Flicker measurement in real scenarios: Reducing the divergence from the human perception

Abstract

The IEC 61000-4-15 standard establishes the functional and design specifications of a flickermeter in order to objectively assess the disturbing light flicker. Some studies reported the unpredictable behavior of the IEC flickermeter when dealing with irregular voltage fluctuations. This deficiency explained the absence of the expected users’ complaints at sites where high flicker levels were measured. The present work uses an alternative strategy for flicker measurement, previously tested under laboratory conditions, which overcomes the deficiencies of the IEC flickermeter. The responses of the two strategies are compared under real voltage signals, which are complex and nonuniform in nature. Moreover, subjective experiments were carried out to characterize the irritation perceived by a small group of people when supplying an incandescent lamp with the same real voltage signals. The present work shows that it is possible to provide more reliable measurements in real scenarios and closer to the subjective perceptions than the IEC flickermeter does.