CLOSED-LOOP CONTROL 317

8.3.2 Constant-Angle (CA) Control

This control is useful and relevant for situations in which transmission paths
exist in parallel with the TCSC-compensated line. The control objective dur-
ing transient or contingency situations is to keep the power flow unchanged
in the parallel paths while allowing variations in the power transmitted across
the TCSC-compensated line. To keep the power flow constant in shunt paths
necessitates maintaining the angular difference constant across the lines, thus
imparting the name constant-angle control, or CA control, to this strategy. If
the voltage magnitudes at the two line ends are assumed to be regulated, then
maintaining a constant angular difference implies maintaining a constant-volt-
age drop, V L , across the line.
The control objective while neglecting the line resistance is expressed as
V L c I L X LR − V TCSC c K c V L ref

or
1
IL c (K + V TCSC
X LR

or

冢 冣
V TCSC
I ref − I L −
X LR

where K c the constant c V L ref

I L c the magnitude of current in the TCSC-compensated line
318 TCSC APPLICATIONS

X LR c the net line reactance, including the effect of the fixed

capacitor c X L − X FC
V TCSC c the voltage across the TCSC (positive for capacitive voltage;
negative for inductive voltage)
I ref c the reference current c K / X LR c V L ref / X LR
X L c the total-line inductive reactance
X FC c the reactance of the fixed capacitor in the line (if any)

As mentioned previously, TCSCs are usually employed is conjunction with

fixed capacitors for minimizing cost and improving control efficacy.
The control characteristic for CA control in the V TCSC − I L plane is depicted
in Fig. (b). Line segment AB represents the control range, having a slope
X LR . Segments OA and BC represent the minimum and maximum TCSC reac-
tance limits, respectively. The CA control is highly effective in reducing power
swings.
The TCSC control-system block diagram, incorporating features of both CC
and CA control, is shown in Fig. . In this figure, T m indicates the time con-
stant associated with the measurement circuit, which is generally a first-order
low-pass filter. Similar measurement circuits are assumed for both TCSC-volt-
age and line-current measurements. In CC control, the multiplier block S is set
to zero, whereas in CA control, S is assigned the value 1/ X LR . The regulator
is primarily a PI controller that is occasionally in cascade with a phase-lead
circuit, as shown in Fig. If pure-integral action is required, K P is set to
zero.
For CC control, the integral gain K I is considered positive. In this control
scheme, a positive current-error signal implies that the TCSC capacitive reac-
tance must be increased to enhance the line current and thereby reduce the error
signal, and in the CA control, the gain K I is treated negative. If the current-
error signal is positive, it is noted from Eqs. that the net voltagedrop VL
in the line is less than the reference V L ref , necessitating a decrease in

I ref + Ie X ref
Σ Regulator
−

Im 1 − V TCSC
1 + sTm Σ S
+
IL

A block diagram of a CC or CA controller.

 CLOSED-LOOP CONTROL 319

Ie 1 + sT1 KI +
Σ
1 + sT2 s X ref
+

KP
1 + sTc

A block diagram of the regulator.

the TCSC voltage V TCSC and consequently in the TCSC reactance X TCSC (or
X ref ). For this reason, K I is assigned a negative sign in CA control.
Although the TCSC firing delays are modeled by a single time constant of
15 ms, they may be ignored in electromechanical-stability studies , astheir
effect is insignificant.
An elaborate case study for a single-machine infinite-bus (SMIB) system
that depicts the influence of constant line-power control and CA control of the
TCSC is presented]. It is demonstrated that the CC and CA strategies are
suitable only in SMIB systems having two or more parallel transmission
paths. In case a critical contingency causes an outage of the parallel transmis-
sion paths, the line-power scheduling, controller must be disabled. If, however,
the TCSC is equipped with additional damping controllers, the paths should be
retained to ensure satisfactory damping levels during an outage.