Power Quality Disturbances caused by Modern Lighting Equipment (CFL and LED)

The number of compact fluorescent lamps (CFL) and lamps based on Light Emitting Diodes (LED) increases continuously. Compared to the classical incandescent lamps the modern illumination equipment represents non-linear loads that may have impact on the Power Quality in low voltage grids. The network disturbances can be divided in two classes: continuous and transient disturbances. The paper presents the results of an analysis of three disturbance phenomena, namely low order harmonics, higher frequency emission and switch-on currents. Measurement results are presented for more than 150 lamps and possible impact on the grid is discussed with focus on the availability of respective standards. A large part of the analyzed data is organized in a Web-database (PANDA), which was recently developed by the authors as a platform for exchanging harmonic measurements of electronic equipment between laboratories all over the world.