Study of financial losses due to harmonic distortion in a Telephone Switiching Office

This paper is intended to introduce an estimate of the financial losses resulting from the harmonic distortion from the analysis of the measurements in the field in a self-generating system consisting of a three-phase alternator driven by diesel engine oil in a Telephone Switching Office. The analysis took into account the Joule effect losses increased by the presence of harmonic components and the skin effect associated with the consequent increasing of the resistance. In addition, it presents a proposal for economic resizing of the conductors connecting the alternator to the main alternating current distribution board. A second proposal, namely three-phase filters implementation, is also presented. The data were obtained with a three-phase power quality analyzer.