The article is dedicated to the study of fire hazards associated with non-sinusoidal modes in low-voltage electric grids. The relevance of the study is conditioned by the rapid growth in the number of nonlinear loads in modern electric grids of buildings of industrial and civil facilities, which causes a significant increase in the level of harmonic distortions and associated operational issues.
Notably, distortions in the shape of the supply voltage and current curve can lead to such adverse consequences as power loss, network overload, unacceptable voltage and current pulsations, and cause additional heating of current-carrying parts. These factors inevitably violate the conditions of occupational and life safety, increasing the risk of ignition, damage to electrical equipment, and other emergencies threatening the lives and health of people. Potential sources of the occurrence of non-sinusoidal working modes of an electric grid are the use of industrial equipment, the inclusion of non-linear loads, etc. The article provides the results of simulation modeling of the impact of higher harmonic components of different multiplicity on the current magnitude in the neutral wire of three-phase low-voltage networks using MATLAB/Simulink. The research methodology is based on the simulation in the software package, allowing for analyzing the distribution of harmonic components in the three-phase system. The obtained results demonstrate the dependence of the neutral wire current on the harmonic spectrum. It has been shown that in the presence of higher harmonics multiples of three, the current in the neutral can be equal to the phase current or exceed it, but the voltage parameters subject to control are within the permissible values.
The study is useful for the design and operation of low-voltage grids of industrial buildings, as it helps to estimate risks of overheating of the neutral wire and suggests measures to reduce harmonic distortions.
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