1

Abstract In the paper there has been performed an

assessment of the distortion of current drawn by the unsteady
non-linear load, with special reference to interharmonic
components. There has been studied the capability to restrain the
interharmonics by means of the shunt active power filter with
hysteresis control utilizing typical control algorithm based on the
instantaneous power theory. As a disturbing load the 6T type
thyristor bridge with RL elements of varying values in the DC
circuit has been used. Studies have been performed by means of
the simulation method using the network model built in the
PSCAD

/EMTDC

program [3]. The assessment of the current

distortion has been performed according to the procedures
defined in the EN 61000-4-7 standard [1].

Index Terms Power quality, Harmonics and interharmonics,
Active power filters, Simulation.
I. INTRODUCTION
n many industrial processes the appliances of fast varying
load are used. If the magnitude of the load current is
changing in the regular manner, e.g. sine way as it is shown in
Fig. 1, then its waveform can be described by the formula [2]:

( ) 2 (1 cos ) cos i t I m t t = + (1)
where:
I - current r.m.s. value aggregated in the time interval of
load fluctuation,
- angular frequency of modulated signal (fundamental
current waveform) of the network frequency (50 Hz),
- angular frequency of modulating signal.
2
I
m
I

= - load variation ratio, where I is the difference

between minimum and maximum r.m.s. value of
current in the time interval of load fluctuation.

The current waveform presented in Fig. 1 and described by
the equation (1) can be expounded in the form of:

This work has been supported by the Ministry of Science and Higher
Education under Contract No. 1864/T02/2006/31.

R Pawelek (e-mail: ryszard.pawelek@p.lodz.pl), I. Wasiak (e-mail:
irena.wasiak@p.lodz.pl) and P. Gburczyk (e-mail: piotr.gburczyk@p.lodz.pl)
are with Technical University of Lodz (Poland), Institute of Electrical Power
Engineering, 18/22 Stefanowskiego Str., 90-924 Lodz Poland
( ) ( )
2
( ) 2 cos cos cos
2
m I
i t I t t t = + + +

(2)

comprising along with the fundamental also two
interharmonic components of frequency shifted from the
fundamental by . The r.m.s. values of those components for
m = 1 can be as high as 50 % of r.m.s. value of the
fundamental component.


t
i(t)
instantaneus current
network frequency
sinusoidal current fluctuation of
magnitude I
I
2 I
T


Fig. 1. Sine modulated current waveform

If the current waveform of varying magnitude is distorted
(e.g. current drawn by power electronic devices with fast
varying load) then in the frequency spectrum along with the
harmonics characteristic for the specific type of load there will
also appear interharmonics resulting from load fluctuation,
associated with the harmonics. Furthermore if the magnitude
changes emerge e.g. in a step manner (rectangular
modulation) then in the frequency spectrum the components
will appear being a result of interaction between load current
harmonics and harmonics of modulating signal.
Interharmonics, and particularly subharmonics
(components of frequency lower than fundamental), causing
the voltage changes in the network nodes can be as a
consequence the cause of the flicker phenomena.
The total distortion ratio of current waveform (incl.
harmonics and interharmonics) can be derived from the
formula:

2 2
1 2 2
1
I I I
I I
TDR THD TID
I

= = + (3)
Analysis of Current Distortion
of the Unsteady Non-linear Loads
Ryszard Pawelek, Piotr Gburczyk, Irena Wasiak
I
978-1-4244-1770-4/08/$25.00 2008 IEEE
2
where:
I - current r.m.s. value aggregated in the time interval of
load fluctuation,
I

- current fundamental r.m.s. value aggregated in the

time interval of load fluctuation,
THD
I
- total harmonic distortion factor of current,
TID
I
- total interharmonic distortion factor of current.

