Light intensity immunity performance of LED street lamps under power quality disturbances

Abstract

An increasing application of LED street lamps brings out an important question regarding their immunity against power quality disturbances. The behaviour of commonly used lighting equipment such as incandescent lamps, compact fluorescent lamps (CFL), and gas-discharge lamps is known. However, knowledge on immunity of LED based lighting equipment is still limited, particularly in street lighting aspect. In this paper, immunity of LED street lamps is determined for voltage dips, short interruptions, voltage fluctuations and supraharmonics. A series of experiments has been performed with respect to test levels defined in IEC 61000-4-11, IEC 61000-4-15 and IEC 61000-4-19. Voltage dips and short interruptions cause higher short-term light flicker severity values that might lead to unintended consequences for car drivers and pedestrians. Interharmonics can result in light flicker, but the impact is very limited, only one lamp exceeds the limits. Supraharmonics impact the current but have minor impact on the visible light. The supraharmonic current can be 25 times nominal. This could decrease the lifetime of equipment