A Study on Direct Reduction of Harmonics of Ultra High Power AC Arc Furnaces in Uneasy Mode of Operation

An arc furnace (AF) transformer is extensively subjected to harmonics generated by furnace. To mitigate this, filters are installed usually at AF primary terminals. In this scenario, the harmful current components, namely, the furnace-generated harmonics, the unbalanced, and reactive current, contribute to the transformer energy loss. This loss can be reduced if the filter is installed at the secondary terminals of the AF transformer. This article investigates and validates the furnace performance when the reactive current compensation and harmonic mitigation is implemented on the secondary side of AF transformer. The studies were performed using a real-time simulator OPAL-RT. Results from these studies can significantly enhance our understanding of the impact of filter installed at the furnace terminals