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TESIS DOCTORAL
2015
DEPARTAMENTO DE AUTOMÁTICA,
INGENIERÍA ELÉCTRICA Y ELECTRÓNICA
E INFORMÁTICA INDUSTRIAL
Ingeniera Industrial
2015
Abstract
By
The search for new energy models arises as a necessity to have a sustainable power
supply. The inclusion of distributed generation sources (DG) allows to reduce the cost of
facilities, increase the security of the grid or alleviate problems of congestion through the
and reliable supply, which can cover the demand for a low cost; due to this, distributed
But the remote microgrids are especially weak grids because of their small size, low
voltage level, reduced network mesh and distribution lines with a high ratio R/X. This ratio
affects the coupling between grid voltages and phase shifts, and stability becomes an issue of
generation sources inserted in remote microgrids -and, in general, any electrical equipment-,
it is essential to have devices for testing and certification. These devices must, not only
faithfully reproduce disturbances occurring in remote microgrids, but also to behave against
the equipment under test (EUT) as a real weak grid. This also makes the device commercially
competitive. To meet these objectives and based on the aforementioned, it has been designed,
built and tested a voltage disturbances generator, in order to provide a simple, versatile, full
Por
La búsqueda de nuevos modelos energéticos surge como una necesidad para conseguir
una reducción del coste de las instalaciones, incrementando los niveles de seguridad de la red
seguro, que permita cubrir la demanda con un coste bajo; por ello, la generación distribuida
se presenta como una alternativa que, de manera masiva, se está introduciendo en este tipo
de redes.
Pero las microrredes remotas son redes particularmente débiles debido a su pequeño
tamaño, sus bajos niveles de tensión, el escaso mallado y la presencia de lı́neas de distribución
con un alto ratio R/X. Este ratio afecta al acomplamiento entre las tensiones de las red y
no sólo reproducir fielmente las perturbaciones que ocurren en las microrredes remotas, sino
también comportarte frente al equipo a ensayar como una red débil real. Para cumplir estos
NIKOLA TESLA
A mis padres Antonio y Mary Luz y a mi hermano Antonio. A mi tı́a Julia, que hubiera
presumido tanto de mı́.
vi
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
Y por fin llegó el dı́a. Al volver la vista atrás, no puedo evitar sentir cierta satisfacción de
haber llegado a esta cima, cuyo ascenso se me ha hecho a veces tan empinado, y es justo dar
gracias a los que me han ayudado a conseguirlo. Hoy también son ellos parte de este triunfo.
A mis directores. A Carlos Veganzones, por todo el tiempo que me ha dedicado y por las
enseñanzas que me ha transmitido estos años. Por prestarme su idea para el desarrollo de
este trabajo. Por la ayuda en la configuración y revisión final del documento de tesis. A
Francisco Blázquez por sus sugerencias para el diseño de las máquinas eléctricas.
car la diferencia y ser el que siempre me consideró una compañera y no una alumna.
To the professors and colleagues I was lucky to meet during my experiences as visiting scholar
in UW-Madison and MSU. To Prof. Giri Venkataramanan and Patricio. To Dr. Strangas,
Dr. Foster and the Spartans (Andrew, Cristián, Reemon and Jorge). Thank you for your
warmth and your friendship. Thank you very much for making me feel, at least for some
A otros profesores de la UPM, que me permitieron colaborar y aprender con ellos en sus
Departamentos durante esta etapa doctoral y que me trataron siempre con tanto afecto.
sonal que lo componen. A los técnicos de Máquinas Eléctricas, por su soporte (bancada
arriba, bancada abajo...). A Elena, por compartir conmigo los últimos meses de laboratorio.
A mis compañeros de oficina, que en esta recta final me han aguantado con paciencia y
viii
A mis padres, mi hermano y mis amigos, por su incondicional apoyo. Por soportar mi
desánimo cuando, por primera vez en mi vida, me vi obligada a “tirar la toalla” y desistir de
seguir persiguiendo mi sueño universitario. Gracias por compartir la alegrı́a de verme hoy
aquı́, más feliz, más fuerte y con nuevas metas que conquistar.
Julia
2015
ix
x
CONTENTS
Chapter 1 Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1
1.1 Motivation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1
1.2 Objectives and contributions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3
1.3 Outline of the thesis structure . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4
1.4 Dissemination . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5
xii
3.2.5 Transient analysis . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 71
3.3 Conclusions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 75
xiii
5.3.2.1 Optimization of the ampere-turns ratio . . . . . . . . . . . . 112
5.4 Conclusions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 113
xiv
Appendix B Thevenin equivalent for the EM1+EM2 case . . . . . . . . . . . 157
B.1 Thevenin source . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 158
B.2 Thevenin impedance . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 158
BIBLIOGRAPHY . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 182
xv
xvi
LIST OF TABLES
Table 2.1 PGM installed capacity limits according to ENTSO-E regions [1] . . 38
Table 2.2 Operating ranges of voltages. a) Voltages from 110 kV to 300 kV. b)
Voltages from 300 kV to 400 kV . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 40
Table 6.2 Comparison between leakage reactances in original and improved pro-
totype 2 according to the combined effect of the increment of the
air-gap width plus the slot refitting . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 122
Table 6.4 Comparison between leakage reactances in original and improved pro-
totypes because of the change in the transformation ratio and the
double-layer rotor winding design . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 123
Table A.2 Motor data from Pujol Muntalá IPCM 128/90L-4/148 . . . . . . . 151
Table A.3 Gearbox data from Pujol Muntalá IPCM 128/90L-4/148 . . . . . . 151
xviii
LIST OF FIGURES
xx
Figure 4.3 Voltage disturbances generator cabinet . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 82
Figure 4.4 Voltage magnitude output during calibration . . . . . . . . . . . . . 85
Figure 4.5 Reproduction of voltage swells and dips . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 87
Figure 4.6 Angle setpoint and tracking . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 89
Figure 4.7 Voltage dips profiles . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 89
Figure 4.8 Frequency disturbances . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 90
Figure 4.9 Combined voltage, frequency and phase jump disturbance . . . . . . 91
Figure 4.10 Harmonic spectra of voltage waveforms . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 91
Figure 5.1 No-load and full load voltage dips with the prototype 1 . . . . . . . 95
Figure 5.2 Phasor diagram of the prototype 1 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 96
Figure 5.3 Output voltage at the induction regulator for a generator with cosφ = 1 97
Figure 5.4 Slot leakage flux . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 102
Figure 5.5 Leakage flux paths in the end-windings . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 102
Figure 5.6 Zigzag leakage flux paths . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 102
Figure 5.7 End-winding main dimensions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 104
Figure 5.8 Influence of the geometric parameters over the slot permeances . . . 111
xxi
Figure 7.2 Comparison of voltage dips for the prototypes at no-load . . . . . . 134
Figure 7.3 Comparison of voltage dips against resistive load at full rated power 135
Figure 7.4 Asynchronous motor/generator test bench . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 136
Figure 7.5 Comparative behaviour of tests against asynchronous motor . . . . . 137
Figure 7.6 Comparative behaviour against asynchronous generator . . . . . . . 139
Figure 7.7 DC machine and synchronous generator test bench . . . . . . . . . . 140
Figure 7.8 Comparative of the behaviour of prototypes connected to synchronous
generators with static excitation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 141
Figure 7.9 Comparative of the behaviour of prototypes connected to synchronous
generators with static excitation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 142
Figure A.1 Servo motors involved in the disturbances generator prototype . . . 149
Figure A.2 Block diagram of dSPACE DS1104 R&D . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 155
xxii
LIST OF SYMBOLS
ω Speed (p.u.)
φm Mutual flux
τ Slot pitch
τp Pole pitch
Ir Rotor current
Is Stator current
K Transformation ratio
Xσ Leakage reactance
Z Impedance
b Slots widths
h Slots heights
P Poles
p Permeance
R Resistance
S Number of slots
s Slip
ξ Winding factor
m Number of phases
Note: Additional subscripts r and s along the content refer to rotor and stator values
xxiv
Chapter 1
Introduction
1.1 Motivation
The current power consumption involves the emission to the atmosphere of great amounts of
CO2 contributing to accelerated climate change. During the year 2012, 31.6 Gt of CO2 were
emitted, of which 60% belonged to countries outside the OCDE (mainly to the emergent
economies of China, India and Brazil). Due mainly to the growth of these countries, it is
expected that by 2020 the world electricity consumption will be almost 30% higher than at
present [5]. This evidences a crisis in the traditional energy model, posing serious problems
of sustainability in the medium and long term. If we add that fossil fuels are finite and
scarce, which in turn has untied a price war on the markets, it is clear the need to find new
On the approach of new models two main objectives are pursued: the replacement of the
conventional generation by renewable energy sources (RES) and the improvement of overall
order to achieve these goals. DG favors the inclusion of non-conventional generation, allowing
the installation of groups located close to the natural resources, at distribution voltage levels.
It also allows an efficiency rise by bringing the generation towards the consumption points
The massive increasing of wind power plants in electrical systems has forced the deve-
lopment of a more complete and rigorous regulation in terms of connection and operation
requirements for electrical generators. From this new perspective, traditional electrical sys-
tems are gradually fragmenting into smaller ones, with a high percentage of renewable en-
ergy installed. Decentralized generation helps to improve grid security, because the supply
no longer depends on a few critical nodes. The ultimate goal is have a grid formed by a
set of smaller systems called microgrids, connected to each other, self-supplied and with the
The needed electricity supply to remote areas, as islands or faraway locations in devel-
oping countries provides a very particular configuration for their electrical systems. They
are a subgroup of special microgrids -remote microgrids- that have a very weak link inter-
connection or even a totally lacking link. In remote microgrids, low levels of short-circuit
power, the weakness of the network, low inertia of the groups and accused variations in the
load profile as main characteristics, make that any abnormal situation ocuring at a point
can affect the whole of the network and can seriously compromise the security and stability
of the system.
It is worth remarking that the availability of a strong link between a microgrid and
the local electric distribution system allows continuity of supply in the microgrid in case of
disconnection of several generators due to maintenance or fault. The absence of this option
requires to establish higher levels of reserve groups to deal with contingencies and to adopt
The remote microgrids are especially suitable for the inclusion of renewable energy but
they are more vulnerable than any other type of microgrid. Hence the technical requirements
in regulations applicable to these systems are generally more demanding. It is essential for
validate the behavior of their devices according to new grid codes requirements.
2
This thesis discusses the design and construction of a new voltage disturbances prototype,
in order to be employed in the validation and certifying compliance with the grid codes. The
requirements will be those currently in use or those that will foreseeably appear on new
standards. In the previous literature search of this work, detailed in cha. 2, no device has
been found that shares the characteristics and objectives of the one developed, so this new
The main objective pursued by this thesis involves the design, construction, programming,
testing and validation of a voltage disturbances prototype. This equipment allows the cre-
ation of frequency and voltage disturbances as well as phase jumps, so it can be used for
the certification of electrical equipment prior to its inclusion in particularly weak electrical
This main objetive can be furthered splitted into three intermediate targets that are
listed below:
• Design of two electrical machines, improved from a commercial wound rotor induction
motor intended for operation as part of this prototype, with the aim of increasing
the performance of the device. These machines have modifications on some design
parameters in order to reduce, to a certain extent, the effect of current flow through
the prototype that can have on the disturbance to be created or on the equipment to
be tested.
• Programming of the real-time control system that allows the accurate reproduction of
the desired disturbances and whose main features are precision, speed of response and
flexibility.
3
• Implementation of a data acquisition system for control and monitoring of the variables
of interest, like the development of a human machine interface (HMI) to allow the user
The result of the fulfillment of these goals involves a contribution of knowledge to the
Chapter 2 gathers the information concerning to the state of the art in the main topics
constituting a framework of the work. It has been divided in three blocks of contents. First,
main characteristics defining microgrids and definition of disturbances in these systems are
studied. Second, it has been collected a wide study about grid codes: structure, requirements
and main regulations for isolated grids as well as interconnected networks. And third, a
literature search of commercial devices to reproduce voltage dips as test equipment have
been compiled.
In Chapter 3 the conceptual idea underlying the device and the operational procedure
of the equipment are drafted. The first performance results for the prototype built from
Chapter 4 develops the mathematical expressions, the Thevenin equivalents and the
simulation model to represent the steady-state behaviour of the prototype and the equations
Chapter 5 clusters the main information concerning to the electrical machines design. The
weak points of the commercial setup are analyzed and some improvements for the design of
4
Chapter 6 focuses on the final definition of new electrical machines. It also shows the
transient model developed by finite elements and describes the process for construction and
Chapter 7 shows the characterization of new prototypes by means of testing, the experi-
mental results reached and the comparison between original prototypes and enhanced ones,
in order to quantify the effectiveness of design changes applied to the electrical machines.
Chapter 8 collects the final conclusions of the dissertation and settles the basis for future
improvements.
1.4 Dissemination
• Merino, J.; Mendoza-Araya, P.; Venkataramanan, G.; Baysal, M.; Islanding Detection
in Microgrids using Ambient Harmonics. Power Delivery, IEEE Transactions on, vol.
• Merino, J.; Mendoza-Araya, P.; Veganzones, C. State of the Art and Future Trends in
Grid Codes Applicable to Isolated Electrical Systems. Energies, no. 7, pp. 7936-7954.
Nov. 2014.
• Merino, J.; Veganzones, C.; Sanchez, J.A.; Martinez, S.; Platero, C.A. Power System
Storage Generation System: A Case Study in the Canary Islands. Energies, no. 5, pp.
• Veganzones, C.; Sanchez,J.A,; Martinez, S.; Platero, C.A.; Blazquez, F.; Ramirez, D.:
Rodriguez, J.; Merino, J.; Herrero, J.; Gordillo. F. Voltage Dip Generator for Testing
5
Wind Turbines Connected to Electrical Networks. Renewable Energy, Vol. 36, no. 5,
Patent application:
• Rodrı́guez, J.; Herrero, N.; Merino, J.; Platero, C.A.; Veganzones, C.; Blázquez, F.;
6
Chapter 2
This chapter collects a literature review of the topics on which this thesis focuses. First of all,
microgrids are analyzed as a distinct structure within the electric power systems. Then, the
particularities that define remote microgrids and the characteristics of disturbances occurring
in them are studied. Later, it is examined the legislation that currently must meet generators
-especially wind turbines -before its insertion in electrical systems, and the tendency which is
systems. These devices are evaluated with the purpose of highlighting the contributions of
2.1 Microgrids
According to the definition given by the United States Department of Energy (DOE), a
microgrid is an electrical system consisting of a set of generators, storage devices, loads and
[6]. Researchers at the Consortium for Electric Reliability Technology Solutions (CERTS)
added, moreover, that a microgrid must be able to provide combined electrical and thermal
crogrids a highly flexible structures. They appear as the best alternative to promote the
integration of DG sources in power systems. The microgrids have regulation systems over
their generation units and loads so they provide, at every moment, a full and complete
power flow control. From the utility grid side, a microgrid is an active electrical system
which behaves like an individual generator or load at the point of common coupling (PCC).
In Fig. 2.1 the general scheme of a microgrid can be observed with the elements that
typically comprise it, although it is not necessary for all of them to be present simultaneously.
The generators can be rotating electrical machines directly connected to the grid, thermal or
to the utility grid through electronic converters -wind generators, PV generators, etc-. The
storage systems such as batteries, flywheels or supercapacitors, help stabilize the grid in case
of transient disturbances. They also contribute to restore the equilibrium when generation-
load imbalances take place. The advantages provided by storage are especially needed when
GRID
PCC
MICROSWITCH
M MOTORS
LOADS
G STORAGE DEVICES
CONVENTIONAL
G
GENERATOR
MICROGRID
8
According to the standard IEEE P1547 [8], the power limit of a source to be considered
generation/storage unit with their associated controls would already form a microgrid. This
value must be taken as an indicative manner since, in practice, the inclusion of a grid in the
there are four common characteristics that a grid must meet to be classified as a microgrid:
• Stability in its operation in islanded and grid-connected modes and in the transitions
between them.
A microgrid, from the operational point of view, must fulfill two conditions. On the one
hand, any component in the assembly can be critical, i.e., the stability and security of the
grid has to be maintained regardless of the failure of any element of the system. This shows
a similarity with the N-1 safety criterion applicable to the conventional electrical systems.
This first condition means necessarily that each generation/storage unit must have its own
power-frequency controls and its associated protections. On the other hand, within the
microgrid, any two units can be exchangeable without making necessary the redesign of the
grid [9].
The isolated power systems can be considered as a particular case of microgrids, which do
not have the possibility of connection to the mains. These microgrids are known as remote
microgrids.
9
There are unresolved aspects that pose barriers to the bulk introduction of microgrids
in electrical systems. From the technical perspective, those are linked to complex control of
multiple generating sources, detection of abnormal islanding events and the subsequent re-
connection process. In terms of regulations, there are shortcomings in the specific legislation
in a large number of countries, such as Spain. There are difficulties in defining the connec-
tion requirements, who are the agents responsible for the grid management and the trade of
surplus power -if connected to the utility grid - and what will be the suitable remuneration
regime.
2.1.2 Classification
The microgrids can be classified according to several criteria. The most common is to
establish the organization in terms of demand characteristics established by the needs of the
The institutional microgrids assemble a set of public buildings, and are intended to supply
areas of administrative, medical or educational services. They have a specific design accor-
ding to the required function and are State-owned. This aspect facilitates the technical
10
management of the grid, makes it easily centralized and dependent from a single adminis-
trator in generation and demand. This also happens with economic management, since the
resulting benefits have a direct impact on citizens. A fundamental aspect of their operation
is the need to ensure the continuity of supply especially in buildings, such as, for example,
hospitals.
The industrial or commercial microgrids are, in the essence of their structure, similar to
the institutional, so that in many articles appear as a single group [10, 11, 12]. Technical
management of the grid is more complicated since various stakeholders are involved, for
example, in the case of a commercial complex where there are several types of businesses
The military microgrids tend to have a strong support of renewable generation sources,
since they are in remote areas and they often operate isolated from the mains. Most of them
are temporary facilities. In these grids the reliability factor is a priority over the quality of
the service.
The community microgrids are intended to supply residential areas. These microgrids
will be an important part of its operation time connected to a larger grid. Being completely
private properties, its development will generally depend on the existence of advantageous
specific legislation for owners. They can serve to palliate congestion problems that exist in
the low- or medium-voltage grids. A planned disconnection of these microgrids from the
And the last group are the remote microgrids, of special interest in this thesis. Its
structure is similar to the community or commercial microgrids. They present the main
difference that unless further developments of the infrastructures, they will never operate
connected to the mains. Compared to the military microgrids, that also operate in islanded
11
mode, the remote microgrids are designed to fulfill additional requirements of reliability,
efficiency and quality of service, because they are intended for permanent installations.
Reduced
Off-grid
energy
2012: (5%, 110 MW)
cost
2020: 16% CAGR
The idea of remote microgrid is not novel itself. Many rural areas had for years a electri-
fication grid that according to the the current standards would come within the definition of
microgrid. It is relatively recent the discovery of the technical and economic advantages they
offer and the establishment of common criteria that are the basis for its development. Com-
pared to very extended models of microgrids, the remote microgrids have a wide progression
ahead.
