Instrumentation

An oscilloscope from Yokogawa is proving integral to tests carried out by Swedish company, Harmonizer Power Quality AB, providers of power-quality services for industrial and utility customers.

The DL850 ScopeCorder is used in the synchronised switching of high-voltage filter banks: in particular, programming and checking the functioning of the synchronising device and the circuit breaker.

Harmonizer’s services include measurements of active and reactive power, power factor, current and voltage variations, harmonics and transients. Typical applications include analysing the best location for reactive power compensation in a network, calculating regulation cycles for optimum harmonic and power flow control, sizing capacitor banks for shunt or series compensation, calculating and designing harmonic filters for the suppression of harmonic distortion, and sizing surge arresters for transient over-voltage limitation.

Previously, the Harmonizer engineers had used test instruments such as conventional network analysers and digital storage oscilloscopes (DSOs), but found that these were inadequate due to their limitations in terms of time resolution, accuracy and numbers of channels. They required an instrument combining multi-channel capability with high measurement accuracy, high sample rate and time resolution along with good display quality and the ability to zoom in on the fine detail of measured waveforms.

The oscilloscope has isolated inputs that enable it to be used for high-voltage measurements using standard probes with no additional signal conditioning hardware. In addition, the instrument’s display and zoom capabilities make it easy for the user to examine short events in recordings taken over a longer period of time. The unit is portable and measurement data can be downloaded via various communications interfaces, including a USB connection to a PC.

Yokogawa               

www.tmi.yokogawa.com