2015 IEEE Power, Communication and Information Technology Conference (PCITC)

Siksha ‘O’ Anusandhan University, Bhubaneswar, India.

Application of Dynamic Voltage Restorer in

Microgrid for Voltage Sag/Swell Mitigation
M.T.L.Gayatri Dr. Alivelu M. Parimi A.V. Pavan Kumar
Department of EEE Department of EEE Department of EEE
BITS Pilani-Hyderabad Campus BITS Pilani-Hyderabad Campus BITS Pilani-Hyderabad Campus
Hyderabad, TS, India Hyderabad, TS, India Hyderabad, TS, India
gayathri2682@yahoo.co.in alivelu@hyderabad.bits-pilani.ac.in pawanrao82@gmail.com

Abstract—Microgrids are becoming increasingly attractive to
consumers as it allows utilization of freely available renewable
energy sources. They are usually installed at consumer’s sites
i.e the distribution end. Due to high penetration of distributed
generation units with different types of loads, microgrids can
cause power quality and power control issues. Some of them
are voltage swells and sags, and low power factor which
further require reactive power compensation. This paper
presents the utilization of the custom power device specifically
Dynamic Voltage Restorer (DVR) in mitigating the problem of
voltage sags and swells occurring in microgrid. A microgrid is
modeled and simulated with different loading conditions
causing power quality problems. The performance of DVR,
installed in microgrid, is analyzed for reactive power
compensation to overcome these concerned issues. The control
logic of DVR is designed using phase locked loop (PLL)
technique and its effectiveness is observed in
Matlab/Simulink.
Keywords-Microgrid, Dynamic Voltage Restorer, Voltage
sag, Voltage swell.
I. INTRODUCTION
Electrical power generation in the world is dominated by
combustion of fossil fuels (coal, oil and gas), nuclear and
hydro power where the power is delivered over long
distances to consumers. Conversely, microgrid technology is
an alternative technique for requirement of the future power
system. A microgrid is a small-scale power supply network
mainly based on renewable energy sources combined with
power electronic system is designed to provide power
supply for a small community [1]. It is a portion of the low-
voltage power distribution network that is managed
independently from the rest of the network [2]. The key
advantages are better quality of the service, increased
efficiency, and specific economic interests. The surplus
power from the microgrid can be exchanged with the utility
grid. The microgrid can be operated in two modes: the Grid
connected mode where the microgrid exchanges power with
the conventional power grid and the Islanded mode where
the microgrid is operated independent of the conventional
grid to serve the power requirement of a small
community/island. A microgrid system shown in Fig. 1
comprises of Distributed Energy Resources (DERs) such as
photovoltaic, wind and solar cell generators, immediate
energy storage, loads, controller with power electronic
converters and Point of Common Coupling (PCC) where
microgrid is coupled to the power distribution system.
Fig. 1. Microgrid Architecture
The microgrid power quality problems comprise of wide
range of disturbances such as voltage sags/swells, flicker,
harmonic distortion, impulse transients and interruptions [3].
Voltage sags usually occur at any instant in an event of
disturbance, with amplitude ranging from 10-90% and a
duration lasting for half a cycle to one minute [4]. Whereas,
a voltage swell, is defined as an increase in rms voltage or
current for durations from 0.5 cycles to 1 minute at the
power frequency. Typical magnitudes are in between 1.1
and 1.8 rise [4-6].
Disturbances such as sudden switching of a bulky
inductive load or energizing a huge capacitor banks in a
typical system causes sag and swell. Voltage sag and swell
can cause sensitive equipment to fail, or shutdown creating
unbalanced large current that could cause in blowing fuses
or tripping breakers. Such effects can be very detrimental
for the customer, ranging from minor quality discrepancies
to production downtime and equipment damage [7-9]. There
are different methods to mitigate voltage sags and swells.
Latest is the usage of FACTS devices such as TCR, SVC
and STATCOM which has revolutionized the power
industry. However the use of custom power device i.e.
Dynamic Voltage Restorer (DVR) is considered to be the
most efficient method. DVR has been studied extensively in
mitigating disturbances in supply voltages such as voltage
sags, swells, unbalance and harmonics in the conventional
power system [10]. Its usage has also been investigated in
the fault ride through, with the wind generation source
connected to the grid on the occurrence of a fault in the grid
[11]. Fault current limiting function of the DVR connected
in conventional distribution has also been investigated in
[12]. In [13], a series compensator is designed to provide
fault protection at each source constituting the microgrid. To

