Investigation and mitigation of harmonics from electric arc furnaces

This paper investigates the harmonics produced from electric arc furnace (EAF) operation. It gives an example of arc furnace modeling as a harmonic voltage source. The total harmonic distortion of the voltage and the current at the point of common coupling (PCC) are addressed and the need to alleviate this distortion to cope with IEEE 519 recommended limits is discussed. The effect of arc length variation on the main electrical parameters of concern such as arc power, power factor and total harmonic distortion is investigated. Also, a sensitivity study to determine the effect of applying a capacitor bank alone on the voltage and current total harmonic distortion is presented.