Table Of ContentLight Flicker and Harmonic Modelling
of Electrical Lighting
Lance Frater
A thesis presented for the degree of
Doctor of Philosophy
in
Electrical and Computer Engineering
at the
University of Canterbury,
Christchurch, New Zealand.
2015
ABSTRACT
Compact Fluorescent Lamps (CFLs) have emerged as cost-competitive, energy efficient direct
replacements of the conventional incandescent lamp. However, little regard has been given to
their widescale adoption in terms of the electrical network and power quality. Discrepancies have
emerged over the CFLs light flicker sensitivity to voltage fluctuations and concerns at the level
of harmonics they generate. This thesis develops an objective measurement method for light
flicker, overcoming the limitations of the existing IEC flickermeter standard and develops models
using the Harmonic State-Space (HSS) framework and Harmonic Domain (HD) for harmonic
studies.
The new light flickermeter proposed, measures light directly to quantify flicker, thereby removing
the dependency of the incandescent lamp modelled in the current flickermeter standard, IEC
61000.4.15. The light flickermeter methodology resembles the same functional blocks of the IEC
Flickermeter to produce equivalent perceptibility levels. This allows for the direct comparison of
the two procedures. The Light flickermeter along side the IEC voltage flicker are implemented in
the experimental system and fully calibrated to the newly proposed CCU2/CIGRE flickermeter
test protocol. The sensitivity of CFLs to common voltage fluctuations are investigated and the
light flickermeter is utilised in the design of a new LED fluorescent tube replacement lamp.
A linearised Harmonic State-Space (HSS) framework is developed for the modelling of non-
linear devices. The methodology includes basic Kirchhoffs voltage and current laws to realise
a control block diagram approach to a device’s operation. The HSS is centred around linear
time periodic (LTP) systems and the use of harmonic transfer functions to model the switching
behaviour (including Switching Instant Variation (SIV)) of converters. Importantly the models
are suitable for both transient and steady state simulation. An example of a simplified CFL
circuit is presented.
An automated sequential harmonic injection technique is developed for the experimental deriva-
tion of linearised harmonic admittance matrices of non-linear loads. This technique eliminates
the traditional analytical based HD or HSS methods and creates a harmonic domain based
model from the actual device. Models are presented for a number of consumer lamps. Detailed
validation of these models are achieved under multi-frequency terminal conditions and through
the illustration of self distortion by the system impedance.
This research paves the way in better understanding, management and coordination of flicker
levels in electrical networks. The Light flickermeter apparatus provides a calibrated method
for assessing light flicker sensitivity for both current and emerging technologies. The harmonic
modelling methods are focussed towards lower powered devices and suited for studying their
large scale use.
To Sarah
and Grandad
Harold Pemberton “Pem” Mayo
24 August 1917 — 03 July 2011
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
Foremost, I would like to express my gratitude to my thesis supervisors, Prof. Neville Watson and
Dr. Alan Wood. Neville, thank you for your faith and the trust you placed in me, allowing me
to choose my own research path, combining valuable experimental validation with theoretical
foundation. Alan, thank you for making it harder, and introducing me to frequency domain
modelling and eventually the HSS. Emeritus Professor Jos Arrillaga I am grateful for your
confidence, encouragement and kind words.
I am truly indebted to the Electric Power Engineering Centre (EPECentre), for the financial
support, but more importantly, for inspiring my passion of power engineering, as a subject of
research and a career path. Thank you Joseph for your friendship and guidance.
I suffered greatly from anxiety and subsequently depression in my last few years of research. I
nearly lost all the things I hold my dear to me: my marriage, my life, my family and friends. A
huge thank you to the counsellors at the UC Health Center thank you Fiona, Graeme Warburton,
Wendy, and Alex Mortlock. And also Steve Humm. I am thankful of Hugo’s advice to seek help.
The human mind is extremely powerful.
To those that came before me: Dr. Geoff Love, Dr. Bruce Smith, Dr. Graeme Bathurst, Dr.
Hamish Laird, Dr. Norman Wereley, Dr. Thomas Keppler, Dr. David Hume, Dr. Christopher
Collins and Chris Osauskas; I stand on the shoulders of giants.
To my colleagues, my friends, those whom I shared an office with, who came and went under me:
Dave Smith (Danger Dave), Dr. Michael Hwang, Dr. Jordan Orillaza, Dr. Andrew Lapthorn,
Clayton Mills, Hugo Vincent, Dr. John Stowers, Dr. William Kamp, Dr. Nick Murray, Dr.
