Induction motors are ever popular in today’s world and can be found in most areas of life — industrial, agricultural, and even residential settings. These motors can have high inrush…
Voltage Unbalance Within PQ Canvass Compliance Reports
Power Monitors, Inc.'s PQ Canvass is a secure, cloud-based platform built for power-quality (PQ) analysis. PQ Canvass has a beta feature of automated "compliance reports" that transform data uploaded from…
Symmetrical Components from Stripchart Data
Symmetrical components can be useful in a PQ investigation, especially in cases of voltage imbalance, where the customer's negative sequence current can help determine their contribution to the imbalance. Many…
Getting PQ Data from your SCADA System
DNP3 (Distributed Network Protocol) is a communication protocol used primarily in utilities and industrial settings for automation and control systems. It is designed to enable reliable, secure communication between control…
Understanding Voltage Phase Rotation in Three-Phase Systems
Three-phase power systems depend not only on equal voltages between phases but also on the order in which those phases reach their peaks — a property called phase rotation. Incorrect…
PQ Canvass API Access
Introduction Electric utilities rely on power quality monitoring to maintain grid reliability, meet regulatory requirements, and respond to disturbances across their distribution networks. As monitoring deployments grow — spanning substations,…
Datacenter Power IV
High-speed protective devices in modern datacenters, such as low-voltage circuit breakers with electronic trip units (ETUs) offering instantaneous or short-time protection, are documented to operate in cases where standard Power…
Modern Flicker Analysis Using PQ Canvass and Merlin™
Voltage flicker is one of the most common power quality complaints reported by utility customers. The term flicker refers to visible changes in lighting intensity caused by rapid fluctuations in…
Using PMI’s TLAR and TLAR-S Clamp-Style Current Transformers
Clamp-Style Current Transformers (CTs) are a convenient and safe way to measure current flowing through a conductor. PMI offers the TLAR line of iron core CT clamps in both the…
Defining and Measuring Rapid Voltage Change
Rapid Voltage Change (RVC) represents a specific category of power quality phenomena characterized by a fast transition in the RMS voltage between two steady-state conditions. Unlike a voltage dip or…
Voltage Tug-of-War The Silent VFD Killer
The modern variable-speed drive (VFD) is a sophisticated power electronic system, yet the front end is still a deceptively simple six-pulse diode bridge. That simplicity means the rectifier has little…
High Impedance Faults: Causes, Risks, Detection Techniques
High impedance faults can be a troublesome power quality issue affecting not only utilities, but their customers too. Frequently, these faults can trip arc fault breakers and GFCI outlets and…