2015 IEEE UP Section Conference on Electrical Computer and Electronics (UPCON)
DSA/WDO Based PI Controller tuning for D-
STATCOM for Reactive power Compensation
Pritam Patel
Department of Electrical Engineering
National Institute of Technology
Agartala, India
pritampatel91@gmail.com
Milan Swain
Department of Electrical Engineering
National Institute of Technology
Agartala, India
Swain.milan108@gmail.com
Abstract—Distribution static synchronous compensator (D-
STACOM) has a greater importance in modern distribution level
for reactive power compensation dynamically and power quality
improvement. In this paper an effort has been given to design a
D-STATCOM, an essential shunt Flexible AC Transmission
Systems (FACTS) device using decoupled current control method
for three phase three wire system to compensate the reactive
power. It is difficult as well as time consuming process to get the
proper tuning parameters of PI controller for D-STATCOM
using conventional methods. An attempt has been made by
implementing two recently developed global optimization
techniques named Differential Search algorithm (DSA) and Wind
Driven optimization (WDO) for proper tuning of parameters by
minimizing the integral square error (ISE) for both outer voltage
controller and inner current controller simultaneously. The PI
gain calculated by DSA and WDO shows in terms of reduction of
error, improvement of overshoot in capacitor voltage waveform,
convergence speed and some other parameters of the circuit.
Comparative study of both the methods with trial and error
method reveals that DSA algorithm based PI controller tuning
method gives more optimized results.
Keywords— D-STATCOM, Decoupled current control, Reactive
power compensation, Differential search algorithm, Wind driven
optimization.
I. INTRODUCTION
In recent days, the major power has been consumed
through reactive loads like fan, pumps etc. in a distributed
network. These loads give reactive power burden by drawing
lagging power factor current. The reactive power demand and
active power capability are inversely related to each other. If
reactive power demand increases, feeder losses also increases
for which, there is degradation of active power capability as
well as voltage regulation at the end. To overcome the reactive
power compensation as well as the power quality problems,
conventional static VAR compensators (SVC) has been
installed [1]. Further, the problem has been overcome to a
greater extent by a newly developed static synchronous
978-1-4673-8507-7/15/$31.00 ©2015 IEEE
Srikant Rout
Department of Electrical Engineering
National Institute of Technology
Agartala, India
srikantrout.rout@gmail.com
Punyaban Patel
Department of Computer Scince & Engineering
Chhatrapati Shivaji Institute of Technology
Durg, Chhattisgarh, India
punyaban@gmail.com
compensator called D-STATCOM. Compared to SVC, the
distribution level static synchronous compensator (D-
STATCOM) has more compact structure, ability to respond
quickly to the reactive power demand and more economical
benefits [2, 3]. There are several control schemes have been
developed to compensate the reactive power and power factor
improvement like control of phase shift [4, 5], decoupled
current control theory (p-q theory) [5, 8], SRF theory [6, 7], ac
and dc voltage regulation [5] etc.
In this paper D-STATCOM is designed for reactive power
compensation using decoupled current control scheme. This
control scheme needs a number of PI controllers, which are
robust and simple. These PI controllers are used to improve the
transient response as well as steady state accuracy. To take the
advantage of the PI controllers, it is highly necessary to tune
the PI parameter properly. By using conventional techniques, it
is very tedious as well as time consuming task to tune the PI
parameters properly because of nonlinear operation of D-
STATCOM [9, 10].
In order to implement the control policy properly there is a
requirement of precise mathematical model of the system under
study. Conventional techniques like Ziegler-Nichols oscillation
method, pole-zero cancellation method, pole assignment
method, smith predictor etc. requires exact determination of
transfer function for tuning of control parameters. So, it is very
difficult and hard for conventional methods to determine the
