ABSTRACT

FACTS (Flexible AC Transmission System Devices). These devices are a family of

power electronic-based devices growingly used in the power system transmission grid. These
devices can offer different functionalities such as increased power transfer capacity and
improved grid stability and provided fast reactive power/voltage support. There are several
types of FACTS devices but we have discussed only STATCOM (Static Synchronous
Compensator), DSTATCOM (Distribution Static Compensator) and Unified Power Flow
Controller (UPFC). These are some of the examples of FACTS devices static synchronous
series compensator (SSSC) and thyristor-controlled series capacitor (TCSC).

INTRODUCTION

Rapid advances in high power semiconductor devices and control technology,

recently made it possible to provide fast voltage support by dynamic reactive compensation
of the transmission system and power flow control in transmission corridors. In the present
pace of power system restructuring, transmission systems are being required to provide
increased power transfer capability to accommodate a much wider range of possible
generation patterns.
There are several problems associated with power transmission network expansion.
Hence, there is an increased interest in better utilization of available power system capacities
by installing new device such as Flexible AC Transmission systems (FACTS). The FACTS
devices can reduce the flow of power in heavily loaded lines, resulting in an increased
loadability, low system loss, improved stability of the network, reduced cost of production. A
number of FACTS controllers are proposed and implemented in order to achieve these
objectives.
The increased interest in these devices is essentially due to two reasons. Firstly, the
recent development in high power electronics has made these devices cost effective and
secondly, increased loading of power systems, combined with deregulation of power
industry, motivates the use of power flow control as a very cost-effective means of
dispatching specified power transactions. Several emerging issues in competitive power
market, namely, as congestion management, enhancement of security and available transfer
capability of the system, transmission pricing, etc. have been restricting the free and fair trade
of electricity in the open power market. FACTS devices can play a major role in these issues.
Moreover, it is important to ascertain the location for placement of these devices because of
their considerable costs.
The flexible AC transmission system is akin to high voltage DC and related thyristor
developments, designed to overcome the limitations of the present mechanically controlled
AC power transmission systems. By using reliable and high-speed power electronic
controllers, the technology offers five opportunities for increased efficiency of utilities.
 Greater control of power so that it flows on the prescribed transmission routes.
 Secure loading of transmission lines to levels nearer their thermal limits.
 Greater ability to transfer between controlled areas.
 Prevention of cascading outages.
 Damping of power system oscillation.
 Static Var compensator (SVC) improves the system performances by controlling the
magnitude of voltage. Thyristor controlled phase angle regulator (TCPAR) controls the phase
angle of voltage, while thyristor-controlled series compensator (TCSC) changes the effective
impedance of transmission line to the system performance. The unified power flow controller
(UPFC) offers to combine all three functions in one device. The control of system parameters
can be carried out concurrently or sequentially with transfer from one type control (phase
shift) to another one (series compensation) in real time.
A UPFC generates all the reactive power needed for phase shift without requiring
reactive power to be transmitted over the line, unlike TCPAR. UPFC is also able to supply
independently controlled shunt reactive compensation equivalent to a static condenser
(STATCON). The other devices of FACTS controller family are static compensator
(STATCOM), static synchronous series compensator (SSSC), generalized unified power flow
controller (GUPFC) and interline power flow controller (IPFC) etc.

HISTORY
DSTATCOM
Operating Principle of the DSTATCOM:
Basically, the DSTATCOM system is comprised of three main parts: a Voltage
Source Converter (VSC), a set of coupling reactors and a controller. The basic principle of a
DSTATCOM installed in a power system is the generation of a controllable ac voltage source
by a voltage source inverter (VSI) connected to a dc capacitor (energy storage device). The ac
voltage source, in general, appears behind a transformer leakage reactance. The active and
reactive power transfer between the power system and the DSTATCOM is caused by the
voltage difference across this reactance. The DSTATCOM is connected to the power
networks where the voltage-quality problem is a concern. All required voltages and currents
are measured and are fed into the controller to be compared with the commands. The
controller then performs feedback control and outputs a set of switching signals to drive the
main semiconductor switches (IGBT’s, which are used at the distribution level) of the power
converter accordingly.