978-1-4799-7455-9/15/$31.00 ©2015 IEEE

 2015 IEEE Power, Communication and Information Technology Conference (PCITC)
Siksha ‘O’ Anusandhan University, Bhubaneswar, India.
improve power quality in microgrid advanced dynamic
voltage restorer is proposed in [14] where its DVR is based
on photovoltaic (PV) generation/battery units. In this paper
the microgrid is modeled and incorporated with DVR,
whose control logic based on dq0 transformation is
designed. The microgrid is modeled as a combination of PV
and Wind generation source with different loading
conditions causing power quality problems. The
performance of DVR, installed in microgrid, and its
effectiveness is investigated in compensating voltage
sag/swell in the microgrid. This paper is organized as
follows. Section II provides conventional dynamic voltage
restorer, Section III provides structure of microgrid and the
control strategy of the DVR applied in microgrid. Section
IV provides the simulation results using
MATLAB/SIMULINK for different cases and proves the
effectiveness of the system.
II. CONVENTIONAL DYNAMIC VOLTAGE RESTORER
DVR is a series connected device to maintain a constant
RMS voltage value across a sensitive load. The DVR
considered consists of a/an:
a. Series injection transformer
b. Harmonic filter
c. Voltage Source Converter (VSC)
d. Control unit
Impedance
Load
Series
injection
VSource transformer
Vload
VDVR
Harmonic
Filter
Control Unit VSC
Fig. 2. Schematic diagram of DVR
The primary function of a DVR is preventing the effect
of voltage sags/swells on sensitive loads connected to the
network. Therefore as shown in the Fig. 2, the DVR is
located near the sensitive loads. If a voltage disturbance
occurs in the line, DVR injects a series voltage VDVR thus
compensating load voltage to a reference value. The three
injected phase voltages momentary amplitudes are
controlled to eliminate detrimental effects of actual voltage
to the load voltage VL. This ensures that any differential
voltages caused by transient disturbances in the ac feeder
will be compensated by an equivalent voltage injected
through the injection transformer, generated by the
converter.
The DVR functions independently to the type of fault or
any event that occurs in the system, provided that the whole
system remains connected to the supply grid. The DVR has
two modes of operation: standby mode and injection mode.
In standby mode the injection transformer’s low voltage
winding is shorted through the converter such that ( VDVR =
0). The individual converter legs are triggered such as to
establish a short-circuit path for the transformer connection.
No switching of semiconductors occurs in this mode of
operation. Consequently low conduction losses of the semi
converter only contribute to the losses in this current loop.
The DVR will most of the time be idle in this mode. The
DVR in injection mode ( VDVR > 0), injects a compensation
voltage when there is a voltage difference through the
injection transformer [15].
VDVR
ZDVR
Zline Iload
Load
VSource
VDVR
Vload
Fig. 3. Equivalent circuit of DVR
Fig. 3 indicates the equivalent circuit of the DVR. In the
event when the source voltage drops or increases, the DVR
injects a series voltage VDVR through the injection
transformer so that the desired load voltage magnitude Vload
is maintained. The series injected voltage of the DVR can be
written as
VDVR = Vload − Vs (1)
where Vload is the desired load voltage magnitude, VS is the
source voltage during sag/swell condition. Z line is the line
impedance and Z DVR is the impedance of DVR. The load
current I load is given by,
⎛P ± jQload ⎞
I load = ⎜⎜ load ⎟
⎟ (2)
⎝ Vload ⎠
III. MICROGRID STRUCTURE
A system containing a microgrid with two DERs along
with a battery storage connected to a common AC reference
is considered. Loads (resistive, inductive and capacitive) are
delivered from the AC bus which acts as a source. The
electrical parameters are mentioned in the table.
A. Microgrid Modeling
A microgrid containing two DERs, one as a wind
generation and the other one as a PV generation, along with
a storage device is considered. The block diagram of
microgrid is shown in the Fig. 4 and the basic modeling of
each DER is explained.
 2015 IEEE Power, Communication and Information Technology Conference (PCITC)
Siksha ‘O’ Anusandhan University, Bhubaneswar, India.

