Magnetic Amplifier-Based Power-Flow Controller

The concept of the magnetic amplifier, a common electromagnetic device in electronic applications in the past, has seldom been used in power systems. The magnetic amplifier-based power-flow controller (MAPFC), an innovative low-cost device that adopts the idea of the magnetic amplifier for power-flow control applications, is introduced in this paper. The uniqueness of MAPFC is in the use of the magnetization of the ferromagnetic core, shared by an ac and a dc winding, as the medium to control the ac winding reactance inserted in series with the transmission line to be controlled. Large power flow in the line can be regulated by the small dc input to the dc winding. A project on the R&D of an MAPFC has been funded by the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) and conducted by the Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL), the University of Tennessee-Knoxville, and Waukesha Electric Systems, Inc. since early 2012. Findings from the project are presented along with some results obtained in a laboratory environment.