1448 IEEE Tranractions on Power Delivery, Vol. 14, No.

4, October 1999

Modeling and Control Design of a Static Synchronous Series Compensator

L, Sunil Kumar and Arindam Ghosh, Senior Member, IfilX
Department of Electrical Engineering
Indian Institute of Technology
Kanpur 208 016, INDIA
Abstrad -The design, modeling and control design of a 48-step
inverter based static synchronous series compensator (SSSC) is
presented in this paper. A magnetic circuit is chosen which con-
tains eighteen single-phase three winding transformers and six
single-phase two winding transformers to add the output volt-
ages of eight three-phase invcrters. An equivalent circuit model
of the SSSC is derived and based on this model a proportional-
plus-integral controller is proposed. The controller gains are
chosen through eigenvalue analysis of the IEEE first benchmark
model for snbsynchronous resonance (SSR) analysis. The SSSC
model, its control and the results of the eigenvalue analysis are
then validated through PSCADlEMTDC simulation. It is shown
that for certain controller gains torque amplification of the shaft
modes can occur.
1 INTRODUCTION
Some of the major issues that are involved in bulk power
transmission are enhancing the level of power transfer capa-
bility of existing transmission lines and flexible control over
power flow through these lines. To achieve the above goals,
the current trend is to use solid state devices for faster control
and reliable operation. Even though the initial investment of
installing any of these devices is high, preliminary studies
show that in many occasions the installation cost is paid back
by the savings and benefits incurred within a few months [I].
Power electronic devices, which are used for power flow
control, are categorized nuder the generic name of flexible ac
transmission systems (FACTS). There are three major facets
of FACTS. They are shunt compensation, series compensa-
tion and phase angle regulation. Of these three, the series
compensation has received much attention of late. Most of
the work in this area has been focused to the study of thyris-
tor controlled series compensator (TCSC), specifically its
benefits vis-a-vis the quenching of SSR [2].
A TCSC alters the fundamental frequency line reactance
by the control of thyristor firing angle. A static synchronous
series compensator (SSSC), on the other hand injects a mag-
nitude-controllable, nearly sinusoidal voltage in series with
the transmission system. The heart of the SSSC is a voltage
source inverter (VSI) that is supplied by a dc storage ca-
pacitor. The voltage injected by the SSSC is (almost) in
PE.~~~.PWRD.O.O,-~~~~ A paper recommended and approved by
the IEEE Transmission and Distribution Committee of the IEEE Power
Engineering Society for publication in the IEEE Transactions on Power
Delivery. Manuscript submitted April 14, 1998; made available for
printing January 28, 1999.
quadrature with the transmission line current such that it
emulates the behavior of a series inductor or capacitor. The
benefits of using an SSSC are listed in [3]. This is further
elaborated in [4] in which magnetic structure of a 24-step
SSSC and its control system block diagram are presented.
The results shown are limited to inductive and capacitive
modes of operation of SSSC.
In this paper we first propose the magnetic circuit struc-
ture of a harmonic neutralized 48-step SSSC. A kndamental
frequency model of this SSSC is then derived. Based on this
fundamental frequency model, a simple PI controller for the
SSSC dc capacitor voltage control is designed. The controller
parameters are selected through eigenvalue analysis and the
results are validated through digital computer simulation
studies.
2.48-STEP VSI CONFIGURATION AND MODEL
A 48-step VSI, which includes eight 6-step inverters (identi-
fied as inverter 1 to 8) and a magnetic circuit, is considered in
this paper. The magnetic circuit contains 24 single-phase
transformers of which I8 are three-winding transformers.
These transformers are connected to generate three-phase
voltage waveforms. For this purpose, three transformers are
used for each inverter, the primary sides being connected in
delta. This is shown in Fig.1, from which the sequence of
representation of a particular phase can easily be concluded.
A
R
H
Fig. 1 P ~ i n m i.side
y trmisjbr~erconnection
The secondary side transformer connections are shown in
Fig. 2. In this connection, Some Of the secondaries are con-
nected in delta (Fig. 2a) and the rest of them are connected in
wye (Fig. 2b). The terminal marked 1 of delta is connected to
terminal marked I of wye, a similar fashion terminals 2
and 3 are also connected. The output terminals are denoted by
a+-/. Uppercase letters denotes the primary sides, while
corresponding secondary sides are denoted by lowercase let-
ters. It is to be noted that only the 1%' and 5Ih inverters are

08S5-8977/9Y/$l0.00 0 1999 IEEE

Authorized licensed use limited to: Universidad de Sevilla. Downloaded on December 15,2021 at 15:21:37 UTC from IEEE Xplore. Restrictions apply.

