MEASUREMENT OF POWER COMPONENTS IN BALANCED THREE-
PHASE SYSTEMS UNDER NONSINUSOIDAL OPERATING
CONDITIONS BY USING IEEE STANDARD 1459-2010 AND FOURIER
ANALYSIS
A. Mansour
National Engineering Laboratory for Electric Vehicles
Beijing Institute of Technology
Beijing, China
mr_mans34@yahoo.com
ABSTRACT
Power components definitions for balanced three-phase
systems with nonsinusoidal situations are included in IEEE
standard 1459-2010 (revision of IEEE standard 1459-2000).
The standard is meant to provide definitions for active,
reactive and apparent powers as well as the power factor. The
power definitions proposed by the IEEE standard require
harmonics, but does not specify which method to use to obtain
the harmonic content of the signal data frame. In this paper
the balanced three-phase power components definitions under
nonsinusoidal conditions contained in the IEEE standard
1459-2010 are calculated based on processing the voltage and
current signals by the reconstruction of the original signals
(voltage and current) using Fourier analysis. The proposed
technique is based on processing the sampled voltage and
current waveforms to get all harmonic contents of these
signals which will be used in obtaining and analyzing the data
according to the IEEE standard 1459-2010 which used for
measurement of electric power quantities. The accurateness of
the proposed method is demonstrated via simulations
considerably reduces the complexity in calculation, can be
easy applicable and the accuracy of the results are maintaine
Keywordsactive power, apparent power, Fourier analysis,
harmonics, reactive power, three-phase systems.
I. Introduction
In sinusoidal situations, the definitions of power components
such as active power, reactive power and apparent power
together with power quality factors are well defined for single-
phase systems and can be extended to the balanced three-
phase systems case without restrictions. However, when
considering three-phase systems under nonsinusoidal
operating conditions, these definitions become unsuitable [1].
As a challenge, many researchers try to solve this problem in
one of two wayseither to extend the well established
definitions in single-phase and balanced three-phase systems
within sinusoidal situations to be suitable for the unbalanced
1
Zhang Chengning
National Engineering Laboratory for Electric Vehicles
Beijing Institute of Technology
Beijing, China
mrzhchn@bit.edu.cn
three-phase systems with distorted voltages and currents [2]-
[10] or by developing a generalized theory for the unbalanced
three-phase system with nonsinusoidal situations and try to
make this theory applicable to the single-phase and balanced
three-phase systems with sinusoidal situations [11]-[24]. The
most recommended definitions can be found in the IEEE
Standard 14592010 [26].
That work starts with The IEEE working group on
"nonsinusoidal" situations: Effects on meter performance and
definition of power has suggested practical definitions for
powers , [24]. IEEE continue this work by publishing IEEE
standard 1459-2000 [25] followed by IEEE standard 1459-
2010 [26].
The new definitions of power are based on the power theory
formulated in the last years [24], taking in account the recent
important changes that have occurred. Definitions used for
measurement of electric power quantities under sinusoidal,
nonsinusoidal, balanced, or unbalanced conditions are
provided in this standard. Mathematical expressions that were
used in the past, as well as new expressions, are listed, as well
as explanations of the features of the new definitions.
The power definitions proposed by the IEEE Standard require
harmonics, but does not specify which method to use to obtain
the harmonic content of the signal data frame [23]. There are
different signal processing techniques for processing voltage
and current signals in power system field to obtain the
harmonic content of the signal. Most of these techniques can
found in [27].
This paper introduces an approach for calculating the
harmonic contents of voltage and current signals by using
Fourier analysis. Fast Fourier transform (FFT) is used to
obtain the harmonic content of the sampled voltage and
current signals. The Fourier transform gives a frequency-
domain version of the signal: a list of amplitudes and phase
angles corresponding to harmonically related set of sinusoids.
The Fourier theory is based on the idea that any function can
be composed of a weighted sum of sinusoid signals.
According to this concept we can reconstruct the original
signal (voltage or current) and get the fundamental signal and
any harmonic signal. By using these fundamental and
harmonic quantities, active-reactive-apparent powers for the
fundamental component and all remaining power terms, as
well as the power factor for three- phase balanced systems will
be calculated according to the power definitions in IEEE
standard 1459-2010.
2h 1I ch sin ht ch 120 (6)
Where Ia1, Ib1, and Ic1 the RMS value of the current at the
power system frequency (f1=50 or 60 Hz) while Iah, Ibh, Ich, ah,
bh, and ch are the RMS value of the phase currents and the
phase angles at any harmonic order h, respectively.
A. Effective RMS Calculations

The accurateness of the proposed method is demonstrated via The IEEE Standard recommends using the effective RMS
simulations. The proposed method considerably reduces the values for three-phase voltages and currents. For three-wire
complexity in calculation, can be easy applicable and the systems, the following formulae can be used:
accuracy of the results are maintained.

II. IEEE Standard Three-Phase Power Components

Definitions

This section reviews the power components definitions

contained in the IEEE Standard [26] for three-phase systems
with nonsinusoidal situations. The three-phase nonsinusoidal
line-to neutral voltages are given by where Vab, Vbc and Vca are the RMS value of the line to line
voltage. These effective RMS values can be divided into
va 2Va1 sint 2 h 1 Vah sin ht aah (1) fundamental and nonfundamental effective components

vb 2Vb1sin t

+ 2 h 1V bh sin ht abh 120 (2)

vc 2Vc1 sin t

+ 2
V sin ht ach 120
h 1 ch (3)

where Va1, Vb1, and Vc1 are the RMS value of the voltage at
the power system frequency (f1=50 or 60 Hz) while Vch, ah,
bh, and ch are the RMS value of the phase voltages and the
phase angles at any harmonic order h, respectively.

