Welcome to Harmonic Solutions Oil & Gas, a company specialising in the provision of oilfield power quality (PQ) and EMI consulting, site services, monitoring and mitigation solutions for harmonics, power quality and aspects of EMC based problems including common mode voltage.
Harmonic Solutions Oil and Gas is a division of Sentinel Power Quality Group FZC, based in the United Arab Emirates and thus ideally located for worldwide mobilisation to sites, offshore and onshore. The PQ engineering staff at Harmonic Solutions Oil & Gas have over 30 years of direct global experience in all fields of power quality across a wide spectrum onshore and offshore installations.
Unacceptable power quality on land-rigs, offshore drilling rigs, drill-ships, offshore platforms, FPSOs and other installations can have serious, detrimental effects as to safety, operational integrity, productivity and profitability.
Most offshore installations, Mobile Offshore Drilling Units (MODU (have recommended and artificial lift systems have limits for harmonic voltage distortion (THDu) set by the standard authorities (e.g. IEC or IEEE) or marine classification bodies such as ABS, DVNGL and LR during the design process and classification, usually based on a maximum recommended limit of 5% or 8% Uthd, depending on the type/class of installation. However, these limits can often be exceeded by up to 3-4 times the recommended class limit.
Line notching due to SCR (DC) drive commutation can result in spurious zero crossovers and repetitive voltage spikes, the latter due to interaction with stray capacitance. The problems are exacerbated when no AC line reactors are installed, resulting in high frequency notching voltage harmonics (~2kHz-9kHz) which can damage active filters and other equipment if special precautions are not enacted.
High frequency common mode voltage between phases and ground, an EMC issue due to variable frequency drives (VFDs) can be very damaging, disruptive and dangerous. The accompanying high frequency common mode current can destroy the bearings, via micro-arcs of current, on both VFD fed and fixed speed motors connected to the same ground (i.e. the hull).
The oilfields, offshore installations and drilling rig are one of the most challenging and arduous electrical environments in the world.
Our objective…
The primary objective of this website is to provide information on some of the most common offshore and oilfield power quality problems and to direct clients and customers to the range of specialist services and solutions provided by Harmonic Solutions Oil & Gas to resolve these problems. Correct diagnosis of harmonics, power quality and EMC issues are of fundamental importance in the provision of equitable and cost-effective solutions.
Education is the key to understanding harmonics and related issues. This website permits the downloading of technical information in the subject areas pertaining to harmonics and associated power quality issues including EMC issues, whether through dedicated site information, the provision of editorials and interesting technical papers and publications.
