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Indiana University-Purdue University Indianapolis (IUPUI) / The inner structural characteristics of non-minimum phase DC-DC converters pose a severe limitation in direct regulation of voltage when addressed from a control perspective. This constraint is reflected by the presence of right half plane zeros or the unstable zero dynamics of the output voltage of these converters. The existing controllers make use of one-to-one correspondence between the voltage and current equilibriums of the non-minimum phase converters and exploit the property that when the average output of these converters is the inductor current, the system dynamics are stable and hence they indirectly regulate the voltage. As a result, the system performance is susceptible to circuit parameter and load variation and require additional controllers, which in turn increase the system complexity. In this thesis, a novel approach to this problem is proposed for second order non-minimum phase converters such as Boost and Buck-Boost Converter. Different solutions have been suggested to the problem based on whether the converter is modeled as a linear system or as a nonlinear system. For the converter modeled as a linear system, the non-minimum phase part of the system is decoupled and its transfer function is converted to minimum phase using a parallel compensator. Then the control action is achieved by using a simple proportional gain controller. This method accelerates the transient response of the converter, reduces the initial undershoot in the response, and considerably reduces the oscillations in the transient response. Simulation results demonstrate the effectiveness of the proposed approach. When the converter is modeled as a bilinear system, it preserves the stabilizing nonlinearities of the system. Hence, a more effective control approach is adopted by using Passivity properties. In this approach, the non-minimum phase converter system is viewed from an energy-based perspective and the property of passivity is used to achieve stable zero dynamics of the output voltage. A system is passive if its rate of energy storage is less than the supply rate i.e. the system dissipates more energy than stores. As a result, the energy storage function of the system is less than the supply rate function. Non-minimum phase systems are not passive, and passivation of non-minimum phase power converters is an attractive solution to the posed problem. Stability of non-minimum phase systems can also be investigated by defining the passivity indices. This research approaches the problem by characterizing the degree of passivity i.e. the amount of damping in the system, from passivity indices. Thus, the problem is viewed from a system level rather than from a circuit level description. This method uses feed-forward passivation to compensate for the shortage of passivity in the non-minimum phase converter and makes use of a parallel interconnection to the open-loop system to attain exponentially stable zero dynamics of the output voltage. Detailed analytical analysis regarding the control structure and passivation process is performed on a buck-boost converter. Simulation and experimental results carried out on the test bed validate the effectiveness of the proposed method.

This research analyzes the linkage between power system disturbances and failures in relaying systems. The annual disturbance reports prepared by the North American Electric Reliability Council were examined. It has been found that relaying system failures plays very important role in power system cascading outages. The type of relaying system failures that are the most troublesome are the ones that have a potential to remain hidden until being exposed by some abnormal power system states to trigger relay misoperations. Each commonly used relaying scheme in transmission system is examined for any hidden failures that can lead to relay misoperations and multiple power system contingencies. Each hidden failure mode has a region, called region of vulnerability. Inside this region, some abnormal power system states can expose the hidden failure. The reach of the region depends largely on the settings of the relay in question. A method of computing the relative importance of each region of vulnerability, called vulnerability index, was proposed. The calculation of the index can be based on some measurements of power system performances. In this research, the stability measurements of the system following some contingencies that may occur in the region are chosen. With this approach, vulnerable relays can be identified. A preventive method was proposed so that the number of relay misoperations due to hidden failures and, ultimately, the number of power system disturbances can be reduced. / Ph. D.

This thesis investigates the use of real-time phasor measurements for voltage and transient stability monitoring and control. Taking advantage of the ability of a Phasor Measurement Unit (PMU) placed at a bus to sample at a fast rate the voltage and current phasors of that bus) various schemes for placing PMU's are considered and evaluated. These schemes include coherency based methods and pilot point placement techniques for system controllability. A novel scheme is proposed which places a minimal set of PMU's so as to make the system measurement model observable, and thereby linear. This placement scheme is derived from the topological observability theory. It concerns the building of a spanning measurement sub-graph across the system with actual or pseudo-measurement assigned to each of its branches. The minimal PMU set is found through a dual search algorithm which uses both a modified bisecting search and a simulated annealing-based method. The former fixes the number of PMU's while the latter look for a placement set that leads to an observable network. In order to accelerate the procedure, an initial PMU placement is provided by a graph-theoretic procedure which builds a spanning measurement sub-graph according to a depth-first search. From computer simulation results performed on various test systems, it appears that only one fourth of the system buses need to be provided with PMU's in order to make the system observable. In an effort to reduce the computing time of transient stability assessment, a dynamic equivalent is presented, which results from the elimination of the load buses provided with voltage--dependent loads. The elimination is performed through a new version of the Ward equivalencing method. In this approach, the equivalent current injections are expressed in terms of the retained bus angles and a sensitivity matrix. The non-linearity of the load flow model is accounted for through piecewise linear approximations by updating the sensitivity matrix whenever the operating point moves beyond the validity of the linearization. The expressions of the incremental changes in the generator electric power is derived. The study also investigates the possibility of using the telemetered data provided by the PMU's during pre-fault and post-fault operating conditions in conjunction with a. new version of the Extended Equal Area Criterion (EEAC) method. The latter is able to handle complex loads through the dynamic Ward equivalencing method. The performance of the approach is illustrated on three test systems which have been reduced to the internal generator nodes. / Ph. D.

