IMPROVEMENT OF DVR WITH SUPER CAPACITOR AND Z SOURCE INVERTER

AbstractThis paper uses super capacitor as the energy storage device for the DVR to
compensate voltage sag, voltage swell and harmonics due to addition of nonlinear load
in the distribution line. Based on this topology, DVR consist of super capacitor, z source
inverter and injection transformer. Super capacitor produces the necessary dc voltage
which is given as the input voltage to the z-source inverter; provide the necessary
injecting voltage, which has to be restored. In addition, it also consists of PI controller
which provides the necessary control signals for the z source inverter. The simulation
results and hardware results of the proposed DVR system are demonstrated.
Index Terms Dynamic Voltage Restorer (DVR), Super Capacitor, Z-source inverter,
Sag, Swell, Harmonics, PI controller.
I

INTRODUCTION

Voltage sag, voltage swell, harmonics notching etc are few major power quality problems that
has to be taken in to account when maintaing power quality. To overcome these problems
some analytical methods have been proposed [1]. Because of this power quality problems
both electrical utility and the end users are concerned about the quality of power delivered.
Economic value is got down if these problems are not taken into consideration. Few steps
involved in evaluating power quality are identifying the problem, problem characterization,
identify range of solutions, evaluate solutions and optimum solutions [2]. In order to
compensate distortions various custom power devices are used. There are various types in
which the power quality problems can be compensated which are load side compensation and
compensation using energy storage [3]. Major problems which affect the load side is voltage
sag and voltage swell, these voltages have to be compensated in order maintain power factor
and to maintain voltage level [4]. One of the custom power devices which uses series
compensation is dynamic voltage restorer [5]. Control algorithms are used to provide control
signals for the dynamic voltage restorer [6]. Load side compensation of DVR is done by
using the load voltage which has a back to back connected voltage source converter with a
capacitor in between them which is used to smoothen the voltage from one converter [9].
Limitations of the conventional inverters are replaced by z source inverter for example both
buck and boost operation can be done in z source inverter where as it cannot be done in
conventional inverter and mis firing of switches are possible in z source inverter so Z source

inverter are used here [11]. Comparison of z source inverter and conventional inverter it
shows that z source inverter is advantageous over voltage source inverter [12]. So a dynamic
voltage restorer uses z source inverter in place conventional inverter has various advantages
[14]. Another method used for compensating voltage distortions is using energy storage
element. There are various energy storage elements like batteries, flywheel, normal capacitor
and super capacitor [15]. Dynamic voltage restorers can be implemented with super capacitor
as the energy storage because of various advantages when compared with other energy source
device like fast charging and slow dis charging, long life cycle and very less maintenance
[17]. In order to overcome all the problems in the previous methods DVR is implemented
using Z-Source inverter and Supercapacitor. The most often used controllers to produce
control signals are hysteresis controller and PI controller. PI

controller compares the

reference signal with the actual signal which is taken form the load side and they produce the
necessary error signals which are responsible for the pulse generator to produce pulse
required for the z source converter, they produce the injecting voltage to be injected in the
distribution line.
II

PROPOSED MODEL

The proposed DVR model consists of a energy storage, Z source inverter, harmonic filter
and injection transformer. DVR injects voltage into the system which is in synchronous with
the supply voltage. DVR can control both the magnitude of the voltage injected and also the
phase angle of it. The proposed DVR consist of super capacitor as the energy storage. Which
supply the dc voltage required for the z source inverter. Controller provides the reference
signal for the pulse generator for pulse production which will turn on the switches in the z
source inverter, which helps to produce 3 phase voltage as the output from the inverter. This
voltage contains harmonics; they are removed with the help of the harmonic filter which will
be a combination of inductor and capacitor. This removes the harmonics in the output from
the z source inverter. PI controller produce the necessary reference signal for the pulse
generator which produce the pulses required for z source inverter for the production on three
phase wave form. Fig 5 shows the basic block diagram of the proposed DVR.

