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A Simple Sag Generator Using SSRs

Osman S. Senturk, Member, IEEE, and Ahmet M. Hava, Member, IEEE
AbstractPower line voltage sags are among the most frequent and costly power quality problems. Most equipment must be designed such that they can tolerate voltage sags (within limits dened according to some standards). Furthermore, some equipment must continue proper operation even under extreme sag conditions (critical loads); this property often may not be accommodated inside the device itself, and sag-compensating power conditioners have been developed for such purposes. While, in practice, voltage sags are not wanted, generating sags becomes necessary for the purpose of experimentally verifying the performances of the equipment (both the equipment under sag condition and the sag-compensating power conditioner) under sag conditions. In this paper, a simple and economical, yet highly performing, sag generator is developed, its design is discussed, and its feasibility is demonstrated by experiments. The proposed solid-state relay (a semiconductor power module of triac characteristics) and variable transformer (variac)-based sag generator is built for three-phase 10-kVA ratings, and balanced/imbalanced voltage sags are demonstrated in the laboratory. The performance under resistive, inductive, and nonlinear loads is evaluated, and nally, the utilization of the sag generator in the test of a seriesactive-lter-based power quality conditioner is demonstrated. The proposed approach provides a very simple, yet highly effective, solution for voltage sag generation. Index TermsDynamic voltage restorer, generator, power quality, sag, sag generator, series active lter (SAF), solid-state relay (SSR), thyristor, variable transformer, voltage sag.

I. I NTRODUCTION OWER LINE voltage sags may typically be triggered by natural causes (by lightning or by icing of transmission lines) or by some loading conditions (start-up of large motor drives or rectiers without soft starters/precharge circuits which draw large inrush currents, and arc furnaces exhibiting low impedance and imbalanced load characteristics and drawing large magnitude imbalanced currents). They are the most frequent power quality problems in the power grid, and they usually have high economical impact on the voltage-sensitive loads. In process control systems, control boards and motor drives, which are sensitive to sags, may be adversely affected due to

Manuscript received April 25, 2011; revised July 19, 2011; accepted October 13, 2011. Date of publication November 14, 2011; date of current version January 20, 2012. Paper 2011-IPCC-149.R1, presented at the 2010 IEEE Energy Conversion Congress and Exposition, Atlanta, GA, September 1216, and approved for publication in the IEEE T RANSACTIONS ON I NDUS TRY A PPLICATIONS by the Industrial Power Converter Committee of the IEEE Industry Applications Society. O. S. Senturk is with the Department of Energy Technology, Aalborg University, 9220 Aalborg, Denmark (e-mail: oss@et.aau.dk). A. M. Hava is with the Department of Electrical and Electronics Engineering, Middle East Technical University, Ankara 06800, Turkey (e-mail: hava@metu.edu.tr). Color versions of one or more of the gures in this paper are available online at http://ieeexplore.ieee.org. Digital Object Identier 10.1109/TIA.2011.2175884

voltage sag, and processes may be halted. Repair and restart of the processes usually are involved and costly. In the class of electronic loads, which includes power-electronic-based motor drives (inverter drives), constant-power-type loads draw large current during deep voltage sags and trip the drive (due to current overloading) or blow the fuses, bringing the system to a halt. During a deep sag, constant-impedance-type loads may be forced out of their intended operating region, rendering the load partially ineffective or more drastically leaving it out of operation. In addition to the downtime of the installation using the sag-affected equipment, the equipment damages and hazards are often very high. In manufacturing lines, processes, public infrastructures, etc., the cost of voltage-sag-based failure is usually unacceptable that a method to mitigate the sag effect is mandatory [1], [2]. In order to avoid the voltage sag problems, the sensitivity of the equipment fed from the ac grid to voltage sags can be decreased to sufcient levels by design or by utilization of auxiliary devices. For example, in electronic boards fed from switch-mode regulators and in inverter drives using ac/dc rectier stage, the rectier stage can be designed to sustain operation during voltage sags. In such systems, the rectier stage involves an electrolytic capacitor bank for rectier output voltage ltering. By increasing the size of the electrolytic capacitor, the energy storage capability of the device can be increased to a sufcient level to maintain power to the load during a voltage sag. Alternatively, the design may involve a dc bus voltage control stage (using a pulsewidth modulation boost rectier), and the load can ride through a sag adequately. Furthermore, in some applications, external (auxiliary) units can be utilized for sag ride-through. For example, an energy storage unit may be interfaced with the dc bus of the rectier (using a power electronic converter) and transfer energy to the dc bus of the load during the sag such that the rectier dc bus is sustained at/above the critical level for proper operation [3][5]. In the more radical and usually more expensive approach, sagcompensating power quality conditioning devices (sag correctors, uninterruptible power supplies (UPSs), dynamic voltage restorers, series active lters (SAFs), etc.) are inserted between the ac grid and the sensitive loads [6]. Regardless of the method for sag mitigation, based on the equipment classications involved, the sag sensitivity of equipment must meet certain standards. For example, information technology equipment must meet the Information Technology Industry Council requirements, which dene the sag duration and depth as combined criteria and establish an operability envelope for ride-through operation [7]. In industrial processes, the electronic boards of the systems/instruments (programmable logic controllers (PLCs), instrument power supplies, etc.) are also highly sensitive to sags such that a standard for

