Various analyzers are used in instrumentation be it homes, electrical substations, laboratories or industries. Some analyze voltages and currents while others are meant for acoustics and optical waveforms. Power quality analyzers and spectrum analyzers are suitable examples!
The quality of power supplied to an electrical system and consumed by it are one of the paramount factors that determine the cost and reliability of the system. Poor power quality simply translates to issues like overheating, blackouts and burnouts, falsely tripped circuit breakers and even severely damaging conditions. Not only are they used in bigger industries and stations but, power analyzers have now become one of the vitals in household electrical systems too. Power analyzers, when installed in homes can curb power wastage by a great factor.
A Power Quality Analyzer basically calculates power demand, actual consumption and power cleanliness. While the demand and consumption may be easier of the three aspects to understand by the name itself, power cleanliness is a bit tricky. Non-linear loads result in irregular spikes and dips in voltage and current in any electrical system. These fluctuating loads cause harmonics in the system which is the measure of power cleanliness. A power quality analyzer measures all these factors and is able to identify average power, fundamental harmonics and everything required to provide the electrical system with a stable and clean supply of power.
A spectrum analyzer can also investigate the composition of an electrical signal. However, spectrum analyzers are not used for household supply analysis. Spectrum analyzers, much suited in the hands of scientists and researchers, can examine electrical, optical and acoustic wave forms by measuring their fundamental elements.
Spectrum analyzers measure any signal in reference with its frequency and amplitude. There are analog spectrum analyzers and digital spectrum analyzers. While the former uses band pass filters, the latter makes use of Fast Fourier Transform (FFT) to break down waves into their fundamental components. These digitized components of a wave make it easier for a computer or measurement system to make precise measurements or apply the transformations.
