Mississippi State University Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering ECE 8990: Smart Grid A lecture on

Synchronized Phasor Measurement

Monday, April 9, 2012 by Masoud Karimi (karimi@ece.msstate.edu)

Contents
1 Introduction 2 Denitions 3 Steady State Performance Requirements 4 Dynamic Requirements 5 Typical Phasor Measurement Algorithm 6 Frequency and ROCOF Estimation 7 Conclusion 1 2 6 6 7 9 9

Introduction

Synchrophasors are the core variables representing the ac power system. Measured at dierent locations using phasor measurement units (PMUs), they are to report the status of the power system accurately and quickly. This lecture discusses the concept of measurement of synchrophasors and the measurement requirements in terms of accuracy and speed. Basic signal processing algorithms used for this purpose are also discussed.1
1 Actual and potential applications of synchrophasors in modern electric grid system are immense and you have already become familiar with some of those during the previous lectures in this course. To name the most important ones, we may mention the whole range of applications within the broad category of on-line (or near on-line) wide-area monitoring, protection, and control (WAMPAC).

All the generators in a power system operate at the nominal frequency of 60 Hz.2 In normal (steady state) operation, the power systems frequency is kept within a close vicinity of 60 Hz by maintaining the balance between generation and consumption across the whole system.3 Since this balance cannot perfectly be ensured at all times (due to ever changing nature of demand on the system), the systems frequency keeps swinging in a narrow range around the nominal value. The system may even operate at a frequency above or below the nominal value (called o-nominal frequency) for some extended duration of time. When contingencies happen in the system,4 the balance of power may be signicantly lost subsequent to the fault and before the system settles to a new steady condition. This may cause the frequency to experience oscillations with much larger magnitude than it did in normal operation. Other system variables such as magnitudes and angles (of voltages, currents), powers etc also experience oscillations. This explains the nature of dynamics in power system: local and global interaction of electrical and mechanical components across the system excited by a contingency. The oscillations, when crossing the limits, cause the protection devices to operate and shut down of portions of the system may happen. The protection and control systems are to take the appropriate actions to damp out the oscillations as fast as possible and to minimize equipment damage and power outage caused by those faults.

Denitions
(1)

A purely sinusoidal ac signal may be expressed as u(t) = 2U cos((t))

where U is the rms value and (t) is the phase angle at time t. The angular frequency is dened as the time-derivative of the phase angle: (t) = d (t), dt

and the frequency (in Hz) is f = 2 . Assume that the systems nominal frequency is o rad/s and write (1) as (2) u = 2U cos(o t + (t)). The complex number U = U ej combines the magnitude and phase angle information and is called the phasor of signal u. When the exact time at which the
2 The bulk of power in the existing power system is generated by synchronous generators (SGs). When the electrical power drawn from a SG increases/decreases, the speed of its rotor (and thus the frequency of the generated voltage) goes down/up before the control systems in the machine completely respond to this change. 3 Thus, frequency may be considered as a global signal although its instantaneous value may not precisely be identical across the entire power system. 4 Disconnection of a transmission line and/or a portion of the system subsequent to the operation of protection devices activated by a fault, for instance.

