CIRED

17th International Conference on Electricity Distribution

Barcelona, 12-15 May 2003

THE LEONARDO POWER QUALITY INITIATIVE (LPQI), AN INTEGRATED APPROACH

TOWARDS E-LEARNING IN ELECTRICAL ENGINEERING
Johan DRIESEN (1), Hans DE KEULENAER (2), Michel MACHIELS,
Georges DE CORTE (3), Ronnie BELMANS (1)
(1)

Katholieke Universiteit Leuven, Dept. ESAT Div ELECTA

Kasteelpark Arenberg 10, B-3001 Heverlee, Belgium
Johan.Driesen@esat.kuleuven.ac.be
(2)

European Copper Institute (ECI)

Avenue de Tervueren, 168/10, B-1150 Brussels, Belgium
hdk@eurocopper.org
(3)

Union Internationale pour les applications de l'lectricit (UIE)

CNIT - Espace ELEC, 2, Place de la Dfense, BP 10- 92053 Paris la Dfense, France
Michel.Machiels@electrabel.com
(4)

Department Teacher Education

Universiteitsplein 1, B-2610 Wilrijk Antwerpen, Belgium
georges.decorte@ua.ac.be
INTRODUCTION

This paper describes the Leonardo Power Quality Initiative

(LPQI), a EU supported continuous learning project for
professionals dealing with electrical installations. This
project intends to provide adult education on Power Quality
topics intended for end-users. The project motivation and
its educational approach, consisting of application note
development and a distance-learning tool, are outlined.

INTRODUCTION
The paper reports on the progress in the EU-supported
educational project Leonardo Power Quality Initiative
(LPQI). First, the motivation for this project, being the
increasing occurrence of Power Quality related problems and
the lack of understanding of this subject, is explained.
Secondly, the structure and the approach of the project is
outlined. Finally, the educational approach is explained. This
is built on two cornerstones, in particular application notes
and a distance-learning tool.

RATIONALE
Deteriorating Power Quality
The success of power electronics. During the last twenty
years, the number of Power Quality problems has increased
dramatically. These problems concern reliability and
customer supplied voltage quality , such as [1]-[2]:
Continuity: a true blackout makes it impossible for
any application to keep on functioning;
Voltage dips: a short drop in voltage may trip many
devices such as IT-equipment and drives;

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Flicker: a flickering, fast-varying, voltage is a

nuisance as it renders lighting irregulary;
Voltage unbalance: an inequality in the three phases
of the voltage can cause overheating of induction
motors;
Harmonics: the occurrence of higher frequency
components in the current and hence the voltage
may be dangerous: a.o. they can lead to overloaded
motors and transformers, heat up the neutral wire,
and increase the risk in initiating resonance.

The reason for this evolution is mainly the increasing use of

power electronics. Few applications remain that do not
contain some sort of static power converter such as switchedmode power supplies, rectifiers or inverters. They appear in
ICT equipment such as PCs, monitors, printers, faxes, etc.
and devices commonly present in most residential systems.
Also in industrial environments power electronics are
advancing. Typical applications are variable speed drives
based on either DC motors or induction machines. In other
ranges of application such as lighting or electroheat, power
electronics are advancing as well.
In recent years power electronic converters also started to
appear at the generator side. More in particular, in distributed
generation technology, possibly using renewable energy
sources, electrical power is produced at a frequency other
than the grid frequency, so a converter is required: for
instance a photovoltaic inverter or a frequency converter for a
variable speed wind turbine or a high-speed microturbine. It
is expected that this technology will be used more and more
in the distribution grid, with consequences for PQ.
PQ consequences of power electronics. The power
electronic devices in general have a common characteristic:
they behave as a so-called non-linear load (or source) towards

