Proceedings of the 2008 International Conference on Electrical Machines Paper ID 804

Design of Parallel TSC for Reactive Power

Compensation in Electric Arc Furnaces
Rahmatolah Hooshmand1, Mehdi Torabian Esfahani2, Arash kiyoumarsi1
1
University of Isfahan, Faculty of Engineering, Department of Electrical Engineering
E-Mail: Hooshmand_r@eng.ui.ac.ir , Kiyoumarsi_arash@yahoo.com
2
Electrical Engineering Department, Islamic Azad University, Najaf Abad Branch
E-Mail: Torabian_mehdi@yahoo.com

Abstract- The static compensators are capable of improving
the power quality indices in the power systems. Since the Electric
Arc Furnace (EAF) acts as a non-linear time-variant load, it
deteriorates the power quality. Thus, with a suitable design of the
static compensators the consumed power by the electric furnace
can be controlled. In this regard, firstly, a power system with an
electric furnace is simulated. In the next step, in order to improve
the power quality indices, a Thyristor Switched Capacitor (TSC)
VAr compensator is designed optimally and then simulated. The
TSC static compensator is designed so that the great variations of
the furnace reactive power can be measured accurately. In
addition, the designed static compensator creates a reduction in
the voltage and current transients at the Thyristor terminals as
well as generating the suitable pulses for them. Also, a suitable
harmonic filter is proposed to improve the performance of the
power system.
I. INTRODUCTION
The EAF's are nonlinear and time-variant loads and create
the power quality problems such as imbalance in current and
voltages, odd and even harmonics as well as voltage flicker.
These problems should be resolved in the EAF. In this regard,
an optimal design for the model of EAF is necessary. Also it
should be noted that the time response of the electric arc
furnaces is important in the power quality issues.
In general, the reactive power compensators are classified
into two groups. The groups are reactive power compensators
and terminal voltage compensators. In order to compensate
effectively the dynamic changes of the system, firstly the
compensator should be controllable so that its susceptance can
be changed rapidly. Secondly, it should have the facility of
measuring the load parameters. Thirdly, the signal processing
should be performed very fast. In this regard, the static VAr
compensators can be used to compensate the dynamic changes
of the system, because, they can satisfy the above mentioned
requirements. In TSC and Thyristor Switched Reactor (TSR)
the desired value for susceptance is achieved by switching
capacitors or inductors. Therefore, they can change the value
step wisely. However, Thyristor Controlled Reactor (TCR)
changes the value of the effective impedance continuously.
Thus, in this case, current can be changed from a maximum
leading to a minimum leading.
Regarding the problems of the arc modeling, at first in this
paper, the optimal design for modeling of the furnace load is
presented. This model can describe different operating
conditions and also it does need specific initial condition.
Then, a sinusoidal voltage flicker is considered for this model.
In addition, an optimal reactive power compensator, TSC, is
designed for this model. The TSC static compensator is
designed so that the great variations of the furnace reactive
power can be measured accurately. In addition, the designed
static compensator creates a reduction in the voltage and
current transients at the thyristor terminals as well as
generating the suitable pulses for them. Also, a suitable
harmonic filter is proposed to improve the performance of the
power system.
II. MODELING THE POWER SYSTEM
The electric diagram of a source supplying an EAF is
illustrated in Figure 1. In this Figure, bus 1 is the point of
common coupling (PCC) which is the supplying bus of the
EAF transformer. In order to change the input active power of
the EAF, transformer TF (MV/LV) is used. This transformer is
equipped with a tap changer located at the secondary winding
to have the ability of changing the voltage of the furnace. The
arc furnace is also connected to the PCC through the
transformer TS (HV/MV). In this figure, XC and RC are the
reactance and resistance of the connecting cable line to the
furnace electrodes, respectively. Also, XL,sc is the short circuit
reactance at bus PCC.
Fig. 1. Diagram of an EAF connected to the rest of power system with a TSC
In order to study the power quality aspects in power systems
including the EAF, it is necessary to design a suitable model

978-1-4244-1736-0/08/$25.00 ©2008 IEEE 1

Proceedings of the 2008 International Conference on Electrical Machines
which represents the behavior of the EAF in all of the terminal voltage. In Fig.1, The method of designing the
operating conditions. For this purpose, the electric arc is harmonic filter is based on the [1]. The algorithm of control
modeled by the following equations: system is also shown in Fig. 2.
⎧ C di It can be seen in Fig.2 that control system consists of 4
⎪V at + D + i dt
≥ 0, i > 0 (1)
⎪ stages. With this system, the reactive power of the system has
V (i ) = ⎨
⎪
been held nearly constant and flicker amounts of the PCC bus
di
⎪V at (1 − e − i / τ ) < 0, i > 0 along with this compensator have been improved significantly.
⎩ dt
where V and i are arc voltage and current of the EAF,
respectively. Also Vat is the voltage threshold magnitude to
which voltage approaches as current increases. This voltage
depends on the arc length. The constants C and D are referred
to the arc power and arc current respectively and depend on the
sign of the derivative of the arc current that can take different
values. Furthermore, τ is the current time constant in A.
As it can be seen in Equation (1), for the positive current and
regarding the hysterias property of the arc, there are two paths.
When the current increases, the hyperbolic equation and in the
decreasing current case exponential equation can be used.
Hence, this model is called exponential-hyperbolic model. The
proposed method has the capability of describing the EAF
behavior in time-domain using differential equation. In
addition, it is able to analyze the behaviors in the frequency-
domain. Moreover, the proposed model can describe different
operating conditions of the EAF such as initial melting (scrap
stage), mild melting (platting stage) and refinement of the
EAF.
In this case, the voltage V at is considered to be a sinusoidal
with the frequency the same as of the flickering frequency (in
the range of 4-14 Hz).
Fig. 2. Algorithm of control system
Vat1 = Vat D1(1 + k1.sinω f t)
Vat2 = Vat D 2(1 + k 2 .sinω f t) (2) IV. PROCEDURE DESIGN OF REACTIVE POWER
Vat3 = Vat D 3 (1 + k 3 . sin ω f t ) MEASUREMENT

