Power quality enhancement in secondary electric power distr[i]bution networks using dynamic voltage restorer.

Doctoral Degree. University of KwaZulu-Natal, Durban.This research study investigates and proposes an effective and efficient method for improving voltage profile and mitigating unbalance voltage, voltage variation disturbances in rural and urban secondary distribution networks. It also proffers solutions for improving the performance of future distribution networks in order to increase the optimum functioning, security and quality of electricity supply to end users, thus making the power grid smarter. This study involves the compensation of power quality disturbance in balanced and unbalanced, short and long distribution networks. The mitigation of result of this voltage variation, poor voltage profile and voltage unbalance with an effective power electronics based custom power controller known as Dynamic Voltage Restorer (DVR) conceived. DVR is usually connected between the source voltage and customer load. An innovative new design-model of the DVR has been proposed and developed using a dq0 controller and proportional integral (PI) controller method. Model simulation was carried out using MATLAB/Simulink in Sim Power System tool box. An analysis of the results obtained when the new DVR is not connected to and tested on LV networks shows that the voltage profile, percentage voltage deviation and percentage voltage unbalance for 0.5 km for balanced and unbalanced distribution networks are within standards and acceptable limits, hence, the voltages are admissible for customers’ use. It was further established that the voltage profile, percentage voltage unbalance, voltage drop and percentage voltage deviation for distribution networks of 0.8 km to 5 km range from the beginning to the end of the feeder are less than the statutory voltage limits of -5%, 2 %, 5 % and ± 5 % respectively, hence, voltages are inadmissible for customers’ use. Others results obtained when DVR was connected recognized that for distribution feeder lengths of 0.5 km to 5 km range for balanced and unbalanced, short and long distribution networks the voltage profile, voltage variation, voltage drop and percentage voltage unbalance are within statutory voltage limits of 0.95 p.u and 1.05 p.u, -5 %, and less than 2 % respectively. Based on this investigation, and in order to achieve efficient, reliable and cost-effective techniques for improving voltage profiles, decreasing voltage variations and reducing voltage unbalances, the new DVR model is recommended for enhancing optimal performances of secondary distribution networks

An effective control algorithm for dynamic voltage restorer under symmetrical and asymmetrical grid voltage conditions

Introduction. Voltage sag, which is associated to a transitory drop in the root mean square voltage characterizing an electrical source network. During these perturbations, the corresponding electronic customers and devices will suffer from serious operating troubles causing dangerous damages. Purpose. In order to attenuate this disturbance effects, the Controlled Dynamic Voltage Restorer constitutes a very interesting solution among many others that have been proposed. The novelty of the proposed work consists in presenting an enhanced algorithm to control efficiently the dynamic voltage restorer when voltage sag is suddenly occurred. Methods. The proposed algorithm is based on an instantaneous phase locked loop using a multi variable filter to synthesize unitary signals involved in compensation voltages computation relative to the sag apparition. Practical value. A detailed study concerning typical voltage sag, which is consolidated by simulation and experimental results, is conducted to show the used algorithm’s effectiveness to cancel the corresponding voltage sag.Вступ. Провал напруги, який пов’язаний із тимчасовим падінням середньоквадратичної напруги, характеризує мережу джерел електричної енергії. Під час цих збурень відповідні споживачі (електронні прилади та інші пристрої) будуть страждати від серйозних проблем у їхній експлуатації, що спричиняють небезпечні пошкодження. Призначення. Для того, щоб послабити вплив цих збурень, контрольований динамічний відновник напруги видається дуже цікавим рішенням серед багатьох інших, які були запропоновані. Новизна запропонованої роботи полягає у представленні вдосконаленого алгоритму ефективного управління динамічним відновником напруги, коли раптово відбувається провал напруги. Методи. Запропонований алгоритм базується на миттєвому фазовому замкненому контурі з використанням багатоваріантного фільтра для синтезу унітарних сигналів, що беруть участь у обчисленні напруги компенсації стосовно прояву провалу. Практичне значення. Детальне дослідження стосовно типового провалу напруги, яке узагальнено за допомогою моделювання та експериментальних результатів, проведено, щоб показати ефективність використовуваного алгоритму для ліквідації відповідного провалу напруги