DC BUS-BAR AC BUS-BAR

WIND
RECTIFIER AND
WIND TURBINE VOLTAGE SOURCE
BOOST
SPEED WITH AC CONVERTER (VSC)
CONVERTER
GENERATOR

SPEED (ωm
) CENTRALIZED
CONTROLLER
V&I CONTROL SIGNAL
MEASUREME TO THE
NT CONVERTER
SOLAR BOOST
IRRADIANCE PV PANEL CONVERTER
WITH MPPT
CELL
CONTROLLER
TEMPERATU
RE

Fig. 4. Block diagram of microgrid

where, Is1, Is2 are the reverse saturation currents of diode D1,
i. Modeling of Photovoltaic modules in Microgrid D2, q is the charge on electron (1.602*10-19 C), V is the cell
General mathematical models of PV cell were proposed output voltage, N1, N2 are the quality factors of diode D1,
by various researchers. A two-diode model of PV cell is D2, k is the Boltzmann constant (1.38*10-23), and T is the
selected whose equivalent circuit diagram is shown in Fig. junction temperature. The practical PV modules have the Rs
5. The mathematical model of two-diode PV cell and Rp as indicted in Fig. 5. These parameters are
performance is better as compared with the numerous incorporated to build the mathematical model of PV cell to
models of single-diode model of PV cell and also under low replicate the practical PV cell. This is achieved by rewriting
illumination levels, the two-diode model of PV cell exhibits (4), (5) as (6), (7).
better performance. The two-diode PV cell shown in Fig. 5
consists of Photo-generated current (IPH), two diodes with ⎡ ⎛ V + Rs × I ⎞ ⎤
diode currents (ID1, ID2), shunt current ISH, Series Resistance I D1 = I s1 ⎢ e ⎜⎜ ⎟ − 1⎥
⎟
(Rs), Shunt Resistance (Rp), output voltage (V) and PV ⎢⎣ ⎝ N × V t ⎠ ⎥⎦ (6)
current (I or IPV). The relation between the output current
and voltage can be obtained by using Kirchhoff’s Current
Law (KCL) as given by equation (3).
⎡ ⎛ V + Rs × I ⎞ ⎤
I D 2 = I s 2 ⎢e ⎜⎜ ⎟⎟ − 1⎥
I pv = I PH − I D1 − I D 2 − I SH (3) ⎣⎢ ⎝ N 2 ×Vt ⎠ ⎦⎥ (7)

where, ID1, ID2 are the diode currents due to diffusion and are Ns × k × T
given by (4), (5). where, Vt = is the thermal voltage of the module
q
RS I= IPV with Ns being number of cells connected in series, current in
ISH the shunt resistance is given by (8):
ID1 ID2
IPH RP
V I SH =
(
V + Rs × I pv )
Rp
(8)

Substituting (6), (7), (8) in (3) we get the relation

Fig. 5. Equivalent circuit of two-diode model of PV cell
between the voltage and current of the two diode equivalent
of the PV cell as (9).

⎡ ⎛ V + Rs × I ⎞ ⎤
⎡ ⎛ q ×V ⎞ ⎤ I = I ph − I s ⎢ e ⎜⎜ ⎟⎟ − 1⎥ −
I D1 = I s1 ⎢exp⎜⎜ ⎟⎟ −1⎥ (4) ⎣⎢ ⎝ N × V t ⎠ ⎦⎥
⎣⎢ ⎝ N1 × k ×T ⎠ ⎦⎥
⎡ ⎛ V + Rs × I ⎞ ⎤ V + Rs × I
I s 2 ⎢ e ⎜⎜ ⎟ − 1⎥ −
⎟
⎣⎢ ⎝ N 2 × V t ⎠ ⎦⎥ Rp
(9)
⎡ ⎛ q ×V ⎞ ⎤
I D 2 = I s 2 ⎢exp⎜⎜ ⎟⎟ −1⎥ (5) Equation based implementation of the two-diode model
⎢⎣ ⎝ N 2 × k ×T ⎠ ⎥⎦ is developed in MATLAB, Simulink in order to study the
non-linear characteristics of PV Panel. The simulations are
 2015 IEEE Power, Communication and Information Technology Conference (PCITC)
Siksha ‘O’ Anusandhan University, Bhubaneswar, India.

