IEC 61000-3-2 Harmonics Standards Overview

By Muhamad Nazarudin Zainal Abidin, Schaffner EMC Inc., Edsion, NJ, USA

Introduction

There have been recent changes to the European Union’s Directive to assess compliance of a

product’s AC mains current harmonics. The purpose of this document is to provide an executive

overview of pertinent details and make them easier to understand. For more detailed information

please refer to the relevant standards available from the organization concerned.

Harmonics standard IEC 61000-3-2 Ed. 3 2005

This standard assesses and sets the limit for equipment that draws input current ≤16A per phase.

Equipment that draws current >16A and ≤75A per phase is covered by IEC/TS 61000-3-12.

Harmonics measurement and evaluation methods for both standards are governed by IEC 61000-4-7.

Classification of equipment

Equipment can be grouped into one of 4 classes based on the following criteria as evaluated by the

IEC committee members:

Number of pieces of equipment in use (how many (volume) are being used by consumers)

Duration of use (number of hours in operation)

Simultaneity of use (are the same type of equipment used on the same time frame)

Power consumption

Harmonics spectrum, including phase (how clean or distorted is the current drawn by the

equipment)

After all the above criteria are taken into consideration equipment are classified as follows:

Class A Balanced three-phase equipment

Household appliances, excluding equipment identified by Class D

Tools excluding portable tools

Dimmers for incandescent lamps

Audio equipment

Everything else that is not classified as B, C or D

Class B Portable tools

Arc welding equipment which is not professional equipment

Class C Lighting equipment

Class D Personal computers and personal computer monitors

Television receivers

Note: Equipment must have power level 75W up to and not exceeding 600W