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the grid. This means that even if the voltage would be

perfect, the current may be very distorted, e.g. due to current
harmonics that may cause harmonic voltage distortion and
perhaps neutral conductors overloaded with triplen
harmonics. Hence, the omnipresent power electronic
converters are a large source of PQ problems.
Though, power electronic devices are not the only source of
PQ problems. In practice they prove to be extremely sensitive
to voltage distortions. Drives and computers tend to
malfunction when a small voltage dip occurs or when the
voltage becomes too distorted.
Financial consequences. Power electronics have made many
new applications possible, but often were used to replace
classical loads by more energy-efficient ones. Typical
examples are energy-efficient lights with electronic ballasts
and adjustable speed drives. The saved energy (cost)
eventually pays back the investment.
PQ problems cost European industry many billions of per
year [3]: production and data are lost, with possible long
standstill before initiating a restart, not to mention image
damage. Stocks cannot be filled up, and supply problems
arise for customers. Obviously a PQ problem can be very
expensive, becoming increasingly apparent to organisations
relying heavily on computer systems and networks, e.g.
financial institutions, office buildings, Internet hotels, call
centres and e-commerce businesses.

Barcelona, 12-15 May 2003

Once the problem is identified, a solution can be considered.

Some solutions will demand major investments, for which the
approval of management is needed. Often, these individuals
lack the necessary background to fully appreciate the
problems.
Therefore, the need to develop a sort of post-academic,
practice-oriented continuing PQ education for the decision
makers exists. This education has to address people with
different levels of technical background. A last group
interested in PQ knowledge are regular students who can use
the developed material as a first step into PQ.
EU-Leonardo programme
This technology-driven new direction in electrical systems
clearly calls for a lifelong acquisition of new knowledge by
the people facing PQ problems. The EU has set up the
Leonardo da Vinci Community vocational training action
programme [5] to respond to such demands by means of
modern educational techniques such as e-learning. This
programme, originally started in 1994, is currently in its
second phase and runs from 1 January 2000 to 31 December
2006. The project dealing with PQ education is LPQI: the
Leonardo Power Quality Initiative.

LPQI PROJECT STRUCTURE

Partners

In addition, in many situations where PQ problems arise,

many indirect costs arise. When a certain customer causes a
problem, this is usually felt by other customers at the same
connection point (PCC: point of common coupling), with
potentially harmful consequences. These costs are often not
paid by the actual responsible [4].
Hence, a good insight in all PQ aspects is a necessity in order
to predict, analyse and solve the problem in an intelligent
manner. At this point the necessary know-how often proofs
to be missing in practice.
Lack of Know-How
Obviously, the time when PQ was only a concern of power
station engineers and arc furnaces is long gone. Surprisingly,
in spite of the huge losses caused, PQ has failed to become a
major topic in industry in most European countries.
PQ is a highly complex area with more than a dozen problem
areas for which an even larger number of solutions exist.
Some problems are so complex that even skilled technicians
are at a loss as to how to solve them. The optimal answer is
often a mix of solutions tailored to the specific situation.
Invariably, a detailed understanding of the causes and a
carefully designed solution are necessary to assure the
optimal PQ level. First, the problems need to be roughly
recognized by workers on the floor such as the building and
energy managers and of course technicians.

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The project has the following partners (about 25 in total):

Core partners
o European Copper Institute / Copper
benelux
/
Copper
Development
Association
(UK)
/
Deutsches
Kupferinstitut (D.) / Instituto Italiano del
Rame (I) / Polish Copper Promotion Centre
(P.)
o ECD (Engineering Consulting & Design,
It.)
o K.U.Leuven (B.)
o T.U.Bergamo (It.)
o Wroclaw University of Technology (P.)
o Saarland University of Applied Sciences
(D.)
o Technical University Madrid ETSII (E)
Reference institutional partners, contributing to the
material development
o UIE
o UMIST
o Hogeschool West-Vlaanderen (B.)
20 affiliated partners from industry, in 12 countries
In the LPQI project, the following steps, each confined in a
work package, are identified:

