Voltage flicker mitigation by DSTATCOM for

voltage source Arc furnace model

1
C.N.V.K.Chaitanya,
2
R.Siddartha
1
3/4,B.tech,EEE,Vignan University, Vadlamudi, Guntur, AP, India. Email: chaitu175.krishna@gmail.com
2
3/4B.Tech,EEE,Vignan University,Vadlamudi,Guntur,A.P,India. Email: c.kanakarao@gmail.com
Abstract- This paper presents simulation study of an Electric Arc
Furnace (EAF) model in the MATLAB/SIMULINK environment.
EAF was modeled as a time domain controlled voltage source
(CVS) model. Voltage flicker, a phenomenon of annoying light
intensity fluctuation, caused by EAF, has been a major power
quality concern for both power companies and customers. A model
was developed for the EAF and it was applied in the simulation
studies of cascaded H-bridge converter based Distribution Static
synchronous Compensator (DSTATCOM) for voltage flicker
mitigation. The controller for DSTATCOM was designed based on
d-q model for the reactive power management, which helps in the
mitigation of the flicker. With the validated EAF and STATCOM
model, simulations are conducted to study the fast response of the
compensator in the distribution system.
Keywords- Electric Arc Furnace (EAF), Voltage flicker,
DSTATCOM, Voltage source arc furnace model, cascaded multi-
level inverter.
I. INTRODUCTION
Arc Furnace is being used increasingly in the iron and
steel industry. Currently, many utilities are facing the problem
caused by the arc furnace load. An arc furnace transforms the
electric energy to thermal energy in the form of electric arc to
melt the raw materials held by the furnace. The arc exists
between the electrode and melting material, which is
characterized by low voltage and high current. The normal
operation of arc furnace can be divided into meltdown and
refining stages. In the meltdown stage the operator lowers the
electrode through an actuator system to keep a stable arc, which
makes the arc furnace draw as much active power as possible
from the supply system. While in the refining stage the long arc
operation is generally adapted.
The automatic control systems play an important roll in
the arc furnace operation. The purpose of the control system is
not only to increase the productivity by minimizing operating
cost and production time, but also to improve production
quality. Current control systems are quite different from one arc
furnace to another, and the controller acts not only on the
control system, but also on the thermal system. However, from
the energy-input point of view, the control system has two tasks.
One is to adjust the arc furnace transformer tap at different
melting stages (long-term control policy). The other one is to
adjust the electrode position through actuator system in response
to control error in order to accomplish the selected control
objective (short term control policy).
During the arc furnace operation the random property
of arc melting process and the control system contribute to the
electrical and thermal dynamic, which produces serious
problems to the supply system. An arc furnace load may cause
unbalance, harmonics, inter-harmonics and voltage flicker
problems. An accurate three-phase arc furnace model is needed
for the purpose of harmonic analysis and flicker compensation.
Since the arc melting process is a non-stationary stochastic
process, it is difficult to make a precise deterministic model for
an arc furnace load. The factors that effect the arc furnace
operation are the melting or refining materials, the melting
stage, the electrode position, the electrode arm control scheme,
the supply system voltage and impedance [1].
Flicker is the sensation that is experienced by human
eye when subjected to changes in the illumination intensity. The
maximum sensitivity to change in illumination is in the
frequency range of about 5 to 15 Hz. The fluctuating
illumination of lamp is caused by amplitude variation of the
input voltage to the lamp. Large industrial loads such as large
motor drives for driving mechanical loads and electric arc
furnaces (EAF) used for melting scrap with electric energy
cause voltage distortions through the introduction of harmonics
