Mitigation of harmonics in a 6 kV and 650 kW motor

Motors that work with high voltage and consume a lot of power, specifically those of 6 kV and 650 kW, generate harmonics of voltage and current harmful to the electro-energy system, causing problems in its correct operation. In this study, the quality of the electrical energy of a motor having those characteristics is analyzed by measuring voltage, current intensity, power factor, active power, reactive power, as well as voltage and current harmonics. Results show that the main problem lies in the fact that the total current harmonic distortion reached a value of 17.1%, which is above the maximum value permissible according to the standard for the motor object of study. However, the total voltage harmonic distortion resulted within the allowable values, reaching a maximum of 3.3%. To mitigate the harmful effects of the total current harmonic distortion, passive and active filters were designed and simulated to improve the motor's operation and solve the problems. For the design and simulation of the filters, MATLAB R2015a software and LabView 2014 software were used.