A rapid voltage change (RVC) is a type of power-quality (PQ) disturbance that has not received sufficient attention in the international PQ standards. Presently, EC 61000-4-30, Ed. 3, defines a precise method for RVC detection and analysis. RVCs can cause or contribute to flicker. However, the existing studies on the subject have not found a correlation between the short-term flicker severity index Pst and the parameters of an RVC event. This paper provides an interpretation of this lack of correlation and shows that instead there is a correlation of RVC events with the instantaneous flicker sensation P _inst . This work is based on the analysis of both simulated waveforms containing RVCs and waveforms recorded in low-voltage and medium-voltage locations.

The purpose of the present paper is to evaluate the sensitivity of modern lighting technologies to different types of RVCs. In order to do that, 27 modern lamps—mainly LED—have been subjected to real RVCs and their response has been assessed. The detection of RVCs on the grid has been performed according to the IEC 61000-4-30 detection method, while the response of the lamps has been measured with a light flickermeter and characterized using the instantaneous flicker perception, as defined in IEC 61000-4-15. The obtained results show a high dispersion in the response of the modern lighting technologies and high values of flicker perception, although with a lower sensitivity than the incandescent lamp. The results led the authors to propose the definition of a new immunity test to be added to the lamp immunity protocol IEC TR-61547-1, to ensure that newly produced lamps cause limited irritation to grid users.

This paper presents an analysis of the flicker assessment by block 5 of the International Electrotechnical Commission (IEC) flickermeter. We compare the values provided by the IEC flickermeter from field measurements and the complaints from the customers. We also analyze the behavior of the IEC flickermeter when subject to signals containing nonuniform rectangular fluctuations. Finally, as it is not easy to find a consistent relationship between the true annoyance and the flicker severity, we describe some laboratory subjective tests with a small group of people, carried out to assign a true quantitative value of annoyance to a nonuniform light fluctuation from real situations. Block 5 of the IEC flickermeter derives its estimate of the annoyance accurately only for uniform fluctuations. In realistic conditions, when the voltage fluctuations are not uniform but have varying frequencies and amplitudes, the IEC flickermeter does not assess the true flicker annoyance precisely.