EE-6380

Thyristor Controlled Series Capacitor

(TCSC)

Prof. Salman Hameed

Department of Electrical Engineering,
AMU Aligarh
 Contents
• Introduction

• Schematic diagram

• Working principles of Thyristor controlled series capacitor

• Modes of TCSC operation

• Analysis of TCSC

• Application of TCSC
Introduction
• Use of these controllers, which are essentially high speed power electronic controllers,
results in enhanced utilization of the existing transmission system
• Among various FACTS devices, one of the most important controllers is Thyristor controlled
series capacitor (TCSC)
• TCSC is a series connected device, which modifies the line impedance by inserting a
variable reactance in series with the line, thereby controlling the power flow over the line
• A TCSC can also enhance the power system stability significantly by dynamically changing
the line impedance through a properly designed control system
• Because of its versatility, the TCSC has attracted a lot of attention for studying its
effectiveness for enhancing power system stability.
 Schematic diagram Iline IC C

• The basic module has a series capacitor C, in parallel with a thyristor- T1

controlled reactor, Ls as shown in the Fig. LS

• A metal oxide varistor (MOV) is connected across the series capacitor IT

to prevent the occurrence of high capacitor over voltages.

• MOV allows the capacitor to remain in circuit even during fault (a)
T2

conditions and hence improves transient stability.

• A circuit breaker is installed across capacitor for controlling the
CB

G
insertion of capacitor.
• If the TCSC valves are required to operate in fully ‘ON’ mode for Ld
MOV
prolonged duration, the conduction losses are minimized by installing
an ultra high-speed contact (UHSC) across the valve. + C-

• This offers a loss less switching operation similar to that of circuit UHSC

breakers. LS
T1

• The metallic contact is closed shortly after the thyristor is turned on,
and is opened shortly before the valve is turned off.
T2
• During a sudden overload of the valve, and also during fault (b)
conditions, the metallic contact is closed to minimize the stress on the
valve. TCSC module (a) A basic module
(b) a practical module
• An actual TCSC system usually comprises a cascaded combination of many such TCSC modules,
together with a fixed series capacitor; CF. This fixed series capacitor is provided primarily to
minimize costs. Fig. below shows the conceptual TCSC system with basic TCSC modules.
• The capacitors C1, C2….... Cn; in different TCSC modules may have different values to provide a
wider range of reactance control. The inductor in series with the anti-parallel thyristor is split into
two parts to protect the thyristor valves in case of inductor short circuits.

CF C1 C2 Cn
+ - + - + - + -

0.5L1 0.5L1 0.5L2 0.5L2 0.5Ln 0.5Ln

Conceptual TCSC system

Operation of TCSC
• A TCSC is a series controlled capacitive reactance that can provide continuous control of power
on the AC line over a wide range.

• A simple understanding of TCSC functioning can be obtained by analyzing the behavior of a

variable inductor connected in parallel with a fixed capacitor, as shown in Fig.
C
• The equivalent impedance Zeq of this LC combination can be expressed as : + -

 1  1
Z eq   j  || ( j L )   j
 C  C 
1
L L
A variable inductor connected in
shunt with a fixed capacitor
• If L  (1 / C)
the reactance of the FC is less than that of the parallel connected variable reactor and this
combination provides a variable capacitive reactance.
• If C  (1 / L)
a resonance develops that results in infinite capacitive impedance, this is an unacceptable
condition.
• If C  (1 / L)
then the combination provides inductance above the value of fixed inductor. This situation
corresponds to the inductive Vernier mode of the TCSC operation.

• The behavior of TCSC is similar to that of the LC parallel combination. The difference is that
the LC combination analysis is based on pure sinusoidal voltage and current in the circuit,
whereas in the TCSC because of the voltage and current in the FC and thyristor controlled
reactor (TCR) are not sinusoidal because of thyristor switching.
Modes of operation
TCSC can operate in different modes because of the various operations
of thyristor valves.
• Bypassed Thyristor Mode
• Blocked Thyristor Mode
• Partially Conducting Thyristor or Vernier Mode
Bypassed Thyristor Mode
• In this mode, the thyristors are made to conduct fully with a C

conduction angle of 180.

• Gate pulses are applied as soon as the voltage across the LS
T1

thyristor reaches zero and becomes positive, resulting in

continuous sinusoidal flow of current through the thyristor
valves.
T2
• The TCSC module behaves like a parallel capacitor inductor
combination. TCSC bypassed thyristor mode
Blocked Thyristor Mode
• This mode is also known as waiting mode, in this mode the C

firing pulses to the thyristor valves are blocked.

