School of Electronics and Electrical Engineering, UCD

Assignment. 2
EEEN 40120 Application of Power Electronics
Student Name: Victor Dutta
Student Number: 13200618

UCD School of Electronics and Electrical Engineering

Assignment Report Submission Form

1. Three Phase Six Pulse Recitation

Introduction:
For any current to flow in the load at least one device from the top group (T1, T3, T5) and
one from the bottom group (T2, T4, T6) must conduct. It can be argued as in the case of an
uncontrolled converter only one device from these two groups will conduct.
Then from symmetry consideration it can be argued that each thyristor conducts for 120 of
the input cycle. Now the thyristors are fired in the sequence T1 T2 T3 T4 T5 T6
T1 with 60 interval between each ring. Therefore thyristors on the same phase leg are
fired at an interval of 180 and hence can not conduct simultaneously. This leaves only six
possible conduction mode for the converter in the continuous conduction mode of
operation. These are T1T2, T2T3, T3T4, T4T5, T5T6, T6T1. Each conduction mode is of 60
duration and appears in the sequence mentioned.

Question 7.1
Now harmonic analysis of the converter on AC side :
The Fourier series for the source current waveform is :
=

sin

, , ,

(sin

by increasing pulse number of the converter

, I can
Remove the harmonics of the converter circuit. Where n= (6k 1) where
(Isn)rms = 22 / n I0 sin
(Is1)rms = 22 /
(Is1)rms = 6 /

= -n

and

I0 sin and
I0
!"

Now for calculation of distortion factor g= !"# = and total harmonic distortion (THD) is

depended on the value of g , THD = ($% 1)

/*

=(

1)

/*

= .3 = 31 % ..

Theoretically for RL load. When I have finished the PSCAD simulation, its coming 29%.
As we can observe from table 1 that there is a increase in the THD (%) when the firing angle
increases because the resistive load works only in the positive half cycle.

Table 1: Firing angle increase corresponds to THD (%)

Firing Angle \ Fundamentals 5th
Harmonics
Harmonics

7th
Harmonics

THD (%)

0
30
60

0.11698
0.11702
0.117

29.4125
34.0331
58.29

1.0341
0.89689
0.5238

0.2399
0.2339
0.2339

Harmonics
Present (odd
harmonics)
5,7,11,13,17,19
5,7,11,13,17,19
5,7,11,13,17,19

Figure 1: FFT analysis THD harmonics at 0 Degrees with resistive load

Figure:1 shows the FFT polymeter, when firing angle = 0. Table: 1 shows the simulation
results obtained. It was observed from simulation that 5th and 7th harmonics were the
largest two harmonic components present as 3rd harmonics is not present because
(Is3)rms = 2. / / I0 012

3/
3

=0

When firing angle is increased to 30degree and 60degree the output voltage varied as in
(\ref{vi}). THD increased, when firing angle ($\alpha$) was increased.
Question7.2
Smoothing inductor does not allow sudden change in current, which eliminates the ripples
in output current waveform. THD remains same when firing angle alpha is increased. Figure
2 and 3 shows the output waveform for rectifier with load with smoothing inductor and
pure resistance load respectively. The output waveform varied as in

Figure 2: Line voltage and DC voltage variation in KV for RL load condition

Below table is showing the fundamental, 5th and 7 harmonics content value and calculate
the value of THD
Firing Angle \
Harmonics

Fundamentals

1st largest(5th
)

2nd largest
(7th)

THD (%)

0
30
60

1.0323
0.8929
0.5165

0.2064
0.18323
0.111

0.01472
0.1227
0.0651

29.44
29.5147
29.29

Harmonics
Present (odd
harmonics)
5,7,11,13,17,19
5,7,11,13,17,19
5,7,11,13,17,19

Figure 3: FFT analysis THD harmonics at 0 Degrees with resistive load

There is no change in THD when the inductor is introduced of value 0.01H in series with the
load.
Now in case of comparison in between (a) R Load (b) RL load, the ripple in output voltages is
reduced as inductor is smoothing it. Because of presence of inductor, negative spike is

present in output voltage waveform. Thyristor is conducting for the negative half of the
cycle as inductor current is not becoming zero after voltage crossing zero point.
In case of R load, We can observe the nature of DC voltage where we have high droop in
every firing angel of the thyristor.

Figure 4: Line voltage and DC voltage variation in KV for R load condition

Figure 5: Comparing the THD value for resistive Load and RL Load for increasing firing angle

Question 7.3
For resistive load when firing angle cross the 60 degree value, then DC voltage automatically
reaches the value zero. But for RL load, inductor current is not becoming zero after voltage
is crossing zero point. So that the conduction angle for thyristor is more in compare to
restive load. Figure 5 represents the same.

Figure 6: Current through thyristor becomes zero for resistive load.

But for Resistive inductive load, when firing angle reaches 90 degree limit, then its start to
become zero.

Figure 6: Current through Inductor becomes zero for resistive- inductive load.