In the bubble chart in Fig. 2.3 it is observed the current (2012) and planned distribution
(2020) of microgrids according to the segment market. In the figure it can be appreciated
that remote microgrids are the least polluting, by the high proportion of renewable energy
installed, and those which get a cheaper energy supply. At the other end they are the military
microgrids. In them the most important is the security of supply in exchange for high
12
investment costs which would be unacceptable in other contexts. For the remote microgrids
and commercial microgrids are the most implemented (almost 70% of them belong to these
two groups). They use a smaller proportion of renewable energy than the community or
remote microgrids, because the security of supply required forces, in some cases, to the use
of back-up diesel units. This reserve of energy required to face up with potential failures of
2.2.1 Singularities
Remote microgrids are electrically isolated systems, weak networks that are in geographically
currently remain largely dependent on the use of fossil fuels. Until recently, only diesel
generators were able to ensure a secure and reliable supply in exchange for very high prices
in the transportation of fuel and in the operation of the system. They are in areas of
high ecological interest, which forces to search for the trade-off between energy efficiency
and environmental friendliness. Existing solutions involve a mixed supply, maintaining the
As remote microgrids do not have connection to the mains, the system has to be designed
to autonomously meet the criteria of reliability and quality of service. In addition, a high
percentage of the supply depends on renewable energy, i.e. intermittent energy sources is
necessary to establish new protocols for management of such microgrids. Below, three areas
that make clear the need of operation procedures that gather the incidences derived from
13
• The reserves managment
It becomes clear that the operation is strongly influenced by the impact that contingen-
cies have on the system. This impact is much higher in remote microgrids compared with
interconnected systems, making necessary the establishment of higher reserve levels. The
conventional groups are forced to work below their rated power, leading to cost overruns.
This reserve value tends to be the minimum allowed by the country’s legislation and it is
often insufficient. Due to this, in isolated systems or remote microgrids, it is usual that in
case of an unscheduled failure, load has to be shed in order to retrieve the normal operating
condition.
To emphasize the importance of the need for a proper management of the energy reserves
+ 75 MW
- 40 MW
Source: REE
14
It can be observed that in the period between 16.48h and 18.40h -less than two hours-
there was a simultaneous increase in demand for 75 MW and a sudden decrease of wind
power generation of about 40 MW. The wind power lost had to be compensated by the
In remote microgrids it is difficult to foresee any incidents as they possess a high degree of
uncertainty due to the grid variability of voltage levels. This makes difficult the compliance
regards to security criteria. The lines offer a high impedance which causes a voltage drop
highly dependent on the degree of load, seriously influencing the power quality in the PCC.
In systems that have not yet implemented DG, there is a risk of operation because the
electrical generation is condensed in a few nodes. They are also poorly meshed grids with
low voltage level (< 66kV ). For all the above, in these grids it is usually registered a high
number of breaches of the N-1 safety criteria. As an example, in the Fig. 2.5 data of the
unscheduled events which were recorded during the year 2008 in the Canary Island of La
Palma are shown [13]. The variability in the number of failures that occur in the system is
For a proper operation of the remote microgrids it is needed some improvements in the
forecasting systems of the production of the non-dispatchable resources and the demand. It
is also required a good estimation of the ratio between conventional and renewable generation
In each graph shown in Fig. 2.6 appears, simultaneously, the value of wind power gene-
rated (in MW) respect to the predicted value by the estimation model and for different time
horizons. The gap between the forecast and the actual generation reaches maximum errors
15
Unscheduled events (2008)
45
40 39
35
30
25
20
15 14
8 9
10
6
5 2 2 2 2 2
0 0
0
Figure 2.5: Number of unscheduled events recorded in La Palma island during 2008.
Source: REE
Figure 2.6: Present and expected wind power generation in the isolated system of Gran
Canaria
16
2.2.2 Characterization of disturbances
The contingency that most affects the power quality is the voltage dip since it represents
A voltage dip, as defined in the reference [15], is a sudden decrease in the voltage at a grid
node followed by their subsequent recovery and whose duration is between 10 ms and 1 min.
There are many causes that can lead to the appearance of a voltage dip. These causes are
related to the connection or disconnection of elements in the system, either for operational
reasons or as a result of short-circuits. The remote microgrids are usually reduced power,
nodes are physically close together, connected through very short distribution lines and are
electrically equivalent points. In addition, the relative power of the groups of generation/load
These circumstances determine the characteristics that usually present voltage dips in
remote microgrids: they are very deep and their propagation area is very broad. As an
example, in Fig. 2.7a, it is shown the temporal profile of a voltage dip characteristic of those
produced in the distribution grid of 20 kV in El Hierro island. It is noted that the voltage
in several nodes of the grid is almost the same because of the small size of the microgrid.
In addition, in Fig. 2.7b it is displayed the spread of a voltage dip in the isolated electrical
system of Gran Canaria island. Even the latter is a relatively large electrical system within
the remote microgrids, a short circuit at the output of one of the major power plants affects
the entire electrical system (of 66 kV). In these conditions no node is able to stay within the
17
1.25 MUELLE GRANDE
0. 8
GUIA GUANARTEME
ARUCAS
BUENAVISTA
1 LOMO APOLINARIO
07
0.7
C.T. JINAMAR
BARRANCO SECO
0.75 0.6
Voltage (p.u)
MARZAGAN
0.4
CARRIZAL
0.25 0.3
0.2
0 ALDEA BLANCA
0 2.5 5 7.5 10
MATORRAL 0.1
Time (s)
C.T. BCO. TIRAJANA
ARGUINEGUIN SAN AGUSTIN 0
LOMO MASPALOMAS
CEMENTOS ESPECIALES
(a) (b)
Figure 2.7: a) Voltage dip in the remote microgrid of El Hierro island; b) Voltage dip spread
in the grid of Gran Canaria island [3]
In any electrical system, often frequency disturbances appear as the result of imbalances
between generation and load. The swing equation of the rotor of electrical machines, in
dω
P m − Pe = 2 · H · (2.1)
dt
where
ω = Speed (p.u.)
From the previous equation it follows that the change in the rotational speed of the
generator, and therefore the frequency of the network, is directly proportional to the in-
stantaneous imbalance between generation and demand and inversely proportional to the
sum of the inertia provided by the groups. In the remote microgrids there are mostly diesel
18
groups of low inertia. This means that in case of a disturbance, the frequency deviations are
f (Hz)
50
49.75
49.50
49.25
Source: REE
Figure 2.8 shows a typical frequency disturbance pattern in a remote microgrid, which
corresponds to an event on the island of Tenerife on April 7, 2011. The trip of one of
the larger generation units caused a sudden drop in frequency. Since the frequency kept
outside of normal operation ranges after an extended time (150 s), the System Operator
The changes that happen on the voltage and frequency magnitudes during a disturbance are
example, in Fig. 2.9 it is displayed the records of main electrical magnitudes in a 400 kV
node of the Spanish grid when a severe fault takes place (a three-phase short circuit).
19
Trip
07/05/2009
22:27:05.253
0
-0.20 -0.15 -0.10 -0.05 0.00 0.05 0.10 0.15 0.20 0.25 0.30
t/s
-10000
5000
-0.20 -0.15 -0.10 -0.05 0.00 0.05 0.10 0.15 0.20 0.25 0.30
t/s
0
-5000
K1:Frequency bar 1A / Hz
50.5
50.0
49.5
-0.20 -0.15 -0.10 -0.05 0.00 0.05 0.10 0.15 0.20 0.25 0.30
t/s
49.0
The frequency disturbance associated with a harsh voltage dip in the Spanish mainland
grid does not reach the value of 0.1 Hz. Moreover, in Fig. 2.10 it can be observed a voltage
dip recorded in a node of the Spanish nonmainland territory. The fault provokes a very deep
voltage dip (4% of residual voltage) and a frequency change in the node of about 2 Hz. The
comparison of these logs allows to check the statements of the preceding Subsections 2.2.2.1
and 2.2.2.2, i.e., voltage dips are deeper in remote microgrids and frequency deviations are
20
In the interest of this thesis concerns,it has to be highlighted the interdependence between
voltage and frequency which occurs in remote microgrids. This needs the establishment of
devices that can jointly represent both disturbances, such as the one developed in this work.
: -0:00.15
T1 : 0:02.86
T2 TD: 0:03.01 min:seg
51.820
x43 Frec: Ten.UST Bar. A1
49.832
51.816
1.984
Hz
47.571
17184
x6 Ten.URS Bar. A1
14978
15027
48.07
V
3869.9
17165
x6 Ten.UST Bar. A1
14972
15027
54.93
V
3961.9
17140
x6 Ten.UTR Bar. A1
14991
15031
39.83
V
3867.2
--2448.3
-
-4385.3
-
-1937.0
KVA
-0:00.50 0:00.00 0:00.50 0:01.00 0:01.50 0:02.00 0:02.50 0:03.00 0:03.50 0:04.00 0:04.50 0:05.00 min:seg
Figure 2.10: Record of main electrical magnitudes in a dip in a spanish nonmainland node
making it possible that many of the systems that were remote -islands- have been progres-
sively connected to other grids with similar characteristics or the Mainland. As an example
of the first cases it may be mentioned the North and South islands of New Zealand, Lan-
zarote and Fuerteventura or the main islands of Hawaii. In this sense, there is also projected
21
an interconnection between the islands of Guadeloupe, Martinique and Dominica [16]. As an
tion of the Italian Islands (Island Project) to the continental Italy [17] as it already occurs
Also, within this second case, it is important to draw attention to two projects currently
being implemented due to its scale and the technological challenge they pose. The first one
is the Eurasia Interconnector Project, which is developing a link of almost 1000 km long,
with a capacity of 2000 MW, which will join the microgrids of Cyprus and Crete to the
continental territory of Greece and Israel. Its entry into service is scheduled for 2016 [19].
The second project, not yet started, will connect Iceland to the United Kingdom. Iceland
has a very important geothermal, hydraulic and wind potentials, so it is able to generate
nearly five times the energy it consumes at a very low price. The United Kingdom would
take the economic advantage of importing cheap energy from Iceland and, consequently, it
would not need to expand its offshore wind generation capacity [20].
For other remote microgrids their interconnection cannot be planned either because of the
high cost of the construction of the link (not affordable for the remote places in developing
countries) or because of the geographical location. This occurs, for example, in the Canary
Islands: the distance between the islands and the Mainland and the depth of ocean floor do
not make viable the efficient connection at an affordable cost. As solutions for the future,
although unlikely, have been raised inter-connections of islands by means of offshore wind
farms with HVDC links [21]. In this type of grids, without the possibility of later connection,
it is essential the development of codes to allow the replacement of the current energy model
for another, based on RES. It is also in this type of systems in which the work developed in
22
2.3 Regulations applicable to distributed generation
2.3.1 Introduction
The increasing integration of non-conventional sources in power systems -mainly wind power
- has forced the transmission and distribution system operators (TSOs and DSOs) to update
and redesign its grid codes. The grid codes are, essentially, sets of rules governing the
connection and behavior that must meet the generators connected in electrical systems. The
regulations are different in each country and the corresponding operator is responsible for
The grid codes take as a reference the electrical characteristics and the design of the
network itself. Their degree of demand is directly linked to the unmanageable power present
in the system and the expected penetration rate. With the new policy it is pursued, as an
end goal, to equate the behavior of renewable generation to the conventional groups already
in service, and to ensure that the replacement of generation units in the system by others,
There is a close relationship between standards, and the consequences they establish for
manufacturers. The graphical summary of this idea can be seen in Fig. 2.11.
on their devices, thus resulting in an evolution of technology generation system and con-
trol drives. With these improvements, an effective contribution to the maintenance of the
equipment in the network is achieved and the inclusion of new sources of non-conventional
generation is favored.
23
Higher
requirements
in grid codes
Renewable
Technology
energy
evoluon
increase
All grid codes are structured in a similar way. In them it can be found three groups of
• Operation and safety procedures: These standards fix the action schemes for the elec-
shedding plans, etc.). In addition, the regulation and managment of energy reserves is
included.
• Regulation of the electricity market: They settle the mechanisms of the day-ahead,
intraday and balancing electricity markets, as well as the conditions to access to the
market.
The distinction between the first two groups of standards, which have the most technical
characteristics and are interrelated, is difficult in many regulations. For example, in the
24
Spanish case, all regulations are gathered in the so-called “Operation procedures”, that
In every country, the regulation framework is particular, complex and changing. In some
cases, the corresponding grid code is equally applicable to the whole generation, as it happens
in India [23]. In others, it is only defined the required response to the wind installations, as
in the P.O.12.3 [15] in Spain, in China [24] o in the procedure still in draft in India [25]. The
German code [26] distinguishes between synchronous generators and the other technologies
that do not employ a synchronous generator directly coupled to the grid. In the same way,
it will be done in the draft Spanish code P.O.12.2 [27]. The code P.O.12.2 includes other
generation sources such as photovoltaics, whenever they are connected to the transport grid,
or to the distribution grids if they are greater than 10 MW. In other relevant grid codes,
such as the Danish, the requirements are different not only in terms of the technology used,
but also depending on the voltage level and the power of the generating plant [28, 29, 30].
This section addresses the general aspects that relate the requirements in grid codes. These
criteria establish the disturbances that the developed test equipment must be able to repro-
duce accurately. Therefore they have been left out of the analysis the obligations of active
or reactive power contribution from generators and, in general, all aspects that depend on
For the proper functioning of the electrical system with DG, system operators (SOs)
must keep the voltage levels within acceptable limits under normal operating conditions in
all grid nodes. Moreover, the generation groups are responsible for helping SOs to meet those
25
requirements, staying connected if unusual circumstances in the system (failures that can
cause voltage dips and over/under voltages) and restoring its previous operating condition
as quickly as possible after clearance of the fault. The standard IEEE Std. 1159-1995
[31] establishes the classification of voltage disturbances that can occur in a power system
by magnitude and duration, as shown in Fig. 2.12. The voltage dip -as defined in [15]-
and voltage sag terms are usually used interchangeably [31, 32, 33]. They will also be
equivalent along this thesis. Care must be taken because in some contexts, sag and dip refer,
respectively, to the voltage drop or the remaining voltage after the fault according to the
Usually, the voltage ride-through requirements (VRT) are defined as patterns, which
relate the admissible voltage levels and the associated duration times. In Fig.2.13 it can be
1. - Rectangular profiles: they are set according to the tripping steps of the protection
systems.
26
Figure 2.13: Profile types of voltage dips. a) Rectangular profile. b) Profiles with recovery
ramp
2. - Profiles with recovery ramp: they represent the most severe envelopes obtained by
For over/undervoltage and transient overvoltage situations (voltage swells), the require-
ments are always fixed with reference to the different steps and times set for protection
systems.
The frequency of the system is an indicator of the degree of stability, since any instan-
taneous imbalance between the generation and the demand results in a variation of this
the control systems of generation. The amplitude and period of the frequency oscillations
depends on the characteristics of loads connected and the transient response of the gener-
ation groups regulators. Both conventional and renewable generation sources must be able
27
- Requirements facing phase shifts
The phase shifts naturally happen in electrical power systems after a fault in the grid
and as a result of a change in the impedance of the equivalent circuit. A phase jump is
a displacement that occur in a voltage wave with respect to a reference that has the same
frequency and harmonic content which is usually the voltage existing in the PCC prior to
disturbance. The phase shift requirements are very specific and are only included in the
In this section several grid codes are analyzed. Firstly, an analysis of the grid codes applicable
to interconnected electrical systems will be made, since they are the most complete and point
the way to future developments in regulations. Later, the inquiry will focus on the codes in
use nowdays in remote microgrids. They are, in number, much smaller. This is due to the
fact that small-sized electrical systems located, sometimes, in developing countries, have not
specific regulations or the reduced number of renewable energy sources installed does not
justify the creation of a code that regulates its integration into the electrical system.
2.3.4.1.1 Introduction
In the review of the literature relevant to the interconnected systems, the grid codes con-
sidered have been those in countries with more wind power installed by the end of 2012 (by
order: China = 75.324 MW; E.E.U.U. = 60.007 MW; Germany = 31.315 MW and India =
18.421 MW) [35]. For the United States it has been selected the code of the North Amer-
ican Electrical Reliability Corporation (NERC) [36]. NERC brings together the users and
operators not only of virtually the whole of the country, but also Canada and a small part
28
of the North of Mexico. For Spain, which remains by its wind power installed in 4th position
worldwide (22.796 MW) has been compared the existing legislation P.O.12.3 [15] and the one
pending approval P.O.12.2. [27]. Eventually, it has been considered of interest the inclusion
of the Danish code. Denmark’s installed wind power is greater in comparison with the total
system generating capacity (30% over the total, 4162 MW is wind power [35]).
In Fig.2.14 it is shown the voltage dip profiles required in the main international codes.
Voltage_RMS (p.u.)
Time (s)
Voltage_RMS (p.u.)
Time (s)
P.O.12.2 Spain China India Denmark
P.O.12.3 Spain USA_NERC Germany
29
Only some regulations include the zero ride-through (ZRT) requirement. Sources co-
nnected through electronic converters are less able to contribute to the short circuit current
compared to conventional units. This causes a more severe requirement regarding the mi-
nimum depth of the voltage dip appearing in electrical systems when conventional sources
are massively replaced by other technologies. To validate this statement it is compared the
current and proposed profiles for the Spanish Peninsular territory which are represented in
Fig. 2.14:
1. The P.O.12.3 came into operation in the year 2006. The profile was the envelope of
voltage dips of a system with a total installed capacity of 83.198 MW. The 13.9%
corresponded to wind power generation [37, 38]. The depth of the voltage dip was set
2. The profile of the draft PO12.2 was proposed for the new situation in Spain, which in
the late 2012 had an installed capacity of 107,615 MW. Out of these, 25% corresponded
to technologies that do not use a synchronous generator directly connected to the grid
(22.785 MW of wind power and 4.298 MW of photovoltaic solar energy [39]). The
forecasts of the Government set the growth of these energies as values to be reached
the 35,000 MW of wind power and 7.250 MW of photovoltaic solar energy in 2020 [40].
According to this scenario the profile has been modified to include a ZRT requirement
of 150 ms.
For the other over/undervoltage and voltage swells, depending on their magnitude and
duration and corresponding to the standard IEEE Std. 1159-1995 (Fig. 2.12) the require-
30
Dra P.O.12.2- Spain P.O.12.3 - Spain Germany USA_NERC Denmark China India
1,2
200 ms <100 ms
1,175 Defined in figures 8.2.1.b
500 ms <100 ms
1,15
2s
1h
1s
1,115 30 min* 100 ms
1,1
200 ms
1,07 60 s 60 s
1,06 60 s
0,95
0,9 1s 10 s - 60 s
3h
0,875
30 min *Depending on system frequency up to 30 min
0,85
Figure 2.15: Over/undervoltage and voltage swells requirements in main interconnected grid
codes
In Fig. 2.16 it is shown the conditions required to generation sources in several grid
generation codes to remain connected when frequencies outside the normal operating limits
- ROCOF requirements
In some grid codes the generators are required to remain connected to the mains not
only when the frequency is outside normal ranges for a given time but also when facing to
ROCOF events. Thus it occurs, for example, with the new P.O.12.2.It will oblige the plants
with synchronous generators not directly connected to the grid to withstand variations in
the frequency for up to ±2Hz/s without disconnection. The Danish legislation sets a higher
value of ±2.5Hz/s but only for those wind farms with a rated power between 11 kW and 25
kW. The current code in India [23] makes no reference to this requirement, but nevertheless,
31
Dra P.O.12.2- Spain P.O.12.3 - Spain Germany USA_NERC Dermark China India
Eastern Western Quebec Ercot
66
5s
63
62,5
62
61,8 90 s
30 s
61,7 30 s
61,6
61,5 180 s 540 s
660 s
61
60,6
60,5
60 Always Always Always Always
59,5
59,4
59
180 s 660 s 540 s
58,5
58,4 30 s
30 s
58
90 s
57,8 2s
7,5 s
57,5
57,3
0,75 s 2s
57
56,5
0,35 s
55,5
53
52,5 f > 52 Hz - 200 ms
52
51,5 2 min
51 Not defined.
0.85 p.u. < U < 0,875 p.u. - 30 m
30 min
50,5
50,3
0,875 p.u. < U < 0,9 p.u. - 3 h P.O.1.6 establishes Always
50
the disconnecon Always
49,5 Always Always
49,2 0,9 p.u. < U < 1.115 p.u. - Siempre condion if frequency
49 drops to 48 Hz for 3s.
