77

H-BRIDGE VSC WITH A T-CONNECTED TRANSFORMER BASED

THREE-PHASE FOUR-WIRE DSTATCOM FOR POWER QUALITY
IMPROVEMENT

1
Bhim Singh, Senior Member IEEE,
2
P Jayaprakash, Student Member, IEEE,
3
D P Kothari, Senior Member IEEE,
1
Dept. of Electrical Engineering, Indian Institute of Technology, Delhi, Hauz-Khas, New Delhi-110016, India.
2
Centre for Energy Studies, Indian Institute of Technology, Delhi, Hauz-Khas, New Delhi-110016, India.
3
Vellore Institute of Technology, Vellore-632 014, Tamil Nadu, India.
E-mail: bsingh@ee.iitd.ac.in, jayaprakashpee@gmail.com, dpk0710@yahoo.com.

Abstract- In this paper, a H-bridge VSC (Voltage Source
Converter) based three phase four-wire DSTATCOM
(Distribution Static Compensator) with a T-connected
transformer is proposed for power quality
improvement in three-phase four-wire distribution
systems. The proposed DSTATCOM is employed for
the compensation of reactive power for the voltage
regulation or power factor correction along with
elimination of harmonic currents, load balancing and
neutral current compensation at the point of common
coupling (PCC). The conventional four-leg VSC as
DSTATCOM has eight switches where as there are
only four switches in the proposed DSTATCOM. The
H-bridge VSC is able to compensate the power quality
problems in the current and the dc bus voltage is
regulated to the reference value. The winding of T-
connected transformer provides a path to the zero
sequence fundamental as well as harmonics currents.
As compared to the conventional star/ delta
transformer and zig-zag transformer, the T- connected
transformer require only two single phase
transformers. The performance of the proposed
DSTATCOM system is validated through simulations
using MATLAB software with its Simulink and Power
System Blockset (PSB) toolboxes.
Keywords- DSTATCOM, H-Bridge VSC, Neutral
Current Compensation, T-Connected Transformer,
Power Quality.

I. INTRODUCTION
HE present day ac power distribution systems is
suffering from severe power quality problems. These
power quality problems include high reactive power
burden, harmonics currents, load unbalance, excessive
neutral current etc. [1-7]. The power quality at the point
of common coupling (PCC) with the utility grid is
governed by the various standards and the IEEE-519
standard is widely accepted [1]. Some remedies to these
power quality problems are reported in the literature [2,5-
7]. A group of controllers together called Custom Power
Devices (CPD), which include the DSTATCOM
(distribution static compensator), DVR (dynamic voltage
restorer) and UPQC (unified power quality conditioner).
The DSTATCOM is a shunt-connected device, which
takes care of the power quality problems in the currents.
Three-phase four-wire distribution systems are used to
supply single-phase low voltage loads such as computer
loads, lighting ballasts, small rating adjustable speeds
drives (ASD) in air conditioners, fans, refrigerators and

other domestic and commercial appliances etc. The loads
are generally nonlinear loads. The harmonics in currents
and unbalance in load increases the neutral current. The
excessive neutral current which has both harmonic and
fundamental component of load currents may over load
the neutral conductor of three-phase four-wire distribution
system. There are many topologies reported in the
literature for three-phase four-wire DSTATCOM such as a
three single-phase VSC [2], VSC with four leg [6], three
leg VSC with split capacitors [8] and three leg VSC with a
zig-zag transformer [9-10] and three-leg VSC with neutral
terminal at the positive or negative terminal of dc bus [11].
The application of a zig-zag transformer for reduction of
the neutral current is having an advantage due to passive
compensation, rugged and less complex over the active
compensation techniques [10].
In this investigation, a H-bridge VSC is used for
compensating power quality problems in the supply
currents. The advantages of the two-leg VSC based
DSTATCOM over the other existing structures are the
reduced number of switches and the increased reliability
due to control of less number of IGBT (Insulated Gate
Bipolar Transistor) switches. The T- connected
transformer is used in the three-phase distribution system
for different applications [12-13]. The reduced switches
compensator consisting of a two-leg VSC is used for
three-phase three-wire applications such as active filters
[14], SSSC and STATCOM [15] and compensators for
renewable energy applications [16]. The proposed
topology of DSTATCOM in which a two-leg VSC with
split capacitors along with a T- connected transformer is
able to perform the required compensations for a three-
phase four-wire distribution system. The dynamic
performance is observed to be satisfactory for voltage
regulation and power factor correction of the
DSTATCOM.

