Power Electronics Applications in Power Systems

Course Instructor: Dr. Sanjib Ganguly

Associate Professor,
Department of Electronics and Electrical Engineering, IIT Guwahati

Week 2: Lecture notes

Transmission Line Modelling

Goals of the week:
1. Review the concepts of power transmission lines
2. Mathematical modelling of long transmission lines

The purpose of transmission lines is to transfer the power from the generating stations to the
load centers.
➢ How are these different from distribution Networks?
Transmission lines:
1. are relatively long (>=500 km)
2. carry high voltages and extra high voltages
3. are usually balanced (due to transposition)
4. have lower 𝑟/𝑥 ratio (< 1).
Transmission lines carry power in megawatts so, the conductors are of larger cross-section,
therefore, their resistance is less.

The inductive reactance (𝑋) depends on GMD and GMR as,

GMD
𝑋 ∝ ln (GMR)

GMD: Geometric mean distance

GMR: Geometric mean radius
Since the transmission lines are at very high voltage, the distance between the phases is kept
as large as possible. Therefore, the GMD is high and so is the inductive reactance X.

➢ Modelling of Transmission Lines:

Transmission lines have the following parameters:

• Line resistance (𝑅): It depends on the design of the line conductor.

• Line inductance (𝐿): It depends on GMD (line spacing) and GMR (cross-section area of line
conductor).

1
• Line capacitance (𝐶): It depends on GMD (line spacing) and GMR (cross-section area of line
conductor).

Classification of Transmission lines:

• Transmission lines are classified as (1) Short transmission lines (2) Medium transmission lines,
and (3) Long transmission lines.
• Transmission lines are classified based on the physical length of the lines for a given
wavelength of the transmitted signal.
As voltages and currents in the transmission line are electromagnetic waves, they travel at
the speed of light. The wavelength (𝜆) of the signal is given by the equation:
𝑐
𝜆=
𝑓
Where,

𝑐 = speed of light = 3 × 105 𝑘𝑚/𝑠

𝑓 = frequency of the power signal = 50𝐻𝑧

3×105
Therefore, 𝜆 = = 6000 𝑘𝑚
50

▪ Short transmission lines (length < 80 km ~ 50 miles)

▪ Medium transmission lines (80kms < length< 240 km ~ 150 miles)
▪ Long transmission lines (length >240 km)
This categorization is based on the wavelength corresponding to the 50 Hz power frequency of
the signal.
➢ Assumptions:
• For short or medium transmission line models the line parameters are assumed to be lumped in
nature and line capacitance is negligibly small.
• For long transmission line models the line parameters are assumed to be distributed throughout
the length of the line.

2
 IS z IR

y y
VS VR
2 2

Figure 1: Equivalent π- model of a medium transmission line with lumped parameters.

IS IR

VS VR

Figure 2: Equivalent π- model of a long transmission line with distributed parameters.

▪ What are we losing in the lumped form?

In long transmission lines, we are concerned with the time required for the electromagnetic
wave to propagate, and the associated phase shift. These are not considered in the lumped
parameter model.

➢ Long transmission line model:

Consider the distributed pi-model of a long transmission system as shown in Figure 4 below
IS V ( x + x) z x IR
V ( x)

Sending I ( x + x) I ( x) Receiving

End VS VR End
yx yx

x x
l
Figure 3: Equivalent model of a long transmission line with distributed parameters.

3
Here,

𝑉̅𝑆 = Sending end voltage

𝑉̅𝑅 = Receiving end voltage

𝐼𝑆̅ = Sending end current

𝑉̅𝑅 = Receiving end current

𝑧 = 𝑟 + 𝑗𝑥 = Series parameter (series impedance) per unit length (Ω/km)

𝑦 = 𝑔 + 𝑗𝑏 = Shunt parameter (shunt admittance) per unit length (℧/km)

