In this paper, a novel signal processing method combining mathematical morphology (MM) and Walsh theory is proposed, which uses Walsh functions to control the structuring element (SE) and MM operators. Based on the Walsh-MM method, a scheme for power quality disturbances detection and classification is developed, which involves three steps: denoising, feature extraction and morphological clustering. First, various evolution rules of Walsh function are used to generate groups of SEs for the multiscale Walsh-ordered morphological operation, so the original signal can be denoised. Next, the fundamental wave of the denoised signal is suppressed by Hadamard matrix;thus, disturbances can be extracted. Finally, the Walsh power spectrum of the waveform extracted in the previous step is calculated, and the parameters of which are taken by morphological clustering to classify the disturbances. Simulation results reveal the proposed scheme can effectively detect and classify disturbances, and the Walsh-MM method is less affected by noise and only involves simple calculation, which has a potential to be implemented in hardware and more suitable for real-time application.