II. PROPOSED DSTATCOM
Fig. 1(a) shows the power circuit of proposed H-bridge
VSC based DSTATCOM along with a T- connected
transformer connected in the three-phase four-wire
distribution system. The linear and non-linear, balanced
and unbalanced loads are connected at the PCC. The
T
XXXII NATIONAL SYSTEMS CONFERENCE, NSC 2008, December 17-19, 2008
78
DSTATCOM consists of a 2-leg pulse width modulated
(PWM) voltage-source converter (VSC) using four
insulated-gate bipolar transistors (IGBTs), two interface
inductors, and two dc capacitors. The T- connected
transformer connected at the load terminal provides a
circulating path for zero sequence harmonic and
fundamental currents. The DSTATCOM provides neutral
current compensation, harmonics elimination and load
balancing along with power factor correction or line
voltage regulation. The unity power factor (UPF)
operation using the DSTATCOM is shown in Fig. 1(b).
The compensator current is to compensate the reactive
power component of the load current. Fig. 1(c) shows the
phasor diagram for zero voltage regulation (ZVR)
operation. The DSTATCOM injects a current I
c
, such that
the load voltage, V
S
and source voltage, V
M
are in the
locus of same circle. The design of the T- connected
transformer, design and control of the H-bridge VSC are
depicted in the following section.
III. DESIGN AND CONTROL OF PROPOSED DSTATCOM
The design of the T-connected transformer and control of
the VSC of DSTATCOM are given in the following
sections.
A. Design of T-Connected Transformer
The current rating of the T-connected transformer winding
depends on the neutral current compensation to be
provided by the transformer for the considered load given
in Appendix. The windings are designed for mmf
(magneto motive force) balance to mitigate the neutral
current as shown in Fig.2(a). Fig. 2(b) shows the phasor
diagram of the transformer winding voltages. The voltage
rating and the number of turns in the primary windings are
decided based on mmf balance.
If V
a1
and V
b1
are the voltages across each winding and V
a

is the resultant voltage, then
1 1
=
a a
V KV (1)
1 2
=
b a
V K V (2)
Where K
1
and K
2
are the fraction of winding in the phases.
Considering, V
a
= V
b
= V, and V
a1
cos30 =
a
V , V
b1
Fig.1 (a). Schematics of proposed H-bridge VSC with T-connected transformer based DSTATCOM (b) phasor diagram for UPF operation (c) zero
voltage regulation (ZVR) operation.
79
sin30 =
a
V , then from (1) and (2),
one gets,
1
0.866 = K ,
2
0.5 = K

The line voltage is, 415 , =
ca
V V then
b c
V = V = 415 3 239.60 = =
a
V V (3)
1
207.49 =
a
V V ,
1
119.80 =
b
V V (4)
Hence, the windings of two single-phase transformers of
rating 2.5 kVA, 240V/120V/120V and 2.5 kVA,
208V/208V are selected.

B. Design and Control of VSC of DSTATCOM
The voltage source converter (VSC) used as a
DSTATCOM in the proposed configuration is a two-leg,
PWM controlled IGBTs based VSC. The rating of the
solid-state switches is based on the voltage and current
rating of the compensation system. The rating of VSC
required for the reactive current compensation of the load
given in Appendix is 12 kVA. The dc bus voltage, dc bus
capacitor, ac inductor and the ripple filter are designed
for the required kVA [17]. There are many algorithms
available for the generation of reference source currents
for the control of VSC of DSTATCOM for three phase
four wire system viz. instantaneous reactive power theory
(p-q theory), synchronous reference frame theory, power
balance theory etc [18]. The synchronous reference frame
theory based method is used for the control of two-leg
DSTATCOM. A block diagram of the control scheme is
shown in Fig. 3. The load currents (i
L
), the PCC voltages
(v
s
) and dc bus voltages (v
dc1
, v
dc2
) of DSTATCOM are
sensed as feedback signals. The loads currents in the three-
phases are converted into the d-q-0 frame using the Parks
transformation as in eqn. (5).
Ld la
Lq lb
lc
L0
1
cos sin
2
i i
2 2 2 1
i cos sin i
3 3 3 2
i
i
2 2 1
cos sin
3 3 2






