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EMTP Simulations and Experimental Verification of an All-Active Hybrid Converter

Arrangement for Filtering Power System Harmonics and STATCOM


Girish R. Kamath, Prashanth S.S. Holenarsipur Ned Mohan
Student Member, IEEE Fellow, IEEE

Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering


University of Minnesota
Minneapolis, MN 55455
Phone: (6 12)-625-2334/ (612>625-3362
Fax:(612) 625-4583
Email: gkamath@ece.umn.edu. hssp@ece.umn.edu, mohan@ece.umn.edu

Abstract: Active filters and advanced static vat compensators filters to neutralize current harmonics produced by non-linear
(STATCOM) are hampered in their application at medium voltage loads etc. In these applications, a utility-interactive power
levels (e.g. 13.8 kV) due to the need for a line-frequency interface electronic converter, shown as a block diagram in Fig. 1, has
transformer. to satisfy the following conditions:
A novel per-phase approach eliminates the need for a line-
frequency transformer by series connection of slow-switching 1) Produce a voltage (back-emf) essentially equal to the
converters and a fast-switching PWM converter. The slow- utility voltage and,
switching converters operate in voltage-mode to counteract the
utility voltage while the P W converter operates in a cumnt- 2) Supply (or draw) an appropriate current based on the
control mode to control the injected current. functionality of the power electronic equipment. In
advanced static var compensators such as
Experimental results of a DSP-based laboratory prototype STATCOMS, this current is essentially 90' out of
operating in steady state are presented to establish the concept phase (leading or lagging) with respect to the utility
validity. EMTP simulations address many practical aspects of this
voltage. In active filters, the current consists of a
scheme - operation under steady state conditions; transients such as
startup, faults, sudden over- and under-voltages; and DC bus voltage distortion component present in the load current that
regulation. needs to be neutralized.

The simulation results demonstratethe technical feasibility of this Often in utility-interactive applications at high power, the
approach for implementingit in utility systems. utility voltage is of the order of a few kV, e.g. 4.2 kV (as for
medium voltage drives) or 13.8 kV (used commonly in
Keywords: Power System Harmonics, Reactive Power Control. distribution systems). To meet the voltage requirement with
Active Filters. devices of limited voltage ratings (3 to 4 kV as with IGBTs),
the following options are available:
I. INTRODUCTION

There are growing applications of power electronics in 1) A line frequency voltage-matching transformer is the
simplest solution. However, it is bulky, causes
power systems. These applications include advanced static
significant losses and being a mature technology, its
var compensators (ASVC, STATCON or STATCOM) for
control of flicker voltage due to arc-furnace loads and voltage
support during power system dynamic operation [I], active m

Paper accepted for presentation at the ti" International


Conference on Harmonics and Quality of Power
ICHQP '98,jointly organized by IEEEIPES and NTUA,
Athens, Greece, October 1416,1998
Fig.].Single-Line diagram of a converter with a line
0 1998 IEEE
0-7803-5105-3/98/$10.00 frequency transformer.

611
cost is not expected to decline. Also, an additional dc converters. However, this operation is conducted at a low
demagnetizing current control loop is required to DC voltage for which fast switching IGBTs are used.
prevent the transformer from saturation due to non-
idealities in the main control loop and in the power The fast-switching converter has a low dc-bus voltage and
circuit. hence a low kVA rating, producing much lower EM1
(Electro-magnetic Interference) as compared to a single
Multi-level inverters are being considered [2-4]. conventional converter operating with a high kVA rating.
However, for levels greater than three,the current flow There is also a substantial decrease in the size of the interface
in and out of the neutral point results in voltage inductor as compared to a single PWM converter topology
variations of the neutral. This calls for additional for the same current ripple and switching frequency,
neutral point voltage control [4,5] and a limitation in
the switching frequency. Even the three-level inverter RI. EXPERIMENTAL RESULTS
is being considered as not representing the mainstream
of development [6]. A. Description of the Hardware Setup