1.115 p.u. < U < 1.5 p.u. - 1 h
48,5 30 min
48 20 min 10 min
47,5 10 min
47
f < 47 Hz - 200 ms
wind farms will be asked to support ROCOF events when it the new regulation currently in
The most advanced code up to the date, the Danish, is the only one that includes the
requirement of withstanding with an instantaneous 20o phase shift. The P.O. 12.2 will be
even more strict, establishing a phase shift criterion of up to 30o . Note also that in this
code, the requirement for the DG is more severe than for conventional generators, which are
forced to remain connected to phase jumps of 20o and only occasionally to 30o , as a result
32
2.3.4.2 Grid codes of remote microgrids
2.3.4.2.1 Introduction
The current regulations in remote microgrids are scattered and incomplete. It has been
identified two countries which host a significant number of isolated grids in their electrical
system, Spain and France. This has forced them to develop specific grid codes for these
remote microgrids.
In the island territories of Spain, very small systems can be identified as, for example, El
Hierro island with just 11.180 MW [41]. In the nonmainland territories of France some islands
Reunión, St. Pierre et Miquelon y St. Martin & St. Barthelemy- [42].
generation to ensure security. The French SO can order the shedding of RES when they reach
a 30% instant penetration[43]. Under Spanish law the limit depends on each territory, but in
no case may exceed 40% of the instantaneous production [44]. By the year 2015 in Canary
islands it is expected a rate of renewable energy penetration both in peak and off-peak hours
that can reach 100% of demand [45] and that will oblige, either a search of efficient storage
- Voltage ride-through
Figure 2.17 shows different profiles of voltage ride-through required by the different SOs
of the aforementioned power systems. In the upper and lower part of the figure it is distin-
guished depending on the size of the grid between systems up to and below 50 MW.
33
Figure 2.17: a) Voltage dip profiles for microgrids up to 50M W . b) Voltage dip profiles for
microgrids above 50M W
In general it can be concluded that the voltage dip profiles are demanding as smaller
the size of the microgrid is since virtually all include the ZRT capability. In contrast, the
interconnected systems only have to withstand a zero voltage dip in those systems with a
higher proportion of wind power installed, such as us (NERC), Germany or Spain (P.O.12.2).
In the EDF-SEI code in service, the required voltage dip depth is 0.05 p.u. [46]. To allow
for the increase of RES, it is in process a modification of the profile for future regulations
requiring the VRT with a depth of 0.01 p.u [47]. It is also expected the next approval
34
of a new profile in an amendment to the standard IEEE P1547 (IEEE P1547a/D2). In the
P.O.12.2-SEIE, applied to the Spanish Canary islands, it is demanded a pattern of 0 p.u. and
lasting 500 ms. For the rest of the island territories, the profile is the same as in Mainland.
- Overvoltage/Undervoltage/Voltage swell
shown in Fig. 2.18. The wider operation limits applicable to an interconnected system are
collected in the new Spanish procedure P.O.12.2. According to this standard, the generating
source must remain connected during 30 min when the voltage level drops to 0.8 p. u. and
50 ms if the voltage is maintained at 1.20 p.u. Up to 1.40 p.u. during 1s is required for the
Puerto Rico island. It can be observed that, in general, the required operating limits are
EDF- SEI Spain - SEIE IEEE P1547 Hawaii - HECO Iceland Cyprus Jamaica PREPA NZ_North NZ-South
- Frequency requirements
Figure 2.19 shows the different bands of frequency operation due to different SOs req-
uisites. In some countries it is appreciable the variations in frequency that must withstand
35
the generators in steady-state regime. This is the case, for example, of the South Island of
EDF- SEI Spain - SEIE NZ - North NZ - South Jamaica Iceland Cyprus IEEE 1547 IEEE 1547a Hawaii - HECO PREPA
55
53 P ≤ 30 kW P > 30 kW
52.5
5s
52 63
3 min
51.5 Abnormal 62.5
51 (P condions) 60 min 62 0.16 s 6s
30 s
50.5 61.5
30 min
50.3 61 20 s
50 Always A Always 60.5 0.16 s 0.16 s
Always * Always Always l
49.5 60
***Always Always
49.2 59.8 Always Always
49 Abnormal 59.5 Always
Always
48.5 (P condions) 60 min 59.3 0.16 s Adjustable
48 30 min 59 0.16 s to
20 s
47.5 **120 s 58.5 300 s
47.3 3 min 3s **20 s 5s 58
47.1 **5 s ** Intermediate values 57.5
0.16 s 0.16 s 10 s
47 60 s **0.1 s obtained by interpolaon 57
46 0.4 s 30 s ***If 0.9 <U<1.05 56.5
6s
45 *49.85 Hz <f< 50.15 Hz --Always If 0.85 <U<0.9 --- t= 60 min 56
49.75 Hz <f< 50.25 Hz -- t<5min If 1.05 <U<1.10 ---t= 60 min Instantaneous trip
- Derivatives of frequency
The requirement for generation sources to remain connected under derivatives of fre-
quency is not common to all analyzed codes, but it is reflected in some of them. For example,
ROCOF requirements up to 0.37 Hz/s in Hawaii, 0.75 Hz/s in New Zealand, and up to 1.3
2.3.4.3.1 Introduction
The dependence of the legislation in each country forces to manufacturers to certify their
equipment according to every grid code of the territories in which their products are installed.
36
That is why it seems more necessary to harmonize the different regulations. The creation
of a common European code will increase the levels of security and the stability in the grid
The European Network of Transmission System Operators (ENTSO-E) brings together the
technical operators of the European electrical systems and it is responsible for both coordi-
nation between different TSOs and control of energy exchanges through European borders.
This organization, in collaboration with the Agency for the Cooperation of Energy Reg-
ulators (ACER) and the operators of the electricity markets, have been working on the
By means of adopting a common grid code among the members of the European Union
• To assure a few requirements that must be specified in all the codes of the member
states.
• To unify terminology, parameters and conditions between the different grid codes.
In the section on Requirements for Grid connection (NC RfG) the new pan-european
code defines what are called “not exhaustive requirements”. Not exhaustive requirements
flexible operating limits that each national TSO must adapt and supplement. The ENTSO-E
grid code will prevail over the national regulations and it will be only applicable to the new
generators that want to get connected to the European transport system. The obligation of
compliance or not by the existing wind power plants will depend on each national TSO.
37
The code is complex, and consists of several regulations that will be adopted with a
temporal sequence still not defined, so the final schedule is not fixed. It is expected the NC
RfG entry into force throughout 2015. Since then, there will be a three-year period for the
It table 2.1 the classification of power plants, named Power Generation Modules (PGMs), in
four categories according to the ENTSO-E code is shown. PGMs go from A to D taking into
account several factors like power installation, location and the generation technology -power
plants with conventional synchronous generators (SPGMs) or power plants with generators
Table 2.1: PGM installed capacity limits according to ENTSO-E regions [1]
It can also be noticed how the requirements increase when the installation power incre-
ments. The PGMs type A, with a power over 0.8 kW, must remain connected within the
normal operating limits of voltage and frequency in steady state. For the D-type, it is also
demanded controls over active and reactive power, response against disturbances, etc., as
38
The following paragraphs show the margin requirements that establish the limits inside
RMS voltage-time, in which each SO must fix its own profile according to the particular
conditions of its power system. The maximum and minimum limits to frame the profiles,
depending on the technology and the power of the plant are depicted in Fig. 2.20:
Figure 2.20: Voltage dip profiles in ENTSO-E code. a) SPGMs type B and C; b) PPMs
type B and C; c) SPGMs type D; d) PPM type D
For the PGMs type A and B it is not specified normal operating ranges against voltage
variations. These limits will be set directly by the grid aggregator and for type C, the levels
shall be fixed by agreement between the grid aggregator and the national SO. As an example,
39
Synchronous area Voltage Range Time period
for operation
0.85 p.u. — 0.9 p.u. 60 min
0.9 p.u. — 1.118 p.u. Unlimited
Continental Europe 1.118 p.u. — 1.15 p.u. To be decided by
each TSO while respecting
the provisions of Art. 4(3)
but not less than 20 min
a)
Synchronous area Voltage Range Time period
for operation
0.85 p.u. — 0.9 p.u. 60 min
0.9 p.u. — 1.05 p.u. Unlimited
Continental Europe 1.05 p.u. — 1.0876 p.u. To be decided by
each TSO while respecting
the provisions of Art. 4(3)
but not less than 60 min
1.0875 p.u. — 1.10 p.u. 60 min
b)
Table 2.2: Operating ranges of voltages. a) Voltages from 110 kV to 300 kV. b) Voltages
from 300 kV to 400 kV
In Table 2.3 the minimum times that the PGMs must remain connected depending on
It can be seen that the code only establishes the minimum times of operation at several
frequencies in which the system should continue working. It is required a continuous oper-
ation of the wind farm for frequencies between 49 Hz to 51 Hz and they have to withstand
the location, these requirements will be different. It remains for the Regulatory Authorities
the responsibility for setting the bottom time limits for unassigned frequency steps. These
values must be labeled with sufficient time prior to the entry into force of the code to make
40
Synchronous area Frequency range Time period for operation
47.5 Hz — 48.5 Hz To be decided by
each TSO while respecting
the provisions of Art. 4(3)
but not less than 30 min
Continental Europe 48.5 Hz — 49.0 Hz To be decided by
each TSO while respecting
the provisions of Art. 4(3)
but not less than the
period for 47.5 Hz — 48.5 Hz
49.0 Hz — 51.0 Hz Unlimited
51.0 Hz — 51.5 Hz 30 min
It is also a condition in the code for the generators to stay connected and operating when
facing frequency ramps. It is the responsibility of the National Operator the setting of the
limit values.
According to the European directive 2009/72/EC a small isolated network had a power con-
sumption of less than 3000 GWh in the year 1996 and obtained by means of interconnections,
There are various European territories that meet the characteristics of isolated systems
such as the Canary Islands, Cyprus, Malta, Madeira or the Aland Islands. ENTSO-E code
aims at the harmonization of the grid codes for the future construction of a unified European
electrical system. The isolated power systems would presuppose a very small impact on the
global system (if they could lately be connected to the Mainland) or no impact if they would
keep isolated because of geographical circumstances. In either case, the effects of electrical
systems will be minimal and it is excluded in this initial version of the ENTSO-E code.
41
Nevertheless the importance of the harmonization between the different territories has
forced the creation of a group within the structure of ENTSO-E, focused on isolated systems:
the Regional Voluntary Group Isolated Systems (VRG IS). It is composed by four large
European operators: REE (Spain), Terna (Italy), Landsnet (Iceland) and CTSO (Cyprus).
Its mission is to ensure the proper management and operation of the isolated power systems
and the provision of its expertise in the development and updating of the grid codes. The
code. This is also intended to also advance the harmonization status in grid codes applied
vices
In Subsection 2.2.2.1 the differential characteristics have been described that define the
disturbances that appear in remote microgrids respect to other electrical power systems of
larger size and strongly meshed. It is essential to have devices to test and predict the behavior
of the generating plants against combined voltage and frequency disturbances. This will be
needed to certify its operation in accordance with the requirements set by the relevant SO
The aspects related to the certification of distributed generation sources have been
broadly addressed in the scientific sphere, where many examples of technical papers on
Most of the papers and patents found in literature search raise the physical constitution
and the development of equipment that exclusively generate voltage dips. Only some of the
latest devices allows the reproduction of more than one disturbance type. The development
42
validation and certification devices have always been closely linked to the evolution of the
requirements demanded by the grid codes. Voltage dips are the most severe disturbances
that can occur in the system. In the past they were responsible for massive disconnection
of wind power plants. Hence the SOs modified the grid codes to establish new requirements
for the response of the wind generation plants when facing voltage dips.
This section is a review of the current state of the art in the existing solutions for
certification of DG sources. Three are the common topologies of voltage dip generators:
those based on impedance, those using an electric machine, static (transformer) or rotating
2.4.1 Impedance-based
The insertion of a ground impedance allows an alternative path to the current and generates a
voltage variation on the point of common coupling (PCC).These generators are the simplest
and, therefore, they are widely used. The adjustment by using electronic devices of the
impedance value, determines the voltage dip depth in the experiment. They are easily
scalable up to the usual power of the devices to be tested. By using a precise control over
the electromechanical or static contactors, they can generate single-phase, two-phase and
three-phase voltage dips. In [52] it is displayed the most common setup of this voltage dip
generator type that schematically can be seen in Fig. 2.21. In [53] the impedances are the
ones of a transformer, but the equipment maintains the usual T-configuration. Because of
ficación de los requisitos del P.O.12.3 sobre la respuesta de las instalaciones eólicas y foto-
43
Zs
EUT
Grid
Zg
voltaicas ante huecos de tensión” [54] for testing wind turbines. In [55] it is specified for
this topology that if the short-circuit power in the PCC is less than five times the rated
power of the EUT, there are effects in the dynamic response of the device due to the series
impedance. This is its main drawback and therefore the operation code of the AEE requires
This voltage dip generator type uses as main element an electric machine, either static or
rotating. There has only been found two references [56, 57] in which voltage dip generators
with synchronous machines, which reproduce the voltage dip profile by modification of the
excitation voltage are mentioned. The implementation at a larger scale of voltage dip gene-
rators with synchronous machine involves a very high cost and, as a consequence, it has not
Most of voltage dip generators based on electrical machine use a transformer in combi-
nation with any kind of electronic switches (SCRs or IGBTs) [58, 59] as observed in Fig.
2.22.
44
Stac switches
EUT
Tapped transformer
Grid
These systems are easy to scale, because the component elements exist commercially
up to the required levels of voltage and power to test the available wind turbines. Its
main disadvantage is that the voltage dip depth is fixed by the value of the transformers
inductance. It is common to install tapped transformers, which allow the testing of various
voltage dip patterns. Within this topology it is convenient to emphasize the model proposed
in cite [60, 61]. In it, the authors described a voltage dip generator oriented to microgrids.
voltage dip generator based on transformers and the SCRs with the SCRs of the microswitch
that connects the microgrid to the mains. Reference [62] shows a device consisting of a tapped
transformer with also tapped inductances, so both voltage dips and phase jumps disturbances
are defined in various steps depending on the number of connected inductances. This device
is versatile, and it allows to testing in high voltage and power of the EUT up to 10 MW. It
reproduces voltage sags, frequency disturbances and phase jumps, but never simultaneously.
It is perhaps the device found throughout the literature revision that better approaches to
This is up to the present the type on which has been done a greater number of developments
[63, 64, 65, 66, 67, 68] The scheme of a device with this topology can be seen in Fig.
45
2.23. It has two back to back converters between the grid and the EUT which permits a
complete control over the dip to be generated. However, the full-converter based voltage
disturbances generators distort the wave and the devices are more expensive than the other
classes abovementioned. The electronic components themselves have a high price and they
also require a complex control system. Therefore, the implementation of such equipment
remains in low voltage levels, and there are no commercial devices based on this technology.
EUT
posed device
The prototype developed in this thesis fits into the second class (voltage dip generators
with electrical machines), but it is based on an induction regulator and is the only one that
uses this type of machine. By making the voltage changes through an induction regulator,
continuous adjustment is achieved. This gives the device the possibility of reproducing
any profile, any depth and any recovery ramp settled with independence of the grid code,
It is also the first device whose design has been specifically oriented to be used in the
certification of equipment before its connection to remote microgrids. The use of a second
electric machine in cascade allows simultaneous reproduction of more than one disturbance.
46
synchronous changes in voltage, frequency and phase. As the device can synchronously
reproduce all these disturbances, and no other commercial equipment with this characteristic
has been found, it is specially suitable to emulate the real behavior of remote microgrids and,
2.5 Conclusions
In this chapter three main points of interest have been analyzed in regard to this thesis. The
progressive integration of DG in power systems has led to two main consequences, addressed
in the first two parts of the chapter. On one hand, the evolution of the topology of power
systems, from large electric systems interconnected to smaller, decentralized systems, which
can operate in isolated or grid-connected mode, called microgrids. On the other hand,
increased requirements in the grid codes, derived from the replacement of the conventional
for isolated areas (such as islands or populations of developing countries). But in dealing
with especially weak grids, there are also greater requirements on the grid codes for remote
microgrids. The need to certify DG sources before its insertion into the power systems has
led to the search of different technological solutions, collected in the third part of the chapter.
47
48
Chapter 3
generator prototype
The device proposed along this dissertation is mainly composed by two electrical wound
rotor machines, their associated electrical drives, the set of electromagnetic contactors and
the control & monitoring system. The two major advantages of this equipment are the
absence of electronic power components (so there is no additional distortion of the voltage
waveform) and its capacity to reproduce any voltage dip profile existing in the grid codes,
The voltage disturbances prototype is located between the undisturbed grid (input of
contactor KM1) and the EUT (output of contactor KM7). Throughout this section, the
operational information, the control system description and the mathematical models for
1 3 5 1 3 5
1 3 5 1 3 5
K1 KM7 K1
KM1 2 4 6 2 4 6
2 4 6 2 4 6
K1
5
6
1 2 1 2
3
4
3 4 3 4
1
5 6 5 6
1 3 5
1 3 5
1 3 5
KM5 K1
1 3 5 2 4 6
KM2 K1 2 4 6
2 4 6 KM3
K1
2 4 6
5
1 2
3
3 4
1
5 6
MAGNITUDE
ω (EM2)
ROTOR
STATOR
ROTOR STATOR α
FREQUENCY Rlim KMT2
K1
PHASE
5
1 2
(EM1)
3
3 4
1
5 6
6
5
1 2 1 2
3
4
3
3 4 3 4
1
2
1
5 6 5 6
50
3.1.1 The electrical machines
Identified as EM1 in Fig. 3.1, this machine is powered by the mains with a voltage of a
settled frequency. The output is connected to the PCC of EM2, as presented in Fig. 3.2.
The variable frequency transformer it is a relative new electrical machine. The first one in
service started its operation in 2004 to interconnect the USA and Canadian power systems,
with different frequencies [69, 70]. By means of a continuous and controlled phase shift, the
Even if EM1 has the same design that a regular VFT, in the voltage disturbances genera-
tor it has two other functions not directly related with the power flow control. The first one
is to modify the frequency of the input voltage and the second is to set up an initial phase
to obtain the controlled phase jump. The modifications of the frequency and the phase are
achieved through the control system, which adjusts the initial angle between the rotor and
The induction regulator, identified as EM2 in Fig. 3.1 is the electrical machine responsible
for creating voltage magnitude disturbances. Because of the importance that voltage dips
have in power systems, justified in Subsection 2.2.2.1, the production of voltage dips will
be the main task of the voltage disturbances generator and in which primarily will focus
The induction regulator is constructed like a wound rotor induction machine. Due to this,
it is an economical, robust and easily scalable device. Despite these advantages, it has never
been a industrially relevant machine. In its nascency, at the first half of the 20th century, it
51
Ug EM2 Ui
ω Ur Us
WOUND ROTOR
INDUCTION MACHINE
Figure 3.2: Single-phase scheme of the wound rotor induction machine connection
was used to control voltages in railway traction, but the development of tapped transformers
definitely relegated it to the background [71, 72]. With this dissertation it is intended to
EM2 is placed between the grid and the EUT. The grid can be directly the PCC of the
distribution network or the output of the machine responsible of the frequency and phase
changes, located upstream. To use the induction regulator in this device, windings have to
be connected in parallel and to the PCC, as observed in Fig. 3.3. The rotor is also linked
to a servo motor controlled by a servo drive. The servo drive takes action over the relative
angle position between the windings (α). Voltage applied to the EUT is always the difference
of rotor voltage phasor (U r ), which is equal to the input voltage (U i ), and stator voltage
Uo = Ur − Us (3.1)
52
Us
Ui EUT Uo
Ur
α
INDUCTION REGULATOR
With the use of an induction regulator can be achieved a simple buck-boost voltage
device. A graphical image of the machine phasor diagram is represented in Fig. 3.4 for two
shaft angles. It can be observed that depending on the physical position, it is obtained a
Using the Law of Cosines applied to the phasor diagram it can be easily deduced the Eq.