0093-9994/$26.00 2011 IEEE

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this purpose was established (IEEE-1346 [8]). Similarly, power line conditioners must meet certain sag ride-through conditions. For example, in UPS systems and voltage regulators (static or variable transformer dc servo based), load regulation for a varying line voltage range is dened. Typically, UPS systems provide nominal output voltage for an input voltage variation of 25%, while voltage regulators usually are designed to operate in a wider range. In all such cases, during the design, development, and certication of such devices, voltage sag tests (according to standards such as IEEE-1159 [9] and IEEE-1346 [8], or the specication of manufacturer and customer) must be conducted to conrm the sag ride-through capability of the system. Therefore, in university and industry research laboratories, standards and certication institutions, etc., sag generators are required. As dened in the IEEE-1159 standards, typical sags last for 0.530 times the power line period, and their depth can be 10%90%. Thus, sag generators must provide voltage sag in this range. In all the sag-generating equipment, the main desirable feature is the easy and free programmability of the sag duration and depth [8]. In addition to the sag duration and depth, there are two more parameters in dening the sag, which are the point of initiation and phase shift [10], [11]. Although these two additional parameters are helpful in completely dening a sag condition, their impact on the equipment under test has been found quite limited [12], [13], and the difculty in including them in the sag-generating equipment is very high (in terms of both cost and complexity). Furthermore, the sag eld data used for sag studies usually do not include such details [8]. In summary, simple voltage sag generator circuits are essential test equipment for the purpose of sag studies (imitation, mitigation, etc.). Commercially available and/or literature-reported sag generators are usually complex and expensive. They are usually offered by a few international specialized test and instrumentation equipment manufacturers as custom design products at very high cost. For ratings less than several kilovoltamperes, autotransformer and electronic-circuit-based (linear or switchmode) sag generators [14], [15] are used, and for higher power ratings, either autotransformer with tap-changing windings (using contactors or thyristor-based static switches) [16][18] or rotating machine (synchronous generator) [19] based congurations are used. While the electronic units are limited in power rating and usually complex and very expensive, the latter types are bulky and complex. With all such systems requiring advanced design, such equipment is best purchased from a custom design manufacturer and usually at high cost and limited exibility. Furthermore, repair and maintenance of such equipment require the expert knowledge, rendering the user of the equipment in the hands of the manufacturer and its servicing capability. Several university laboratory-built relatively simple sag generators have also been reported. The triac-structured solid-state-relay (SSR)-based sag generator in [20] has limited performance due to the discontinuity in the voltage waveform. The approach has not been explored to sufcient depth either (neither design nor detailed performance has been reported). The method using insulated-gate bipolar transistor (IGBT) switches [21] can provide instantaneous voltage sag, but involves snubbers and detailed gate drive