carried and validated using the equivalent circuit parameters illustrates the block diagram of the dq0 transformation for
that are extracted from the data sheet mentioned in [16]. voltage sags/swells detection. The detection is carried out in
each of the three phases.
ii. Modeling of Wind generator in microgrid
Modeling of wind turbine and PMSG is presented in The control scheme for the proposed system is
[17]. The output power of the wind turbine is given by (10) based on the comparison of reference and the actual
voltages from load side. The voltage sag is detected when
actual voltage drops below 90% of the reference value while
1 3
Po = ρ AVwind C p (λ ,θ ) (10) voltage swell is detected when actual voltage increases more
2 than 25%. The error signal between the actual and reference
voltage is used as a modulation signal, that allows, to
where Po is the mechanical power output of the turbine, Cp generate a commutation pattern for the power switches
is the power coefficient of the turbine, λ is the tip speed ratio (IGBT’s) which comprise the voltage source converter
of the rotor blades, θ is the blade pitch angle, ρ is the air (VSC). The commutation pattern is generated by means of
density, A is the area of swept of turbine, Vwind is the wind the sinusoidal pulse width modulation technique (SPWM).
speed .The power co-efficient of the turbine Cp (λ, θ) is Injected voltage magnitude and phase are controlled through
given by (11) this modulation. The PLL circuit developed as shown in Fig.
6 is used to generate a unit sinusoidal wave in phase that
1
maintains voltage [18-20].
⎛ 1 ⎞ −C 6
C p (λ ,θ )= C1 ⎜⎜ C 2 − C 3 βθ − C 4θ x − C 5 ⎟⎟ e β (11) PWM
⎝ β ⎠ Genera
tor
where the values of the coefficients C1 – C6 and x depend on _ Inverter
abc/dq
turbine type, θ is defined as the angle between the plane of Vabc,actual + dq/abc
rotation and the blade cross section chord, and β is defined 3-Phase X
by (12) Discret Sin_Cos Delay
e PLL Sin_Cos ÷

1 1 0.035
= − abc/dq
β λ + 0.08θ 1+θ 3 (12) 1
Vabc,ref
Sin_Cos

The equation base modeling of PMSG in MATLAB,

Simulink is implemented using Eqs. (10)-(12), the
parameters of the PMSG under consideration are from [17]. Fig. 6. Block diagram of DVR control strategy
In the dynamic modeling and Simulink implementation of
wind turbine the parameters values are R = 1.25 m, length of A control system using PLL with dq0 transformation
blade L = 2.5 m, A= 6.25 m2, ρ = 1.225 kg/m2. The technique is used to give a scaled error between microgrid
simulations are carried and validated using the equivalent reference and actual load during sag/swell condition.
circuit parameters that are extracted from the data sheet Equation (13) defines the transformation from three phase
mentioned in [17]. system a, b, c to dq0 stationary frame. In this
transformation, phase A is aligned to the d-axis that is in
B. DVR Control Strategy quadrature with the q-axis. The theta (θ) is defined by the
angle between phase A to the d-axis.
The major functions of a controller in a DVR are as
follows: detection of voltage sag/swell events in the system
and computation of the correcting voltage. It is followed by
generation of gate pulses to the sinusoidal PWM generator. ⎡ ⎛ 2π ⎞ ⎤
Further correction of any differences in the series voltage ⎢ cos θ cos⎜θ − ⎟
3 ⎠
1⎥
⎡Vd ⎤ ⎢ ⎝ ⎥ ⎡Va ⎤
injection and termination of the gate pulses when the event ⎢V ⎥ = ⎢− sin θ ⎛ 2π ⎞ ⎢V ⎥
has passed. The controller may also be used to shift the DC- ⎢ q⎥ ⎢ − sin ⎜θ − ⎟ 1 ⎥⎥ ⎢ b⎥ (13)
⎝ 3 ⎠
⎢⎣V0 ⎥⎦ ⎢ ⎢⎣Vc ⎥⎦
1 ⎥⎥
AC inverter into rectifier mode to charge the capacitors in
the DC energy link in the absence of voltage sags/swells. ⎢ 1 1
⎣⎢ 2 2 2 ⎦⎥
The control of DVR is based on the dq0 transformation
[18-20]. The dq0 method gives the depth of the sag and
phase shift information with starting and ending times of the C. Proposed Method
disturbance. The quantities obtained are expressed as the The proposed application of DVR to mitigate voltage
instantaneous space vectors. Initially convert the voltage sag/swell problems in microgrid is shown in Fig. 7. The
from a-b-c reference frame to d-q-0 reference. For simplicity sequence of operations for the control of DVR in microgrid
zero phase sequence components are ignored. Fig. 6, is represented in flow chart as shown in Fig. 8.
 2015 IEEE Power, Communication and Information Technology Conference (PCITC)
Siksha ‘O’ Anusandhan University, Bhubaneswar, India.