2. Three Phase twelve Pulse Recitation

Figure 7 shows the FFT polymeter reading for twelve pulse rectifier. It was absorbed that 5th
and 7th harmonics were absent for twelve pulse rectifier and THD was 13.34%. as followed
equation 1 , over here n=12, so that for 5th and 7th harmonics current become zero.

Question 8.1

Figure 7: FFT analysis for twelve pulse converter where 5th and 7th harmonics are absent
Question 8.2.
Active power P = 3 Vsr Is1 cos
where Vsr is RMS current of the converter, and Is1 is the fundamental current of the 3
phase converter circuit and is firing angle.
Reactive power Q = 3 Vsr Is1 sin
5678

Q = 3 Vsr Is1 cos9

58

= P tan

Active and Reactive Power behaviour w.r.t Firing Angle

1.5

0.5

0
0
-0.5

15

30

45

60

75

90

105

120

135

150

165

180

Active power (GW) for Idc=3

Reactive power (GW) for Idc=3

-1

Reactive power (GW) for Idc=2

Active power (GW) for Idc=2

Firing Angle

-1.5

Figure 8: Active Power and Reactive power variation w.r.t. firing angel.

Question 9.1
Over here , to control the power flow and response of the system , PI controller has been
used. As the name suggests it is a combination of proportional and an integral controller the
output (also called the actuating signal) is equal to the summation of proportional and
integral of the error signal. Now let us analyze proportional and integral controller
mathematically. As we know in a proportional and integral controller output is directly
proportional to the summation of proportional of error and integration of the error signal,
writing this mathematically we have,

Proportional controller helps in reducing the steady state error, thus makes the system
more stable. Proportional controller Slow response of the over damped system can be made
faster with the help of these controllers. the choise of the P based on the goal of achieving a
certain phase margin at the cross-over frequency. It is recommended that Kp should be kept
greater than unity. If the value of Kp is greater than unity, then it will amplify the error signal
and thus the amplified error signal can be detected easily. For my PSCAD simulation I chosed
following value of P, [P= 0.02, .2, 2]. Due to their unique ability of intregral controller (the
output is directly proportional to the integral of the error signal) can return the controlled

variable back to the exact set point following a disturbance thats why these are known as
reset controllers.
Figure 9 to figure 12 shows the step response for different value of proportional gain and
Integrator gain. It was observed that HVDC took 2.5 s to reach steady state. When integrator
time constant was reduced to 0.5s as shown in fig 10 the HVDC reached steady state in 0.2s
but huge overshoot was observed which was not desired. When proportional gain is
increased to 2 as shown in fig.10 the HVDC reached steady state in 0.1s but oscillations were
observed in steady state . Faster response and desired output is achieved when proportional
gain = 0.2 and integrator time constant was .5 as shown in fig 12

Figure 9: Active and reactive power flow for different value of proportional controller
P=0.02 and Integral controller I=5

Figure 10: Active and reactive power flow for different value of proportional controller P=2
and Integral controller I=5

Figure 11: Active and reactive power flow for different value of proportional controller P=2
and Integral controller I=0.5

Figure 12: Active and reactive power flow for different value of proportional controller P=.2
and Integral controller I=0.5

Question 9.2 Briefly discuss possible solutions for dealing with this reactive power
requirement.
Active power transferred (MW)
Reactive power transferred (MVAR)
500
37
400
30
300
27
200
23
Table 3 : For different active power transmission , Reactive power consumed by HVDC .

The new generation of converter stations is now likely to include some of the following
features: a) New type of converter circuit, the capacitor commutated converter (CCC)
b) Actively tuned AC filters
c) VSC Converter.
A) CAPACITOR COMMUTATED CONVERTERS: General In a conventional HVDC converter the
consumption of reactive power is typically around 0.5 p.u. of the active power. This reactive
power requirement is in most cases fully compensated for locally by installation of shunt AC
filters in the converter station. Requirements for permitted reactive power unbalance, or AC
voltage changes upon filter switching, in many cases result in splitting of the installed
reactive power into several filter/shunt banks.
B) VSC Converter: Like an active DC capacitor with voltage wave shaping functionality. To
direct this synthesised waveform to the AC side of the circuit, the H-bridge switches are
switched at the frequency of the AC supply, but also at near zero voltage. Thats an
important benefit, argues MacLeod, because it enables soft switching of the series IGBT
valves at low frequency. This offers minimal switching losses and simple dynamic voltage
sharing along the series string of semiconductors forming the H-bridge switches. Because
conversion from AC to DC requires only one polarity, it is also possible to use a half-bridge
circuit for HVDC applications. This is ideal for point-to-point cable schemes, while a full
bridge is better for overhead lines or mixed line/cable schemes.

Question 9.3
When the power flow is reversed its direction ,then voltage at each station had a phase shift
of 180 degree, since thyristors conduct only in one direction thyristor switching on
operation will be failed,cable insulation failure ( accumulation phenomenon) are caused due
to voltage reversal. VSC-HVDC with IGBTs and extruded cables can be used for power in
opposite direction without changing the polarity of voltage at DC side.