A contribution to establish proceedings for quantification of voltage harmonic distortion in commercial buildings

This article presents the results of measuring made in business buildings in a range of 1 up to 24 days. The statistic treatment of the data allows the establishment of a typical period that best characterizes the harmonic distortions in a given building. Moreover, it evaluates some points as choosing one phase to represent the others. The frequency of measurement is also one topic of the analyses. Following all the data collected was evaluated based by the limits proposed by international standards: IEEE, European and Brazilian Recommendation. Based on these analyses, we conclude that, for commercial charges, measures made from 2:00pm up to 6:00pm in a typical day and spaced by 15 minutes are sufficient for quantifying the voltage harmonic distortions. Although these results may not be immediately applied for other kinds of charges, the methodology presented can be useful for companies and professionals interested in the quantification and the qualification of the harmonic distortion of voltage and current.