transfer function as well as optimize the control parameters of
D-STATCOM. Using optimization techniques aforesaid
problem can be solved to a large extent [11, 12, 13, 14]. In the
proposed work, two new recently developed optimization
algorithms (DSA and WDO) are used to get the optimum value
of PI controller parameter for D-STATCOM control system.
The control system parameters are evaluated using an offline
evolution of fitness function. The new PI gains are calculated
by DSA and WDO with minimizing the objective function and
they are applied in the controller to demonstrate the
improvement in capacitor voltage waveform in terms of
overshoot, minimization of error and soome other circuit
constraints. Comparative study of DS SA, WDO with
conventional trial and error method shoows in terms of
improvement in transient stability as welll as convergence
speed.
Section II of the paper gives a brief descrription of principle
of operation of D-STATCOM. Section III deescribes the control
algorithm used in this paper. Section IV V gives important
parameters. Section V describes the basiccs of Differential
Search Algorithm followed by implemeentation of DSA
algorithm. Section VI describes the Wind drriven optimization
followed by implementation of Wind drriven optimization
technique. Section VII gives the design parameter for D-
STATCOM. Simulation studies are preesented and the
discussion is given in section VIII and the coonclusion drawn is
shown in section IX.
II. BASIC PRINCIPLE OF OPERATION OF D-STATCOM
D
Basically, D-STATCOM operates on thee same principle as
STATCOM. It is a reactive source operaated in controlled
manner. It has a voltage source convertter (VSC), which
convert DC to AC voltage and vice versa and a DC link
capacitor which is connected in parallel withh the system. Pulse
width modulation (PWM) technique is usedd to eliminate the
harmonics from the converter output. A couppling inductance is
connected in between the parallel conneected device and
distribution network in series manner as shoown in Fig. 1. The
angle between the VSC and AC system andd the difference of
magnitude of voltage are the two control parrameters for active
and reactive power flow respectively. If the magnitude of
output voltage of VSC and AC terminal volttage is equal then,
no reactive power flow will occur. If the magnitude of AC
terminal voltage is less than the magnitude of output voltage
of VSC then, VSC will operate in capacitivve mode to supply
lagging reactive power to the system and vice versa.
Fig. 1: Basic structure of D-STATCOM
The operations of DST TATCOM for various power
electronics based applications are done to achieve the basic
objectives are
i. Power factor improvem ment for specific loads.
ii. Harmonics mitigation for a specific load as well as
balancing the load.
iii. To minimize the voltaage regulation at the bus end.
III. CONTROLLER STRU
UCTURE OF D-STATCOM
In order to improve the power
p factor of load as well to
compensate the reactive powerr demand, the control algorithm
is studied and implemented in D-STATCOM.
D
Fig. 2: Basic internal structure of D-ST
TATCOM [15].
In this control method thee instantaneous values of three
phase current and voltage are measured
m which is shown in Fig.
2. Here and are controlledd to achieve compensation. By
the application of park’s transfform the current produced from
VSC is split into two parts called direct axis (d-axis) and
quadrature axis (q-axis) coomponents. Two separate PI
controllers are used to conttrol the decoupled direct and
quadrature axis components off current.
In order to get the instantaaneous reference value of direct
axis current ( _ ), a separatee dc voltage PI regulator is used.
The control loop is synchroniized with ac supply by using a
phase locked loop (PLL) in order to convert from abc to dq
reference frame and again thesse components are converted to
abc frame. The sine wave avvailable is compared with the
triangular wave of high freqquency so as to generate the
required PWM pulse for the switching
s of device used in the
VSC.
The injected real power (p)) and reactive power (q) into the
balanced three phase system m by the DSTATCOM is in
accordance with the instantaneeous reactive power is expressed
in the d-q reference frame as
p= + ) (1) ] = 3V (a I) t (7)