Unified Power Quality Conditioner: protection and performance enhancement

The proliferation of power electronics-based equipment has produced a significant impact on the quality of electric power supply. Nowadays, much of the equipment is based on power electronic devices, often leading to problems of power quality. At the same time this equipment is typically equipped with microprocessor-based controllers which are quite sensitive to deviations from the ideal sinusoidal line voltage. Conventional power quality mitigation equipment is proving to be inadequate for an increasing number of applications, and this fact has attracted the attention of power engineers to develop dynamic and adjustable solutions to power quality problems. One modern and very promising solution that deals with both load current and supply voltage imperfections is the Unified Power Quality Conditioner (UPQC). This thesis investigates the development of UPQC protection scheme and control algorithms for enhanced performance. This work is carried out on a 12 kVA prototype UPQC. In order to protect the series inverter of the UPQC from overvoltage and overcurrent during short circuits on the load side of the UPQC, the secondary of the series transformer has to be short-circuited in a reasonably short time (microseconds). A hardware-based UPQC protection scheme against the load side short circuits is derived and its implementation and effectiveness is investigated. The main protection element is a crowbar connected across the secondary of the series transformer and consisting of a pair of antiparallel connected thyristors, which is governed by a very simple Zener diode based control circuit. Also, the software-based UPQC protection approach is investigated, the implementation of which does not require additional hardware

Power Quality Improvement of Distributed Generation Integrated Network with Unified Power Quality Conditioner.

With the increased penetration of small scale renewable energy sources in the electrical distribution network, maintenance or improvement of power quality has become more critical than ever where the level of voltage and current harmonics or disturbances can vary widely. For this reason, Custom Power Devices (CPDs) such as the Unified Power Quality Conditioner (UPQC) can be the most appropriate solution for enhancing the dynamic performance of the distribution network, where accurate prior knowledge may not be available. Therefore, the main objective of the present research is to investigate the (i) placement (ii) integration (iii) capacity enhancement and (iv) real time control of the Unified Power Quality Conditioner (UPQC) to improve the power quality (PQ) of a distributed generation (DG) network connected to the grid or microgrid

Incremental learning for large-scale stream data and its application to cybersecurity