connected to two-winding transformers. The tertiary wind-
ings of the rest are denoted by primed lowercase letters. The
dot convention is as shown in Figs 1 and 2. The turns ratio of
the various transformers are given in Table 1. Through this
connection we are able to get a 48step output waveform in
which lowest ac side harmonics are 47* and 49* while that of
the dc side is 48'".
1 5
Fig. 2 Trmsfoonnersecondmy conjguranon
To d e r i d a fbndamental frequency model of this inverter,
we add the voltage vectors between a and p to get the open-
circuit voltage appearing at the output of the inverter in terms
of the output phase voltage of inverter 1. This is given by
V@+= sd Vh"
where IVA-,.l=2Vdc/z is the magnitude of the line-to-
neutral voltage of phase4 of inverter 1 and Vdc is the dc
capacitor voltage. Similarly we can obtain the voltages ofthe
other two phases.
Authorized licensed use limited to: Universidad de Sevilla. Downloaded on December 15,2021 at 15:21:37 UTC from IEEE Xplore. Restrictions apply.
1449
The current through the dc capacitor is now derived from
the law of conservation of instantaneous power. This means
that the dc side instantaneous power must he equal to the
three-phase ac instantaneous power. Again to interface the
inverter with a power system, an interface transformer is re-
quired as shown in Fig. 3. We then can write
- iJdC = ii,va-p + i;,,vg-y+ iLevy-a (2)
~ 22.5" forinvenerr
Tablo 1 Tranrfomortumsratios: 8 = 1.5".1 5 and
2.3and4rospectiv~lyand( = 7.5', 15' and 22.5" foriinverters6,l
InverterNo. Primary ] Secondary Tertiary
1 1 1 I/$ X
2,3and4 1 I cos~fh
sine
1 1 X
Interface
Transformer
To magnetic circuit
Fig. 3 The arrangement of inlefacing rrmvjormer
Each 6-step inverter leg contains a pair of GTO-anti-
parallel diode combination. An ideal switch, a high turn-off
and a low turn-on resistance represent this combination. The
equivalent circuit of Fig. 4 is obtained for one leg of a 6-step
inverters. Let the current that is entering the dc side be de-
noted by some current iA. Then it secs a small turn-on series
resistance always, whereas the capacitor voltage always con-
nected in parallel with a series combination of turn-on and
.
turn-off resistances as the switches are reciprocal.
Fig. 4 Eqtiivderrl represe,rralion ofone inverter reg
2.1 Fundamental Model of the Inverter
The hndamental model of the inverter, which contains an ac
and a dc side, is shown in Fig. 5 . If the primary to secondary
turns ratio of the interfacing transformer is 1 ; (r , then the
voltage appearing across secondary power system side is
v, = UV& (3)
(1) The ac side reactanm is calculated through appropriate
w y d d e h transformations of the leakage reactance of the
interfacing transformer as well as all the converter transform-
ers and the resistance is calculated through the transformation
of the turn-on resistance. All the transformers are assumed to
be lossless for simplicity.
1450
The dc side current is given by where X,= d, Xdc = I/&, , p , = &/X, and
= cr idc (4)
The capacitor voltage sees 24 parallel combinatio~i of the pz =v 5 d d c
resistance given in Fig. 3. The dc resistance is then given by 4 CONTROLLER DESIGN
Rdc = (Ref + EO,)/24 The purpose ofthe SSSC control is to retain the charge on the
dc capacitor and to inject a voltage in quadrature with the line
current. Again, from (5) we see that the magnitude of the
injected voltage is directly proportional to the dc capacitor
voltage. Thus by charging or discharging the dc capacitor we
can control the power flow over the line.
Now consider the last row of (6) that presents the dy-
namics of the dc voltage. Linearizing this non-linear equation
3 SSSC MODEL we get
d
The instantaneous voltage of phase-a of the 48-step inverter -AVdc =a Ai, i b AiQ - c A Vde+d A@, (7)
can be assumed to be a fundamental voltage with a frequency dt
of o rad/s. Combining (1) and (3) we can then write where A indicates a perturbation from the nominal value (de-
noted by subscript 0) and
a = pz sin By,, b = p2 cosBfo, c = d d C / R d c
where Bl is the phase displacement of the fundamental volt- d = P,( c o s ~-~sin~~ /i, i ~
; , ,~
),
age From a reference bus. The phase displacement is obtained We now choose a proportional-plus-integral (PI) control-
ler to compensate for any variation in AVd, (see Fig. 6). The
by phase shifling the conduction angle of inverter 1 from the
control system is then given by
reference bus by the same amount. The voltages of the other
two phases can be written in a similar manner "8, = c'c(Avdwd -Avdc)= k p +$.)(AKbaf (8)
When the SSSC is connected to a power system, the line
The closed-loop characteristic equation is then given by
current ( i r ) flows as indicated in Fig. 5. Also from (2) and
.sz + .(C + K,d)+ KId = 0
(4) we get
The above equation will have all negative real roots if the
16&
iiti=-~-bIiL, +p2JLb
+fi3iL0} following two conditions are satisfied
a
2n (c +K,d)> 0 and 4K,d 2 (c +K,d)Z (9)
where 11, =&(cur + 0, ), p2 2 sin(@ + of - --) and
3 It can be easily shown that the steady-state error of the above
p3 =sin(& + 0 + -2n
) , We can then write control system is zero for any step change in capacitor volt-
f 3 age and line current. It is to be noted further that the above
equation guarantees the stability of the capacitor voltage loop
only. We can thus say that (9) is a necessary condition for
stability, but not suficient. The sufficiency condition can he
ensured by choosing those values of these gains which force
the eigenvalues of the entire system to be have negative real
parts.

