Introducing a New Method for UPQC Control to

Solve the Power Quality Problems

A. Kazemi, R. Rezaeipour
IEEE Conference Publishing
Center of Excellence for Power Systems Automation and Operation, Iran University of Science and Technology, Tehran, Iran
kazemi@iust.ac.ir, r.rezaeipour@yahoo.com

Abstract-In this paper a new method has been offered to
control the UPQC as a device for power quality improvement
in distribution networks. Using the time domain analysis of
reference signal, we can instantaneously adjust the
performance of series and parallel UPQC filters such that
several problems of power quality including notch, sag, swell,
flickers and existence of harmonics and load imbalancing can
be solved. Simulation of the recommended method was carried
out on two sample systems and the results of simulation show
that the proposed method is able to provide the desirable power
quality in the presence of a wide range of disturbances.
I. INTRODUCTION
Usually the power system faults, non-linear loads such as
power electronic devices and dynamic response of system
cause some disturbances including sag, swell, flicker,
voltage notch and harmonics in a distribution system. On the
other hand, the increased use of sensitive electronic circuits
by industries and households together with privatization and
competition in electric energy systems, posed the power
quality improvement as one of the major problems in
electricity industry.
Considering the high speed of response and flexibility in
operation of power electronic devices, these equipments are
seriously noticed to solve the power quality problems.
UPQC is one of these devices, which has undeniable
capability in improving the power quality status [1]-[3].
Although the UPQC, with the possibility of injecting
active and reactive power in series and parallel branches, can
considerably compensate the power quality events, its
correct function depends on applying a suitable control
method.
Different methods have been used for controlling UPQC
in order to solve several problems of power quality [4]
including: neural networks[5], application of optimal control
[6], sliding mode control [7], wavelet transform [8],
predictive control [9] and many other heuristic methods [10-
12]. However, there is complexity of calculations in classic
methods and slowness or low quality of response is observed
in some methods of frequency domain.
Also, some of the previous methods can not solve all the
problems of power quality. A new control strategy for
UPQC control is suggested in this paper, which has high
speed and precise response besides the capability of solving
some of power quality problems.
The other parts of this paper are as follow: the structure of
UPQC is studied in detail in part 2. The suggested control
method is explained in part 3 and the results of simulation
are presented in part 4 using two case study for considering
two typical power quality events and finally the conclusion
is presented in part 5.
II. STRUCTURE OF UPQC
Principally the structure of UPQC includes two active
parallel and series filters. Figure 1 shows the arrangement of
these filters in the network. Series active filter acts as a
voltage source in series with the network and produces any
form of wave given to it by the series controller using the
PWM converters. On the other hand, the parallel active filter
acts as a parallel current source with the network and is
controlled using the parallel controllers.
Fig. 1. General Structure of a UPQC in the Network
Considering that UPQC should be able to supply the
active and reactive power, a fast energy storage, like
capacitor, is used in the DC side of power electronic
converter of active filters.
III. PRESENTATION OF CONTROL METHOD
The control method suggested in this section includes two
parts, that is, series and parallel control parts, which are
applied on active parallel and series active filters,
respectively.
A. Series Control
The series control signal applied on active series filter
should be in a way that we can obtain complete sinusoidal
voltage in load side through applying it in series with non-
sinusoidal and unbalanced source.

978-1-4244-1718-6/08/$25.00 ©2008 IEEE Pg 1528

 For this purpose it is necessary to obtain a reference signal ua+ = 2U sin(wt + a ) (3)
which the complete corrected sinusoidal voltage should be in
its form. The development stages of signal for series control Now we can create the waveform of the reference voltage
are shown in diagram Figure 2. according to equation (4) through correcting the effective
value of voltage in equation (2):

V +
va = u a = 2 V sin(wt + a ) (4)
U

where V is the effective value of desirable voltage. Finally,

the control signal of series active filter is obtained through
comparing the reference signal obtained from equation (4)
and distorted signal.