Simon Bell (MIA), Dr. Rob Turner, Blair Bonnet, Dr. Thahirah Syed Jalal (Mother Teresa),
Dr. Bhaba Das (BP), Dr. Ali Farzanehrafat (that’s illegal), Dr. Rowan Sinton, Ryan Van
Herel (Harry Potter), Jeff Wei, Alejandro Castellanos Escamilla (Mexican Drug Cartel), Pramod
Ghimire, James Ormrod, Dr. Nikki Newhan, Irvin Chew, Dr. Victor Lo, Patrick Chen, Rabia
Nazir, Diwakar Bhujel, Ming Zhong, Kelvin Gong (kdog), Jennifer Wen, Vijay Bendre, Shreejan
Pandey, Debbie Dick, Kalyan Malla, Parash Acharya, Yanosh Irani, Steffen Fischer, Laura King,
Michael Frampton, Pierce Hennessy, Hantt Cao, Dr. Wade Enright, Dr. Stewart Hardie, Dr.
Vocker Nock and Dr. Robert Eriksson (thank you for the invite to KTH Sweden).
You all harassed and made fun of me about my thesis, some were worse, Joseph! and some took
the more amusing approach, namely Blair who launched www.haslancefinishedhisthesis.info and
printed stickers to keep people up to date. It then redirected to www.lancehasfinishedhisthesis.info
once I submitted.
Some of the best times were spent discussing and whiteboarding the worlds problems, the har-
monic domain, electrical machines, transformers, control and generally ending up going back
to fundamentals. We spent many hours experimenting and conceptualising; Freaky Friday, HV
Marshmallows, the allspark, IDMT relays, exploding wires, the countless Machines Lab and HV
Lab Demo’s to schools and tour groups, they all enlighten my passion for power and education.
The Canterbury earthquakes lead to some depressing and frustrating times, thanks to all those
that joined in celebration of each aftershock or tried to ride the wave.
Distractions helped me cope, I worked on many projects including; electric bikes/scooters/sidecars,
electronics, smokers and hangi kegs, web development, axolotls and their axolittles, and took
on many trades; car dismantler, brewer, concrete machine. I enjoyed my time as President
of Fendalton Badminton Club, experimenting with black-light badminton and donated time to
Badminton Canterbury.
I learnt (and gathered) so much from our technicians: Ken Smart (My go to man), Dave Healy,
Jac Woudberg, Paul Agger, Edsel Villa, Scott Lloyd, and the late Ron Battersby as well as the
computer staff: the late Pieter Kikstra (Best Computer Technician In the World), Mike Shurety,
Dave van Leeuwen. You guys were always happy to answer my questions or have a discussion.
You all contributed to me and my time at UC.
It was important that I picked up diverse range of contract work while studying. I am particularly
thankful for the time spent with Shayne Crimp, Aiotec Ltd. working on the IEC certification of
the Windflow 500 turbine. Thanks also to: Nick, Mighty River Power, Ashok, Vector, and the
boys at Infact for the experience and expertise gained.
It is many years since I started and first hosted DC++, the Direct Connect Hub (UCDC), from
my first year dorm in College House. A great community developed and provided a constant
source of entertainment. The notorious hub, was taken down many a time but it (Nahub) some
how ended up back in my office and under my administration. My legacy lives on in hubs still
running around campus. whitestatic +whatsnew
A few quotes and wise words:
“If something doesn’t work, you are doing something stupid”
“Everything has to be linear”
“Don’t talk when you have no idea what you are talking about”
“Yanni your girlfriends here”
“ ‘The time has come,’ the Walrus said, ‘To talk of many things:’ ”
Finally I must thank my family and friends. For my friends especially Dr. Dan, Chris (Wobbler),
Gina, Phil (Botros), Kris (KKK-Kris) and Ryan (Jesus), thanks for all the good times and
distractions, being pirates, mountain biking and down-hilling. More than ever my Mum, for
always giving me the advice that I can give up if I wanted to, and Dad for the love and support
in every way. Thank you for allowing me to take on this challenge, did you even have a choice?
Clint and Jac, Liam and Riley and little Bowen, Nikki and Tom, my Australian Mum and Dad,
thank you. I am forever grateful of my South Island Mum, and Percy for taking me under your
wing, inviting me to the family Bach, the one place I was truly free from my thesis. Kerry, the
kids, and Glenn for getting the wolf pack together. Karen (Nurse,) and Gerrad I can’t thank
you enough, your care and support critical to my Ph.D. Scotty and Alice my little bundles of
joy, you kept me going. A special thanks to Gerrad, Micheal and Blair for the time you spent
forcefully helping me and reviewing my thesis.