3.2:
Magnitudes of rotor and stator voltages are related through the module of the transfor-
mation ratio, expressed in terms of the number of phases in rotor (mr ) and stator (ms ) and
the corresponding effective turns en each winding (kws · Ns for the stator and kwr · Nr for
Us m s · ξ s · Ns
= =k (3.3)
Ur m r · ξ r · Nr
53
Ur
α
Us
Uo
With this expression, above equation 3.2 it can be rewritten as Eq. 3.4 to present the
output voltage magnitude of the prototype as a function that depends on the input magnitude
value.
The transformation ratio is close to unity, so without committing an excessive error, the
Eq. 3.4 can approach the more simple expression 3.5. It can be ascertained that depending
on the mechanical angle turned by the shaft, output voltage can vary approximately from
Uo = Ur · 2(1 − cos(α)) (3.5)
54
3.1.2 The control program
main objectives: flexibility, precision, high performance and extensiblity. It has also been
searched the simplicity in the design. The structure of the control is equal for both sets of
servo motors plus electrical machines, as observed in Fig. 3.5. They are based on a cascade
f
f* n*
PI c c
PI c
SM1 EM1
n
MATLAB/Simulink
CONTROL LOOP ALTIVAR CONTROL LOOP
U
U* α*
PI c c
PI c
SM2 EM2
α
MATLAB/Simulink
CONTROL LOOP BAUMÜLLER CONTROL LOOP
The use of the cascade structure grants a better control of the primary variable —me-
chanical angle or mechanical speed—, which is less affected by external disturbances. It also
enables a faster operation and it improves the system dynamic response. Due to this, the
cascade control helps to fulfill the objetives previously defined for the control system. The
55
the master controllers while the commercial drives regulate the internal loops, behaving as
slaves.
In the control of EM1, the error between the reference frequency (f*) and the measured
frequency (f) sets the speed control for the servo motor of EM1. The speed measurement
read by the encoder establishes the feedback for the secondary loop. Similarly, in the machine
control EM2, the comparison between the magnitudes of the reference voltage (U*) and the
measured value (U) results in the generation of a set-point angle (α). The feedback through
the encoder installed on the actuator shaft, closes the internal control loop.
In Fig. 3.6 it is presented a graphical scheme of the control program inputs and outputs.
Analog variables U iEM 2 y f are the values of the voltage magnitude at the output of the
induction regulator and the frequency measured at the terminals of the machine EM1. These
two quantities are used as control variables. The remaining analog inputs are measurements
56
In terms of the digital outputs, DR Controls the sequence of actions of the contactors
that allows the creation of voltage dips. D1 , D2 y D3 are digital signals that configure the
device contactors according to the type of disturbance to be produced. They are equivalent
The program has been accomplished following a block structure which general scheme as
57
Blocks from the A to D correspond to the generation of over/undervoltage disturbances
and voltage dips, namely corresponding to the electric machine control EM1. Block A acts
on the initial calibration of the equipment, controlling the complete rotation of EM1 in both
directions necessary for the establishment of maximum and minimum reference voltages. The
process of searching for maximum and minimum voltages, the corresponding values of angle
where they are reached, and the storage of these values for the following reproduction of the
disturbance, are made in subsystem C. Once the initial calibration of the test equipment is
finished, voltage dips or over/undervoltage disturbances are generated with the programming
The subsystem E includes the necessary algorithms for the reproduction and control of the
frequency disturbances and phase jumps, that is, the whole regulation system corresponding
Blocks F and G are general program blocks. Block F centralizes the entire system of
measurements acquisition as well as sensors calibration and adjustment. The preset of the
contactors of the equipment according to the type of disturbance can be done both manually
direct action of the program on the power cabinet, replacing the manual panel switches.
In this section the analysis of the mathematical expressions that govern the disturbances
generator behavior will be presented. Separately, the equations are studied corresponding
to each of the two electrical machines that compose the device; on one side, the variable
frequency transformer (VFT) used to produce the frequency oscillations and controlled phase
jumps (EM1), and on the other side, the induction regulator (EM2). In order to simplify the
58
nomenclature, the use of EM1 and EM2 subscripts are avoided in reference to the magnitudes
The process of obtaining expressions of EM1 electric machine is similar to that used for the
analysis of an induction motor. There are two major differences between the operation of
the machine as asynchronous motor and the operation of the VFT (EM1) as part of the
voltage disturbances equipment. The first one is the rotor motion it does not occur free
but controlled by a variable speed servodrive, so the slip and the frequency disturbance
associated is imposed by the operator; the second is the magnetization of the machine is
The original single-phase equivalent of the VFT is shown in Fig. 3.8. The winding
Rr Ir jXσr Rs jXσs
Is
Ur ω Er Es Us
powered with the mains at a rated frequency —primary winding— is the rotor. The spinning
of rotor coupled with the servomotor shaft induces an emf on the stator whose frequency
depends on the slip. To study the behavior of the machine EM1 under different operating
conditions, it is desirable to obtain an equivalent to simplify the analysis that does not
directly involve the transformation ratio between windings. Since frequency is different in
both windings, the circuit should be reduced to an equivalent which is referred to the rotor
59
frequency and that remains constant. It is known from the general theory of electrical
machines, the expression of the slip, Eq. 3.6, representing the relationship between the
difference of speeds of synchronism and the shaft turn as a fraction of the synchronous
speed, and thus between the frequencies of the rotor and the stator.
ωs − ω ωs s · ωr
s= , fs = = = s · fr (3.6)
ωs 2·π 2·π
Applying the definition of slip to the equation that relates frequency stator with emf in
that winding the Eq. 3.23 is obtained. In this formula, ξs is the stator winding factor and
Es is the electromotive force in the stator if the frequency was the same as in the rotor,
i.e. if there is no relative motion between the windings (stationary rotor). On the other hand,
the frequency has a direct influence over the value of the stator reactance (Xσss = s · Xσs ).
The mesh equation in the stator winding is then expressed as shown in Eq. 3.8
And divided by the slip it can be attained the final equivalent circuit that has been
Ur Er US
Es s
60
To simplify the analysis of the original stator circuit, it is reduced to an equivalent stator
with the same number of turns as the rotor and physically aligned with it. The variables
in this new circuit are denoted with ’. Voltages and emfs of the original stator and the
equivalent are related through transformation ratio K as displayed in Eqs. 3.9 and 3.10:
E s = K · E s (3.9)
U s = K · U s (3.10)
the apparent power has to be equal on both stators. The current ratio is then expressed as
1
S s = U s · I ∗s = U s · I s −→ I s = ∗ · I s (3.11)
K
and the leakage inductances in both stators. The dissipation of active and reactive power in
the original winding must be identical to the equivalent winding, leading to the Eqs. 3.12
U’S
Ur jXm s
Figure 3.10: Single-phase representation of the EM1 machine reduced to rotor winding
61
3.2.2 Induction regulator - EM2
In Fig. 3.11 is shown the single-phase equivalent of the induction regulator, EM2, where
Rr Ir jXσr Rs Is jXσs
Ur jXm Er Es Us
B
Uo A
The rotor voltage phasor is taken as reference for angle measurements and α is the
electrical angle between the electromotive forces of the rotor and the stator. This angle
is positive when the stator voltage is in delay with regard to the rotor. Therefore the
1 jα
K= ·e (3.14)
k
62
The writing of the equations from the electrical circuit of the induction regulator leads
⎛ ⎞ ⎛ ⎞ ⎛ ⎞
j · Xm
Rr + j · Xσr + j · Xm
⎜ Ur ⎟ ⎜ K∗ ⎟ ⎜ Ir ⎟
⎝ ⎠=⎜
⎝
⎟·⎝ ⎠=
Us j · Xm j · Xm ⎠ I
Rs + j · Xσs + s
K K2
⎛ ⎞ ⎛ ⎞
Zr jα
j · k · Xm · e ⎟ ⎜ I r ⎟
⎜
=⎝ ⎠·⎝ ⎠ (3.15)
j · k · Xm · e−jα Zs Is
If changing the stator to a another one, equivalent, and reduced to rotor side, the circuit
of the induction regulator is depicted on figure 3.12 and the glean of the equations, previously
shown, that govern its operation is immediate from the mesh equations.
Ur jXm U’s
⎛ ⎞ ⎛ ⎞ ⎛ ⎞
⎜ U r ⎟ ⎜ Rr + j · Xσr + j · Xm j · Xm ⎟ ⎜ Ir ⎟
⎝ ⎠=⎝ ⎠·⎝ ⎠ (3.16)
Us j · Xm
Rs + j · Xσs + j · Xm I s
This equivalent circuit will be later used as starting point for the development of the
63
3.2.3 Thevenin equivalents
Based on the equivalent circuits developed in Subsections 3.2.1.1 and 3.2.2.1 it is prompt
the deduction of the Thevenin equivalent for both machines. The equivalents will allow to
work in a more comfortable way with the circuits and will be used for the simulation and
• Thevenin source
Let be Ug the voltage of the mains supply. The calculation of the no-load terminal voltage
Us j · U g · Xm
U o1 = = (3.17)
s Rr + j · X r
• Thevenin impedance
The Thevenin impedance calculated as the ratio between the no-load voltage and the
Uo R +j·X + Xm2
Z th1 = = s + j · Xσs m (3.18)
Icc s Rr + j · X r
Expressing the equivalent in the real stator magnitudes, final equations of Thevenin source
Us j · U g · Xm j · U g · Xm · k · e−jα
U o1 = = = (3.19)
s K · (Rr + j · Xr ) (Rr + j · Xr )
Uo Rs j · Xσs Xm2
Z th1 = = 2 + + j · X m + (3.20)
I cc k ·s k2 Rr + j · X r
64
3.2.3.2 Induction regulator - EM2
• Thevenin source
Again U g represents the rotor voltage supply. In Eq. 3.21 is presented the no-load
voltage:
j · k · Xm · e−jα
U o2 = U g − U s = U g · 1− (3.21)
Rr + j · X r
• Thevenin impedance
Uo Xm2
Z th2 = = Rs + j · Xs + (3.22)
Icc Rr + j · X r
If the equivalent is expressed in stator real variables, but referred to rotor-side the final
j · k · Xm · e−jα
U o2 = U g − U s = U g · 1− (3.23)
Rr + j · X r
It can be seen the similarity of the equations that govern the behavior of the two electrical
machines. In the first case, the angle α offset is a constant, but the slip is a variable.
Meanwhile, in EM2 the slip will be very close to the unit throughout all the operation regime
but the angle value varies in a controlled way to adapt the output to the disturbances profile
more complex mathemathical approach. Since it has not been directly used in the simulation
65
model and in order to keep the clearness of this document, this circuit and its equations have
This section demonstrates the validity of the simulation model developed in the Simulink
R
environment for the verification of the equivalent circuits deducted in the previous section.
To have a model is important for two reasons: firstly, if the model is valid, the preceding
reckoning of the induction regulator parameters is also well-grounded; and secondly, a tested
model constitutes a powerful tool to analyze later, if necessary, the effect of connecting
The verification of the simulation model in steady-state regime is shown for the base
prototype, being equally valid for the other designs by the substitution of the equivalent
circuit parameters according to the convenience. The general scheme, whose image is shown
in Fig. 3.13 incorporates the two electrical machines. The validation is displayed with
independent disturbances carried out by EM1 and EM2, being trivial the extension to the
Through preliminary lab experiments, the induction regulator parameters have been
Rr Rs Xr Xs Xmrs
Lab measurements (Ω) 2.42 3.06 192.7 228.8 181.05
66
Figure 3.13: Simulation model of the voltage disturbances generator
(a) Induction regulator output (simulation) (b) Induction regulator output (experimental)
In Figs. 3.14a and 3.14b, the validation of the operating model of the first machine, EM1,
is observed. The data displayed has been contrasted for two different types of disturbances at
two load levels. The one in Fig. 3.14a compares the frequency set-point and the response in
the machine terminals for an overfrequency disturbance with a 20% load level. The second,
Fig. 3.14b, represents an underfrequency ramp with a 2.5 Hz/s drop and the machine
Figure 3.15 shows a comparison of the results in permanent regime for different load steps
tested (from no-load to full load) and for diverse angles. In Fig. 3.15a it has been represented
67
Simulaon results Experimental measurements
250 250
200 200
150 150
Uo (V)
Uo (V)
100 100
50 50
0 0
0 10 20 30 40 50 60 0 10 20 30 40 50 60
α(º) α(º)
(a) Induction regulator output (simulation) (b) Induction regulator output (experimental)
the simulation results while in Fig. 3.15b the experimental measurements are displayed. The
angles between 0 ◦ and electrical degrees 60 ◦ are, approximately, the range of angles swept by
the induction regulator for the reproduction of different dip profiles discussed in this thesis
From the values shown in Figs. 3.15a and 3.15b and in order to quantify the differences
between the simulations and the experimental results, errors have been evaluated depending
on the motion angle and the load level. Collected results appear in Fig. 3.16.
The percentage errors are much greater in absolute value for low angles (< 10 ◦ ) and
higher currents. As the values for very low voltage values (low angles) are very small,
any imprecision can contaminate the results, leading to important estimated errors in the
comparison between the model and the real output voltage of the regulator. For angles above
(> 10 ◦ ), and output voltage values over 20V errors between simulations and measurements
are always below 6%. As expected, for a given value of angle, an increase in the circulation
of current through the stator means higher voltage drops in the machine, that brings on a
lower voltage at the induction regulator terminals. Dut to this, the Thevenin impedance
68
16
14
12
10
Error (%)
8
10
6 20
4 30
40
°)
2 50
α(
60
0
1 2 3 4 5 6 7
Load (A)
estimation becomes more important and there is a greater mismatch of the model. By
examining no-load situation, where there is only influence of the Thevenin voltage source,
Next the model has been proved for a voltage dip disturbance at several load steps.
This is intended to determine whether or not a specific transient model is necessary for the
study of the behavior of the generator prototype. In the operation of the equipment for the
• The changes in frequency and angle produced in the machines are, most of the time,
very slow. Frequency disturbances in remote microgrids have either a long period or
they have not very pronunced ramps as it has been shown in Chapter 2. In the voltage
• In the deep part of the dip, or the upper value of the overvoltage disturbance, the
69
considered during the greater part of the disturbance, EM1 is operating at a permanent
regime.
Figures 3.17 shows the output of the simulation model in comparison to the output of
the induction regulator for two extreme situations previously analyzed —for a determined
load and angle—. The first, Fig. 3.17a is in the situation where the machine running with
low load (20%) and the second, Fig. 3.17b, with the machine fully loaded (100%). In the
first case the transient at the connection created by the contactors has been also included.
100
Uo(V)
−100
−200
−300
0 0.5 1 1.5
Time(s)
100
Uo(V)
−100
−200
−300
0.5 0.6 0.7 0.8 0.9 1 1.1 1.2 1.3 1.4 1.5
Time(s)
Figure 3.17: Comparative between the simulation model and the experimental results in the
recovery ramp
The adjustment of the response of the model with respect to the actual behavior is very
accurate throughout the whole profile of voltage dip except at the first 2-3 connection cycles
70
(≈ 40 ms over a total dip length of several seconds). It can be concluded that the steady-
state model is sufficient in almost all the voltage dip time for accurate representation of the
behavior of EM2. Despite the availability of the mathematical model in transient regime for
the machine EM2, which will be shown in the following section, its implementation in the
simulation model for fine tuning in those first few cycles present no interest for the purpose
of this thesis. A subsequent model will consider the analysis of the transient effects in the
The induction regulator, working within the voltage disturbances generator, suffers a sudden
transient at the beginning of the over/under voltage disturbance. At that moment, the stator
of the EM2, which was open circuited, becomes connected to the EUT. The EUT can be
The transient event, created at the induction regulator connection, cannot be eliminated
or even mitigated by a device like the one proposed, which lacks power converters. The
significance of this work is not rooted in the transient model of the electrical machine EM2.
In spite of this, and due to the fact that the induction regulator is a not a well-known
electrical machine, it has been considered of interest the inclusion of the transient model as
In Fig. 3.18a the final circuit to study, according to its representation in the time domain
is presented. S is the equivalent switch that simulates the connection of the stator through
the contactors. In t<0s there is no current flowing through the stator and the regulator is in
71
Rr jXσr S jX’σs
Ir I’s R´s
t=0
Ur jXm U’s
a)
b)
Figure 3.18: Equivalent circuit representation for transient analysis. a) Time-domain. b)
Laplace domain
a stand-by position. In t=0s it happens the sudden closure of the switch, which will already
An analysis of the transient regime is carried out through the approach and resolution,
using the Laplace transform, of the differential equations that model the circuit’s behavior.
Each of the windings can be represented as an inductance initially discharged t=0 in series
with a voltage source. Its value is the initial charge of the inductance plus a voltage source
dependent upon the current flowing through the other winding. This source symbolizes
the existing mutual coupling between the two windings. In Fig. 3.18b it is displayed the
equivalent circuit in the Laplace domain, where the initial values of the voltage sources U M 1
At the beginning, the value of the rotor current is obtained from the resolution in the
72
Ur Ur
ir0 = = ∠90 (3.27)
j · Xσr + j · Xm t=0− Xr
The rotor will be powered by a source of sinusoidal voltage with frequency ω. This ω will
depend on the operating mode of the device, and the supply to EM2 -either from the mains
or from EM1-. With this consideration, the instantaneous value of the rotor current for t<0
Ur
ir (t) = − · cos(ωt) (3.28)
Xm
With these results, the system of equations in transient regime are shown in 3.29
⎛ ⎞ ⎛ ⎞ ⎛ ⎞
⎜ ur + Lσr · ir0 ⎟ ⎜ Rr + Lr s Lm s ⎟ ⎜ ir ⎟
⎝ ⎠=⎝ ⎠·⎝ ⎠ (3.29)
us + Lm · ir0 Lm s Rs + Ls s is
The resolution of this system leads to the expressions of the rotor and the stator currents
(ur + Lr · ir0 ) · Rs + Ls s − ·Lm s us + Lm · ir0
ir = (3.30)
(Rr + Lr s) · (Rs + Ls s) − L2m · s2
(Rr + Lr s) · us + Lm · ir0 − Lm s · (ur + Lr · ir0 )
is = (3.31)
(Rr + Lr s) · (Rs + Ls s) − L2m · s2
The input voltage ur is considered as sinusoidal and establishes the phase origin. The
voltage us it will be also a sinusoidal source with a determined phase lag φs . Laplace
transforms for these two power supplies are displayed in Eq. 3.32:
73
Ur · ω Us · [s · sin(φs ) + ω · cos(φs )]
L [ur ] = 2 L us = (3.32)
s + ω2 s2 + ω 2
Substituting the Eq. 3.32 in Eqs. 3.30 and 3.31 it can be reached the characteristic
p(s) = s2 + ω 2 · A · s2 + B · s + C (3.33)
where
A = Lr · Ls − L2m
B = Rr · Ls + Lr · Rs
C = Rs · R s
The roots of this equation are listed in Eq. 3.34, where r1 and r2 are the forced poles,
depending on the nature of the supply to EM2, and r3 y r4 are the natural poles of the
system.
√
−B ± B2 − 4 · A · C
s = ±jω = r1, r2 ; s= = r3, r4 (3.34)
2·A
Breaking down the functions ir (s) e is (s) into simple fractions and applying the inverse
Laplace transform, two analogous expressions can be achieved for both the rotor —Eq.
