Design and experimental analysis of an advanced static VAR compensator with computer aided control

This study presents integration of a real-time energy monitoring and control system with an advanced reactive power compensation unit based on fixed capacitor-thyristor controlled reactor (FC-TCR). Firing angles of the thyristors located in the FC-TCR are controlled by a microcontroller in order to keep the power factor within the limits. Electrical parameters of the system are measured by specially designed circuits and simultaneously transferred to the computer via a data acquisition board. Thus, real time data of the system can be observed through a visual user interface. The data obtained is not only analyzed for control process, but also regularly saved into a database. The system has been tested in laboratory conditions under different load characteristics and experimental results verified that the system successfully and accurately achieves compensation process against the all operational conditions. •Real time implementation of an advanced single phase power factor correction based on fixed capacitor thyristor controlled reactor is realized.•A visual computer interface is also designed to execute all controls, to monitor electrical parameters and to save data into a database regularly.•Experimental tests are carried out and results verified that the system successfully achieves compensation process against the all operational conditions.