Cascaded Two-Level Inverter-Based Multilevel STATCOM

for High-Power Applications

ABSTRACT:
In this paper, a simple static-var compensating scheme using a cascaded two-
level inverter-based multilevel inverter is proposed. The topology consists of two
standard two-level inverters connected in cascade through open-end windings of a
three-phase transformer. The dc-link voltages of the inverters are regulated at
different levels to obtain four-level operation.

Static var compensation by cascading conventional multilevel/ two level

inverters is an attractive solution for high-power applications. The topology
consists of standard multilevel/two level inverters connected in cascade
through open-end windings of a three-phase transformer. Such topologies are
popular in high-power drives. One of the advantages of this topology is that
by maintaining asymmetric voltages at the dc links of the inverters, the
number of levels in the output voltage waveform can be increased. This
improves PQ. Therefore, overall control is simple compared to conventional
multilevel inverters.

Generally, in high-power applications, Var compensation is achieved using

multilevel inverters. These inverters consist of a large number of dc sources
which are usually realized by capacitors. Hence, the converters draw a small
amount of active power to maintain dc voltage of capacitors and to
compensate the losses in the converter. However, due to mismatch in
conduction and switching losses of the switching devices, the capacitors
voltages are unbalanced. Balancing these voltages is a major research
challenge in multilevel inverters.

INTRODUCTION:

In recent years, the custom power technology, the low- voltage

counterpart of the more widely known flexible ac transmission system
(FACTS) technology, aimed at high-voltage power transmission applications,
has emerged as a credible solution to solve many of the problems relating to
continuity of supply at the end-user level. Both the FACTS and custom
power concepts are directly credited to EPRI. At present, a wide range of
very flexible controllers, which capitalize on newly available power
electronics components, are emerging for custom power applications. Among
these, STATCOM is popularly accepted as a reliable reactive power
controller replacing conventional var compensators, such as the thyristor-
switched capacitor (TSC) and thyristor-controlled reactor (TCR). This device
provides reactive power compensation, active power oscillation damping,
flicker attenuation, voltage regulation, etc. The VSC connected in shunt with
the ac system provides a multifunctional topology which can be used for up
to three quite distinct purposes.

1. Voltage regulation and compensation of reactive power.

2. Correction of power factor.

3. Elimination of current harmonics.

Static Var compensation by cascading conventional multi-level/two level

inverters is an attractive solution for high power applications. The topology
consists of standard multilevel/two- level inverters connected in cascade
through open-end windings of a three-phase transformer. Such topologies are
popular in high-power drives. One of the advantages of this topology is that
by maintaining asymmetric voltages at the dc links of the inverters, the
number of levels in the output voltage waveform can be increased. This
improves PQ. Therefore, overall control is simple compared to conventional
multilevel inverters. Various var compensation schemes based on this
topology are reported. In, a three-level inverter and two level inverter are
connected on either side of the transformer low voltage winding. The dc-link
voltages are maintained by separate converters. In, three-level operation is
obtained by using standard two-level inverters.

EXISTING SYSTEM:
In the existing system, the overall power generated is fed to the grid
system without nullifying the harmonics in the power system. However, due
to mismatch in conduction and switching losses of the switching devices, the
capacitors voltages are unbalanced. Balancing these voltages is a major
research challenge in multilevel inverters.

In this case, the STATCOM compensates the reactive power of the load.
Initially, STATCOM is supplying a current of 0.5 p.u. At 2.0 s, the load current is
increased so that STATCOM supplies its rated current of 1 p.u. The dc-link
voltages are maintained at their respective reference values when the operating
conditions are changed.
BLOCK DIAGRAM:

THREE
PV DC-DC
PHASE GRID LOAD
ARRAY CONVERTER
INVERTER

MULTILEVEL
STATCOM

SIMULATION CIRCUIT:
CONTROL CIRCUIT:

