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2, APRIL 2006
Abstract—This paper presents system modeling and control Aside from experimental procedures like Ziegler and Nichols
design for fast load voltage regulation using static compensators [9], to the authors’ knowledge, there is no standard procedure
(STATCOMs). The modeling strategy gives a clear representation for designing a load voltage controller that ensures the required
of load voltage magnitude and STATCOM reactive current on an
instantaneous basis. The particular coordinate transformation bandwidth and robustness to system variations. For example,
employed here also facilitates extraction of linearized system in [10], state feedback control is designed utilizing linearized
dynamics in conjunction with circuit simulators. It is rigorously STATCOM dynamics for dc bus voltage regulation and tracking
shown that the control problem of load voltage regulation using the reactive current to a reference that is generated via a PID
reactive current is nonminimum phase. Linear and nonlinear con- controller. The effect of variation in the distribution system pa-
trollers for the regulation problem are designed and compared via
simulation results. Internal dynamics of the STATCOM are mod- rameters is studied only with regard to the internal dynamics of
eled using the same strategy. Lyapunov based adaptive controllers the STATCOM. In [4], the composite system (i.e., the distribu-
are designed for controlling the STATCOM reactive current while tion system dynamics and the STATCOM dynamics) was con-
maintaining its dc bus voltage. Simulation results of the controlled sidered for regulation of load bus voltage and STATCOM dc bus
STATCOM integrated with the load bus voltage controller are voltage. For control design, a small signal model of the distribu-
presented to show efficacy of the modeling and control design.
tion system was derived by transforming the equivalent system
Index Terms—Flicker mitigation, nonlinear control, power impedance to a frame rotating at the system synchronous fre-
quality, static compensators (STATCOMs), system modeling,
voltage regulation. quency in steady state, thereby imposing a limitation on the dy-
namic response.
In this paper, a modeling strategy similar to that used for the
I. INTRODUCTION field oriented control of three phase ac machines is used (i.e.,
the frequency of the transformation is not assumed to be con-
I N A POWER distribution system, fast load voltage regula-
tion is required to compensate for time varying loads such
as electric arc furnaces, fluctuating output power of wind gener-
stant). This gives a clearer representation of instantaneous load
bus voltage magnitude and STATCOM reactive current without
ation systems, and transients on parallel connected loads (e.g., any restriction on the dynamics. This derived model is exact and
line start of induction motors) [1]–[3]. Reactive power sources can be used for control design using linear or nonlinear tech-
are commonly used for load voltage regulation in the presence niques. It is shown how circuit simulators with analog behav-
of disturbances. Due to their high control bandwidth, static com- ioral modeling capability can be used to extract linearized sys-
pensators (STATCOMs), based on three phase pulse width mod- temdynamics without the need for writing all state equations
ulated voltage source converters, have been proposed for this explicitly. As a first step, the system model is utilized to ad-
application [4]–[7]. For effecting fast control, the STATCOM dress the problem of bus voltage regulation with the STATCOM
is usually modeled using the axis theory for balanced three assumed to be a controlled reactive current source. It is rigor-
phase systems, which allows definition of instantaneous reactive ously shown that this control problem is nonminimum phase for
current and instantaneous magnitude of phase voltages (e.g., see certain operating conditions and thus has an inherent limitation
[8]). on the achievable dynamic response; a physical explanation for
Most literature on STATCOM control concentrates on control this phenomena is also presented. Subsequently, linear and non-
of STATCOM output current and dc bus voltage regulation for linear controllers are designed and their performance compared
a given reactive current reference. This current reference is gen- via simulation results. The next step involves controlling the
erated from a PID controller that regulates the load bus voltage. STATCOM to behave as a reactive current source while main-
taining its dc bus voltage. This problem is addressed by means
of a Lyapunov based adaptive controller. The STATCOM con-
Manuscript received April 23, 2004; revised November 23, 2004. Paper no.
TPWRD-00203-2004. trol rapidly regulates the reactive current to its reference (com-
A. K. Jain is with Analog Power Design, Inc., Lakeville, MN 55044 USA puted from the load bus voltage controller) and regulates the
(e-mail: akj@ece.umn.edu). dc bus voltage via the real current absorbed by the STATCOM.
K. Joshi and A. Behal are with the Electrical and Computer Engi-
neering Department, Clarkson University, Potsdam, NY 13699 USA (e-mail: The values of the parasitics used in the controller are obtained
joshik@clarkson.edu; abehal@clarkson.edu). on-line via gradient based estimation schemes. The controlled
N. Mohan is with the Electrical and Computer Engineering Depart- STATCOM is then integrated with the distribution system model
ment, University of Minnesota, Minneapolis 55455-0213 USA (e-mail:
mohan@ece.umn.edu). and the load bus voltage controller. Simulation results of the in-
Digital Object Identifier 10.1109/TPWRD.2005.855489 tegrated system show the efficacy of the strategy.
