Effects of Dynamic Reactive Compensation in

Arc Furnace Operation Characteristics and its

Economic Benefits
M.Pamiani, Assistant professor, H.Mokhtari, Assistant professor, M. Hejri, Graduate Student

Absrracr-For steel industries optimum operation with high

efficiency is of the first importance. On the other hand, extra
investments in the supply side of electric arc furnaces may have
been seen as redundant cost. Therefore. to improve the system
efficiency, devices such as SVCs or STATCOMs can be employed.
In this paper, the benefits of dynamic s h u n t reactive
compensation by SVCs in steel industries are invesrigated. It is
shown that this operation leads to optimization in steel production
process and is completely beneficial from economic point of view.
Supply system of a typical arc furnace is simulated using
MATLAB software and the effects of a compensator on the
operating characteristicsof an arc furnace are shown.
Keywords-Electric Arc Furnace, Power Quality, SVC

furnaces are the main sources of different power quality

disturbances in an electric power system. For a mainly
inductive supply system, power quality can be improved by
reducing and adusting reactive power and its fluctuations using
reactive power control methods. Power electronics elements
capable of switching at high power have led to the application
of SVCs and STATCOMs. These devices have been able to
solve the power quality problems in distribution and
transmission systems by fast controlling and regulating the
reactive power.
Schematic figures of an SVC and a STATCOM are sbown in
Fig. I . and Fig. 2. respectively.

1. INTRODUCTION

S.

OME believe that any effort for power quality

improvements such as flickerihannonic reduction, power
factor correction or improvement of voltagelcweut
imbalances in the power supply of Electric Arc Furnaces
(EAFs) is only an extra cost and is only beneficial to utility
companies. It may also be believed that installing SVCs is an
unnecessary and expensive method which must be avoided
whenever possible. In this paper, the opposite of such belief is
proved. It is also shown that from production and operation
point of view, SVCs have permanent benefits for steel
industries. Power quality problems of EAFs and ways to solve
these problems are investigated in [5],[6] and [7], but the
effects of these solutions on the furnace operation bas less
been studied. In this paper, it is tried to investigate this subject
60m customers point of view.
Steel factories are the largest consumers of electric energy.
Therefore, any improvement in operation of these significant
loads is important. Instantaneous fluctuations with large
amplitudes of active and reactive powers in electric arc

Fig. 1. Schematic diagram of an SVC

DISTRIBUTION LINE
I

nn
I

Measured
Vmables

M. Pamiani is with Sharif University of Technology, Department of

Electrical Engineering, Tehran, Iran. Email: pamiani@sharif.ac.ir
H. Mokbtari is with Sharif University of Technology, Department of
Electrical Engineering,Tehran, Iran. Email:mokhtari@sharif.ac.ir

w-

M. Hejri is graduate student of Sharif University of Technology,

Department of Electrical Engineering, Tehran, Iran. Email:
hejri@rnehr.sharif.edu

Fig. 2. Schematic diagram of a STATCOM

0-7803-7525-4/02/$17.000 2002 IEEE.

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11. SYSTEM UNDER STUDY

In this paper, the study system is the arc furnace system
described in [4]. The single line diagram of the system is
shown in Fig. 3. In this Figure, V, is the Arc Furnace (AF)
bus voltage, V. is the arc voltage and V, is the arc furnace bath
voltage. R. and L.are equivalent supply system resistance and
inductance respectively. The circuit between the AF bus and
the arc b c e load is also equivalent to an inductance L, and
a resistance &. Arc furnace transformer is considered as an
ideal hamformer with ratio tp:1 and the phase shift effect is
neglected. It is also supposed that the supply system of arc
furnace is under balanced conditions [4].

.
..........
.......................
vs

T#rn*is*d

r61.

Fig. 5 . Swing bath, AF bus, arc and source voltage

waveforms

111. INVESTIGATIONOF SIMULATION RESULTS

v, 2.
IL

Fig. 3. Single lme diagram of system under analysis

The arc model is simplified by the rectangular voltage
concept and its nonlinear voltage-current characteristic can be
written as:

h e rated power of arc furnace transformer is 70 MVA and

its ratio at normal tap is 33kV/651V. The parameters of the
system of Fig. 3. are:

R,=0.052 mC2
L.=0.00124 mH

K=0.3366 mC2
h=O.OOSS mH

A. Effect on Production
SVCs can help steel production process by reducing voltage
fluctuation caused by load changes. In this simulation, it is
supposed that an SVC is an ideal voltage cootroller which
eliminates the effec of the supply reactance. Positive effects of
installing an SVC at arc furnace bus can be seen in Figs. 6, 7
and 8. Io the case the SVC is in service, an increase of 15% in
maximum active power delivered to the arc furnace is
observed. Voltage variations &om no load to full load is also
very low (0.56%) compared to 14.8% when the SVC is not
used (Fig 8.). It can be shown that the insertion of an oversized
step down transformer or using more transformers in parallel,
B

(2)

Fig.4. and FigS. show current and voltage waveforms at

different points in the equivalent circuit of Fig. 3.

