Low voltage is a serious problem which a significant impact on equipment operation and power usage. Low power of Power instability is when the power supply to a unit is below adequate or keeps fluctuating from low to high at intervals. This can be caused by:
- Transients: this is when there is a sharp change in the power supply away from the normal operating level over a short period of time (1 minute).
- Under/over voltage: Under voltage is a drop in voltage over a short period of time which is called brownout sometimes. This can be caused by starting a heavy appliance using a having appliance over a period of time.
While overvoltage is an over increase in voltage supply over a sustainable or short period of time which is caused by a fault in the phase or load adjustment.
There are measures that can be taken to improve the supply of power as instability of power can have a major impact on electrical systems;
- Uninterrupted power supply (UPS), can also help in the quality of power supply to an electrical system by maintaining a stable amount of power supply when the voltage drops or goes up which may affect the system.
- Voltage Optimization; this improves the power supply to a system by reducing the impute voltage supplied to a system.
- Harmonic filtering, line reactors, and other signal conditioning methods can be used to remove or offset harmonics or other sources of noise in a system, improving system performance.
