2014 International Conference on Control, Instrumentation, Energy & Communication 407

AGC of An Interconnected Multi-area Hydrothermal

System Using A Neuro-Fuzzy Controller
Lalit Chandra Saikia1, Asmita Paul2, Puja Dash3, N.B. Dev Choudhury4
Department of Electrical Engineering
National Institute of Technology Silchar
Silchar, India
1
lcsaikia@yahoo.com, 2me.asmi@gmail.com, 3pujadash83@gmail.com, 4nalinbdc@yahoo.com

Abstract—This paper deals with automatic generation control
of an multi-area hydro-thermal system. The performances of
some commonly used classical controllers are examined and
dynamic performances are compared to obtain the best. A three
input neuro-fuzzy controller is proposed for the first time in the
system. Investigations reveal that the three input neuro-fuzzy
controller provides better performance than two inputs
Controller. The performance of the three input neuro-fuzzy
controller has been compared with that of the best commonly
used classical controller, which reveals that the neuro-fuzzy
controller is better. The robustness of the three input neuro-fuzzy
controller has been tested for different loading. Comparison of
the dynamic responses of neuro-fuzzy controller and the best
classical controller at different loading conditions also reveal the
superiority of the proposed neuro-fuzzy controller.
Keywords— automatic generation control; classical controllers;
neuro- fuzzycontroller.
NOMENCLATURE
f Nominal System Frequency (Hz).
i Subscript referred to area i (1, 2, 3).
* Superscript denotes optimum value.
Pri Rated power of area i (MW).
Hi Inertia constant of area i (s).
ΔPgi Incremental generation change in area i (p.u).
Di ΔPDi / Δfi (pu/Hz).
T12, T23, T13 Synchronizing coefficients.
Ri Speed regulation parameter of area i (Hz/pu MW).
Tgi Steam governor time constant of area i (s).
Kri Steam turbine reheat coefficient of area i.
Tri Steam turbine reheat time constant of area i (s).
Tti Steam turbine time constant of area i (s).
Bi Frequency bias constant of area i.
Tpi 2Hi / f* Di.
Kpi 1/Di. (Hz/pu).
ȕi AFRC of area i (=Di + 1/Ri).
Tw Water starting time for hydro turbine (s).
ǻfi Incremental change in frequency of area i (Hz).
ǻPgi Incremental generation of area i (p.u).
ǻPtie i-j change in tie line power connecting area i and area j (p.u)
Kd, Kp, Ki Electric governor gains.
T Simulation time (s).
KIi Integral gain of integral, PI, PID controller in area i.
KPi Proportional gain of PI, PID controller in area i.
KDi Derivative gain of PID controller in area i.
I. INTRODUCTION
The nominal frequency, voltage profile and load flow
configuration of an interconnected power system is maintained
by close control of real and reactive powers generated through
the controllable sources of the system. The main role of
automatic generation control (AGC) is to maintain the system
frequency and tie line flow at their scheduled values during
normal operation and also during small perturbations. Most of
the literatures [1]-[6] reported in the past concerned with AGC
of isolated and interconnected power systems and most of them
are two equal area thermal system. Since practical
interconnected systems are multi-area and most of the cases
hydrothermal. Surprisingly little attention has been paid to
multi-area hydrothermal system. Classical controller integral
(I), proportional plus integral (PI) and proportional plus
integral plus derivative (PID) have been used in most of the
past literatures [1]-[6]. Different approaches such as classical,
optimal, genetic algorithm, bacterial foraging, fuzzy logic,
particle swarm, artificial neural network etc. for selection of
controller parameters and secondary control have been used in
literature [1]-[16]. An I or PI or PID controller optimized at a
particular operating condition may not perform satisfactorily
when there is a change in operating condition [2]. Moreover,
the non-linear nature of AGC problem makes it difficult to
ensure stability at all operating conditions with classical
integral or PI or PID controllers being optimized at a particular
operating condition [16]. Some investigations have been
carried out using fuzzy logic controller (FLC) [7]-[10] and
artificial neural network (ANN) controller [9]-[16] for better
dynamic performance in the AGC system. A fuzzy system can
explain the knowledge it encodes but can’t learn or adapt its
knowledge from training examples, while a neural network can
learn from training examples but cannot explain what it has
learned. Fuzzy systems and neural networks have
complementary strengths and weaknesses. As a result, many
researchers are trying to integrate these two schemes to
generate hybrid models that can take advantage of strong
points of both. Surprisingly no attention has been paid by the
authors of the above literatures for three area hydrothermal
system using neuro- fuzzy controller. This needs further
investigations. In view of the above, the main objectives of the
present work are