B. Parallel Control
Parallel active filter control should be in a way that the
reactive power of load be completely supplied by UPQC in
order to let the load power factor be %100 in the network
point of view. So, this principle was used in parallel control
signal preparation and the reference current is calculated
after computing the instantaneous active power of load.
The instantaneous power of load can be determined
through equation (5):

p = u a ia + u b ib + u c ic (5)

As we know the DC amount of power obtained from the

above equation, is the load active power. Therefore, we can
Fig.2. Series Control Diagram calculate this active power at any instance using a low pass
filter. Now considering that the reference current should be
Regarding to figure 2, if the voltage signals of ua, ub, and in a way that only the active power is observed under the
uc, are three-phase voltages include distortion, they will only voltage calculated through the equation (2), we have:
have fundamental frequency component after passing the
low pass filter. Now using the equation (1), the components p
ii = ui i = a ,b , c (6)
of their instantaneous positive sequence, those are u a+ , 3U 2
ub+ and u c+ will be calculated:
where p is the DC amount of the instantaneous power of
load (instantaneous active power of load).
éua+ ù é 1 - 0.5 - 0.5ù éua ù
ê +ú 1 ê Equation (6) offers the reference current of each phase and
êub ú = 3 ê- 0.5 1 - 0.5úú êêub úú
êuc+ ú (1) through comparing it with the load current, we can obtain the
êë- 0.5 - 0.5 1 ûú êëuc ûú
ë û parallel control signal of UPQC.
é 0 D - D ù éua ù
3ê
+ ê -D 0 D úú êêub úú IV. SIMULATION RESULTS
6w
êë D - D 0 úû êëuc úû In this section, the simulation study was performed using
SIMULINK software in MATLAB environment for two
where D is the derivative operator. different power quality events in order to study the
Then, the effective value of positive sequence voltage is performance of the suggested method.
determined through equation (2) instantaneously.
A. Existence of Harmonic & imbalance in Source
æ ö Voltage & Load Current
æ 1 T +t 2ö÷
U = çç absçç ò u + ( ) ÷
÷ ÷÷
(2) The system being studied in this stage, is a 400 V three-
ç èT t øø
è phase network with harmonic content shown in table (1).
This system feeds a load including two linear and non-linear
Now the waveform of the main components of distorted loads. Linear part is a three phase balance 10 kW constant
voltage which for phase a is as equation (3) can be power load with the 0.8 lag power factor. But the non-linear
accessed: part is a current constant load with harmonics of table (2).

Pg 1529
 The study was performed for 0.1 second time interval and
UPQC is considered to operate at t=0.05 s. 500

400

Table 1: Harmonic Components of Source Voltage

300
Harmonics % Phase shift against phase a
3 %50 20 deg 200

5 %30 60 deg
100

Load Voltage (v)

Table 2: Components of Non-Linear Load Currents 0

Phase -100

a [A] b [A] c [A]

Harmonic -200

Component
-300
0 0 20 0
1 150 80 0 -400
3 20 45 0
5 50 0 0 -500
0 0.01 0.02 0.03 0.04 0.05 0.06 0.07 0.08 0.09 0.1
time (s)

Figure 3:A-C shows harmonic voltage of source, 3-C

compensating voltage of UPQC and well-corrected load Fig. 3. Harmonic correction of voltages; A: Source Voltage;
voltage, respectively. B: UPQC Voltage; C: Corrected Voltage at load side

500
150
400

300 100

200
50
100
Source Current (A)
Source Voltage (v)

0 0

-100
-50

-200

-300 -100

-400
-150

-500
0 0.01 0.02 0.03 0.04 0.05 0.06 0.07 0.08 0.09 0.1 0 0.01 0.02 0.03 0.04 0.05 0.06 0.07 0.08 0.09 0.1
time (s) time (s)

3-A 4-A

400

150

300

100
200

50
100
UPQC Current (A)
UPQC Voltage (v)

0 0

-100
-50

-200
-100

-300

-150

-400
0 0.01 0.02 0.03 0.04 0.05 0.06 0.07 0.08 0.09 0.1 0 0.01 0.02 0.03 0.04 0.05 0.06 0.07 0.08 0.09 0.1
time (s) time (s)

3-B 4-B

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 200 400

150 300

100 200

50 100

Source Voltage (v)

Load Current (A)

0 0

-50 -100

-100 -200

-150 -300

-200 -400
0 0.01 0.02 0.03 0.04 0.05 0.06 0.07 0.08 0.09 0.1 0 0.01 0.02 0.03 0.04 0.05 0.06 0.07 0.08 0.09 0.1
time (s) time (s)

4-C 6-A
Fig. 4. Harmonic and imbalancing correction in currents; A: Load current;
B: UPQC Current; C: Corrected current at the source side 400

Also, figure 4:A-C shows that despite high level harmonic 300

pollution and imbalance in load, the current has a perfect

200
sinusoidal and balanced shape from viewpoint of the
network. 100
To show the ability of proposed method in voltage
UPQC Voltage (v)

regulation, the RMS value of load voltage is illustrated in 0

Figure 5. This figure shows that after operation of UPQC,

the RMS voltage is reduced to its desirable value after -100

passing a short transient.