circuitry, which requires specialists effort to design such a sag generator. In this paper, a simple and economical, yet highly performing, sag generator will be developed, and its application for the test of a power quality conditioner will be demonstrated. The proposed SSR- and variable-autotransformer (variac)-based sag generator has a very simple design and can be easily manufactured and operated. Therefore, it is suitable for most R&D and test labs to evaluate the performance of equipment under sag conditions (device under test or a sag-compensating power quality conditioner). To verify the proposed approach, the proposed SSR- and variac-based sag generator will be designed for three-phase 10-kVA ratings, and balanced/imbalanced voltage sags will be generated. The sag generator will be tested with resistive and inductive loads, and its performance entering and exiting a sag condition will be demonstrated. In addition, its performance will be demonstrated for a nonlinear (diode rectier) load. Finally, the utilization of the sag generator in the test of a SAF-based power quality conditioner will demonstrate that the proposed method provides an effective method for voltage sag generation for the purpose of sag-compensating equipment testing. II. O PERATING P RINCIPLE Designed for modularity and ease of use, commercially available SSR products consist of back-to-back connected thyristors, their gate drive circuits (with galvanic isolation), snubbers, and overvoltage protection devices. They are commercially offered as single-phase or three-phase modules, and their ratings can reach several tens of amperes. Similar to the applicationspecic intelligent power modules (IGBT modules designed for motor drives, which include gate drive and protection circuits), SSRs also require a small dc power supply, and they are driven via control logic gate signals [22]. Therefore, the user of SSRs does not have to be involved in power electronic circuit design, which requires signicant specialists education/training and experience. Thus, using SSRs and designing circuits with them are easy for an engineer or even a technician with only very basic electronics background. The proposed voltage sag generator consists of three SSRcontrolled parallel paths per phase (Fig. 1), and it is inserted between the line and the load in series conguration. The perphase structure involves three SSRs, a variable resistor, and a variac. Its operation can be briey explained as follows. The SSRS path provides the nominal voltage (the healthy utility voltage, representing the presag condition). The path involving the variac and the switch SSRV provides the preset sag voltage to the load for as long a duration as intended. The transition from the presag (normal) condition to the preset sag condition (and also from the sag condition to the normal condition) involves the transfer resistor RT and SSRR in order to assure continuous (gradually decaying) voltage at the load terminals and retain the load current path. Instead of using this transition path, the switches SSRS and SSRV could be simultaneously enabled during the transition, and large shortcircuit current would ow due to the output short circuit of the variable transformer. In such a design, either the power

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Fig. 1. Voltage sag generator with three SSRs (per phase).

is sufcient). Following the generation of the SSRV turnon signal (approximately Te /8 = 2.5 ms later), the turn-off signal for SSRR is generated, and at its zero crossing, the load current transfers to the path involving the variac, which gives the demanded sagged output voltage at the load terminals. While the presag condition output voltage is the nominal utility grid voltage and the nal voltage is the demanded sag voltage, during the transition, the load voltage is a gracefully decaying sine voltage. The decaying sine voltage shape is determined by the presag load current magnitude and the RT value (which can be specied by design). For recovery from the voltage sag condition, the voltage sag command removal (Ssag : 0 1) is followed by the SSRR turn-on signal, and approximately 2.5 ms later, the SSRV turnoff signal is generated. Hence, the load current transfers from the path involving the variac to the path involving RT at the rst current zero crossings after the SSRV turn-off command. At least 10 ms (approximately 12.5 ms) later, the turn-on signal is applied to SSRS , and the load current transfers from the path with RT to the path with SSRS . Hence, nominal load voltage resumes. The SSR gate signal patterns described in this section ensure both no voltage/current discontinuity at the load terminal and no output short circuit of the variac (regardless of the load type). The load voltage during the transition is determined by the transition resistor RT and the load current. While the load current is dened by the load characteristics external to the sag generator, the transition resistor is a design variable, and its design will be addressed in the next section. III. P OWER C IRCUIT D ESIGN The design of the power circuit in Fig. 1 is relatively simple. In a single-phase application, three single-phase SSR modules, one variac, and one resistor are sufcient. In three-phase applications, if only balanced sag is required, a three-phase variac can be used. If unbalanced sag is required, three single-phase variacs become necessary. Three-phase applications require three resistors and three three-phase SSR modules. If only sag tests are required, the voltage rating of the variac becomes the line nominal voltage (Es ). The variac current rating is the nominal load current (IL,rated ). In the design, the line voltage is assumed to be at its nominal value Es . A voltage sag with an amount of Vsag is generated by the sag generator. When there is no sag, the output voltage Vs is equal to Es (Vsag = 0 or 0% sag), and when there is full sag, the output voltage is zero (Vsag = Es or 100% sag). Depending on the intended sag amount, the variac must be adjusted properly. The output voltage during the sag transition is determined by the transition resistor RT and the load current IL as given in (1) for unity power factor (P F = 1). This operating condition corresponds to the largest voltage drop with this resistor value as the current is in phase with the voltage and the resistor voltage algebraically is subtracted from the source voltage. For gradual fall of the sagging voltage, the RT resistor voltage drop should be less than the sag reference value as given in the inequality of (2). Dening a base resistance value of RB as in (3) and assuming that the sag range is 10%90% and the

Fig. 2. sag.