The switches in the switch-mode converter may A laboratory prototype of the proposed scheme operating
comprise of a series connection of discrete devices as an active filter is fabricated for the experiment. The active
(e.g. IGBTs and GTOs) [7,8]. However the devices filter is designed to operate at 120 V rms with a current rating
are de-rated and operate well below their voltage of 15 A rms. The prototype is tested at a utility voltage of
ratings. 100 V rms. Fig.3 shows a schematic block diagram of the
experimental setup.
It is possible to overcome the various disadvantages in
conventional converter schemes by the use of multiple series- In Fig. 3, the non-linear load consists of a diode bridge-
connected inverters as proposed in [9,10]. This novel rectifier with a 4 mH input inductor. A ZOO0 pF capacitor
configuration incorporates a hybrid combination of slow and filter is connected at the output of the rectifier bridge with a
fast switching converters. 15 0 resistor across it. The converter arrangement consists
of three single-phase, full-bridge converters with separate dc
11. PROPOSED SOLUTION links whose outputs are in series and connected to the utility.
Each single-phase converter is made up of 500V, 16A
A proposed all-active hybrid converter arrangement is IRFP450 MOSFETs. A 1mH 15A inductor is connected at
shown in Fig. 2 [9,10]. Related topologies are also discussed the output of the active filter in order to limit the switching
in [ 11,12,13]. In general, it consists of n single-phase, full- current ripple. . A 10pF capacitor is connected across the
bridge converters, whose outputs are connected in series (Fig. utility to reduce the flow of syitching frequency ripple
2 shows the implementation for n=3). The DC bus voltages current into it. The slow switching converters operate at a dc
in these converters are isolated from each other. Of these voltage of 60 V each while the dc voltage of the fast-
converters, n-1 converters switch slowly (switching at line switching converter is 30 V. The DC bus of each converter is
frequency or its low multiple) to block the utility voltage by energized by the utility through a low power rating charging
producing quasi-square wave voltage outputs. The devices transformer with multiple secondaries. Each secondary
required for this purpose need not have high switching speeds winding charges the DC bus through a diode rectifier bridge.
but they need to have large voltage ratings, e.g. GTOs or high
voltage IGBTs. The remaining converter operates at a high
- - ,-- F - - - -I
,2OOOu-
switching frequency to inject the appropriate current and to I-
cancel the voltage harmonics produced by the slow-switching
utility

vsl
Diode I
,L
I - - - - - - -I
Bridge
Non-linear
Ioad

U
Proposed
scheme
I I

Fig.2. Proposed per-phase solution for utility applications. Fig. 3, Experimentalsetup for active filter application.

612
B. Description of the DSP based control system C. fiperimntal Results and Discusswns

Converters 1 and 2 switch at line-frequency to block the Figs. 4a-c contain the oscillograms of the experimental
utility voltage. The third converter operates at a switching results. Fig. 4a shows the utility voltage and load input filter
frequency of 17 kHz to inject the required load harmonic current. Fig. 4b shows the utility voltage and active filter
current. The control circuit is implemented using Texas current. The cumulative slow-switching converter voltage
Instruments (TI) DSP TMSC320FQ40. This DSP, whose and the utility current are shown in Fig. 4c. The THD of the
features are described in [14,15], is dedicated for power compensated line current under the given conditions is 7.8%.
electronicsapplications.
IV.SIMULATION RESULTS
The functions of the DSP are:
While the experimental results demonstrate the successful
Provide gate control signals for the slow-switching steady-state operation of the proposed configuration,it is also
converters 1 and 2 to produce quasi-square wave voltage necessary to examine its operation under practical conditions
outputs. that are difficult to reproduce in a laboratory environment.
Simulations are used to study the operation of the converter
Control the fast-switching converter (converter 3) to system during startup and transient utility voltage fluctuations
produce the required compensating current by means of of i1046. Its operation with a capacitor voltage regulation
current PWM at 17 kHz switching frequency. scheme for STATCOM applications is also studied.

Introduce a feed-forward of slow-switching converter ATF’EMTP [161 is a general-purpose circuit simulator,


harmonics in the control loop of the fast-switching widely used for modeling power electronics in power
converter to improve system response. systems. It is used to simulate the operation of the proposed
configuration in active filter and STATCOM modes of
operation.

A. System Description

A 12.2 kV, 1.7 MVA, three-converter system connected to


the utility through inductors of 10 mH (0.043pa.) in each
phase is considered for the purpose of simulation. As the
proposed configuration is a per-phase solution, the operation
.. :... . &-.. . -i . ...$. . . . .i . . . . . . . . . . . of a single phase is examined. W+ile two of the converters
. . . switch at line-frequency to canqel ’the utility voltage, the fast
......... . \ ; . : . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . converter switches at 2.5 kHz in the uni-polar PWM current-
controlled mode to shape the output current.

