What is unbalance?

Any deviation in voltage and current waveform from perfect sinusoidal, in terms of
magnitude or phase shift is termed as unbalance. In ideal conditions i.e. with only linear
loads connected to the system, the phases of power supply are 120 degree apart in terms
of phase angle and magnitude of their peaks should be same. On distribution level, the
load imperfections cause current unbalance which travel to transformer and cause
unbalance in the three phase voltage. Even minor unbalance in the voltage at transformer
level disturbs the current waveform significantly on all the loads connected to it. Not
only in the distribution side but through the transformer, voltage unbalances disturbs the
high voltage power system as well.
Causes of unbalance
Practical imperfections which can result in unbalances are:-
1. A three phase equipment such as induction motor with unbalance in its windings. If
the reactance of three phases is not same, it will result in varying current flowing in
three phases and give out system unbalance.
– With continuous operation, motor’s physical environment cause degradation of rotor
and stator windings. This degradation is usually different in different phases, affecting
both, the magnitude and phase angel of current waveform.
– A current leakage from any phase through bearings or motor body provides floating
earth at times, causing fluctuating current.
2. Any large single phase load, or a number of small loads connected to only one phase
cause more current to flow from that particular phase causing voltage drop on line.
3. Switching of three phase heavy loads results in current and voltage surges which
cause unbalance in the system.
4. Unequal impedances in the power transmission or distribution system cause
differentiating current in three phases.
How to calculate unbalance –
Unbalance is calculated in terms of maximum deviation of current in a phase from the
mean of three phases. To calculate the percentage deviation- [1]

Where- Im is mean of currents in three phases (i.e. Im= (Ir+Iy+Ib)/3

Ir, Iy, Ib are phase currents.
Besides, an unbalance can also be quantified by comparing the intensity of negative
sequence currents in comparison to the positive sequence currents. The permissible limit
in terms of percentage of negative phase sequence current over positive sequence current
is 1.3% ideally but acceptable upto 2%. [2]

Effects of unbalance:
1. The unbalance decreases the motor efficiency by causing extra heating in the motor.
Heat generated also effect the equipment life by increasing the operating temperature,
which decompose the grease or oil in the bearing and de-rate the motor windings.
2. In induction motors connected to unbalanced supply, the negative sequence currents
flow along with positive sequence current resulting in decreased percentage of
productive current and poor motor efficiency. Any unbalance above 3% hampers the
motor efficiency.
3. Torque (and thus the speed) produced by the motor becomes fluctuating. These
sudden changes in torque cause more vibration in the gear box or the equipment
connected to it. The vibration and noise produced damages the equipment and also
reduces the efficiency of equipment.
4. The variable frequency or speed drives connected to an unbalanced system can trip
off. VFD treats high level unbalances as phase fault and can trip on earth fault or missing
phase fault.
5. Unbalances cause de-rating of power cables and thus increase I2R losses in the cable.
For distribution cables de-rating factor represents the part of total current giving fruitful
outcomes.
6. UPS or inverter supplies also perform with poor efficiency and inject more harmonic
currents in case of unbalances in the system.
7. Negative phase sequence current flowing due to unbalance can cause faults in the
motor, resulting in, tripping or permanent damage of the electrical equipment.
Quantifying the losses-
An unbalance of 1% is acceptable as it doesn’t affect the cable. But above 1% it
increases linearly and at 4% the de-rating is 20%. This implies that- 20% of the current
[3]

flowing in the cable will be unproductive and thus the copper losses in the cable will
increase by 25% at 4% unbalance.
1. For motors, an unbalance of 5% will result in capacity reduction by 25%. That [4]

means, the motor current will increase to match the equipment’s torque needs which
will result in proportional copper losses in motor. The voltage unbalance of 3% increase
the heating by 20% for an induction motor. [4]

2. The resistance for negative sequence current is 1/6th of the positive sequence curre nt
which means a small unbalance in voltage waveform will give more current and thus
losses.[4]

Effects on the distribution Transformer-

Transformer offers high reactance to negative phase sequence currents and thus reduces
the level of unbalance on the other side of the system.
– Ideally any distribution transformer gives best performance at 50% loading and every
electrical distribution system is designed for it. But in case of unbalance the loading
goes over 50% as the equipments draw more current.
– Following data represents the efficiency of transformer under different loading
conditions- [5]

1. Full Load- 98.1%

2. Half Load- 98.64%
3. Unbalanced loads- 96.5%
For a distribution transformer of 200KVA rating, the eddy currents accounts for 200W
but in case of 5% voltage unbalance they can rise upto 720W. [5]

Control Measures-
1. All the single phase loads should be distributed on the three phase system such that
they put equal load on three phases.
2. Replacing the disturbing equipments i.e. with unbalanced three phase reactance.
3. Reducing the harmonics also reduces the unbalance, which can be done by installing
reactive or active filters. These filters reduce the negative phase sequence currents by
injecting a compensating current wave.
4. In case the disturbing loads cannot be replaced or repaired, connect them with high
voltage side this reduces the effects in terms of percentage and even controlled
disturbance in low voltage side.
5. Motors with unbalanced phase reactance should be replaced and re-winded.
To identify the exact reasons for unbalance, Zenatix recommends metering at different
loads in the distribution. Zenatix can collect high resolution data from these metering
locations and analyze it to identify the exact causes and control measures that c an result
in improvement in the unbalance. Further, such detailed metering will provide data that
can be used to identify other wastages that happen in the day to day operations of a
facility thus providing further benefits of the installed solution.
Case Study-
For further clarification on the voltage and current unbalance, three phase currents of
two of the zenatix’s customers were analyzed. For the purpose of case study, we can
name the two clients as client1 & client2.
First, the readings of three phase currents were taken at the frequency of 15 minutes for
a month. Then we need to remove the readings during non-working hours too, as during
such times load current will be quite low and thus a current unbalance of only 2 -3 amps
can shown very high percentage unbalance. After refining the data, percentage of
unbalance was calculated by running simulation on R-software. As all the readings
mentioned are taken at the duration of 15 minutes, we got percentage unbalance reading s
for the whole month with the frequency of 15 minutes. These continuous readings were
then plotted.
It is clear by only looking at the plot that for client1’s system is more balanced as
compared to client2’s. Further analysis was done for getting consolidated data on what
is maximum unbalance, what is the average unbalance and which phase is causing it.
Following data was tabulated based on the results obtained after analysis.

Fig.1 – Shows the plot of percentage unbalance with time for zenatix’s client with
balanced system.
Fig.2 – Shows the plot of percentage unbalance with time for zenatix’s client with
balanced system.
Fig.3 -Shows the comparison between the system of two clients.
References-
[1] – De-rating of Induction Motors Operating with a Combination of Unbalanced
Voltages and Over- or Under-voltages- P.Pillay, Jean Newell Distinguished Professor
in Engineering, Clarkson University AND P.Hofmann, Manager of Power Quality ,
Manhattan, NY. [2]- Limits for Voltage Unbalance in the Electricity Supply System,
Version 1.0, 30th November 2005, Prepared by- Abu Dhabi Distribution Company, Al
Ain Distribution Company and RASCO. [3]- CHK GridSense PTY Ltd. Suite 102, 25
Angas Street, Meadowbank, NSW 2114, Australia-
GridSense.com [4]- http://www.larsentoubro.com/lntcorporate/ebg/html/negative_sequ
ence.html [5]- http://www.iaeng.org/publication/IMECS2011/IMECS2011_pp948-
952.pdf