Logic signals for (top) initiating and (bottom) terminating a voltage

circuit would have to be derated or stresses in the circuit would be increased. Thus, this condition is avoided, and the resistive transition path is favored in the design. Due to its internal backto-back thyristor structure and gate control mechanism, an SSR can only turn on at the rst voltage zero crossing after a turnon command and can only turn off at the rst current zero crossing after a turn-off command. Therefore, these three SSR devices are controlled (their gate signals are programmed) in the sequence shown in Fig. 2 to generate a voltage sag and to recover from it. The sag command is provided with an external input to the system via the logic signal of Ssag ; 0 corresponds to starting a sag, while 1 corresponds to returning to normal conditions. Under nominal load voltage conditions (Ssag = 1), SSRS and SSRR are continuously enabled (SS = SR = 1), and in this case, since RT exhibits a high-impedance path compared to the SSRS path, the current ows through SSRS only. Once a sag is commanded (Ssag : 1 0), the turn-off signal is transmitted to SSRS . After SSRS is turned off at the rst current zero crossing, the load current transfers to the path involving SSRR . In order to ensure that SSRS is turned off before turning on the path with SSRV , the turn-on signal to SSRV is generated by at least a half electrical period delay such that a load current zero crossing occurs, and therefore, SSRS turn-off is guaranteed (for 50-Hz power line considering a 10-ms half cycle (Te /2 = 10 ms), a delay of approximately td = Te /2 + Te /8 = 12.5 ms

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load current range is 10%100% of the nominal load current, the inequality of (2) gives the required range for RT between 0.1RB and 9RB . For example, a 220-V/10-kVA three-phase sag generator requires a variable resistor with a range between 1.5 and 135 . Staying in conduction only for one fundamental cycle in a sag test, the power rating of RT should be selected considering the sag test repetition rate VS = ES RT IL
Vsag RT IL

(1) (2) (3)

RB = ES /IL,rated .

The SSR current rating is determined by IL,rated . For a given SSR capable of carrying IL,rated , the heatsink applied to SSR modules and ambient temperature determine the practical SSR current rating due to thermal loading. Therefore, the SSRs (particularly SSRS and SSRV , carrying IL continuously) should be equipped with the proper heatsink at the predened ambient temperature according to the SSR datasheet [22]. General-purpose variacs can be used in the sag generator circuit. The variac power rating should be Es IL,rated . Variacs are generally manufactured by using toroidal cores, yielding low leakage inductance. Thus, the variac leakage-reactancebased voltage drop during loading is small, and voltage regulation is good (typically less than 1%). Thus, using toroidal-core-based variacs in the sag generator circuit allows the generator to provide almost ideal sag waveform with no signicant voltage drop due to loading. This is important in sag recovery cases of nonlinear loads where a large inrush current may force a voltage drop on the leakage inductance, hence distorting the intended sag voltage waveform. The cost of the proposed sag generator is dominated by the variac (more than 70% of the total component cost). SSRs are economical devices; particularly, when designed as three-phase modules, they become highly feasible for the sag generator. During the design stage of the 10-kVA sag generator, the cost evaluation of the proposed sag generator compared to commercial products with the same power ratings highly favored the proposed design. The saving was in an order of magnitude. Thus, the proposed sag generator is very cost effective compared to commercial products with the same ratings. IV. S YSTEM H ARDWARE D ESCRIPTION AND E XPERIMENTAL R ESULTS In order to verify the performance of the proposed system, a three-phase 10-kVA 220-Vrms /phase sag generator circuit was prototyped, and its experimental studies are conducted. The design target was selected as 30% sag and rated load current. Fig. 3 shows the power and control circuit of the sag generator. The load and the variac are not illustrated as they are standard components of every power laboratory and carry no signicance in the investigation. In Table I, the power circuit components are listed. The power circuit of the sag generator is as straightforward and simple as the gure illustrates. The control circuit can be built as shown in Fig. 4 by the designer using simple passive elements and logic gates, which are widely

