Simulation of Voltage Sag Detection Method Based on

DQ Transformation

Jidong Wang, Kun Liu, and Guanqing Yang

Key Laboratory of Power System Simulation and Control of Ministry of Education

Tianjin University
300072 Tianjin, China
jidongwang@tju.edu.cn, liukunjordan@yahoo.cn, ygq0530@163.com

Abstract. The rapid detection of characteristics of voltage sag is an important

prerequisite for using dynamic voltage restorer (DVR) for voltage compensa-
tion. This paper introduced an improved derivation detection method based on
dq transformation. Simulation was performed to analyze the advantages and
disadvantages of both methods and compare them. Results showed that the im-
proved detection method had shorter delay and better waveform of detection
and met the requirements of accuracy and timeliness better.

Keywords: voltage sag; detection method; dq transformation; derivation

1 Introduction
Voltage sag is considered as the most serious problem of dynamic power quality
which affects normal operation of electrical equipments. At present, the most
economical and efficient equipment to control voltage sag problem is the dynamic
voltage restorer (DVR) [1] which can produce the required compensation voltage by
controlling circuit. DVR requires very fast response, while the time of rectifier
and inverter side is usually longer. So the speed and accuracy of signal detection and
control has high requirements. The actual compensation time of DVR is used to be
2ms [2]. Considering the detection, control and switching time, we must obtain
the response time of millisecond level strictly. Therefore, the rapid and accurate de-
tection of characteristics of voltage sag is an important prerequisite for achieving
compensation.
There are some traditional voltage sag detection methods, such as RMS detection,
missing voltage technique, peak value detection and fundamental component method
and so on. Although these methods can meet the basic requirements, they can not
ensure the accuracy and timeliness of detection. Now the most basic and common
method is dq transformation on which domestic and foreign scholars proposed many
detection methods based. References [3] and [4] constructed β-axis component by
making single-phase instantaneous voltage as α-axis component in the stationary
coordinate system and achieved detection by dq transformation; Reference [5-7] made
double dq transformation to voltage signal and obtained positive, negative and zero
sequence fundamental components by low-pass filtering of morphological filters, and

W. Hu (Ed.): Electronics and Signal Processing, LNEE 97, pp. 1039–1046.

springerlink.com © Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg 2011
1040 J. Wang, K. Liu, and G. Yang

got the characteristics of voltage sag; Reference [8] combined abc-dq transformation
and 90°phase shift to detect the type of voltage sag effectively and reduce the delay.
In this paper, dq transformation and improved derivation detection method based on
it are introduced and compared. And their advantages and disadvantages are analyzed
by simulation. Results showed that improved derivation detection method can solve
some shortcomings of existing methods and have better timeliness and accuracy.

2 The Basic Principle of DQ Transformation

The most common detection method in DVR is dq transformation method based on
instantaneous reactive power theory. Its basic principle is to make Park transforma-
tion to three-phase vector in abc coordinates and convert it to dq0 coordinates. DC
component in dq0 coordinate system is extracted by low-pass filter and the distortion
component is separated from detection voltage. Ultimately, the characteristics of
voltage sag can be obtained by inverse Park transformation.
From the instantaneous reactive power theory we know that the relation of three-
phase voltage and dq coordinate is:
⎡u a ⎤
⎡u d ⎤ ⎢u ⎥
⎢u ⎥ = C ⎢ b⎥ (1)
⎣ q⎦ ⎢⎣u c ⎥⎦

Where
2 ⎡ sin ωt sin (ωt − 2π 3) sin (ωt + 2π 3) ⎤
C= ⎢ − cos(ωt + 2π 3)⎥⎦
(2)
3 ⎣− cos ωt − cos(ωt − 2π 3)

For an ideal three-phase three-wire system, assuming three-phase voltage is:

⎧ ua = 2U sin ωt
⎪⎪
⎨ub = 2U sin(ωt − 2π / 3) (3)
⎪
⎪⎩uc = 2U sin(ωt + 2π / 3)

The results of transformation are:

u d = 3U (4)
uq = 0 (5)
From (4) and (5) we can know, d-axis component reflects the RMS voltage. Then
instantaneous amplitude of the voltage sag can be determined. Obviously, coordinate
transformation above is only used in three-phase three-wire circuit instead of asym-
metric circuit. However, most of the actual voltage sag events is single-phase fault. A
virtual three-phase voltage system needs to be constructed to make analysis of voltage
sag through the mentioned coordinate transformation. Take A-phase as the example,
considering that the waveform of two adjacent phases are same and the difference of
phase angle between two is 120 degree, so we can get the other two-phase voltage
 Simulation of Voltage Sag Detection Method Based on DQ Transformation 1041

through delaying ua and extract DC component of d-axis and q-axis voltage compo-
nent obtained by making transformation to constructed three-phase voltage according
to (1), as follows:
U dα = 3U sag cos α (6)

U qα = − 3U sag sin α (7)

DC component U dα and U qα can be extracted by filtering, so we can obtain the
amplitude of voltage sag
3
U sag = U d2α + U q2α (8)
3

Phase angle jump is

⎛ ⎛ ⎞
3U qα ⎞⎟ ⎜ U qα ⎟
α = arcsin⎜ − = arcsin⎜ − ⎟ (9)
⎜ 3U sag ⎟ ⎜ ⎟
⎝ ⎠ U d2α + U q2α
⎝ ⎠
The dq transformation can achieve accurate detection to symmetrical fault. For the
common asymmetric fault, new three-phase voltage must be constructed through
delaying 60 °. Considering that power frequency cycle is 0.02s, delay of 60 ° can not
be ignored. If voltage drop can not be detected in the initial stage of sag, this detection
method can not achieve requirements of timeliness and accuracy to some sensitive
electrical equipment in power system [9].