q= - ) (2) Where indicates reference value of dc voltage,

indicates the minimum voltage level of DC bus, V indicates
the phase value of voltage, ‘a’ indicates the overloading factor,
When the d-axis is made to lie on the space vector of the
I indicates the value of phase current. =392V, =400V,
voltage, its quadrature component is always zero (
a=1.2, t=0.02s, V=110V, so the value of = 2000 μF.
and 0 . So equation (1) and (2) will become
V. DIFFERENTIAL SEARCH ALGORITHM
p= (3) DSA, a new evolutionary algorithm, is inspired by
migration of living beings which constitutes superorganism
during climate change of the year. Differential Search
q= ) (4)
algorithm (DSA) simulates the Brownian-like random-walk
movement used by an organism like small fish to migrate [16].
Hence the compensation is achieved by controlling the Due to periodical climate changes, many organisms show
value of and so that, the instantaneous value of real and seasonal migration behavior where they shift from one habitat
reactive power produced by D-STATCOM is completely to a more efficient one with a higher efficiency relating to
defined by and . their survival. This type of cluster of organisms gives rise to
so called superorganism.
IV. DESIGN OF THE SYSTEM
The selections of important parameters for the design of D- In DSA implementation artificial organisms (i.e., , i= 1,
STACOM are given below. These are 2, 3,....N) forming a superorganism contains members equal to
the size of the problem (i.e., , , j= 1, 2, 3, ..., D). Here, D
(1) DC link capacitor voltage ( ). indicates size of the respective problem (Dimension of the
(2) Coupling inductance ( ). problem) and N denotes the number of elements in a
(3) DC link capacitor ( ). superorganism (Size of the population). In DSA, the following
equation defines a member of an artificial-organism in initial
Here, we are considering the linear mode operation of position
VSC by applying a balanced 3- phase AC supply.
, = rand×( − )+ (8)
(1) DC link capacitor voltage ( )
Here VSC required a minimum dc capacitor voltage In DSA, Brownian-like random walk model describes the
having magnitude greater than twice the maximum phase mechanism of finding a stopover site at the areas remaining
voltage of the system. between the artificial-organisms. Randomly selected
individuals of the artificial-organisms move towards the
√ targets of donor= [ ] so as to discover
(5)
√ stopover sites, which are very important for a successful
migration. Size of the change occurring in the positions of the
Where represents the modulation index and its value is members of the artificial-organisms is controlled by the scale
taken as 0.8, is the line voltage=√3 *110V. So is found value (R). The stopover site position is given as,
to be 388.90V and is selected as 400V.
Stopoversite = Superorganism+scale×(donor-superorganism) (9)
(2) Coupling Inductance ( )
Here depends on three parameters, which are dc voltage If a stopover site is more fertile than the sources owned by
( ), switching frequency ( ), and the current ripple the artificial-organism of which the individuals that discover
that stopover site, the corresponding artificial-organism moves
to that stopover site. While the artificial-organisms change
√
(6) site, the superorganism containing the artificial organisms
continues its migration towards the global minimum. DSA
Where =0.8, a=1.2 is the over load factor, consists of only two control parameters (i.e., p1 and p2). The
=5%, =10 kHz, =400V. So the is found to be most appropriate values for p1 and p2 were ascertained by
conducting detailed tests and it has been seen that the values
3 mH. p1=0.3*rand and p2=0.3*rand provide the best solutions for
(3) DC link capacitor ( ) the respective problems. Pseudo code of the Differential
Search algorithm is given by Civicioglu [16] and software
Using conservation of energy principle, the value of dc code is given in Civicioglu, 2011.
link capacitor can be expressed in equation (7). The dc
capacitor used here depends on the instantaneous value of
energy available to D-STATCOM during transient period.
 VII. FORMULATION OF OBLECTIVE
O FUNCTION
In this paper the objective function
f is Integral Square Error
(ISE) is used as the perform mance index for optimization
represented by ‘J’. The index ISE is Expressed as

= dt (10)

The upper limit of the inteegral, T is generally chosen as

greater than equal to settling tiime for which the integral tends
to a steady state value. For the D-STATCOM system, we
considered the objective functioon as

11

10
Fig. 3: Flow chart of DSA

VI. WIND DRIVEN OPTIMIZATION TE

ECHINEQUE
Motivation for WDO appears from the eaarth’s atmosphere,
where the equalization of horizontal imbalance in the air
pressure is achieved by blowing of wind. WDOW is a modern
nature inspired, atmospheric motion based global optimization
technique. It is revealed that WDO is eassy to execute and
highly effective in getting solution of multi-dimensional
numerical optimization problems [17]. Bassically WDO is a
heuristic global optimization technique basedd on population as
well as iterative procedures applicable for multi-dimensional
and multi modal problems by implementing constraints on the
search domain. As compared to similaar swarm based
procedures, the robustness as well as extra degrees
d of freedom
is achieved for fine tuning through inserttion of additional
terms such as gravitation force and coriiolis force in the
velocity update equation.
(12)
Where, X = [ and w represents
the weighting factor.
This equation is used whenn outer dc voltage controller and
inner current controller is regullating.
VIII. SIMULATIION RESULTS
In this paper a D-STATCO OM has been designed with the
system parameters which are given
g below in table I. First trial
and error method is used for getting the tune parameters of PI
controller. Then the parameterrs are tuned by DSA and WDO
with ISE (integral square errror) as objective function. The
results are compared in term ms of simulation graph. The
optimum value of PI parameteers of DSA as well as WDO is
given in table II. The resultts are obtained by MATLAB
(R2010a) on a 2.4 GHz Inteel (R) Core (TM) i5 processor
personal computer with 8-G GB RAM. The comparison of
converge characteristics of DSAA and WDO are shown in fig. 9
below.
TABLE I. System parameteers used for simulation

