by Larry Ray, P.E. & Louis Hapeshis, P.E.

This paper provides an overview of harmonic considerations for designing industrial and commercial electric power distribution systems. These power systems must serve a combination of loads, many of which produce non-sinusoidal current when energized from a sinusoidal AC voltage source. While conventional power distribution systems accommodate a significant amount of non-sinusoidal current, the design engineer can utilize existing IEEE guidelines and basic software tools to avoid some special circuit and load configurations that exacerbate harmonic distortion problems.