Instrumentation and methodology for revision of European flicker threshold

• Published in: 10th International Conference on Harmonics and Quality of Power. Proceedings (Cat. No.02EX630) Vol. 1; pp. 262 - 265 vol.1
• Main Authors: Diez, G., Eguiluz, L.I., Manana, M., Lavandero, J.C., Ortiz, A.
• Format: Conference Proceeding
• Language: English
• Published: IEEE 2002
• Subjects: Brain modeling; Fluorescent lamps; Frequency; Humans; Instruments; Photodiodes; Threshold voltage; Tungsten; Voltage fluctuations
• ISBN: 0780376714; 9780780376717
• DOI: 10.1109/ICHQP.2002.1221442

The European standard CENELEC EN 50160 establishes that the severity of flicker caused by voltage fluctuations, under normal operating conditions, will not exceed the long term severity Plt=1 during 95% of the time in one week. This threshold was originally established considering that a lamp with tungsten filament of 60 W and 240 V, produces a flicker perceivable by 50% of the population when it is supplied with a voltage that verifies Plt=1. This work makes an analysis of this threshold, establishing as hypothesis the fact that incandescent lamps have little use nowadays, specially in industrial and commercial environments. In order to make a revision of the current thresholds, we have proposed an electro-optical equipment and the associated methodology. The device simulates the behavior of the eye plus human brain set, avoiding large clinical experiments. A methodology is also proposed in order to characterize the perceptibility threshold of a generic lamp. Finally, the proposed instrumentation and methodology is applied to two types of lamps: incandescent and fluorescent.