PV ARRAY
A photovoltaic system, also solar PV power system, or PV system, is
a power system designed to supply usable solar power by means
of photovoltaic. It consists of an arrangement of several components,
including solar panels to absorb and convert sunlight into electricity,
a solar inverter to change the electric current from DC to AC, as well
as mounting cabling and other electrical accessories to set up a working
system. It may also use a solar tracking system to improve the system's
overall performance and include an integrated battery solution, as prices
for storage devices are expected to decline. Strictly speaking, a solar
array only encompasses the ensemble of solar panels, the visible part of
the PV system, and does not include all the other hardware, often
summarized as balance of system (BOS). Moreover, PV systems convert
light directly into electricity and shouldn't be confused with other
technologies, such as concentrated solar power or solar thermal, used for
heating and cooling.
Besides solar panels which generate photocurrent, a solar PV system is
made up of many components charge controller, inverter, batteries
all connected by wires. None of these are 100 percent efficient. For
instance, every 100 amp-hour drawn from the battery requires putting in
about 115-120 amp-hours of charge into it. Inverters are typically only
85 percent efficient and likewise for charge controller. Cables offer
electrical resistance to the flow of current which is substantial because of
rather low DC voltages involved. People try keeping it low by working
with higher DC voltages where possible and yet keep wiring cost and
resistance losses low (say less than 3%). Therefore, in order to account
for all such losses the modules must put in some extra energy into the
system; not merely the daily watt-hour load.

Cascaded two-level inverter-based multilevel STATCOM.

THREE PHASE INVERTER:
The basic configuration of a Voltage Source Inverter (VSI) has been described in
Lesson 33. Single-phase half-bridge and full-bridge configurations of VSI with
square wave pole voltages have been analyzed in Lesson 34. In this lesson a 3-
phase bridge type VSI with square wave pole voltages has been considered. The
output from this inverter is to be fed to a 3-phase balanced load. Fig. 35.1 shows
the power circuit of the three-phase inverter. This circuit may be identified as three
single-phase half-bridge inverter circuits put across the same dc bus. The
individual pole voltages of the 3-phase bridge circuit are identical to the square
pole voltages output by singlephase half bridge or full bridge circuits. The three
pole voltages of the 3-phase square wave inverter are shifted in time by one third
of the output time period. These pole voltages along with some other relevant
waveforms have been plotted in Fig. 35.2. The horizontal axis of the waveforms in
Fig. 35.2 has been represented in terms of t, where is the angular frequency
(in radians per second) of the fundamental component of square pole voltage and
t stands for time in second. In Fig. 35.2 the phase sequence of the pole voltages is
taken as VAO, VBO and VCO. The numbering of the switches in Fig. 35.1 has
some special significance vis--vis the output phase sequence.

MATLAB SOFTWARE

MATLAB is a flexible, extensible software package that allows for the

quick, efficient manipulation and visualization of datasets, among its many
uses. It is widely used in the oceanographic community, and will serve you
well regardless of what field you go into, when it comes to dealing with data.
Basic Commands:
help. Typing help and the name of the command you want to learn about
brings up a short text description of the function, i.e. help sqrt. I also
recommend using the online tutorial, activated by clicking on the question
mark on the toolbar. This has a search function which allows you to call up
much more extensive help for any command. Also use help punct to get
help for various punctuation marks.
Quit quits out of MATLAB
whos. Whos brings up a description of all of the variables available in your
current workspace.
what. What produces a list of all .mat and .m files in your current directory.
which. Which tells you the directory of a given .m-file.
type. Type returns the text of the specified .m-file.
Why. Just try it.

Types of Files:
There are two basic types of files that well deal with
*.mat files are data files which themselves can include a number of different
variables.
*.m files are either scripts or functions that perform some operation (like a
program in other languages).

The Command Line:

Most of your work will be done at the command line, which is the basic
interface between you and MATLAB. Youll see two greater-than symbols,
>>, which means MATLAB is waiting for you to issue a command. Often,
your command will reference a script or a function, as described below. If
you put a semicolon after the command, it suppresses output to the screen.
This is useful when youre doing calculations with large matrices and dont
need to see the result at each step. For example:
>> a=3+7
a = 10
>> b=3+7;
>>
Note that in the second case, MATLAB added the two numbers together, but
didnt show the answer. Even though it didnt display it, it still assigns the
value 10 to the variable b.
Variables:
Variables are names that can store values. Variable names need to start with a
letter, but can contain numbers and underlines. MATLAB is case-sensitive;
i.e. it distinguishes between upper- and lower-case letters. You should make
an attempt to make variable names descriptive so that your code is easier to
read.
Examples:
Allowed variable names: x, x1, x_1, X (these are all distinct variables).
Disallowed variable names: 1x, x-1, etc.
Data Types:
There are a variety of data types- well largely stick to floating-point
numbers, but its worth knowing about what MATLAB can do.
Floating point (often double): what youll use for almost everything.
Numbers with a large amount of precision
Integer: used for array indices, etc
Char: character strings
Boolean: true/false, 1/0, for conditional decision-making
Cell arrays and structures: nifty but complicated.

