Phase Shifting Transformers: Principles and Applications

Jody Verboomen, Member IEEE, Dirk Van Hertem, Member IEEE, Pieter H. Schavemaker, Wil L. Kling, Member IEEE, Ronnie Belmans, Fellow IEEE

Abstract The purpose of this paper is to give a short overview of existing technologies regarding phase shifting transformers (PSTs). A classication is made based on the symmetrical or asymmetrical and on the direct or indirect character of the PST. As a case-study, the PSTs in Meeden, The Netherlands are studied more profoundly. Furthermore, a model is developed on a real-time digital simulator (RTDS) in order to demonstrate the capabilities of the PST. Index Terms Phase Shifting Transformer, Power Flow Control, Real Time Digital Simulator

old, the PST proves to be a valuable means of control. In the following paragraphs, the principles of this device are explained. II. P RINCIPLES OF OPERATION
1
P,Q (pu) P

0,5

I. I NTRODUCTION In the recent past, the operation of a transmission grid was relatively straightforward. The grid was designed to supply electricity to the country in which it was built and to support neighbouring countries in times of need. There was no need for large capacities at the border, because most of the energy was supplied by powerplants within the country itself. The deregulation of the electricity market, however, has led to major changes. The transmission grid is used as a transport medium between producer A and consumer B, not necessarily located in the same country. A and B have concealed a contract in which is stated that A produces a certain amount of energy and that B buys this energy. Hence, the contractual path of the electricity is straight from A to B. The physical path, however, is a group of parallel paths, some of which lead through countries that are not involved in the contract. In this manner, uncontrolled power ows can occur in the transmission system of a country and overload its lines. Another problem that can occur is the uneven loading of parallel transmission lines. The distribution of the power ow between two parallel lines is dictated by their impedances [1]. The line with the smallest reactance carries the largest part of the load. In most situations, one of the two lines will be operating well below its nominal rating because otherwise the parallel line would be overloaded. In the two problems stated above, active power ow needs to be controlled. The phase shifting transformer (PST) does just that. Several countries have already installed or are planning to install PSTs [2], [3], [4]. Although the technology is relatively
J.Verboomen, P.H.Schavemaker and W.L.Kling are with the Electrical Power Systems Group of the Delft University of Technology, Mekelweg 4, 2628 CD Delft, The Netherlands, Email: j.verboomen@ewi.tudelft.nl, p.h.schavemaker@ewi.tudelft.nl, w.l.kling@ewi.tudelft.nl W.L.Kling is also with the Power Systems Laboratory of the Eindhoven University of Technology, The Netherlands and Tennet bv, The Netherlands D.Van Hertem and R.Belmans are with the ELECTA research group of the K.U.Leuven,Belgium
-0,5

0,5

1,5

2,5

(rad)

3,5

-1

-1,5

-2

Fig. 1.

Active and reactive power over a transmission line as a function of

The active and reactive power transported over a transmission line is given by the following equations: P = Q= |Us ||Ur | sin XL cos |Ur | |Us | (1) (2)

|Us ||Ur | XL

These equations are plotted as a function of in Fig. 1, with the voltages and the line reactance equal to 1 pu. The active power is proportional to the voltages on the sending and the receiving side and to the sine of the electrical angle between both sides; it is also inversely proportional to the line reactance. Altering the active power can be done by altering the voltages, but this has a bigger inuence on the reactive power, so this method is not very effective. The total line reactance can be lowered by placing a series capacitor in order to compensate for the inductance of the line. Besides the increased power ow, an additional advantage of this method is that oscillations can be damped by switching the capacitor at appropriate times. Some Flexible Alternating Current Transmission Systems (FACTS) can alter the total line impedance very dynamically [5], [6], [7]. The method discussed in this paper is the method of altering the electrical angle, as showed in Fig. 2.

Symmetrical PSTs create an output voltage with an altered phase angle compared to the input voltage, but with the same amplitude. The combination of these characteristics results in 4 categories of PSTs. Each category will be discussed in the following paragraphs.