Fig. 3. 10-kVA sag generator power and control circuits. TABLE I S AG G ENERATOR C OMPONENT L IST

Fig. 4. Sag generator control circuit diagram.

available (an alternative approach avoiding electronic board design will be elaborated on later in the discussion section). The main function of the control circuit is to implement the logic described in Fig. 2. The variable resistor RT for the 10-kVA rating is selected as 10- wire wound type (wound from chromiumnickel wire) with the adjustment ring set to the value suitable for the application (4.4 ). The variac voltage levels are adjusted according to the demanded sag value. Various tests have been conducted to demonstrate the performance of the sag generator. The performance has been demonstrated on three distinct load types corresponding to two different purposes. First, generating a sag for the purpose of testing the behavior of a load under voltage sag conditions has been considered, and here, resistive (R), inductive (RL), and nonlinear (diode rectier) loads have been employed. Second, to evaluate the performance of a power quality conditioner under sagged utility voltage conditions, the sag generator is employed, and here, a SAF as harmonic isolator and load voltage regulator has been used as a sag compensator.

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Fig. 5. Experimental control signals for (top) initiating and (bottom) terminating a voltage sag.

Fig. 7. For the 21- resistive load at the (top) beginning and (bottom) end of a 30% voltage sag: Sag generator output terminal voltage (vS , 100 V/div) and input voltage (eS , 100 V/div).

Fig. 6. Three-phase sag generator inductive (RL) load test circuit diagram.

For both experiments, the voltage sag command signal Ssag and the SSR gate signals SS , SR , and SV generated via the electronic circuit are in accordance with the proposed timing (of Fig. 2) and shown in Fig. 5. A. Resistive and Inductive Load Experimental Results The experimental system circuit diagram for the resistive and inductive load tests is shown in Fig. 6. The 10-kVA 220-Vrms /phase inductive load has impedances of ZL = 21 and ZL = (16 + j16) per phase for resistive and inductive cases, respectively (given at the 50-Hz ac grid frequency). For 30% balanced voltage sag, Fig. 7 shows initiation and termination of a voltage sag sequence for ZL = 21 successfully. For the resistive load, Fig. 8 shows that the resistor RT sustains the continuity of the load voltage and current during the transition interval. On the same gure in the lower side, without RT , the load voltage and current become discontinuous and deviate from a real sag condition. Therefore, it becomes

Fig. 8. For the 21- resistive load at the beginning of a 30% voltage sag: Sag generator output terminal voltage (vS , 100 V/div), terminal current (iS , 10 A/div), resistor current (iR , 10 A/div), and Ssag (5 V/div) waveforms (time axis: 10 ms/div) for the cases (top) with SSRR and (bottom) without SSRR .

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Fig. 9. For the 16 + 16j inductive load at the beginning of a 30% voltage sag: Sag generator output terminal voltage (vS , 100 V/div), terminal current (iS , 10 A/div), resistor current (iR , 20 A/div), and Ssag (5 V/div) waveforms (time axis: 10 ms/div) for the cases (top) with SSRR and (bottom) without SSRR .

clear that the use of RT is essential for the full functionality of the circuit and proper emulation of a real sag condition. In Fig. 9, the inductive load test provides detailed information on the sag generator internal behavior. Not only it shows that RT is necessary for voltage/current continuity at the load terminals but also it indicates that there is a circulating current in the variac. As a current larger than the load current ows through the resistor during the transition, it becomes apparent that this current limited by RT circulates through the variac and resistor branches. Since this current lasts for a short duration (about half cycle) and the resistor, variac, and SSRs are all insensitive to possibly large magnitude currents, this circulation current does not pose a problem in the application. In Fig. 10, the three-phase voltage waveforms for the inductive load are shown for the balanced 30% sag and its recovery sequence, which proves that the proposed circuit is able to generate the three-phase voltage sag commanded by the signal Ssag . B. Nonlinear (Diode Rectier) Load Experimental Results The diode rectier load circuit diagram is shown in Fig. 11, where LAC = 1.5 mH, LDC = 1.5 mH, CDC = 2.2 mF, and RDC = 30 . For this three-phase 10-kVA load, the 30% sag and recovery tests are conducted, and the results are demonstrated through the waveforms in Figs. 12 and 13. It should be noted that, due to the nonlinear load characteristics, the load current becomes more discontinuous in the beginning of the sag (due to the larger dc bus capacitor voltage than the sagged

Fig. 10. For the 16 + 16j inductive load: Three-phase output terminal voltage waveforms (100 V/div) and Ssag (5 V/div) for 30% balanced voltage sag emulation. (Top) Sag and recovery. (Center) Zoom on the voltage sag initiation. (Bottom) Zoom on the voltage sag termination.