𝑙 = Length of the transmission line

𝛥𝑥 = Small length element of the transmission line

Applying KVL in Figure 4, we have,

𝑉̅ (𝑥 + ∆𝑥) − 𝑉̅ (𝑥)= 𝐼 (̅ 𝑥)𝑧∆𝑥

𝑉̅ (𝑥 + ∆𝑥) − 𝑉̅ (𝑥)
⇒ 𝑙𝑖𝑚 = 𝐼 (̅ 𝑥)𝑧
∆𝑥→0 ∆𝑥
̅(𝑥)
𝑑𝑉
⇒ = 𝐼 (̅ 𝑥)𝑧 (1)
𝑑𝑥

Applying KCL we have,

𝐼 (̅ 𝑥 + ∆𝑥) − 𝐼 (̅ 𝑥) = 𝑉̅ (𝑥)𝑦∆𝑥
𝐼 (̅ 𝑥 + ∆𝑥) − 𝐼 (̅ 𝑥)
⇒ 𝑙𝑖𝑚 = 𝑉̅ (𝑥)𝑦
∆𝑥→0 ∆𝑥
𝑑𝐼 (̅ 𝑥)
⇒ 𝑑𝑥 = 𝑉̅ (𝑥)𝑦 (2)

Differentiating equation (1) we get,

𝑑 2 𝑉̅ (𝑥) 𝑑𝐼 (̅ 𝑥)
= 𝑧
𝑑𝑥 2 𝑑𝑥
Substituting equation (2) we have,
𝑑2 𝑉
̅(𝑥)
= 𝑧𝑦𝑉̅ (𝑥) (3)
𝑑𝑥 2

Considering,

𝑧𝑦 = 𝛾 2 ⇒ 𝛾 = √𝑧𝑦 (𝛾 = Propagation constant)

The solution of the above differential equation can be written as,

𝑉̅ (𝑥) = 𝑐1 𝑒 𝛾𝑥 + 𝑐2 𝑒 −𝛾𝑥 (4)

Where, 𝑐1 and 𝑐2 are two arbitrary constants.

4
From equation (1), we have,

1 𝑑𝑉̅ (𝑥)
𝐼 (̅ 𝑥) =
𝑧 𝑑𝑥
1
⇒ 𝐼 (̅ 𝑥) = 𝑧 [𝑐1 𝑒 𝛾𝑥 − 𝑐2 𝑒 −𝛾𝑥 ] (5)
𝑐

Where, 𝑧𝑐 = √𝑧⁄𝑦 = Characteristic impedance of the line

The arbitrary constants can be found using the boundary conditions as,

At 𝑥 = 0,

𝑉̅ (𝑥) = 𝑉̅𝑅 , 𝐼 (̅ 𝑥) = 𝐼𝑅̅

Therefore, from equation (4) and equation (5),

𝑉̅𝑅 = 𝑐1 + 𝑐2
1
𝐼𝑅̅ = ( ) (𝑐1 − 𝑐2 )
𝑧𝑐
̅𝑅 +𝑧𝑐 𝐼𝑅
𝑉 ̅ ̅𝑅 −𝑧𝑐 𝐼𝑅
𝑉 ̅
⇒ 𝑐1 = and 𝑐2 =
2 2

Substituting the value of 𝑐1 and 𝑐2 in equation (4) we get,

𝑉̅𝑅 + 𝑧𝑐 𝐼𝑅̅ 𝑉̅𝑅 − 𝑧𝑐 𝐼𝑅̅

𝑉̅ (𝑥) = ( ) 𝑒 𝛾𝑥 + ( ) 𝑒 −𝛾𝑥
2 2

𝑒 𝛾𝑥 + 𝑒 −𝛾𝑥 𝑒 𝛾𝑥 − 𝑒 −𝛾𝑥
⇒ 𝑉̅ (𝑥) = 𝑉̅𝑅 ( ̅
) + 𝐼𝑅 𝑧𝑐 ( )
2 2
𝑉̅ (𝑥) = 𝑉̅𝑅 cosh(𝛾𝑥) + 𝑧𝑐 𝐼𝑅̅ sinh( 𝛾𝑥) (6)
Similarly,