As many human currently depend on technologies to assist with daily tasks, there are more and more applications which have been developed to be fit in one small gadget such as smart phone and tablet. Thus, by carrying this small gadget alone, most of our tasks are able to be settled efficiently and fast. Until the end of 20th century, mobile phones are only used to call and to send short message service (sms). However, in early 21st century, a rapid revolution of communi�cation technology from mobile phone into smart phone has been seen in which the smart phone is equipped by 4G Internet line along with the telephone service provider line. Thus, the users are able to make a phone call, send messages using variety of application such as Whatsapp and Line, send email, serving websites, accessing maps and handling some daily tasks via online using online banking, online shopping and online meetings via video conferences. In previous years, if there are cases of missing children or missing cars, the victims would rely on the police investigation. But now, as easy as uploading a notification about the loss on Facebook and spread the news among Facebook users, there are more people are able to help in the search. Despite the advantages that can be obtained using these technologies, there are a group of irresponsible people who take advan�tage of current technologies for their own self-interest. Among the applications that are usually being used by almost Internet users and also are often misused by cyber criminals are email and websites. Therefore, we take this initiative to make enhancement in cyber security application to avoid the Internet users from being trapped and deceived by the trick of cyber criminals by developing detec�tion system of malicious spam email and Distributed Denial of Services (DDoS) 377$3(53867$.1781.8781$0,1$+ iii backscatter. Imagine that a notice with a logo of Mobile Phone company is received by an email informing that the customer had recently run up a large mobile phone bill. A link regarding the bill is attached for him/her to find out the details. Since, the customer thinks that the billing might be wrong, thus the link is clicked. However, the link is directed to a webpage which displays a status that currently the webpage is under construction. Then the customer closes the page and thinking of to visit the website again at other time. Unfortunately, after a single click actually a malicious file is downloaded and installed without the customer aware of it. That malicious file most probably is a Trojan that capable to steal confidential information from victim’s computer. On the next day, when the same person is using the same computer to log in the online banking, all of a sudden find out that his/her money is lost totally. This is one of a worst case scenario of malicious spam email which is usually handled by cybersecurity field. Another different case of cybersecurity is the Distributed Denial of Services (DDoS) attack. Let say, Company X is selling flowers via online in which the market is from the local and international customer. The online business of Company X is running normally as usual, until a day before mother’s day, the webpage of Company X is totally down and the prospective customers could not open the webpage to make order to be sent specially for their beloved mother. Thus, the customers would search another company that sells the same item. The Company X server is down, most probably because of the DDoS attack where a junk traffic is sent to that company server which makes that server could not serve the request by the legitimate customers. This attack effect not only the profit of the company, but also reputation damage, regular customer turnover and productivity decline. Unfortunately, it is difficult for a normal user like us to detect malicious spam 377$ 3(53867$.1781.8781$0,1$+ email or DDoS attack with naked eyes. It is because recently the spammers and attacker had improved their strategy so that the malicious email and the DDoS packets are hardly able to be differentiated with the normal email and data packets. Once the Social Engineering is used by the spammers to create relevant email content in the malicious spam email and when a new campaign of DDoS attack is launched by the attacker, no normal users are capable to distinguish the benign and malicious email or data packets. This is where my Ph.D project comes in handy. My Ph.d is focusing on constructing a detection system of malicious spam email and DDoS attack using a large number of dataset which are obtained by a server that collect double-bounce email and darknet for malicious spam email detection system and DDoS backscatter detection system, respectively. As many up-to-date data are used during the learning, the detection system would become more robust to the latest strategy of the cybercriminal. Therefore, the scenario mentioned above can be avoided by assisting the user with important information at the user-end such as malicious spam email filter or at the server firewall. First of all, the method to learn large-scale stream data must be solved before implementing it in the detection system. Therefore, in Chapter 2, the general learning strategy of large-scale data is introduced to be used in the cybersecurity applications which are discussed in Chapter 3 and Chapter 4, respectively. One of a critical criterion of the detection system is capable to learn fast because after the learning, the updated information needs to be passed to user to avoid the user from being deceived by the cybercriminal. To process large-scale data sequences, it is important to choose a suitable learning algorithm that is capable to learn in real time. Incremental learning has an ability to process large data in chunk and update the parameters after learning each chunk. Such type of learning keep and update only the minimum information on a classifier model. 377$3(53867$.1781.8781$0,1$+ Therefore, it requires relatively small memory and short learning time. On the other hand, batch learning is not suitable because it needs to store all training data, which consume a large memory capacity. Due to the limited memory, it is certainly impossible to process online large-scale data sequences using the batch learning. Therefore, the learning of large-scale stream data should be conducted incrementally. This dissertation contains of five chapters. In Chapter 1, the concept of in�cremental learning is briefly described and basic theories on Resource Allocating Network (RAN) and conventional data selection method are discussed in this chapter. Besides that, the overview of this dissertation is also elaborated in this chapter. In Chapter 2, we propose a new algorithm based on incremental Radial Basis Function Network (RBFN) to accelerate the learning in stream data. The data sequences are represented as a large chunk size of data given continuously within a short time. In order to learn such data, the learning should be carried out incrementally. Since it is certainly impossible to learn all data in a short pe�riod, selecting essential data from a given chunk can shorten the learning time. In our method, we select data that are located in untrained or “not well-learned” region and discard data at trained or “well-learned” region. These regions are represented by margin flag. Each region is consisted of similar data which are near to each other. To search the similar data, the well-known LSH method pro�posed by Andoni et al. is used. The LSH method indeed has proven be able to quickly find similar objects in a large database. Moreover, we utilize the LSH ʼs properties; hash value and Hash Table to further reduced the processing time. A flag as a criterion to decide whether to choose or not the training data is added in the Hash Table and is updated in each chunk sequence. Whereas, the hash value of RBF bases that is identical with the hash value of the training data is used to select the RBF bases that is near to the training data. The performance results of 377$ 3(53867$.1781.8781$0,1$+ vi the numerical simulation on nine UC Irvine (UCI) Machine Learning Repository datasets indicate that the proposed method can reduce the learning time, while keeping the similar accuracy rate to the conventional method. These results indi�cate that the proposed method can improve the RAN learning algorithm towards the large-scale stream data processing. In Chapter 3, we propose a new online system to detect malicious spam emails and to adapt to the changes of malicious URLs in the body of spam emails by updating the system daily. For this purpose, we develop an autonomous system that learns from double-bounce emails collected at a mail server. To adapt to new malicious campaigns, only new types of spam emails are learned by introducing an active learning scheme into a classifier model. Here, we adopt Resource Allocating Network with Locality Sensitive Hashing (RAN-LSH) as a classifier model with data selection. In this data selection, the same or similar spam emails that have already been learned are quickly searched for a hash table using Locally Sensitive Hashing, and such spam emails are discarded without learning. On the other hand, malicious spam emails are sometimes drastically changed along with a new arrival of malicious campaign. In this case, it is not appropriate to classify such spam emails into malicious or benign by a classifier. It should be analyzed by using a more reliable method such as a malware analyzer. In order to find new types of spam emails, an outlier detection mechanism is implemented in RAN-LSH. To analyze email contents, we adopt the Bag-of-Words (BoW) approach and generate feature vectors whose attributes are transformed based on the normalized term frequency-inverse document frequency. To evaluate the developed system, we use a dataset of double-bounce spam emails which are collected from March 1, 2013 to May 10, 2013. In the experiment, we study the effect of introducing the outlier detection in RAN-LSH. As a result, by introducing the outlier detection, we confirm that the detection accuracy is enhanced on 377$3(53867$.$$1781.8781$0,1$+ average over the testing period. In Chapter 4, we propose a fast Distributed Denial of Service (DDoS) backscat�ter detection system to detect DDoS backscatter from a combination of protocols and ports other than the following two labeled packets: Transmission Control Protocol (TCP) Port 80 (80/TCP) and User datagram Protocol (UDP) Port 53 (53/UDP). Usually, it is hard to detect DDoS backscatter from the unlabeled packets, where an expert is needed to analyze every packet manually. Since it is a costly approach, we propose a detection system using Resource Allocating Network (RAN) with data selection to select essential data. Using this method, the learning time is shorten, and thus, the DDoS backscatter can be detected fast. This detection system consists of two modules which are pre-processing and classifier. With the former module, the packets information are transformed into 17 feature-vectors. With the latter module, the RAN-LSH classifier is used, where only data located at untrained region are selected. The performance of the proposed detection system is evaluated using 9,968 training data from 80/TCP and 53/UDP, whereas 5,933 test data are from unlabeled packets which are col�lected from January 1st, 2013 until January 20th, 2014 at National Institute of Information and Communications Technology (NICT), Japan. The results indi�cate that detection system can detect the DDoS backscatter from both labeled and unlabeled packets with high recall and precision rate within a short time. Finally, in Chapter 5, we discussed the conclusions and the future work of our study: RAN-LSH classifier, malicious spam email detection system and DDoS backscatter detection system

