Various Power Quality Issues: Measurement of Flicker And Mitigation of Voltage Sag

1 1

Vinay Kumar A
2

Dr.J Praveen

Dr.S Tarakalyani

Gokaraju Rangaraju Institute of Engineering & Technology, Hyderabad Jawaharlal Nehru Technological University, Hyderabad

Abstract Power Quality phenomenon can describes about various power quality issues like voltage sags (Dips), voltage swells, interruptions, flicker etc. But, to obtain a good perceptiveness of voltage sag problems and flicker at a given load point it requires data of several years. This paper provides a latest method of mitigation technique using DVR for voltage sag and measurement method for flicker. Also deals with a simple and new method of flicker measurement using LabVIEW. Index Terms Power Quality (PQ), Voltage sag, Voltage

Transients are the events which are undesirable and occur for momentarily. Broadly transients can be classified in to two categories viz. impulsive and oscillatory. Lightning is the most common cause of the impulsive transients. An impulsive voltage or current is unidirectional in polarity which rises rapidly to its maximum value and reaches half of its peak value very slowly [3]. If these are sustains for long duration which may be results in to the oscillatory transients. Also, back-toback capacitor energization results in oscillatory transients of frequencies of tens of kilohertz. Both these transients are undesirable as these may cause the insulation failure of the equipment or permanent damage of the equipment in the power system network. The short duration voltage variations comprises of interruptions, sags and swells and are designated with respect to their duration as instantaneous, momentary and temporary. An interruption may be the effect of power system faults, an equipment failure and control of malfunctions. This event may occurs when the supply voltage or load current decreases to less than 0.1 pu for a period of not more than 1 minute. Where as a sag (shown in Fig. 1.1) may sustains for 0.5 cycle to 1 minute with the decrease of 0.1 to 0.9 pu in r.m.s. voltage or current at the power frequency. Usually voltage sags are associated with the system faults but are also caused by starting of large induction motors or energization of heavy loads. At starting of induction motors they may draw about 6 to 10 times its full load current [1], [4]. During this period if any fault occurs, the effect of voltage sag would be vey significant and its magnitude may reaches to 0.2 pu which would then returns to normal in about 3 seconds.

flicker, DVR, LabVIEW. I. INTRODUCTION

he use of power electronic devices using inverters, unbalanced loads like large furnaces or rectifiers can leads to the aggravating of power quality. Since poor power quality causes trouble in power electronic equipment malfunctioning. There are many power quality issues which may be categorized by different characteristics and some power quality issues are described in the Table 1.1. [1], [5]. From the Table 1.1 it is very much clear that every event of power quality phenomenon has its representation with its duration and magnitude. Though the duration of events is for few cycles, the affect of respective event may be severe with the sensitive equipments. Because of many reasons these power quality issues may causes at the suppliers system or at the users system. The brief description of some of these power quality issues can be observed as below:

Table 1.1 Categories and Characteristics of Various Power Quality Issues:

The other categories of PQ issues like Interruptions, Undervoltages and Overvoltages may lasts for more than 1 minute. Voltage unbalance may the result of blown fuses in one phase of the three-phase capacitor bank and seldom has it occurred when single-phase load applied on a three-phase circuit. When the spectral content deviates from its ideal shape it may define as waveform distortion. Out of five primary types of waveform distortion, harmonics are originates from the nonlinear characteristics of devices & loads on the power system network. For instance, harmonics are generally known to generate burn-out reactors and defective noise in capacitors. And the effective value of harmonic distortion can be measured as a single quantity with Total Harmonic Distortion (THD). Also, the impulse noise can stop control systems which are dependent on a computer. Flicker primarily manifests itself as blinking for lighting loads and the effect of flicker mainly prone to the electric-discharge lamps such as fluorescent, mercury-vapor lights and can be annoying to the human eyes. Hence, there are many power quality issues ranging from power generation, transmission and distribution. But, the issues mentioned in the table1.1 primarily indicate for distribution level. However, it is to be noted that all the problems that are facing by modern power systems can not be solved using a few controlling devices. Hence, here in this paper we considered the solution for two primary power quality issues i.e. voltage sag and flicker. In this paper an attempt has been made to apply a mitigation method using DVR for the power quality problems of voltage sag and flicker.