74
ir (t) = (N1 + N2 ) · cos (ωt) + j · (N1 − N2 ) sin (ωt) + N3 · er3 t + N4 · er4 t (3.35)
is (t) = (N5 + N6 ) · cos (ωt) + j · (N5 − N6 ) sin (ωt) + N7 · er7 t + N8 · er8 t (3.36)
the detailed calculation of these residues from the parameters of the equivalent circuit of the
induction regulator. The real value is (s) would be obtained by simply returning to the
3.3 Conclusions
In this chapter the experimental setup used along this dissertation has been described, by
analyzing the main commercial components involved, as well as the electric machines that
are part of the initial proof-of-concept accomplished with prototype 1, that will serve as a
basis for subsequent improvements. It has also been deduced the mathematical models and
the equivalent circuits that represent the behavior of the two electrical machines involved in
the voltage disturbances generator. This mathematical analysis has been complemented, in
case of EM2, with the transient model that could be used in future developments, out of this
thesis framework. Subsequently, a simulation model has been established for the operation
in permanent regime of the device; it allows the checking of the electromagnetic parameters
of the machines, calculated from lab tests. This model also serves as a basis for further study
of the device when connecting different types of generators or loads. It has been observed,
a high degree of fitness of the simulation model in steady-state operation during the whole
frequency disturbance and almost all the dip —except the first cycles—. Due to this, it has
75
been justified that, for the purpose of this thesis, is not necessary to develop a simulation
model that specifically represents the transient regime of the full device.
76
Chapter 4
A commercial induction regulator has been used for the prototype 1 of the voltage distur-
bances generator. With the purpose of establishing the starting point for future designs
improvements, in Tables 4.1, 4.2 and 4.3 it is gathered the main information about the
magnetic configuration and electrical circuits, used for the leakage inductances evaluation
detailed in next section. Extra information and steel and winding diagrams are collected in
Appendix E.
A second commercial electrical machine has been also used in order to get the first proof-
of-concept of the complete device. However, it will be later demonstrated that, due to the
operating mode of the device, it is the induction regulator the machine to be improved by
subsequent design so the information about the features of the second machine lacks interest
The experimental setup is based on the employment of DSP-based electric systems. The
The main components of the DSP-based electric systems engaged for the voltage distur-
bances generator are the servo motors, the drives, the dSPACE controller boards and the
78
software packages ControlDesk Next Generation and MATLAB/Simulink
R . A schematic
view of the control and monitoring system is shown in figure 4.1. The green arrows repre-
sent the relationships between components through control signals and the blue ones, the
test points where signals are collected for monitoring. In Appendix A is clustered further
information about the commercial devices involved in this prototype and their technical fea-
tures. The electric machines were used as primitive component of the device and which were
subsequently replaced by new designs that will be employed as EM1 and EM2. The charac-
teristics and manufacturing drawings of these electrical machines are shown in appendix E
of this thesis.
PC
dSPACE rti 1104 (2 units) dSPACE connector
pannels
Angle drive
EM2 Baumüller DS 56 Baumüller
b maxx 4400
Speed drive
Schneider – Altivar 71
The voltage disturbances generator has two actuators, each of them attached to the
rotor of machines EM1 and EM2. The servo motor corresponding to EM1 is a per-
79
manent magnet synchronous motor. It is equipped with a brake to avoid accidental
movement due to the power provided to EM2. On the machine’s shaft it also placed
an absolute magnetic encoder, to provide feedback about the angle position, used with
control purposes.
An asynchronous geared motor has been chosen for EM1. It allows the control over
speed rotation needed for the frequency disturbances. The control loop is closed by
regulating the initial shaft position, it is achieved a controlled phase jump shift.
The PWM voltage for both servo motors is supplied by the associated drives.
Two independent drives are used to provide the required PWM voltage. The EM2
control drive belongs to the Baumüller company. It is a vector controlled based con-
verter which allows an accurate and fast response. The internal PLC is responsible
for the angle control loop. The speed drive is a commercial equipment from Schneider
company.
Both setpoints needed for the drives are provided by two dSPACE DS1104 controller
boards. The setpoints are given as analog signals 0 - 10 VDC, proportional to the
The dSPACE DS1104 R&D Controller Boards are used to establish the analog setpoint
signals required to create the disturbances. They are also responsible of the control
of the set of electromagnetic contactors through its digital ports. The action that the
controller boards have to take is programmed with the use of the MATLAB/Simulink
R
interface. Between the setup and the controller boards the dSPACE pannels are lo-
80
cated. Analogs signals are adapted by means of sensor boxes and connected to the
pannels via BNC connectors. Sub-D connectors allows the I/O of the digital signals.
I/O digital and analog ports of the dSPACE panels are accessible from a special
software ControlDesk
R Next Generation is used to permit the entry in real time to
variables. The development of the HMI has been rooted on a look and feel requirement,
in order to facilitate the interaction of the user with the device interface. This HMI
allows the user to communicate with the boards, to select the desired perturbation, to
change the set-points and to have a complete access to the variables for monitoring.
In Fig. 4.2a) it is shown the general view of the HMI developed for the interaction of
81
A
D
C
G
B
H I
E
J
F
K
(a) Outer aspect of the cabinet (b) Inner aspect of the cabinet
An electrical cabinet to integrate the DSPs, the switchgear and the controlgear devices was
built to tie all the elements and compact the final device. As the voltage disturbances
truck if scaled with commercial pursposes, the compactness is a valuable variable that was
considered in this equipment. In Figs. 4.3a and 4.3b are displayed the inner and outer aspect
The following pictures show the main elements placed in the front pannel of the cabinet.
The synchronoscope (A) used to synchronize generators to be tested. The power analyzers
(B) and the LEDS indicators (D) permit a quick overview by the user of the main magnitudes.
In the case that any abnormal event happens during the testing procedure, the emergency
stop (C) blocks the supply and disconnects the device to test. The selection of the disturbance
82
to be applied can be selected both automatically or manually, by using the selection buttons
(E).
Concerning to the inner distribution of the cabinet, (F) it encloses the switching circuit
for voltage disturbances’ relays. The mechanical contactors (G) and (J) are associated to
frequency and voltage disturbances respectively. The relays that can substitute the use of
the manual selection buttons are (I). The current transformers (H) adapt the measurements
to the values allowed by the sensors located in the sensor boxes (L). The output of the sensor
boxes is then introduced to the DSP by using dSPACE connector pannels (K).
As described in Section 3.1, the voltage disturbances generator prototype is placed between
the undisturbed grid and the EUT. The electrical supply to the device is received from the
utility grid and at the output, it is created the required disturbance to be applied to the
EUT. The logic associated with the set of electromechanical contactors which are shown in
Fig. 3.1 allows the application of the desired disturbance pattern to the EUT. With the
contactors KM1, KM4, KM6-KMT1 and KM7 closed and the remaining opened, a total
independence is maintained between the grid and the EUT with respect to the equipment.
The first step to conduct a test with the device is to select, from the HMI, the desired type
parameters are the step magnitude, the span as well as the recovery ramp, for both dips and
swing disturbances can be elected. Additionaly, it is also feasible the selection of the initial
phase shift.
83
If the test to be performed is a disturbance which requires a modification in the voltage
magnitude -and the employment of machine EM2-, the contactor KM6-KMT1 must be
initially closed. This is due to the obligation for, at first, separate the induction regulator
operation from the EUT, since the voltage at regulator terminals can reach up to 2 p.u. The
grid to supply the rotor voltage can be directly the the mains without disturbing, through
KM4 and KM5, or the grid with modified frequency and phase (with KM2 and KM3 closed)
If the user selects any disturbance that involves the use of the machine EM1, the contactor
KM4 switches its position to grant the supply to the EUT via the grid with variable frequency
and phase. In turn, contactors KM2, KM3 y KM5 also closed. If the EUT is a synchronous
meet. Otherwise, it will be closed with KM2, KM3 y KM5, all at once.
4.2.2.1 Calibration
With the preset position of the contactors, the voltage disturbances generator is supplied
from the utility grid. At laboratory scale, the undisturbed grid is an autotransformer with
Prior to the performance of the experiment, the EUT must be calibrated. From Eq. 3.5
can be deduced that a full turn of the induction regulator, i.e., a variation of mechanical
angle between 0 ◦ and 360 ◦ , the module of the output voltage follows a curve like the one
Two maximum and minimum values are reached in each turn, because both the original
machine and the new designs have two pole pairs. Ideally, the minimum voltage value would
84
2.5
Umax
2
0.5
Umin
0
0 50 100 150 200 250 300 350
α(°)
be 0 p.u. and the maximum, 2 p.u. This would happen on the occasion that the emfs of
rotor and stator should be fully compensated and the machine should lack internal voltage
drop. Faced with the impossibility of that occurring in a practical way, it is indispensable
to perform a calibration to calculate the real value of the maximum and minimum voltages,
and to store the angles where the extrema are found. These values are the foundations for
the entire process of control and regulation of the voltage disturbance. Once the calibration
process is completed, the regulator remains in standby, waiting for the control program
triggering action. EM1 angle is such that, at the time of connection, it gets in the device
Once the calibration stage is completed, the PI controller comes into operation and places
the induction regulator in the angle corresponding to the initial voltage of the disturbance
to be created. For example, if it is a voltage dip, it will correspond to the value of the dip
depth. When the order to create the voltage dip is given, it takes place a very sharpen
decrease of the voltage in terminals of the EUT until the preset voltage in the regulator
output is reached.
85
The global system is highly non-linear. The reproduction of the different patterns de-
mands the system the operation in wide ranges. The PI controller was designed by adding
an anti-windup scheme to avoid the saturation of the integral term, thus reducing sudden
transients due to this effect. Among the different anti-windup classic schemes collected in
the literature [74] the back-calculation and tracking method was selected. If there was a sat-
uration effect, the normal calculation path would break, and the additional feedback signal,
multiplied by a constant kb , would prevent the system to work in open loop. The distur-
bances occur in a sudden step in reference, which seriously affects the performance of the
PI controller. The step in the reference leads to a boost in the control signal. To avoid this
effect the reference signal was weighted with a constant kw . As it is a proportional action it
only affects to a fraction of the reference so the overshoot in the system response is highly
reduced.
The adjustment of the proportional (kp) and integral (ki) terms of the controller should
be done according to the current that is going to circulate between the EUT going through
the voltage disturbances generator. The device introduces an impedance between the grid
and the EUT -the stator impedance of the induction regulator- and its power is similar to
the power of the EUT. If it cannot be guaranteed that the short-cirtuit power in the PCC
(KM1) is 5-times bigger than the power of the EUT, the PI controller adjustment has to be
done with the rated load for the specific test. This requirement is actually prescribed in [54]
for type 1 voltage dip generators. An impedance also remains in this topology between the
grid and the EUT so the rule may be extrapolated to this new design.
Once it has been configured the device for a voltage dip or an over/undervoltage disturbance,
the user gives the order for the test execution. At that moment, contactor KM6-KMT1 opens
and simultaneously KMT2 closes. The resistance Rlim prevents the short-circuit associated
86
(a) Voltage Swell (b) Voltage Dip
to the open-close transient. An moment later KMT4 closes and opens, with the aim of
provoking a very brief short-circuit with a resistance Rcc . This results in an initial sharp
drop of the RMS voltage value if the disturbance is a dip. When contactor KMT4 opens,
KMT3 closes and bypasses the Rlim . Since that moment, the EUT is connected to the
output of the induction regulator and the angle control will result in a continuous change
of the voltage applied to the EUT, and, as a result, the selected voltage dip pattern will be
created. If the EM1 machine is connected in cascade, it will also be applied the corresponding
The proposed device is capable of emulating all voltage disturbances described in IEEE Std.
1159-1995 and appearing in the Fig. 2.12 of the previous chapter. Therefore it serves as
certification equipment for compliance with the requirements of both LVRT and HVRT. As
an example, Figs. 4.5a and 4.5b show, respectively, a voltage swell and a voltage dip with
rectangular profiles.
87
In both figures it has been displayed the voltage set-point and tracking curves followed
by the EM2 machine. It has also been included, in Fig. 4.5a and in a demonstrative way,
the value of the voltage in the induction regulator output, plotted with a red line. The
induction regulator, after the calibration process finishes, is positioned to reach the initial
value of the disturbance set by the user (in this case 1.1 pu). According to the operation
procedure at the time the electromechanical contactors act, the device to be tested changes
from being supplied from the mains to be connected through the regulator. Hence the blue
Regardless to the rise time and the overshoot, it is observed that there is a delay in the
reference tracking of approximately 100 ms. This delay is due to the lag in the response
of the commercial angle controller (internal EM1 control loop). It appears as a systematic
error independent of the control programming developed in this thesis. To validate this
claim, the Fig. 4.6 shows the response of the inner control loop EM2 where the angle
set-point generated and the absolute magnetic encoder measurement are compared. The
delay, consequence of the performance of commercial regulators, it will also appear in the
used offline, speed of response is not a priority requirement. Note that this systematic error
occurs in both regulators and so it does not affect the final disturbance applied to the EUT,
which will have the extent set by the user as defined in each grid code.
One advantage that has been highlighted in this device is that it is capable of reproducing
different patterns -and ramps- in diverse grids code due to the possibility of regulating
the voltage continuously. In Fig. 4.7 it is shown the profiles used in this dissertation
grid codes, shown in Chapter 2, it has also been defined an additional profile called ISOL,
88
Figure 4.6: Angle setpoint and tracking
representing the envelope of all isolated systems profiles analyzed, with a depth of 0 during
650 ms followed by a recovery time of 3s to reach 0.75 p.u. of the pre-fault value.
The machine EM1 allows the initial positioning of the phase in the device and the reproduc-
tion of the frequency disturbances, with different shapes and up to a value of ±5 Hz. This
89
range is sufficient for testing according to all the grid codes, for both interconnected systems
and isolated. Three general profiles, corresponding to the most common frequency distur-
bances types have initially been preprogrammed and sample set-points and trackings are
shown in Fig. 4.8. The steps of different value and duration can appear due to unscheduled
events, ramps allow EUTs validation against the derivates of frequency established in the
codes, and over and under frequency oscillations could represent the frequency disturbances
resulting from voltage sags. Any other profile could be easily programmed if needed.
4.9. In the lower subfigure it can be seen the phase jump naturally occurred as a result of
the fault, by the change in the circuit impedances. This angular difference coming from the
operation of the induction regulator must be combined with the EM1 machine offset to get
the phase output required for testing in compliance with grid codes.
90
Figure 4.9: Combined voltage, frequency and phase jump disturbance
Apart from the simultaneous reproduction of disturbances, one of the highlighted features
of this device is that it does not introduce additional harmonic distortion on the EUT. To
check and verify this, it has been represented in Fig. 4.10 the spectral analysis of the input
and output voltage waveforms for harmonics up to order 20th . It is easily seen that very
(a) Harmonic spectra of the input voltage (b) Harmonic spectra of the voltage applied to the EUT
91
4.4 Conclusions
In this chapter has been described the main topological features of the voltage grid distur-
bances generator. These aspects include the physical description of each one of the main
components in the equipment: the electromagnetic devices and the essential control system
elements. Subsequently, it has been depicted the operation practice and testing procedure
with the device. In the last part of the chapter, the preliminary device has been proved and
changes and phase jumps required by the codes. It has also been checked that the device
introduces no additional harmonic distortion over the existing pollution in the grid. Ap-
pendix A complete the information gathered in the chapter, detailing the characteristics of
92
Chapter 5
prototypes
5.1.1 Overview
In Chapter 3.1 the composition and operation procedure of the voltage disturbances gene-
rator proposed as a global target of this thesis has been described. The use in the original
prototype of commercial machines has allowed a first conceptual validation of the device.
In accordance with the EM2 electrical machine operation, its output is the difference
between the rotor and stator phasor voltages. Theorically, if those voltages were perfectly
balanced for an angle, 0 ◦ , it would be possible, if desired, to get a zero voltage in the EUT’s
point of interconnection .
The EUT connected in the voltage dip generator will impose a fixed current. This current
corresponds to the load level established by the verification procedures linked to the grid
codes. In the Spanish regulation currently in use for mainland territory, the PVVC 12.3
[54], the load levels for testing the electrical devices are settled to 10% − 30% of the nominal
power of the EUT —partial load— and over 80% of nominal power —full load—. In other
territories, like Great Britain [75], the tests have to be done with the EUT working at full
load.
In the operators procedures for the verification of distributed energy sources connected
to grids, the suggested testing equipment belongs to the impedance-based type. These are
rooted on the primary model as defined in IEC61400-21 [76]. The document PVVC is not
so specific, referred to the possibility of other devices to be used in the certification process.
The only condition is that the behavior of both devices must be comparable.
The flow of the generator current demanded for grid code compliance by the Thevenin
equivalent impedance of the EM2 machine causes a voltage drop. This voltage drop estab-
lishes a minimum voltage dip depth that can be reached, with independence of the profile
defined by the user. In agreement with PVVC, if the short-circuit power in the PCC is below
5 times the power injected by the EUT, the voltage dip profile has to be achieved with the
EUT operating at full load. This is the situation applicable to remote microgrids, which are
characterized by a low short-circuit power in the PCC. Not specific verification standards
The problem can be that the lower value of the voltage level in EM2 machine working
at full load could be higher than the required by the code. As an example it is shown in
Fig. 5.1a a voltage dip profile created by the device with a zero voltage output reference
at a no-load regime. A minimum value of voltage remains in the output due to the current
Figure 5.1b shows the test of a synchronous generator under a voltage dip pattern accor-
ding to the exising P.O.12.3 procedure. It can be observed that the current flowing for both
the inductances of the synchronous generator and the induction regulator stator effectively
94
Ref = 0%
Ref = 20%
(a) Voltage dip at no load and at zero voltage setpoint(b) Voltage dip with synchronous generator at rated
power
Figure 5.1: No-load and full load voltage dips with the prototype 1
avoids the voltage to reach the 20% imposed by the user. Even with the test of a synchronous
generator it cannot be separated the effect coming from each inductance, the improvements
In order to regulate effectively the voltage at the output of the device regardless of the load
that is connected, it is necessary to minimize the internal drop in EM2. This voltage drop
for the proposed operation. This will favor the independence of the voltage disturbances
The internal voltage drop in an electrical machine is defined as the difference between the
voltage output at rated power with respect to the voltage in the no-load case. It matches
with the input voltage minus the drops in the resistances and leakage inductances of the
windings. The circumstances are sligthly different in the induction regulator. The voltage
drop of the machine is coincident with the drop in the Thevenin impedance which is a huge
value, in magnitude, in comparison with the drops in, for example, a transformer.
95
One phasor diagram extracted from experimental measurements has been represented
in 5.2. The black axis apply to the voltages while the blue axis correspond to the current
magnitudes. The variables with the subscript “nl” designate the magnitudes associated to
the no-load case. It shows the voltage drop in case of a synchronous generator operating at
a rated power for a steady angle between the rotor and stator phasors.
It can be clearly observed from Fig. 5.2 how the current circulating by the stator decreases
the stator phasor voltage, according to the reference system defined in Chapter 4. Thus, the
A numerical computation has been carried out for the loaded and non-loaded cases pre-
viously shown.
And expressed in percentage, the internal voltage drop value is, from Eq. 5.1:
96
|Uo − Uo−nl |
· 100 = 7.18% (5.1)
Uo
The voltage drop depends on the angle α between the rotor and stator voltages and the
current circulating due to the EUT. As an example, it can be observed in Fig. 5.3. In
there, a spectrum of output voltages for several angles and currents ranged from no-load to
full load is shown. It has been evaluated from the simulation model and allows to check the
behavior of the induction regulator while testing converter-based generating sources, working
at cosφ = 1, as the usual power factor requirement for sources connected to the grid through
electronic converters.
