As part of the National Electrical Safety Campaign 2020, series of webinars are being organized by CEA, BIS, ICA India and IEEMA. A recent webinar, held on 16th Oct 2020, addressed the issue of ‘Power Quality and Electrical Safety in Buildings’ through a panel of National /International Experts. APQI is glad to share the background note, expert presentations and webinar recordings with the larger APQI community, to have an insightful learning, and sharing to make India electrically safer with better PQ environment.
BACKGROUND NOTE
Electricity is key to Life in modern society. However, it can be dangerous if handled improperly. With greater reach of electricity to common people, the risk of their exposure to electrical accidents has increased. It has been observed that a high percentage of the fatality occurs due to electrical accidents in the low voltage level i.e. 33 kV and below, which is very close to the common public. For employees in the Power sector, safety precautions are necessary when working with or near electricity, to significantly reduce the risk of electrical injury to themselves and others. But for user often the ignorance and lack of remedies makes it highly onerous.
There are key standards and codes existing in our country to enhance electrical safety. This is further backed up by stringent regulations. But often it is found that thorough observation of codes and standards and adherence to regulations in force is lagging. This has made India ‘electrically unsafe’ and we see rapid increase in cases of electrical accidents, electrical fire and electrical shock causing damage to life and property. Modern digital society further is heavily dependent on power electronic driven equipment and devices which are not only susceptible to premature damage or failure due to poor power quality environment but also themselves responsible for causing poor power quality environment. This too is an area highly misunderstood and or not understood at all by users who are exposed to electrical safety hazard due to various PQ issues like low voltage, unbalance, harmonic, compromised earthing etc.
Poor power quality not only creates disturbance in the electricity distribution system affecting customer service and/or utility meeting key performance standards but also has financial impacts on a country’s economy. Some recent study estimated economic loss of INR 6000 crore is caused by poor PQ. A Power grid study, based on measurements carried out in 175 cities/towns at different voltage levels, showed presence of high content of voltage harmonics at 65 cities/towns, for a duration ranging up to 4% of time. Transmission system voltages and current were found to be rich in 5th & 7th harmonics. Whereas LT level was found to have high content of 3rd harmonics. Voltage unbalance exceeding permissible limit (for short durations) were observed at 79 cities/towns during the field measurement. Many instances of voltage sag/dip were also observed in the transmission network. Higher value of flicker that gives an impression of instability in the visual sensation were observed mainly in the LT supply almost all the cities/town across the country.
On the other hand, at end consumers’ level, Power quality parameters measured on commonly used appliances used in the offices and homes show their non-linear nature, which in turn reflects in the form of high content of current harmonics. It has been observed that these appliances draw current rich in odd harmonics such as 3rd, 5th, 7th, and so on in the diminishing order of magnitude. Further, high content of harmonics was also observed in the current/voltage of the supply feeder of offices and apartments (at 415V) along with large values of neutral current. These are tale tell signs of compromising electrical safety eco system.
As part of National Electrical Safety Campaign 2020, series of webinars are being organized and a recent webinar held on 16th Oct addressed the issue of Power Quality and Electrical Safety through a panel of National /International Experts, also part of APQI national support network, who shared their thoughts and offered their insights on how do we address this domain of making India ‘Electrically Safe by making our Power Quality environment better’ especially when it comes to high rise buildings and commercial buildings striving for sustainable goals with 3600 views.
PANEL OF EXPERTS
A.S. Bakshi
CERC & Chairperson, CEA - Former Member – Technical
Download Presentation:
N-K-Jain_Power-quality-Safety-in-Buildings-Webinar.pdf
N.K. Jain
N.K. Jain Consulting Engineers - Owner
Mr. N.K. Jain holds a Bachelor’s Degree in Electrical Engineering from BITS, Pilani (1972) and Master’s Degree from IIT, Mumbai (1973). He is a Life Member of Indian Nuclear Society and Fellow Life Member of Consulting Electrical Engineers Association of Maharastra, India (CEEMA).
He has professional work experience of more than 47 years in designing, installation, testing and commissioning of Electrical Distribution Systems and other utility services for industrial, commercial and IT facilities.
He is running his own design consultancy firm by the name of N. K. Jain Consulting Engineers in Mumbai and has successfully designed and executed more than 500 projects comprising of IT facilities.
Download Presentation:
Rajen-Mehta_EFPT-PQ-Issues-in-High-Rise-Buildings.pdf
Rajen Mehta
Efficienergi Consulting Pvt. Ltd. - CEO
Holds a BE degree from Mumbai University
Masters in I.E. from University of Missouri Columbia, US, Fellow Institute of Engineers, Chartered Engineer (Electrical).
He has over 20 years of experience at various levels and currently, CEO at Efficienergi Consulting Pvt. Ltd. He currently is the CEO at Efficienergi Consulting Pvt Ltd. His expertise spans designing, manufacturing, deploying and commissioning advanced power conditioning solutions to conducting advanced power system studies. He is also proficient in developing software and hardware based product platforms for solving complex concerns in the Power quality and electromagnetic environment which affect reliability, safety and efficiency of power systems of facilities.
Download Presentation:
PQ-and-electrical-safety-in-hospitals-and-high-rise-buildings_Dr-Venkatesh.pdf
Dr. Venkatesh
TDK Electronics - Vice President
He holds BE (Electronics & Electrical) from REC Trichy, Master in High Voltage Engineering from Anna University and Doctoral degree from Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore
He has more than 30 years of experience in Research and Development and Business Management.
He has 15 patents, 11 design registrations and more than 50 papers to his credit and has delivered over 100 invited lectures in India and abroad. He was one of the invited speakers at the Innovation for Cool Earth Forum (ICEF), Tokyo.
His expertise areas include R & D of power products, high voltage engineering, Power Quality, Diagnostic testing and condition monitoring, Technology & innovation management, product life cycle analysis, large scale integration of RE into power grid, CDM, sustainable development and low carbon economy, energy conservation / energy efficiency and T & D technologies.