1 𝑉̅𝑅 + 𝑧𝑐 𝐼𝑅̅ 𝑉̅𝑅 − 𝑧𝑐 𝐼𝑅̅

𝐼 (̅ 𝑥) = [( ) 𝑒 𝛾𝑥 − ( ) 𝑒 −𝛾𝑥 ]
𝑧𝑐 2 2

1 𝑒 𝛾𝑥 − 𝑒 −𝛾𝑥 𝑒 𝛾𝑥 + 𝑒 −𝛾𝑥
⇒ 𝐼 (̅ 𝑥) = [𝑉̅𝑅 ( ) + 𝐼𝑅̅ 𝑧𝑐 ( )]
𝑧𝑐 2 2
1
⇒ 𝐼 (̅ 𝑥) = [𝑉̅𝑅 sinh(𝛾𝑥) + 𝐼𝑅̅ 𝑧𝑐 (cosh 𝛾𝑥)] (7)
𝑧𝑐

In matrix form we can write,

𝑉̅ (𝑥) cosh(𝛾𝑥) 𝑧𝑐 sinh( 𝛾𝑥) 𝑉̅

⇒[ ] = [ sinh(𝛾𝑥) ] [ 𝑅] (8)
𝐼 (̅ 𝑥) 𝑧 𝑐
cosh(𝛾𝑥) 𝐼𝑅̅

At 𝑥 = 𝑙 ,

𝑉̅ (𝑥) = 𝑉̅𝑆 , 𝐼 (̅ 𝑥) = 𝐼𝑆̅

5
 𝑉̅ cosh(𝛾𝑙) 𝑧𝑐 sinh( 𝛾𝑙) 𝑉̅
⇒ [ 𝑆 ] = [ sinh(𝛾𝑙) ] [ 𝑅] (9)
𝐼𝑆̅ 𝑧 𝑐
cosh( 𝛾𝑙) 𝐼𝑅̅

This yields a relationship of sending end voltage and current in terms of receiving end
quantities.
The equation (9) can be represented as,

𝑉̅ 𝐴 𝐵 𝑉̅𝑅
[ 𝑆] = [ ][ ] (10)
𝐼𝑆̅ 𝐶 𝐷 𝐼𝑅̅

Equation (10) is the transmission line parameter model where, 𝐴, 𝐵, 𝐶 and 𝐷 are called
transmission line parameters, given as,
sinh 𝛾𝑙
𝐴 = cosh 𝛾𝑙, B = 𝑧𝑐 sinh 𝛾𝑙 , 𝐶= , 𝐷 = cosh 𝛾𝑙
𝑧𝑐

• 𝐴 = 𝐷 ⇒ Transmission line is symmetrical

• 𝐴𝐷 − 𝐵𝐶 = 1 ⇒ Transmission line is reciprocal

Special case: Lossless transmission line

The propagation constant (𝛾) is given by,

𝛾 = √𝑧𝑦 = √(𝑟 + 𝑗𝑥)(𝑔 + 𝑗𝑏) = 𝛼 + 𝑗𝛽

𝛼 = attenuation constant

𝛽 = phase constant

For lossless line the line resistance (𝑟) and the line to earth conductance (𝑔) are zero.

𝑟 = 0, 𝑔 = 0 ⇒ 𝛼 = 0

⇒ 𝛾 = 𝑗𝛽

Thus,

𝑧𝑐 = √𝑧⁄𝑦 = √𝐿⁄𝐶 is called the surge impedance of the line.

𝐿 = Inductance of the line per unit length.

𝐶 = Capacitance of the line per unit length.

Therefore, for lossless lines we have,

cosh(𝛾𝑙) = cosh(𝑗𝛽𝑙) = cos(𝛽𝑙)

sinh( 𝛾𝑙) = sinh( 𝑗𝛽𝑙) = 𝑗 sin( 𝛽𝑙)
Thus, we can write,

6
 cos( 𝛽𝑙) 𝑗 𝑧𝑐 sin(𝛽𝑙)
𝑉̅𝑆 𝑉̅
[ ] = [𝑗 sin(𝛽𝑙) ] [ 𝑅]
𝐼𝑆̅ cos(𝛽𝑙) 𝐼𝑅̅
𝑧𝑐

Here,
sinh 𝛽𝑙
𝐴 = D = cosh 𝛽𝑙, B = 𝑗𝑧𝑐 sinh 𝛽𝑙 , 𝐶=𝑗
𝑧𝑐

𝐴𝐷 − 𝐵𝐶 = 1
❖ The property of symmetry and reciprocity holds for lossless transmission lines as well.