Figure 5.3: Output voltage at the induction regulator for a generator with cosφ = 1
This confirms the hypothesis that the limit is determined by the internal voltage drop
of the machine, and depending on the operating point, sets a settle depth that cannot be
surpassed. It limits the capacity of the voltage disturbances prototype to fulfill perfectly the
97
5.2 Minimization of the voltage drop in the induction
regulator EM2
In agreement with the equations obtained for the Thevenin equivalent of the induction
regulator (see Eq. 3.21), it is clear that the reduction of the voltage drop in the machine
can be achieved as a result of the simultaneous Thevenin source and equivalent impedance
minimization. The expressions will be deduced without considering the resistances of the
windings. Even if this is not real, it will allow to draw approximate conclusions.
j · k 2 · X · ejα
m
≈1 (5.2)
j · Xm + j · Xσr
which results in a relationship between the rotor leakage inductance, the transformation
Xσr ≈ Xm · (k − 1) (5.3)
On the other hand, and due to the need of a voltage drop reduction in the series Thevenin
impedance, the objetive function to be minimized in the new induction regulator designs is
Eq. 5.4:
98
From here it can be reached the expression of the stator leakage reactance 5.5:
−Xm · k 2 · Xσr
Xσs ≈ ≈ Xm · k · (1 − k) (5.5)
Xσr + Xm
All the terms involved in Eq. 5.5 are strictly positive so the only feasible solution to assure
the accomplishment of the equation is by making null the rotor leakage reactance and, as a
result, the stator leakage reactance too. The Eqs. 5.3 to 5.5 obtained from this simplified
analysis suggest that a transformation ratio equal to unity would turn in a minimum value
If rolling back to the Thevenin impedance and using Eq. 5.3, it is explicit than the
Thevenin reactance can be expressed as a function of the stator and rotor ones, as displayed
in Eq. 5.6, thus the minimization of both leakage reactances implies the global Thevenin
reactance minimization.
Conforming to the previous, the solution adopted for the new designs is based on a
the design targets has been to make the required improvements in the prototype 1 trying
to keep the design as close as possible to commercial machines, not introducing additional
• In the second prototype (Prototype 2) the magnetic circuit in the machine will be
designed in order to reduce the leakage inductance by acting over the diverse leakage com-
ponents. It will also have a drastic impact over the magnetizing inductance.
99
• In the third prototype (Prototype 3) the magnetic circuit will be kept as in the previous
but a change in the design of the electric circuit will be done to reduce the leakage inductance
circuit
All the inductances along this section are specified per unit of effective length (le ) and
pointed out with ’. According to the basic sizing equations of electrical machines design,
2 )
the power of EM2 is directly proportional to the product of the rotor inner diameter (Dor
by the effective length. The power of the original prototype (prototype 1) is going to be
maintainedas a design criteria in the new induction regulators constructions, to make the
The mutual inductance for the machine EM2, magnetized from the rotor winding is presented
in 5.7:
48 2 μ · Dor
Lm = · ξr · Nr2 · 0 (5.7)
π ge
100
Nr is the number of series-connected turns in the rotor winding, Dor is the rotor outer
diameter and ge is the effective gap, which takes into account the fringing effect and the core
saturation.
The leakage inductance in induction machines represents the portion of the flux created by
problem. To estimate the values of leakage flux reactances it is required to know the magnetic
permeance, which depends on the circuit geometry. The existence of analitycal expressions
In induction machines, several leakage flux components can be found [77]. The total
leakage will be the sum of all these items gathered in the following list.
• Slot: It is produced by the flux that goes from one tooth to the next through the slot
but without crossing the airgap. This leakage flux appears inside every slot but also
between contiguous slots. In Fig. 5.4 it is shown the slot leakage flux lines associated
• End-winding leakage flux: it corresponds to the portion of leakage flux derived from
the circulation current in the end-winding, as seen in Fig. 5.5. This leakage flux runs
101
Figure 5.4: Slot leakage flux
• Zigzag: It is the leakage flux that passes from one tooth to another through the airgap,
• Harmonic leakage flux: The difference between a quasi-sinusoidal emf, due to the
distribution of the winding, with respect to a perfect sinusoidal waveform, favors the
102
production of harmonic fluxes which are not linked in the same way by stator and
null.
• Skew leakage: It appears when there is a skew in the rotor or stator slots. This skew
is intended to reduce the high order harmonics that appear due to slotting. The main
difference in comparison with the other components is that it does not appear as a
natural phenomenon but it is caused by the effort to compensate the pulsating torques
For both the rotor and stator windings, the total leakage inductance is the sum of the slot,
end-winding, zigzag, harmonic and skew leakage components. The skew effect is directly
For the single-layer winding in the rotor, the leakage inductance in terms of the number
of slots (Sr ), the number of turns in the winding (Nr ) and the permeance of the magnetic
circuit (pr ) is shown in Eq. 5.8. The deduction of these equations is based on the theory
of [77, Ch. 4].The mathematical equations for the permeance of the slots for the shape of
interest has been developed and shown in Appendix D, as well as the geometric dimensions
pr
Lrslot = 12 · Nr2 · (5.8)
Sr
103
In the double-layer winding of the stator, the total permeance is the sum of several
components, one due to the lower coil (pL ), another due to upper coil (pU ) and a third one
that takes into account the mutual effects between both coils (pLU ). For a pitch of p = 23 .
(pU + pL + pLU )
Lsslot = 3 · Ns2 · (5.9)
Ss
The end-winding leakage inductance is figured out through the use of permeance factors.
These factors vary depending on the winding type. For a three-phase two plane distributed
winding, the permeance factor associated to the axial length is few = 0.55 and the factor
Conforming to the end-winding dimensions shown in Fig. 5.7, the end-winding induc-
tances for the rotor and stator can be written as in Eqs. 5.10 and 5.11, where qr and qs are
12 · qr · Nr2 · μ0 · lw · fw
Lewr = (5.10)
Sr
104
12 · qs · Ns2 · μ0 · lw · fw
Lews = (5.11)
Ss
The product of the average length in the winding and the permeance factor is obtained
The zigzag leakages inductances have a direct relationship with the mutual inductance
as displayed in Eqs. 5.13 and 5.14 [79, Ch. 4]. It is associated with the slot harmonics so
it is also a function of the number of slots and the number of poles (P ). A second comma
has been included in the notation for the stator. The first one, represents, as usual along
this chapter, the mutual inductance per core length unit and the second one, refers, as in he
previous chapter to the evaluation of the mutual inductance as seen from stator-side.
π 2 Pr2
Lzzr = Lm · · (5.13)
12 Nr2
π 2 Ps2
Lzzs = Lm · · (5.14)
12 Ns2
Eventually it is shown the expressions for the leakage inductances due to the harmonic
fluxes created as a consequence of the distributed windings. It considers the different dis-
105
tribution of the current circulating in the diverse coils, so it reckons on the coil pitch. In
a simpler formulation, the harmonic leakage inductance can be evaluated depending on the
mutual inductance and a tabulated factor (σ) based on the number of slots per pole and phase
and the phase belt of the winding. Both equations for the rotor and stator are displayed in
∞
3 8 N2 τpr ξ 2
Lhr = · 2 · r · μ0 · · hr
= Lm · σr (5.15)
2 π Pr ge h
h=2
∞
3 8 N2 τps ξhs 2
Lhs = · 2 · s · μ0 · · = Lm · σs (5.16)
2 π Ps ge h
h=2
In these equations, ξhr and ξhs represent the winding factors for the h harmonic and τpr
The validation of the leakage reactances for the EM2 machines has been accomplished
through the use of a commercial finite-element analysis software, since in lab tests it is
Three components are shown in Table 6.1 concerning the results in simulations: slot leak-
age reactance, end-winding leakage reactance and spread harmonic reactance. The spread
harmonic reactance —named as differential in most literature references— includes the two
leakage reactances affected by harmonic components. The zigzag leakage reactance, pro-
duced by the harmonics linked to the slotting and the harmonic leakage —or belt leakage—
associated to the space harmonics. The evaluation by means of analytical formulas is usually
106
less exact than the evaluation by finite element software, but it allows a first and approximate
appoach to the problem. Additionally, by applying the mathematical formulas, the different
leakage components can be estimated separately. In the third column it is registered the
leakage reactance value derived from the lab tests where the different leakage contribution
terms cannot be distinguished so it can only be compared in terms of total leakage fluxes.
Several points can be highlighted from the analysis of the results shown in table 6.1
• The harmonic inductance in the rotor is higher in comparison to the stator. When
increasing the slots per pole and phase, the mmf in the air gap becomes closer to a sinusoidal
• Most of the harmonic flux produced in the machine comes from the space harmonics
(pitching) and it is very reduced the harmonic flux component due to the slotting.
107
• It has also been accomplished the calculation for the slot leakage reactances from the
mathematical expressions developed for the slot shape and shown in Appendix D. It has
to be taken into account the permeances estimation from the formulas trust on the fraction
of conductors distributed in every portion of the slot, which is obviously unknown. The
difference between the real placing and the foreseen distribution of the conductors in the
• The differences between the calculated parameters and the results obtained by finite
element algorithms for the end-winding leakage flux were expected due to the influence of the
geometric parameters, which makes the estimation complicated. An exact evaluation of the
end-winding leakage components, would imply the use of 3D finite elements models, since
the distribution of the end-turn leakage fluxes implies an analysis in three axes. Due to the
computational effort to develop 3D models for the end windings, it is commonly accepted
• It can be seen that the global reactance evaluated by the finite element model matches
In the second prototype it will be only modified the parameters linked to the magnetic circuit,
leaving aside the transformation ratio. From the equations shown along the section, several
variables can be selected to reduce the leakage inductance associated to the prototype.
108
• Rotor inner diameter: Dor
• Slot permeances: p
• Poles: P
• Number of slots S
From those shown in the some of them it will be kept as constants regarding the original
prototype. The effective length and the rotor outer diameter determine the power of the
device designed, because the machine is magnetized with the rotor which acts as primary
winding. Since the power of the new devices has to be maintained because it is linked to
the power of the EUT, these two parameters will also be kept as constants. But the inverse
relationship between the mutual inductance, and, as a consequence, with the harmonic
leakages and the zigzag leakage inductances suggest the need to increase the airgap. This
The increment of the airgap supposes a novelty and a contradiction over the conventional
electrical machines designs, that try to maintain the airgap as small as possible. An increment
in the airgap acts over the leakage flux components by reducing them, opposing an extra
obstacle to the closing of the leakage flux paths between the rotor and the stator. It has also
to be remarked that an increase of the airgap will upturn the reactive current required to
magnetize the machine, inflates the Joule losses and, from that point of view, has a negative
effect. It will be essential to establish a design compromise between the airgap enlargement
109
In the prototype 1 the relationship between the number of stator and rotor slots is one
of the classical combinations established for motor design to avoid vibrations. A greater
number of slots in prototype 2 would reduce the slot leakage inductance and would shorten
the end windings, minimizing the effect of the end-turn inductances. A bigger number of
slots would also make possible to increase the number of slots per pole and phase, which is
positive in order to reduce harmonic leakage fluxes. The combinations 36/36 and 48/36 where
tested during design attemps by the finite element model. Since these combinations would
be prohibited for standard motor designs due to the cogging during start up, the movement
of EM2 thanks to a servomotor avoids the uncertainty. The unacceptable saturations levels
reached in the machine teeth made recommendable to keep also the number of slots and the
Eventually two parameters where selected to improve the original design: the air gap and
the slot permeances. In the slot permeances, several geometric parameters are involved. In
a first approach, the effect of changing the different parameters was studied. This is only an
approach since the restrictions such as saturation limits, that will be taken into account in
the design process developed in next chapter, were not considered. In Figs. 5.8a and 5.8b
it is shown the values of the slot permeances in the rotor and stator when changing any
geometric dimension from its rated value to another one 50% higher.
Figure 5.8 shows the influence of the tooth and slot design in the slot permeances values
where it can be observed that the widths parameters decrease the slot permeances while the
heights increase them. The slot opening is the most influential variable if trying to reduce
the stator permeance. An increase in the parameters b1 and the b0 would also suppose a
noticeable reduction in the rotor slot permeances, with slight differences between the effect
that every one can produce. It is common in motor design processes to establish a maximum
value of the slot opening to keep the windings correctly placed inside the slots while the
110
b1
b0
d0
d1
d2
d3
2ro=b3
b1
b0
d0
d1
d2
b2
b3 d3
d4
b4
Figure 5.8: Influence of the geometric parameters over the slot permeances
machine is spinning at high speed. An abnormal value of slot openings in the new prototypes
will be the second unusual characteristic in these designs —apart from the wider air gap—.
Since this electrical machine is going to be stopped or spinning at a very low speed, this will
111
5.3.2 Prototype 3: Leakage reduction by redesigning the electric
circuit
As deduced in the first part of the chapter a transformation ratio in the machine equal to
Since the number of turns is bigger in the stator winding, the change in the turns will
be done over this electrical circuit. A reduction in the number of series connected turns is
• slot
• harmonics
• end-leakage
The zigzag leakage flux will be bigger in the prototype 3 with respect to the prototype 2,
but due to the drastic reduction in the mutual inductance, it will be in both cases, noticeably
smaller that in the original prototype. If considering the weight of the zigzag over the global
The second rotor winding will be also designed as a double-layer winding. Since q pa-
rameters and slots will be kept as constants -not affecting the end-leakage and the harmonic
components-, it will suppose and additional cut back in the slot leakage component.
112
5.4 Conclusions
In this chapter the problems associated to the operation of the original voltage disturbances
generator have been described. The circulation of current by the stator inductance joined to
the magnetic couplings in the induction regulator establishes a minimum voltage level that
cannot be exceeded. This level fixes the dip profiles that can be reproduced.
It is required for testing devices being independent in its operation from the EUTs.
In every voltage disturbances generator commercially available this affection between the
testing device and the EUT can be detected. It also happens in this new topology.
Along the chapter it has been analyzed and quantized the effects of some magnetic and
electrical magnitudes over the equivalent Thevenin impedance of the induction regulator and
thus, over the behavior of the device. It has been deduced the dependence of this voltage
drop with the leakage inductances and the number of turns in the windings. Eventually,
and rooted on the previous, the guidelines for new designs have been settled according to a
113
114
Chapter 6
machines design
The finite element method is currently very used in electrical machines design. It allows a
precise real-time study of the electromagnetic behavior, considering the non-linearities and
saturations. It is also widely flexible with independence of the geometry, the materials or
the supplying sources. The method is based on a discretization process where the solution
The objective of the application of the FEM techniques concerning to the interest of this
dissertation is the definition of the specifications for the electrical machines that are part of
the voltage disturbances generator. The modeling with this method allows the simulation of
the expected behaviour of the machines in their usual operating conditions in order to define
results obtained by FEM software faithfully representing the reality. Every finite element
• Pre-processing
• Analysis
• Post-processing
The first phase is the definition of the geometry from the ad-hoc design toolbox included in
the commercial FEM packages or imported from any other design program. The application
of symmetries can noticeable reduce the problem sizing. Then it is assigned the materials,
the excitations, from internal sources o through an external connection circuit —if required—
and the motion. For running the analysis, it is required to define the mesh. The generation
of the mesh is the most important step when applying the FEM methodology. It has to be
defined over the basis of a trade-off between accurate enough results for the solution of the
problem and the computation time required. Finally, and depending on the study purposes,
computations, including parameters, field distributions, vector plots, flux lines, etc, can be
To study the voltage generator disturbances by means of the FEM software, it is repre-
sented the device with the help of an additional software package. This package allows the
tion of the induction regulator with a common point requires the use of this external tool
due the need to have accesibility to the inputs and outputs of the windings. This model will
be used for the steady-state analysis as well as for transient regimes —voltage dips—.
116
6.2 Definition of new prototypes sizing by finite ele-
ment analysis
The design process was accomplished by subsequent improvements. They were listed in
Chapter 5 and repeated here to focus the attention over them. The starting point was the
redefinition of the slot shapes, for both rotor and stator magnetic circuits. Once the new slot
shape was defined, it was studied the effect of the air gap modification. These two changes
in the magnetic circuit were applied to the design of the second prototype. Eventually, the
changes over the electrical circuit were introduced in the third prototype. These changes
were the modification of the ampere turns ratio to make it as close as possible to the unity,
The slot shape was finally defined by considering the expected changes in leakage inductances
The contour plots shown in Fig. 6.1 and Fig. 6.2, based on FEM analysis, display the
ranges of values for the total leakage reactances according to the slots openings, from the
starting width to the selected geometric value. Over that maximum, the teeth of the machine
are highly saturated introducing an unnecessary inflation of the saturation levels that would
Even the study about the influence of the different parameters over the slot permeance
shown in Chapter 5 suggests that an increment over the magnitude b1 in rotor would imply
a higher effect over the slot leakage reduction —see Chapter 5, Fig. 5.8a—, this is only an
117
approach that does not consider the combined effect due to multiple changes. The more
magnitude with regards to the rotor slot would have an stronger effect in slot permeance
reduction. The quantification of the effect in rotor slot leakage reduction —if the magnitude
was increased in 1 mm— hints an additional reduction of around 4%. In terms of the new
design, that increment would be translated into a narrowing of the teeth at b1 height that
would generate points where the magnetic flux would concentrate, creating hot spots in
the machine. As a consequence, the b1 modification has been rejected in terms of width
parallelism maintenance.
By comparing the original design, in the simulation environment, with regards to the new
prototype, and if only considering the modifications leakage inductances in this first step, it
is expected to achieve a reduction over the slot leakage reactances of 20.716% in the rotor
7
8.2
49
6.5
6
10.
179
5.5
b0 stator (mm)
7.8
10.5
63
5
65
4.5
10.9
51
4
9.40
9.02
8.63
9.79
11.3
5
1
7
3
3.5
37
3
4 4.5 5 5.5 6 6.5 7 7.5 8 8.5 9
b0 rotor (mm)
Table 6.1 summarizes the expected improvement in leakage reactances for the new pro-
118
7 5.9773
5.9773
6.5 6.2195
6.2195
6 6.46
18
6.4618
5.5 6.7041
b0 stator (mm)
5 6.94 6.704
64 1
7.4309
7.188
4 6
7.6732
7.430
9
3.5
8.1577 7.673
7.9155 2
3
4 4.5 5 5.5 6 6.5 7 7.5 8 8.5 9
b rotor (mm)
0
Rotor Stator
b0 (mm) b0 (mm) b0 (mm) b0 (mm)
3.6 9 3 7
slot 4.494 3.563 3.031 1.842
Leakage end-winding 2.994 2.994 3.458 3.458
differential 4.315 1.578 1.816 0.68
Table 6.1: Comparison between leakage reactances in prototype 1 and prototype 2 according
to changes in the slot openings
It has to be noticed that the increment of the slot opening widths (b0 ) has an expected
effect over the slot leakage, but also it has a noticeable consequence in the harmonic leakage
reactances, which would be reduced in a 63.03% in the rotor and in a 62.51% in the stator.
The effective air gap takes into account the slotting in the machine through the multipli-
cation of the mechanical air gap by the Carter factor, where τ r is the slot pitch and g, the
air gap width. An increment of b0 parameter in the slots leads to a cut of the Carter factor.
The modification of the Carter reduces the mutual inductance and the magnetic flux in the
air gap so in consequence, the harmonic fluxes responsible of the harmonic leakage reactance
119
too —see Chapter 5, Eqs. 5.15 and 5.16—. The variation of the Carter factor as a function
As a summary of the proposed changes for the prototype 2 design, the expected effect
over the total leakage reactance is a decrement of 31.96% in the rotor and a 28% in the
stator.