| | | |
=
| |
\ . \ .



| | | |
+ +
| |
\ . \ .
(5)
A three-phase PLL (phase locked loop) is used to
synchronise these signals with the voltages at PCC. The d-
q components are then passed through low pass filters to
extract the DC components of i
d
and i
q
. The error between
the reference DC capacitors voltages and the sensed DC
bus voltage of both capacitors of DSTATCOM is given to
a PI (proportional-integral) controller which output is
considered as the loss component of the current and is
added to the dc component of i
d
. The error between the dc
capacitors voltages difference and its reference zero value
is given to another PI controller which output is added also
to the dc component of i
d
.
A third PI controller is used to regulate the load terminal
voltage. The amplitude of the load terminal voltage and its
reference value are fed to a PI controller and the output of
PI controller is added with the dc component of i
q
. The
control strategy is to regulate the terminal voltage,
elimination of harmonics in the load current and the load
balancing. The resultant currents are again converted into
the reference source currents using the reverse Parks
transformation. Here two phase supply currents are
controlled using a current controlled PWM to generate
gating pulses for the IGBT switches. For power factor
correction, only dc bus voltage PI controller is required in
the control algorithm.

IV. MATLAB MODELLING OF DSTATCOM SYSTEM
The H-bridge VSC based DSTATCOM and the T-
connected transformer interfaced to a three phase four
wire system shown in Fig. 1(a) is modelled and simulated
using the MATLAB and its Simulink and Power System
Blockset toolboxes. The load considered is a lagging
power factor linear load and nonlinear load. The ripple
filter is connected to the VSC of the DSTATCOM for
filtering the ripple in the terminal voltage. The system data
are given in Appendix.
The control algorithm for the DSTATCOM is also
modelled in MATLAB. The reference source currents are
derived from the sensed PCC voltages (v
s
), load currents

Fig. 2 (a). T-configuration of transformer windings (b) Phasor diagram.
Fig. 3 Control algorithm for the operation of H-bridge VSC based
DSTATCOM in a three phase 4-wire system.
80
(i
L
) and the dc bus voltages (v
dc1
, v
dc2
) of DSTATCOM. A
pulse width modulated (PWM) current controller is used
over the reference and sensed source currents to generate
the gating signals for the IGBTs of the VSC of the
DSTATCOM.