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Step
1:
Literature
review
identification of education gaps

and

Education programmes have, only recently, introduced

modules on power quality. As a result, power engineers,
contractors and installers are confronted in practice with such
new problems, but did not receive the required education and
tools to diagnose and solve them at the time. In this module,
the current education programmes are compared to find out
how far PQ matters are taught.
Secondly, the information available for these professionals,
for instance in magazines or on websites, was checked in
order to find out the status of PQ knowledge spreading.
Step 2: Application library
A practical and comprehensive library of application notes,
covering all relevant aspects of PQ and EMC in buildings is
developed. An editorial board, with academic as well as
industrial partners is pooling knowledge of market needs and
best engineering practice to deliver a structured library of
training modules, reference documents, application notes and
troubleshooting guides.
Step 3: E-learning
The major novelty of the project is the development of a webbased distance-learning interface. Based on experiences from
e-learning experts dealing with adult learning processes,
Internet technology specialists and academia, a compatible
interactive web-application supporting the continuous
learning process is developed. The e-learning interface is
designed to provide complex content (40-50 hours of
education) in 9 different languages in a cost-effective way.
Step 4: Certification
Based on a comprehensive e-learning programme,
participants can attend tests and eventually become PQ
certified engineers. This certificate has a commercial value
only.
Step 5: Integrated training approach
through national PQ partnerships
Individual learning in a pure virtual environment is not very
effective, and hence, national Power Quality Partnerships
can set up more active forms of training and information
spreading, for instance through direct mail, press articles,
seminars, technical conferences, e-learning support and
certification events.

EDUCATIVE APPROACH
Survey of Existing Material

Barcelona, 12-15 May 2003

the different European countries.

The following conclusions can be made with regard to
literature:
In general, not much literature has been published
specifically for end-users;
In most countries the literature remains dedicated
primarily to more technical categories such as
design engineer and installer & contractor.
A large dominance of papers related to EMC over
more specific PQ topics is encountered in all
regions.
In the western part of Europe the boom of PQ
literature came in the beginning of the 90s, whereas
in the eastern part interest started in the second part
of the 90s.
The appearance of multimedia material (videos, CD-rom)
proved to be very limited. Websites, often commercial, are
more abundant: the topics covered most are EMC and
harmonics, but here, also large regional differences exist.
A last topic studied was to what extent PQ and EMC topics
are present in the current normal education from vocational
to university level. It proves that EMC is taught in a few
countries as a separate course, but PQ is not. Those topics are
dealt with more often as part of other course such as power
electronics. Further on, many commercial PQ education
initiatives proved to have emerged over the last years.
Application Guide
The application guide, upon completion, will be a
comprehensive library (the Application Guide) discussing
PQ problems, causes and effects, measurement, relevant
standards and mitigation techniques. It is the basis for adult
education on these subjects and serves as basic texts for the
distance-learning programme. The application notes can be
used on their own as well when information is sought on
specific issues. The information offered is concise, yet
complete, and directly applicable. The publications are being
made and translated in eight languages (Dutch, English,
French, German, Hungarian, Italian, Polish, Spanish,
Turkish).
The Application Guide consists of six sections:
1. Introduction
2. Costs
3. Harmonics
4. Resilience and Reliability
5. Voltage Dips
6. Earthing & EMC
Currently about 60 application notes (see fig. 1 for an
example) are outlined of which about a quarter is finished and
published with many of the remaining available in draft
version.

As a first step in the LPQI project, a survey of existing

material on PQ and EMC with educative value was made for
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17th International Conference on Electricity Distribution

Barcelona, 12-15 May 2003

Fig. 2: Opening page of the LPQI website.

Fig. 1: Example of application note in PQ Application Guide.

The contributors are found in two ways [6]: either people with
knowledge on certain topics are approached or potential
authors answer to open calls published on a specific website.
The Editorial Board meets about every six weeks (in person
or by means of telephone conference) and uses a three-stage
review process: review of the topic, detailed review and final
review.
Website
The LPQI website (Fig. 2) contains several sections [7]:
the library of application notes form the Application
Guide in several different languages;
an electronic library of documents, to which all
registered users can contribute;
a FAQ-list on PQ, offering a short introduction to
the PQ subjects;
a moderated forum, where visitors can contribute
questions and answers, urgent and/or detailed;
an events section with PQ related activities,
announcing courses, seminars, trade fairs and so on;
the distance learning course website;

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The website is available in the different projects languages.