Though the duration of sag events has not been clearly defined some publications referred as ranging from 2 milli seconds to a couple of minutes [6]. Long duration sags may leads to the under voltage problems which are highly undesirable.

Fig. 1.1 Voltage sag waveform

II. PQ MEASUREMENT TECHNIQUES Every PQ issue has its own significance and effect. So, based on the type of power quality issue it is necessary to measure Power Quality to understand the cause of the problems, to analyze and to adopt a proper mitigation method as well. A. Measurement of Flicker Initially an instrument to quantify a flicker was designed based on the simple observation of luminous flux and later it was developed on human eye reaction to the fluctuation of luminous flux. The basic model was developed using a 60W, 230V incandescent lamp which was commonly used light

The another short duration event swell is defined as an increase in 1.1 pu to 1.8 pu in r.m.s voltage or current with the duration similar to that of voltage sag i.e. 0.5 cycle to 1 minute. However, swells are not as common as voltage sags. But voltage swell may occur from the temporary voltage rise on un-faulted phases during the Single-Line-Ground (SLG) fault. Further they are also caused by switching off large loads and energizing of large capacitor banks. In some situations these swells may results into momentary overvoltage problems.

source. [8]. The Fig. 2.1 showing the block diagram of flicker meter specified in IEC 61000-4-15. [6].

Fig. 2.1 Block diagram of flicker meter

The modern flicker meter measures voltage fluctuation and thereby infers light flicker by considering the following: the type of lamp, the amount of voltage fluctuation and how abruptly it changes, the frequency of fluctuation, the sensitivity of the eye to the light and the respective brains perception. When all these factors are considered and modeled in a modern IEEE/ IEC compliant [6, 8] flicker meter, the measurement becomes more complex. So, the complexity of measurement can be minimized with the proposed method of flicker measurement with the help of LabVIEW software. The simplified model for flicker measurement is described in the Fig. 2.2.

An experimental arrangement and its function can be described in the Fig. 2.3 for the measurement of flicker.

In order to find the transfer function or the eye response model of the system it is required to record the input and output voltages shown in Fig. 2.4, into a measurement file provided by LabVIEW. The transfer function of the system can be found by using an add-on Mathscript window with the consideration of higher order (60th order) of the system. As the transfer function is depends on time, the real-time run data was collected by continuingly varying the auto transformer about
Fig. 2.2 Simplified Model for flicker Measurement

60 sec.

The two signals that are fed to the DAQ card, one from the solar panel and the other from the 230-3v step down transformer are analyzed in the Lab VIEW. The two signals are acquired with the help of DAQ Assistant .The output signal from this block is combined signal, therefore two signals (AC and DC) are splitting and their RMS values were recorded for further analysis.

B. Testing of the Model and Statistical Evaluation of P st

The data were obtained for various light sources and the respective transfer functions were tested with the generated modulated wave (shown in Fig. 2.5) to get the Pst values of the system for various light sources viz. Incandescent bulb, CFL bulb, Florescent Tube and LED light.

The Short term flicker severity index Pst can be obtained from (1) for various light sources and the values can be compared.

source converter. DSTATCOM is connected in parallel with the line across the load where as DVR is in series with the line. Dynamic Voltage Restorer

(1) Rapidly growing power electronics technology is providing different power quality solutions. Modern technology is providing logistic solutions for huge electrical systems with the help of digital electronics systems. Dynamic Voltage restorer is a Flexible AC Transmission System (FACTS) device which mitigates the voltage sags and swells. The DVR designed for series connection into a power supply line. It controls voltage applied to load by injecting a voltage of component setting amplitude and phase angle into the line. Whenever voltage disturbance occurs, control voltage signals to PWM voltage source inverter generates the required compensation voltage to meet the requirement. DVR injects a dynamically controlled voltage produced by PWM voltage source inverter in series to bus voltage by means of Transformer. The momentary amplitudes of three injected phase voltages are controlled to remove any detrimental effects of a bus fault to load voltage. As on voltage disturbance occurs on the power supply line let us say voltage sag, the exact difference of supply voltage to require load voltage is generated through the inverter to compensate the disturbance. The generated compensation voltage is in series added to the supply voltage to restore the disturbance. The functional diagram of a DVR is given in Fig. 3.1

Where N No. of samples. Ki weight of each magnitude Pi Magnitude at ith frequency As the system transfer function is a replica for the eyeresponse model for various light sources which were subjected to flicker when voltage magnitude changes continuously, the respective Pst values also changes. For linear approximation, it can be added a suitable weight (Ki) at each frequency so that analysis of linear wave becomes easier. And for simplicity we choose, Ki = Pi. The Pst values obtained for different light sources are shown in the Table 2.1.
Table 2.1: Comparison of Pst values of different light sources

Sl.No. 1. 2. 3. 4.