Figure: Block Diagram of the voltage source converter based DSTATCOM

 The AC voltage control is achieved by firing angle control. Ideally the output voltage
of the VSI is in phase with the bus (where the DSTATCOM is connected.) voltage. In steady
state, the dc side capacitance is maintained at a fixed voltage and there is no real power
exchange, except for losses. The DSTATCOM differs from other reactive power generating
devices (such as shunt Capacitors, Static VAR Compensators etc.) in the sense that the ability
for energy storage is not a rigid necessity but is only required for System unbalance or
harmonic absorption.
There are two control objectives implemented in the DSTATCOM. One is the ac
voltage regulation of the power system at the bus where the DSTATCOM is connected. And
the other is dc voltage control across the capacitor inside the DSTATCOM. It is widely
known that shunt reactive power injection can be used to control the bus voltage. In
conventional control scheme, there are two voltage regulators designed for these purposes.
AC voltage regulator for bus voltage control and dc voltage regulator for capacitor voltage
control. In the simplest strategy, both the regulators are proportional integral (PI) type
controllers.

STATCOM
STATCOM or Static Synchronous Compensator is a power electronic device using
force commutated devices like IGBT, GTO etc. to control the reactive power flow through a
power network and thereby increasing the stability of power network. STATCOM is a shunt
device i.e. it is connected in shunt with the line. A Static Synchronous Compensator
(STATCOM) is also known as a Static Synchronous Condenser (STATCON). It is a member
of the Flexible AC Transmission System (FACTS) family of devices.
The terms Synchronous in STATCOM mean that it can either absorb or generate
reactive power in synchronization with the demand to stabilize the voltage of the power
network.

Working Principle of STATCOM:

To understand the working principle of STATCOM, we will first have a look at the
reactive power transfer equation. Let us consider two sources V1 and V2 are connected
through an impedance Z = Ra + jX as shown in figure below.
 

n the above reactive power flow equation, angle δ is the angle between V1 and V2.
Thus, if we maintain angle δ = 0 then Reactive power flow will become;
Q = (V2/X)[V1-V2]

And active power flow will become;

P = V1V2Sinδ / X =0

To summarize, we can say that if the angle between V1 and V2 is zero, the flow of active
power becomes zero and the flow of reactive power depends on (V1 – V2). Thus for flow of
reactive power there are two possibilities.
1)  If the magnitude of V1 is more than V2, then reactive power will flow from source V1 to
V2.
2)  If the magnitude of V2 is more than V1, reactive power will flow from source V2 to V1.
This principle is used in STATCOM for reactive power control. Now we will discuss about
the design of STATCOM for better correlation of working principle and design.
You may like to read Reactive Power and Voltage Control of a Transmission Line.

Design of STATCOM:

STATCOM has the following components:

1) A Voltage Source Converter, VSC:

The voltage-source converter is used to convert the DC input voltage to an AC output
voltage. Two of the common VSC types are as below.
a)    Square-wave Inverters using Gate Turn-Off Thyristors: In this type of VSC, output
AC voltage is controlled by changing the DC capacitor input voltage, as the
fundamental component of the converter output voltage is proportional to the DC
voltage.
b)    PWM Inverters using Insulated Gate Bipolar Transistors (IGBT): It uses Pulse
Width Modulation (PWM) technique to create a sinusoidal waveform from a DC
voltage source with a typical chopping frequency of a few kHz. In contrast to the
GTO-based type, the IGBT-based VSC utilizes a fixed DC voltage and varies its
output AC voltage by changing the modulation index of the PWM modulator.

2) DC Capacitor:
DC Capacitor is used to supply constant DC voltage to the voltage source converter,
VSC.

3) Inductive Reactance:
A Transformer is connected between the output of VSC and Power System. Transformer
basically acts as a coupling medium. In addition, Transformer neutralize harmonics
contained in the square waves produced by VSC.

4)  Harmonic Filter:
Harmonic Filter attenuates the harmonics and other high frequency components due to
the VSC.

A simplified diagram along with equivalent electrical circuit of STATCOM is shown in

figure below.
 Now we will understand how the STATCOM works though we have discussed the
basic operating principle of STATCOM. As can be seen from the figure above, source V1
represents the output voltage of the STATCOM. In case of reactive power demand increases
in the power system, STATCOM increases its output voltage V1 while maintain the phase
difference between V1 and V2 to zero (it shall be noted here that there will always exists
small phase angle between V1 and V2 to cater for the leakage impedance drop in the
interconnecting Transformer). As V1 > V2, reactive power will flow from STATCOM to the
power system. Thus STATCOM, supplies reactive power and acts as reactive power
generator.
Again, if the voltage of power system increases due to load throw off, STATCOM will
reduce its output voltage V1 and therefore will absorb reactive power to stabilize the voltage
to normal value.
The above mode of operation of STATCOM is called Voltage Regulation Mode.
But as we know every equipment has got their own limitations, so STATCOM must also
have some limitation of supplying or absorbing reactive power. Yes, there exists a limitation
and this limitation is imposed by the current carrying capacity of force commutated devices
like IGBT, GTO etc. Therefore, if the operation of STATCOM reaches their limitation, it
does not further increase or decreases its output voltage V1 rather it supplies or absorbs fixed
reactive power equal to its limiting value at a fixed voltage and current and acts like constant
current source. This mode of operation of STATCOM is called VAR Control Mode.