Fig. 2.

Model of a transmission line with and without a PST

A. Direct, asymmetrical PSTs

The PST is modeled as a reactance in series with a phase shift. The power ow through the line is increased by adding an angle to the existing angle . The phase shift is controllable within certain limits. Equation 1 becomes: |Us ||Ur | sin( + ) (3) XL + XP ST The equation stated above can also be interpreted in another way: the same amount of active power can be transported over the transmission line with a smaller value of . The graph of 3 is shifted by an amount in comparison with 1, as can be seen in Fig. 3. The maximum power decreases XL by a factor XL +XP ST when using a PST. P =
1,2 P/Pm (pu)

Fig. 4.

Direct, asymmetrical PST

1
P without PST

0,8

P with PST

0,6

0,4

0,2 (rad) 0 0,5 1 1,5 2 2,5 3 3,5

Fig. 5. Fig. 3. Active power as a function of with and without a PST

Phasor diagram of a direct, asymmetrical PST

The active power transported over the line is a non-linear function of . This is an important aspect when designing controllers for a PST, although in most cases they are controlled by human action. III. T YPES OF PST S PSTs come in many different forms. They can be classied by these characteristics: Direct PSTs are based on one 3-phase core. The phase shift is obtained by connecting the windings in an appropriate manner. Indirect PSTs are based on a construction with 2 separate transformers; one variable tap exciter to regulate the amplitude of the quadrature voltage and one series transformer to inject the quadrature voltage in the right phase. Asymmetrical PSTs create an output voltage with an altered phase angle and amplitude compared to the input voltage.

Fig. 4 shows the conguration of a direct and asymmetrical PST. The input terminals are L1 to L3. The winding with variable tap [8] that is connected to the input terminal is magnetically coupled with the winding between the other two terminals. In this manner, a quadrature voltage that can be regulated by means of the variable tap is added to the input voltage in order to obtain a phase shift . The direction of the phase shift can be changed by using the switches. In this manner, the power ow in the line can be increased or decreased. The relation between the tap position and the angle is non-linear and can be derived from the phasor diagram: = arctan |U1 | |UL1 | (4)

The relationship between the output voltage and the injected quadrature voltage is given by: |Us1 | = Using 4, 5 becomes: |U1 | sin (5)

|Us1 | =

|U1 | sin arctan |U1|| |UL1

(6)

The output voltage |Us1 | is always larger than the input voltage |UL1 |. The fact that voltage levels are changed, inuences the transmitted power over the line: |Us1 ||Ur | sin( + ) XL + XP ST Using 4 and 6, 7 can be rewritten as follows: P = P = |U1 | |Ur | XL + XP ST sin arctan |U1 | |UL1 | sin + arctan (7)

|U1 | |UL1 | (8)

Fig. 7. Direct, symmetrical PST

This can be rewritten as: |Ur | (|UL1 | sin + U1 cos ) (9) XL + XP ST The effects of an increasing angle and an increasing secondary voltage combine in such a way that the result is a linear behavior of the active power with respect to the quadrature voltage. In theory, there is no maximum for P. Equations 4 and 9 are plotted in Fig. 6 for = , with |UL1 | 6 |Ur | and XL +XP ST equal to 1 pu. The curve of is relatively linear up to a value of about 0, 6 rad or 34 . P =
2,5
P (pu) (rad)

1,2

Fig. 8.
1

Phasor diagram of a direct, symmetrical PST

2
P

0,8 0,6

1,5

Using 10, the transferred active power becomes: |U1 | |UL1 ||Ur | sin + 2 arcsin XL + XP ST |2UL1 |

1 0,4 0,5 0,2 0 0 0,5 1

| U1| (pu)

P =

(11)

0 1,5 2 2,5

Fig. 6. Relation between P, and the quadrature voltage for a direct asymmetrical PST with = 6

