Controllable Network Transformers
Deepak Divan and Jyoti Sastry
School of Electrical and Computer Engineering
Georgia Institute of Technology, Atlanta, GA 30318 USA
ddivan@ece.gatech.edu
Abstract - The electric power grid is under stress, caused by
increasing loads, decreasing investments, and increasing
penetration of dynamic sources and loads. Grid control
techniques have not changed much over the last 50 years,
with generator excitation providing the only ‘analog’
control handle. The basic control problem on the grid is to
maintain node voltages while ensuring that branch currents
do not exceed defined limits. This paper proposes the
possibility of converting existing load tap changing (LTC)
transformers into Controllable Network Transformers
(CNT) using fractionally rated direct ac converters –
providing vernier control of amplitude and phase angle.
This would allow dynamic control to be distributed on the
grid, enhancing response and reliability. The concept can be
scaled to realistic power levels.
I. INTRODUCTION
The electric power infrastructure is under stress. As
the penetration level of renewable energy increases,
demand for energy soars, and ability to build new
infrastructure remains compromised, the need to better
utilize existing assets becomes very important. At the
same time, the level of dynamic grid control that is
needed is also dramatically increasing. Ensuring very
high reliability levels, while cost-effectively meeting
these targets is a challenging task.
There are various approaches that have been
proposed to alleviate this gap between the growing need
for power versus the ability of the power system, as it
currently stands, to meet this growing need. One such
solution is expansion of the existing infrastructure
through the construction of additional transmission lines.
This is both an expensive and difficult solution.
An alternate approach that is receiving a lot of
attention is the concept of a “Smart Grid” that can more
effectively utilize the current power system. A “Smart
Grid”, which is reliable, self-healing, and fully
controllable [1] can be implemented using distributed
“smart”, “controllable” assets that augment the existing
system assets to provide vernier control capability. These
“Smart Assets”, would be capable of controlling the
network using local information [2]. One such example is
that of the Distributed Series Impedance (DSI) [3], where
massively distributed assets are deployed to convert the
existing “dumb” power lines to “smart” assets. This has
been shown to result in tremendous improvement in the
transfer capacity of the system.
Reliability is of vital importance for the power grid.
The existing reliability of the system, which approaches
99.999%, cannot in any way be degraded. The need for
higher reliability is moving utilities towards meshed or
networked systems versus radial structures. The high
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reliability that is inherent in meshed systems comes at a
price, namely the poor controllability of current in the
network. Networked systems are difficult if not
impossible to control; some possible methods of control
include Phase Shifting Transformers and Distributed
Series Impedance modules [1].
The conventional approach to network operation is
through the use of off-line optimal power flow and state
estimation techniques, which are then used to dispatch
generator excitation, LTC taps and shunt VAR
compensation, so as to meet dual constraints of voltage
regulation and controlled branch currents. In a highly
interconnected meshed network, this represents a very
challenging control problem. The non-trivial nature of the
control problem has thus far discouraged actual
implementation of any real time controllers that can fully
control a network.
Some newer approaches to network control provide
control of both voltage magnitude at a node, as well as
phase angle. The angle control is instrumental in being
able to control branch currents. Devices that provide such
functionality include FACTS devices such as UPFC [4],
and SSSC [5]. Shunt devices such as SVC’s and
STATCOM’s [6] provide the VAR regulation required to
maintain acceptable bus voltage levels in the network.
Although FACTS devices have reached a high level of
maturity, significant market penetration of these devices
is yet to be seen. Phase angle regulators provide power
flow control but are sluggish in response and cannot
control bus voltages. The Intelligent Universal
Transformer [7] is essentially a cascaded power
converter, provides only unidirectional control of power
flow, and is an expensive solution. Other approaches
include the Power Electronics Transformer [8] which has
a high switch count and cost due to the high frequency
transformer, and the Sen Transformer [9], which provides
a solution for power flow control with interconnection
between phases thereby creating complex fault modes, as
well as a high switch count.
This paper proposes augmentation of an existing
load tap changing transformer to provide dynamic vernier
control of voltage magnitude and phase angle
simultaneously over a meaningful control range. The
Controllable Network Transformer (CNT) proposed is a
“smart asset” that provides control of bus voltages and
line currents in a meshed system; this is not achievable
using conventional techniques. The converter used can be
described as a Thin AC Converter, or TACC, a concept
that is detailed in a companion paper [11].
 II. CONTROLLABLE NETWORK TRANSFORMER – Modulation), the equivalence of the voltage synthesis
THE BASICS technique and the concept of the real time modulation
strategy (EHM), has been detailed in [10].
The Controllable Network Transformer or CNT
provides simultaneous control of bus voltage magnitudes
and phase angles by augmenting an existing tapped 
transformer with a small rated converter, as shown in
Figure 1. The vernier control requirements of the system 
allow for the converter to be rated fractionally with (a)
respect to the rating of the transformer. The converter
includes two ac switches, a small filter capacitor and
inductor. It may be assumed initially that the switches are
controlled with fixed duty cycles D and (1-D). For a
transformer with a tap ratio N, the voltage magnitude of
the output voltage can be varied between (1+N) pu for (b) (c)
D=1 to (1-N) pu for D =0. This can be implemented Figure 2: AC Chopper (a) Circuit topology (b) Achievable
using well known pulse width modulation techniques. output voltage

