Cost Effective Single-Phase DSTATCOM for Low Power Applications

Abstract

—In this article, a single-phase Distribution Static Compensator (DSTATCOM) with reduced dc-link voltage is proposed for power quality improvement in a distribution system. Generally, the dc-link voltage of DSTATCOM is maintained twice the peak of Point of Common Coupling (PCC) voltage by voltage regulation loop. But, the dc-link voltage is maintained itself without voltage regulation loop in the proposed method. For this case, the required dc-link voltage magnitude is less when compared to conventional method. Under predefined load conditions such as agriculture pump set loads, this less voltage is sufficient to give satisfactory performance. Therefore, the rating of DSTATCOM is reduced and thereby the cost of system is reduced. The proposed method enables compensation of reactive power and mitigation of source current harmonics in a distribution system for low power applications. The advantages of the proposed method are elimination of dc voltage sensing elements, minimization of switching loss of Voltage Source Inverter (VSI) and cost effective. The proposed single-phase DSTATCOM performance is demonstrated through MATLAB/simulink and validated by experimental results with agriculture pump set load.