3 The Improved Derivation Detection Method

Because of time delay in constructing voltages, this paper focuses on a derivation
detection algorithm which constructs three-phase voltage ua、 ub、 uc by derivative
calculation. It solves the problem of data inconsistency of the conventional methods
in that delay does not occur in the process of construction. In this paper, dq transfor-
mation is improved.
In the improved detection method, through derivation [10, 11] of single-phase vol-
tage, the cosine signal of this phase voltage can be obtained. According to that the
waveform of two adjacent phases are same and the difference of phase angle between
two is 120 degree, other two virtual phase voltage can be obtained by trigonometric
formulas.
Assuming that symmetrical three-phase voltage is:
⎡ua ⎤ ⎡ U sin ωt ⎤
⎢u ⎥ = ⎢U sin(ωt − 2π / 3) ⎥ (12)
⎢ b⎥ ⎢ ⎥
⎢⎣ uc ⎥⎦ ⎢⎣U sin(ωt + 2π / 3) ⎥⎦

Making derivation to A-phase voltage: ua′ = U ω cos ω t (13)

1042 J. Wang, K. Liu, and G. Yang

Expanding ub by trigonometric functions:

1 3 1 3 ′
ub = − U sin ωt − U cos ωt = − ua − ua (14)
2 2 2 2ω
1 3 ′
Similarly uc = − ua + ua (15)
2 2ω
In the new three-phase voltage system, both ub and uc are associated with ua. There-
fore, DC component U dα and U qα can be obtained by abc-dq coordinate transforma-
tion and low-pass filtering. Voltage sag magnitude and phase angle can be obtained
through (8) and (9) (The same process is not repeated).

4 Results of Simulation
In the actual power system, since most of voltage sag is caused by single phase fault
[12], this paper uses module of power system in MATLAB Simulink to create a system
model and make simulation of situation that single phase fault occurs in the power sys-
tem. Input is three-phase power frequency AC power supply. Ground fault occurs in the
A-phase line from 0.3s to 0.6s. The waveform of A-phase fault is shown as Fig.1:

15

10

5
U/V

-5

-10

-15
0.1 0.2 0.3 0.4 0.5 0.6 0.7
t/s

Fig. 1. The waveform of A-phase fault

For detection of voltage sag, 2-order Butterworth filter of 60Hz cutoff frequency is
adopted in the simulation. Sampling frequency of system is set to 20KHZ.Time delay
is simulated through module “Transport Delay”, and detection results of amplitude
and phase are shown as Fig.2 and Fig.3:
 Simulation of Voltage Sag Detection Method Based on DQ Transformation 1043

5
U/V

0
0 0.1 0.2 0.3 0.4 0.5 0.6 0.7 0.8
t/s

Fig. 2. The waveform of amplitude of dq transformation

-0.2

-0.4

-0.6
α(°)

-0.8

-1

-1.2

-1.4

-1.6
0 0.1 0.2 0.3 0.4 0.5 0.6 0.7 0.8
t/s

Fig. 3. The waveform of phase angle of dq transformation

1044 J. Wang, K. Liu, and G. Yang

Improved dq transformation method uses module “du/dt” to simulate derivation.

Detection results of amplitude and phase through simulation with the same sampling
frequency of system and cutoff frequency of filter are shown as Fig.4 and Fig.5:

5
U/V

0
0 0.1 0.2 0.3 0.4 0.5 0.6 0.7 0.8
t/s

Fig. 4. The waveform of amplitude of improved method

-0.2

-0.4

-0.6
α(°)

-0.8

-1

-1.2

-1.4

-1.6
0 0.1 0.2 0.3 0.4 0.5 0.6 0.7 0.8
t/s

Fig. 5. The waveform of phase angle of improved method

 Simulation of Voltage Sag Detection Method Based on DQ Transformation 1045

Results of simulation showed that, both dq transformation and improved derivation

method could detect the voltage sag and have the same characteristics of voltage sag.
However, detection time of dq transformation was longer. Although improved detec-
tion method also had time delay, it could achieve detection more accurately within the
scope of requirements. If we consider 90% of normal voltage amplitude as starting
threshold of DVR devices, improved detection method had better timeliness result.
Moreover, in the initial stage of voltage sag, waveform of dq transformation method
appeared to have short-term disturbance which may cause malfunction of device,
while the waveform of improved method appeared to be smooth.
Comparing the simulation results of two methods further, waveform of improved
method had small fluctuation. This is because there is harmonics of different order in
the system and derivation of harmonics was ignored in the calculation. Due to discon-
tinuity of voltage in the beginning and ending time, overshoot phenomenon appeared
in the waveform. Discontinuous derivation may occur to be mutation, but it does not
have a significant impact on the results. In addition, low-pass filter may also bring
time delay to the simulation [13]. All these are problems to be solved, but on the
whole, results showed that improved detection method met the requirements of accu-
racy and timeliness for voltage sag compensation better.

5 Conclusion
This paper introduced two detection methods of voltage sag —dq transformation and
improved derivation method and compared two methods through simulation. Results
showed that both two detection methods can achieve detection of voltage sag, but
improved derivation method had shorter delay and met the requirements of accuracy
and timeliness better. However, simulation ignored the impact of harmonic problems
and delay of filter which would have an impact on the results, which need further
study.

Acknowledgments
The authors would like to thank National Natural Science Foundation of China (No.
51007062; No. 50837001) and Special Fund of the National Basic Research Program
of China (No. 2009CB219700).

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