There are commands for converting between these classes, if that becomes
necessary (i.e. num2str, str2num, int2str, mat2str, etc).
Basic Matrix Syntax:
Matrices are the basic element of data in MATLAB. While you can have any
number of dimensions youd like, were going to stick with 2-D matrices for
the time being. The values in a matrix can then be assigned to a variable
using the = symbol. For instance:
>> a=[3 6 9; 4 8 23]
a= 3 6 9
4 8 23
In this example, I have assigned a 2-row, 3 column matrix to the variable
named a. The first row of a is 3 6 9, and the first column is 3 4. The semi-
colon separated the first from the second row. The brackets were necessary to
let MATLAB know that I was defining a matrix. I can now access this matrix
with some fairly basic commands:
>> a(1,2)
ans = 6
>> a(2,3)
ans = 23
In the first example, I asked for the element in the first row, second column,
and got 6 back from MATLAB. The first entry is always the row, the second
is always the column. Likewise, the entry in the 2nd row, 3rd column is 23. I
can also ask for multiple entries:
>>a(1,[2 3]
ans = 6 9

In this example, I asked for the 2nd and 3rd columns of the 1st row. Note how
the matrix [2 3] is interpreted.
>> a(1,:)
ans = 3 6 9
The colon has a special use as a wildcard- in this example, I asked for all of
the columns, and just the first row. Likewise,
>> a(:,:)
ans = 3 6 9
4 8 23
returns the entire matrix.
The colon has another use: to define evenly spaced vectors. If I wanted a
vector of all of the integers between 1 and 10, I could type:
>> a=[1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10]
a= 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10
similarly, I could type:
>> a=1:10
a= 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10
I can also change the spacing of the vector:
>> a=1:2:10
a= 1 3 5 7 9
so the first number is the first element of the matrix (a(1)), the middle number
determines the spacing, and the last number the upper limit. So I can now use
this in our original example:
>> a(1,2:3)
ans = 6 9
Two other numbers worth being aware of:

NaN stands for Not a Number and is often used as a placeholder

when no data is available. Any binary operation on NaN returns a
NaN.

Inf stands for infinity.

Storing and Retrieving Data:

save, as you might guess, saves data to a file in the current directory. If you
just type save filename where filename is some string, MATLAB will
store all active variables into a file called filename.mat. You can also specify
exactly which variables get stored, by typing save filename x y z, which
will only store the variables x, y, and z (for instance).
load filename loads the given .mat file. If you have a variable defined in the
workspace and the file you load has a variable of the same name, it will be
overwritten!
In a lot of cases, youre going to get data files from sources other than
MATLAB, i.e. in some sort of flat ASCII format, or comma-delimited .XLS
files, a number of other formats. I once received data from a colleague in
which month numbers were in roman numerals. MATLAB can handle it.
There are many methods and routines for efficiently reading data in a wide
variety of formats into MATLAB; we can talk about these on a case-by-case
basis.
.m files
.m files (dot-M files) are programs that you can define that can do
operations on data. They are created using the MATLAB editor (or any flat
text editor, such as notepad, emacs, etc, but the MATLAB editor is really
spiffy). There are two basic types: scripts and functions. Scripts are
commands that get executed as if you typed them directly into the command
window. Functions allow for data to be passed in and out without interfering
with variable names already in the command window.
The general structure of a function is [y1 y2 y3]=func(x1, x2, x3), where x1,
x2, x3 are variables fed into the function, and y1, y2, y3 are variables
returned from the function. Scripts do not have inputs or outputs, as they
simply represent a list of commands to be executed at the command prompt.
PWM pulse for Boost converter:

Solar output voltage:

INVERTER PULSE:

Three phase inverter voltage:

PWM pulse for cascaded inverter:

Grid voltage:
CONCLUSION:
DC-link voltage balance is one of the major issues in cascaded inverter-based
STATCOMs. In this paper, a simple var compensating scheme is proposed for a
cascaded two-level inverter- based multilevel inverter. Therefore, three phase
power is obtained across the grid interconnected system.