166 1 166 1
where k, =cr-x- and k, =cr---x-.
Con-
7c L, Cd,
verting the above equation in D-Q frame and normalizing in I I
per unit form, we get Fig. 6 Hlockd!apm of the conlrolsymn

5. EIGENVALUEANALYSIS
For eigenvalue analysis, we consider a singlemachine, infi-
nite-bus (SMIB)system as shown in Fig. 7. The system has
three distinct subsystems - generator, transmission and SSSC.
In addition we have also included a six-mass turbine model.

Authorized licensed use limited to: Universidad de Sevilla. Downloaded on December 15,2021 at 15:21:37 UTC from IEEE Xplore. Restrictions apply.
 1451

The actual model of the generator, turbine and the transmis- incorporated in the overall system. Since that for a constant
sion system is the IEEE first benchmark model (FBM) for reference value AV, = 0 , the dc loop equation (including
SSR studies [5]. the controller) can he written as
k~= ~ N I +~IB,vIAu,v
N (13)
where x z = [AVd, AS,], U; = [ID iu]= yg

I I -
------ -- -_I

Fig. 7 Single Lie diogrm of (he compcnrrriedpower.cysysrer

5.1 Generator Model

The generator electrical as well as the mechanical equations
are derived in the same manner as given in [6]. These equa-
tions, upon linearization, are given by
= [Ao 1 4 + [BG1A% (10)
&GX,

5.3 Combined System Model

sin a,,
I
AYG [GI (11) Combining (IO) to (13) we get the following overall system
where the state is given by equation
,; -- k*l I, Ki E: 6, S" I;,. s, TI.PlLg I
= [Aq,* A?ws (14)
sm1
{ 2 c, Ino]]
-1
&, TLPA,I.l'8 SUA TIP,f.M SIP THP.IP
In the above equation r~ denotes the rotor flux linkage, E' where Ax;,$ = Ax;], H = f--[ and
denotes the transient internal voltage, 6, is the rotor angle, S
denotes the per unit slip and II' denotes the torque. Note that
the six-mass mechanical system contains the generator (g),
exciter (e), LPB, LPA, IP and HP turbine shafts. The torques 1' B,C,
between these shafts are indicated by subscripts. The input
vector contains the terminal voltages and the output vector 5.5 Results of Eigenvaliie Analysis
contains the armature (line) currents. They are given by The eigenvalue analysis is carried out for the IEEE first
14; = [vD v,] and y o = hio iIP]. benchmark (FBM) system on SSR analysis [5]. The leakage
reactances of all the transformers in the 48-step inverter as
It is to be noted that the generator electrical quantities are
represented in d-q domain with respect to the synchronously well as the interface transformer are assumed to be 10% at
their own bases. The dc capacitor is assumed to have a value
rotating frame of the generator. The input and output quanti-
ties, however, are transformed with respect to a common ref- of 2000 pF, while the turn-on ( K O , ) and turn-off (R,) re-
erence D-Q frame for the entire system [6]. sistances of the GTOs are chosen as 0.01 0 and 1 MQ re-
spectively. The system eigenvalues are computed based on
5.2 Network Model (14) for various values of the controller gains. A 3-
In deriving the model of SSSC in (6), we have only consid- dimensional plot depicting the controller parameter space is
ered the equivalent impedance of the device. As the network shown in Fig. 8. In this plot, the x- and y-axis show the con-
(including the transformer connected at two ends) is repre- troller gains. If for a particular set of controller gains all the
sented by a series impedance, Kirchoff s voltage law can he eigenvalues are stable, z-axis show8 a one. On the other hand,
written for the entire network including the machine terminal if any of the eigenvalues has a positive real part, the z-axis
and the infinite bus voltages. The resulting equation is similar will indicate a zero. From this figure, we divide the controller
to the one given in (6). Linearizing and rearranging, the cur- space into three separate zones. These zones approximately
rent differential equations are given by are:
X 'A Unstable zone 1: K ii95
AuG = 1 y +~[F]Ayo + [179]hN (12)

