Active Harmonic Filters and Balance Compensation on Electric Railway Systems using the Open Delta Transformer Connection

Alexander Bueno, Mara Isabel Gimnez, Jos Restrepo, Jos Manuel Aller UNIVERSIDAD SIMN BOLVAR Valle de Sartenejas, Baruta, Edo. Miranda Caracas, Venezuela Tel.: +58 / (212) 906.37.36. Fax: +58 / (212) 906.41.38. E-Mail: bueno@usb.ve, mgimenez@usb.ve, restrepo@usb.ve, jaller@usb.ve URL: http://siep.grupos.usb.ve/

Acknowledgements
The authors want to express their gratitude to the Dean of Research and Development Boreau (DID) of the Simn Bolvar University, for the annual financial support provided to the GSIEP (registered as GID-04 in the DID) to perform this work.

Keywords
Harmonics, Active filter, Transformer, Locomotive, Traction application

Abstract
This work presents a filtering and unbalance compensation scheme for electric traction system with open delta transformersn. The proposed method uses an active filter controlled with the instantaneous active and reactive power, to reduce the harmonic current distortion and the negative sequence obtained by the system under unbalanced operation in steady state. The scheme has been experimentally validated and the results show the controller advantages.

Introduction
Electric traction systems for passengers and goods use different power transformation schemes in order to convert the three phase supply system into two single-phase systems. The more common three-phase to two single phase conversion schemes use transformers connected in open delta ( V V ), Scott or Le Blanc configurations [1]. In a practical application, the load associated with each single-phase circuit does not compensate each other, due to the variable demands in the transport system and railroad line profile. Also, the use of uncontrolled rectification to feed the traction load contribute to the total unbalance seen form the three phase supply.injects current harmonics into the single-phase supply system and those harmonics propagate into the main three-phases system depending on the transformer connections and the harmonic order. The harmonic content injected into the main three-phase system contributes to the total system unbalance [2]. It is then required the use of filters and unbalance compensation to ensure proper system operation and raise the electric service quality [3]. These problems are usually addressed, in practice, with the use of passive power quality compensators such as reactive power compensation capacitors and passive filters, and they are single-phase equipment installed in each feeder of the traction substation. Usually, the coupling factor between two feeders is neglected due to the independent operation of each passive compensator. Moreover, passive equipment does not have the dynamic capability to adjust to changes in load, where over and under compensation happen frequently as a result of the continuously changing load.

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Diferent active power quality compensators are proposed in [4-6] to solve the unbalance problem. All of them employ two single-phase converters that have a common dc bus. The harmonic and negativesequence currents can be compensated effectively. In addition, these active power quality compensators use the instantaneous active and reactive power definition to determine the compensating currents, which is not suitable for single-phase traction power systems [7]. This work proposes a compensation scheme that provides simultaneous correction of harmonic content and load unbalance for railroad systems using an open delta connection in the power substation. This scheme is based on the instantaneous power description of the system, using space vector representation of the state variables, and the application of direct power control (DPC) to attain the required correction by minimizing a cost function obtained from the instantaneous active and reactive mismatch [8]. The control strategies presented in this work are experimentally validated using a DSP based modular power electronic system able to emulate the electric traction system operating conditions, the open delta transformer and the filtering and load balancing converters [9].

Harmonic and unbalance compensation system

Figure 1 shows the proposed control scheme. A parallel active filter is used, directly connected to the power system using a voltage rising transformer. The active filter uses a power converter configured as an active three-phase PWM rectifier, connected to the three-phase side. Figure 1(a) shows the open delta transformer ( V V ) used to connect a traction sub-station to the electric grid. This connection generates two single-phase networks from the three-phase power system. Each single-phase circuit is used to feed a rail track of 60 to 100 km. If the transformer is ideal, its model can be obtained considering the transformer ratio and using Ampere and Faraday Laws [1]:
vab = N1 N vT 1 ; vbc = 1 vT 2 N2 N2 ; ia = N2 N iT 1 ; ic = 2 iT 2 N1 N1

(1)

