POWER MEASUREMENT IN THREE-PHASE SYSTEM

Sunday, 17 November 2024 12:35 am

BALANCED THREE-PHASE POWER EQUATIONS

Where:

POWER MEASUREMENT IN A THREE-PHASE SYSTEM

• One-wattmeter Method - used to measure total "balanced" power when two

wattmeters are not available to measure the total power. This may be accomplished in
one of several ways:

○ T-Method:

In this scheme the current coil of the wattmeter is inserted in one line, and one
of the potential-coil terminals is connected to the same line. The other potential-
coil terminals is then fastened to the junction of a pair of equal resistors, the free
ends of which go to the other lines.
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 ends of which go to the other lines.

○ Artificial Neutral Method:

In a balanced three-phase system, a single wattmeter measures phase A power

, and the total power for wye-connected loads equals 3 . If equal resistors
form a star connection across the source, their neutral (O) matches the load's
neutral potential, allowing accurate measurement regardless of the potential-
coil lead's position.

Figure B shows an artificial neutral setup using wye-connected resistors,

enabling power measurement even for delta loads, as they can be treated as
wye-equivalent. The method is accurate for balanced loads, regardless of
connection type.

○ Potential Lead-shift Method:

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 The potential-lead shift method uses wattmeter with the current coil in one line
(e.g., A) and the potential coil alternately connected to lines B and C. The total
circuit power is the sum of the two deflections .

measures power across lines A and B represented by

While measures power across A and C

The total power is , regardless of the phase sequence

or power factor.

It should, however, be pointed out that the relative magnitudes of and , and
whether one or the other reading is plus or minus, will depend upon the phase
sequence, and the value and kind (lagging or leading) of the power factor.

○ Current Transformer Method:

A direct method for measuring total power in a balanced three-phase system

uses two current transformers and a single wattmeter. The wattmeter's current
coil carries the geometric difference of the transformer secondary currents,

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 coil carries the geometric difference of the transformer secondary currents,
displaced by the power-factor angle. It directly registers total power as
, unlike the artificial-neutral and T-methods, which measure only a
fraction of the total power.

• Two-wattmeter Method - used to measure power drawn by a three-phase, three-wire

system.

○ For balanced system:

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 Where:

Note: If is negative, you can carry the negative sign.

Consider the following:

□ If power factor = 1.0, both Wattmeter reads positive:

□ If power factor > 0.5, both readings are positive

□ If power factor = 0.5, only one wattmeter gives reading, other will not
read

□ If power factor < 0.5, only one wattmeter will read positive and other
will give reversed reading (i.e. negative)

○ For unbalanced system:

Consider the first Wattmeter's current coil in line A, and potential coil between lines A
and C. While the second Wattmeter's current coil in line b and potential coil between
lines B and C. The Wattmeter readings will be:

• Three-wattmeter Method - used to measure power drawn by a three-phase, four-wire

system.

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BLONDEL'S THEOREM:
States that the minimum number of wattmeter required to measure power in a polyphase
system is "ONE-LESS" than the number of wires in the system.

Example 1:
Two wattmeter are used to measure the power of a balanced wye-connected load
having an impedance per phase of across a line voltage of 208 Volts,
3-phase, 60Hz. What are the readings of the meter and the total power consume
by the load.

Solution:

Construct the circuit diagram and solve the problems.

To Check:

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Example 2:
A balanced delta connected load has its power measured by two wattmeter
method. Wattmeter 1 reads 1,300 Watts, while Wattmeter 2 reads 2,600 Watts.
If the load were connected across a 260 volts, 3-phase, 60-Hz source. Determine
the line current, the power factor of the load and the impedance per phase of the
load.

Solution:

Example 3:
A 10kVA, 0.8 lagging power factor, 230 volts load was connected across a 230
volts, 3-phase source. If the power is to be measured using two wattmeter where
wattmeter A has its current coil on line A and its potential coil at line A and C.

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wattmeter A has its current coil on line A and its potential coil at line A and C.
Wattmeter B, however, had its current coil on line B and its potential coil at line
B and C. Determine the reading of the wattmeter if the sequence is ABC and
using Van as reference vector.

Solution:

Phase sequence: ABC

Line to Neutral Voltages:

Line to line Voltages:

But we need

Solving for load current:

Solving the values of the Wattmeter:

Example 4:
A balanced wye-connected load having an impedance per-phase of 5+j8.66
ohms is rated and connected to a per phase voltages of 120 Volts, 60Hz source.

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ohms is rated and connected to a per phase voltages of 120 Volts, 60Hz source.
If the power of the system is to be measured using two wattmeter method,
determine the readings of the wattmeter and the total power if:

• Wattmeter A having its current coil leads along "B" has its potential coil
across line "B" and "A" while Wattmeter B has its current coil along line "C"
and its potential coil across line "C" and "A", and;
• Wattmeter A having its current coil leads along "A" has its potential coil
across line "A" and "B" while Wattmeter B has its current coil along line "C"
and its potential coil across line "C" and "B".

Assume a phase sequence of ABC and use Van as the reference vector.

Solution:

Using Van as the reference vector:

Line to line Voltages:

Alternative solution:

Solving item A:

To solve for line current :

Since the current lags the voltage then,

In polar form:

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In polar form:

Since we need then

The reading of the wattmeter A will be:

The reading of the wattmeter B will be:

Solving item B:

Since we need then

The reading of the wattmeter A will be:

The reading of the wattmeter B will be:

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