Figure 1: Controllable Network Transformer

By applying conventional pulse-width modulation
techniques only half the desired functionality is achieved,
(a)
i.e. voltage magnitude control. The ability to control
phase angle is not possible as there are no energy storage
elements that can provide the required energy during the
zero crossings of the input voltage. To obtain an output
voltage of controllable phase angle, the concept of “Dual
Virtual Quadrature Sources” [10] is applied. Figure 2a
illustrates a simple ac chopper that operates like a buck
converter, generating an output voltage in phase with the
input and of magnitude lesser than or equal to that of the
input, Figure 2b. Using conventional PWM techniques an
output voltage with variable phase and/or harmonic
content cannot be synthesized, as seen in Figure 2c.
To synthesize an output voltage of variable
(b)
phase/harmonic content, two virtual sources are invoked
in quadrature with the input voltage (Vdo), one at the Figure 3: (a) Voltage synthesis using dual virtual quadrature
fundamental (Vqo) and the second at the third harmonic sources, (b) Input and phase shifted output voltage
frequency (V3). The sum of the three components should In one possible implementation of the control
at all instants of time satisfy the physical constraints on strategy, sine triangle PWM is used, with the control
the system. reference voltage consisting of a DC component to
Figure 3(a) illustrates the concept of virtual synthesize the desired Vdo, and a second harmonic of
quadrature sources, where the two virtual sources are amplitude K2 and phase angle ĭ2, which when multiplied
summed with the direct component of the voltage to with the input voltage results in two components of
result in a voltage that has controllable phase and/or voltage, one at the fundamental and the second at the
harmonic content. The resultant voltage is seen to lie third harmonic frequency.
within the envelope of the input voltage, thereby meeting Applying EHM, the output voltage (V0) of the
the physical constraints on the system. The sum of the transformer can be expressed as a function of the input
direct (Vdo) and quadrature (Vqo) components at the voltage (VS), modulation signal (D) and tap ratio (N).
fundamental frequency results in a phase shifted voltage V S Vm sin Zt  (1)
at the fundamental frequency, as shown in Figure 3(b).
The voltage synthesis technique used to generate the V0 (1  N ) (1  D) VS  D(1  N )VS (2)
virtual quadrature sources can be implemented using a With the modulation signal given by (3),
simple real time modulation strategy (Even Harmonic DT  K 0  K 2 sin 2T  I 2  (3)

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 Applying this technique to the proposed
controllable network transformer enables the synthesis of
an output voltage of variable magnitude and phase angle,
and also generates a by-product in the form of a triplen
component which can be trapped.
Figures 5(a) and 5(b) show experimental results for an ac
chopper that is providing amplitude and phase angle
control using virtual quadrature sources, and validates the
control characteristics for the ac chopper, which is the
basic building block for the CNT.

