On the selection of the “best” test waveform for calibrating electrical instruments under nonsinusoidal conditions

The paper deals with a test method, based on the generation of signals with known and pre-assigned harmonic content, for calibrating measurement devices to be used under nonsinusoidal conditions. The attention is concentrated on selecting the most suitable waveforms for the characterization of measurement instruments, by considering both the amplitude and the relative phase of the different harmonics. The aim is to identify the situations that cause, more than others do, uncertainty problems while measuring different quantities. This investigation is theoretically performed by means of a number of numerical simulations, in which pre-defined values for each uncertainty source have been added to the voltage and current acquisition channels