Digital Flickermeter design and implementation based on IEC Standard

• Main Authors: Fregosi, Daniel, White, Leonard W, Green, Eric, Bhattacharya, Subhashish, Watterson, Jason
• Format: Conference Proceeding
• Language: English
• Subjects: Calibration; Field programmable gate arrays; Instruments; Lighting; Low pass filters; Matched filters; Measurement; Modeling; Optical filters; Power Quality; Programming
• ISSN: 2329-3721; 2329-3748
• DOI: 10.1109/ECCE.2010.5618422

The present work describes the design and implementation of a IEC 61000-4-15 digital Flickermeter on a National Instruments CompactRIO Controller; the Flickermeter is configured for use on 120 VAC, 60 Hz systems. The IEC Flickermeter Standard defines an instrument that quantifies human perception of the magnitude and frequency of voltage change supplied to a gas-filled filament lamp with a single `perceived flicker' value. A physical instrument for use in measuring the level of flicker that might appear in real-world scenarios is described. The instrument is a faithful reproduction of the Flickermeter defined by the IEC Standard. The Flickermeter has been validated by importing calibration points through a file stored in the processor's memory. Additionally, a physical calibrator with the necessary accuracy was implemented on a separate CompactRIO Controller, allowing validation through the use of a physical signal. The digital Flickermeter, as tested, is in full compliance with the IEC 61000-4-15 Standard meeting mandated error rates at all test points.