Design and Validation of a Static-Commutated Device for LV Active User Voltage Regulation

The growing diffusion of distributed generation and its impact on voltage profiles increases the need for regulating voltage also in low-voltage (LV) networks, particularly at active user’s premise. The quality of voltages should be ensured by devices that are fast-acting, economical, compact and easy to be installed, without a negative impact on the reliability of the network and its users. With this aim, a new simple, cheap and compact device for supporting voltage control at LV active users' premises has recently been proposed; it is based on a transformer that is able to change its winding configuration by static switches. In this paper, the design of the static-commutated device is described and analyzed; various laboratory tests for validating the control structure are presented. The results show the effectiveness of the control strategy to ensure an adequate voltage quality at LV active users' premises.