phase angle is measured is known and included, the triplet is called the synchronized phasor or synchrophasor. Synchrophasors are used to represent a power system as they are slowly-varying variables and do not need to be at very high frequency.5 A synchrophasor technically comprises: phase angle, magnitude, frequency, rate-of-change of frequency, and the time-tag.6 Synchrophasors are measured by phasor measurement units (PMUs) placed at locations across the system. PMUs exist either as independent equipment or included in other devices such as protection relays (digital fault recorders-DFRsor intelligent electronic devices- IEDs). A PMU can measure synchrophasors for multiple signals such as voltage, current, sequence components, and harmonics. Dierent phasors at a certain location may share some identical attitudes such as frequency, ROCOF and time-tag. A PMU needs a global signal for accurate time tagging. The global positioning system (GPS), widely and inexpensively available by todays technology, serves that purpose. The synchrophasors are sent to the concentrated data centers (CDCs) using one of available communication technologies. The received data from dierent PMUs is used for multiple applications such as status monitoring, validation of system models, wide-area protection and control, etc. The IEEE Standard C37.118.1-2011 [1] species the requirements on a PMU performance in terms of measurement accuracy and dynamic characteristics. It denes a measure for phasor error called the total vector error (TVE) as: |U U | TVE = 100 |U | where U is the actual phasor and U is the estimated phasor. A TVE of 1% corresponds to an error of 1% in the magnitude and an error of 0.57 deg in the phase angle (each one in the absence of the other), see Fig. 1. Such angle error is about 26 s when translated into time (for a 60 Hz signal)7 . The TVE combines magnitude and phase errors. The frequency error (FE) in Hz and rate-of-change-of-frequency error (RFE) in Hz/s are also considered as two other accuracy indices. The synchrophasors are transmitted at a rate called the reporting rate. The
5 Local and global (inter-area) oscillations of the system that are of interest for stability/protection purposes are conned within a few Hertz from the nominal value of a phasor. 6 Notice that phasor or synchrophasor is independent from the frequency. In other words, the frequency information is included in the phase. However, the IEEE standard requires a PMU to provide the frequency and the rate-of-change of frequency (ROCOF) due to the signicance of these two variables for various applications. The ROCOF is dened as the time derivative of frequency. 7 Accuracy of the GPS signal is about 1 s.

 e U U

| | < 1%| U | e

Figure 1: Graphical interpretation of the TVE IEEE recommended values are Fs =10, 12, 15, 20, 30, 60 Hz.8 Based on the Nyquist theorem, a series of synchrophasors reported at the rate of Fs contains information up to Fs Hz. In order to avoid aliasing, the phasor measurement 2 algorithm must ensure that all interfering signals beyond this frequency have been properly ltered. The performance requirements are stated for steady-state operation as well as for dynamic phenomena. A brief summary of the steady state requirements and dynamic requirements is given in Section 3 and Section 4, respectively. Before proceeding to those topics, let us present some more denitions. Apply a step change in one of the variables of the signal (such as magnitude or phase angle). All measurements of the PMU will exhibit a transient response and then settle to their new values. The following two denitions are made. Delay Time is the time interval between the instant of the step change and the instant that the estimated value of the stepped variable reaches half way through the initial and the new values. The delay time is a measure of the delay of the algorithm and it can and should be compensated at the PMU level when time tagging of the phasors is performed. A step in one variable impacts the estimation of other variables too. Thus, another concept is needed to quantify the impact of this step on the estimation of other variables. The response time is such a concept. Response Time is the time interval between the instant that a measurement leaves its accuracy limit (caused by the step change) and the instant it regains
8 The reporting times are evenly spaced through each second with frame number 0 (numbered 0 to N-1) coincident with the universal time second rollover [1].

Figure 2: Concepts of delay time (top) and the response time (bottom), [1]. that accuracy and maintains it. Concepts of delay time (response delay) and response time are shown in Fig. 2. Depending on the nature of an application, it may require a higher speed of the responses or a higher accuracy of them than the other. The IEEE Standard on synchrophasors denes two classes of performance to address this issue: Class P is intended for applications requiring fast response, and mandates no explicit ltering. Class M is intended for applications which could be adversely aected by aliased signals but do not require the fastest reporting speed. Anti-alias ltering is required for M class. All requirements are specied by performance class. A PMU shall meet all the requirements as specied for a class, in order to be considered as compliant with the standard for that class. If the vendor provides both P and M Class performance, these shall be user selectable.9
9 Most of the requirements (steady state and dynamic requirements) are dierent for these two classes. We, however, do not make precise distinction on such dierences in this lecture

Steady State Performance Requirements

O-nominal frequency tolerance. TVE must remain below 1% for all f in the range: fo f f fo + f where f = 2 Hz.10 Amplitude tolerance. TVE must remain below 1% for all U in the range: Uo U U Uo + U

Steady state performance considers the following scenarios.

where U is either 20% or 90% depending on whether the signal is voltage or current, respectively. Phase tolerance. TVE must remain below 1% for all slowly changing angles (within the whole range of 360 degrees) while the frequency is within 0.25 Hz of the nominal value. Harmonics. TVE must remain below 1% when harmonics up to the 50th exist, each with a magnitude of h%.11 Out of band interference (OBI).12 TVE must remain below 1% in the presence of an OBI with the magnitude as much as 10% of the main signal. An OBI signal is a single sinusoidal signal whose frequency is in (f < fo Fs Fs ) (f > fo + ). 2 2

