Power Quality Improvement Using Dynamic

Voltage Restorer (DVR)

O. U. Ikhuoria, M. K. Owusu, T. Asare, P. Namba, E. Danso

Abstract The power quality (PQ) requirement is one of the

most challenging issues for power systems. The Major problems of
voltage sag and voltage swells in voltage distribution systems and
on transmission lines due to load variations. This paper discuses
one of the methods of compensating for the sag and swells using
the Dynamic Voltage Restorer (DVR). The efficiency of the DVR
depends on the efficiency of the control technique. This paper
describes the modelling and analysis of DVR and the improvement
of power quality by the use of a hysteresis voltage control strategy
for DVR with discrete Fourier transform strategy. Simulations are
carried out using MATLAB/Simulink R2014a to verify the
performance and compensate.
Index Terms Dynamic Voltage Restores, Voltage Sag, Power
Quality, Voltage Swell, Injection Transformers, Passive Filters.

I. INTRODUCTION

n increase in sensitive and non-linear loads in the power

system has resulted in several challenges in the quality of
power delivered to consumers. An ideal power distribution
system supplies smooth uninterrupted sinusoidal voltage with
constant magnitude and frequency to the consumer. Quality of
power supplied is determined on the bases of: continuity of
supply; variation in voltage magnitude; harmonic and transient
contents in electrical signals. Variation in magnitude of voltage
are either voltage sags or voltage swells. Voltage sags are
commonly defined as any low voltage drop event between
0.1p.u and 0.9 p.u of the nominal RMS voltage, lasting between
0.5 cycles and 60s[1]. voltage swells are increases in supplied
voltage by 1.1p.u and 1.8p.u of the RMS value at fundamental
frequency with duration between 10 ms and 60s. [1]
Several devices and equipment have the ability to ensure
improvement in power quality, these include: Dynamic Voltage
Restorer (DVR), Active Power Filters (APF), Battery Energy
Storage Systems (BESS), Thyristor Switched Capacitors
(TSC), Distribution Series Capacitors (DSC), Surge Arresters
(SA), Super conducting Magnetic Energy Systems (SMES),
Static Electronic Tap Changers (SETC), Solid-State Transfer
Switches (SSTS), Solid State Fault Current Limiter (SSFCL),
Static Var Compensator (SVC), Uninterruptible Power
Supplies (UPS) and
Distribution STATic synchronous
COMpensators (DSTATCOM).
While all these devices provide varying trade-offs and modes
of implementation, the DVR provides many advantages in
terms of cost, construction and operation.

II. DYNAMIC VOLTAGE RESTORER

Is a solid state device that is connected in series between the
supply and the load. The purpose of the DVR is to mitigate
supply voltage by injecting voltage to meet the voltage
requirements of the load side. The function of the DVR is to
swiftly restore the load-side voltage in the event of a fault or
disturbance [2] to avoid any power interruption the load being
supplied usually a sensitive load. In 1996 the first DVR was
installed There are various circuit orientations and control
methods that can be used in a DVR. In addition to voltage sags
/swells compensation, DVR can also: compensate line voltage
harmonics, reduce transients in voltage and limit fault current.
the components of a DVR are energy storage device, voltage
source convertor, injection transformer, filters and a control and
protection system

Fig. 1. Basic DVR topology

A. Voltage Source Converter

A voltage source converter is a power electronic device
consisting of switching devices and an energy storage unit such
as battery, Superconductive magnetic energy systems. VSI
generates three phase voltage at any magnitude, phase and
frequency specified by the operator to compensate the load
voltage at the nominal value.[3] IGBT offers a wonderful
prospect, in that it has a fast response time and can be used in
high voltage applications. The voltage source converter

supplies low voltage and high current to the injection

transformer.

B.

Injection transformer
The injection transformer has its low voltage side connected to
the voltage source converter/converter and its high voltage side
is connected in series between the supply line and load side. In
this paper three single phase transformers are connected in
series with each phase of the distribution line to couple the VSI
(at low voltage level) to the higher distribution level.[4][3]
C. Filters
Capacitors are used to eliminate all unwanted harmonics in the
voltage on the high voltage side of the transformer.

D.

Control

The control scheme used in this paper is hysteresis

control with two levels hysteresis voltage control method is
applied in this proposed strategy, this is a non-linear voltage
control depending on the extent of voltage error. Though other
control schemes such as Pulse Width Modulation and
Proportional Integral

III. METHODS OF COMPENSATION IN DVR

This depends on limiting factors such as Dynamic Voltage
Restorer (DVR) power rating, conditions of the various loads,
voltage sag type.[6] Loads are sensitive towards phase angle
jump and some are sensitive towards change in magnitude. So,
the control strategies depend upon the type of load
characteristics. The methods of DVR voltage injection are:
a. Pre-sag compensation method
b. In-phase compensation method
c. Voltage tolerance method with minimum energy
injection
A. Pre-sag compensation method
In this mode, both the phase angle and magnitude of the
voltage are compensated. The magnitude of and phase of the
voltage is restored by supplying the difference between the sag
/swell voltage and the pre-sag voltage. [ 7] [8] In this method
the injected active power cannot be controlled and it is
determined by external conditions such as the type of faults and
load conditions. The DVR voltage is seen below:

Fig. 2. Phasor Diagram of Pre-sag/Dip method

Block
Grid

TABLE 1
SIMULATION PARAMETERS
Parameters
Amplitude (Vrms ph-ph)
Frequency (Hz)
Phase (deg.)