Parameters Values
Source voltage Vs = 110(Phase Voltage)
Source resistance Rs =0.3Ω
Source inductance Ls =0.0013H
Filter resistance R= 0.03Ω
Filter inductance L= 3mh
DC capacitor C= 2000 F
Initial capacitor voltage C= 400v
Fundamental frequency f = 50 HZ
Sampling frequency fs =10 KHZ
Load P= 2000W, Q= 5000W
Fig. 5: Flow chart of WDO
 480 Without compensation
DSA
460 WDO 200
VOLTAGE
TRAIL & ERROR CURRENT
150
440
D C V o lt a g e ( v o lt )

100
420

Source Voltage & Current

50

400 0

380 -50

-100
360
-150

340
0 0.1 0.2 0.3 0.4 0.5 0.6 0.7 0.8 0.9 1 -200
0 0.05 0.1 0.15 0.2 0.25 0.3 0.35 0.4 0.45 0.5
Time (seconds) Time (seconds)

Fig. 6a: DC capacitor voltage responses of D-STATCOM. Fig. 7a: Phase A of Source voltage and current. (R L load)

200
15 VOLTAGE
CURRENT
DSA 150
WDO
10
TRAIL & ERROR 100

Source Voltage & Current

50
5
0
Id c u r r e n t

0 -50

-100

-5
-150

-200
-10 0 0.05 0.1 0.15 0.2 0.25 0.3 0.35 0.4 0.45 0.5
Time (seconds)

-15
0 0.1 0.2 0.3 0.4 0.5 0.6 0.7 0.8 0.9 1 Fig. 7b: Phase A of Source voltage and current. (RC load)
Time (seconds)
With compensation
Fig. 6b: d-axis current responses in D-STATCOM controller.
200
VOLTAGE
CURRENT
150

100
5
Source Voltage & Current

DSA 50
0 WDO
0
-5 TRAIL & ERROR
-50
-10
-100
Iq C u rre n t

-15
-150

-20
-200
0 0.05 0.1 0.15 0.2 0.25 0.3 0.35 0.4 0.45 0.5
Time (seconds)
-25

-30 Fig. 8a: Phase A of Source voltage and current.

-35 200
VOLTAGE
CURRENT
-40 150
0 0.1 0.2 0.3 0.4 0.5 0.6 0.7 0.8 0.9 1
Time (seconds) 100
STATCOM Voltage & Current

Fig. 6c: q-axis current responses in D-STATCOM controller. 50

The simulation results in Fig. 6a, Fig. 6b & Fig. 6c shows -50

that the capacitor voltage responses, the responses of d and q- -100

axis current for three different sets of PI gains obtained by -150

using three different techniques. In this case the capacitor

voltage remains constant at 400V and therefore, the D-
-200
0 0.05 0.1 0.15 0.2 0.25 0.3 0.35 0.4 0.45 0.5
Time (seconds)

STATCOM will be able to compensate the reactive power to

the system by converting DC voltage into AC. Fig. 8b: Phase A of D-STATCOM output voltage and current. (RL load)
 1
x 10
4
conclude that DSA gives better result in comparison to WDO
ACTIVE POWER
RECTIVE POWER
in terms of minimum oscillation, high convergence speed,
robustness and improvement in transient performance.
0.5

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Fig. 9: Convergence characteristics obtained using DSA and WDO.
In this paper, first an effort has been made to design a D-
STATCOM for reactive power compensation at the load end
using decoupled current control technique. Secondly the PI
controller parameters of D-STATCOM controller are tuned by
two recently developed global optimization techniques named
Differential search algorithm and Wind driven optimization
technique with some necessary boundary constraints. In this
case ISE is used as an objective function. From this paper we
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