B. Direct, symmetrical PSTs With some modications, the direct, asymmetrical PST can be made symmetrical. An additional tap changer is needed, which raises the total cost of the device. The advantages are that the voltage amplitudes remain unchanged and that the maximum attainable angles are much larger. The relation between the quadrature voltage and the angle is still non-linear and can be derived from the phasor diagram (Fig. 8): = 2 arcsin |U1 | 2|UL1 | (10)

Equations 10 and 11 are plotted in Fig. 9 with UL1 and |Ur | XL +XP ST equal to 1 pu. The quasi-linear range of the -curve has doubled in comparison with Fig. 6. An alternative implementation of a direct and symmetrical PST is depicted in Fig. 10. The resulting phasor diagram (Fig. 11) has a hexagonal shape. An important advantage of this implementation is that only one tap variable transformer is needed per phase. A disadvantage is the need for additional impedances to protect the tap changers when the phase shift is set to zero, because in that case, short circuit currents occur.

C. Indirect, asymmetrical PSTs The indirect, asymmetrical PST consists of an exciter and a series transformer. Depending on the rating of the system, these two transformers are housed in separate tanks or in a single tank. The two-tank system has the advantage of easier transport. Fig. 12 shows the conguration of the system. The phasor diagram is exactly the same as the one depicted in Fig. 5.

P (pu)

1,2

(rad)

3,5 3

1 0,8 0,6

2,5 2 1,5

0,4 0,2 0 0 0,5 1

| U1| (pu)

1 0,5 0 1,5 2 2,5

Fig. 11. Phasor diagram of a direct, symmetrical PST with hexagonal winding connection

Fig. 9. Relation between P, and the quadrature voltage for a direct symmetrical PST with = 6

Fig. 10.

Direct, symmetrical PST with hexagonal winding connection Fig. 12. Indirect, asymmetrical PST

D. Indirect, symmetrical PSTs The indirect, asymmetrical PST can be made symmetrical by splitting the series winding in two halves and tapping the voltage for the exciter from the middle. Fig. 13 shows this conguration. The phasor diagram is the same as the one in Fig. 8. IV. C ASE - STUDY:
THE

PST S OF M EEDEN

The Netherlands has ve interconnectors with its neighboring countries Belgium and Germany (Fig. 14). The southern region is much denser populated compared to the northern part. As a consequence, import of power causes a heavy loading of the southern interconnectors, especially on the line Maasbracht-Rommerskirchen/Siersdorf, compared to a low loading of the most northern interconnector Meeden-Diele. In order to maintain n-1 security, the import capacity had to be limited. The Dutch Transmission System Operator (TSO) TenneT, studied various solutions to solve this problem. Additional transmission lines didnt offer instant relief, as such projects would take much too long because of negotiations with other TSOs and procedures to obtain all necessary permits. A better solution was to install a phase-shifter in an appropriate location in the transmission grid [9], [10]. The device shouldnt be placed in the Maasbracht interconnector with Germany, as this would only shift the import to the Belgian border, not affecting the Meeden interconnector. Locating the PST in Meeden would offer the possibility to increase the import in

the northern part of the country, distributing the loading of the interconnectors more equally. In reality, two PSTs are required because the interconnector consists of two circuits. In the year 2000, TenneT ordered the PSTs with Smit Transformers. The most important design parameters are given in Table I. The chosen type of PST is a symmetrical, indirect conguration (Fig. 13). The series transformer and the exciter can be constructed as two separate 3-phase transformers. This is the two-tank design. The problem with this design is the fact that the connections between the two tanks are at the highest voltage level. It is also possible to group the series transformer and exciter per phase, resulting in a three-tank design. More interconnections are needed, but they are on a lower voltage
TABLE I M AIN DESIGN
PARAMETERS OF THE

M EEDEN PST S

3 phase through rating Applicable standards Type of cooling Type of regulation Number of steps No-load phase angle Load phase angle at 1000 MVA Short circuit impedance Nominal voltage

1000 MVA IEC ONAN Symmetrical +/- 16 steps 37.2 degrees 30 degrees <12% at 1000 MVA 380 kV

Fig. 13.

