Symmetrical Components

During unbalanced conditions all three phase need to be considered simultaneously

giving rise to three simultaneous equations. Symmetrical components provides a
methodology by which unbalanced conditions can be simplified and analysed.
Fortescue showed that any unbalanced condition can be represented by a sum of
symmetrical or balanced conditions. This is an extremely powerful technique for the
study of low frequency (<100Hz) power system phenomena.

For an n phase system n symmetrical components are required. Therefore for a power
system 3 symmetrical components are required.

3 Symmetrical components for 3 phase power systems

For power systems there are three symmetrical components: positive sequence,
negative sequence and zero sequence.

Positive sequence

Three phasors of equal magnitude displaced by 120
o
(2t/3 radians) and with the same
sequence as the originals as depicted in Figure 1.














Negative sequence

Three phasors of equal magnitude displaced by 120
o
(2t/3 radians) but with an
opposite sequence to the originals as depicted in Figure 2.











120
o
120
o
120
o
V
a2
V
b2
V
c2
Figure 2 Negative sequence
components
2 2 2 c b a
V V V = =
2 2 2 c b a
V V V = =

3
4
2 2
t
j
a b
e

= V V

3
2
2 2
t
j
a c
e

= V V

120
o
120
o
120
o
V
a1
V
c1
V
b1
Figure 1 Positive sequence
components
1 1 1 c b a
V V V = =

3
2
1 1
t
j
a b
e

= V V

3
4
1 1
t
j
a c
e

= V V

Zero sequence

Three phasors of equal magnitude and phase.












For any unbalanced condition each phase voltage or current is the sum of its three
sequence components. We can then write:

2 1 0 a a a a
V V V V + + =

2 1 0 b b b b
V V V V + + =

2 1 0 c c c c
V V V V + + =


Using the standard notation
3
4
3
2 t t
j j
e e h

= = and noting that
3
2
3
4
2
t t
j j
e e h

= = and 1
3
6
3
= =
t
j
e h then for the phasor relationships for
each sequence component can be given in terms of the phase-a component such that
we get:

2 1 0 a a a a
V V V V + + =

2 1
2
0 a a a b
h h V V V V + + =

2
2
1 0 a a a c
h h V V V V + + =


Note we could also apply the same equations to the phase currents. For the sequence
components the subscript a is dropped and the transform equation can be expressed in
matrix form as
V
c0
Figure 3 Zero sequence
components
0 0 0 c b a
V V V = =

(
(
(

(
(
(

=
(
(
(

2
1
0
2
2
1
1
1 1 1
V
V
V
V
V
V
h h
h h
c
b
a


The transform matrix T is then
(
(
(

=
2
2
1
1
1 1 1
h h
h h T

and the inverse of the transform matrix is

1 2
2
1 1 1
1
1
3
1
T h h
h h

(
(
=
(
(


Hence we can also write
0
2
1
2
2
1 1 1
1
1
3
1
a
b
c
h h
h h
(
( (
(
( (
=
(
( (
(
( (


V V
V V
V V
(1)
No matter what value are used for the phase voltages equation (1) has a solution and
will provide the equivalent sequence components. The power system normal
operating condition then has only positive sequence components as

0
2 2
1
2
2
1 1 1
0
1
1
3
0
1
a
a a
a
h h h
h
h h
( (
( (
( (
( (
= =
( (
( (
( (
( (


V
V
V V V
V V