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 2014 International Conference on Control, Instrumentation, Energy & Communication
Fig.1 Transfer function model of a three area hydrothermal system with NF controller.
1) Development of a transfer function model of three area
hydrothermal system.
2) Selection of gains of integral (I), proportional plus
integral (PI), and proportional plus integral plus
derivative (PID) controller using classical technique
based on Integral square error (ISE) technique and to
compare the dynamic responses among them to select
the best for the system considered above.
3) Design of two input and three input neuro-fuzzy (NF)
controllers for the system considered above.
4) Comparison of dynamic responses for two and three
input NF controllers.
5) Comparison of dynamic responses of the system with the
better NF controller and best classical controller found in
above.
6) Sensitivity analysis of the best NF and best classical
controller.
II. SYSTEM INVESTIGATED
Investigations have been carried out on a three unequal area
hydro-thermal system of area1: 2000MW, area2: 6000MW,
area3:10000MW. The area1 and area2 are thermal systems and
area3 is a hydro system. Hydro system is provided with electric
governor. Thermal areas are incorporated with single reheat
turbine in each area. Generation rate constraints (GRC) of 3%
per minute in thermal areas and 270% per minute for raising
and 360% per minute for lowering generation in hydro area are
408
considered. The nominal parameters of the thermal systems are
taken from [17] and the optimum values of integral gain Ki,
proportional gain Kp and derivative gain Kd of electric
governor and other parameters of hydro area are taken from [4]
and given in Appendix. The commonly used classical
controllers like integral (I), proportional plus integral (PI) and
proportional plus integral plus derivative (PID) are considered
separately for the system. In the system considered, speed
regulation parameters of Ri = 4 % (2.4 Hz/pu) and frequency
bias parameters of Bi = ȕi = 0.425 are chosen. To study the
dynamic performance of the system with the NF controller, the
classical controller is replaced by the NF controllers. Per unit
values of different parameters of the three unequal areas are
considered to be same on their respective bases. Hence, while
modeling interconnected areas of different capacities, a
parameter a12 = - Pr1/Pr2, a23 = -Pr2/Pr3 and a13 = -Pr1/Pr3 are
considered in the three area system. The transfer function
model of the system with neuro fuzzy controller is shown in
Fig.1.The system dynamic performance is evaluated by
considering 1% step load perturbation (SLP) in area1.
III. DESIGN OF THE NEURO-FUZZY (NF) CONTROLLER
Neuro-adaptive learning technique provides a method for
the fuzzy modeling to learn information about a data set, to
compute the membership function parameters that best allow
the associated FIS to emulate the given input/output data. In
our case, adaptive NF inference system (ANFIS) has been
 2014 International Conference on Control, Instrumentation, Energy & Communication 409

used for modeling a suitable controller for our system.

Relevant training input/output data have to be fed to ANFIS
which then constructs a fuzzy inference system (FIS) with
specified number and type of membership function for each
input. Adjustment of these parameters associated with the
membership functions are then performed by computations
which are facilitated by a gradient vector, which provides a
measure of how well the fuzzy inference system is modeling
the input/output data for a given set of parameters. Once the Fig. 2 Architecture of three input Sugeno fuzzy model with 27 rules
gradient vector is obtained, ANFIS uses of one of optimization
routines, namely back propagation or a combination of least IV. RESULTS AND ANALYSIS
squares estimation and back propagation for membership
Programs and Simulink models for the proposed AGC
function parameter estimation in order to adjust the parameters
system are developed in Matlab 7.01 to obtain dynamic
so as to reduce the error measure.
responses for ǻfi and ǻPtie i-j for 1% SLP in area1.
The output, obtained using weighted average de
In the system considered different types of commonly used
fuzzification has all membership functions of the same type
controllers such as Integral (I), Proportional-Integral (PI) and
and either linear or constant. As there is no rule sharing, the
Proportional-Integral-Derivative (PID) are examined. The
number of output membership functions equals the number of
controller gains are optimized using classical technique based
rules. In the modeling of the NF controller, the following steps
on integral square error (ISE) as given by
were followed T
1. For the two input NF controller, the two inputs ACE and {
J = ³ ( Δf i ) + ( ΔPtie i-k ) dt
2 2
} (1)
³ ACE have been considered, while for the three input
0

