Overview Of Voltage Regulation Schemes For Utility And Industrial Applications

Focus:

Voltage regulation techniques have been practiced in power grid applications with the use of inductors, capacitors, transformers and load tap changers since the early days of electrical engineering. However, the latest trend is to use power electronics-based solutions. The voltage control techniques described in this 18-page article are applicable in electric transmission lines as well as applications such as motor drives, flicker control, harmonic mitigation, and others. These techniques include voltage regulating transformers; shunt-connected switched inductors or capacitors; the thyristor-switched capacitors, thyristor-switched reactors, and thyristor-controlled reactors—the latter three are combined to form static var compensators; and STATic synchronous COMpensators, which are inverters consisting of power electronics-based forced-commutated switches that can be turned on and off as desired. In addition to explaining how these voltage regulation techniques work, this article looks at how these solutions address both functional and cost demands. This article also discusses the evolution of the power electronics inverter-based solutions, explaining their interesting capabilities and the challenges to their expanded use. One of the applications discussed is the electric arc furnace.

What you’ll learn:

• How to understand the operation of the various voltage regulation techniques used in utility and industrial applications
• How to understand the tradeoffs in cost and functionality among the different voltage regulation techniques for power grids

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Author & Publication:

Kalyan K. Sen, Sen Engineering Solutions, Pittsburgh, Penn., How2Power Today, Sep 15 2015

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