Typically the required pulse-width for the slow-switching


converters is obtained by a comparison between the
instantaneous utility voltage and an appropriate dc signal that
...... - 1 . ................
i
...... vs ::::€ i i . . . . . . . . . . . . ;.
ensures that the system’s capability to block utility voltage at
all times. For example. for the slow-switching converter that
switches on first, this dc-signal could be half its dc-link
voltage. The fast switching converter incorporates a feed-
forward of voltage harmonics produced by the slow-
switching converters.

Optimization of voltage harmonics leads to a choice of dc-


link voltages of 4500 V for the two slow-switching
converters and 2400V for the fast switching converter [9].
DC link voltage ripple considerationslead to capacitor values
of lo00 IF for the slow-switching converter with a larger
pulse width, 750 pF for the second slow-switching converter
Fig. 4. Experimental Waveforms: Scale: time = S d d i v and loo0 pF for the fast-switching converter [17]. The total
(a) Utility voltage. VS. (100 Vldiv) and load wmnt i” (10 Aldiv) losses in the system are assumed to be 3% of the VA rating of
(b) Utility voltage, VS, (100 Wdiv) and active filter current. L. (5 Aldiv)
(c) Total slow-switching converter voltage, v,, + v , ~ .(100 Wdiv) and the system. These losses are represented in the form of
utility cumnt, is, (5 Ndiv) resistors across the corresponding converter dc-link
capacitors.

613
B. Operation under normal utility conditwns current stresses in the system. The successful operation of
the converter system in the presence of transient voltage
A non-linear load drawing 0.33 p.u. 3" harmonic current fluctuations and fault conditions is shown in Fig. 6.
and 0.2 p.u. 5" harmonic current from the utility is
considered. The active filter is now made to neutralize this D.Capacitor voltage regulation
current, i.e.
isysTEM(t)= 0.33 cos(3tot) + 0.2 cos(5cut) As the converter system produces only reactive and
harmonic currents, its capacitors would ideally not lose any
The successful operation of the converter system is evident charge. However in practice, various losses in the converters
from Fig. 5, which shows typical reference and actual system and non-idealities in the current-control schemes will lead to
currents, and the utility and system voltages. a gradual loss (gain) of capacitor charge in each of the
converters. A method to replenish this charge by a real
C.Operation under transient utility voltage fluctuations power supplied to (or drawn from) to the individual DC buses
thus becomes necessary.
The system is able to successfully control the output
current during sudden f108 system voltage fluctuations. It is possible to supply the small power loss by an auxiliary
Two reasons that contribute to this capability is the presence source connected to the DC bus capacitors, for example in the
of excess net dc-link voltages and the feed-forward type form of multiple-secondary small-rating transformers feeding
effect of the utility voltage information that causes the slow- a diode bridge, as used in the experimental setup. However, a
switching converters to adjust their pulse widths in such a preferred method to maintain the net DC voltage capability of
manner that the net voltage blocking capability of the the converters is to draw/source an appropriate real
configuration is maintained. Even during sudden line-to- component of power from the utility. In such a case, to force
ground faults, the system operates normally with no increased proper voltage sharing among the converters, the switching
rules of individual converters need to be modified as
following:

1) If the sum of the capacitor voltages is out of limits,


absorb/source the required power from the utility by
drawing a small in-phase current.

2) If a slow-switching converter capacitor voltage goes


out of limits, delay/advance its output quasi-square
voltage pulse suitably.

For example, consider the case.of a STATCOM with no


real power being drawn from the utility (i.e. the net DC
voltage capability is satisfied) but the individual DC link
Fig. 5. Active filter operation of the system:
(a) reference and aCNd current voltages are out of limits. Advancing or delaying the output
(b) system and utility voltage of a slow-switching converter with respect to this reactive
current can regulate its capacitor voltage [ 121 as illustrated in
Fig. 7. In such a case, although a reactive current is being
drawn from the utility, a net charge is inpurfoutput to the
capacitor. This net power input (output) to the slow-
switching converter is balanced by a corresponding power
output (input) from the fast-switching converter. A
redistribution of the capacitor voltages among the three

1 C.."., ".I. .DIY,.


0

Hg. 6. System Operation as an active filter during transient utility


under-voltage,over-voltageand line to ground fault.
(a) referenceand actual current Fig.7. Output voltage shifting causes a net charge
(b) system and utility voltage input to the dc link capacitor.