Applying Kirchhoffs node and branch equations:

vab + vbc + vca = 0 vca = ( vab + vbc ) = N1 ( vT 1 + vT 2 ) N2

(2) (3)

ia + ib + ic = 0 ib = ( ia + ic ) =

N2 ( iT 1 + iT 2 ) N1

A space vector description of the transformer can be obtained by applying the space vector transformation to each state variable of the model. This model simplifies the calculations required to make real time estimations in the harmonic evaluations and in the system analysis, both transient and steady state [7]. The voltage and current space vectors calculated in the transformer primary winding as functions of the secondary winding voltages and currents are:
ve =
4 j 2 N1 vT 1 e 3 vT 2 3 N2

(4)
iT 2

ie =

2 j 2 N 2 1 e 3 3 N1

4 j j 2 iT 1 + e 3 e 3

(5)

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(a) Compensation scheme

(b) V V transformer

Fig. 1: Proposed compensation scheme and Open delta transformer configuration ( V V ) To ensure that the current unbalance is null, the currents in the transformer secondary windings must be:
4 j j 23 e e 3 IT 1 = 4 j 1 e 3

T2

= IT 2 e

(6)

This means that balanced operation is obtained only for current loads with no harmonic content, with the same amplitude and 60 degrees phase lag. For normal operation the traction converters maintain unity power factor, hence the phase voltages are 120 degrees apart and (6) is not attainable. The DPC controller is based in the instantaneous apparent power from the current and voltage space vectors definitions [9]:
s = vs is* = ( vs + j vs )( is + j is ) = p + jq
*

(7)

where,
vs =
2 4 j j 2 vsa + vbs e 3 + vcs e 3 = vs + j vs 3

(8)

is =

2 4 j j 2 isa + ibs e 3 + ics e 3 = is + j is 3

(9)

are the conservative power space vector transformation [7]. From Fig. 1(a), the active filter can be modelled as
vs = vr + R is + L dis dt

(10)

a discrete time version of this equation is obtained by replacing the derivative with a rectangular approximation, and the estimated supply current for the next control cycle " k " becomes
is (k + 1) = is (k ) + is (k )

(11)

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where
is (k ) = is (k ) + Ts v (k ) vr (k ) R is (k ) s L

(12)

From (7), the estimated active and reactive power for the next sampling period can be written as
s (k + 1) = s (k ) + s (k ) = vs (k ) + vs (k ) is (k ) + is (k ) = vs (k )is (k )* + vs (k )is (k )* + vs (k + 1) is ( k )*

)(

(13)

Replacing the equation (12) in (13), the change in apparent power s ( k ) = p(k ) + j q( k ) is:
s (k ) = vs (k )is (k )* + vs (k + 1)
* Ts v (k ) vr (k ) R is (k ) s L

(14)

For a sinusoidal voltage source power supply, the estimated vs (k + 1) is obtained by rotating in = Ts rads.
vs (k + 1) = vs (k )e jTs vs (k ) = vs (k ) e jTs 1

(15)

(16)

The complex apparent power s (k ) is a function of the supply voltage, and also changes with the rectifier voltage vr ( k ) that can be manipulated to obtain the commanded value pref + jqref . Defining

s0 (k ) as and independent voltage vector term in vr (k ) , the following change in active and reactive power is obtained
s0 (k ) = vs (k )is (k )* + vs (k + 1) T R T * Ts v (k ) Ris (k ) = vs (k )is (k )* 1 s e jTs 1 + s vs (k ) 2 e jTs s L L L

(17)

For a given reference in active and reactive power the change in power for proper compensation becomes a function of the converter voltage vr ( k ) . The apparent power variation s (k ) = p (k ) + j q(k ) needed to change from the actual to the demanded value in the following sampling period, pref and qref , are given by the following expressions
s (k ) = s0 ( k ) Ts v (k + 1)vr (k )* s L

(18) (19)

s (k ) = ( pref (k + 1) p(k ) ) + j ( qref (k + 1) q(k ) ) = p(k ) + j q(k ) = p (k ) + jq (k )

In the OVSS algorithm [10], also known as predictive direct power control, a cost function is evaluated for a set of the converter voltages, and the value of this voltage providing the minimum value for the cost function is employed in the next control cycle [11-13]. In this case the cost function is
J (k ) = p ( p (k ) e s (k ) ) + q ( q (k ) m s (k ) )
2 2

(20)

where p and q control the relative importance of the active and reactive parts in the system.