Fig 5 Block diagram of the proposed system

A

Voltage sag/swell detection

In this paper dq transformation is used to generate the reference signals in first step the line
voltage is converted to component which is given by

[] [ ]
V
V La
=Q
V
V Lb
V0
V Lc

Where Q is given by

[ ]
1

Q=

2
0
3
1
2

1
2
3
2
1
2

1
2
3
2
1
2

Now with the help of this values Vd and Vq values are found which is given by

[ ] [

][ ]

V d 2 cos sin V
=
V q 3 sin cos V

And with the help of source voltage and

V ,

values we can generate the reference

voltage depending upon whether the supply voltage is sag or swell which is given by

[ ][

1
Va
0.5
Vb =
V c 0.5

0
3
2
3
2

][ ]

V
V
1 V0
1

And source voltage is given as

V source =

2
( ( V a ) 2+ ( V b ) 2 + ( V c ) 2 )
3

Where Va, Vb, Vc are supply voltage.

B

PI Controller

In this paper PI controller is used to produce the reference signal to the pulse generator
which produce the pulses for the z source inverter. PI controller consists of proportional and
integral component they compare the reference signal with the actual signal and produce
error signals. Reference signals are obtained with the help of dq transformation and actual
signal are compared to produce error signal. PI controller is less responsive to noise and very
fast in its operation. Fig 6 shows the basic block diagram for PI controller.

Fig 6 Basic block diagram for PI controller

C

Harmonic Filter

If there is no harmonic filter before injecting transformer voltage stress are directly applied
across injection transformer and cause damage to it. Harmonic filter consist of a combination
of inductor and capacitor to compensate the harmonics from the output of the Z source
inverter. This filter can also be used along the high voltage side but if we use so we need
higher rating of transformers because harmonics will enter into the high voltage side.
D

Injection Transformer

The output from the z source inverter is fed to the harmonic filter and given as the input to
the injection transformer, which injects the voltage into the supply line to compensate voltage
sag, voltage swell and harmonics.

Energy Storage

There are various energy storage devices like flywheel, batteries, normal capacitors and
super capacitor. In this paper super capacitor is used. Super capacitors has many advantages
over other energy storage like fast charging and very slow discharging, can be used over a
wide range of temperature. Super capacitor is also called as ultra-capacitor or double layer
electrolytic capacitor. Super capacitor has high capacitance value than normal capacitor due
to large surface area, which is obtained by inserting a thin paper in between two carbon
electrodes. Super capacitor have carbon electrodes separated by a dielectric as like that of the
normal capacitor and a thin layer of paper in between them, this thin paper doesnt allow the
two carbon electrodes to touch each other thus maintaining high value of capacitance. Ultra
capacitor are high power and energy dense and they store more energy when compared to
normal capacitor. And another difference between battery and super capacitor is super
capacitor require less maintenance.
F

Z Source Inverter

Z source inverter has two inductor and two capacitors before the voltage source inverter,
which is in the shape of X. Due to the presence of this impedance circuit it has the
capability of shoot through so that mis firing of switches are acceptable, and both buck and
boost operation can be done. The input is give through the energy storage and after passing
through the impedance network it passes through the voltage source inverter, it consist of six
switches where pulses are given by Pi controller. Conventional converter have eight operation
modes six active states and two zero states in z source inverter it have an additional state
called shoot through state. In active state, the voltage source is directly applied across the
load. In Zero state, load is shorted through either the upper switches or the lower switches. In
shoot through state load is shorted to either lower and upper switch of one leg or all the three
legs.
III

SIMULATION RESULTS

A 3 phase, 415V, 50HZ supply line can be connected to more than one load, due to the
addition of load or due to fault occurring on the distribution side voltage gets distorted this
can be cleared with the help of DVR. In this paper fault occurs at the interval of 0.2Sec to
0.4Sec. During that time DVR is activated and they are deactivated during the rest of the
time. In this paper DVR is constructed using a energy storage device which is a super
capacitor. By using PI controller when fault occurs they provide the error signal for the pulse

generator which produces the pulses for the z source inverter which injects the three phase
output voltage in to the distribution line via injection transformer.

Fig 7 Simulation result for three phase voltage sag compensation using DVR
Due to the addition of load in the distribution line voltage sag is produced in this paper due
to the addition of load voltage gets dipped to 50% (200V) at 0.2Sec and it last till 0.4Sec
during this period DVR gets activated and injects 215V so that the voltage is compensated.
Before the addition of DVR the total harmonic distortion value was 8.12% which is reduce to
3.78%. Fig 8 shows the total harmonic distortion value for voltage sag.

