Audible Noise and High-Voltage Power Capacitors

The world's growing population needs good-quality electric power to be efficiently transported to populated areas. High-voltage power capacitors are an important equipment in substations for efficient transport of energy or its quality improvements. Depending on the load conditions, capacitors may generate substantial amounts of sound, which can be disturbing for the people in the neighborhood. This paper presents a prediction model capable of estimating the audible performance of certain capacitor designs under certain load conditions. The predictions have the same accuracy as can be expected at certified acoustic laboratories (+/- 1.5 dB).