Experimental Study on Slope Modified Sawtooth Multiplying Reactive Power Control by Using Power Factor Correction Converter

Abstract

Recently, the reverse power flow of photovoltaics during daytime and the concentration of electric vehicle charging at night have caused voltage violation in distribution lines. One of the methods to regulate the distribution line voltage and suppress voltage violation is to control the reactive power by using grid side equipment and distributed generators. However, the installation cost of grid side equipment and the possibility of output power reduction of distributed generators are obstacles with regard to controlling the reactive power. In this research, to reduce the additional installation cost of grid side equipment and to avoid reduction in distributed generator output power, reactive power control by using power factor correction (PFC) converters in consumer loads is introduced and its control ability is evaluated through experiments. Its effect on PFC converter output voltage ripple is also evaluated. From the experiments, the reactive power control ability with the use of PFC converters is verified, and it is found that the increase in output voltage ripple is not large. The proposed reactive power control method can achieve reactive power control by using consumer loads.