International Electrical Engineering Journal (IEEJ)

Vol. 3 (2012) No. 2, pp. 745-750

ISSN 2078-2365

Power Quality Enhancement using Custom Power

Devices
Pudi Sekhar#1, K. Venkateswara rao#2, T.Devaraju#3
#1
M.Tech Student, EEE Department, GITAM University
#2
Lecturer, EEE Department, GITAM University
#3
HOD, EEE Department, Sri Vidyanikethan Engineering college

Abstract— A Power quality problem is an occurrence manifested voltages can cause over heating tripping or even destruction of
as a nonstandard voltage, current or frequency that results in a industrial equipment such as motor drives. Electronic
failure or mis-operation of end use Equipments. Utility equipments are very sensitive loads against harmonics because
distribution networks, sensitive industrial loads, and critical their control depends on either the peak value or the zero
commercial operations all suffer from various types of outages crossing of the supplied voltage, which are all influenced by
and service interruptions which can cost significant financial 1oss the harmonic distortion.
per incident based on process down-time, lost production, idle This paper analyzes the key issues in the Power Quality
work forces, and other factors. With the restructuring of Power
problems. As one of the prominent power quality problems, the
Systems and with shifting trend towards distributed and dispersed
Generation, the issue of Power Quality is going to take newer origin, consequences and mitigation techniques of voltage sag
dimensions. The aim therefore, in this work, is to identify the problem has been discussed in detail. The study describes the
prominent concerns in the area and thereby to recommend techniques of mitigating voltage sag in a distribution system by
measures that can enhance the quality of the power, keeping in two power electronics based devices called Dynamic Voltage
mind their economic viability and technical repercussions. In this Restorer (DVR) and Distribution STATCOM (D-STATCOM)
paper three custom power controllers: DVR, DSTATCOM and a new mitigation technique called PWM Switched
(modelled in MATLAB/Simulink), PWM Switched Autotransformer.
Autotransformer (modelled in PSCAD/EMTDC &
MATLAB/SIMULINK) are presented. Comprehensive results are II. SOURCES AND EFFECTS OF POWER QUALITY PROBLEMS
presented to assess the performance of each device to mitigate the
Voltage sag and economical device is proposed. The distortion in the quality of supply power can be introduced
/enhanced at various stages; however, some of the primary
Index terms— Power Quality Problems, Voltage sag, DVR, sources of distortion [2] can be identified as below:
DSTATCOM, PWM Switched Autotransformer A. Power Electronic Devices
B. IT and Office Equipments
I. INTRODUCTION C. Arcing Devices
Power quality is certainly a major concern in the present era; it D. Load Switching
becomes especially important with the introduction of E. Large Motor Starting
sophisticated devices, whose performance is very sensitive to F. Embedded Generation
the quality of power supply. Modern industrial processes are G. Electromagnetic Radiations and Cables
based a large amount of electronic devices such as H. Storm and Environment Related Causes etc.
programmable logic controllers and adjustable speed drives.
The electronic devices are very sensitive to disturbances [1] Some of the common power quality issues and their
and thus industrial loads become less tolerant to power quality prominent impact are summarized in the table below:
problems such as voltage dips, voltage swells, and harmonics.
Voltage dips are considered one of the most severe TABLE I
disturbances to the industrial equipment. Swells and over Problem Effects

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International Electrical Engineering Journal (IEEJ)
Vol. 3 (2012) No. 2, pp. 745-750
ISSN 2078-2365

Devices /Process down time, effect on Dynamic Voltage Restorer is a series connected device
product quality, failure/malfunction of designed to maintain a constant RMS voltage value across a

 an injection / series transformer

Voltage sags customer equipments and associated scrap sensitive load. The DVR considered consists of:

 a harmonic filter
cost, clean up costs, maintenance and repair

 a Voltage Source Converter (VSC)

costs etc.

 an energy storage and

Tripping, components failures, flashover of
Transients instrument insulation hardware re booting,
software glitches, poor product quality etc.  a control system as shown in Figure 1
Excessive losses and heating in motors,
Harmonics capacitors and transformers connected to the
system
Visual irritation, introduction of many
Flicker harmonic components in the supply power
and their associated equipment.

III. USE OF CUSTOM POWER DEVICES TO IMPROVE POWER

QUALITY
In order to overcome the problems mentioned above
conventional devices such as:

