Current waveforms of household appliances
disturbing static electricity meters
Helko van den Brom
Ronald van LeeuwenDennis Hoogenboom
Zander MaraisGert Rietveld
VSL – Dutch Metrology Institute
5 September 2019, EMC Europe, Barcelona (ES)
• 2016-2018: LED and CFL lamps and
heater with dimmers
• 2018-2019: laptop, PC + monitor,
smart-TV, refrigerator + freezer,
microwave, USB chargers, DVD players,
induction cookers, blenders, vacuum
cleaners, drilling machines, patio
heaters, coffee machines, water pump
• Future: on-site measurements
(PV inverters, washing machines,
air conditioners, ...)
– Residential houses
– SMEs
Household equipment: current waveforms
2
Phase firing
Phase shifting
Dimming LEDs and pond pump: huge errors
3
Dimming patio heater: no error
4
Dimming blender: no error
5
0 0.005 0.01 0.015 0.02 0.025-400
-200
0
200
400
Time [s]
Voltage [
V]
0 0.005 0.01 0.015 0.02 0.025-3
-2
-1
0
1
Curr
ent
[A]
0 0.005 0.01 0.015 0.02 0.025-400
-200
0
200
400
Time [s]
Voltage [
V]
0 0.005 0.01 0.015 0.02 0.025-2
-1
0
1
2
Curr
ent
[A]
USB chargers: small errors
6
0 0.005 0.01 0.015 0.02 0.025-400
-300
-200
-100
0
100
200
300
400
Time [s]
Voltage [
V]
0 0.005 0.01 0.015 0.02 0.025-0.8
-0.6
-0.4
-0.2
0
0.2
0.4
0.6
0.8
Curr
ent
[A]
0 0.002 0.004 0.006 0.008 0.01 0.012 0.014 0.016 0.018 0.02-400
-200
0
200
400
Time [s]
Voltage [
V]
0 0.002 0.004 0.006 0.008 0.01 0.012 0.014 0.016 0.018 0.02-0.4
-0.2
0
0.2
0.4
Curr
ent
[A]
• 2016-2018: LED and CFL lamps and
heater with dimmers
• 2018-2019: laptop, PC + monitor,
smart-TV, refrigerator + freezer,
microwave, USB chargers, DVD players,
induction cookers, blenders, vacuum
cleaners, drilling machines, patio
heaters, coffee machines, water pump
• Future: on-site measurements
(PV inverters, washing machines,
air conditioners, ...)
– Residential houses
– SMEs
Household equipment: current waveforms
7
Possible Future Test Beds for Meter Approval
8
New phantom power rig: direct generation of arbitrary current waveforms
IEC 61000-4-19 mixed signal approach, distortion added separately
HiHi
Lo Lo
Lo
Hi
Lo
Hi
I
V
AWG
PC
L N L
Meter under test
Optical pulse
detector
• Work is progressing well:
– Household appliance waveforms captured
– Static meters tested with dimmed LED and CFL lamps and water pump
– Other recorded waveforms generated using testbed for meter testing
– Distortions categorized in terms of (dI/dt)max and Imax
– High meter errors observed for high (dI/dt)max and Imax
• Future work:
– More appliances
– On-site measurements
– Systematic use of testbed
– Propose reference signals
– SDOs, utilities, manufacturers
Summary and outlook
9