Start

Read data
VSource Vsource , Vload
Load
Impedance
If Yes
V source = Vload
Vload
VDVR
No
Vdiff = Vsource ± Vload No injection
to the line
VDVR = 0
PLL

PWM Generator Stop

VSC
Vinj

Vload = Vload ± Vinj

Vinj=VDVR=Vdiff
Fig. 7. Proposed DVR in microgrid

Fig. 8. Flow chart for the control using DVR in microgrid

IV. SIMULATION & RESULTS

A microgrid model is developed with 2 DERS, a PV With the application of DVR the voltage sag is mitigated as
generator and a wind generator along with storage to deliver shown in Fig. 11 and Fig. 12.
an output voltage of 415V, phase to ground voltage of 340V
which is at common AC bus in MATLAB Simulink. The
PV generator is simulated based on Eq. (9) and the wind
generator is simulated based on Eq. (10). The system
parameters with constants are listed in Table. 1.
Table.1. System parameters and Constants

System parameters Constants

Microgrid voltage 415V

Fig. 10. Voltage sag in microgrid
PWM Generator Double 3-arm bridge(12 Pulses)
DC capactior 100V
Load 1 2000W Resistive
Load 2 100 W, 1000VAR inductive
Load 3 100 W, 1500VAR capacitive

Fig. 11. Load voltage with compensation using DVR in microgrid

Fig. 9. Reference voltage of the microgrid

The reference voltage of the microgrid is shown in Fig.

9. The inductive load is applied during the period 0.2 -0.6
Fig. 12. Load voltage compensation using DVR in microgrid
sec. due to which voltage sag is observed shown in Fig. 10.
 2015 IEEE Power, Communication and Information Technology Conference (PCITC)
Siksha ‘O’ Anusandhan University, Bhubaneswar, India.
Similarly the capacitiveve load is applied during the period
0.2 -0.6 sec. due to which voltage sweell is observed shown
in Fig. 13. With the application of DVR the voltage sag is
mitigated as shown in Fig. 14 and Fig. 15.
Thus it is observed that the DVR mitigated the voltage
sag/swell in microgrid.
Fig. 13. Voltage swell in microgrid
Fig. 14. Load voltage with compensation using DVR in microgrid
Fig. 15. Load voltage compensation using DVR in microgrid
V. CONCLUSION
A microgrid has been modeled and developed consisting
of PV and Wind generators. DVR in microgrid is modeled
and simulated. A control system using PLL with dq0
transformation technique that gives a scaled error between
microgrid reference and actual load voltages during
sag/swell condition is applied for controlling DVR in
microgrid. The simulation shows that the DVR performance
is satisfactory in mitigating voltage sags/swells with quick
response and excellent voltage regulation. The DVR handles
the unbalanced conditions of the microgrid without any
difficulties and is able to inject the voltage effectively.
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