• Line- voltage regulators: Tap changers, buck-boost

regulators, CVT (Constant- voltage transformer).
Fig. 1 Schematic diagram of DVR
• M-G Sets (Motor-generator Sets)
• Magnetic Synthesizers
• SVC (Static VAR Compensators) The main function of a DVR is the protection of sensitive loads
• UPS (Uninterruptible Power Supplies) from voltage sags/swells coming from the network. Therefore
• SMES (Superconducting magnetic energy storage) as shown in Figure 1, the DVR is located on approach of
• Static Transfer Switch sensitive loads. If a fault occurs on other lines, DVR inserts
• Fuel Cell Based Inverter System series voltage VDVR and compensates load voltage to pre fault
value. The momentary amplitudes of the three injected phase
can be used. But Present day modern equipments are very voltages are controlled such as to eliminate any detrimental
sensitive to voltage sags and they need the mitigating device to effects of a bus fault to the load voltage VL. This means that
be very fast in acting, which cannot possible by the above any differential voltages caused by transient disturbances in the
conventional devices. So in order to overcome the above ac feeder will be compensated by an equivalent voltage
disadvantages, a new category of devices called custom power generated by the converter and injected on the medium voltage
devices are developed. Custom power devices are the new level through the booster transformer.
generation of power electronics-based equipment aimed at The series injected voltage of the DVR can be written as [3]
enhancing the reliability and quality of power flows in low-
voltage distribution networks. There are various custom power Vinj = Vload + Vs (1)
devices available such as DVR (dynamic voltage restorer), Where;
Dstatcom, UPQC and PWM switching auto transformer. Vload is the desired load voltage magnitude
Vs is the source voltage during sags/swells condition

IV. MODELING OF CUSTOM POWER DEVICES AND SIMULATION The test system employed to carry out the simulations
RESULTS concerning the DVR actuation is shown in Figure 2
A. DVR

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Pudi et. al., Power Quality Enhancement using Custom Power Devices
International Electrical Engineering Journal (IEEJ)
Vol. 3 (2012) No. 2, pp. 745-750
ISSN 2078-2365

Fig. 3 Simulation results showing: (a) Supply Voltage, (b) Injected Voltage
(c) Load Voltage
Fig. 2 Proposed System Configuration (DVR) When the DVR is in operation the voltage sag is mitigated
To verify the working of a DVR employed to avoid voltage almost completely, and the rms voltage at the sensitive load
sags, simulation studies are carried out as follows: point is maintained at 98%, as shown in Figure 3.
A three–phase short-circuit fault is applied during the period of
200 to 500 ms with a fault resistance of 0.001. B. D-STATCOM
The first simulation shows three phase voltage sag is simulated.
The simulation started with the supply voltage 30% sagging as
shown in Figure 3(a).Figure 3(a) also shows a 30% voltage sag The STATCOM consists mainly of a PWM inverter connected
initiated at 0.2s and it is kept until 0.4s, with total voltage sag to the network through a transformer. The dc link voltage is
duration of 0.2s and Figure 3(b) shows voltage injected by the provided by capacitor C which is charged with power taken
DVR and the corresponding load voltage in Figure 3(c) with from the network [4].The control system ensures the regulation
compensation. As a result of DVR, the load voltage is kept at of the bus voltage and the dc link voltage. The D-STATCOM
1pu. function is to regulate the bus voltage by absorbing or
generating reactive power to the network, like a thyristor static
compensator.

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International Electrical Engineering Journal (IEEJ)
Vol. 3 (2012) No. 2, pp. 745-750
ISSN 2078-2365

Fig. 6 Voltage sag generated due to sudden increase of load

Fig. 4 Block diagram of the proposed model

The block diagram of the proposed model is shown in Fig. 4.

The load 1 shown is the normal running load. At any specified
time interval, a sudden load is included. The introduction of Fig. 7 Restored Voltage Waveform
this sudden load introduces voltage sag. Hence if a
DSTATCOM is connected in parallel to the distribution, it will The error signal is obtained by comparing the per unit value of
correct the voltage sag in that interval. the voltage with a constant 1. The reference sinusoidal signals
The SIMULINK model for generating a three phase sag in a required for the generation of PWM pulses is obtained by using
power system is shown in Fig. 5. A three phase linear a PI controller in conjunction with the error signal obtained.
transformer is provided for isolation. Two feeders originate The PWM techniques have several advantages compared to
from this transformer. In one of the feeders, a sudden load is other techniques. The restored voltage waveform is shown in
included from the period of 0.2 to 0.3s. This introduction of Fig. 7.
sudden load produces a reduction in voltage causing a voltage
dip is shown in Fig.6. C. VOLTAGE SAG MITIGATION USING PWM SWITCHED
AUTOTRANSFORMER

Fig. 5 Simulink model for Voltage Sag mitigation using D-STATCOM

Fig. 8 Block diagram of the single phase voltage sag mitigation scheme

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Pudi et. al., Power Quality Enhancement using Custom Power Devices
International Electrical Engineering Journal (IEEJ)
Vol. 3 (2012) No. 2, pp. 745-750
ISSN 2078-2365

(i) Principle of operation

An IGBT is used as power electronic device to inject the

error voltage into the line so as to maintain the load voltage
constant. Four power diodes (D1 to D4) connected to IGBT
switch (SW) controls the direction of power flow and
connected in ac voltage controller configuration. This
combination with a suitable control circuit maintains constant
rms load voltage. In this scheme sinusoidal PWM pulse
technique is used. RMS value of the load voltage V L is
calculated and compared with the reference rms voltage Vref
Under normal condition when there is no voltage
disturbance the power flow is through the anti parallel
thyristors used as the ac bypass switch. Output filters
containing a main capacitor filter and a notch filter are used at
the output side to filter out the switching noise and reduce
harmonics. During this normal condition VL=Vref, and the error
voltage V err is zero. The gate pulses are blocked to IGBT.
A sag or swell occurs in the system may be due to sudden
increase or decrease in the load, or due to faults. The supply
voltage Vs and hence VL decreases during disturbance. When
the sensing circuit detects an error voltage greater than of the
normal voltage the voltage controller acts immediately to

controller gives the phase angle  . The control voltage given

switch off the thyristors. Voltage Verr applied to the pi

in (2) is constructed at power frequency f = 50 Hz.