Indirect, symmetrical PST Fig. 15. A one-phase unit of a Meeden PST

V. S IMULATION ON A R EAL -T IME D IGITAL S IMULATOR

Fig. 16.

The conguration used for the RTDS simulation

Fig. 14.

Interconnectors of The Netherlands

level. This conguration has been adopted for the Meeden PSTs. Each one-phase unit consists of:

A Real-Time Digital Simulator (RTDS) is used to demonstrate the use of a symmetrical, indirect PST. The conguration is shown in Fig. 16. Two transmission lines connect an ideal generator with a load. The lines are identical, except for the length. The shortest transmission line (line A) is loaded more heavily than the longer one. A PST can distribute the load more equally. Fig. 17 shows the results of the simulation. The active power ow is shifted from line A to line B as the magnitude of the phase shift angle increases. It is even possible to load line B more heavily than line A if is increased beyond 17 degrees. VI. C ONCLUSIONS Phase shifting transformers exist in different forms. The asymmetrical version is relatively simple compared to the symmetrical PST but changes the voltage amplitude. The indirect conguration offers an easier modular design, but the overall cost is higher than the direct version. A PST is a useful means of control of active power ow, as is proved by hands-on experience obtained from the Meeden PSTs in The Netherlands. A simulation in a real-time digital simulator (RTDS) illustrates the ability to regulate the active power transmitted over a line.

A single-phase series transformer, rated at 213 MVA A single-phase exciter with two tap-changers, rated at 202 MVA Two current control transformers to distribute the current equally between the two tap-changers.

The scheme of a unit is drawn in Fig. 15. The series transformer consists of two smaller transformers of 133 kV primary and 70 kV secondary each. The exciter is constructed out of two parallel transformers with variable tap. The primary winding is rated at 208 kV and the secondary winding at 38.5 kV. The secondary windings are connected in series, resulting in a rated regulating voltage of 77 kV.

P (MW)

600

B IOGRAPHIES
Jody Verboomen obtained his M.Eng. in Electronical Engineering from Group T Technical School in Leuven, Belgium in 2001. He obtained his M.Sc. in Electrical Engineering from the Catholic University of Leuven (KUL), Belgium in 2004. He is currently working towards a Ph.D. on the application of FACTS in transmission systems in the Electrical Power System (EPS) laboratory of the Delft University of Technology, The Netherlands.

PA (MW)

500

400 PB (MW)

300

equilibrium at -17

200

100

0 -25 (deg) -20 -15 -10 -5 0

Fig. 17.

The results of the RTDS simulation

ACKNOWLEDGMENT This research at the TU Delft has been performed within the framework of the research program intelligent power systems that is supported nancially by SenterNovem. SenterNovem is an agency of the Dutch ministry of Economic Affairs. The research performed at the KU Leuven is nancially supported by the Belgian Fonds voor Wetenschappelijk Onderzoek (F.W.O.)-Vlaanderen. Dirk Van Hertem is a doctoral research assistant of the F.W.O.-Vlaanderen.

Dirk Van Hertem graduated as a M.Eng. in 2001 from the KHK, Geel/Belgium and as a M.Sc. in Electrical Engineering from the K.U.L./Leuven Belgium in 2003. From 2003 he has been working towards a Ph.D. in the ELECTA research group, department of Electrical Engineering of the K.U.Leuven, Belgium. From October 2004, he is a research assistant for the F.W.O.-Vl. In 2001, his masters thesis received the V.I.K. award and in 2004, he received the K.B.V.E. R&D award for his second masters thesis. His special elds of interest are power system control and optimization. Pieter H. Schavemaker obtained his M.Sc. in Electrical Engineering from the Delft University of Technology in 1994 and he obtained his Ph.D. in Electrical Engineering from the Delft University of Technology in 2002. Since 1996 he has been with the Power Systems Laboratory where he is currently Assistant Professor. His main research interests include power system transients and power system calculations.