Thus form the above discussion, the operation of STATCOM can be classified into two
modes:
1)    Voltage Regulation Mode
2)    VAR Control Mode
The figure below well explains the above two modes of operation of STATCOM.

The figure above is the Voltage Current Characteristics of STATCOM. As can be

seen, voltage regulation capability of STATCOM is from V1 (in lower side) to V2 in upper
side of power system. If the voltage of power system goes below V1 or above V2,
STATCOM acts in VAR Control mode. Here V1 and V2 are just taken for example, it should
not be confused with the V1 (used for output voltage of STATCOM) and V2 (Voltage of
power system) used in the discussion above.
Application of STATCOM:
Voltage stability is one of the biggest problems in power systems. Engineers and
researchers are trying to consolidate a definition regarding to voltage stability, besides
proposing techniques and methodologies for their analysis. Most of these techniques are
based on the search of the point in which the system’s Jacobian becomes singular, this point
is referred as the point of voltage collapse or maximum load ability point. (we will discuss
point of voltage collapse in next post) The series and shunt compensation are able to increase
the maximum transfer capabilities of power network. Concerning to voltage stability, such
compensation has the purpose of injecting reactive power to maintain the voltage magnitude
in the nodes close to the nominal values, besides, to reduce line currents and therefore the
total system losses. Today due the development in the power electronics devices, the voltage
magnitude in some node of the system can be adjusted through sophisticated and versatile
devices named FACTS. One of them is the static synchronous compensator (STATCOM).

UPQC
Power Quality (PQ) has become an important issue to electricity consumers at all
levels of usage. The PQ issue is defined as “Any power problem manifested in voltage,
current, or frequency deviations that results in failure or disoperation of customer
equipment.” The development of power electronic based equipment has a significant impact
on quality of electric power supply. The switch mode power supplies (SMPS), dimmers,
current regulator, frequency converters, low power consumption lamps, arc welding
machines, etc., are some out of the many vast applications of power electronics-based
devices.
Operation of this loads/equipment generates harmonics and thus, pollutes the modern
distribution system. The growing interest in the utilization of renewable energy resources for
electric power generation is making the electric power distribution network more susceptible
to power quality problems. In such conditions both electric utilities and end users of electric
power are increasingly concerned about the quality of electric power.
 Many efforts have been taken by utilities to fulfil consumer requirement, some
consumers require a higher level of power quality than the level provided by modern electric
networks. This implies that some measures must be taken so that higher levels of Power
Quality can be obtained. Active power filters (APF) have been proposed as efficient tools for
power quality improvement. Active power filters can be classified as series or shunt
according to their system configuration.
The series APF generally takes care of the voltage-based distortions, while shunt APF
mitigates current based distortions. The combination of series and shunt active power filter is
called the unified power-quality compensator (UPQC). UPQC mitigates the voltage and
current based distortion simultaneously as well as independently.
Basically, our block diagram has following major blocks:
*Source
*Isolation Transformer
*3 phase IGBT Driver circuit.
*IGBT Modules.
*PIC Microcontroller
*3 phase load 5-6 KW
*AC and DC supply

Block Diagram:
Description of block diagram:
Our focus is on the design UPQC based power quality conditioner through which we
will control the three phase power problems like harmonics, power factor, voltage sag/swell,
reactive power compensation. With the help of PIC microcontroller PWM pulses generate
and fed to the IGBT Drive circuit which in turns drives the IGBT modules.
IGBT will be implemented as a soft-start of high-power equipment and provides pure
sine wave consistently. During fault conditions the IGBT will operate to clear the fault for a
maximum duration of 1.5 seconds. IGBT work on zero reactive power compensation modes.
The hardware will evolve into a PCB for the finished schematic. Finally, the whole circuit
will be powered supply to make it energy efficient.