Where V atj ( j = 1, 2 , 3 ) are the three phase voltages of the As mentioned before, to improve the operation mechanism
and increase the speed of compensating response, the
furnace load, VatD j ( j = 1,2,3) are constant values of the measuring system of reactive power should be designed
voltages, ω f is the flicker angular frequency and the accurately and with proper speed. To achieve this purpose, at
first the unbalanced three phase system of the EAF should be
coefficients k j ( j = 1,2,3) are the flicker intensity for different
balanced. To balance the unbalanced loads, the reference
phases. reactive power of each phase is a combination of three phase
reactive powers as follows:
III. DESIGN OF OPTIMAL COMPENSATOR ⎧Qcab = QLa + QLb − QLc
In order to compensate reactive power and have voltage
⎪ bc b c a
⎨Qc = QL + QL − QL (3)
flicker improvement in power system including the EAF and
⎪ ca c a b
on the basis of Fig. 1, in this section, an optimal design of TSC ⎩Qc = QL + QL − QL
compensator will be presented. In Fig. 1, bus 1 is the point of
According to this relation, the reactive power needed for
common coupling (PCC) which is the supplying bus of the
each compensator branch in accordance with a combination of
EAF transformer.
reactive power of arc furnace phases is obtained. After
In this compensator, the reactive power is measured as fast
balancing, the reactive power measurement is calculated by
as possible. Then, the compensator is controlled so that the
estimating the average value in a half-period as follows:
total of the reactive power of the EAF and compensator is
nearly constant. In fact, the major duty of the compensator is
2
t
T 2⎡
t
T
t −T / 2
T ⎤ (4)
T t −T∫/ 2
the reactive power compensation and slightly keeping constant Q= v(τ − ) i(τ ) dτ = ⎢ ∫ v(τ − ) i (τ ) dτ − ∫ v(τ − ) i (τ ) dτ ⎥
4 T ⎣D 4 D
4 ⎦

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Proceedings of the 2008 International Conference on Electrical Machines

By choosing T
F (t ) = v(t − ) ⋅ i (t ) , the above equation is
4
simplified as,
t
2 ⎛ T ⎞ (5)
Q = ∫ ⎜ F (τ ) − F (τ − ) ⎟ dτ
T D⎝ 2 ⎠
The operation mechanism of this method is that the amount of
reactive power at each half cycle resets, and integration starts
again. At this time, the integration value at the previous
interval is presented as reactive power signal. Then, at the end
of integration period and before resetting of the integrator, the
amount is considered as new scale of reactive power signal.
Besides, at a half cycle, the reactive power will change
continuously from initial value to its final value. Thus, the Fig. 3. The proposed exponential-hyperbolic model for the arc
measuring system of the reactive power has proper speed as
well as sufficient accuracy.
ea ia
+300

V. THE TOTAL HARMONIC

+180
The total harmonic distortion (THD) is equal to the ratio of
rms values of harmonics and fundamental one. So, +60
hmax
∑ Hn2 -60

n=2
THD = (6)
H1 -180

where H1 and Hn are the effective values of 1st and nth

-3000.1 0.18 0.26 0.34 0.42 0.5
harmonics and hmax is the largest harmonic order. Time (sec)
Fig. 4. Waveforms of the arc voltage and current in the proposed exponential-
hyperbolic model
VI. SIMULATION RESULT ANALYSIS
Regarding Fig.1, in order to simulate the power system with
ea ia
the EAF, the parameters of the system is chosen as, +400

X Lsc = 9.4245Ω , X c = 2.356mΩ ,

(7) +240

Rc = 0.4mΩ , f sys = 50Hz

+80
Also, by applying the exponential-hyperbolic model
according to (1) and (2), the following values are substituted: -80
Vat = 200 V, C = 190 kW, D = 5kA, τ = 10 kA
k1 = k 2 = k3 = 0.5 (8) -240

ω f = 50 rad/sec
-4000.1 0.18 0.26 0.34 0.42 0.5
With these values, the voltage and current of the arc are Time (sec)
obtained and are shown in Fig. 3. Also, the voltage-current Fig. 5. Waveform of the arc voltage and current in the situation of the
sinusoidal flicker
characteristic of the arc is illustrated in Fig. 4. On the base of
sinusoidal form of flicker voltage, the voltage and current of The reactive power of furnace load and the system are
the arc are obtained and are shown in Fig. 5. shown in Fig. 6. Also, the power factor of the system, with and
without TSC compensator, considering sinusoidal voltage
flicker are shown in Fig. 7.
The waveform of Current and voltage of each capacitor step
are determined and illustrated in Fig. 8. In addition, Fig. 9
shows the voltage of PCC bus after and before the use of the
TSC.