614
converters thus results. This form of gating control for the zero. Information regarding the value of the link inductor,
slow converters can be easily implemented by proportional- the utility voltage, and the effective total capacitor value
integral (PI) loops. A typical implementation would involve (usually less critical) is necessary to decide upon the firing
adding a small ramp voltage of suitable slope to the dc instants of the thyristor.
reference level that determines the pulse-width.
For the choice of capacitor values and dc-link voltages, the
Since the rules of control for total and individual capacitor fast converter reaches its corresponding reference voltage
voltages are mutually exclusive, all three capacitor voltages first, as shown in Fig. 9. This converter then outputs a zero
are regulated at their desired level during steady state, as voltage to prevent any further charging of its dc-bus. The
illustrated in Fig. 8. It shows the recovery of the system to charging process continues with the slow converter with the
steady state when one of the slow-switching converters starts lower capacitance value reaching its reference level next.
with an abnormal capacitor voltage of 4000 V. It is noted Now, this converter is made to output a null voltage. It is thus
that decisions regarding change in real component of current clear that it is possible to place the thyristor only in the dc-
drawn and pulse delay of slow converters are made only once link of the slow converter with the larger capacitor value.
and twice, respectively during a 60 Hz cycle so that the Fig. 10 shows typical current and voltage waveforms of the
transients in the utility are kept at a minimum. system during the implementation of the startup scheme.

However, the above scheme of DC voltage control is not It is also possible to place an anti-parallel thyristor pair in
applicable to active filter applications. In such applications, series with the link inductor instead. This thyristor pair is
the time integral of reference currents will be important in usually present at the input of a converter system to keep the
deciding the direction and magnitude of voltage pulse shifts. system off-line at times when it is not required. The thyristor
signals for startup remain the same as before. In fact, a
E. Startup Scheme similar scheme for startup is described for a TSC in [ 181.

A thyristor with an anti-parallel diode is included in the A similar scheme to discharge the capacitors can be
DC link of one of the converters for use during startup. In obtained by making use of the converter switches while
this period, the capacitor voltages have to be built up steadily. keeping the thyristor in the dc-link off.
Converter operation is not possible due to the absence of
sufficient back-emf capability. All the converter switches are V.CONCLUSIONS
thus kept off (i.e. the converters act as simple diode rectifier
bridges). The thyristor is pulsed at proper instants on the This paper presents a hardware verification of a concept to
utility voltage wave such that the peak current through the reduce magnetics and EM1 in applications of active filters
converter system is of a controlled magnitude. This usually and STATCOM in medium voltage (e.g. 13.8 kV) utility
corresponds to periods when the utility voltage goes towards systems. The EMTP-basedsimulations have been carried out
to investigate many issues to establish its technical feasibility:
tk1

+-
0 Startup: A controlled startup is provided by pulsing a
thyristor in the DC link of one of the converters.
2-
- Slow cmvatcT DC lidr v o w s

Over-voltagdunder-voltage performance: The converter


fd voltage
Fast convatcr DC l
i

t h..Cl

Fig. 8. DC link voltage ncovcry during anomalous voltage sharing


between converters and d u d DC voltage capability.

I
Ckl Large pulse-width Slow-switching

Small pulse-width
Slow-switching
converter dc voltage

Fast-switching converter

rm 100 I10 IW 1-

Fig. 10. The link inductor current, utility voltage, and the fast converter
Rg. 9. Charge up of the three capacitorvoltages during startup.
capacitorvoltage during startup.

615
arrangement continues to control the injected current for PI G. R. M. and N. M o b . “Series Connected. All-Hybrid
Convertas for Utility Interactive Applications”. IEEE-IECON I997
utility voltages upto 10%above the nominal value. Under- Proceedings. pp. 726-73 I.
voltages, even line-to-ground faults, cause no problems in
controlling the output current. [lo] N. Mohan and G. R. Kamath. “A Novel, Per-phase Interface of Power
Electronic Apparatus for Power System Applications”. Nonh Amricun
R e d t i o n of the converter dc-bus voltages: The hardware Power Symposium I995 Proceedings. pp. 457-461.