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The proposed control technique is based in the selection of the voltage vector that minimized the cost funtion (20) expresed by the active and reactive power errors. However, since zero is the global minimum for the cost function, instead of testing among several candidate vectors for the best choice, the proposed techniques computes by a closed form formula, the voltage vector for this minimum. Forcing to zero the cost function (20), J (k ) = 0 ,
s (k ) s ( k ) = 0

(21)

Replacing equations (18) and (19) in (21)

s0 (k ) Ts v (k + 1)vr (k )* = p (k ) + jq (k ) s L

(22)

Finally, replacing (15) into (22), the absolute optimum converter voltage vr ( k ) required to attain the commanded active and reactive power becomes
vr (k ) = vr (k ) + j vr (k ) =
* L s0 (k ) s (k ) jTs Ts vs (k )e

(23)

This voltage is synthesized in the converter using standard space vector modulation (SVM) [14]. As with other DPC algorithms, the reactor parameters L and R are required for computing the estimated value of the power system voltages, the active and reactive power and the update value for the converter voltage indicated in (23). The proposed algorithm has many advantages over existing methods, provides an instantaneous correction of the active and reactive power flowing in the converter, reduces the ripple in the instantaneous power and currents, resulting in a low harmonic distortion and posses low computational demands. Since the fast dynamic performance of this technique, the quality of the DC bus voltage control loop is not limited by the dynamics of the proposed power controller.

Fig. 2: Experimental setup

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Experimental results
For the experimental test, the proposed algorithm was implemented on a custom build floating point DSP (ADSP-21061-40 MHz) based test-rig. The power stage uses six 50A, 1200V, IGBTs with two 2200 F 400 V series connected capacitors in the DC link. The input inductors have an 7mH; the PWM signals are provided by a motion co-processor ADMC-201 operating at 10 kHz. The load at the DC side of the converter is a 50-200 power resistor. The sampling frequency is synchronized by the motion co-processor at the beginning of each PWM cycle. Fig. 2 shows the power module and the DSP based processing unit. The electrical parameters for the power circuit in the experimental tests are the same to those used in the simulations, and shown in Table I. The open delta transformer was build using two 240 480 : 240 120 V and 1 kVA single-phase transformers. Figure 3 shows the current waveforms, the current unbalances and the harmonic spectrum, measured on a three phase open delta transformer test bench feeding a non-linear load, with and without the proposed compensation scheme. The non-linear load was an uncontrolled single-phase diode rectifier, connected in only one phase with a 50 resistive load. The measurements were obtained using a power quality instruments type B [15]. Comparing the compensated and the uncompensated results, it can be observed that the compensator increases phase b current, thus eliminating unbalance and reducing harmonic content. The vector diagrams show that the phase voltage and current signals are balanced and in-phase when the compensator is operating. The compensator reduces the current unbalance from 37.9% al (uncompensated value) to 1.3% (compensated value). The compensator reduces the current THD to values below 4.1% in all phases, producing a significant reduction in the third, fifth and seventh harmonics which are the more significant components present in the harmonic spectra generated by the vector controlled converters used in the locomotives.

Table I: Parameter test-rig

Reactor's resistance ( R ) Reactor's inductance ( L ) DC link capacitance ( C ) DC link load DC link voltage ( VDC ) Sampling and control period ( Ts ) Line-line voltage Power supply frequency Sampling and switching frequency 20 m 7.0 mH 1100 F 50-200 200 to 600 V 100 s 208 Vrms 60 Hz 100 kHz

Conclusions
The proposed compensation scheme reduces the negative sequence currents that circulate in the uncompensated system feeding an electric traction system. The scheme reduces the current THD to values allowed for in international regulations, and regulates the power factor observed in the coupling point between the traction substation and the power system. The proposed compensation scheme

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implementation using an instantaneous power control algorithm with direct space vector representation reduces the unbalanced currents to allowable ranges (<10%) and reduces the overall unbalance from 97% to 16%. The compensation algorithm is able to control the power factor measured at the coupling point under all considered conditions. From the experimental results it is found that there is a compromise between the amounts of unbalance correction and harmonic reduction that can be achieved. This is due to the finite amount of energy stored by the active filter in its choke inductance and dc-link capacitor.

(a) Currents without compensation

(b) Currents with compensation

(c) Phasors without compensation

(d) Phasors with compensation

(e) Harmonics without compensation Fig. 3: Experimental results with and without compensation.

(f) Harmonics with compensation

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