ECE 524: Session 4; Page 1/5

Transients in Power Systems Spring 2018

ECE524: Transient RC Response

Define units:
MW  1000kW MVA  MW MVAR  MW kJ  1000J
3 6
ms  10 sec μs  10 sec pu  1

Each phase of a 3-phase capacitor bank is rated at 60MVA at 13.8/SQRT(3) kV. A second
bank has a rating of 30 MVA at 13.8/SQRT(3) kV. The two are to be paralleled by
momentarily connecting them through a 100 ohm stainless steel resistor (one for each phase),
which will be subsequently shorted out.
What will be the peak current during the switching operation?
Analytical Solution

Known parameters:

VratedLL  13.8kV ω  2 π60Hz

Qc1_1phase  60MVA Rlimiting  100ohm

Qc2_1phase  30MVA

Since the banks appear to be Y connected:

2
VratedLL
Xc1  Xc1  1.06 Ω
3Qc1_1phase
2
VratedLL
Xc2  Xc2  2.12 Ω
3Qc2_1phase
1
C1  C1  2507.17 μF
ω Xc1

1
C2  C2  1253.58 μF
ω Xc2

2
Vpk   VratedLL Vpk  11.27 kV
3

Initial voltages:

Vc1_0  Vpk Vc2_0  Vpk

ECE 524: Session 4; Page 2/5
Transients in Power Systems Spring 2018

Initial current:
Vc1_0  Vc2_0
Ipk  Ipk  225.35 A Current limiting resistor
Rlimiting has big impact:

We also need to calculate the energy dissipated in the resistor:

1  C1  C2 
   Vc1_0  Vc2_0
2
Ediss_R   Ediss_R  212.21 kJ
2  C1  C2 

Computer Simulation Results:

Calculate Vfinal as a check.

Qinit  Vc1_0 C1  Vc2_0 C2 Qinit  14.12 C

Qfinal  Qinit
Both capacitors see the same final voltage since the resistor current is 0, so:

Qfinal = Vfinal C1  Vfinal C2

Qfinal
Vfinal  Vfinal  3.756 kV
C1  C2
Time constant:
 C1  C2 
Rlimiting    83.57 ms
 C1  C2 

ATPDraw schematic:

100ohm
I IS

VC1 VC2
U

U
U(0)

U(0)

2507.17uF
+

1253.58uF
ECE 524: Session 4; Page 3/5
Transients in Power Systems Spring 2018

Charging current
250

*10 IpkATP  225.33A Peak current matches

calcuation
200

150

100

50

0
0.0 0.1 0.2 0.3 0.4 0.5 0.6 0.7 *10 0.8
(f ile prob26.pl4; x-v ar t) c:VC1 -IS

Capacitor Voltages:
12

*10 3

4 Settle to 3756.6V

-4

-8

-12
0.0 0.1 0.2 0.3 0.4 0.5 0.6 0.7 *10 0.8
(f ile prob26.pl4; x-v ar t) v :VC1 - v :VC2 -
ECE 524: Session 4; Page 4/5
Transients in Power Systems Spring 2018

ATP Input Data File:

BEGIN NEW DATA CASE
C --------------------------------------------------------
C Generated by ATPDRAW February, Saturday 23, 2008
C A Bonneville Power Administration program
C by H. K. Høidalen at SEfAS/NTNU - NORWAY 1994-2006
C --------------------------------------------------------
C dT >< Tmax >< Xopt >< Copt >
5.E-5 1.
500 1 1 1 1 0 0 1 0
C 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8
C 345678901234567890123456789012345678901234567890123456789012345678901234567890
/BRANCH
C < n1 >< n2 ><ref1><ref2>< R >< L >< C >
C < n1 >< n2 ><ref1><ref2>< R >< A >< B ><Leng><><>0
VC1 2507.2 2
VC2 1253.6 2
IS VC2 100. 0
/SWITCH
C < n 1>< n 2>< Tclose ><Top/Tde >< Ie ><Vf/CLOP >< type >
VC1 IS .01 1.E3 1
/INITIAL
2VC1 11270.
2VC2 -11270.
3VC1 11270.
3VC2 -11270.
/OUTPUT
BLANK BRANCH
BLANK SWITCH

PSCAD Schematic Note that there is a charging circuit for each capacitor now
Timed Timed Timed
Breaker Breaker Breaker
BRK Logic BRK1 Logic BRK2 Logic
Closed@t0 Open@t0 Closed@t0

BRK BRK1 BRK2

Vc1 I1 100.0 [ohm] Vc2

0.001 [ohm]

0.001 [ohm]
2507.17 [uF]

1253.58[uF]
ECE 524: Session 4; Page 5/5
Transients in Power Systems Spring 2018

Resistor Current
I1
0.225
0.200
0.175
0.150
0.125
y (kA)

0.100 Imax  225.35A

0.075
0.050
0.025
0.000
0.00 0.20 0.40 0.60 0.80 1.00 1.20 1.40

Voltages across C1 and C2

Vc1 kV
15.0

10.0

5.0 Vfinal  3754V

y (kV)

0.0

-5.0

-10.0

-15.0
0.00 0.20 0.40 0.60 0.80 1.00 1.20