Fig 8 THD value without DVR

Voltage swell can be produced due to the addition of energizing load or removal of load. In
this paper addition of energizing load is added and voltage is swelled. The voltage is raised to
20% (500V) during the interval 0.2Sec to 0.4Sec, during this period DVR gets activated and
absorbs this voltage and the load voltage is compensated. Before the addition of DVR total
harmonic distortion value was 7.72% which is compensated to 3.12%. Fig 10 shows the
THD value for swell creation circuit when we use DVR.

Fig 9 Simulation result for three phase Voltage swell compensation using DVR

Fig 10 THD value for swell

Fig 11 Simulation result for compensating harmonics due to the presence of nonlinear
load
Due to the addition of nonlinear load (Diode bridge rectifier) in the distribution side
harmonics will be caused and load voltage will be distorted. In this paper diode bridge load is
added so harmonics are caused. Due to the addition of load the load voltage gets dipped to
50% (200V) during the time period of 0.2Sec to 0.4Sec during this time period DVR gets
activated and inject voltage to compensate the distortion. Fig 12 shows the THD value due to
the presence of non linear load which is compensated using DVR.

Fig 12 THD value due to presence of non linear load

Cases
Voltage Sag
Voltage
Swell
Nonlinear

Before

After

Compensation

Compensation

8.12%

3.78%

7.72%

3.19%

27.21%
4.50%
load
Table 1 Comparison of THD values for Voltage sag, Voltage swell and Presence of
nonlinear load
Table 1 show the total harmonic distortion values when there is no DVR installed in the
system for voltage sag, voltage swell and harmonics due to the presence of nonlinear load,
which is compensated with the addition of DVR ant the values of THD are analyzed.
IV

HARDWARE SETUP

The schematic block diagram of the entire proposed DVR is shown in the figure
13. Here it consist of three single phase transformer to step down 240V to 100V.
Which feds the RL load and an addition of nonlinear load which is a diode
bridge rectifier is connected for a short period of time. DVR consist of three
single phase transformer connected in series to inject voltage into the system. In

DVR, Z- Source inverter is connected with super capacitor which provide the
DC voltage which is needed as input to the inverter. Super capacitor is used as
the energy storage device which when compared with normal capacitor it has
fast charging and slow discharging rate also it has less toxic substance so it can
be used in any environmental condition.

Fig 13 Overall block diagram of proposed DVR

The control circuit of the proposed system which produce the necessary
pulses to the Z-Source inverter. Reference voltage is taken from step down
transformer [50/6V] to the PI controller. Where op-amp [LM324] is act as PI

controller. Receiving end voltage is taken from load side to PI controller, which
can generate the error value for further process. Next stage consist of upper opamp and lower op-amp. Upper op-amp is used to check the positive voltage
error and lower op-amp is used to check negative voltage error. The error values
are in analog, which are converted to digital signals by using a diode rectifier.
From the receiving end voltage is taken to the amplifier, which amplifies the
analog voltage. The high frequency pulses are gate pulses which are given to
opto coupler.
Supply Transformer(240/100V) is step down transformer feeding 50V
non linear load through bridge rectifier. There are many step down transformer
for different circuit like control circuit and isolation circuit. In isolation circuit,
the transistor requires 12V AC into 12V DC. Supply for the control circuit is
given by the step down transformer voltage of 18V for the op-amp (LM324)
used. A series injection transformer 950/100V) is used for injecting the voltage
when any distortion occurs. The output voltage is taken across the series
injecting transformer and non linear load, load voltage will appear.by varying
the rheostat to maximum the supply voltage gets dipped, when the change in
toggle switch position DVR compensation takes place. For Swellcreation add
special type inductor load with RL load keep the load for some moment, when
suddenly remove the inductor swell get created with harmonics. Super capacitor
is used as the energy storage device each super capacitor is 5F and 2.5V so 10
capacitors are connected in series.

Fig 14 Entire Hardware Setup

B. HARDWARE RESULTS
The following graphs shows the experimental results of implementation
of DVR system which consist of super capacitor as energy storage device. Fig
15 shows output from the super capacitor.