Vcontrol = sin (wt+  ) (2)

Fig. 9 PSCAD/EMTDC model of single phase PWM switched auto
transformer with RMS voltage as reference

Where ma is the modulation index.

The Fig. 9 shows the PSCAD/EMTDC model for single phase
PWM switched auto transformer for mitigation of voltage sag
The phase angle delta is dependent on the percentage of with peak voltage as a reference. It is tested on a simple a.c
disturbance and hence controls the magnitude of Vcontrol.This system [5] [6] at which a single phase to ground fault is created
control voltage is then compared with the triangular voltage Vtri at 0.2 sec for a duration of 0.2 sec with a fault resistance of 0.1
to generate the PWM pulses VG which are applied to the IGBT ohm, which creates a voltage sag of 50% at load .At 0.2 sec,
to regulate the output voltage. Hence the IGBT switch operates the PWM switched auto transformer switches ON and it takes
only during voltage sag condition and regulates the output one cycle to detect the sag and compensate the voltage sag. The
voltage according to the PWM duty-cycle. waveforms for source and load voltages, load currents before,
during and after the fault are as shown in Fig. 10.
Single phase voltage sag supporter using a PWM Switched
autotransformer with R.M.S voltage as a reference

RMS detection method: In this method the instantaneous load

voltage is converted into rms voltage and compared with the
reference rms voltage, which gives an error voltage and this
voltage given PI controller, which calculates the required angle
delta in proportion to error voltage.

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International Electrical Engineering Journal (IEEJ)
Vol. 3 (2012) No. 2, pp. 745-750
ISSN 2078-2365

Fig. 13 Waveform of load voltage showing mitigated

sag using PWM Switched autotransformer
Fig. 10 Simulation results (a) Source voltage with sag (b) Load Voltage
without sag V. CONCLUSIONS
Power quality measures can be applied both at the user end and
also at the utility level. This paper has presented models of
custom power equipment, namely DVR, D-STATCOM and
PWM switched autotransformer, applied them to mitigate
voltage dip which is very prominent as per utilities are
concerned. Though conventional techniques are available, the
proposed devices are very fast acting and efficient. A new
Voltage sag mitigation topology called PWM switched auto
transformer is modelled and simulated. This topology requires
only one PWM switch per phase as compared to DVR or
DSTATCOM requires two switches per phase. The PWM
switched auto transformer does not require energy storage
device for mitigation of voltage sag as compared to DVR and
Fig. 11 Simulink model PWM Switched Autotransformer of a 3-phase system DSTATCOM requires energy storage elements. so, PWM
used for voltage sag studies switched autotransformer is efficient and economical among
the custom power devices.
Figure 11 shows Simulink model PWM Switched
Autotransformer [7] of a 3-phase system for voltage sag REFERENCES
mitigation. A sudden loading is applied at 0.1 sec to 0.2 sec and
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using PWM Switched Autotransformer and the corresponding June 1995 p 41-48.
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Technology of Flexible AC Transmission Systems”.
[3] Mitigation Of Voltage Sags/Swells Using Dynamic Voltage Restorer
(DVR) Rosli Omar and Nasrudin Abd Rahim. 2008 Australasian
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[4] Mitigation of voltage sag using Distribution Static Compensator (D-
STATCOM) S. Elango Dr. E.Chandra Sekaran, 2011 IEEE.
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Reddy, Student Member, IEEE, and Dr. D.V.S.S. Siva Sarma, Senior
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[6] IEEE TRANSACTIONS ON POWER ELECTRONICS, VOL. 22, NO.
Fig. 12Waveform of the load voltage with sag during 0.1 sec to 0.2 sec 2, MARCH 2007 A Voltage Sag Supporter Utilizing a PWM-Switched
Autotransformer Dong-Myung Lee, Member, IEEE, Thomas G.
Habetler, Fellow, IEEE, Ronald G. Harley, Fellow, IEEE, Thomas L.
Keister, Member, IEEE, and Joseph R. Rostron, Member, IEEE.

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Vol. 3 (2012) No. 2, pp. 745-750
ISSN 2078-2365

[7] Modeling and simulation of PWM Switched Autotransformer for

voltage sag mitigation using MATLAB, International Journal of
electrical and power engineering 4(3), 164-168, 2010.

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