Performance analysis and computational model validation of a real scale saturated core reactor

This paper aims to present and discuss matters related to the specification, design, construction, modeling and testing of a 3 MVAr - 34,5 kV Saturated Core Reactor (SCR). This equipment has been considered attractive for controlling the increase of busbar voltage, which occurs in electrical power systems. Although smaller units have been built and successfully operated, this work focuses a real scale device. Within this context, the present paper describes the physical principles related to the equipment operation, a strategy to find the main reactor construction parameters to attend a given reactive power demand, details linked to the build-up and installation step and, finally, site tests and corresponding computational studies to validate the developed ATPDraw model with different operating voltage conditions. The final results highlight both the saturated reactor performance at distinct operating situations, as well as the computational model response for representing the equipment behavior.