Immunity of Power Supplies to Highly Distorted AC Voltage

Power supplies for electronic devices are now a significant segment of the total load on AC power grids. Many standards and recommendations have been developed to improve compatibility between power grids and electronic devices, including standards that set limits on voltage distortion. This work experimentally tests the compatibility of computer power supplies with high levels of voltage harmonics. It is demonstrated that the tested power supplies can tolerate much higher voltage distortions than typical limits recommended by standards. The work also shows that switched mode power supplies with unity-power-factor control (PFC) tolerate even higher levels of voltage distortion than traditional power supply designs.