Light source Incandescent Bulb CFL Bulb Fluorescent Light LED light

Pst 0.93 0.54 0.87 0.74

By observing the above output values we can clearly say that CFL bulb has less flicker severity index compared to other lights. So, by using CFL light sources, our eye annoyance for the flicker will be lesser.

III. MITIGATION TECHNIQUES DVR and DSTATCOM are known to be custom power devices which are capable of providing many number of power quality functions and are employed simultaneously or selectively. These devices are capable of absorbing and injecting reactive power on power system network at various distribution voltages and these devices are functions as synchronous sources. In general mitigation technique can be applied by using custom power devices which are capable to perform many number of power quality functions which can be employed simultaneously or selectively. DVR and DSTATCOM are two of the custom power devices which share a similar architecture. Both these devices are based on the voltage
Fig.3.1 Dynamic Voltage Restorer

The basic voltage source converter scheme for reactive power generation is shown schematically, in the form of a single line diagram, in Fig. 3.2

Fig. 3.2 Schematic of Voltage source converter

From Fig.3.1, the active and reactive power exchanged between the system and converter can be obtained from (2) and (3) respectively.

(2)
Fig. 4.1 Voltage Sag in 3-Phase System

(3) Where = Phase angle between V and E.

Fig. 4.1 Voltage sag in 3-Phase system

From a DC input voltage source, provided by the charged capacitor Cs, the converter produces a set of controllable three-phase output voltages of the same frequency as that of the AC power system. Each output voltage can be controlled both in magnitude and phase angle, which is coupled to the corresponding AC system voltage through a relatively small (0.1 - 0.15 p. u.) tie reactance (which in practice may be provided by per-phase leakage inductance of the coupling transformer).

Fig. 4.2 Injected Voltages through DVR

IV. SIMULATION RESULTS The control method described here is for balanced and unbalanced sag conditions, where DVR is compensating the voltage sag and providing smooth voltage to critical load. The sag is created using three fault, line to line fault and line to ground block available in SimPowerSystem block set of Matlab. Digital simulation is done using the blocks of Matlab simulink and the results are presented here. When Sag occurs in the three phase system, its magnitude reduces about 10% to 90% of the actual peak value. The affect of sag can be described with a simulated waveform of a three phase systems (shown in Fig.4.1) and out of three phases one phase got affected. Now, it is required to inject the reduced magnitude of voltage in to the system through DVR. The injected voltage should be for only affected phase, so that the complete system gets restored as shown in Fig. 4.3. The system voltages, DVR voltages and voltage given to critical loads are shown in Fig. 4.1, 4.2 and Fig. 4.3 respectively.

Fig. 4.3 Restored Grid Voltages

V. CONCLUSION As flicker is an un-avoidable at the place where frequency of the system changes in regular intervals of time, it should be considered with the permitted values as described in IEC 61000-4-15 [6]. Since a Pst > 1.0 is considered unacceptable flicker (found annoying). Also, the severity of flicker is more with the incandescent bulb and least with the CFL tube; it is proposed to use CFL tubes where annoyance to the eyes may leads to the impairment of the system. The affect of sag in a 3-Phase system could be reduced and the system was effectively restored by using DVR. From the simulation studies it was shown that the current controlled three-level converter with the developed control strategy can be used for reduction of harmonics and compensating reactive power in custom power devices. The control scheme used in this paper is a novel method which is restoring the sag in a fraction of cycle of the waveform through monitoring the direct axis voltage of synchronously rotating frame. The digital simulation results are plotted against different fault conditions.

By observing the simulation results it can be noted that the multilevel inverter based direct power control strategy for DVR is the most promising alternative for enhancement of the capacity and harmonic free output.

