Optimizing the industrial system utility interface by means of AC/DC boost converters

The problem of voltage disturbance compensation in an industrial power system is considered. Reference is made to a case-study where a transformer feeds an AC/DC boost power converter, a capacitor VAr compensator and a balanced AC load. The transformer supplying voltages are supposed to be affected by flicker, slow variations and unbalance. The proposed perturbation compensation consists in suitably controlling the boost power converter which so acts as both a rectifier and static VAr compensator. The power converter sizing is discussed and the controller design presented. The effectiveness of the proposed compensation is shown via simulations obtained by means of the SIMULINK implementation of the power system dynamic model.