According to the conclusions of Chapter 5, an increment in the air gap has a positive effect
over the harmonic leakage reactance. Even the action over the slot openings has demon-
strated an appreciable impact on the harmonic leakage, an extra cutback can be achieved
This modification will be slight in order to find a compromise between the reduction of
the harmonic leakage inductance while avoiding an excessive increment of the rotor current
consumption for magnetizing the machine. With this purpose, a parametric analysis was ac-
complished for steady-state conditions. In Fig. 6.4 it is shown the variations of the harmonic
120
2 90 5
1.8 4.8
85
1.6 4.6
80
1.4 4.4
Xhs (Ω)
75
1.2 4.2
I (A)
X (Ω)
1 70 4
Xhr (Ω)
m
m
0.8 3.8
65
0.6 3.6
60
0.4 3.4
55
0.2 3.2
0 50 3
0.5 0.6 0.7 0.8 0.9 1.0 1.1 1.2
g (mm)
reactances for the rotor and the stator, the magnetizing reactance and the magnetization
It can be deduced from Fig. 6.4 that the decrease of the harmonic leakage reactances is
smaller in comparison with the magnetizing reactance, that is clearly reduced in a drastic
way. A final air gap width of 0.8 mm was defined in order not to overpass the magnetizing
With this second step, the results for the calculated leakage reactances are shown in table
6.2. With the proposed air gap width, a 22% of improvement was achieved for the rotor and
121
Rotor Stator
g (mm) g (mm) g (mm) g (mm)
0.5 0.8 0.5 0.8
slot 3.563 3.563 1.842 1.842
Leakage end-winding 2.994 2.994 3.458 3.458
differential 1.578 1.23 0.68 0.49
Table 6.2: Comparison between leakage reactances in original and improved prototype 2
according to the combined effect of the increment of the air-gap width plus the slot refitting
a transformation ratio equal to unity, the leakage inductance would be zero. This approach
is obviously not realistic and thus the definition of a theorical transformation ratio equal to
unity will involve an improvement, but far away from the zero value. Due to the effect of the
number of rotor turns in the magnetizing reactance, which had been previously undermined,
the adjustment of the number of turns was done over the stator circuit.
In the design of the electrical circuit for the new prototypes, it has also been substituted
the single-layer rotor winding by a double-layer winding short pitched by 2 slots. The
use of double-layer windings with short-pitch is a traditional solution among the electrical
machines since the short-pitching helps to the cancellation of undesireable harmonic fluxes.
Main characteristics of new electrical circuit in prototype 3 are summarized in Table 6.3.
And as a result of the new winding design and according to the FEM method, the
improvement over the leakage reactances due to the new electrical circuit design for prototype
3 and the comparison with the protoypes 2 and 1 is summarized in Table 6.4.
122
Magnitude Description Value
Rotor Stator
P Number of poles 4 4
nr |ns Number of turns per coil 34 25
Nr · ξr |Ns · ξs Turns per winding factor 246.5 249.6
ξr |ξs Winding factors 0.964 0.832
qr |qs Slots/pole/phase 2 3
qr |qs Transformation ratio 1.03
Rotor Stator
Prot 0 Prot 1 Prot 2 Prot 0 Prot 1 Prot 2
slot 4.494 3.563 2.63 3.031 1.842 1.458
Leakage end-winding 2.994 2.994 1.4056 3.458 3.458 2.831
differential 4.315 1.23 0.566 1.816 0.49 0.3
Table 6.4: Comparison between leakage reactances in original and improved prototypes
because of the change in the transformation ratio and the double-layer rotor winding design
The stator leakage reactances are reduced due to the decrease of the number of turns. For
the rotor, the change from a single to double-layer winding has a contribution to the cutback
of the slot leakage reactance. If the double-layer winding is short-pitch, an additional effect
crops up when the two coils inside the slot belong to different phases [79, ?]. The effect of
the short-pitching is also reflected in the reduction of the harmonic leakage component, as
can be observed from Eq. 5.15. The new distribution of the rotor winding and the shorten
of the end-turn causes a drop in its end-leakage reactance. The final quantification of the
123
6.3 Simulation of transient response by FEM analysis
As a preliminary step to the final manufacturing of the new prototypes, the transient FEM
model was developed. By the dint of the co-simulation tool of the FEM software package
the induction regulator with the parallel connection of the windings was modeled.
The transient FEM model reproduces the whole voltage dip reproduction cycle. In every
simulation step a full snapshot of the variables of interest: voltages, currents, dip depth,
electromagnetic fields, fluxes, etc. can be taken. In addition, it is also used to estimate the
operating temperature of the induction regulator or the losses in the different components,
such as Joule, iron losses or parasitic current losses. It was previously mentioned that due
to the purpose of this machine, it is going to be used for very brief periods of time. Due to
this, the thermal study did not suppose any constraint for the design and it is not shown in
• No-load and short-circuit tests for figuring out the parameters of the equivalent circuit
• loaded tests for evaluating the induction regulator response in normal operating con-
ditions
The results from Thevenin reactance calculation due to FEM model are compared with
experimental results in the following chapter. In the comparison of the virtual tests with
regards to the lab results for voltage dip reproduction and for all the cases of interest,
discrepancies between real and simulated values of voltage in the PCC, in the deep part
124
of the dip, were below 10%. Apart from the analysis of voltages and currents, it was also
checked that in none of the reproduced use cases, the magnetic flux density was high enough
The model is also valid for checking the behaviour of the prototypes when facing to
power converters. The power converters are main parts in RES not composed by synchronous
generators directly coupled to the mains. The converters can be represented, at their simplest
way, as current sources with controlled angle. These virtual tests could not be reproduced
125
in the lab due to the lack of commercial equipment with the required power and being
The electrical machines were built with demostrative purposes. Under this perspective some
considerations were taken into account when manufacturing these ad-hoc prototypes.
In order to facilitate the access to the rotor, the machine structure was defined to be
opened and without shields. The magnetic core was inserted into a metallic case realized from
a steel pipe. The absence of shields implied the use of bearings with very small tolerances
to avoid misalignments in the shaft. The laminations were laser cut. One example of the
laminations with the new slot design can be observed in Figs. 6.6a and 6.6b.
Figure 6.6: Rotor and stator laminations for new prototype designs
The machines has been thought to be interchangeable, to allow the comparison of two
different variants over the design. Even if the targets were mainly oriented to the use as an
126
Figure 6.7: Electrical machines with taps to be used as EM1
induction regulator, the two constructed machines can be inserted in the prototype for their
operation as VFT or induction regulator. For this reason, a special coupling was used, in
order to be adaptable for multiple servo motor models. Also the elastic coupling placed at the
end of the shaft grants the permutation between the absolute magnetic and the incremental
The design of the machine with a bigger air gap entails a higher current consumption
when used as variable frequency transformer and, as a consequence, a bigger voltage drop.
To compensate this effect, the electrical machines were provided with intermediate taps in
the winding to adjust the transformation ratio if needed, as observed in Fig. 6.7.
The main steps leading to the construction and assembly of the electrical machines are
• In Fig. 6.8a the stacking of the stator laminations is shown. An analogous procedure
127
(a) (b)
(c) (d)
• In Fig. 6.8b the magnetic package is inserted inside the case and fixed due to the
dovetails. Simultaneously, the stator winding was inserted in its place and held with
• In Fig. 6.8c, the bench is configured, over a reinforced metallic basement, with high
• The last step of the prototype construction process is the final mounting and the
installation of ancillary parts, such as the rings, the brushes, the brushes yokes or the
128
6.5 Conclusions
Along this chapter, it has been accomplished the sizing of the new prototypes with the finite-
elements tools. This has been done by taking into consideration the expected positive effects
in the leakage reactances reduction analyzed in Chapter 5. Later it has been shown, also
within the FEM environment, the model for the study of the behaviour of the new designs
during a voltage dip reproduction. Eventually, a summary of the process for the construction
and the assembly of the new prototypes has been gathered in order to show the specifics on
129
130
Chapter 7
In this section, the equivalent circuit parameters of new prototypes are evaluated. Once the
parameters are determined they can be applied for the evaluation of the prototypes in steady-
detailed in Chapter 4, grant a precise study of the prototypes behavior without the need of
long computation times required by the FEM models in order to fulfill the accomplishment
The Thevenin impedance is evaluated through the equivalent circuit parameters. The
reduction of that Thevenin impedance has been considered as the key performance indica-
tor to predict a better behaviour of the prototype in its operation as part of the voltage
The characterization is attained by the no-load and short-circuit tests. In Fig. 7.1 the
magnetizing and leakages reactances of the three prototypes are gathered as well as the value
of the Thevenin reactances . The differences between simulation and comparative results
for the resistances have been neglected, due to their scarce modification between prototypes.
For every variable, the predicted values according to the FEM model are displayed together
Xσr Xσs
14 9
12 8
7
10 6
8 5
6 4
3
4
2
2 1
0 0
Prot 1 Prot 2 Prot 3 Prot 1 Prot 2 Prot 3
Sim 11,803 7,787 4,607 Sim 8,305 5,790 4,589
Exp 11,652 7,257 4,481 Exp 8,093 5,616 4,418
Xm Xth
200 30
25
150
20
100 15
10
50
5
0 0
Prot 1 Prot 2 Prot 3 Prot 1 Prot 2 Prot 3
Sim 180,248 64,512 52,842 Sim 21,780 14,305 8,906
Exp 181,051 63,481 51,920 Exp 23,825 13,624 8,556
in the second and third prototypes, where the magnetic circuit has remained unchanged
in its design. Apart from possible inaccuracies that could derive from manufacturing, the
substitution of the single layer by a short-pitched double layer winding introduces variations
over the winding factor (mainly over the harmonic factor). This provokes a cut over the
harmonic content of the field waveform that favours the machines magnetization, causing an
With the design changes proposed in this work and according the the results shown in
Fig. 7.1 it can be concluded that a reduction of 61.56% was achieved in the rotor leakage
132
reactance and a 45.41% over the stator leakage reactance. The expected percentages of the
decrease according to FEM simulations were 61.01% and 44.74% for the rotor and the stator
respectively.
These results in the leakage reactances lead to the fulfillment of the design target of
decreasing the Thevenin reactance. In the analysis of the experimental values from the lab
tests, it can be concluded that a reduction of 42.81% over the original value was reached with
the first improvement and, reaching at the end, a total cutback of 64.09% over the original
value.
In the following sections it is displayed the experimental results of the comparison between
the three different prototypes. This comparison has been established based on the laboratory
tests for diverse load status (passive and active) and generators operating in different points
of the PQ plane. This dissertation has put the attention on the electromagnetic performance
of the various prototypes used as induction regulators but not in the control systems of the
generating sources. Due to this and for contrasting purposes, the tests of the voltage distur-
bances generator with the three electrical machines that can be used as EM1 independently
of the type of source connected —but working under the same conditions—proves to be
sufficient.
The no-load tests grant an initial validation. Since there is no current circulating by the
stator, the effect of the mutual coupling is cancelled. In Fig. 7.2 it is shown the compari-
133
son between the voltages at the output of the voltage disturbances generator for the three
induction regulators.
Prototype 1
X: -0.412 X: 0.351
Y: 16.37 Y: 15.74
Prototype 2
X: -0.412 X: 0.351
Y: 15.12 Y: 17.17
Prototype 3
X: -0.412 X: 0.351
Y: 12.33 Y: 13.61
Prototypes 2 and 3 present a reduced Thevenin impedance with respect to the original
prototype, as was presented in Fig. 7.1. Although the reduction of the Thevenin impedance
is evident, it is also clear that the current consumption required to magnetize the machine
increases due to the air gap widening. As there is no other effect involved due to the absence
of coupling with the stator winding, the voltage drop does not evidence this impedance
reduction since it is partially balanced with the magnetizing current enlargement. The
60.09% of Thevenin reactance reduction between the prototype 1 and the prototype 3 is
later translated into a 24% of voltage drop cutback. Slight differences can be appreciated
between the voltages in steady-state condition prior to the disturbance. In that situation,
the induction regulator has reached its theoretical minimum value achievable in the regulator
134
7.2.2 Loaded tests
The first trials of the voltage disturbances generator working at diverse load regimes were
attained with passive loads. Fig. 7.3 shows the limiting case where EM1 is operating at
full-power. The voltages in the output of the prototypes are plotted, where the ENTSOE
400
Prototype 1
200 X: 0.379
Y: 20.68
0
Voltage at the induction regulator output (V)
−200
−400
−0.5 0 0.5 1 1.5 2 2.5 3 3.5 4
400
Prototype 2
200 X:X:0.379
0.379
Y:Y:15.23
15.23
0
−200
−400
−0.5 0 0.5 1 1.5 2 2.5 3 3.5 4
400
Prototype 3
200 X: 0.379 1
Y: 12.13
0
−200
−400
−0.5 0 0.5 1.5 2 2.5 3 3.5 4
Time (s)
Figure 7.3: Comparison of voltage dips against resistive load at full rated power
As expected, bigger differences can be observed while there is current circulating along
the whole dip profile with respect to the no-load case. To focus only on the electromagnetic
behavior of the prototypes, the comparison is established for the deep part of the voltage dip
when reached the steady-state condition. From the prototypes 1 and prototype 2 responses
it can be deduced there is a reduction in the remnant voltage of 26%. An additional 20.35%
can be achieved with prototype 3. The voltages in the deep part of the voltage dip are
obviously greater with respect to the ones in the no-load case because of the circulation of
135
The tests with resistive load represent the advantage of not introducing additional tran-
sients coming from the load behaviour. However, due to the resistance nature, the sudden
voltage drop during the disturbance is translated into a similar reduction in the current.
Even if it is clear that the new prototypes present a reduced voltage drop with respect to the
during the dip implies that an accurate quantification of the effect cannot be achieved by
In Fig. 7.4 it is shown the bench used for the tests with the asynchronous machine, operating
coupled to a synchronous machine. For the operation as a motor, the asynchronous machine
is connected to the output of the voltage disturbances generator while the synchronous
136
Testing with the asynchronous motor makes it possible a more direct check of the differ-
ences between the Thevenin reactances of the three prototypes. But following considerations
• When a small-sized motor, like the one in the lab test bench is subjected to a voltage
dip, it suddenly stops. If the voltage recovers, the motor starts, consuming a current
series Thevenin impedance of the voltage disturbances generator, the voltage recovery
In Fig. 7.5 it can be easily observed the differences between the responses of the three
prototypes for the tests conducted at rated power. From the comparison it can be observed
that the recovery time after the dip for prototype 2 is reduced in almost half with regard to
the original prototype and an additional third decrement can be achieved with prototype 3,
400
Prototype 1
200
0
Voltage at the induction regulator output (V)
−200
−400
−0.5 0 0.5 1 1.5 2 2.5 3 3.5 4 4.5 5 5.5 6 6.5 7 7.5 8
400
Prototype 2
200
−200
−400
−0.5 0 0.5 1 1.5 2 2.5 3 3.5 4 4.5 5 5.5 6 6.5 7 7.5 8
400
Prototype 3
200
−200
−400
−0.5 0 0.5 1 1.5 2 2.5 3 3.5 4 4.5 5 5.5 6 6.5 7 7.5 8
Time (s)
137
7.2.2.3 Test against generators
Once it has been concluded the loaded tests with active and passive loads, the behaviour of
the device when connecting generators has to be checked. These generators should represent
• Asynchronous generator: which represents the simplest wind power technology cur-
rently in service.
• Synchronous generator: which is the usual machine used in conventional energy sources,
present at microgrid voltage levels mainly in diesel units and hydraulic groups.
• Generators coupled to the grid through converters: existing in all the technologies not
in distributed generation.
Due to avoid the interference of the control systems of the converters over the voltage
disturbances prototype, affecting the response of the device against disturbances, the third
technology has been rejected for the validation of the new electrical machines design. It
has also to be remarked that the non-existence of commercial full-power converters with the
required power able to withstand when facing to voltage dips, would have made impossible
These machines cannot naturally stand up voltage dips. The voltage drop in machine termi-
nals leads to a decrease of the electric torque that causes an overspeed issue. In a real loca-
138
tion, this technology, used in primary wind power turbines, usually tripped by the overspeed
(synchronous or asynchronous). At a lab scale and with the testing purposes related to this
work, the asynchronous machine allows to keep some current circulating through the stator
impedance during the whole voltage disturbance, with the generator sign criteria and adding
the extra transient regime of the electrical machine to the voltage disturbances generator.
This is carried out with the aim of validating the design target of the internal voltage drop
reduction.
Prototype 1
X: 0.435
Y: 67.61
Prototype 2
X: 0.435
Y: 47.13
Prototype 3
X: 0.435
Y: 28.34
The bench used was the one previously presented in Fig. 7.4. The synchronous generator
drove by the converter, is used as turbine emulator for the asynchronous machine. It can be
observed that when using the prototype 2 a reduction of 30.29% in the voltage dip depth
can be achieved over the prototype 1 whereas prototype 3 shows a decrement of 58.08%. At
the same time, these results also demonstrate that the cutback in the Thevenin reactance
139
has also a noticeable effect in the transient regime drop time at the first beginning of the
voltage dip.
The tests with synchronous generator machines were conducted with the bench that can be
generator with the same rated power than the voltage disturbances generator. The DC
machine acts as the turbine by means of the control of the active power injected while the
regulation of the voltage over the excitation system allows the management of the reactive
power flow.
Several cases were tested with the synchronous generator. They were carried out with two
different power factors, meeting the requirements in [54], 0.9 inductive and 0.95 capacitive.
These power factors in current regulations are required for wind turbines, and it was used
as guidance. Even the type of generating source used is different, from the point of view of
the disturbances generator prototype, the importance roots on the current injected by the
generating source, since the goal is not the testing of the associated control systems. Four
140
loading situations in steady-state were selected (≈ 10%, ≈ 35%, ≈ 60% and ≈ 85%) covering
the scenarios required in the regulations for the testing procedure (between 10% − 20% and
The field current is provided by an independent power source which is directly supplied
by the output of the generator when rectifying the AC voltage. Due to the low price, it is
the widespread solution in medium to large conventional power plants. When facing to a
voltage dip, the field current is affected by the voltage drop in the machine terminals. The
non-existence of control over the excitation allows a better appreciation of the improvement
An example of the whole profile for one of the cases, with a 10% of loading is displayed
in Fig. 7.8. It can be observed that during the transient mode, the prototype 2 also reaches
a very low value of remnant voltage but the system achieves the steady-state regime faster
with prototype 3, where the effect of the Thevenin reactance reduction becomes more visible.
400
Prototype 1
200
0
Voltage at the induction regulator output (V)
−200
−400
−0.5 0 0.5 1 1.5 2 2.5 3 3.5 4
400
Prototype 2
200
−200
−400
−0.5 0 0.5 1 1.5 2 2.5 3 3.5 4
400
Prototype 3
200
−200
−400
−0.5 0 0.5 1 1.5 2 2.5 3 3.5 4
Time (s)
141
The whole range of tests accomplished are summarized in Fig. 7.9 where it can be
easily observed the reduction in the voltage dip generator disturbances output when facing
a voltage dip with a depth reference of 10%. In all the cases, the remaining voltage is higher
if compared with any other type of loads/generator because the transient reactance of the
synchronous generator is high enough (around 25Ω) to limit the level of the voltage drop
in the connection node. As expected, a smaller decrease is achieved with the prototype
range between 55% − 60% depending on loading condition while 70% − 75% of enhancement
is obtained with the modified prototype 3, both of them considered over the commercial
100 Prototype 1
90 40 Prototype 2
80 Prototype 3
70 30 PF=0.9 ind
50
20
40
30
20 10
10
0
10 35 60 85
% Load
7.3 Conclusions
Thorough this chapter the experimental verification of new prototypes behaviour have been
accomplished. With that purpose, the electrical machines specifically designed in this work
142
have been characterized, in order to find the new parameters of their equivalent circuits.