Fig. 6. Active power and arc voltage relationship with SVC

and without it
,.
~

:.
.

!.

:.
.

.:.

..:

Tirn.,'.Cl

Fig. 4. Arc furnace current waveform

Fig. 7. AF bus voltage and arc voltage relation with SVC

and without it
1045

Fig. 8. Active power and grc current relation with SVC and
without it

Fig. 9. Active power and arc voltage relations at different taps

may help the furnace operation, however it will, in twn,create

unacceptable high flicker at PCC', and thus, is not a practical
solution. Since in this paper the SVC behaviour is simulated at
steady state, this phenomennn is not shown. But by using an
analytic method, the effect can be investigated. The standard
procedure when using a flickermeter of UIEnEC type is to
compare the furnace short circuit level or (short circuit
impedance) seen from the PCC with the short circuit level at
the PCC using the prediction formula (The P,, is a 10-minute
integrated value):

3 scpcc
where ktis characteristic emission coefficient for P,, and its
value varies between 45 and 85 [I], SWr is the short circuit
is the short circuit
power at the tip of EAF electrodes and ,S,
power at PCC.
By employing an oversized transformer or using more
transformers, the equivalent short circuit impedance between
EAF and network reduces. Therefore, the short circuit power
at the tip of electrodes increases, and consequently the P a w
value at the PCC increases. when the short circuit power at the
PCC increases, the use of SVCs at the arc furnace bus will be
the only solution. As the curves in Figs. 9,10, and 11 show,
although with the decrease in the arc furnace reactance the
maximum active power transferred to the arc furnace is
increased, but the voltage variations from no load to full load
remains unchanged (Fig. 1I). On the other hand, by increasing
the @amformer tap (decreasing the tp), the maximum power
occurs at large arc voltages compared to the uncompensated
case (Fig.10). This phenomenon results in a larger arc length
and, consequently, more instability in the arc. It also creates
more power quality disturbances such as flicker and
harmonics. The rate of losses in arc furnace structure and
supply system will increase as well.

Fig. 10. Active power and arc current relation at different taps

Fig. 11.

AF bus voltage and current relation at different taps

B. Advantages of Increasing the Active Power Delivered to the

Arc Furnace

One of the benefits of increasing the maximum active power

delivered to an arc furnace is the optimum usage of existing
equipments without changing the system structure or adding
new equipment such as furnace transformer, flexible cables
between furnace transformer and arc furnace. The other
advantage is the reduction of the time required for one heat
cycle. This phenomenon is shown in Fig. 12.

1046

D.Reduction in Energy Loss

80 . I
70'
60 50
40
30 -

20

Heat cycle time with SVC

.
.

iJ

-'

Due to shorter operating time and more stable arcing, the

losses in the EAF system is reduced (Fig. 13). By using an
SVC, the same maximum active power can be delivered to the
arc furnace at less arc voltage. On the other hand, considering
the linear relation between arc voltage and arc length, a shorter
and more stahle arc is resulted. More stable arc means loss
reduction in arc furnace and auxiliary equipments such as fans
and pomps. The value of this reduction is estimated as
20kwh/ton [I].

r-

IO .

E. Reduction in Refractory consumption

0 ,

As explained before, SVCs result in more stable and shorter

arcing process which corresponds to less damage to the
reflactory wall of the arc furnace. This reduction is estimated
as 1 Kg/ton [I].

Positive effect on the melt time can be extracted flom the

famous power-energy equation.
. . ' p

r
w = (-)io3

(2)
'

60

(4)

where W(kwh/ton) is the energy required to melt one ton of

scrap, P
o is the power transferred to the furnace, and
T,(min) is the time required for one heat cycle.
The percentage of reduction in time can he estimated flom:

.IC

n"qe(n",

Fig. 13. Active power and arc voltage relation with and
without SVC at the same maximum powers

(5)

and using the simulation results:

Suppose that a heat cycle time in an compensated case is 2

hours. Therefore, in a 24-hour period, the furnace can he
loaded 12 times. On the other hand, in the compensated case
because of 13% reduction in heat cycle time(15.6 min) during
24 hours, there will be at least one additional heat cycle. In the
case of a 100-ton arc furnace, this means 36500 ton more
annual production.
C. Electrode Consumption Reduction

One of the parmeters that affects the electrode consumption

is side oxidation of the electrodes that is dependent on the
furnace tap to tap time. It is clear kom Fig. 8 that for the same
current, the active power delivered to the EAF is higher when
the SVC is used. Resulting in less tap to tap time and less
electrode consumption. As explained before, this reduction is
about 13%. Usually electrode consumption in EAFs is ahout
3.5 to 4.5 pound/ton [I] and the reduction will be about
OSKgIton.