[I'=
w

X, 'K,.7 1 2 '1 I=
&sinef
[& cos@/
&v~~,,
COSS,,
- fiVdGosins,,
] Stable zone: 95 5 K , 5 600
Unstable zone 2: Kl t 600
The system stability depends heavily on the integral gain, the
proportional gain having a less impact. Modes that are re-
where X, = (I.,+I,, + f , , ) ~and R, = K + R, are the total sponsible for instability are given in Table 2 for two sample
reactance and resistance respectively (see Fig. 7). points in the controller parameter space. Even though the
To observe the behavior of the overall system with table indicates only one unstable mode in each zone, more
changes in the controller parameters, the control loop must be than one mode may be unstable for different controller gain.

Authorized licensed use limited to: Universidad de Sevilla. Downloaded on December 15,2021 at 15:21:37 UTC from IEEE Xplore. Restrictions apply.
 Time (s) Time (s)

Fig. 8 C o , ~ l r o l l e r p ~ ~ c n , l c i ~indimring
~ , ~ l o l sysfeni iln1,ility
lkblc 2 Ihistablo eiycnvdues in thc two unstnblc zones

The unstable mode of zone-l shown in the above table is

called torsional mode 0 while that of zone-2 is called tor-
sional mode 1 [6].Mode 0 represents the oscillation of the
entire rotor against the power system and all rotor masses
participate equally in this mode. This mode is usually consid-
ered in stability studies.
6 SIMULATlON RESULTS
The SSSC, its control design and results of the eigen-
value analysis are validated through PSCADiEMTDC simu-
lation results with IEEE-FBM. A steady-state operating point
chosen in which the machine operates with a load angle of 0.5
34" while transferring a power of 0.53 per unit. The dc ca-
pacitor of the SSSC is charged to I O kV and firing angle of 2
the SSSC is chosen to be 98.25" (lagging) with respect to the P
infinite bus. In practice it is not feasible to measure the firing d
8
o
angle with respect to the infinite bus. Thus a local bus be- -0.25
tween the generator and the SSSC is chosen for setting the 0 6 12
angle reference. This has the odded advantage that the control
system requires only the local measurements. The firing an-
gle of the SSSC with respect to the local bus 2 in Fig. 7 is P 4
94.5" (lagging). A bolted. three-cycle, three-phase to ground in c 1
fault is created between the SSSC and the infinite bus when Et:
2 0.5 d
Id
a
the system is operating in the steady-state for 0.5 seconds. a -1 4
The results obtained for the three different zones mentioned -0.5 -0.5
0 6 12 0 6 12
above are discussed below. Time(s) fime(s)
6.1 Stable Zone /*'ig.I O .%@ oscilloiiomJhr .sioble zom opwolioar: (a)71/'-/1' mrqrre, (h)
IP-/,/'A looryue, (cl l~/'/~-/,I'Liloryae s r l (d)LI'BKien~raiorI w q m
The system responses are shown in Figs. 9 and 10. The con-
troller gains chosen for this study are 6.1 Unstable Zoiics 1 and 2
K , = 1 and K , = SO0 The controller gains for these two zones are the same as
It can he seeti that even though the system is brought back to given in Table 2. Only four system quantities (two electrical
the steady-state after the fault clearance, the oscillations in and two mechanical) for these two cases are shown in Figs.
the shaft modes persist for longer duration as no damping has 11 and 12. It is evident from Fig. 11 that the oscillations start
been provided to these modes. Moreover, the line transicnts growing in the electrical quantities (almost) immediately
persist for longer duration as no automatic voltage regulator following the fault when the controller is in the unstable zone
(AVR) or power system stabilizer (PSS) are added to the 1. These quantities, however, settle immediately after the
generator excitation. However, as is eviderit the oscillations clearing of the fault only to grow unboundedly aRer some
in both electrical and mechanical modes are decaying. time when the controller is in the unstable zone 2 (Sec Fig.

Authorized licensed use limited to: Universidad de Sevilla. Downloaded on December 15,2021 at 15:21:37 UTC from IEEE Xplore. Restrictions apply.