The line currents are

ia = 2I a1 sint 2 h 1 I ah sinht ah (4)

B. Active Power

ib = 21b1 sin t Using the concept of symmetrical components, the

fundamental positive sequence active power P1+ is defined as

2 h 1 I bh sinht bh 120 (5)

ic 2 I c1 sin t

2
where, V1+, I1+, 1+ are the positive sequence voltage, current,
and phase displacement at the fundamental frequency. Note
that 1+ = 1+ - 1+.

C. Reactive Power
III. Fourier Analysis and Proposed Approach
The most recommended reactive power expression in the
IEEE Standard is the fundamental positive sequence reactive
One of the most widely used tools in signal processing is
power defined by
Fourier analysis. This consists of the decomposition of the
signal into a sum of sinusoidal signals of different frequencies.
Starting with Fourier series and discrete Fourier transform
(DFT), the proposed approach will be deduced.
D. Apparent Power
A. Fourier Series
+
The fundamental positive sequence apparent power S1 the
fundamental effective apparent power Se1 and the fundamental Fouriers theorem states that any periodic function x (t) may
unbalanced power Se1 are be decomposed into an infinite series of sine and cosine
functions:

where 0 is the fundamental frequency (rad/sec) or f0 Hz, 0 =

2f0 and an, bn are Fourier series coefficients.

The current distortion power De1, voltage distortion power DeV Examination of the time domain waveform alone does not
and harmonic apparent power are given by indicate the frequencies which are present. However, the DFT
clearly shows the frequencies and their amplitudes.

B. DFT

Given N consecutive samples x (n) < n < N-1 of a periodic or

aperiodic sequence, the N-point DFT X (k), 0 < k < N-1
defined by:
The nonfundamental distortion power De1, voltage distortion
power DeV and harmonic apparent power are given by

2k
where k = , frequency of the kth sinusoid.
N
The effective apparent power Se and the nonactive power N
are defined as The DFT is typically implemented in practice with one of the
common forms of the fast Fourier transform (FFT). The FFT
is not a Fourier transform in its right, but rather it is simply a
computationally efficient algorithm that reduces the
complexity of the computing DFT from order {N2}to order
{Nlog2 N}. After this transformation, the amplitudes and
phases are given by the following:
E. Power Factors

The fundamental positive sequence power factor PF1+ and the

total power factor PF can be defined as the following ratios:

3
C. Fourier Series and DFT 37. The RMS values of the all harmonics of voltage and
current signals will be calculated as:
Clearly, the Fourier series and DFT are related. So, the DFT
outputs may be interpreted as scaled Fourier series coefficients
[29].

All power terms starting from the fundamental power related

to the fundamental frequency are determined by substituting in
equations 1-27.

IV. Results And Discussion

Simulations based on the approach introduced in this paper

D. Representing a Digital Signal as a Sum of were performed by using Matlab. In Matlab it is possible to
Sinusoids choose voltage and current signals with harmonics or load
them from files. Samples of the voltage and current signals are
The sine and cosine terms in the Fourier series may be transformed to frequency domain by applying the FFT to
combined into a single sinusoid with phase shift using the
obtain the harmonic content of the signal. RMS and phase
relation [29]:
angle values of all harmonics of the signal are computed by
reconstructed the original signal of voltage or current as sum
of sinusoids as in equations 34-40. Finally all power terms are
calculated by using equations 1-27.

Here consider the balanced three-phase system with

nonsinusoidal conditions. The time domain equations for the
Using the equations 32-35, we can find An and n as a function three-phase voltages and currents are
of the DFT coefficients

From the analysis above, any digital signal can be represented

as a sum of sinusoids. First, find the frequency domain
representation X(k) of the digitized signal, then uses the
frequency domain information to get the original signal back
again.

E. Proposed Approach for Calculating all Power

Terms

After getting the voltage and current samples, the DFT is used
to obtain the harmonic contents of the voltage and current
signals. According to the concept for reconstructing the
original signal as sum of sinusoids as described above,
substitute the expression in equation (33) into equation (28).
where 1, 3, and 5, are the angular frequency at the
The voltage and current signals can be expressed as:
fundamental (f1=50 Hz), third harmonic (f3 = 150 Hz) and fifth
harmonic (f5 = 250 Hz), respectively.

Calculation of AnV, AnI, n and n by using equations 36-

4
 Table I
Effective RMS and equivalent THD
Table II
Active Power, Effective Apparent Power, Distortion
Power, and Reactive Power
The results obtained when applying the proposed approach
and the true one for effective RMS and equivalent total
harmonic distortion are listed in Table I.
The results obtained when applying the proposed approach
and the true one for effective RMS and equivalent total
harmonic distortion are listed in Table I.
As the results in Table I show, the percentage differences are
too small in the case of effective RMS and equivalent total
harmonic distortion. Table II lists the results obtained for
active power, effective apparent power, reactive power and
power factor.
5
V. Conclusion
In this work, the voltage and current signals for balanced
three-phase systems with nonsinusoidal conditions are
processed based on Fourier analysis. RMS and phase angle
values related to all harmonics are computed. By using these
values, all terms of active-reactive-apparent powers as well as
power factor are determined for three phase balanced system
based on power calculations in IEEE Standard 1459-2010. The
accurateness of the proposed method was demonstrated by
using simulation and comparative study. The method can be
easily applicable using digital signal processor or
microcontroller.
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