and cause voltage fluctuations in the distribution systems. The
voltage-current characteristic of the arc is nonlinear and is the
cause of harmonic currents. These harmonic currents, when
circulated in the electric network can generate harmonic
voltages, which in turn can affect other users. The arc furnace is
a non-linear load and a large source for the flicker. The voltage
flicker whose frequency varies from 1Hz to 10 Hz can cause the
incandescent lamps and the television picture to glitter and
cause the malfunctioning of sensitive electronics equipment.
Severe flicker can also cause instability in the speed of an
electric motor and reduction in the efficiency of EAF and other
electrical equipment. To limit the effects of these disturbing
loads, compensation devices have to be connected at the Point
of Common Coupling (PCC). Flicker mitigation devices can be
connected in shunt, series or in the combined mode.
There are different methods for modeling EAF and in
general these models may be broadly classified as
(a) Time domain analysis methods
[1, 3-10]
(b) Frequency domain analysis methods
[3, 4, 11, 12]
(c) Chaotic variation methods [13,14]
(d) Model based on EAFs periodic draw of active and
reactive power [15].
The mitigation of EAF flicker economically and
efficiently consistently is a tough issue. The basic methodology
for flicker mitigation can be categorized into three types. a)
Regulating the EAF passive components such as source
impedance. Although, to some extent, increasing series
reactance can mitigate the flicker, it reduces power supplied and
therefore decreases EAF productivity. Moreover, it is also
expensive and laborious to control upstream transformer
reactance or series reactor in the deregulated power system
[16,17]. b) Compensation through the combination of thyristor
and passive components, such as well-known Static Var
Compensator (SVC). Not only can SVC improve the power
quality of a nearer system, but it also increases EAF
productivity and brings additional economic benefits. However,
its relatively low bandwidth cannot catch up the time varying
flicker. Hence its effect in flicker mitigation is limited. c) The
state-of-the-art solution is the STATic synchronous
COMpensator (STATCOM) based on the Voltage-Source-
Converter (VSC). With fast response and flexible control, it
performs better than SVC. At present, STATCOM is considered
a suitable FACTS unit for flicker mitigation. For shunt-link
FACTS unit like STATCOM, the Cascade Multilevel Converter
(CMC) is the most feasible topology because of its compact
structure, easy modularity, fast response and clean power
quality.
In the present work to study the effect of the
DSTATCOM controller for flicker mitigation an accurate model
based on the non-linear V-I characteristic of arc furnace [10] has
been used. This paper presents the SimPowerSystem (MATLAB
& Simulink family) model of DSTATCOM and V-I
characteristics based arc furnace and simulation studies. The
simulation studies show that the adopted control philosophy can
be used for flicker mitigation.
II. MODELING OF ELECTRIC ARC FURNACE
A) Arc Furnace Model
The EAF has been modeled in the Sim Power Systems
package of MATLAB & Simulink for the electrical system
shown in Fig. 1. Existing simulation models of Electric Arc
Furnace are developed in the
environment of Electro Magnetic Transient Program (EMTP).
For modeling the electric arc furnace, this software has
drawbacks of limited simulation time and difficulties in setting
up control unit. The above problems can be overcome by using
MATLAB, which permits the simulation of the arc furnace over
a wider range and gives the ability to set up a control unit and
accelerates the simulation process.
Fig. 1. Electrical System Configuration
For real time analysis of the effect of the arc furnace on the
power system we require the dynamic arc furnace model. The
dynamic nature of the arc furnace was modeled [7] by
incorporating the sinusoidal variation of arc resistance given by
(1).
( ) )) sin 1 (
1 1
t m t
f R R
+
--------- (1)
Where R
1
is the arc resistance
m is the modulation coefficient
f