IV.SVCS AND SERIES REACTORS

Due to nonlinear voltage-current characteristics of an arc, it is
difficult to reignite the arc at the zero crossing of the arc
current at high power factors. This phenomenon increases
losses in arc furnace system due to the instability of the arc and
produces higher harmonic and flicker levels in the supply
system. To solve this problem, a series reactor is installed at
the primary side of the arc furnace transformer in order to
reduce $/ton of the product and the flicker and harmonic at the
PCC. But, by adding a series reactor in the supply system, the
maximum active power delivered to the arc furnace is reduced.
To achieve maximum power, the furnace transformer must
operate at the highest tap number. Fig. 14. illustrates this
operation for the EAF transformer.
The use of the SVC with a series reactor causes the same
active power to be delivered to the load compared to the case
when no series reactor was in the circuit. Fig. 15. illustrates
this phenomenon.
It is clear h m Fig. 15. that with simultaneous application of
an SVC and a series reactor, the EAF transformer is not
required to operate at the highest tap.

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V. ECONOMIC BENEFITS
From previous sections, it is simple to calculate the requid
time for the recovery of the investment. It should be mentioned
that the profit by damage reduction of rekactory wall of EAF
bath is not considered due to lack of information. A summary
of results is shown in table I. As it can be seen, for a 100 ton
arc furnace, the recovery time has been estimated to 15
months.

Fig. 14. Power and power factor relationship by arc current

with and without reactor at different taps

VI. COCLUTIONS
In addition to power quality improvements at the PCC and
lower power bills, the application of an SVC in an EAF system
has a direct impact on several production parameters as
follows.
Increase in the active power delivered to the EAF which
leads to the shorter tap-to-tap time and higher
productivity.
Decrease in electrode consumption due to the shorter
meltdown time and more stable arcing process.
Energy saving due to more stable of arcing process.

TABLEI. SVC PAY- OFF CALCULATION FOR EAFs

Pay-offcalculation
Without SVC
Production increase
120
Tap to tap time(min)
12
Number of charges per day
390000
Production todyear (325 day)
Increase
Profit with 40 USD/ton
*Electrode savings
Consumption savings

105
13
444500
32500

Profit at 3.5 USDkg

778000 USD

With SVC

1300000 USD
0.5 kg/ton
1222250kg

* Energy savings

consumption savings

20 kwblton

c8890MWh

profit at 0.03 USDkvh

266700 USD
3250000 USD

In all
* Compared with a typical SVC cost
turnkey, installation including civil
works
Pay-off time

= 3000000USD
= 15 month

1048

REFERENCES
[ I ] Antonio Silva STEEL PLANT PERFORMANCE POWER SUPPLY
SYSTEM DESIGN AND POWER QUALITY ASPECWABB Power TBrD
company Inc.
[2] T.Zhmg, E.B.M h , and A.kGirgis ,Effect of different arc fvmace
models on voltsgc distorsion, in proceeding of the eighth international
d e r e n c e on harmonics and quality of power (ICHPQ),Oct,l998,pp. 10971085
[3] Mmdis,S.R.;B.shop, M.T.;Day,T.R.; Boyd, D.M,Evaluation of
supplwmtary S h e s reactors to optimize elechic arr: fumaee operations.
Jnduauy Applications Conferences, 1995. M e t b IAS the 1995 IEEE,
Volume:3,1995 Pages:2154-2161
[4] T. Zh~ng, E.B. M h , A n Adaptive Arc F m c e Model,IEEE
Traasactian on PowerDelivev.vol.
.. IS..No. 3.lulv2000
. .
[SI Ambarani,V.Static Var Compensation System For Jnduahies Power
Quality 98,1998, pages. 177-194
[6] Larsoon, T.; Poumarade, C, STATCOMAn Efficiant Means For Flicker
MitigatioqTower Engineering Society 1999 Winter Meting, IEEE, Vol.
2,1999.p. 1208-1213
171 Schaudo.C.,STATCOM for ComDmsation of lame elechic BTC furnace

BIOGRAPHIES
Mostafa Parniani was born in Tehran, Iran in 1963. He
received his B.Sc. degree in electrical engineering from
Amirkabir university, Tehran, Iran in 1987. He worked as a
consultant engineer for Electric Power Research Center
(EPRC) in Tehran and GHODS NIRO Co. projects. He
obtained his Ph.D. degree in electrical engineering kom the
University of Toronto in 1996. He is currently an assistant
professor in electrical engineering of sharif university of
technology. His research interest include power srjtem
dynamics and control and Flexible AC transmission Systems
(FACTS).

Hossein Mokhtari was born in Tehran, Iran. He received his

B A . degree in electrical engineering kom Tehran university,
Tehran, Iran in 1989. He worked as a consultant engineer for
Electric Power Research Center (EPRC) in Tehran in
dispatching projects. In 1994, he received his M.A.Sc. degree
from University of New Bmswick, Fredericton, N.B.,
Canada. He obtained his Ph.D. degee in electrical engineering
fiom the University of Toronto in 1998. He is currently
assistant professor in electrical engineering of sharif university
of technology.
Mohammad Hejri was born in Tabriz, Iran, in 1978. He
received his B.Sc. degree in electrical and electronic
engineering of Tabriz university, Iran, in 2000. He is currently
a graduate student in electrical and electronic engineering of
sharif university of technology, Tehran, Iran.

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