Surge Impedance Loading (SIL):

• Impedance offered to the travelling waves or surges in a transmission line is called

surge impedance.
𝐿
• Surge impedance(𝑧𝑐 ) = √𝐶
• The power absorbed by the surge impedance connected at the receiving end is called
surge impedance loading (SIL).
𝑉𝑅2
• 𝑆𝐼𝐿 = 𝑃𝑐 = 𝑍𝑐
• We usually measure the loading of a line in terms of the surge impedance loading.
• At SIL net reactive power consumed and generated by a line is zero.
At SIL we have,

𝑉̅𝑅 = 𝑧𝑐 𝐼𝑅̅

𝑉̅𝑆 = 𝑉̅𝑅 cos(𝛽𝑙) + 𝑗𝐼𝑅̅ 𝑧𝑐 sin(𝛽𝑙)

𝑉̅𝑅
⇒ 𝑉̅𝑆 = 𝑉̅𝑅 cos(𝛽𝑙) + 𝑗 𝑧 sin(𝛽𝑙)
𝑧𝑐 𝑐

⇒ 𝑉̅𝑆 = 𝑉̅𝑅 ⌈cos 𝛽𝑙 + jsin 𝛽𝑙⌉

⇒ 𝑉̅𝑆 = 𝑉̅𝑅 𝑒 𝑗(𝛽𝑙)

⇒ 𝑉𝑆 = |𝑉̅𝑆 | = |𝑉̅𝑅 | = 𝑉𝑅
Therefore, at SIL the voltage is same throughout the line or in other words the voltage profile
of the line is flat.

7
 V ( x)

x
Figure 3: Voltage profile of the line at SIL.

Receiving end parameters in the terms of sending end parameters:

From equation (10), we have,

𝑉̅ 𝐴 𝐵 𝑉̅𝑅
[ 𝑆] = [ ][ ]
̅𝐼𝑆 𝐶 𝐷 𝐼𝑅̅

𝑉̅𝑅 𝐴 𝐵 −1 𝑉̅𝑆
⇒[ ]= [ ] [ ]
̅𝐼𝑅 𝐶 𝐷 𝐼𝑆̅

𝑉̅𝑅 𝐷 −𝐵 𝑉̅𝑆
⇒[ ]= [ ][ ]
𝐼𝑅̅ −𝐶 𝐴 𝐼𝑆̅
cos( 𝛽𝑙) −𝑗𝑧𝑐 sin(𝛽𝑙)
𝑉̅𝑅 𝑉̅
⇒ [ ] = [ 𝑗 sin(𝛽𝑙) ] [ 𝑆]
𝐼𝑅̅ − cos( 𝛽𝑙) 𝐼𝑆̅
𝑧𝑐

𝑉̅𝑅 = 𝑉̅𝑆 cos(𝛽𝑙) − 𝑗𝑧𝑐 𝐼𝑆̅ sin( 𝛽𝑙) (11)

̅
𝑉
𝐼𝑅̅ = −𝑗 𝑧𝑆 sinh(𝛽𝑙) + 𝐼𝑆̅ cos( 𝛽𝑙) (12)
𝑐

̅ (𝒙) 𝐚𝐧𝐝 ̅𝑰(𝒙) in the terms of 𝑽

Expression of 𝑽 ̅ 𝑺 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝑰̅𝑺 :

Consider the equivalent model shown in figure 6, wherein distance 𝑥 is measured from the
sending end side.

IS V ( x) z x V ( x + x) IR

I ( x) I ( x + x)
Sending Receiving
End VS VR End
yx

x x
l
Figure 4: Equivalent model of a long transmission line with distributed parameters.

