Institute of Electrical Power Engineering

IGEE 401 Power Electronic Systems

LABORATORY NUMBER 1 AC Controllers

Prepared by Dr. Luiz A. Lopes Mathieu Lambert

September - 2007

I.

OBJECTIVES

In this lab, the student should: 1. 2. Familiarize themselves with the power simulation program PSIM and be able to obtain relevant plots. Be able to analyze simple single-phase and three-phase thyristor circuits, with applications to Static Var Controllers (SVC) and specifically to the Thyristor Controlled Reactor (TCR).

II. 1.1

THEORY Introduction

One important concern in power systems operation is voltage regulation, which is related to controlling the reactive power flow along a line. Thus, if one is able to either draw or inject reactive power at a particular point along a line, the voltage regulation can be controlled. This is the idea behind Static Var Controllers (SVC), which use power electronics in order to control the reactive power flow at the point of connection of the SVC to the network. In general, there are three types of SVCs: 3. 4. 5. Thyristor Controlled Inductors or Thyristor Controlled Reactors (TCR), which behaves as a lagging power factor load. Thyristor Switched Capacitors (TSC), which behaves as a leading power factor load. Static VAR controllers (SVC), consisting of a combination of TCR and TSC, allowing both leading and lagging VAR injection.

(a) TCR

(b) TSC

(c) Converter based SVC

Fig 1.1 Different types of single phase SVCs

The reactive power consumed by the TCR is controlled using the firing angle, . In steady state, the TCR can be replaced by an effective reactance, which is determined by . The TCR does, however, introduce current harmonics, which affect the power quality of the voltage of the AC bus on which the TCR is connected. There are various techniques to circumvent this problem, minimizing their effects. The TCR, in combination with the TSC, can be used to regulate voltage but with the drawback of harmonic injection. In this lab, single and three-phase TCRs will be simulated in order to better understand the operation of thyristor circuits.

III.

EXPERIMENTAL PROCEDURE

3.1. Single-phase thyristor AC controller with RL load a) Draw the circuit shown in Fig. A. Use a Total Time of 0.25s and a Print Time of 0.2s in the Simulation Control block. Set the current flag of the RL load impedance to 1. Also set the DPF flag of the PF meter to 1. b) Adjust the dc source that controls the firing angle of the thyristors to 60. c) Obtain the waveforms and values of the apparent power, reactive power, active power in one screen/plot and the power factor and the displacement power factor in the input of the ac controller in another plot. d) Obtain the source and the load voltage waveforms in one screen and the load current waveforms in another screen. Calculate the current extinction angle. e) Obtain the harmonic spectrum of both waveforms using the FFT icon. Calculate the magnitude of the fundamental components of voltage and current. What is the relationship between the magnitudes of the load voltage and load current harmonics? f) From the harmonic spectrum of the current waveform calculate the following indexes: Total rms value, distortion current, THD and crest factor. Note: Consider the current harmonics up to 1 kHz. g) Repeat steps c-e for equal to 20 and 100 and comment on the effect of varying the firing angle on the calculated parameters. h) Remove the inductive part of the load, repeat steps b-e and compare the results to those with RL load.

Fig. A : Single-phase thyristor AC controller with RL load circuit

3.2 Single-phase thyristor controlled reactor a) Draw the circuit shown in Fig. B. Set the current flag of the load component to 1. b) Adjust the dc source that controls the firing angle of the thyristors to 135. c) Obtain the waveforms and values of the reactive power at the input of the TCR. Compare it to the theoretical value. What is the rated power of this TCR? d) Obtain the waveforms of the voltage at the input of the TCR and the voltage and current across the inductor. Calculate the current extinction angle and the conduction angle. Compare these to the theoretical values. e) Obtain the harmonic spectrum of the waveforms using the FFT icon. Calculate the magnitude of the fundamental components and the magnitude and frequency of their harmonic components. f) Repeat steps c-e for equal to 120 and 150. What is the effect of varying the firing angle on the fundamental component of current and reactive power absorbed by the TCR? g) Add an impedance (RTh = 3.2 m and XTh = 965 m) between the source and the TCR. For a firing angle equal to 135, obtain the amount of reactive power absorbed by the TCR, and the magnitude of the fundamental component and harmonics present in the voltage and current waveforms in the input of the TCR. Compute the magnitude of the voltage harmonics from the magnitude of the current harmonics. h) Compare the results obtained in step g) to those obtained without the source impedance.

Fig. B : Single-phase thyristor controlled reactor circuit

3.3 Three-phase thyristor controlled reactor a) Open file TCR_3ph.sch with the circuit shown in Fig. C. Note the presence of a subcircuit for the generation of the gating signals of the thyristors b) Adjust the dc source that controls the firing angle of the thyristors to 135. c) Obtain the waveforms and values of the reactive power in the input of the TCR and also the total reactive power of the TCR plus tuned filters. Compared these values to the theoretical values. d) Obtain the following waveforms: A phase current of the TCR, a line current of the TCR, current in the tuned filters and the source current. Compare the magnitude and order of their harmonic spectra. e) Obtain the harmonic spectrum of the phase voltage at the input of the TCR. Compare the magnitude of the fundamental component to that of the source and identify the magnitude and frequency of the harmonics. f) Disable the tuned filters and repeat steps b-e). Compare the results with and without the tuned filters. g) With the tuned filters enabled, repeat step c) for equal to 120 and 150. Compare the results.

Fig. C : Three-phase thyristor controlled reactor circuit

Fig. D : Subcircuit of the gate firing unit

IV.

LAB REPORT

For the experiment, a lab report must be written which can be regarded as a record of all activities, observations, and discussions pertaining to the experiment. Lab reports should above all be legible and should contain as much relevant information as possible. A lab report should consist of papers stapled together with a title page identifying the course, lab section, experiment, date, student's name, student's ID number, and demonstrator's name. Any reports without a proper title page will be rejected. Each lab report should be divided into five parts as follows: Introduction/Objectives Contains a brief introduction to the subject. The objectives have to be stated clearly and can be copied from this document. Experimental procedure and results Should be broken down into items 1, 2, 3, etc., as in this document. Each item should briefly contain the conditions of the experiment and the results. Questions and discussions: Answer all the questions asked in the experimental procedure part. Discuss any problems encountered during the experiment and any important observations made during the report writeup. Conclusion Should be brief.

GRADING SCHEME Each lab report (one per student) will be marked out of twenty for a total of 100 (five labs). Labs are due one week after the lab is completed and may be handed in either in class or during the next lab period. Late labs will be accepted with a -10% per day penalty. The grading scheme is as follows: Objectives and introduction Results and relevant figures Questions and discussion Conclusions and general presentation 10% 40% 40 % 10%