Modeling harmonic amplification effects of modern household devices

Nonlinear devices are usually put under the spotlight of harmonic analysis as the main sources of harmonic distortion within residential low voltage grids. Nevertheless, household equipment that is commonly expected to draw almost sinusoidal currents, i.e. devices with single-phase motors, photo-voltaic inverters, etc., can produce significant levels of current harmonics under distorted supply voltage. In order to address the effects of harmonic amplification featured by linear equipment this paper proposes time-domain harmonic models of photo-voltaic inverter, single-phase induction motor and lighting fixture with magnetic ballast. These structured models are then converted into simplified generic ones thus enabling their use in resource-intensive network simulations. By the way of illustration, simulations for low voltage residential grids of single-family houses and office building are produced and analyzed.