Control and design principle of SVC-MERS — A new reactive power compensator with line frequency switching and small capacitor —

This paper describes about control and design principles for SVC-MERS, a new reactive power compensator using MERS (magnetic energy recovery switch). Low capacitance of dc capacitor and reduced loss and electromagnetic noise due to line frequency switching are advantages of this system. The capacitor voltage waveform generated by SVC-MERS changes according to operating points because of the small capacitor. Operation mode is separated into three types by its waveform. This paper suggests control method for each mode. By using all waveform modes, SVC-MERS obtains wide variation of reactive power generation. Then characteristics of each mode are described and evaluated to discuss the design principle including available operation range. Finally, results of experiments to confirm the concept including control and design principles are shown.