Power Quality Improvement and Low Voltage Ride through Capability in Hybrid Wind-PV Farms Grid-Connected Using Dynamic Voltage Restorer

© 2018 IEEE. Translations and content mining are permitted for academic research only. Personal use is also permitted, but republication/redistribution requires IEEE permission.This paper proposes the application of a dynamic voltage restorer (DVR) to enhance the power quality and improve the low voltage ride through (LVRT) capability of a three-phase medium-voltage network connected to a hybrid distribution generation system. In this system, the photovoltaic (PV) plant and the wind turbine generator (WTG) are connected to the same point of common coupling (PCC) with a sensitive load. The WTG consists of a DFIG generator connected to the network via a step-up transformer. The PV system is connected to the PCC via a two-stage energy conversion (dc-dc converter and dc-ac inverter). This topology allows, first, the extraction of maximum power based on the incremental inductance technique. Second, it allows the connection of the PV system to the public grid through a step-up transformer. In addition, the DVR based on fuzzy logic controller is connected to the same PCC. Different fault condition scenarios are tested for improving the efficiency and the quality of the power supply and compliance with the requirements of the LVRT grid code. The results of the LVRT capability, voltage stability, active power, reactive power, injected current, and dc link voltage, speed of turbine, and power factor at the PCC are presented with and without the contribution of the DVR system.Peer reviewe

A review on power electronics technologies for power quality improvement

Nowadays, new challenges arise relating to the compensation of power quality problems, where the introduction of innovative solutions based on power electronics is of paramount importance. The evolution from conventional electrical power grids to smart grids requires the use of a large number of power electronics converters, indispensable for the integration of key technologies, such as renewable energies, electric mobility and energy storage systems, which adds importance to power quality issues. Addressing these topics, this paper presents an extensive review on power electronics technologies applied to power quality improvement, highlighting, and explaining the main phenomena associated with the occurrence of power quality problems in smart grids, their cause and effects for different activity sectors, and the main power electronics topologies for each technological solution. More specifically, the paper presents a review and classification of the main power quality problems and the respective context with the standards, a review of power quality problems related to the power production from renewables, the contextualization with solid-state transformers, electric mobility and electrical railway systems, a review of power electronics solutions to compensate the main power quality problems, as well as power electronics solutions to guarantee high levels of power quality. Relevant experimental results and exemplificative developed power electronics prototypes are also presented throughout the paper.This work has been supported by FCT-Fundação para a Ciência e Tecnologia within the R&D Units Project Scope: UIDB/00319/2020. This work has been supported by the FCT Project DAIPESEV PTDC/EEI-EEE/30382/2017 and by the FCT Project newERA4GRIDs PTDC/EEIEEE/30283/2017

