Investigation of Three-Phase Balancing Techniques : A Comparative Study of Different Solutions With Respect to Telecom Industry Needs

In the telecom industry, one-phase rectifiers are commonly used in base stations and site power systems. The abundant of this one phase loads connected to the three-phase network where three-phase installations are required can enhance the amount of unbalances in the three-phase systems. Unbalanced systems can cause the three-phase connections to be out of the norm, i.e. it can be out of the requirements of the distribution company or installation standards and thus shall not be allowed to be connected to the network. Additionally, unbalance can cause problems in terms of energy loss in kWh, greenhouse emissions, which can also impose specific standards and guidelines for three-phase electricity users and manufacturers. Those problems are addressed in the literature. This thesis investigates the requirements and standards for phase balancing in three-phase installations and uncovers solutions to mitigate these unbalances in the perspective of the telecom industry. Through market investigation, the knowledge and solutions to this day have been found and summarized, which is then used to further dig into the technical understanding of phase balancing techniques. The investigation shows that there is only a small market that requests and has standards for phase balancing of loads. The different solutions evaluated and modelled shows they can mitigate the load balancing issue in three-phase installation likey to a specific limit according to required standards