III. SIMULATION RESULTS – CONTROLLABLE

NETWORK TRANSFORMER
To illustrate the performance of the proposed
transformer, preliminary simulation results are shown.
The ac chopper is rated at ± 10% of the nominal voltage.
The transformer is simulated at a voltage level of the
138KV.
(a) (b)
Figure 4: (a) Control region (b) Variation of the phase angle
with a control variable

The degree of control achievable is determined

by the rating of the converter. For example, for a tap ratio
(N) ± 15% of the nominal voltage, the range of
achievable phase angle control is illustrated in Figure
4(b). The maximum achievable phase shift for this rating
is ±5 degrees. This does not sound like much, but is
sufficient to control current on short to medium length
lines in a meshed network. The power flow in a line,
representing the active current is given by
V1V2
Po sinį (4)
X (a)
where V1 and V2 are voltages at the ends of a
transmission line, X is the reactance of the line, and d is
the angle between V1 and V2.

(b)
(a)

(b)
Figure 5: (a) Experimental results. Even Harmonic modulation
signal, modulation signal with even harmonic and dc
component, and switching pulses for ac switches, (b) Input and
output voltage for an ac chopper.
(c)
Figure 6 (a) Switch Voltage and Current, (b) Switch voltage and
current waveforms illustrating switching instances, (c) Input and
Output voltages

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Figure 6(a) and (b) show the switch voltage and current.
The switch voltage has a peak value of 35KV and the
peak current is 2600A.To test the functionality of the
Controllable Network Transformer in a simplified
system, the CNT in Fig 7a is used in a simple two bus
two line system as shown in Fig 7b.
(a)
138 kV ‘0D 138 kV ‘15D
(b)
Figure 7: (a) Controllable Network Transformer, (b) 2 bus
system
(a) (b)
Line 2
Line 1
Figure 8 (a) Line-voltage after 3rd harmonic trap, (b) Voltage
across the 3rd harmonic trap, (c) RMS of the line current in Line
1 and Line 2
By varying the amplitude and phase angle of the voltage
across the transformer, the current and power flow in the
two lines can be controlled at will. The third harmonic
voltage generated due to the VQS control can be
absorbed by the harmonic trap if required. In this simple
system, the CNT has ±15% control. This translates to ±5
degrees phase angle control, thereby allowing for the
control of the current in line 2 of the 2 bus system. The
current in Line 1 however, remains constant over the
entire period as there is no control in line 1.
It is also important to see how the Controllable
Network Transformer can be scaled to higher voltages
and power levels. A companion paper discusses the
concept of Thin AC Converters (TACC) and multi-level
direct ac converters [11]. Figure 9 shows a four level
direct ac converter wrapped around a LTC transformer to
implement a TACC based CNT.
(a)
9.2kV
8.4kV
7.6kV
6.8kV
(b)
Figure 9: (a) Realization of Controllable Network Transformer
using a 3 level ac converter, (b) Synthesis of output voltage
The TACC based CNT allows scaling to high
voltage and power levels. For instance, for a four level
TACC as shown using simulation in Figure 9(a) and 9(b),
using readily available 1700 volt 1000 A IGBTs, it would
be possible to realize a CNT rated at 12 MVA at a
secondary voltage of 13.8 kV, with a primary voltage at
say 69 kV or 115 kV, and a control range of +/-15% of
nominal voltage and +/-5o of phase angle control. This
demonstrates the ability of the CNT to provide value in
an interconnected meshed network, and to do so at
realistic power and voltage levels.
IV. SYSTEM IMPLEMENTATION AND IMPACT
The CNT equivalent circuit for use in a meshed
network can be simplified as shown in Figure 10. CNT
behavior can be analyzed in a two dimensional d-q plane.
The dc component of the duty cycle D in Equation 3
controls the ‘d’ component Vd, while the even harmonic
component of D controls the quadrature or ‘q’ component
Vq. The CNT is also lossless and power is conserved at
the fundamental frequency (dynamic exchange of energy
occurs between the third harmonic and the quadrature
component). This leads to an equivalent circuit model for
the CNT that can allow investigation of more complex
systems with multiple CNTs.
Vo Vd  jVq (5)
rms current can be seen to decrease from 500A down to Vd Vm - (1  N) ˜ K 0  (1  N)  K 0 ˜ (1 - N)  (6)
400A and then increase to 600A. The rms of the line

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 ª (1  N) (1 - N) º of only local parameters, i.e. node voltage and branch
Vq Vm «(K 2 ˜ ) - (K 2 ˜ ) (7)
2 2 »¼ current.
¬

(a)