0885-8977/$20.00 © 2006 IEEE
JAIN et al.: VOLTAGE REGULATION WITH STATCOMS: MODELING, CONTROL AND RESULTS 727
of the current demanded by the time varying load and does not
try to regulate the load voltage explicitly. The percentage vari-
ation of voltage magnitude from its reference value is given by
For the nonlinear -controller, the best overall dynamic response
% . The percentage mitigation
was obtained with control gains , and .
obtained using the three controllers is listed in Table I. From
Fig. 8 compares the response of the designed controllers to
the table, it can be seen that the nonlinear -controller leads to
step changes in the reference bus voltage from 1.00 (p.u.) to
better mitigation of voltage flicker as compared with the linear
0.95 (p.u.) and back to 1.00 (p.u.). As seen, the -controller
controller and the active filter scheme. The 8.8-Hz parallel load
gives the best dynamic response. The linear controller has the
appears at beat frequencies in the axis frame. Since the
same settling time for both step increase and decrease in
open loop gain crossover frequency for the linear controller is
while the -controller shows a smaller settling time for a step
55 (Hz), the STATCOM cannot completely compensate for the
increase in . As the STATCOM cannot supply or absorb real
disturbance. The controller bandwidth cannot be increased any
current, changes in response to the demanded change in the
further due to the nonminimum phase nature of the system. In
load current. It should be noted that the case of a step change
comparison, the simulation results show that the -controller
in is only of academic interest. The more important case is
is less conservative and gives better performance. Simulations
that of a step change in load.
carried out with the system parameters ( , and )
Fig. 9 shows the response of the controllers to step changes
allowed to vary around their nominal values confirmed that the
in load conductance from 100% (nominal) to 150%. Using the
nonlinear controller is robust to changes in system parameters.
linear controller, the load bus voltage error reaches 0.01 (p.u.)
in 5 (ms). However, there is a substantial overshoot in and
V. STATCOM CONTROL
. With the -controller, the voltage settling time is 5 (ms)
and the overshoots observed in , and are sig- In this section, we address the problem of controlling the
nificantly lower than those obtained with the linear controller. STATCOM to act as a reactive current source while maintaining
Fig. 10 compares the ability of the controllers to miti- its dc bus voltage. Provided that the STATCOM internal states
gate voltage flicker. The commonly used scheme where the are measurable, the primary control objective is to rapidly regu-
STATCOM acts as an active filter (e.g., see [2]) is also com- late the reactive STATCOM current to the reference value
pared. In this scheme, the STATCOM supplies the reactive part that is generated by the load bus voltage controller. A
JAIN et al.: VOLTAGE REGULATION WITH STATCOMS: MODELING, CONTROL AND RESULTS 731
TABLE I
FLICKER MITIGATION WITH DIFFERENT CONTROL SCHEMES
(13)
(14)
(15)
(16)
From (15), it can be seen that can be utilized to achieve the with a positive constant adaptation gain. Parasitics repre-
primary control objective. Using (16) and (15) the control input sented by and are expected to vary slowly in steady state;
is designed as hence, along with an estimator for , an estimator for is also
designed as:
(17)
(19)
JAIN et al.: VOLTAGE REGULATION WITH STATCOMS: MODELING, CONTROL AND RESULTS 733
Fig. 14. System variables for step change in g from 100% to 150%.
Fig. 13. System variables for step change in v from 1.00 to 0.95 and back the STATCOM being a controlled reactive current source. Thus,
to 1.00 (p.u.). using the controlled STATCOM, the bus voltage controller reg-
ulates to its reference value . The real current drawn by
The controller and estimator gains were chosen as the STATCOM , follows its reference value with a small
lag, as expected from its higher time constant of (ms).
The dc bus voltage is regulated to its reference value of 400
[V]. The values of and used in the system model were
maintained constant. However, the convergence of the estimates
where and are the time constants associated with and to the actual values after each transient proves the effectiveness
, respectively. of the estimation schemes.
During each transient, the dc bus voltage deviates from Fig. 14 shows the system response to a step increase in load
its reference value . The control inputs and as de- from 100% to 150%. As seen, the load voltage magnitude
signed in (17) and (18) ensure that both and reach is regulated to its reference value. The STATCOM reactive cur-
their reference values. It is then easy to see from (13)–(15) that rent follows its reference value closely, the real current
, where, . This implies that converges to its reference value with a small time lag, and
converges to with a purely system dependent time constant the dc bus voltage converges to its reference value.
