Design, Implementation, and Operation of a New C-Type 2nd Harmonic Filter for Electric Arc and Ladle Furnaces

In this paper, the transient overvoltage suppression capability and harmonic filtering performance of C-type 2nd harmonic filters (HFs) are optimized by using two-stage damping resistors; one is permanently connected to the filter circuit, while the other one is switched on by back-to-back connected thyristors during furnace transformer and HF energization periods. However, in conventional C-type 2nd HFs, there is only one damping resistor, which is permanently connected to the filter circuit. In conventional designs, either the filtering performance is maximized or transient overvoltage suppression capability is enhanced or a compromise is made between these two objectives. This new configuration of C-type 2nd HFs has been applied to a sample iron and steel plant in which two ladle refining furnaces are in operation. For this purpose, an static var compensation system has been designed and installed, which is composed of a thyristor-controlled reactor, a 3rd HF, and the new C-type 2nd HF configuration proposed in this paper. The results of field tests and simulation studies show that the proposed C-type 2nd HF configuration gives much better results than conventional designs

A Current Source Converter-Based Active Power Filter for Mitigation of Harmonics at the Interface of Distribution and Transmission Systems

A medium-power current source converter (CSC)-based shunt active power filter (APF) system is designed and implemented to suppress the amplification of low-order harmonics at the medium-voltage (MV) interface bus between the distribution and transmission systems, owing to the presence of large shunt capacitor banks installed only for reactive power compensation. Four CSC-based APF modules designed at 1.0 kV are operated in parallel and connected to the 31.5-kV MV bus via a specially designed coupling transformer. In each APF module, a specially designed LC-type input filter eliminates the switching ripples, and active damping method embedded into the control software suppresses harmonic frequencies around the corner frequency of the input filter. The resulting system can operate at relatively high frequencies in the range from 2.0 to 3.0 kHz, depending upon which selected harmonics among 5th, 7th, 11th, and 13th are to be eliminated. Furthermore, in order to reduce the installed capacity of CSCs, selective harmonic amplification method is applied to the APF system described in the paper. MV APF system has been built as a mobile system for temporary connection to a problematic MV interface bus until a permanent solution is found for that location in the distribution system

Design and Implementation of a 154-kV +/- 50-Mvar Transmission STATCOM Based on 21-Level Cascaded Multilevel Converter

In this research work, the design and implementation of a 154-kV +/- 50-Mvar transmission static synchronous compensator (T-STATCOM) have been carried out primarily for the purposes of reactive power compensation and terminal voltage regulation and secondarily for power system stability. The implemented T-STATCOM consists of five 10.5-kV +/- 12-Mvar cascaded multilevel converter (CMC) modules operating in parallel. The power stage of each CMC is composed of five series-connected H-bridges (HBs) in each phase, thus resulting in 21-level line-to-line voltages. Due to modularity and flexibility of implemented HBs, each CMC module has reached a power density of 250 kvar/m(3), thus making the mobility of the system implementable. DC-link capacitor voltages of HBs are perfectly balanced by means of the modified selective swapping algorithm proposed. The field tests carried out at full load in the 154-kV transformer substation where T-STATCOM is installed have shown that the steady-state and transient responses of the system are quite satisfactory

Treatment delays and in-hospital outcomes in acute myocardial infarction during the COVID-19 pandemic: A nationwide study

© 2020 by Turkish Society of Cardiology.Objective: Delayed admission of myocardial infarction (MI) patients is an important prognostic factor. In the present nationwide registry (TURKMI-2), we evaluated the treatment delays and outcomes of patients with acute MI during the Covid-19 pandemic and compaired with a recent pre-pandemic registry (TURKMI-1). Methods: The pandemic and pre-pandemic studies were conducted prospectively as 15-day snapshot registries in the same 48 centers. The inclusion criteria for both registries were aged ≥18 years and a final diagnosis of acute MI (AMI) with positive troponin levels. The only difference between the 2 registries was that the pre-pandemic (TURKMI-1) registry (n=1872) included only patients presenting within the first 48 hours after symptom-onset. TURKMI-2 enrolled all consecutive patients (n=1113) presenting with AMI during the pandemic period. Results: A comparison of the patients with acute MI presenting within the 48-hour of symptom-onset in the pre-pandemic and pandemic registries revealed an overall 47.1% decrease in acute MI admissions during the pandemic. Median time from symptom-onset to hospital-arrival increased from 150 min to 185 min in patients with ST elevation MI (STEMI) and 295 min to 419 min in patients presenting with non-STEMI (NSTEMI) (p-values <0.001). Door-to-balloon time was similar in the two periods (37 vs. 40 min, p=0.448). In the pandemic period, percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI) decreased, especially in the NSTEMI group (60.3% vs. 47.4% in NSTEMI, p<0.001; 94.8% vs. 91.1% in STEMI, p=0.013) but the decrease was not significant in STEMI patients admitted within 12 hours of symptom-onset (94.9% vs. 92.1%; p=0.075). In-hospital major adverse cardiac events (MACE) were significantly increased during the pandemic period [4.8% vs. 8.9%; p<0.001; age- and sex-adjusted Odds ratio (95% CI) 1.96 (1.20-3.22) for NSTEMI, p=0.007; and 2.08 (1.38-3.13) for STEMI, p<0.001]. Conclusion: The present comparison of 2 nationwide registries showed a significant delay in treatment of patients presenting with acute MI during the COVID-19 pandemic. Although PCI was performed in a timely fashion, an increase in treatment delay might be responsible for the increased risk of MACE. Public education and establishing COVID-free hospitals are necessary to overcome patients' fear of using healthcare services and mitigate the potential complications of AMI during the pandemic