STATCOM applications,- simulations ire carried out to [12] E2 Peng. EZ et al., “A Multilevel Voltage-Source Inverter with
confirm that regulation of the dc-bus voltages can be Separate DC Sourca for Static Var Generation”. IEEE-IAS Conference
achieved by drawing power from the utility and suitably Records, 199s. pp. 2541-2548.
modifying the switching signals.
[131 M.D. Manjnkar and T.A Upo. “A hybrid multilevel topology for drive
applications”, IEEE-IiLY Confecnnce Recon& 1998. pp. 523-529.
Further work is planned to combine a three-phase
converter with per-phase converters to reduce the current [I41 TMS32Oc240 DSP Controllers Reference Set: CPU, System and
ripple in dc-bus capacitors. Various strategies to regulate the Instruction Set, vol. 1, Rev. A. 1997.
dc bus voltages are also being examined.
1151 TMS32OC240 DSP Controllers Reference Set: Peripheral Library and
VI.ACKNOWLEDGMENTS Specific Devices, vol. 2. Rev. A. 1997.

This work has been carried out with the help of a grant [16] ATP Rule Book. July 1991
from the National Science Foundation.
[17] G.R. Kamath, “All-Active Hybrid Switching Converter for Power
Electronics Utility Applications”. PhD. Thesis. University of
VII. REFERENCES Minnesota, 1998 (to be published).

N. G. Hingorani. “Flexible AC Transmission“, IEEE Spectrum, April [18] E.V. Larsen. “Method and Apparatus for Controlling Discharge of a
1993. pp. U S . Thyristor-Switched Capacitor“. US Purenr No. 5.402.058. March 28.
1995.
R. Baker. “High-VoltageConverter Circuit” US Parent No. 4,203,151.
May 13,1980.
VIII. BIOGRAPHIES
C.Hochgraf et al.. “Comparison of Multi-Level Inverters for Static Var
Ccimpensation”, IEEE-IAS Conference Records. 1994. pp. 921-928. Girish R. I(runsth received his B.Tech. .+gee in Electrical Engineering
from IlT Madras, India in 1986 and his-M.Tech. degree in Power Electronics
M. Matsui. “Meihd for Controlling Neutral Point for Static Var from IlT Bombay. India in 1991. He .is pursuing Ph.D. in Electrical
Compensation”. IPEC-Yokoham 1995 Cot$ecnnce Records, vol. 1. pp. Engineering at the University of Minnesota since 1994. His areas of interests
488-493. include active filtas, high frequency power conversion, control strategies
and motor drives.
S. Fuhda and A. Saga- ”Modeling and Control of a Neutral-Point
Clamped Voltage- Source Convuter”, IPEC-Yokohamu 1995 FrashantbSS. Holenarsipur (S’98) received his 5-yr. Int. M.Tech. degree
ConferenceRecords. vol. 1, pp. 470475. in Electrical Engineering from IIT Bombay. India, in 1997. He is currently
pursuing his MS in Electrical Engineering at the University of Minnesota.
His intursts arc in the ~ c e a sof ac drives and utility applications of power
A. Steimei. ‘* Electric Railway Traction in Europe ”, IEEE-IAS electronics
Magazine. vol. 2. No. 6.NovfDec. 19%. pg. 6-17.
Ned Mohpn (S‘68-M73-SM’91-F96) received his B.Tech. degree in
M. Takcda et. al., ”Developmmt of an SVG series for voltage. control Electrical Engincaing from IIT Kharagpur. India, in 1967. his MS degree in
OVCJ d Railway load”, IPEC-YO~~UUM Electrical Engineering from University of New Brunswick. Canada,in 1969.
t h n t - p h w ~ n b a l a n cc ~a ~ by
1995 Conferenct Recorak vol. I . pp. 603-608. MS degree in Nuclcar Engineering and Ph.D. degree in Electrical
EnginaCring from University of Wisconsih Madison in 1972 and 1973. He
M. Yagima et. al.. ‘’Opathg experience of a 50 MVA Self- is cumndy a Professor of Electrical Engineering at the University of
Commutated SVC at the Shin-Shinano Substation”, IPEC-Yokohuma Minnesota. His primary anas of interests an in power electronics and
199s Conference Rccnrdr. vaL I . nn 597-602 s motion control. He is a Fellow of the LEEE.
e l e c t r o ~ h a n i cfor

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