Value
240
50
0

Voltage source
converter

Internal resistance(Ohms)
Snubber resistance(Ohms)
Snubber capacitance (F)

1 x 10-3
1 x 10-5
infintiy

Non-linear load

RLC branch
resistance(ohms)
RLC branch
inductance(H)
Diode resistance (ohms)
Diode inductance (H)
Forward voltage Vf(V)
Diode snubber
resistance(Ohms)
Diode snubber
capacitance (F)
RL load resistance(ohms)
RL load inductance (H)

0.4
15 x 10-3
0.001
0
0.8
500
250 x 10-9
60
0.15 x 10-3

B. In-Phase Compensation Method

In this method, injection voltage is in phase with the source
voltage [ 9]. When the source voltage is reduced due to sag in
the distribution network, then injection voltage produced by the
Voltage Source Inverter (VSI) will inject the missing voltage
according to voltage drop.
The load voltage is given below: |VL| = |Vpre-fault|
One of the advantages of this method is that the amplitude of
DVR injection voltage is minimum for certain voltage sag in
comparison with other strategies. Practical application of this
method is in non-sensitive loads to phase angle jump.

Fig. 3. Phasor Diagram of In-Phase method

C. Voltage Tolerance Method with Minimum Energy

Injection.
A little drop in voltage and a small jump in phase angle can
be tolerated by the load itself if the voltage magnitude lies
between 0.9p.u -1.1p.u of the nominal voltage and the phase
angle varies between 0.05p.u -0.1 p.u of the nominal state that
will not disturb the operation of the loads[1][7]. In this method,
the phase angle and magnitude of the corrected load voltage
within the area of the load voltage tolerance are changed. The
little voltage drop and phase angle jump on load can be tolerated
by load itself. The sensitivity of loads to phase angle jump and
voltage magnitude is different.

The Figure 9 shows the Matlab/Simulink model of the

power system grid under the fault condition connected to the
Dynamic Voltage Restorer. The Table1 summarizes the
specification of the simulation of the DVR.

1p.u

ag
pre-s

Vin

VL

VL

sag
Vsag
IL

90

Fig. 4. Phasor Diagram of In-Phase method

IV. CONTROL TECHNIQUE AND PROTECTION

In Dynamic Voltage Restorer, the control system plays an
important role.In the event of a voltage sag or swell, the DVR
is expected to react as fast as possible and inject AC voltage to
the grid. This can be implemented using a Hysteresis Control
technique based on the reference and instantaneous values of
supply and load voltage.. A by-pass switch is used to protect the
controller against high current in the occurrence of a fault. The
switch operates in the by-pass mode to create an alternative
path for the excess current to flow through.

Fig. 6. Three Phase Voltage Swell Source Voltage

Fig. 7. Three Phase Voltage Sag Source Voltage

Fig. 5. Block Diagram of Control System

Fig 8. Injected Voltage for Voltage Swell Compensation

V. SIMULATIONS AND RESULTS

The Proposed control method was tested for voltage sags and
swells in distribution systems. The simulation shows the
three phase voltage sag and swell. Fig show the results of the
balanced three phase voltage well as well as Fig which shows
the voltage sag. Fig and Fig show the injected and load
voltage respectively. The Swells voltages occur at the time
duration of 0.2s and after 0.4s it will restore its nominal
value. As can be seen in the results the load voltage is
maintained at its nominal value by the Dynamic Voltage
Restorer (DVR). We also observe an unbalanced voltage sag
being created immediately after the fault as showing n Fig4,
the supply voltage drops drastically. The DVR injected
voltage and load voltage are show in fig and fig respectively.

Fig. 9. Injected Voltage for Voltage Sag Compensation

Fig. 10. Load Voltage

VI. CONCLUSION
After a careful study of a Dynamic Voltage Restorer, with the
aid of Matlab/Simulink, it is observed that the dynamic voltage
restorer performs the desired task of performing voltage
mitigation. The main advantages of DVR include low cost,
easier implementation, little computational efforts and simple
control techniques compared to other methods. The control
system is based on two levels hysteresis voltage control method
the simulation shows that the DVR response in efficient
mitigation of voltage swells and sags; it also has a fast response
time as well as being able to efficiently operate in a high voltage
system. The DVR can function with unbalanced and balanced
scenarios with no difficulties. It will inject an adequate voltage
component to resolve any anomaly rapidly in the supply
voltage. In addition, it always keeps a balanced load voltage and
maintains a constant nominal value. The presence of filters also
eliminated the presence of unwanted harmonic components in
the system.

VII. REFERENCES
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