V. RESULT AND DISCUSSIONS
The dynamic performance of DSTATCOM using H-
bridge VSC and the T-connected transformer in the unity
power factor (UPF) mode of operation is depicted in Fig. 4
and Fig. 5. The load balancing and neutral current
compensation are demonstrated in Fig. 4 and the harmonic
elimination, load balancing and neutral current
compensation are demonstrated in Fig. 5. The voltages at
PCC (v
s
), balanced source current (i
s
), load current (i
La
, i
Lb
,
i
Lc
), compensator currents (i
c
), source neutral current (i
Sn
),
load neutral current (i
Ln
), T-connected transformer neutral
current (i
Cn
), dc bus voltages (v
dc
, v
dc1
, v
dc2
) and rms value
of PCC voltage (V
S
) of DSTATCOM are shown in both
the cases.
The dynamic performance of the DSTATCOM for
voltage regulation mode of operation is shown in Fig. 6
and Fig. 7. The load balancing and neutral current
compensation are demonstrated in Fig. 6 and the harmonic
elimination and neutral current compensation are
demonstrated in Fig. 7. The voltages at PCC (v
s
), balanced
source current (i
s
), load current (i
La
, i
Lb
, i
Lc
), compensator
currents (i
c
), source neutral current (i
Sn
), load neutral
current (i
Ln
), T-connected transformer neutral current (i
Cn
),
dc bus voltage (v
dc
, v
dc1
, v
dc2
) and rms value of PCC
voltage (V
S
) are demonstrated under change of load
conditions. It is observed that the rms value of the load
voltage is regulated to the reference amplitude. The zero
sequence fundamental current of the load neutral current
resulted from the unbalanced load current is circulated in
the T-connected transformer and hence the source neutral
current is maintained at nearly zero. The PI controller
regulates the dc bus voltages of the two capacitors of the
VSC of DSTATCOM and the voltage is maintained near
the reference voltage under different load disturbances.
The waveform of the load current and its harmonic
spectrum is shown in Fig. 8 and the compensated source
current with its harmonic spectrum is shown in Fig. 9. The
THD of the source current is reduced to 1.26% from the
THD of the load current of 56.04%. The voltage at the
PCC is shown in Fig. 10. It is also observed that the
terminal voltage is not regulated in both the cases as the
compensator is operated in the UPF mode. These results
Fig. 4. Performance of a H-bridge VSC and T-connected transformer
as DSTATCOM for neutral current compensation, load balancing and
power factor correction.
Fig. 5. Performance of a H-bridge VSC and T-connected transformer as
DSTATCOM for neutral current compensation, harmonic elimination,
load balancing and power factor correction.
81
show that the T-connected transformer is able to
compensate for both fundamental and harmonic neutral
current.
VI. CONCLUSION
The modelling and simulation of a new topology of
DSTATCOM consisting of H-bridge VSC and a T-
connected transformer has been demonstrated for neutral
current compensation along with reactive power
compensation, harmonic elimination and load balancing.
The voltage regulation and power factor correction modes
of the DSTATCOM have been observed to be satisfactory.
The T-connected transformer has been effective for
compensating the zero sequence fundamental and
harmonic currents. The dc bus voltages of these split
capacitors of DSTATCOM have been regulated to equal
Fig. 6. Performance of a H-bridge VSC and T-connected transformer as
DSTATCOM for neutral current compensation, load balancing and
voltage regulation.

Fig. 7. Performance of a H-bridge VSC and T-connected
transformer as DSTATCOM for neutral current compensation,
harmonic elimination, load balancing and voltage regulation.

Fig. 8. Source current and the harmonic spectrum.

Fig. 9. Load current and the harmonic spectrum.


Fig. 10. Voltage at PCC and the harmonic spectrum.
82
magnitude and the total dc voltage is also regulated under
all varying loads. The use of four-switch, H-bridge VSC
for three-phase four-wire system reduces the complexity
and hence reduces the cost of DSTATCOM. The T-
connected transformer require two single phase
transformers where as three single phase transformers are
required in the star/delta transformer and zig-zag
transformer and this also helps in reducing the total cost of
the system.
APPENDIX
Line Impedance: R
s
=0.01 , L
s
= 2mH.
(i) Linear load: 20 kVA, 0.80 pf lag.
(ii) Non-linear load: Three single-phase bridge rectifier
with an R-C load with R = 25 and C = 470F.
Ripple Filter: R
f
= 3 , C
f
= 6 F.
Two-Leg VSC
DC bus capacitance, C
dc
: 2500 F.
Ripple Inductor: 6 mH, 0.01 .
DC bus voltage: 1400 V.
Dc bus PI controller (Total voltage): K
pd
=1, K
id
=30.
Dc bus PI controller (Difference in dc voltages): K
p
=1,
K
i
=20.
AC line voltage: 415 V, 50 Hz.
Dc bus PI controller (PCC voltage): K
pq
=1, K
iq
=5.
PWM switching frequency: 10 kHz.
T-connected Transformer
Two single-phase transformers
Transformer 1: 2.5 kVA, 240V/120V/120V.
Transformer 2: 2.5 kVA, 208V/208V.
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