Fig. 11. Three-phase nonlinear (diode rectier) load under study.

rectier input voltage) and consists of high peak inrush current during the sag recovery (due to larger rectier input voltage than the dc bus capacitor voltage). As can be seen through the experimental waveforms, during recovery, the large inrush current does not noticeably distort the sag generator output voltage due to the good regulation of the variac (due to low leakage inductance of the toroidal transformer). Thus, the sag generator performance for nonlinear loads is satisfactory and can be used in the sag performance test of such loads.

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TABLE II SAF PARAMETERS

Fig. 12. For the 10-kVA diode rectier load: Three-phase sag generator output terminal voltage waveforms (100 V/div) and the phase-a load current (10 A/div) at the beginning of 30% balanced voltage sag.

Fig. 14. Application of the voltage sag generator to the SAF-based power conditioning system.

C. SAF Experimental Results The voltage sag generator has been successfully applied to the three-phase SAF designed for a 10-kW harmonic-voltagesource-type diode rectier [23]. The application with the threephase SAF parameters listed in Table II is shown in Fig. 14. Here, the SAF provides both harmonic isolation, such that the line current is sinusoidal, and load voltage regulation, such that the line voltage sags are compensated properly. The sag generator helps test the voltage regulation capability of the SAF (both steady state and dynamically) under a line sag condition. Fig. 15 shows the SAF response to the 30% balanced voltage sag generated by the proposed circuit and shown by Fig. 16 at steady state. Note that the nominal voltage is 220 Vrms and, after the transient, the sag condition voltage is in the 142.6146.4-Vrms range (corresponding to 70% of 220 Vrms ). With the voltage sag generated as shown in the gure, the SAF responds with high dynamics and restores the load voltage such that the load dc bus voltage vLDC drops by at most 5% and recovers this drop within 50 ms while the source voltage vS drops by 30%. Thus, the sag generator provides a good voltage sag emulation behavior and evaluates the capability of the SAF as the power line conditioning equipment. It should be noted that the auxiliary power supply of the SAF (feeding the dc bus of the SAF inverter) is fed from a different power supply. Therefore, it has no inuence on the sag generator behavior. In addition to the balanced sag case, Fig. 17 shows the SAF response to the single-phase 30% voltage sag (as an unbalanced voltage sag) shown in Fig. 18. Similar to the balanced sag case, the sag generator creates appropriate sag voltages, and the

Fig. 13. For the 10-kVA diode rectier load: Three-phase sag generator output terminal voltage waveforms (100 V/div) and the phase-a load current (10 A/div) at the end of 30% balanced voltage sag.

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Fig. 18. Three-phase terminal voltages of the sag generator at steady state for the 30% single-phase unbalanced sag.

V. D ISCUSSION ON A DVANCED S AG G ENERATOR D ESIGN I SSUES

Fig. 15. Compensation of the balanced 30% voltage sag by the SAF-based power conditioner. Top to bottom: Load dc bus voltage (vLDC , 5 V/div), sag generator phase voltage (vSa , 100 V/div), SAF phase voltage (vSAFa , 50 V/div), and load current (iSa , 10 V/div).

Fig. 16. Three-phase terminal voltages of the sag generator at steady state for the 30% three-phase balanced sag.

Fig. 17. Compensation of the single-phase 30% voltage sag by the SAFbased power conditioner. Top to bottom: Load dc bus voltage (vLDC , 5 V/div), sag generator phase voltage (vSa , 100 V/div), SAF phase voltage (vSAFa , 50 V/div), and load current (iSa , 10 V/div).

SAF restores the load voltage such that a negligible amount of second harmonic voltage content due to the unbalance remains on vLDC .