Fig 15 Output from Super Capacitor

Sag is created by addition of load. DVR is functioned by a switch. Fig 16

Shows the Voltage sag waveform due to the addition of load. And voltage got
reduced to 80V

Fig 16 Voltage Sag waveform

Fig 17 Shows the compensated voltage waveform when DVR is activated

Fig 17 Compensated voltage waveform

Fig 18Shows the voltage swell waveform due to the addition of energizing load.
Here voltage is increased from 100V to 110V.

Fig 18 Voltage swell waveform

Fig 19Shows the compensated voltage waveform when DVR is activated

Fig 19 Compensated Voltage waveform

V

CONCLUSION

This paper has proposed a DVR that compensate voltage sag, voltage swell and harmonics
due to the presence of nonlinear load by using ultra capacitor as the energy storage, instead of
conventional energy storage device.
A PI controller is designed for DVR to compensate voltage sag, voltage swell and
harmonics due to the presence of nonlinear load. PI controller produces the necessary
reference voltage to the Space vector modulation block to generate pulses to the z-source
converter. PI controller compares the reference voltage with the actual voltage and produce
error signal. These signals are compared in the SVM block to produce pulses. The design of
the components of the DVR has been presented. Based on the design procedure, DVR is
designed and implemented by simulation and experimental results.
In this paper, addition of load during the interval 0.2Sec to 0.4Sec. During this fault time
voltage distortion takes place,
which recovered by DVR. This DVR get activated at 0.2Sec and inject the distorted voltage
up to 0.4Sec. During voltage sag condition, the supply voltage 415V dipped to 50% (200V) at
0.2Sec. With the help of DVR compensator, the dipped voltage gets increase to supply
voltage (415V and voltage harmonic distortion caused during sag is 8.12%, using DVR it is
compensated to 3.78%. Similarly, in voltage swell condition the supply voltage increased to
20% (500V) at 0.2Sec. With the help of DVR compensator, the voltages above the normal
supply voltage are absorbed from 0.2Sec to 0.4Sec and Voltage harmonic distortion caused

during swell is 7.72%, using DVR it is compensated to 3.19%. Similarly addition of

nonlinear load causes the waveform to get distorted and dipped to 200V, with the help of
DVR this voltage is compensated to normal supply voltage 415V and Voltage harmonic
distortion due to presence of nonlinear load is 27.21%, using DVR it is compensated to
4.50%. The proposed DVR is simulated under different conditions which includes voltage
sag, swell and harmonics. The simulation results are validated the operation of the proposed
DVR. And also hardware setup is also showed with creating voltage sag by addition of load
from 100V to 80V and creating swell from 100V to 110V by capacitive load. And also it
shows the compensated voltage waveform of 100V.
.
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ABOUT THE AUTHORS

J. AJAY DANIEL has obtained B.E degree in Electrical and Electronics Engineering from
Karunya University, Coimbatore and pursuing M.E Power Electronics and Drives from
Easwari Engineering College, Chennai.
C.GOPINATH has obtained his B.E degree in Madurai Kamaraj University, Madurai and
completed his M.E degree in Power Systems Engineering from Annamalai University,
Chidambaram. He has 12 years of teaching experience. He is presently pursuing part time
research at Anna University Chennai. He is currently working as Assistant Professor
(Selection Grade), Dept of EEE, Easwari Engineering College, Chennai. He has published
over 20 papers in International Journals, International & National Conferences. His research
area is power quality improvements. He is a life member of ISTE and Associate member of
Institution of Engineers.
Dr.R.RAMESH pursued his B.E degree in Electrical and Electronics Engineering at
University of Madras, Chennai, and completed his M.E degree in Power systems Engineering
in Annamalai University, Chidambaram. He received his PhD degree from Anna University,
Chennai and has been a faculty of Electrical and Electronics Engineering Department of
College of Engineering, Guindy, Anna University Chennai since 2003. His areas of interest
are Real-time Distributed Embedded Control, On-line power system analysis and Web
services. He has published several papers in International Journals, International and National
Conferences. He is a life member of ISTE and Member of Institution of Engineers.