In the paper an attempt has been made to assess the
generation of harmonics and interharmonics of current by
unsteady non-linear loads as well as the capability of their
mitigation by means of shunt active power filter.
II. SYSTEM MODELING
In Fig. 2 structure of the network simulator developed in
the PSCAD

/EMTDC

program environment is shown. Its

main elements are: supplying grid, unsteady non-linear load
and active power filter [4].
As unsteady non-linear load a 6T type thyristor bridge with
RL elements of varying values in the DC circuit has been
applied. The DC load parameters could vary in order to obtain
sine or step changes of r.m.s. value of load current in the
whole range of load variation factor m (0 to 1).
The active power filter was modeled as PWM inverter with
hysteresis control. The objective of the filter operation is
elimination of current distortion. For generation of appropriate
reference currents the theory of instantaneous power has been
used [3] that take the advantage of the transformation of
currents and voltages from phase abc to coordinates and
then after filtration of undesirable components inverse
transformation to abc system.
III. SIMULATION RESULTS
Simulation studies, aiming at the assessment of harmonics
and interharmonics content in the load and network currents,
were performed for the whole range of load variation factor m
and for sine and step change of current magnitude, keeping in
each case the same current r.m.s. value aggregated in the time
interval of load fluctuation. For all cases it was assumed that
the time interval of voltage fluctuation was 100 ms, which
refers to the frequency of 10 Hz. In Fig. 3 waveforms of load
and network currents are presented for sine changes of current
magnitude and in Fig. 4 for step changes with load variation
factor m = 0.6.
Considering the frequency spectra of load and network
currents the analysis of harmonics and interharmonics content
has been made. With respect to the computation capacity of
the model the analysis has been limited to 127 components
that gives interharmonics up to order 25,4.
Calculation of the content of harmonics and interharmonics
in the current frequency spectra was made by means of Fast
Fourier Transformation FFT for fundamental frequency 10 Hz
and then recalculation with relation to component of the 5
th

order corresponding to the supplying network fundamental
frequency (50 Hz). Results of the analysis of frequency
spectrum of current waveforms of the load and the grid shown
in Fig. 3 and 4 are gathered in Fig. 5 and 6 with limitation to
harmonic order 13 (harmonics of higher order are negligible).


Fig. 2. Test network used for simulation studies
3
a)
-0.08
-0.06
-0.04
-0.02
0.00
0.02
0.04
0.06
0.08
0.10 0.15 0.20 0.25 0.30
t[s]
i
(
t
)

[
k
A
]

b)
-0.08
-0.06
-0.04
-0.02
0.00
0.02
0.04
0.06
0.08
0.10 0.15 0.20 0.25 0.30
t[s]
i
(
t
)

[
k
A
]

Fig. 3. Waveforms of currents of load (a) and the network (b) with sine
modulation

a)
-0.08
-0.06
-0.04
-0.02
0.00
0.02
0.04
0.06
0.08
0.10 0.15 0.20 0.25 0.30
t[s]
i
(
t
)

[
k
A
]

b)
-0.08
-0.06
-0.04
-0.02
0.00
0.02
0.04
0.06
0.08
0.10 0.15 0.20 0.25 0.30
t[s]
i
(
t
)

[
k
A
]

Fig. 4. Waveforms of currents of load (a) and the network (b) with
rectangular modulation
a)
0
20
40
60
80
100
I
n

[
%
]
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13
network
load
harmonic order

b)
0
20
40
60
80
100
I
n

[
%
]
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13
network
load
harmonic order

Fig. 5. Frequency spectrum of current waveforms with sine (a) and
rectangular (b) modulation

The effectiveness of active power filter in compensation
for the load current distortion as a function of load variation
factor is shown in Fig. 6 for the load with rectangular current
modulation.