is the flicker frequency

Here the controlled voltage source arc furnace model [7] is
represented by (2).

'

> > +
< < +

2 1
)
1
2
1 (
2
2 1 2
)
1
2
1 (
0 ;
1
0
1
I i I
R
R
ig
V i R
I i I i R
R
R
ig
V
I i I i i R
a
V ---(2)
Where
) (
1 2
2
1
R
V
R
V
P
V
R
ex
ig
ig
+

1
1
R
V
I
ig
;
) 1 (
1
2
2
R
R
V V I
ig ex

;
ig
V
and
ex
V are the ignition and
extinction voltages of arc respectively.
1
I and
2
I are the
currents corresponding to ignition and extinction voltages. P is
the arc furnace active power.
B. Simulation Results
In the sinusoidal dynamic arc model, sinusoidal function block
output is the input to the mathematical function. The output of
this function is R1 (t). It is the input to the embedded block. It is
interlinked to the power system by using the voltage controlled
voltage source block. Fig.2. Shows the arc V-I characteristic of
EAF simulated in MATLAB.
Fig. 2 V-I characteristic
Fig. 3 Voltage waveform at PCC
Fig. 4 Arc furnace active and reactive power
The voltage wave at the Point of Common Coupling
(PCC) is shown in Fig.3. Dynamic variation of the arc resistance
causes variation in active and reactive power drawn from PCC
as shown in Fig.4.It also causes distortion of the voltage wave at
PCC. The PCC voltage is varying at a frequency of 10Hz and is
causing voltage flicker of about 4%, which is not in the
threshold limit of flicker as per IEEE standard [24]. Hence to
improve power quality of the system, mitigation devices have to
be applied.
III. MODELLING OF DSTATCOM FOR EAF FLICKER MITIGATION
A. Modeling and Control
PWM signal switched DSTACOM can be used for
voltage flicker mitigation. To study the effect of DSTATCOM
controller for voltage flicker mitigation in a steel plant
distribution network with the fore mentioned EAF model is
shown in Fig. 5.
Fig. 5. DSTATCOM for flicker mitigation of EAF
The DSTATCOM basically consists of three main parts: A
Current Controlled PWM cascaded H-bridge Inverter with DC
source, the coupling inductors, and a closed loop controller. The
coupling inductor in each phase serves both as a converter
output current filter and an inductive coupler between the mains
phase and the respective converter phase voltage.
B) Control strategy
The DSTATCOM controller is modeled for reactive
power compensation mode. The arc furnace load will generate
voltage fluctuations near PCC, which is the main cause for
flicker. To mitigate this flicker the DSTATCOM is connected in
shunt with the system. This DSTATCOM compensates the
reactive power of arc furnace. When the arc furnace consumes
power PL and reactive power QL, the voltage of PCC is decreased
from the original value. To compensate the voltage of the PCC
back to its original value, the DSTATCOM injects the reactive
power Qc at the PCC.
The control strategy for DSTATCOM involves the
measurement of three phase voltages and currents at the
incoming substation and three phase currents of inverter.
The instantaneous power flow in the STATCOM is
shown in Fig.6. The source power has two components, viz.
instantaneous active power and instantaneous reactive power.
Similarly, the load power and inverter power also comprise of
active and reactive components. For full reactive power
compensation of the load, the inverter has to supply reactive
power of the same magnitude, but of opposite sign. Thus, in
such a case, the reactive power drawn from the source is zero.
i l s
q q q + ------------- (3)
Where
s
q -- Reactive power supplied by the Source,
l
q -- Reactive power absorbed by the Load and
i
q -- Reactive power absorbed by the Inverter.
Under complete compensation,
0 +
i l s
q q q ----------- (4)
Therefore, if reactive power supplied by the source is
monitored and controlled in closed loop to maintain it at zero,
then the desired objective of full VAR compensation can be
achieved.
Fig. 6 Power flow in a Distribution STATCOM
C) DSTATCOM Controller for flicker mitigation of EAF
The block diagram of the DSTATCOM controller for
flicker mitigation is shown in Fig.7. The three- phase source
voltages (Vsa, Vsb, Vsc) are applied to three-phase Phase
locked Loop (PLL) to synchronize the three-phase voltages at
the converter output with the zero crossings of the fundamental
component of the supply phase voltages. The PLL provides the
Synchronous reference angle required by the abc-dq0 (and
dq0-abc) transformation.
Fig. 7 The controller block diagram of the cascaded three level converter based
DSTATCOM
The three phase source currents ) , , (
sc sb sa
i i i and bridge
inverter currents ) , , (
ic ib ia
i i i are converted into equivalent direct
axis and quadrature axis component currents ) , (
q d
i i by using
(5).
1
1
1
]
1