[15] William E.Brumsickle, Robert S. Schneider, A.Luckjiff, Deepak M. Divan and F. McGranaghan "Dynamic Sag Correctors: Cost- Effective Industrial Power line ConditioningIEEE Tran. On Industrial Applications, Vol. 37, No.1 Jan/Feb 2001, pp 212-217. [16] Neil H. Woodley, P.E, Sr.Member "Field Experience with Dynamic Voltage Restorer (DVR) Systems", IEEE Power Engineering Society Winter Meeting 2000-Singapore.

REFERENCES

AUTHORS PROFILE

[1]

Text Book by Roger C. Dugan, Mark F.Mc Granaghan, Surya Santoso, H. Wayne Beaty Electrical Power Systems Quality, 2nd edition, Mc Graw-Hill publication. T. Noguchi, H. Tomiki, S. Kondo, I. Takahashi Direct Power Control of PWM Converter Without Power-Source Voltage Sensors IEEE Transaction on Industry Applications, Vol. 34, No. 3, May/June 1998, pp. 473-479. Vinay Kumar A, Pradeep Nirgude, B Gunasekaran Lightnin g Impulses Evaluation by Reducing Noise & Smoothing the Data Using FIR Filters, 16th National Power Systems Conference, Osmania University, Hyderabad, India, 15th -17th December, 2010, pp.738-741. IEEE Standard 141-1993: Recommended Distribution in Industrial Plants. Practice for Power

Vinay Kumar A has obtained his B.E. (Electrical Engineering) from the College of Engineering - GITAM, Andhra University, Vishakapatnam, India in 2003 and M.Tech. (High Voltage Engineering ) from Jawaharlal Nehru Technological University, Hyderabad, Inida in 2008. He is currently pursuing Ph.D. degree in Electrical Engineering. He is working as Asst.Prof. at Gokaraju Rangaraju Institute of Engineering & Technology, Hyderabad, Inida. Power Quality, Power Electronics and High Voltage Engineering are his other interesting areas of research work.

[2]

[3]

[4]

[5]

IEEE Standard 1159-2009: Recommended Practice for Monitoring Electric Power Quality. IEC 61000-4-15:2010, Electromagnetic CompatibilityPart 4-15: Testing and Measurement TechniquesFlickermeterFunctional and Design Specifications. IEC standard 61000-4-30: Electro Magnetic Compatibility Testing and Measurement Techniques Power Quality Measurement Methods, 2003-02. IEEE Standard 1250-2011 Guide for Identifying and Improving Voltage Quality in Power Systems IEEE 14532004. Recommended Practice for Measurement and Limits of Voltage Fluctuations and Associated Light Flicker on AC Power Systems, 2004.

[6]

[7]

Dr.J Praveen has done Ph.D in Electrical Engineering, from Department of Electrical Engineering, Osmania University, Hyderabad. His areas of research work is Power

[8]

[9]

Electronics and Power Quality. He is working as a Professor at Gokaraju Rangaraju Institute of Engineering & Technology in the Department of Electrical and Electronics Engineering. Hyderabad, Andhra Pradesh, India.

[10] V. Blasko Adaptive Filtering for Selective Elimination of Higher Harmonics from Line Currents of a Voltage Source Converter IEEE IAS Conference 1998, pp. 1222-1228. [11] F. Blaabjerg, J. K. Pedersen An Integrated High Power Factor ThreePhase AC-DC-AC Converter for AC-machines Implemented in one Microcontroller IEEE PESC Conference, 1993, pp. 285 -292. [12] Steffan Hansen, Mariusz Malinowski, Frede Blaabjerg, Marian P.Kazmierkowski Sensorless Control Strategies for PWM Rectifier IEEE Transaction on Industry Applications 2000, pp. 832-838 [13] J.G. Nielson, M.Newman, H.Neilsen, and F. Blaabjerg,Control and testing of a dynamic voltage restorer(DVR) at medium voltage level, IEEE transaction on Power Electronics, vol19,pp.806,2004. [14] R.Kiefendrof, G.Venkataramanan, and M.D. Manjrekar, A power electronic transformer fed nine level H-bridge inveter for large induction motor drives, Conf.Rec. IEEE IndustryApplications. 2000, pp.2489.

Dr. S Tarakalyani has done PhD in Electrical Engineering and presently she is working as a Professor at Jawaharlal Nehru Technological University, Hyderabad.