a)
0
20
40
60
80
100
120
0.0 0.2 0.4 0.6 0.8 1.0
m [-]
d
i
s
t
o
r
t
i
o
n

f
a
c
t
o
r
s

[
%
]
TDR
I
TID
I
THD
I

b)
0
20
40
60
80
100
120
0.0 0.2 0.4 0.6 0.8 1.0
m [-]
d
i
s
t
o
r
t
i
o
n

f
a
c
t
o
r
s

[
%
]
TID
I
TDR
I
THD

Fig. 6. Distortion factors of currents of load (a) and the network (b) with
harmonics and interharmonics dependent on load variation factor m
4
The value of current distortion factor with harmonics
slightly depends on load variation factor and in the case under
study it amounts to 20 %, while distortion with interharmonics
of load current shows strong dependence upon the load
variation factor (Fig. 6a). The harmonics are efficiently
compensated by the active power filter and their content in the
network current is restrained, unlike the interharmonics
(Fig. 6b). It concerns predominantly interharmonics associated
to the fundamental harmonic.
Fig. 7 illustrates the effectiveness of compensation for
selected characteristic harmonics (order 5, 7, 11 and 13)
contained in the load current. The content of those harmonics
in the network current is considerably smaller and the
effectiveness of the filter operation depends on the load
variation factor. The highest efficiency is observed for the
steady load (m = 0).
When analyzing the effectiveness of compensation for the
interharmonics by the active power filter the interharmonics
associated with the fundamental harmonic (order 0,8 and 1,2)
and 5
th
harmonic (order 4,8 and 5,2) were considered. As it
arises from diagrams presented in Fig. 8 the active power filter
compensates for interharmonics associated with harmonics of
higher order, while it does not mitigate interharmonics linked
with the fundamental harmonic, which content is even greater
in the network current than in the load current.

a)
0
5
10
15
20
0.0 0.2 0.4 0.6 0.8 1.0
m [-]
I
n

[
%
]
5
th
harmonic
7
th
harmonic
11
th
harmonic
13
th
harmonic

b)
0.0
0.5
1.0
1.5
2.0
0.0 0.2 0.4 0.6 0.8 1.0
m [-]
I
n


[
%
]
5
th
harmonic
7
th
harmonic
11
th
harmonic
13
th
harmonic

Fig. 7. Effectiveness of compensation for current harmonics by the APF
dependent on the load variation factor content of selected
harmonics in the currents of load (a) and the grid (b)
a)
0
20
40
60
80
0.0 0.2 0.4 0.6 0.8 1.0
m [-]
I
n

[
%
]
0.8 interharmonic
1.2 interharmonic
4.8 & 5.2 interharmonics

b)
0
20
40
60
80
0.0 0.2 0.4 0.6 0.8 1.0
m [-]
I
n


[
%
]
0.8 & 1.2 interharmonics
4.8 & 5.2 interharmonics

Fig. 8. Effectiveness of compensation for current interharmonics by the APF
dependent on the load variation factor content of selected
harmonics in the currents of load (a) and the grid (b)
IV. DISTORTION ASSESSMENT
According to EN 61000-4-7 standard [1] the assessment of
frequency spectrum of waveforms containing harmonics and
interharmonics should be performed with the resolution
of 5 Hz. Because of the limited accuracy of methods of
measurement it was proposed in the standard to group the
components according to the idea presented in Fig. 9 and 10.
n n+1 n+2 n+3 n+4 n+5 n+6
Harmonic
group
n + 2
Interharmonic
group
n + 4
DFT ouput
I

Fig. 9. Illustration of harmonic and interharmonic groups (of a 50 Hz supply)

n n+1 n+2 n+3 n+4 n+5 n+6
Harmonic
subgroup
n + 2
Interharmonic
centred subgroup
n + 4
DFT ouput
I

Fig. 10. Illustration of harmonic subgroup and interharmonic centered
subgroup (of a 50 Hz supply)

5
The r.m.s. values of groups and subgroups for each
harmonic are calculated using the formulas:


2 2
4
2 5 5
,
4
2 2
i
k k
g n k i
i
I I
I I
=
+
+
=
= + +

(group) (4)


1
2
,
1
sg n k i
i
I I
+
=
=

(subgroup) (5)

where:
n - harmonic order,
n,g - harmonic group order associated with harmonic order
n,
sg,n - harmonic subgroup order associated with harmonic
order n,

while for interharmonics using the formulas:


9
2
,
1
ig n k i
i
I I
+
=
=

(group) (6)


8
2
,
2
isg n k i
i
I I
+
=
=

(subgroup) (7)

For assessment of waveform distortion (currents) besides
the total harmonic distortion factor:


