Gerald T. Heydt
- Associated organizations
- Arizona State University
- Fields of study
- Power
Biography
As a pioneer of power quality analysis techniques for electric power systems, Gerald T. Heydt’s concepts have ensured reliable and efficient power for best use by industry. Dr. Heydt’s work focused on the development of a “harmonic power flow” algorithm in 1981, which rigorously modeled the interaction of harmonic sources with the power network. Later commercialized by the Electric Power Research Institute as part of its “HARMFLO” software package, it is still used today for analyzing problematic operating conditions in distribution and subtransmission systems related to nonlinear loads. Dr. Heydt also developed a solid analytical basis for the “CBEMA” power curve for addressing three-phase unbalanced situations and cases where large rotating machinery is affected by voltage sags. The method is used by many U.S. electric utility companies today.
An IEEE Life Fellow, Dr. Heydt is a Regents’ Professor at Arizona State University, Tempe, where he also is the site director of the Power Systems Engineering Research Center (PSerc) and also the Future Renewable Electric Energy Distribution Management (FREEDM) center.