, which is of the order of 100 (s) for the system pa-
rameters listed above. The slow convergence of can also be
explained by recalling that (a) is controlled indirectly, and VII. CONCLUSION
(b) the static relationship of and leads to a
value that is of the order of ( for our system). Indeed, This paper described a method of modeling and control strate-
this poor response was manifested in the simulation results. In gies for fast load voltage regulation using STATCOMs. The
order to avoid this slow transient, the design of (17) and (18) modeling strategy, similar to that used for field-oriented control
was modified to use the reference value instead of ; this of ac machines, clearly defines the bus voltage magnitude and
resulted in a satisfactory response for . Details of the stability reactive current input from the STATCOM on an instantaneous
analysis with this modification are provided in [15]. basis. The particular coordinate transform used also facilitates
Fig. 13 shows the response of the system variables to step extraction of linearized system dynamics with the help of cir-
changes in the reference bus voltage from 1.00 (p.u.) to 0.95 cuit simulators having analog behavioral modeling capabilities.
(p.u.) and back to 1.00 (p.u.). As seen, follows its reference Thus, more complex systems can be treated without the need for
value very closely, thereby justifying the assumption of writing all of the state equations explicitly.
734 IEEE TRANSACTIONS ON POWER DELIVERY, VOL. 21, NO. 2, APRIL 2006
The control problem of load voltage regulation using reactive Choosing as a parameter, the equilibrium points for
current as the control input was shown to be the nonminimum (20) and (21) are computed. This allows for the local sta-
phase for certain operating conditions, thereby limiting dynamic bility analysis of the system via linearization of (20) and
response using linear output feedback. Assuming the STATCOM (21) about these equilibrium points. We begin by defining
to be an instantaneous reactive current source, a linear controller . For the case when
with output feedback and a nonlinear controller with state feed- corresponding to , a pair of eigenvalues is
back were designed and compared via simulations. Results show obtained one of which is positive. Since the linearized system
thatthenonlinearcontrollerhasabettertransientresponseforload corresponding to (20) and (21) is unstable for , the
changes and leads to better mitigation of flicker arising from time nonlinear system given by (20) and (21) is also unstable [13]
varying loads. Robustness of the nonlinear controller to variation (i.e., the system (8)–(12) has unstable zero dynamics). For
in system parameters was confirmed via simulations. corresponding to , a pair of complex conju-
Subsequently, the problem of controlling the STATCOM to gate eigenvalues with negative real parts is obtained. Since the
make it behave as a controlled reactive current source was ad- linearized system corresponding to (20) and (21) is stable for
dressed. The modeling strategy used earlier was extended to the , the nonlinear system given by (20) and (21) is locally
STATCOM. The STATCOM has two outputs that need to be asymptotically stable. For the special case when , the
controlled—the reactive current and the dc bus voltage—and zero dynamics are given by
two inputs consisting of the inverter duty ratios transformed to
the dq frame. Fast control of the reactive current is achieved
using direct feedback linearization with respect to one control and are asymptotically stable to the equilibrium point. Thus,
input. The other control input is used to indirectly regulate the dc it can be concluded that the system described by (8)–(12) is a
bus capacitor voltage via regulation of the real current to a quasi nonminimum phase for .
steady state value. The quasi steady state value depends on par-
asitics which are obtained online using gradient-based estima-
tion schemes. Simulation results of the controlled STATCOM REFERENCES
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JAIN et al.: VOLTAGE REGULATION WITH STATCOMS: MODELING, CONTROL AND RESULTS 735
Amit Jain (S’97–M’04) received the M.Tech. degree Aman Behal (M’03) received the M.Tech. degree
in electrical engineering from the Indian Institute of in electrical engineering from the Indian Institute
Technology, Bombay, India, in 1996, and the M.S. of Technology, Bombay, India, in 1996 and the
and Ph.D. degrees in electrical engineering from the Ph.D. degree in controls and robotics from Clemson
University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, in 2000 and University, Clemson, SC, in 2001.
2003, respectively. Currently, he is an Assistant Professor with the
Currently, he is with Analog Power Design, Inc., Electrical and Computer Engineering Department,
Lakeville, MN. His research interests include electric Clarkson University, Potsdam, NY, where he has
motor drives, switched-mode power converters, and been since 2003. His research focuses on the control
utility applications of power electronics. of nonlinear systems with special interest in visual
servoing, robotics, underactuated systems, motor
control, and power quality.