Dynamic Requirements
Step changes of amplitude and phase. Apply 10% amplitude or 10 phase jump. The following dynamic characteristics are required13 TVE response time should not exceed 1.7 cycle delay time should not exceed 0.25 reporting cycle overshoot/undershoot should not exceed 5% Ramp variations of frequency. The TVE should remain below 1% when the frequency changes with the rate of 1 Hz/s.

which is aimed to give a conceptual view of the topic. 10 The range is extended to f = 5 Hz for class M. 11 h is 1 for performance class P and is 10 for performance class M. 12 This item is required only for performance class M. 13 This set of numbers is for class P.

 Amplitude and phase modulation. The TVE should remain below 3% when the amplitude (phase) carries a 10% (10 degrees) sinusoidal modulation:14 U = Uo (1 + 0.1 cos m t) cos(o t + cos m t), 18 fm 2 Hz.

Remark: In the above two sections, the accuracy of phasor measurement in terms of maximum allowable TVE was stated. Similar accuracy measures are also required for the FE and RFE [1].

Typical Phasor Measurement Algorithm

A typical signal processing algorithm to capture the phasor of a single phase signal is shown in Fig. 3. The analog low-pass (LP) lter is to attenuate high frequency distortion and noise. The GPS signal is used to synchronize the input signal samples with the internally generated sine and cosine functions.

Figure 3: Typical signal processing stage for calculating a single phase synchrophasor, [1]. In order to understand how this algorithm works, notice that for the input signal (2), the following relationships are valid for the signals after modulators15 u(t)C = 2U cos(o t + ) cos o t = 2U cos2 o t cos 2U cos o t sin o t sin u(t)S = 2U cos(o t + ) sin o t = 2U sin2 o t sin 2U cos o t sin o t cos = U sin U cos(2o t) sin U sin(2o t) cos . u(t)C + ju(t)S = U + U cos(2o t) j U sin(2o t) = U + U ej2o t The digital LP lters in Fig. 3 are used to attenuate the double-frequency terms caused by the modulators. Notice, however, that the LP lters cannot completely reject those disturbances. They cannot highly attenuate them either
14 f m becomes 5 Hz for class M. 15 It is assumed that the modulating

= U cos + U cos(2o t) cos U sin(2o t) sin ,

signals are C =

2 cos o t and S = 2 sin o t

because they are already very large and any attempt to lter them using linear techniques causes long response delays. The phasors often correspond to three phase signals. In a three phase set of signals, the positive-sequence component is the component whose phasor is of major interest in all applications.16 A typical three phase signal processing algorithm for three phase applications is shown in Fig. 4.

Figure 4: Typical signal processing stage for calculating a three phase synchrophasor, [1]. The positive-sequence phasor is dened and calculated as 1 2 2 Up = (Ua + ej 3 Ub + ej 3 Uc ). 3 The signals after modulation blocks (for all three phases a, b, and c) are U1 = ua (t)Ca + jua (t)Sa = Ua + Ua ej2o t 2 U2 = ub (t)Cb + jub (t)Sb = Ub + Ub ej(2o t 3 ) 2 U3 = uc (t)Cc + juc (t)Sc = Uc + Uc ej(2o t+ 3 ) Therefore, 1 2 2 (U1 + ej 3 U2 + ej 3 U3 ) = Up + Un ej2o t 3 where 1 2 2 Un = (Ua + ej 3 Ub + ej 3 Uc ) 3 is the negative-sequence phasor that is zero in a balanced system. Above derivations prove that in a balanced three phase system, the double frequency terms of all three phases of the system add up to zero! Therefore,
16 The

negative-sequence and zero-sequence phasors are also of interest in some applications.

theoretically, LP lters are not required. However, a practical system is never perfectly balanced. Presence of negative sequence causes double frequency oscillations. In order to attenuate those as well as the higher frequency distortions caused by harmonics, the LP lters are necessary. Notice also that the magnitude of double-frequency ripples is much smaller than the single-phase case. It is not dicult to prove that the method described in this section is equivalent to the discrete Fourier transform (DFT) if the LP lters are just simple averaging lters over N samples. Those simple lters cannot satisfy some of the requirements imposed by the standard on the steady state and dynamic responses.17 The LP lters may be designed dierently (and optimally) to achieve the desired specications for phasor measurement.18

Frequency and ROCOF Estimation

In the method of Section 5, the frequency is not directly estimated. If the phase angle information is accurately available, a simple numerical dierentiation may be used to estimate the frequency. A second dierentiation is also used to estimate the ROCOF. However, these methods need to be selected with great care to avoid noise eects. Some other techniques, such as those based on PLL concept or based on extended Kalman ltering, estimate the frequency directly. Such methods generally oer higher level of accuracy.