12). For the shafi modes, the behavior is just opposite. For
example when the controller is in unstable zone 1, the shaR
modes experience sustained oscillations and grow slowly. On
the other hand, when the controller is operating in the zone 2,
the shaft mode oscillations start growing almost as soon as
the fault is applied.
Timels)
Fg. I I .%stern response iti unsfablezme I : (a) generator Cnnind voltage.
(b) load angle, (e) IP-LPA torque mul (d) LPA-LPU torque
- -0 6 12 “0 6 12
“0 6 6 12
l”lI?le(S) Tlme(s)
PiS. 12 S)uleni respome m unmble zone 2: (a) generator terminal voltage,
(b) loadangle, (c) IP-LPA lorque mul (d) LPA-LPB lorqre
From these results some very significant inferences can be
made. We can deduce that in the unstable zone 1, one or more
modes associated with the electrical quantities are unstable
(mode 0 instability), This instability is caused by the control-
ler interaction with the network and generator electrical
quantities even if the SSSC stability conditions given in (9)
are satisfied. This instability can be avoided by a suitable
choice of nower svstem stabilizer. However. in the unstable
zone 2, the instability is caused by the controller interaction
with the mechanical system torsional modes, This fact is also
evident from Table 2 where the oscillation frequency of
99.068 radls corresponds to the one of the mechanical modes
171. We therefore can conclude that a large value of integral
controller gain can cause the shaft torques to amplify.
Authorized licensed use limited to: Universidad de Sevilla. Downloaded on December 15,2021 at 15:21:37 UTC from IEEE Xplore. Restrictions apply.
1453
7 CONCLUSIONS
This paper presents an approach to the design of SSSC with
its associated control. A fundamental frequency model of the
SSSC is proposed based on which a PI controller is designed
in a linearized domain. The proposed model and the control-
ler are then integrated to a linearized model of an SMIB
power system for eigenvalue analysis. The results are vali-
dated through PSCADEMTDC simulation.
Through the eigenvalue analysis and simulation results it
is highlighted that the choice of the control parameters are
crucial for a successful implementation of SSSC. For some
set of parameters, the system electrical quantities may cause
instability to the system, while for some other parameters the
mechanical system may interact with the SSSC control sys-
tem resulting in torsional mode oscillation. It is therefore
imperative that better control design and a thorough analysis
of the total system must precede the installation of SSSC.
Furthermore, the possibility of introducing auxiliary control
signal vis-a-vis the reduction of torsional interaction may be
investigated.
REFERENCES
[I] EPRI Report on Flexible AC Transmis.~ionSy~stems
(FACE), Number EL-6943, Sept., 1991
[2]R. Rajaraman, I. Dobson, R.H. Lasseter and Y. Shern,
“Computing the Damping of Subsynchronous Oscillations
due to a Thyristor Controlled Series Capacitor,” IEEE
Trans. Power Delivew, Vol. 11, No. 2, pp. 1120-1127,
1996.
[3]L. Gyugyi, C.D. Schauder and K.K. Sen, “Static Syn-
chronous Series Compensator: A Solid-State Approach to
the Series Compensation of Transmission Lines,” IEEE
Trans. Power Delivery, Vol. 12, No. 1, pp. 406-417,
1997.
[4] K.K. Sen, “SSSC - Static Synchronous Series Compen-
sator: Theory, Modeling and Application,” I E E Trans.
Power Deltvey, Vol. 13, No. 1, pp. 241-246, 1998.
[5] IEEE Committee Repon, “First Benchmark Model for
Computer Simulation of Subsynchronous Resonance,”
IEEE Trans. Power App. & Syst,, Vol. PAS-96, No. 5, pp.
1565-1571, 1977.
[6] K.R. Padiyar, Power Sysfem Dynamics: Sfability and
Control, Interline, Bangalore, 1996.
[7] P.M. Anderson, B.L.Agarwal and I.E. Van Ness, SubAyn-
chronous Resonance in Power Systems, IEEE Press, New
York, 1990
L. Sunil Kumar received his Bachelor of Technology from
S W College of Engineering, Tirupati, India and Master of
Technology from IITKanpur in 1996 and I998 respectively.
His interests are in the areas of FACTS devices and control.
Arindam Ghosb (S’80, M83, SM93) is a Professor of
Electrical Engineering at IIT Kanpur. He received a Ph.D. in
EE from University of Calgary, Canada. He has held visiting
positions in Nanyang Technological University, Singapore
and University of Queensland, Australia. His interests are in
areas of Power Systems, Power Electronics and Controls.