Estudio de la distorsión armónica de corriente del Hotel Old Town Quito Suites producida por la inclusión de calentadores de agua del tipo inductivo y determinación de acciones correctivas

Abstract

Nowadays, there are some alternatives available for water heating in residential, commercial and industrial installations; one option is electric induction water heaters due to their compact size and easy installation. The present project is carried out an analysis of the harmonics generated in the electrical network due to the use of induction water heaters. The case study presented is from the Old Town Quito Suites Hotel, located in downtown Quito, whose business line is the temporary rental of apartments in which induction heaters are available in each apartment. For the development of the study, measurements were made with FLUKE 435 equipment owned by the Salesian Polytechnic University, under the provisions of Regulation No. ARCONEL 005/18. Measurements were taken at two points of the hotel seven continuous days with a record every ten minutes; the first measurement point was at the meter board to which there is an express connection from transformer No. 49474 located in a nearby transformation chamber. The second measurement point was at a secondary express circuit that connects directly to a water heater. In addition, a study was made of the quality of the product accessed by the user from the distribution company. The results obtained in terms of electric power quality from the consumer's responsibility reflect a problem with the harmonic distortion of current, the presence of harmonics of even and odd order out of the desired limits was evidenced. To provide a solution to this problem, a passive filter tuned to the frequency of the predominant harmonic is designed so that the harmonic is eliminated and the whole system is within the limits for the total demand distortion. Similarly, the individual analysis of the circuit belonging to the induction heater is performed, where problems with harmonics of different order are evidenced, for this case the application of a tuned passive filter did not present a viable solution. However, the incidence of this circuit does not representatively affect the performance of the entire system due to the reduced usage times of it. In the case of product quality, it is observed that all the indexes under analysis are within the limits established by regulation No. ARCONEL 005/18 and it is not necessary to take corrective actions. Finally, an economic analysis is carried out for the inclusion of tuned passive filters, with which it would be possible to improve the quality of the current wave in the low-voltage network of the Hotel Old Town Quito Suites, which leads to a notable improvement in the total harmonic distortion.