Conclusion

Phasor measurement is the starting point of all wide-area applications. Depending on how demanding an application is, a PMU may be required to provide a very accurate and fast data. The IEEE Standard C37.118 [1] updates and summarizes the requirements for a PMU. Some of the requirements listed by the latest IEEE Standard C37.118 [1] are quite challenging and cannot be achieved using the simple phasor measurement algorithms presented in Section 5 which are closely related to the discrete Fourier transform (DFT) algorithm, [2, 3]. The level of trade-o required by the standard for the steady state operation (mainly dictated by the OBI requirement) against the dynamic responses (such as modulated signals as well as step jumps) is beyond the competence of general DFT type algorithms. Intensive research is currently going on to develop advanced signal processing techniques which can satisfy all the requirements of the IEEE standard. Techniques such as Kalman ltering, advanced digital lters, phase-locked loop (PLL), extended versions of DFT etc have been proposed and are still being investigated [411]. None has been reported in the technical literature to clearly demonstrate successful achievement of all requirements.
17 The OBI requirement, for instance, is in strong trade-o with the dynamic requirements and this poses a serious challenge on the design of LP lters. 18 A topic of research that is still very attractive.

References
[1] IEEE PPC37.118.1/D4.2, IEEE draft standard for synchrophasor measurements for power systems, pp. 156, 2011. [2] A. Phadke, J. Thorp, and M. Adamiak, A new measurement technique for tracking voltage phasors, local system frequency, and rate of change of frequency, Power Apparatus and Systems, IEEE Transactions on, no. 5, pp. 10251038, 1983. [3] M. Karimi-Ghartemani, B. Ooi, and A. Bakhshai, Investigation of dftbased phasor measurement algorithm, in Power and Energy Society General Meeting, 2010 IEEE. IEEE, 2010, pp. 16. [4] J. de la O Serna and J. Rodriguez-Maldonado, Taylor-kalman-fourier lters for instantaneous oscillating phasor and harmonic estimates, Instrumentation and Measurement, IEEE Transactions on, vol. 61, no. 4, pp. 941951, 2012. [5] I. Kamwa and R. Grondin, Adaptive phasor and frequency-tracking schemes for wide-area protection and control, Power Delivery, IEEE Transactions on, vol. 26, no. 2, pp. 744753, 2011. [6] J. de la O Serna and J. Rodriguez-Maldonado, Instantaneous oscillating phasor estimates with taylor k-kalman lters, Power Systems, IEEE Transactions on, no. 99, pp. 11, 2011. [7] E. Ghahremani and I. Kamwa, Dynamic state estimation in power system by applying the extended kalman lter with unknown inputs to phasor measurements, Power Systems, IEEE Transactions on, no. 99, pp. 111, 2011. [8] R. Mai, L. Fu, Z. Dong, B. Kirby, and Z. Bo, An adaptive dynamic phasor estimator considering dc oset for pmu applications, Power Delivery, IEEE Transactions on, vol. 26, no. 3, pp. 17441754, 2011. [9] J. Ren and M. Kezunovic, An adaptive phasor estimator for power system waveforms containing transients, Power Delivery, IEEE Transactions on, 2012. [10] B. Zeng, Z. Teng, Y. Cai, S. Guo, and B. Qing, Harmonic phasor analysis based on improved t algorithm, Smart Grid, IEEE Transactions on, no. 99, pp. 11, 2011. [11] M. Karimi-Ghartemani, B. Ooi, and A. Bakhshai, Application of enhanced phase-locked loop system to the computation of synchrophasors, Power Delivery, IEEE Transactions on, vol. 26, no. 1, pp. 2232, 2011.

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