As a result, the new Thevenin reactances have been calculated. Once has been checked
the effective curtailment of the Thevenin reactance, the new prototypes have been validated
by their testing from no-load conditions to fully-loaded with loads/generators with diverse
characteristics. The comparative analysis of the three prototypes evidences the better suit-
ability of the new designs (mainly prototype 3) to reduce the affection of the EUT current
143
144
Chapter 8
The expected growing in the insertion of distributed generation in electrical systems has
forced the tightening of requirements in grid codes. For isolated microgrids and due to
their specificities, this trend is more pronounced. On the other hand, the deployment of
regulations is linked to the need for experimental equipment to certify the devices according
to those regulations.
Among all the diverse topologies existing from a theoretical perspective just a few of them
are commercially available. To this small group it is added the voltage disturbanes generator
developed in this dissertation. It presents the advantages of being a complete equipment for
reproduction of the whole voltage dip pattern, including the recovery ramp, as well as the
frequency disturbances and the controlled phase jumps. In this thesis, an initial small-scale
prototype was built for its study, in order to setting the basis for a further development at
a bigger scale.
Thorough this work a complete study from different perspectives was accomplished. It
included the assembly and the proof-of-concept tests, the study in permanent regime —ma-
thematical expressions, simulations and testing— and the transient regime —mathematical
expressions and FEM—. A nuclear part of this dissertation was focused on the enhacement
of the induction regulator design to be used for the voltage dip reproduction. In the vali-
dation of the new prototypes it could be verified the predicted reduction of the Thevenin
reactance, around 65%, which is translated into a lower value of remnant voltage dip depth
As a future work for validation, the study of the prototype behaviour against a source
of constant current is suggested. Since the current injected to the prototype would not be
affected by the disturbance, it would be the best option to quantify, precisely, the effect of
the design over the remaining voltage. This possibility was not available during this work
due to the absence of the required equipment in the lab testing site.
Some other actions have also been identified, with the purpose of going one step further
With regard to the construction and assembly of the new voltage disturbances generator:
• Centralization of the servo motors controls in a single drive, to simplify the equipment
and reduce, to the possible extent, the areas for potential failure.
• Once checked the guidelines proposed for the design of the new prototypes, these are
aligned with the goal of improving the voltage disturbances prototype response, it
146
APPENDIX
147
148
Appendix A
Setup Equipment
Two commercial servo motors for its use in the voltage disturbances generator were selected.
Traditionally, the basic reasons for using servo systems include the demand of improved
transient response times, the reduction of the steady state errors and the decrease of the
sensitivity to load parameters. In Fig. A.1 the two servo motors in the experimental setup
can be observed.
EM1 servo motor is a permanent magnet synchronous motor. This type of machine is
identified by its high dynamic response, big torque density and accurate position and control.
The main characteristics of the Baumüller servo motor chosen for this application are shown
Manufacturer : Baumüller
Model : DS 56 S-3-R-K
An asynchronous geared motor for the frequency disturbances generation was selected. In
the application of interest it is not required a very high performance. Due to this, a geared
motor is convenient because of its simplicity and low cost. The fundamental parameters of
the motor and the gearbox are shown in Tables A.2 and A.3 [81].
150
Manufacturer : Pujol Muntalá
- Motor
- Gearbox
A.2 Drives
Baumüller b maXX 4400 [82], which data appears in A.4, is a modular servo controller. As it
is a modular and scalable structure it can be adopted for multiple applications. It is suitable
for its usage in the voltage disturbances prototype due to its speed response in positioning
151
Manufacturer : Baumüller
Altivar 71 (Table A.5) is a variable speed drive of Schneider Electric company [83]. It is a
Model : Altivar 71
152
A.3 Encoders
An absolute encoder was installed in the shaft of the machine EM1. As the control loop of
angle is closed through Baumüller drive, the encoder is used just with information purposes.
The main characteristics of the selected RM 36 are gathered in Table A.6 [84]. The RM 36
encoder is based on the magnetic principle. A magnet rotates jointly to the shaft, activating,
without direct contact, the Hall sensors placed in the non-rotating part. The rotation angle
between 0 ◦ -90 ◦ gives a proportional analog signal varying between 0-10 VDC.
Manufacturer : Elap
Model : RM 36
An incremental encoder translates rotary motion into a group of digital pulses. The three
signals collected are: A for the rotational speed, B for the direction of rotation and Z for
the absolute position of the zero. They are processed and decodified by the encoder card
153
Manufacturer : Schneider Electric
Model : XCC1506PS50X
The dSPACE DS1104 R&D [86] control boards are responsible for the control of the operation
of the voltage disturbances prototype. The simplicity of its use, due to the human machine
powerful tool to be used in rapid control prototyping experiments. The signals are collected
through Hall sensors boxes. These sensors adapt the measured voltage and current levels to
corresponding 0-10 VDC required for the DSPs. In Fig. A.2 can be observed the internal
Each board integrates an A/D converter with 8 channels, that will be used for amass
the measurements. Four channels are multiplexed and have a conversion time of 2 μs. The
other four are parallel, and have a faster conversion time of 0.8 μs. The D/A transforms
the signals from the RT interface in analog setpoints to command the drives. The digital
outputs will control the opening and closing of selected switches of the voltage disturbances
prototype.
154
Figure A.2: Block diagram of dSPACE DS1104 R&D
155
156
Appendix B
EM1+EM2 case
This annex collets the mathematical development from the equivalent circuit that allows the
achivement of the Thevenin equivalent expressions of the global equipment. In figure B.1
it is shown a single-phase scheme of the device. Subscripts r and s are used for rotor and
Ir2 E22
I´r1 I´m Rr2
jX´m1
jXσr2 Uo
s·U´r1
jXm2 E21
This scheme has been considered the simplest representation to find the equations of
that the parameters of the circuit are referred to the variable frequency f2 , related with the
• The induction regulator is shown as its real equivalent circuit, so the voltage input to
the rotor is fed from the variable frequency supply. The parameters of EM2 machine are
The calculation of the Thevenin source leads to the following expression B.1
·s·U
Z r2 · j · Xm1 1
Uth = + jX ) · (Z + Z ) + jX · Z (B.1)
(s · Rr1 σr1 s1 r2 m1 r2
The circuit to obtain the Thevenin impedance by short-circuiting the independent sources
is displayed in B.2:
158
Rs2 jXσs2
E22
Rr2
Zeq
jXσr2 Icc
jXm2 E21
+ jX ) · jX
(s · Rr1
Z eq = (Rs1 + jXσs1 ) + σr1 m1 (B.2)
+ jX
s · Rr1 + jX
σr1 m1
And the Thevenin impedance is displayed in B.3. It can be easily observed than a
particular case where Zeq = 0 leads to the previously deduced equations for EM2 shown in
Z eq jXm2 jXm2 Xm22
Z th = · − Z r2 · −1 + + Z s2 (B.3)
Z r2 + Z eq K ∗m2 Z r2 · K m2 Z r2 · Km2
2
159
160
Appendix C
The equation in Laplace domain of the current circulating by the rotor of EM1 and obtained
(ur + Lr · ir0 ) · Rs + Ls s − Lm s us + Lm · ir0
ir (s) = (C.1)
(Rr + Lr s) · (Rs + Ls s) − L2m · s2
After replacing in the previous expression the value of the rotor and stator voltages, the
Ur · ω + s2 + ω 2 · Lr · i0 Rs + Ls s
ir (s) = 2
−
s + ω 2 · Lr · Ls − L2m · s2 + (Rr · Ls − Lr · Rs ) · s + Rr · Rs
(C.2)
Lm · s · U s s · sin (φs ) + ω · cos (φs ) + s2 + ω 2 Lm · i0
− 2
s + ω 2 · Lr · Ls − L2m · s2 + (Rr · Ls − Lr · Rs ) · s + Rr · Rs
The equation C.2 can be splitted in simple fractions attending to the poles number:
N1 N2 N3 N4
ir (s) = + + + (C.3)
s − jω s + jω s − r3 s − r4
j · Ur · Rs + jωLs + ω · Lm · Us · (j · sin(φs ) + cos(φs ))
N1 = (s − jω) · ir |s=jω =
2 · [−A · ω 2 + jω · B + C]
(C.4)
−j · Ur · Rs − jωLs + ω · Lm · Us · (−j · sin(φs ) + cos(φs ))
N2 = (s + jω) · ir |s=−jω = = N1∗
2 · [−A · ω 2 + jω · B + C]
(C.5)
2
s + r32 · [Lr · i0 · Rs + Ls · r3 − L2m · i0 · r1 ]
N3 = (s − r3 ) · ir |s=r = +
3 A · (s2 + r32 ) · (r3 − r4 )
(C.6)
Ur · ω · (Rs + Ls · r3 ) − Lm · r3 · Us · (r3 · sin(φs ) + ω · cos(φs ))
+
A · (s2 + r32 ) · (r3 − r4 )
2
s + r42 · [Lr · i0 · Rs + Ls · r4 · L2m · i0 · r4
N4 = (s − r4 ) · ir |s=r = +
4 A · (s2 + r32 ) · (r3 − r4 )
(C.7)
Ur · ω · (Rs + Ls · r2 ) − Lm · r2 · Us · (r2 · sin(φs ) + ω · cos(φs ))
+
A · (s2 + r32 ) · (r3 − r4 )
Similarly, the residuals calculation for i s(s) breeds the following formulas:
162
j · Us (Rr + jωLr ) · (j · sin(φs ) + cos(φs )) + j · Lm ω · Ur
N5 = (s − jω) · ir |s=jω = (C.8)
2 · [−A · ω 2 + jω · B + C]
2
s + r72 · [Lm · i0 · (Rr + Lr · r7 ) − Lm · Lr · i0 · r7 ]
N7 = (s − r7 ) · ir |s=r = +
7 A · (s2 + r72 ) · (r7 − r8 )
(C.10)
Us · ω(Rr + Lr · r7 ) · (r7 · sin(φs ) + ω · cos(φs )) − Lm · ωr7 · Us
+
A · (s2 + r72 ) · (r7 − r8 )
2
s + r82 · [Lm · i0 · (Rr + Lr · r7 ) − Lm · Lr · i0 · r8 ]
N8 = (s − r8 ) · ir |s=r = +
8 A · (s2 + r82 ) · (r8 − r7 )
(C.11)
Us · ω(Rr + Lr · r4 ) · (r4 · sin(φs ) + ω · cos(φs )) − Lm · ωr8 · Us
+
A · (s2 + r82 ) · (r8 − r7 )
Once calculated all residuals, it can be defined the transient regime of the electric ma-
chines that act as a induction regulator according to its equivalent circuit parameters.
163
164
Appendix D
components in EM2
In every electrical machine, the value of the differential inductance that provoke the slot
leakage flux is directly related with the magnetic permeance derived from the geometry, P .
It is also linked with the winding distribution and the number of conductors inserted in the
dL = n2 s · P (D.1)
The inductance can be determined in terms of the flux linkages created by the magnetic
field (λ) with regard to the current which created it, (I), as shown in D.2:
λ
L= (D.2)
I
The rotor slot has a shape like the one shown in D.1:
where n(x) is the number of conductors included in a stip with differential height in the
2
H · dl = n(x) · I (D.3)
1
For a generic region containing conductors and assuming the magnetic field in every
section with differential height is constant, the following expression D.4 is satisfied.
Hy · y = n(x) · Ix (D.4)
166
μo · n2 (x) · I · le · dx
dλ = n(x) · dΦ = (D.5)
y
μo · n2 (x) · le · dx
dL = n(x) · dΦ = (D.6)
y
Matching the expressions D.1 and D.5 and dividing for the specific length of the machine
μo · n2 (x) · dx
dp = n(x) · dΦ = (D.7)
y
The function n(x) has different values depending on the slot region where is placed.
Therefore the value of this function has to be calculated for each of the four zones marked
on the figureD.1.
• Regions 1 y 2
The leakage flux that close their path in this area link no conductors. This supposes that
n(x) = 0 and, as a consequence, the slot specific permeance in this area is also null.
• Region 3
For region 3, the mathematical calculation is more complex. In this case, n(x) varies
within the section. The starting point to calculate the permeance in this region is also
D.7. To solve the integral that leads to the permeance value, it is required to establish a
relationship between x and y. From figure D.2 can be determined by double similatiry, the
relation D.9.
167
Figure D.2: Fraction of rotor slot
ν ν + x ν + x − r0 − d 3
= = (D.8)
b2 /2 y/2 y/2
ν ν + d2
= (D.9)
b2 /2 b1 /2
Through the matching of these equations can be finally established the relationship bet-
b − b2
y = b2 + 1 · (x − r0 − d3 ) (D.10)
d2
Then it is necessary to establish the relationship between the coils that encompasses a
line of leakage flux passing through the slot to a certain height x with respect to the number
of total coils into the slot. From figure D.3 can be deduced D.11.
168
Figure D.3: Change of the turns ratio depending on the slot depth
n(x) 1
= · (x − (r0 + d3 )) (D.11)
ns d2
With all the known terms, specific permeance in slot region 3 is calculated by solving the
integral D.12
r +d +d
0 2 3 1 dx
p3 = μ0 · 2 · (x − r0 − d3 )2 · b −b
(D.12)
r0 +d3 d2 b2 + 1d 2 · (x − r0 − d3 )
2
b − b2 t − b2
b2 + 1 · (x − r0 − d3 ) = t −→ x − r0 − d3 = ·d (D.13)
d2 b1 − b2 2
b1 − b2 d · dt
· dx = dt −→ dx = 2 (D.14)
d2 b1 − b2
b
μ 1 (t − b2 )2 · d32
p3 = 20 · dt (D.15)
d2 b2 (b1 − b2 )3 · t
169
The final expression for the permeance in the region 3 is displayed in D.16:
μ0 b21 − b22 b
p3 = 3
· d2 + b22 · ln 1 − 2 · b2 · (b1 − b2 ) (D.16)
(b1 − b2 ) 2 b2
• Region 4
In region 3, the factor n(x)/ns is the unit due to every leakage flux path will include all
The coordinates of a generic point P placed over the edge of the slot can be expressed
according to D.18:
x = x − d1 − r0 = r · cos θ (D.17)
y = y = 2 · r · sin θ (D.18)
The area on which the calculation of permeance must be done is the difference between
170
r2 b 2
A1 = π · =π· 1 (D.19)
2 8
And the area of the circular segment A2 can be expressed as the difference between the
area of the circular sector that sweeps a 2θ degree angle less two times the triangle which
b
base is d1 and height 20 :
2θ b b 2 b b ·d
A2 = π · r2 · − b1 · 0 = 1 arcsin 0 − 0 1 (D.20)
2·π 2 4 b1 2
where the angle θ can be expressed according to the geometrical dimensions of the slot
as D.21:
b
θ = 2 arcsin 0 (D.21)
b1
b 2 b 2 b b ·d
A3 = A1 − A2 = π · 1 − 1 arcsin 0 + 0 1 (D.22)
8 4 b1 2
0
dx −r · sin θ · dθ 1
pA1 = μ0 · = μ0 · = · μ0 · π (D.23)
y π 2 · r · sin θ 4
2
Applying the proportionality of areas between sections A1 and A3, A3 permeance asso-
171
A3 π 1 b0 b0 · d 1
pA3 = · p = μ0 · − arcsin + (D.24)
A1 A1 4 2 b1 b21
• Region 5
In this region, in contrast to what happened in region 1, all conductors would be within
the leakage flux path which closed in this area, n(x) = ns , and the integral expression that
r +d +d
dx 0 1 2 dx d
dp5 = μ0 · −→ p4 = μ0 = μ0 0 (D.25)
y r0 +d0 +d1 +d2 b0 b0
And the total permeance in the rotor slot, pr , is the addition of all the permeances in
4
μ0 b21 − b22 b1
pr = pi = 3
· d2 · + b2 · ln − 2 · b2 · (b1 − b2 ) +
i=1 (b 1 − b 2 ) 2 b2
π 1 b b ·d d
+μ0 · − arcsin 0 + 0 2 1 + μ0 0 (D.26)
4 2 b1 b1 b0
Multiplying by the total effective length and the number of turns connected in series in
the slot, can be deduced the final expression for the rotor leakage inductance for one slot
D.35:
172
D.1.2 Stator slot leakage calculation
The stator winding is a double-layer. The value of the inductance of the slot must take into
account the effect of the leakage flux of each of windings and the interaction among the two.
The leakage inductance equation for the rotor slot is displayed in D.28.
For the lower coil placed in the slot and assuming there is no upper coil, the slot permeance
expression is gathered in D.29, with the geometry parameters that appear in D.5.
4
μ0 b24 − b23 b4
pL = pi = · d4 · 2
+ b3 · ln − 2 · b3 · (b4 − b3 ) +
i=1 (b4 − b3 )3 2 b3
π 1 b0 b0 · d 1 d0 d2 + d3 b
+μ0 · − arcsin + + μ0 + μ 0 · ln 1 (D.29)
4 2 b1 b12 b0 b1 − b3 b3
Exactly the same procedure is followed for the upper coil. The value of the permeance due
to the presence of the upper coil and taking out the lower one, allows the calculation of the
expression D.30:
173
b1
b0
d0
d1
d2
b2
b3 d3
d4
b4
4
d0 π 1 b0 b0 · d 1
pU = p i = μ 0 + μ0 · − arcsin + 2
+
b0 4 2 b1 b 1
i=1
μ0 2
b2 − b12 b2
+ · d 2 · + b 1 · ln − 2 · b1 · (b2 − b1 ) (D.30)
(b2 − b1 )3 2 b1
The methodology for the calculation of the mutual inductance is based on the integration of
the effects one strip of the upper coil has over the lower coil. The distance x is measured as
a height with the origin in the lower side of the upper coil. The differential of flux produced
x dx
dΦ = F (x) · le · dp (x) = I · nc · · μ0 · l e · (D.31)
d2 y
174
x dx
dp(x) = μ0 · · (D.32)
d2 y
The permeance will be obtained by integrating D.32, where, y is a function of x that can
b − b2
y = b2 + 1 ·x (D.33)
d2
The solution to the integral give the final expression of the permeance associated to the
b3 b
p2 = 2 · μ0 · −1 − · ln 2 (D.34)
b3 − b2 b3
The total specific mutual permeance, taking into account the regions b0 − d0 and b1 − d1
is D.35:
d0 1 b2 − b0 b3 b
pLU = p0 + p1 + p2 = μ0 · + · arcsin + 2 · −1 − · ln 2
b0 2 b2 b3 − b2 b3
(D.35)
175
176
Appendix E
In this annex additional information about the prototypes is clustered. Some information
is common to all the electrical machines, since the magnetic material or the stator winding
distribution is the same for all of them. It is also gathered the designs of the electric steel
sheets to compare the differences in the slot design between the original prototype and the
new ones.
The magnetic material is a V600-50A according to the specification of the DIN 46400 stan-
V600-50A
1,8
1,6
1,4
1,2
1
B (T)
0,8
0,6
0,4
0,2
0
0 500 1000 1500 2000 2500 3000 3500 4000 4500
H (A/m)
Prototypes 0 and 1 are designed as single layer windings, with two slots per pole and phase,
A C B A B
C
Figure E.2: Rotor winding configuration for prototypes 0 and 1.
In prototype 2 the rotor winding was changed to a double-layer winding with q=2 and a
In Fig. E.3 is displayed the double-layer lap winding in the stator. It is the same winding
distribution for the stators of the three machines, with three slots per pole and phase and the
pitch shorted in three slots (1-7). In order to make the figure easier to comprehension, only
178
phase A end windings have been drawn. The other phases have been plotted maintaining
A B C B A C
Next are detailed the electric steel sheets drawings for the prototypes, where can be clearly
observed the increment in the slot openings for both stator and rotor magnetic circuits.
179
Figure E.4: Design for prototype 0
180
Figure E.5: Design for prototypes 1 & 2
181
BIBLIOGRAPHY
182
BIBLIOGRAPHY
[5] International Enegy Agency (IEA), “CO2 emissions from fuel consumption. Highlights,”
2012.
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