R EFERENCES
[1] IEEE Power Engineering Society, C57.135 : IEEE Guide for the Application, Specication, and Testing of Phase-Shifting Transformers, May 2002. [2] P. Bresesti et al., Application of Phase Shifting Transformers for a secure and efcient operation of the interconnection corridors, in IEEE Power Engineering Society General Meeting, 2004, pp. 11921197. [3] R. M. G. Castro, F. M. R. Batista, and J. M. M. Medeiros Pinto, Application of FACTS in the Portuguese Transmission System : Investigation on the Use of Phase-Shift Transformers, in IEEE Porto PowerTech2001, Porto, 2001. [4] J. Bladow and A. Montoya, Experiences with Parallel EHV Shifting Transformers, IEEE Transactions on Power Delivery, vol. 6, no. 3, pp. 10961100, July 1991. [5] P. Moore and P. Ashmole, Flexible AC transmission systems part 4 : Advanced FACTS controllers, Power Engineering Journal, pp. 95100, April 1998. [6] R. Gr nbaum, M. Noroozian, and B. Thorvaldsson, FACTS - powerful u systems for exible power transmission, ABB Review, vol. 5, pp. 417, 1999. [7] R. Gr nbaum, R. Sharma, and J. P. Charpentier, Improving the efu ciency and quality of AC transmission systems, ABB Power Systems - Joint World Bank, Tech. Rep., March 2000. [8] A. Kramer and J. Ruff, Transformers for Phase Angle Regulation Considering the Selection of On-Load Tap-Changers, IEEE Transactions on Power Delivery, vol. 13, no. 2, pp. 518525, April 1998. [9] W. L. Kling et al., Phase shifting transformers installed in the Netherlands in order to increase available international transmission capacity, in CIGRE Session 2004 - C2-207, 2004. [10] C. J. G. Spoorenberg, B. F. van Hulst, and H. F. Reijnders, Specic aspects of design and testing of a phase shifting transformer, in XIIIth International Symposium on High Voltage Engineering, 2003.

Wil L. Kling received his M.S-degree in electrical engineering from the Technical University of Eindhoven in 1978. Since 1993 he has been a (parttime) professor with the Department of Electrical Engineering at Delft University of Technology, in the eld of Power Systems Engineering. In addition, he is with the Operations department of TenneT (the Dutch Transmission System Operator). Since 1999, he has also been a part-time professor at the TU Eindhoven. His area of interest is related to planning and operations of power systems. He is the project leader of the research programme Intelligent Power Systems, sponsored by Senter, an agency of the Dutch Ministry of Economic Affairs. Prof. Kling is involved in scientic organizations such as CIGRE and the IEEE. As Netherlands representative, he is a member of its Administrative Council. Furthermore, he is involved in several international working groups in the eld of network planning and system studies, within UCTE, Eurelectric and other bodies. Ronnie Belmans received the M.S. degree in electrical engineering in 1979, the Ph.D. in 1984, and the Special Doctorate in 1989 from the K.U.Leuven, Belgium and the Habilitierung from the RWTH, Aachen, Germany, in 1993. Currently, he is full professor with K.U.Leuven, teaching electrical machines and variable speed drives. He is appointed visiting professor at Imperial College in London. He is also President of UIE. He was with the Laboratory for Electrical Machines of the RWTH, Aachen, Germany (Von Humboldt Fellow, Oct.88Sept.89). Oct.89-Sept.90, he was visiting associate professor at Mc Master University, Hamilton, Ont., Canada. During the academic year 1995-1996 he occupied the Chair at the London University, offered by the Anglo-Belgian Society. Dr. Belmans is a fellow of both the IEEE and the IEE (United Kingdom). He is the chairman of the board of Elia, the Belgian transmission grid operator.