1
1
1
1
1
1
]
1

+
+

1
1
1
]
1

c
b
a
q
d
i
i
i
wt wt wt
wt wt wt
i
i
i
2
1
2
1
2
1
3
2
cos(
3
2
cos( ) cos(
3
2
sin( )
3
2
sin( ) sin(
3
2
0


--(5)
The active power,
d d
I V P
2
3
,
The reactive power,
q d
I V Q
2
3

When the d-q rotating frame is kept in phase with the
PCC voltage or steelwork busbar voltage.
In order to maintain the reactive power drawn from the
source as zero, the output currents of the three-phase bridge
inverter are controlled in such a way that the inverter supplies
the required reactive power. Thus for flicker mitigation, the
source reactive power sets the reference for inverter control
which sets iq reference ) (
qref
i as zero. The reactive current
supplied by the source ) (
q
i is subtracted from the reference
value 0 ) (
qref
i to obtain the error in reactive current for full
compensation. This error signal is processed through a PI
controller block to obtain the reference voltage signal (Viref),
which is fed to the dq0-abc transformation block. From the
active current supplied by the inverter (id) the other reference
dref
v
is obtained. These two reference signals are input to dq0-
abc transformation. The output voltage signals of transformation
block (dq0-abc) act as reference voltages (Via, Vib, Vic) for
PWM signal generators of bridge inverter. These signals are
compared with a triangular carrier wave to obtain PWM signals
for three level cascaded converter.
IV. RESULTS AND DICUSSION
The entire system for flicker mitigation of EAF using
DSTATCOM is simulated using MATLAB/Simulink. Figs.8
and 9 show the PCC RMS voltage waveforms without and with
DSTATCOM. Without DSTATCOM, voltage flicker is about
4% (V/Vbase). When DSTATCOM is connected at the PCC the
flicker is reduced to 0.8%. The simulation parameters are given
in Appendix. Fig.10. Shows the line-to-line voltage of cascaded
multi-level inverter, it has three levels. The Fig.11shows p.u.
source active and reactive components of current and Fig.12
shows reference voltages generated by the controller for
Sinusoidal Pulse Width Modulation (SPWM) generator, inverter
current waveforms and STATCOM reactive power. Thus by the
functioning of the current regulated SPWM Inverter as a shunt
compensator reactive power drawn from the PCC is reduced to
less than 0.05 p.u and flicker is mitigated.
Fig. 8. RMS value of voltage at PCC without STATCOM
Fig. 9. RMS value of voltage at PCC wih STATCOM
Fig. 10. Inverter line-to-line voltage waveform.
Fig.11 p.u. source active and reactive components of current
Fig.12 p.u. Reference voltages generated by the controller for SPWM generator,
inverter current waveforms and STATCOM reactive power.
V. CONCLUSION
This paper presents the simulation study of the
DSTATCOM, with non-linear V-I characteristic based arc
furnace model, for flicker mitigation by injecting reactive power
of equal magnitude but of opposite sign to that of reactive power
drawn by the arc furnace. It is observed that the
DSTATCOM can mitigate the flicker generated by parametric
variation of arc furnace model. Thus, V-I characteristics based
arc furnace model can be used to study the efficacy of the
control loops used in DSTATCOM. The validity and
effectiveness of the proposed DSTATCOM and EAF load
modeling have been demonstrated in MATLAB/SIMULINK.
The MATLAB Simpower System Blockset simulation result
shows that the fast response and flexible control of the
DSTATCOM allow effective voltage flicker mitigation in
distribution system.
VI. APPENDIX
The various parameters of the simulation study of the system
are Vsource =566 V, f = 50 Hz, Zfeeder=0.0000528 + j 0.000468
, and Ztransformer = 0.0003366 + j0.00322. The active
power of the arc furnace is taken as 25MW and R! =1.170m,
R2=0.7272m, Vig=240 V, Vex= 200 V, DC link voltage=1500V
and coupling inductance=0.2H.
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