EVALUATION OF LOSSES IN THYRISTOR VALVE FOR SVC APPLICATION.

R. Rajan Bahu Bhaskar Bose Dipak Dutta

M. Arunachalam
TSC Department, Electronics Division
Bharat Heavy Electricals Limited.
, Mysore Road, Bangalore - 560 026
Abstruct --- This p p r describes methods to determine the
operating losses of Thyristor valves for SVC applications. Thy-
ristor valves for Thyristor Controlled Reactor (TCR), Thyris-
and cooling equipment are kept outside the scope of this
paper.
tor Switched fisc) and Swikhed Reactor
The fosses ue evaluated per single phase valve. Here the
(TSR) are considered. The procedure for loss evaluation re-
quires some data which are to be estimated through factory
measurements or type tests.
valve may in reality be made of several modules connected in
series or parallel.
I. INTRODUCTION
Static VAR Compensators (SVCs) are becoming increas-
ingly popular worldwide as there is constant demand for
regulating bus voltage and improving power factor under
various operating conditions. Thyristor valves comprise the
major control equipment in SVCs. As capitalised power loss
is an indication of the operational cost, customers are also
interested in knowing this figure. This figure plays an impor-
tant role in determining the SVC configuration to be chosen.
In this paper, an attempt is made to lay down the proce-
dure for evaluating the losses of thyristor valves used in
Thyristor Controlled Reactor (TCR), Thyristor Switched
Capacitor (TSC) and Thyristor Switched Reactor (TSR) for
SVC application. The procedure requires factory measure-
ments of some parameters which are useWr loss evaluation.
The procedures discussed in this paper are made in line with
similar guidelines available for HVDC valves in section 4.1
of [I].
11. EVALUATION OF LOSSES
The losses are evaluated under two conditions, operating
condition and standby condition.
For operating condition, the losses are :
a) Thyristor conduction losses
b) Thyristor spreading losses
c) Other valve conduction losses
d) Damping and voltage grading circuit losses
e) "I off losses
f) Valve reactor losses.
For standby
blocked), the losses are :
a) Damping loss (damping resistor dependent term)
b) Voltage sharing resistor loss.
condition (i.e. valve is energised but
A. Thyristor conduction loss per valve, WI:
This is the principal loss arising through the passage of
load current through the thyristors of the valve.
( 1)
W1= n . I . [ Vu .&In +I . R, /2 ]
-------------
where
n =No. of thyristors in the valve.
The method described in this paper determines the losses
in thyristor valve based on the summation of individual loss
components. The individual components of loss are deter-
mined by standardised calculations. Some data required for
calculation are to beobtained fromfactory measurements
Vo = The current independent component of the on-slate
voltage of the average thyristor in volts.
R,, =The slope resistance of the on-state characteristic of the
average thyristor in ohms.
The auxiliary power loss of associated componentb or
equipments like thyristor firing circuits, thyristor monitoi ing
I =The rated rms current through the valve, in h y s .
In case of delayed conduction,
0-7803-2795-0 399
Wl =n. [V o .I ,+Ro .Im]
where
I, =Average current through the thyristor at frrng angle a.
I, =Rms current through the thyristor at firing angle a.
The values of Vo and Ro are determined from fully spread
on-state voltage measured at the appropriate current and
junction temperature. The average value of on-state voltage
should be readily available from production records. If pnral-
le1 connection of thyristor is employed, the appropriate cur-
rent is the valve current divided by the number of parallel
paths.
B. 7Byristor spreading loss per valve, W2:
This is an additional loss of the thyristor arising fromthe
delay in establishing full conduction of the silicon.
wt - 2 K- a
W2 =n . f . [ Vl(t) - V2(t)] . i(t) . d(ot)
---------- (2)
mt = a
where
n =No. of thyristors in the valve.
f =Systemfrequency, in Hz.
Vl(t) =The instantaneous on-state voltage of the average
thyristor at the appropriate junction temperature measiied
with sinusoidal ( truncated sinusoidal for delayed conduc-
tion) current pulse exibiting the correct amplitude and ;ide-
quate pulse width in volts.
V2(t) =The predicted instantaneous on-state voltage of the
average thyristor at the same junction temperature for the
same current pulse but with conducting area fully establixhed
in volts.
i(t) =The instantaneous current in the thyristor in Amps.
a =The fiiing delay angle in degrees measured from Aero
volts.
Typically, instantaneous on-state voltage data, including
the effects of spreading, are not available from production
records. Measurement of typical on-state voltage including
the effect of spreading should therefore be done during the
valve periodic firing and extinction type test , or alterna-
tively, from a separate type test in the laboratory.
These are the conduction losses i
valve due to components other than
(3 1
W3 =IZ.R _--_------------
where
I =Rated rms current through the valve in Amps.
R =The ac resistance of the terminal to terminal valve cir-
cuit excluding the thyristors in Ohms.