Vd
Id
Vo

Figure 10: CNT Equivalent Circuit

Control of a meshed system is a non-trivial problem
due to interactions between the various interconnected
branches. Knowledge of the state of the system and
offline power flow simulations (optimal power flow)
provides one approach to determine the set points for the
controllable assets, such as CNTs, in the system.
However, dynamic response to load, source or system
changes is very poor, as it is based on latencies due to
off-line computation, as well as delays in the control and
communication network.
An alternate approach would be to control the CNT
using locally measured parameters. This is also an
extremely difficult problem, as it is difficult to ensure that
multiple controllers will not interact with each other. The
ability to control massively distributed assets
autonomously, based on locally measured information is
possible and has been shown in [2]. A similar control
strategy would be desirable for the controllable network
transformer, where local parameters such as node voltage
and line current can be used to determine the set point for
operation of the transformer in order to have a system
level impact.
The levels of control required in any power network
can be broken up into tiers, Tier 1 being control of the
bus voltage magnitudes, say between 0.95 p.u to 1.05 p.u.
Tier 2 would be control of the power flow in the network
to ensure maximum utilization of the transfer capacity
while satisfying constraints enforced by the thermal limits
of the lines.
To study the dynamics of the transformer, a 4 bus
meshed system has been used as shown in Figure 11a.The
network has 2 generator buses and 2 load buses, and has a
nominal voltage of 79 kV. For the test system, the
thermal limits of lines 2 and 5 limit the maximum power
that can be transferred through the network. The control
of the transformer is implemented assuming knowledge
(b)
Figure 11: Schematic of 4-bus system (b) Variation of bus
voltages with (V2c, V3c) and without (V2, V3) CNT’s
The approach adopted in controlling the
transformers in a network follows the hierarchical
requirements for any power system network. The first tier
of control addresses bus voltage regulation for varying
loading conditions on the network. The second tier of
control targets control of the line currents in the network,
keeping the bus voltages within acceptable limits. Figure
11b illustrates the drop in the bus voltages as the load on
the system is varied, with and without the inclusion of the
CNT (with ± 10% control) at the 2 load buses, Bus 2 and
Bus 3.
The control of power flow in the network using
local parameters has been achieved by using the ability of
the transformer to generate a voltage of arbitrary phase
angle. The voltage that is generated to control the power
flow is synthesized so that it is in quadrature with the
current in the line. This then emulates an injection of
inductance or capacitance in the line. The controlled line
currents (Line 2 and Line 5) are shown in Figures 12a and
12b, where the current in line 2 is controlled to 750 A,
and line 5 700 A while regulating the bus voltages
between 0.98 p.u and 1.02 p.u. Table 1 details the line
currents with and without control.
TABLE 1: LINE CURRENTS (L1 = 100 MW L2 = 80 MW)
Line Thermal Regulated
Line
Current (A) Limit Current
1 498 750 534
2 853 750 750
3 95 750 99
4 260 700 346
5 650 700 700

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(a) (b)
Figure 12: Line Current (rms): (a) Line 2, (b) Line 5
(a) (b)
Figure 13: Bus Voltage Magnitudes (rms): (a) Bus 2, (b) Bus 3
V. CONCLUSIONS
This paper has presented the concept of a
Controllable Network Transformer (CNT) that utilizes an
existing tapped transformer and augments it with a
fractionally rated direct ac converter. The existing
“dumb” asset now has dynamic control capability. The
controllable network transformer can provide
simultaneous control of voltage and phase angle with no
additional energy storage elements, using the principle of
dual virtual quadrature sources. This control capability is
demonstrated experimentally. The two degrees of
freedom can allow simultaneous control of node voltage
and branch currents, although the control problem is seen
to be very complex.
The CNT design can be extended to realistic
power levels through the use of Thin AC Converters. For
instance, a four level direct ac converter design is seen to
be suitable for 13.8 kV systems using commercially
available IGBTs.
Preliminary simulation results illustrate the
performance of the network transformer in a stand-alone
mode and in a meshed network. The ability to control the
transformer in a network has been shown using a 4-bus
meshed system, where each transformer has been
controlled autonomously using only local parameters.
Preliminary experimental results are shown that validate
the ability of the ac chopper to provide amplitude and
phase angle control capability.
ACKNOWLEDGMENT
The Intelligent Power Infrastructure Consortium (IPIC) at
Georgia Tech is acknowledged for financial support.
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