This paper provides a plain-language overview of power quality — what it is, why it matters, and what can be done to maintain it. It is written for professionals outside…
White Papers
Browse our library of power quality technical resources.
177 results in Power Quality — Clear
Power Quality
Even vs. Odd Harmonics
Engineered Asymmetry Audiophiles routinely spend thousands of dollars on vintage vacuum tube amplifiers to deliberately inject their music with what power engineers spend millions trying to eliminate: harmonic distortion. Vacuum…
Merlin™ Chat in PQ Canvass
Merlin™ Chat is a conversational AI interface within PQ Canvass that allows engineers to ask natural-language questions about a power quality recording and receive detailed, technically grounded answers. Built on…
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…
Automated Stripchart Analysis With Merlin™
In power quality investigations, triggered waveforms often claim the spotlight, but it is the stripchart that tells the story of the entire recording. Reviewing this data manually is tedious, error-prone,…
Power Quality Challenges of Bidirectional EV Charging
The increasing adoption of Vehicle-to-Grid (V2G) technology enables electric vehicles to operate as mobile inverter-based energy resources, fundamentally altering their interaction with distribution networks. While the power quality impacts of…
Event Capture and Analysis with Merlin™
This white paper provides an overview of the Event Capture function available with PMI power quality analyzers and introduces the Event Change Report, generated by Merlin™, PMI's AI-powered analysis assistant.…
Power Factor Correction and Voltage Regulation
Maintaining acceptable voltage levels along distribution feeders requires careful coordination of voltage regulation equipment and proactive management of reactive power and harmonics. Loads with significant inductive characteristics increase reactive power…
Ferroresonance in Solar Step-Up Transformers
This paper explores the unique risks of ferroresonance within solar photovoltaic (PV) installations, specifically focusing on the interaction between step-up transformers and system capacitance. We will examine why solar sites…
Power Analysis with Distorted Waveforms
Many power quality engineers are familiar with the concepts related to the power triangle such as real power, reactive power, apparent power and power factor. The construction of the power…
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…
High Order Harmonics
Harmonic Distortion has long been recognized as a primary concern in power quality, traditionally monitored only through the 51st harmonic. This boundary was sufficient for decades, when most nonlinear loads…
