Instrumentation and methodology for revision of European flicker threshold

Abstract

The European standard CENELEC EN 50160 establishes that the severity of flicker caused by voltage fluctuations, under normal operating conditions, will not exceed the long term severity Plt=1 during 95% of the time in one week. This threshold was originally established considering that a lamp with tungsten filament of 60 W and 240 V, produces a flicker perceivable by 50% of the population when it is supplied with a voltage that verifies Plt=1. This work makes an analysis of this threshold, establishing as hypothesis the fact that incandescent lamps have little use nowadays, specially in industrial and commercial environments. In order to make a revision of the current thresholds, we have proposed an electro-optical equipment and the associated methodology. The device simulates the behavior of the eye plus human brain set, avoiding large clinical experiments. A methodology is also proposed in order to characterize the perceptibility threshold of a generic lamp. Finally, the proposed instrumentation and methodology is applied to two types of lamps: incandescent and fluorescent.