Unified Power Quality Conditioner for Grid Integration of Wind Generators

A Unified Power Quality Conditioner (UPQC) is relatively a new member of the custom power device family. It is a comprehensive custom power device, with integrated shunt and series active filters. The cost of the device, which is higher than other custom power/FACTS devices, because of twin inverter structure and control complexity, will have to be justified by exploring new areas of application where the cost of saving power quality events outweighs the initial cost of installation. Distributed generation (such as wind generation) is one field where the UPQC can find its potential application. There has been a considerable increase in the power generation from wind farms. This has created the necessity for wind farms connectivity with the grid during power system faults, voltage sags and frequency variations. The application of active filters/custom power devices in the field of wind generation to provide reactive power compensation, additional fault ride through capability and to maintain Power Quality (PQ) at the point of common coupling is gaining popularity. Wind generation like other forms of distributed generation often relies on power electronics technology for flexible interconnection to the power grid. The application of power electronics in wind generation has resulted in improved power quality and increased energy capture. The rapid development in power electronics, which has resulted in high kVA rating of the devices and low price per kVA, encourages the application of such devices at distribution level. This work focuses on development of a laboratory prototype of a UPQC, and investigation of its application for the flexible grid integration of fixed and variable speed wind generators through dynamic simulation studies. A DSP based fully digital controller and interfacing hardware has been developed for a 24 kVA (12 kVA-shunt compensator and 12 kVA-series compensator) laboratory prototype of UPQC. The modular control approach facilitates the operation of the device either as individual series or shunt compensator or as a UPQC. Different laboratory tests have been carried out to demonstrate the effectiveness of developed control schemes.A simulation-based analysis is carried out to investigate the suitability of application of a UPQC to achieve Irish grid code compliance of a 2 MW Fixed Speed Induction Generator (FSIG). The rating requirement of the UPQC for the wind generation application has been investigated. A general principle is proposed to choose the practical and economical rating of the UPQC for this type of application. A concept of UPQC integrated Wind Generator (UPQC-WG) has been proposed. The UPQC-WG is a doubly fed induction machine with converters integrated in the stator and rotor circuits and is capable of adjustable speed operation. The operation of UPQC-WG under sub and super-synchronous speed range has been demonstrated. The Irish grid code compliance of the same has been demonstrated with a detailed dynamic simulation

Power quality improvement in low voltage distribution network utilizing improved unified power quality conditioner.

Doctoral Degree. University of KwaZulu-Natal, Durban.The upgrade of the power system, network, and as it attained some complexity level, the voltage related problems and power loss has become frequently pronounced. The power quality challenges load at extreme end of the feeder like voltage sag and swell, and power loss at load centre due to peak load as not received adequate attention. Therefore, this research proposes a Power Angle Control PAC approach for enhancing voltage profile and mitigating voltage sag, voltage swell, and reduced power loss in low voltage radial distribution system (RDS). The amelioration of voltage sag, voltage swell, weak voltage profile, and power loss with a capable power electronics-based power controller device known as Improve Unified Power Quality Conditioner I-UPQC was conceived. Also, the same controller was optimally implemented using hybrid of genetic algorithm and improved particle swarm optimization GA-IPSO in RDS to mitigate the voltage issues, and power loss experienced at peak loading. A new control design-model of Power Angle Control (PAC) of the UPQC has been designed and established using direct, quadrature, and zero components dq0 and proportional integral (PI) controller method. The simulation was implemented in MATLAB/Simulink environment. The results obtained at steady-state condition and when the new I-UPQC was connected show that series inverter can participate actively in ameliorating in the process of mitigating sag and swell by maintaining a PAC of 25% improvement. It was observed that power loss reduced from 1.7% to 1.5% and the feeder is within the standard limit of ±5%. Furthermore, the interconnection of I-UPQC with photovoltaic solar power through the DC link shows a better voltage profile while the load voltage within the allowable range of ±5% all through the disturbance and power loss reduction is 1.3%. Lastly, results obtained by optimal allocation of I-UPQC in RDS using analytical and GA-IPSO show that reactive power injection improved the voltage related issues from 0.952 to 0.9989 p.u., and power loss was further reduced to 1.2% from 3.4%. Also, the minimum bus voltage profile, voltage sag, and power loss are within statutory limits of ±5 % and less than 2 %, respectively. The major contributions of this research are the reduction of sag impact and power loss on the sensitive load in RDS feeder.Publications on page iii