Power Quality Enhancement Using Euclidean Direction Search Based Control Technique

This paper proposes the design and control of a three-phase four-wire distribution static compensator (DSTATCOM) for elimination of several power quality (PQ) issues, namely harmonics, reactive power, load unbalancing, and neutral current. A three-phase voltage source converter (VSC) and a zigzag transformer based configuration are utilized as a DSTATCOM. The zigzag transformer is operated to provide a suitable path for load neutral current and other PQ problems are mitigated by designing a suitable control for VSC. The control of VSC is developed using Euclidean direction search (EDS) technique based adaptive control theory. This control algorithm is designed to extricate fundamental constituents from the load current and used to generate switching pulses for VSC. The improved behavior of the proposed EDS-based control is observed by comparing it with other existing controllers. Real-time performance of the EDS control is verified on a developed prototype in the laboratory using VSC and DSP (dSPACE1104 R&D controller).