The value of R should bedetermined by direct measure-
ment as a type test at room temperature
valve section that includes all elemen
the valve in correct proportions, but i
been replaced by copper blocks of ap
Altematively, the ac resistance may be c
case the calculating methods shoul
fust method is preferable since it is difficult to determine the
resistance at the busbar joints which is required in the sec-
ond method.
D. Damping loss per valve (Dumping Resistor dependent
term, W4 :
This loss occurs in the standby condition when the valve is
energised but blocked.
(4)
W4 =(n/2) . I(R.Vm2) / IR +(1/2nfCM
_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _
where
R =Damping resistor value per level in Ohms
C =Damping capacitor
V,= Rated rms voltage
Other symbols are as defined in (2)
E. Damping loss per valve (change of Capacitor energy
rem), W5 :
This is the loss which occurs in the valve damping circuit
in deblocked mode.
W5 =n. f. C. V2
where
C. Other valve conduction losses per valve, W3 :
C =Damping capacitor value per level in Farads
400
V =Instantaneous value of voltage at the time of turning on
H. Reactor losses per valve, W8 :
f =Systemfrequency
n =No. of thyristor in the valve
in some cases Saturable Reactors are used in series with
thyristor valves to limit the high di/dt current during turn-on
arising due to the existing stray capacitances. Saturable reac-
tors also help in preventing the oscillating current during
turn-on from going negative. The reactor losses can be calcu-
lated as below : F. Turn-off loss per valve, W6 :
(8) Additional losses are generated in the thyristors and W8 =nL. M. k. f
where
nL =No. of reactor cores in the valve
M =Mass of each core in kilograms
--_-_____---------
+J unping resistors due to the reverse current flow during
turn-off. The reverse current flows due to the stored charge
of the thyristors. The additional losses are given by :
W6 =Qm.n.f..\/2.Vm.sin (180O- a)
------------___ (0)
where k =Characteristic core loss in jouleskg
V, =Rated rms voltage per level
Qm =The average value of thyristor stored charge at a jrmc-
tion temperature, di/dt aod recovery voltage appropriatc to
theservice conditions for Ghich losses are being determined,
in Coulombs.
Other symbols as in ( 5)
f =System frequency in Hz.
111. COMPILATION OF TOTAL LOSSES
Now that all the loss components have been calculated, the
total losses of various types of valve under different operat-
ing conditions can be calculated.
G. DC voltage Dependent Loss per Valve, W7 : A. For TCR Valve :
This is the loss in the shunt resistive impedance of the
valve due to the voltage appearing across valve terminals
during non-conducting interval. it mainly comprises of the
loss in the dc grading resistors and resistance offered by the
ml i ng water circuit.
For TCR valve all the loss components as above are appli-
cable either as operating loss or standby loss.
The total operating losses per valve is given by :
WT=W1 +W2 +W3 +W5 -I- W6 +W7 +W8 --------- (9)
(7)
W7 =(n/2).[Vm.(a)*/L] _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _
The total standby losses are given by :
where
n =No. of thyristors in the valve
(10) W, (Standby) =W4 +W7(Standby)
--------_-
v,,(a> =~ m s voltage per valve in volts at a particular firing
angle, a.
Izdc =DC grading resistor value including impedance oj the
cooling water per level in Ohms.
B. For TSR Valve :
Unlike TCR valve, the operation of TSC and TSR valves
approaches that of perfect switches and hence the damping
losses and loss due to stored charges (W5 and W6) are neg-
ligible during changeover of conduction fromone direction
thyristors to the other.
In standby condition,
The total operating losses per valve is given by :
WT =W1 + W2 +W3 +W8
(74
W7 (Standby) =(n/2) . [V,: / h]
--------------
(11)
______---___
where V,, =Rated rms voltage per level.
401
Thetotal standby losses are given by : IV, CONCLUSION
WT(Standby) =W4 +W7 (Standby)
-------------- ( 12)
Evaluation of losses in Thyristor valves
have been discussed in this paper. The various components
of valve losses were classified. As loss figures are important
in assessing the design and also arriving at capitalised loss C. For TSC Valve :
figures to reflect the cost of the valve, this paper-will serve as
an important reference to both manufacturers and users of
thyristor valves for SVC applications.
The total operating losses per valve is given by :
(1 3) wT=w1+ w2+w3 +w8 _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _
The total standby losses are given by :
(1 4) WT =W4+W7 (Standby)
---------------
Note :
W4 should betaken as the loss due to the ac component of
Vrms and W7 should be taken as loss due to both ac and dc
component.
For 3-phase valves the calculated losses are to bemultiplied
by 3 to get the total losses.
ACKNOWLEDGhIENT -3
The authors wish to thank the management of Bharat
Heavy Electricals limited, Bangalore for facilitating the
preparation and publication of this paper.
REPEkENCES
[ll I EEE Standard 1158 - Dtd. 1991 --- I EEE recommended practice for de
termination of power losses in HVDC converter station.