Unified power flow controller based on two shunt converters and a series capacitor

In this paper a novel configuration of unified power flow controller (UPFC) which consists of two shunt converters and a series capacitor is proposed. In this configuration, a series capacitor is used between two shunt converters to inject desired series voltage. As a result, it is possible to control the active and reactive power flow as same as the conventional configuration of UPFC. The main advantage of the proposed UPFC in comparison with the conventional configuration is injection of a series voltage waveform with a very low total harmonic distortion (THD). Also, using two shunt converters instead of a series and a shunt converters, results in reduction of design efforts and simplification of control, measuring and protection strategies. An optimal control strategy based on the discrete model of converters is applied to shunt converters. The proposed UPFC is simulated using PSCAD/EMTDC and MATLAB software and simulation results are presented to validate the effectiveness of the novel configuration of UPFC. Also, the experimental results which are obtained from an experimental set-up are presented.