-200

-300
300

-400
0 0.01 0.02 0.03 0.04 0.05 0.06 0.07 0.08 0.09 0.1
250 time (s)

6-B
200
RMS Voltage of Load (V)

400

150 300

200
100

100
Load Voltage (v)

50

0 -100
0 0.01 0.02 0.03 0.04 0.05 0.06 0.07 0.08 0.09 0.1
time (s)

-200
Fig. 5. Effective value of load voltage before and after UPQC operation
-300
B. Existence of voltage notch
In this stage, a 6-puls thyristor rectifier which is connected -400
0 0.01 0.02 0.03 0.04 0.05 0.06 0.07 0.08 0.09 0.1
to a 400 V network through R = 0.01W and L = 1 mH is time (s)

considered as a voltage notch generator. This rectifier feeds 6-C

one DC motor with Ra = 1W and La = 20 mH at its DC side. Fig. 6. Voltage correction of notch generator load
A: Source Voltage
Figures 6:A-C show the network voltages, UPQC and B: UPQC Voltage
corrected voltage of load, respectively. As it is seen in C: Corrected Voltage at load side

Pg 1531
 Figure 6-C the load voltage is completely corrected after
40
t=0.05 s which UPQC is activated.
30
Also Figures 7:A-C show the load, UPQC and network
side corrected currents, respectively. As it is observed, the
20 suggested control method managed to solve the problem
after passing the short temporary state and correct the non-
10 sinusoidal and unbalance current of the load.
Load Current (A)

Figure 8 shows the RMS value of load voltage before and

0
after connection of UPQC to circuit. As it is seen there is a
-10
short transient in correction around one power cycle due to
time needed for exact amount computation by RMS block
-20 calculator.
Study of the load voltage and current frequency spectrum
-30 in Figures 9:A-B indicates a wide range of harmonic
pollution, which was completely removed using the
-40
0 0.01 0.02 0.03 0.04 0.05 0.06 0.07 0.08 0.09 0.1 suggested method according to the Figure 9-C.
time (s)

7-A 250

40
200

30

RMS Voltage of Load (V)

150

20

100

10
UPQC Current (A)

50
0

0
-10 0 0.01 0.02 0.03 0.04 0.05 0.06 0.07 0.08 0.09 0.1
time (s)

-20 Fig. 8. Effective value of load voltage before and after UPQC operation

-30
120

-40
0 0.01 0.02 0.03 0.04 0.05 0.06 0.07 0.08 0.09 0.1 100
time (s)

80
7-B
Harmonic Percent (%)

60
40

40
30

20
20

0
0 100 200 300 400 500 600 700 800 900 1000
10 Frequency (Hz)
Source Current (A)

9-A
0
120

-10
100

-20
80
Harmonic Percent (%)

-30
60

-40
0 0.01 0.02 0.03 0.04 0.05 0.06 0.07 0.08 0.09 0.1 40
time (s)

7-C 20

Fig. 7. Harmonic & imbalancing correction in currents of notch generator load;

A: Load current; 0
0 100 200 300 400 500 600 700 800 900 1000
Frequency (Hz)
B: UPQC Current;
C: Corrected current at the source side 9-B

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 [2] Gu Jianjun, Xu Dianguo, Liu Hankui, Gong Maozhong, "Unified
120
power quality conditioner (UPQC): the principle, control and
application", in Proc. 2002 Power Conversion Conference, PCC
100
Osaka 2002, vol. 1, pp. 80-85, April 2002.
[3] V. Khadkikar, A. Chandra, A. O. Barry, T. D. Nguyen,
80
"Application of UPQC to protect a sensitive load on a polluted
Harmonic Percent (%)

distribution network"; in Proc.2006 IEEE Power Engineering

60
40
20
0
0 100 200 300 400 500 600 700 800 900
Frequency (Hz)
Fig. 9. Frequency content spectrum; A: Source voltage; B: Load Current;
C: Corrected Load Voltage and Corrected Source Current
V. CONCLUSIOns
A new method for UPQC control based on calculation of
reference signal in time domain is proposed in this paper.
The suggested method is very simple and fast and acts based
on the conditions of network in any time, regarding to
remove any power quality problem from the distribution
system. The proposed control method includes series and
parallel parts which the former part corrects the load voltage
to a perfect sinusoidal form with exact RMS value and the
later one tries to shape the load as an active balance linear
one from the network point of view. Computer simulation
was performed using SIMULINK on two typical case
studies. One system with harmonic distorted source and
nonlinear imbalance load and the other with the voltage
notch. The results show that the suggested method managed
to completely remove the disturbances in all cases.
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