The optimum values of integral controller gains are found

d to KI1* = 0.432, KI2* = 0.225 and KI3* = 0.001. The optimum
NF controller, three inputs, namely ACE, ACE and
dt value of PI controller gains are KI1* = 0.396, KI2* = 0.035, KI3*
= 0.003, KP1* = 0.136, KP2* = 0.150 and KP3* = 0.115. The
³ ACE have been considered. optimum value of PID controller gains are KI1* = 0.303, KI2* =
2. For each input, the relevant training data has been fed to 0.343, KI3* = 0.023, KP1* = 0.015, KP2* = 0.014, KP3* = 0.023,
the ANFIS. These training data are derived from the KD1* = 0.009, KD2* = 0.046 and KD3* = 0.005. Fig.3 (a, b, c)
results of classical PID controller results. show the dynamic responses for ǻfi = f (t) and ǻPtie i-j = f(t)
3. The Fuzzy Inference System is generated by considering respectively for 1 % step load perturbation in area1. It is clearly
three triangular membership functions for each input thus seen from the responses for I, PI and PID controllers that the
resulting in the formation of 9 rules for the two input NF PID controller gives the best result from the point of view of
controller and 27 rules for the three input NF controller. overshoot, undershoot and settling time. Only one dynamic
4. The output membership functions in both the controllers response is shown (Fig.3) to justify the statement.
have been considered to be constant type.
5. Training of the FIS is done using Hybrid Optimization
method.
6. The number of epochs is chosen such that error lies
within the tolerance limit. In both the cases, 20 epochs
have been considered.
7. Based on the training data, the ANFIS automatically
generates a Sugeno-type Neuro-Fuzzy using the above
mentioned membership functions and rules as mentioned
above.
The architecture of the proposed Sugeno fuzzy controller
model is shown in Fig. 2.
Fig. 3 Comparison of dynamic responses of I, PI and PID controllers at
normal loading and 1% SLP in area 1, ¨f1= f(t)

The system is incorporated with a two input NF controller

and dynamic responses of the system are shown in Fig.4. The
 2014 International Conference on Control, Instrumentation, Energy & Communication 410

two input NF controller is then replaced by three input NF

controller and the dynamic responses are then obtained (Fig.4).
From the comparison of the dynamic responses of the system,
it is clearly seen that three input NF controller gives better
dynamic performance. To justify the statement only one
dynamic response is shown in Fig.4

Fig. 5 (c)

Fig. 4 Comparison of dynamic responses for two input neuro fuzzy and three
input neuro fuzzy controller, ¨Ptie1-2= f (t).

Hence further studies are carried out considering PID

controller and three input NF controller only. Fig 5 (a, b, c, d,
e) shows the comparison of dynamic responses for PID and
three input NF controller for the system considered. From this
comparison, it is clearly seen that the NF controller gives a
Fig. 5 (d)
much better response than the classical PID controller from the
point of view of magnitude of oscillations, settling time and
peak overshoot.

Fig. 5(e)
Fig. 5 (a) Fig.5 Comparison of dynamic responses for classical PID controller and three
input neuro-fuzzy controller (a) ¨f1 = f (t), (b) ¨f2 = f (t), (c) ¨f3 = f (t), (d)
¨Ptie 1-2 = f (t), (e) ¨Ptie1-3 = f (t)

Sensitivity analysis is carried out to observe the robustness

of the NF controller for different loading conditions. Fig. 6(a-b)
shows the dynamic responses for ǻf2 = f (t) for 40% and 90%
loading. Examining the dynamic responses of Fig.6 it is seen
that the NF controller performed well under changed loading
condition also.

Fig. 5 (b)
 2014 International Conference on Control, Instrumentation, Energy & Communication
Fig. 6 (a) ǻf2 = f (t) for 40% loading for the system with 1% SLP in area1.
Fig. 6 (b) ǻf2 = f (t) for 90% loading for the system with 1% SLP in area1.
V. CONCLUSION
A three input adaptive neuro-fuzzy controller is proposed
for the first time in automatic generation control of an
interconnected multi-area hydrothermal system. Comparison of
dynamic performances of two input neuro-fuzzy controller and
three-input neuro-fuzzy controller reveals the better
performance of the latter. The three input neuro-fuzzy
controller also provides much better dynamic response than the
classical PID controller. Sensitivity analyses for different
loading conditions reveal that the neuro-fuzzy controllers
perform much better than the classical PID controller.
APPENDIX
The nominal parameters of the system are
f = 60Hz; Tgi = 0.08s; Tri = 10s; Hi = 5s; Tti = 0.3s; Kr = 0.5; Ptie,max =
200MW; Tpi = 20s; Kd = 4.0, Kp = 1.0, Ki = 5.0; Di = 0.00833p.u.MW/Hz; Kpi =
120 Hz/p.u MW, Tw = 1s, initial loading = 50%.
411
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