Pablo García-González

This paper presents the detailed design, analysis, and application of the controller for a shunt active power filter based on a pulsewidth modulation dc-to-ac voltage source converter. The controller is mainly tailored to compensate harmonic currents of nonlinear loads connected to the mains. However, it can also achieve reactive-power compensation and mains-current balancing when required. The controller has a two-layer structure. The outer layer generates the current references for the inner layer. The former uses a plug-in discrete-time repetitive algorithm for current-harmonic compensation, a proportional-integral algorithm to maintain the dc-capacitor voltage in spite of unmodeled losses and a reactive-power-reference generator. The inner layer uses state-feedback with integral action for current control. The repetitive controller is justified to improve the tracking of the periodic current references required by the active filters. The stability of the resulting closed-loop system is studied and some indication of the system robustness is given. The proposed controller has been tested in a prototype with balanced and unbalanced nonlinear loads. A discrete-time model of the filter has been used from the beginning. The microcomputer delay when calculating the controller output and the delay due to the anti-aliasing filters have been included in the inner system state-variable model

The penetration level of plug-in electric vehicles (PEVs) has the potential to be notably increased in the near future, and as a consequence, power systems face new challenges and opportunities. In particular, PEVs are able to provide different types of power system ancillary services. The capability of storing energy and the instantaneous active power control of the fast-switching converters of PEVs are two attractive features that enable PEVs to provide various ancillary services, e.g., primary frequency control (PFC). However, concurrently, PEVs are obliged to be operated and controlled within limits, which curbs the grid support from PEVs. This paper proposes a new model for PEV using a participation factor, which facilitates the incorporation of several PEV fleets characteristics such as minimum desired state of charge (SOC) of the PEV owners, drive train power limitations, constant current and constant voltage charging modes of PEVs. In order to reduce computational complexity, an aggregate model of PEVs is provided using statistical data. In the end, the performance of PEVs for the provision of PFC is evaluated in a power system. Results show that PEV fleets can successfully improve frequency response, once all the operating constraints are respected.

The objective of this paper is to compare the performance of thyristor-controlled reactors (TCR) and shunt-connected PWM voltage source inverters (PWM-VSI) for compensation of flicker caused by arc furnaces. First of all, arc-furnace principles are presented in order to explain the main characteristics of the problem. Secondly, traditional TCR control are analyzed. An improved measuring procedure is suggested to enhance TCR performance showing that it achieves faster compensation than more traditional methods. Thirdly, PWM-VSI control for flicker compensation is described in detail using Park's transformation. The analysis shows how real and reactive power control can be decoupled. Continuous-time and discrete-time models are considered. Finally, a TCR control and a PWM-VSI control are compared by simulation using data and measurements from a real arc-furnace installation. The analysis considers three different periods of the production cycle: (a) bore-down, (b) fusion, and (c) refining. It is clear from the results obtained that a shunt-connected PWM-VSI is better than a TCR for flicker compensation. This can be easily justified noting that the bandwidth of the PWM-VSI control system is far better than that of the TCR control. However, the control system for a PWM-VSI inverter is more complicated than that of a TCR. Besides, the latter uses a better-established technology than the former.

The always-increasing switching frequency of modern solid-state power switches, together with the application of multi-converter topologies, make it possible to use pulse width modulation (PWM) in high power applications of STATCOMs (static synchronous compensators). This paper investigates the control system for a PWM-based STATCOM. First of all, a discrete-time model of the STATCOM is derived to take into account the discrete-time implementation of the controller. Secondly, the control algorithm is detailed. It ensures decoupled control of the real and reactive power exchanged between the power converter and the electric-energy system. This is necessary to control the DC capacitor voltage during transients of the exchanged reactive power. Finally, the control of the capacitor voltage is explained in detail. The controller is tailored to keep the capacitor voltage almost constant in spite of the fast control of the reactive power. This helps to reduce the capacitor size significantly. The main contributions are illustrated using a 15 kVA laboratory prototype.

This paper describes a novel strategy to design the frequency-droop controller of plug in electric vehicles (PEVs) for primary frequency control (PFC). To be able to properly compare the frequency response of control system with and without PEVs, the design is done to guarantee the same stability margin for both systems in the worst case scenario. To identify the worst case, sensitivity analyses are conducted on a large set of system parameters performing eigenvalue analysis and bode plots. Three main contributions are included in this work: 1) we demonstrate that PEVs using the well-design droop controller significantly improve the PFC response while successfully preserving the frequency stability, 2) since the fast response of PEVs may cause to mask the governor-turbine response in conventional units, a novel control scheme is developed to replace some portion of PEV's reserve after a certain time by the reserve of conventional units during PFC, and 3) a method is proposed to evaluate the positive economic impact of PEV's participation in PFC. For the latter, the system PFC cost savings mainly through the avoidance of under frequency load shedding by PEVs are calculated. A large-scale power system and an islanded network are evaluated and compared through dynamic simulations, which illustrate the validity and effectiveness of the proposed methodologies.