What kinds of power quality problems are likely to affect office buildings?
Modern office buildings rely on a range of automated control technologies to provide facility management functions extending from temperature control to security and power use. While the control technologies typically improve building performance and tenant satisfaction, they are vulnerable to power quality problems. Among the types of issues confronting office building managers are the following: • Harmonic Distortion Repeated failure of electrical distribution equipment severely affected tenants of an office building with personal computers, terminals, copiers and other electronic office equipment. Circuit breakers were tripping, electrical connectors were burning out, and a distribution transformer overheated and failed. Although these problems were symptomatic of overload conditions, initial measurements showed current readings that did not exceed equipment ratings. Further investigation showed severe current distortions caused by the typical switching mode power supplies used by t