T1
LS

• If the thyristors are conducting and a blocking command is

given, the thyristors turn off as soon as the current through
them reaches a zero crossing. T2

TCSC blocked thyristor mode

• Hence this behaves as fixed series capacitor, and the net TCSC
reactance is capacitive.
Partially Conducting Thyristor or Vernier Mode
• This mode allows the TCSC to behave either as a continuously
C

controllable capacitive reactance or as a continuously controllable T1

inductive reactance. This is achieved by varying the thyristor-pair firing LS

angle in an appropriate range.
T2

• A variant of this mode is capacitive vernier control mode, in which the

TCSC partially conducting
thyristor are fixed when the capacitor voltage and capacitor current
have opposite polarity. capacitive vernier mode

• This condition causes a TCR current opposite to capacitive current, C

thereby resulting loop current flow in the TCSC controller. The loop T1
current increases the voltage across the FC, effectively enhancing the
equivalent capacitive reactance and series compensation level for the LS

same value of the line current. T2

• Another variant is the inductive vernier mode, in this mode the TCSC partially conducting
direction of circulating current is reversed and the controller behaves as inductive vernier mode
inductive impedance.
Analysis of TCSC
The line current is assumed to be sinusoidal. vC(t)

The current through the capacitor, C, is given as: C

S
dv L
C C  i S (t )  iT (t ).u iT(t)
dt
where u is the switching variable.
u  1 , when thyristor valves are conducting or when switch S is closed.
iS(t)
u  0 , when thyristors are blocked or when switch S is open.
iT (t ) is thyristor valve current and is given as Simplified TCSC circuit
diT (t )
L  vC .u
dt
Let the line current, iS (t ) , be represented by iS (t )  I m cost

Above equations can be solved with the knowledge of the instants of switching.
For balanced TCSC operation, the thyristors are switched on twice in each cycle of line current at instants
  
t1,t3 , given as t1   t3 
 
 is the angle of advance (before the forward voltage becomes zero)i.e.,

    ; 0     max
Where
The firing angle  is generated using a reference signal that can be in phase with the capacitor voltage.
The thyristor switch S turns off at the instants t 2 and t 4 , defined as

 
t 2  t1  t 4  t3 
 
 is the conduction angle, which is assumed to be the same for both positive and negative cycle of
conduction. Also
  2 or

  2(   )
On solving the above equations , iT (steady state thyristor current), can be given as;

k2  cos  
iT (t )  2 I m  cost  cos r t ;    t  
k 2  cos k 

r 
1 r  1 1  XC
LC k   . 
   L C  XP

X C  nominal reactance of the fixed capacitor only.

X p  inductive reactance of inductor connected in parallel with fixed capacitor.

The steady state capacitor voltage at the instant t   is given as

Im X C
vC1  2 (sin   k cos  tan k )
k 1
Att   , iT  0 , and the capacitor voltage is given as
vC (t )  vC 2  vC1
• The final expression for the capacitor voltage is given by

Im XC  cos  
vC (t )  
  sin t  k sin  r 
t ;    t  
k 1 
2
cos k 

vC (t )  vC 2  Im X C (sint  sin  );   t    

The equivalent TCSC reactance is

VCF X C2 2  sin 2 4 X C2 cos2  (k tan k  tan  )

X TCSC   XC  
Im (XC  X P )  ( X C  X P ) (k 2  1) 
or

VCF X C2   sin  4 X C2 cos2 ( / 2) (k tan( k / 2)  tan( / 2))

X TCSC   XC  
Im (X C  X P )  ( X C  X P ) (k 2  1) 

X TCSC
X pu 
XC
• The variation of equivalent TCSC reactance as a function of firing angle

Equivalent TCSC reactance as a function of firing angle

Advantages of TCSC
• Rapid, continuous control of transmission-line series compensation level.
• Dynamic control of power flow in selected transmission lines within the network to enable optimal
power-flow conditions and prevent the loop flow of power.
• Suppression of sub synchronous oscillations.
• Damping of power swings from local and inter-area oscillations.
• Enhanced level of protection for series capacitors.
• Voltage support- The TCSC in conjunction with series capacitor can generate reactive power that
increases the line loading, there by helping the regulation local network voltages, and in addition,
the alleviation of any voltage instability.
• Reduction of the short-circuit current. During events of high short-circuit current, the TCSC can
switch from the controllable-capacitance to the controllable-inductance mode, thereby restricting
the short-circuit currents.
Applications of TCSC
Voltage collapse prevention
The TCSC’s high speed switching capabilities provides the mechanism for
controlling power flow, which permits increased loading of existing transmission
lines and allows for rapid readjustment of line power flow in response to various
contingencies.
The TCSC can also regulate steady-state power flow within its rating limit.
If a TCSC is installed to provide a compensation of the line experiencing the
highest increase in power at the point of collapse, the maximum loadability will
be enhanced.
Sources
• https://slideplayer.com/slide/11416651/
• https://slideplayer.com/slide/13036451/
• https://www.coursehero.com/file/53371531/TCSCppt/
• https://new.abb.com/facts/thyristor-controlled-series-compensation
• https://new.siemens.com/global/en/products/energy/high-
voltage/facts.html
Thanks