The sag generator introduced in this paper was implemented with basic elements, and the control task was implemented on an electronic board with widely available simple ICs and passive components. Depending on the purpose of use and the effort/nance dedicated to the device, the design can be further enhanced. First, automation of the sag tests via a PLC or industrial PC-based system, which is a favorable approach for industrial equipment testing (large number of automated tests can be conducted in a sequence), is possible. With this approach, it is also possible to completely avoid the electronic board design stage; the PLC or industrial PC can be easily used to provide the timing sequence for the SSR switching (Fig. 2). With the easy-to-program PLC units becoming more and more available at affordable cost, this may be a favorable approach for professional installations. In such designs, it is possible to further automate the process when using variable transformers with dcmotor-based voltage regulation hardware (the sag amount could be dictated by the user via software). Second, it is possible to shape the sag waveforms in terms of advanced characteristics such as point of initiation and phase jump by means of power hardware changes. It is possible to replace the thyristor-based SSRs of the proposed circuit with the newly developing IGBT- or MOSFET-based SSRs such that voltage sags with point-of-initiation characteristic could also be generated [21]. Similar to the thyristor-based SSRs, the transistor-based gate-turn-off-type SSRs are easy to drive (requiring no special gate drive or isolation circuitry). Provided by several manufacturers, recently, their voltage and current ratings have been improved signicantly. In addition to the point-of-initiation characteristics, the phase-shift (phase-jump) characteristics [11] of a sag could also be shaped. A phase shift in a sag could be generated by connecting three-phase transformers with certain Y and/or windings to the sag generator output terminals. For example, a 100% sag at phase a of the transformers primary side is reected as a 67% sag at phase a and 12% sag with 19 phase shift at phases b and c of the secondary side, where the transformer is Y y or d connected without zero-sequence magnetization path [24]. Hence, using the mathematical equations governing the relations between the transformer primary- and secondary-side voltages given in [24], the amount of phase shift

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in the sag generator can be determined. Given the required test conditions, the calculations can be performed, and with proper transformer type and connections and the sag generator programming, the required sag condition with phase shift can be generated.

VI. C ONCLUSION In this paper, a simple and economical, yet highly performing, sag generator has been developed, and its application for the test of a power quality conditioner has been demonstrated. The proposed SSR- and variable-transformer-based sag generator has a very simple design and can be easily manufactured and operated; therefore, it is suitable for most R&D and test labs to evaluate the performance of equipment under sag conditions (device under test or a sag-compensating power quality conditioner). In this paper, the design of the SSR system has been discussed, and a design example has been given. To verify the proposed approach, the proposed SSR- and variabletransformer-based sag generator has been designed for threephase 10-kVA ratings, and balanced/imbalanced voltage sags have been generated. Resistive, inductive, and nonlinear load tests have illustrated the feasibility of the method. Finally, the utilization of the sag generator in the test of a SAF-based power quality conditioner has demonstrated that the proposed method provides an effective method for voltage sag generation. In addition, advanced sag generation issues such as automating sag tests and adding sag phase-shift and point-of-initiation features to the sag generator have been discussed for further improvement on the simple sag generator developed in this study.

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Osman S. Senturk (S05M12) was born in Ankara, Turkey, in 1982. He received the B.S. and M.S. degrees in electrical and electronics engineering from Middle East Technical University, Ankara, Turkey, in 2004 and 2007, respectively, and the Ph.D. degree from the Department of Energy Technology, Aalborg University, Aalborg, Denmark, in 2011. He was a Research Assistant with Department of Electrical and Electronics Engineering, Middle East Technical University from 2006 to 2008. His research interests include power electronics, multilevel converters, and power quality.

Ahmet M. Hava (S91M98) was born in Mardin, Turkey, in 1965. He received the B.S. degree in electrical engineering from Istanbul Technical University, Istanbul, Turkey, in 1987, and the M.Sc. and Ph.D. degrees in electrical engineering from the University of Wisconsin, Madison, in 1991 and 1998, respectively. In 1995, he was with Rockwell AutomationAllen Bradley Company, Mequon, Wisconsin. From 1997 to 2002, he was with Yaskawa Electric America, Inc., Waukegan, IL. Since 2002, he has been with the Department of Electrical and Electronics Engineering, Middle East Technical University, Ankara, Turkey, where he is currently an Associate Professor. His research interests include power electronics, motor drives, and power quality.