Hilbert–Huang Transform Based Approach for Measurement of Voltage Flicker Magnitude and Frequency

Abstract

Voltage flicker is a non-stationary waveform for which direct spectral analysis is not appropriate. To overcome this difficulty, a Hilbert–Huang transform based technique is proposed here. Hilbert–Huang transform is a new signal processing method that can be used in the analysis of non-linear and non-stationary signals. In the suggested method, the recorded voltage signal is decomposed into Hilbert–Huang transform components, namely the empirical mode decomposition and intrinsic mode function components. These components are used in the calculation of the frequency and amplitude of voltage flicker. The clear success of empirical mode decomposition in depicting envelope variations of a sinusoidal waveform has been the main motivation for the adoption of Hilbert–Huang transform in flicker analysis. Simulations are performed over waveforms, including single- and multiple-flicker frequencies and flicker with harmonic, voltage sag, and voltage swell. The waveforms are selected as pure sinusoids, as well as harmonically rich voltage waveforms. Simulation results show that the proposed methodology constitutes a plausible way to analyze voltage flickers, making it an alternative to the available flicker analysis tools.

Keywords:

• voltage flicker
• Hilbert–Huang transformation
• empirical mode decomposition
• power quality analysis

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Yasemin Önal

Yasemin Önal was born in Giresun, Turkey, in 1976. She received her electrical teacher degree from Kocaeli University in 2000 and her Ph.D. from the Electrical and Electronics Engineering Department, Anadolu University, Eskisehir, Turkey, in 2011. She is currently an assistant professor in the Electrical and Electronics Engineering Department, Bilecik Seyh Edebali University, Bilecik, Turkey. Her research areas include power quality analsis and signal processing.

Doğan Gökhan Ece

Doğan Gökhan Ece was born in Ankara, Turkey, in 1964. He received his engineering degree from Istanbul Technical University in 1986 and his M.Sc.and Ph.D. from Vanderbilt University, Nashville, TN, 1990 and 1993, respectively, all in electrical engineering. Currently he is a professor in the Electrical and Electronics Engineering Department in Anadolu University, Eskisehir, Turkey. His research areas include power quality, fault detection, and modeling.

Ömer Nezih Gerek

Ömer Nezih Gerek received his B.Sc., M.Sc., and Ph.D. in electrical engineering from Bilkent University, Ankara, Turkey, in 1991, 1993, and 1998, respectively. During his Ph.D. studies, he spent a semester at the University of Minnesota, Minnesota, USA, as an exchange researcher. Following his Ph.D., he spent one year as a research associate at École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne (EPFL) Lausanne, Switzerland. He is currently a full professor of electrical engineering at Anadolu University, Eskisehir, Turkey. He is on the editorial board of the Turkish Journal of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science and Elsevier's Digital Signal Processing. He is a member of the Electrical, Electronics and Informatics Research Fund Group of the Scientific and Technological Research Council of Turkey. His current research interests include signal processing and analysis.