A feasibility study of the classical computational model used to represent power capacitors by comparing the simulation response and the real power capacitors response tested in a controlled laboratory environment

This paper has as aim to present a comparative study between the classic power capacitors model implemented in the software dedicated to power quality analysis and the real power capacitors response tested in a controlled laboratory environment. This classic model is composed by a resistance connected in series with a capacitive element and is not sensitive to harmonic distortion. MATLAB - Simulink was used to model the system's components and to simulate the processes. The two regular technologies applied to manufactured power capacitors, well-known as "all-film" capacitor and as metalized polypropylene capacitor, were used for the laboratory tests. The simulation results were analyzed and compared to the laboratory tests data. Results show that the classical model capacitor has excellent accuracy when fed by a sinusoidal waveform. However, when fed by a nonsinusoidal waveform, it has demonstrated limitations that will be reported in this paper.