With an increasing number of regulatory and economic factors making the operation of power systems more challenging, utilities must take full advantage of technological advances which allow more flexibility for operation. One of these advances is the combination of power electronic controllers and compensation devices known as F1exible AC Transmission Systems (FACTS) technology. This thesis will examine the ability of FACTS technology to improve dynamic stability when controlled with data obtained from another recent advancement, phasor measurement units (PMUs). Based on an overview of the relative capabilities of presently available FACTS devices, a specific device will be chosen to be modeled in a dynamic stability study. Eigenvalue sensitivity analysis will be used to determine the optimal placement for this FACTS device in regards to stability for a test power system. Then a state space model will be developed for the FACTS compensated test system, and eigenvalue sensitivity and time-domain methods will be used to determine the optimal controller characteristics for the modeled FACTS device. Stability results will be verified using eigenvalue analysis and time simulation techniques. / Master of Science

The work presented in this text concentrates on three aspects of voltage stability studies: analysis and determination of suitable proximity indicators, design of an effective real-time monitoring system, and determination of appropriate emergency control techniques. A simulation model of voltage collapse was built as analytical tool on 39-bus, 10-generator power system model. Voltage collapse was modeled as a saddle-node bifurcation of the system dynamic model reached by increasing the system loading. Suitable indicators for real-time monitoring were found to be the minimum singular value of power flow Jacobian matrix and generated reactive powers. A study of possibilities for reducing the number of measurements of voltage phasors needed for voltage stability monitoring was also made. The idea of load bus coherency with respect to voltage dynamics was introduced. An algorithm was presented which determines the coherent clusters of load buses in a power system based on an arbitrary criterion function, and the analysis completed with two proposed coherency criteria. Very good agreement was obtained by simulation between the results based on accurate and approximate measurements of the state vector. An algorithm was presented for identification of critical sets of loads in a voltage unstable power system, defined as a subset of loads whose changes have the most pronounced effect on the changes of minimum singular value of load flow Jacobian or generated reactive powers. Effects of load shedding of critical loads were investigated by simulation and favorable results obtained. An investigation was also done by sensitivity analysis of proximity indicators of the effects that locations and amounts of static var compensation have on the stability margin of the system. Static compensation was found to be of limited help when voltage instabilities due to heavy system loading occur in power systems. The feasibility of implementation of the analyses and algorithms presented in this text relies on development of a feasible integrated monitoring and control hardware. The phasor measurement system which was designed at Virginia Polytechnic institute and State University represents an excellent candidate for implementation of real-time monitoring and control procedures. / Ph. D.

Thesis (MScEng (Electrical and Electronic Engineering))--University of Stellenbosch, 2005. / Power system stability simulations are of growing importance for studying the operational integrity of modern power systems, especially in developing economies where generating and transmission capacity lead the demand by relatively small margins. The relevant model topologies, i.e. for synchronous generators, automatic voltage regulators (AVR) and governor control systems, and the simulation software tools are well established. The MATLAB® Power System Blockset provides engineers with a versatile power system stability simulation environment, particularly where the focus is on individual units or small systems. In comparison with dedicated power system simulation tools such as DIgSILENT®, the MATLAB® environment features a superior set of advanced data processing and data analysis features. This includes features such as optimisation and parameter estimation functions. The main aim of this project is to make use of the MATLAB® package in a bid to test an alternative platform with which to estimate the synchronous machine parameters. Conditioning of field data can delay the process considerably, thus the secondary task of this thesis is to solve this issue by ensuring that only one platform is needed for the entire process starting in the field and ending in the modelling and parameter estimation environment within MATLAB®. In closing, the following points summarise the essential aims of this project: • An application using MATLAB® Script must be created that is responsible for importing and processing the data, so it is suitable for analysis purposes. The processing could include cropping, scaling and filtering of data. • Once the data has been imported it must be used with appropriate models to estimate for machine parameters. This will require the use of the Power Systems Blockset. The actual estimation process also requires the creation of an effective cost function, thus a number of different scenarios will have to be investigated before a solution can be found.

