A new DSTATCOM topology based on Stacked Multicell converter

Voltage source converter based DSTATCOM has been accepted as the most preferred solution for reactive power management in distribution power networks which plays a vital role in improving power quality, correcting power factor and maintaining constant distribution voltages. However, the quality of DSTATCOM output voltage and current itself, such as injected harmonics and Total Harmonic Distortion (THD), are important. So, in this paper, a new Stacked Multicell (SM) converter based DSTATCOM for reactive power compensation and voltage sags and swells reduction and elimination in distribution system is proposed. The main properties of SM converter, which causes increase in the number of output voltage levels, are transformer-less operation and natural self-balancing of flying capacitors voltage and lower power rating and number of components. Indirect current control technique based on modified phase shifted sinusoidal PWM modulation method has been applied to DSTATCOM. The proposed DSTATCOM is simulated using PSCAD/EMTDC software and simulation results are presented to validate the effectiveness and advantages of the new proposed configuration of DSTATCOM.