At the occasion of the first visit, the users preference is
registered. For some sections, a minimal registration is
demanded in order to be able to identify the user (e.g. on the
forum) or to keep track of progress in the learning
programme.
E-Learning
The distance learning part (Fig. 3) is implemented by means
of an interactive website, so-called e-learning, through which
the student can browse at the chosen pace and come back at
any time. During learning, it is always possible to check
other information parts. At chosen instances, self-evaluating
tests are built in. The visited parts and the test results are
stored so the user can resume later.
The contents are structured following the SITO-approach
[8]:
Study: the actual course the reader steps through
the information page by page, with links to
background information in separate windows, and
can access consecutive sections when the previous
ones are finished;
Inform: this section contains information that goes
more in depth the contents is similar to the
application notes;
Test: self-assessment by means of multiple choice
questions the questions are chosen to stress the
important parts in the lessons;
Overview: background information such as a
glossary and references.

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17th International Conference on Electricity Distribution

Barcelona, 12-15 May 2003

PQ-related problems. They can learn about this subject by

means of looking up detailed background information in
dedicated application notes or go through an e-learning
process at any time at their own speed, possibly leading to a
certificate.
The LPQI approach is applicable for any subject in electrical
engineering where it is needed to inform a large target group
on a complex subject matter. Future applications of the LPQI
learning approach may be found, for example in distributed
generation, renewable energy systems, energy auditing,
energy storage and smart-homes.

REFERENCES
Fig. 3: Part of the e-learning website.

Similar approaches have proven their usefulness in distance

learning, for instance to prepare student for lab exercises [9]
and as part of a course on microwaves [10]. This part of
LPQI information is available in the different languages as
well.
Certification
A motivation to go through the PQ learning process should be
the fact that it will be possible to obtain a certificate upon
completion. In practice the test will be a traditional
supervised paper one with practical multiple-choice questions
and a few exercises.
Note that this will be a commercial and not a legal one. The
value will follow from the endorsement by commercial
partners. The certificate will be issued by national power
quality partnerships organising tests according to local
tradition and in the local languages. The whole educative kit
is available for those who want to set this up

CONCLUSION
The European LPQI project intends to fill an apparent
knowledge gap for professionals increasingly encountering

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[1] M.H.J.Bollen, Understanding power quality problems:

voltage sags and interruptions, IEEE New York, 2000.
[2] Guide to Quality of Electrical Supply for Industrial
Installations, UIE, Paris, 1998.
[3] NE Standardisation specialist group, N-E EMC &
Harmonics, Power Quality in European Electricity
Supply Networks, EURELECTRIC report 2002-27000005, February 2002.
[4] J. Driesen, T. Green , T. Van Craenenbroeck, R.
Belmans, The development of power quality markets,
IEEE Power Engineering Society Winter Meeting 2002,
New York, USA (CD-Rom).
[5] http://europa.eu.int/comm/education/leonardo_en.html
[6] http://authors.lpqi.org
[7] http://www.lpqi.org
[8] G. De Corte, Ph. Yde, Adult learning and courseware:
in search of an effective interface, Scientia paedagogica
experimentalis, XXXVI, 57-71
[9] D. Snyders, I. Mertens, R. Belmans, J. Desmet, J.
Trommelmans, Computer-supported laboratory for
production-oriented electrotechnical systems, SEFI
Annual conference Engineering Education 1999,
Winterthur & Zurich, Switzerland, 315-320.
[10] G. De Corte, Ph. Yde, M. Machiels, et al.,
Development, production and evaluation of a computer
- based course on energy applications of Microwaves,
Scientia paedagogica experimentalis, XXXVII, 251-265.

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