8
Applying KVL we have,

𝑉̅ (𝑥) − 𝑉̅ (𝑥 + ∆𝑥)= 𝐼 (̅ 𝑥)𝑧∆𝑥

𝑉̅ (𝑥 + ∆𝑥) − 𝑉̅ (𝑥)
⇒ 𝑙𝑖𝑚 = − 𝐼 (̅ 𝑥)𝑧
∆𝑥→0 ∆𝑥
̅(𝑥)
𝑑𝑉
⇒ = −𝐼 (̅ 𝑥)𝑧 (13)
𝑑𝑥

Applying KCL we have,

𝐼 (̅ 𝑥) = 𝑉̅ (𝑥)𝑦∆𝑥 + 𝐼 (̅ 𝑥 + ∆𝑥)

𝐼 (̅ 𝑥 + ∆𝑥) − 𝐼 (̅ 𝑥)
⇒ 𝑙𝑖𝑚 = − 𝑉̅ (𝑥)𝑦
∆𝑥→0 ∆𝑥

𝑑𝐼 (̅ 𝑥)
⇒ 𝑑𝑥
= −𝑉̅ (𝑥)𝑦 (14)

Differentiating equation (13) and substituting equation (14) we have

𝑑2 𝑉
̅(𝑥)
= 𝑧𝑦𝑉̅ (𝑥)
𝑑𝑥 2

Solving the above equation, we have,

𝑉̅ (𝑥) = 𝑐1′ 𝑒 𝛾𝑥 + 𝑐2′ 𝑒 −𝛾𝑥 (15)

Where, 𝑐1′ and 𝑐2′ are arbitrary constants.

From equation (13) we get,

1
⇒ 𝐼 (̅ 𝑥) = − 𝑧 [𝑐1′ 𝑒 𝛾𝑥 − 𝑐2′ 𝑒 −𝛾𝑥 ] (16)
𝑐

at 𝑥 = 0 (boundary condition):

𝑉̅ (𝑥) = 𝑉̅𝑆 and 𝐼 (̅ 𝑥) = 𝐼𝑆̅

𝑉̅𝑆 − 𝑧𝑐 𝐼𝑆̅ 𝑉̅𝑆 + 𝑧𝑐 𝐼𝑆̅

⇒ 𝑐1′ = , 𝑐2′ =
2 2
Thus, from equation (15),

𝑉̅𝑆 − 𝑧𝑐 𝐼𝑆̅ 𝑉̅𝑆 + 𝑧𝑐 𝐼𝑆̅

𝑉̅ (𝑥) = ( ) 𝑒 𝛾𝑥 + ( ) 𝑒 −𝛾𝑥
2 2

𝑒 𝛾𝑥 + 𝑒 −𝛾𝑥 𝑒 𝛾𝑥 − 𝑒 −𝛾𝑥
⇒ 𝑉̅ (𝑥) = 𝑉̅𝑆 ( ̅
) − 𝐼𝑆 𝑧𝑐 ( )
2 2
𝑉̅ (𝑥) = 𝑉̅𝑠 cosh(𝛾𝑥) − 𝑧𝑐 𝐼𝑠̅ sinh( 𝛾𝑥) (17)
Similarly, from equation (16) we have,

9
 1 𝑉̅𝑆 − 𝑧𝑐 𝐼𝑆̅ 𝑉̅𝑆 + 𝑧𝑐 𝐼𝑆̅
𝐼 (̅ 𝑥) = − [( ) 𝑒 𝛾𝑥 − ( ) 𝑒 −𝛾𝑥 ]
𝑧𝑐 2 2

1 𝑒 𝛾𝑥 − 𝑒 −𝛾𝑥 𝑒 𝛾𝑥 + 𝑒 −𝛾𝑥
⇒ 𝐼 (̅ 𝑥) = − [𝑉̅𝑆 ( ) − 𝐼𝑆̅ 𝑧𝑐 ( )]
𝑧𝑐 2 2
1
⇒ 𝐼 (̅ 𝑥) = 𝑧 [−𝑉̅𝑆 sinh( 𝛾𝑥) + 𝑧𝑐 𝐼𝑆̅ cosh(𝛾𝑥)] (18)
𝑐

For lossless transmission line 𝛾 = 𝑗𝛽, therefore,

𝑉̅ (𝑥) = 𝑉̅𝑆 cos(𝛽𝑥) − 𝑗𝑧𝑐 𝐼𝑆̅ sin( 𝛽𝑥) (19)

1
⇒ 𝐼 (̅ 𝑥) = [−𝑗𝑉̅𝑆 sin( 𝛽𝑥) + 𝑧𝑐 𝐼𝑆̅ cos(𝛽𝑥)] (20)
𝑧𝑐

10