymmetrical. For a fault in the transmission
line system, customers do not experience interruption, since
transmission systems are looped or networked.
 Voltage swells
Voltage Swell is defined by IEEE 1159 as the increase in the
 Voltage sags due to motor starting RMS voltage level to 110% - 180% of nominal, at the power
Voltage sag due to motor starting are symmetrical since the frequency for durations of ½ cycle to one (1) minute. It is
induction motors are balanced three phase loads, which will be classified as a short duration voltage variation phenomena,
resulting in each of the phase drawing approximately the same which is one of the general categories of power quality
inrush current. The magnitude of voltage sag depends upon: problems [15]. A swell is defined as an increase to between 1.1
a) Characteristic of induction motor. and 1.8 p.u. in rms voltage at the network fundamental
b) Strength of the system node where motor is connected. frequency with duration from 0.5 cycles to one minute. The
term momentary overvoltage is also used as a synonym for
swell. Switching off a large inductive load or energizing a large
 Voltage sags due to transformer energizing capacitor bank are typical system maneuvers that cause swells.
There are mainly two causes of voltage sag due to transformer Although not as common as voltage sags, swells are also
energizing. One is normal system operations which include usually associated to system faults. The severity of a voltage
manual energizing of a transformer and another is the reclosing swell during a fault condition is a function of the fault location,
actions. These voltage sags are unsymmetrical in nature and system impedance, and grounding. During a single phase-to-
often depicted as a sudden drop in system voltage followed by ground fault on an impedance grounded system, i.e. with some
a slow recovery. The main reason behind voltage sag due to zero sequence impedance, the non-faulted phase-to-ground
transformer energizing is the over fluxing of the transformer voltages can increase up to 3 times the per-unit value (in the
core which leads to saturation. The voltage sags are case of a non-grounded or high impedance grounded system).
unsymmetrical in nature and oftenly depicted as a sudden drop The difference in the zero- and positive-sequence impedance
in system voltage followed by a slow recovery. The main causes a change in the non-faulted phases, not only in
reason for transformer energizing is the over-fluxing of the magnitude but also in phase [22].
transformer core which leads to saturation. Sometimes, for long For voltage swells the start threshold is equal to 110% of the
duration voltage sags, more transformers are driven into reference voltage. The end threshold is usually set 1 - 2% of the
saturation. This is called Sympathetic Interaction [21]. reference voltage below the start threshold. In other words, the
Generally, voltage sags experienced by distribution system duration of a voltage swell is measured from when one phase
customers originate from the (HV) transmission and sub- rises above 110% of the reference voltage until all three phases
transmission systems, or the (MV) distribution system itself. In have again fallen below 108% - 109% of the reference voltage.
the case of weak transmission systems it is also possible to get If the event persists longer than 1 min it will be re-classified as
sags from neighbouring MV distribution systems through the an overvoltage [23]. Main causes of voltage swells include
transmission network. Fig. 2 gives an example. energizing of capacitor banks, shutdown of large loads,
unbalanced faults (one or more phase-to-phase voltages will
increase, see Figure 3), transients, and power frequency surges
.The effects of voltage swells are largely the same as for
voltage dips [23].

Reza Sedaghati, IJSRM volume 1 issue 9 Dec 2013 [www.ijsrm.in] Page 461
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Reza Sedaghati, IJSRM volume 1 issue 9 Dec 2013 [www.ijsrm.in] Page 462