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Proceedings of the 2008 International Conference on Electrical Machines
Regarding the recent figures, it is seen that in sinusoidal
+50
Q_System Q_load
flicker case, ach capacitor step current is also varied
sinusoidally and is not produced transient conditions. Besides,
+38
reactive power of compensator will have sinusoidal deviation
+26
and therefore, the reactive power of the system has been held
Q (Mvar)

nearly constant. Meanwhile, according to Fig. 9, it is seen that

+14 flicker amounts of the PCC bus along with this compensator
have been improved significantly.
+2
Fig. 10 show THD profiles for voltage of the PCC bus, with
and without TSC compensator considering sinusoidal voltage
-100.2 0.36 0.52
Time (sec)
0.68 0.84 1
flicker. Also, the current and voltage unbalance index of this
bus and furnace load, with TSC, is shown in Fig. 11.
Fig. 6. Waveform of reactive power of furnace load considering sinusoidal
voltage flicker

THD_VS_Before THD_VS_After
+0.005

PF_Before Comp. PF_After Comp.

+1.1
+0.0042
+0.99

+0.88 +0.0034
+0.77

+0.66 +0.0026

+0.55

+0.44 +0.0018

+0.33

+0.22 +0.001 1 1.6 2.2 2.8 3.4 4

+0.11 Time (sec)

+00.2 0.36 0.52 0.68 0.84 1

Fig. 10. THD profile for voltage of the PCC bus, with
Time (sec)
and without TSC compensator

Fig. 7. Waveform of power factor of system with and without TSC considering
sinusoidal voltage flicker +0.12
non_IS non_IL

+0.096
V_Capasitor I_Capacitor
+3

+0.072
+1.8

+0.048
+0.6

-0.6 +0.024

-1.8
+00.2 0.36 0.52 0.68 0.84 1
Time (sec)
-30.6 0.64 0.68 0.72 0.76 0.8
Time (sec) Fig. 11. Unbalance index of current system and load, with TSC compensator

Fig.8. Waveform of current and voltage of each capacitor step considering

sinusoidal voltage flicker
non_VS non_VL
+0.006

Flicker_Before Flicker_After +0.0048

+4.34e-005

+4.33e-005 +0.0036

+4.32e-005
+0.0024

+4.31e-005
+0.0012

+4.3e-005

+00.2 0.36 0.52 0.68 0.84 1

+4.29e-005 5 5.6 6.2 6.8 7.4 8 Time (sec)
Time (sec)
Fig. 12. Unbalance index of voltage system and load, with TSC compensator
Fig. 9. Waveforms of voltage flicker at the PCC bus, with and without TSC
compensator considering sinusoidal voltage flicker

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Proceedings of the 2008 International Conference on Electrical Machines
VII. INVESTIGATION OF ALL SIMULATION RESULTS Applications Conference, 1995. 30th IAS Annual Meeting, IAS '95, 8-12
Oct., Vol. 2, pp. 1733-1740, 1995.
The following points are explained in order to give a general
evaluation of simulation results:
1) Considering the results, it will be found out that the
designed model has been successfully created the various
conditions of power quality parameters in power system. Also
by using voltage flicker in the load model of the EAF, the
effective values of voltage and current of the furnace will
change in proportion with the created flicker. So this model is
obviously able to create various cases of the load in the case
study system with proper accuracy.
2) With the connection of compensator to the source of
supplying the EAF, it is observed that in sinusoidal flicker
case, the TSC current will change in a sinusoidal form. Also
the source of reactive power as mentioned initially has been
held nearly constant (see Fig. 6). However, if the TSC does not
apply, the source of reactive power can't follow the furnace
reactive power, and cause deterioration in power quality of the
system. Furthermore, the amounts of voltage flicker have
reduced significantly according to Fig. 9 of the simulation
results.

VIII. CONCLUSION
In this paper, firstly a power system with the EAF was
completely designed and simulated. Then a TSC compensator
for this system was designed. In this process, the reactive
power was measured so that maximum speed and accuracy are
achieved. The results of the simulation show that when a TSC
compensator is used with EAF, the total reactive power of
system becomes perfectly fixed and the oscillations of the
voltage of the PCC bus is reduced considerably.

IX. REFERENCES
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[2] M. Parniani, H. Mokhtari, M. Hejri, "Effects of Dynamic Reactive
Compensation in Arc Furnace Operation Characteristics and its
Economic Benefits", IEEE Conference, pp. 1044-1049, 2002.
[3] Andrews D., Bishop T., Witte F., "Harmonic Measurements, Analysis, and
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2029, 1994.
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