Abstract not available

This thesis proposes, analyses and implements a fast and accurate real-time power system disturbances identification method based on an enhanced linear least squares algorithm for mitigation and monitoring of various power quality problems such as current harmonics, grid unbalances and voltage dips. The enhanced algorithm imposes less real-time computational burden on processing the system and is thus called ???efficient least squares algorithm???. The proposed efficient least squares algorithm does not require matrix inversion operation and contains only real numbers. The number of required real-time matrix multiplications is also reduced in the proposed method by pre-performing some of the matrix multiplications to form a constant matrix. The proposed efficient least squares algorithm extracts instantaneous sine and cosine terms of the fundamental and harmonic components by simply multiplying a set of sampled input data by the pre-calculated constant matrix. A power signal processing system based on the proposed efficient least squares algorithm is presented in this thesis. This power signal processing system derives various power system quantities that are used for real-time monitoring and disturbance mitigation. These power system quantities include constituent components, symmetrical components and various power measurements. The properties of the proposed power signal processing system was studied using modelling and practical implementation in a digital signal processor. These studies demonstrated that the proposed method is capable of extracting time varying power system quantities quickly and accurately. The dynamic response time of the proposed method was less than half that of a fundamental cycle. Moreover, the proposed method showed less sensitivity to noise pollution and small variations in fundamental frequency. The performance of the proposed power signal processing system was compared to that of the popular DFT/FFT methods using computer simulations. The simulation results confirmed the superior performance of the proposed method under both transient and steady-state conditions. In order to investigate the practicability of the method, the proposed power signal processing system was applied to two real-life disturbance mitigation applications namely, an active power filter (APF) and a distribution synchronous static compensator (D-STATCOM). The validity and performance of the proposed signal processing system in both disturbance mitigations applications were investigated by simulation and experimental studies. The extensive modelling and experimental studies confirmed that the proposed signal processing system can be used for practical real-time applications which require fast disturbance identification such as mitigation control and power quality monitoring of power systems

Recent widespread blackouts have indicated the need for more efficient and accurate power system monitoring, control and protection tools. Power system state estimation, which is the major tool that is used nowadays for providing the real-time model of the system, has significant biases resulting mainly from the complexity and geographic spread and separation of an electric power system. Synchrophasor technology is a promising technology that has numerous advantages compared to conventional metering devices. PMUs provide synchronized measurements, where synchronization is achieved via a GPS clock which provides the synchronizing signal with accuracy of 1 μsec. As a result, the computed phasors have a common reference (UTC time) and can be used in local computations, thus distributing the state estimation process. The first part of the work presents a PMU enabled dynamic state estimator (DSE) that can capture with high fidelity the dynamics of the system and extract in real time the dynamic model of the system. The described DSE is performed in a decentralized way, on the substation level based on local measurements which are globally valid. The substation based DSE uses data from relays, PMUs, meters, FDRs etc in the substation only, thus avoiding all issues associated with transmission of data and associated time latencies. This approach enables very fast DSE update rate which can go up to more than 60 executions per second. The distributed state estimation architecture that synchrophasor technology enables, along with the fast sampling rate and the accuracy of the measurements that PMUs provide, enable the computation of the real-time dynamic model of the system and the development of numerous power system applications for more efficient control and protection of the system. In the second part of the work, a transient stability monitoring scheme is presented that utilizes the information given by the dynamic state estimation and enables real-time monitoring of the transient swings of the system and characterizes the stability of the system in real time. In particular, the real-time dynamic model of the system, as given by the DSE, is utilized to evaluate the system's energy function based on Lyapunov's direct method and extract stability properties from the energy function. The two major components of the scheme are a) the calculation of the center of oscillations of the system and b) the derivation of an equivalent, reduced sized model which is used for the calculation of the potential and kinetic energy of the system based on which the stability of the system is determined. Finally, as an application of the transient stability monitoring scheme, an energy based out-of-step protection scheme is proposed. The energy of the generator is continuously monitored and if it exceeds a predefined threshold then instability is asserted and a trip signal can be sent to the generator. The major advantage of the scheme is that the out-of-step condition is predicted before its occurrence and therefore relays can act much faster than today's technology. The scheme is compared to presently available state of the art out-of-step protection schemes in order to verify its superiority.