2
2
1
H
n
I
n
I
THD
I
=

=

(8)

the group total harmonic distortion factor was calculated:


2
,
2
,1
H
g n
I
n
g
I
THDG
I
=

=

(9)

and subgroup total harmonic distortion factor:


2
,
2
,1
H
sg n
I
n
sg
I
THDS
I
=

=

(10)


In order to assess distortion of the currents of the load and
the network in accordance with the standard [1] the harmonic
groups were calculated according to formula (4) and then
values of group total harmonic distortion factor THDG
I
were
determined.
In Fig. 11 the percentage values of harmonic groups
content in the load and the network currents are presented, and
in
Fig. 12 the dependency of group total harmonic distortion
factor THDG of the load and network currents upon load
variation factor m is shown.
a)
0
40
80
120
160
I
g
,
n

[
%
]
0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14
0
0.2
0.4
0.6
0.8
1
harmonic group order
m [-]

b)
0
40
80
120
160
I
g
,
n

[
%
]
0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14
0
0.2
0.4
0.6
0.8
1
harmonic group order
m [-]

Fig. 11. Percentage values of harmonic groups content in the load and
network currents dependent on the load variation factor m

0
10
20
30
40
0.0 0.2 0.4 0.6 0.8 1.0
m [-]
T
H
D
G
I

[
%
]
network
load
square modulation
square modulation
sinus modulation
sinus modulation

Fig. 12. Group total harmonic distortion factor THDG of the load and
network currents dependent on the load variation factor m

Another method of grouping is determination of harmonics
and interharmonics subgroups. Such grouping separately for
the load and the network currents is presented in Fig. 13.

6
a)
0
20
40
60
80
100
I
s
g
,
n

[
%
]
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14
0i 1i 2i 3i 4i 5i 6i 7i 8i 9i 10i 11i 12i 13i
0
0.2
0.4
0.6
0.8
1
harmonics & interharmonics subgroup order
m [-]

b)
0
20
40
60
80
100
I
s
g
,
n

[
%
]
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14
0i 1i 2i 3i 4i 5i 6i 7i 8i 9i 10i 11i 12i 13i
0
0.2
0.4
0.6
0.8
1
harmonics & interharmonics subgroup order
m [-]

Fig. 13. Harmonic and interharmonics subgroups for the load (a) and the
network (b) currents dependent on the load variation factor m

V. CONCLUSIONS
1. Fluctuating loads are the reason for emerging in the
current frequency spectrum interharmonic components,
among which the most significant are those associated with
the fundamental harmonic. Those components, particularly the
subharmonics (of frequency lower than fundamental) can as a
consequence cause the flicker phenomena. The problem are
more clearly visible in case of fast fluctuating non-linear
loads.
2. Application of shunt active power filter (APF) equipped
with the standard control algorithm, i.e. taking the advantage
of theory of instantaneous power, enables effective
compensation for higher order harmonics and associated
interharmonics (e.g. of order 4,8 and 5,2), but it does not
influence interharmonics linked with the fundamental
harmonic (50 Hz), which content can be even greater in the
network current than in the load current.
3. Employing for assessment of current distortion methods
proposed in EN 61000-4-7 standard, consisting in
determination of harmonic and interharmonic groups and
subgroups may lead to incorrect assessment (underestimation
of the distortion) because of the substantial differences
between values of the TDR and THDG factors which is
illustrated in Fig. 8 and 12.



VI. REFERENCES
[1] EN 61000-4-7: Electromagnetic compatibility (EMC). Part 4-7: Testing
and measurement techniques General guide on harmonics and
interharmonics measurements and instrumentation, for power supply
systems and equipment connected thereto. CENELEC, 2002
[2] Guide to Quality of Electrical Supply for Industrial Installations. Part 5:
Flicker and Voltage Fluctualions. Power Quality Working Group WG2,
2000.
[3] R. Strzelecki R., Zastosowanie teorii mocy chwilowej do sterowania
energetycznych filtrw aktywnych. Electrical Power Quality and
Utilisation, vol. 1, pp. 65-74, 1997.
[4] R. Urbaniak, R. Paweek:, Skuteczno dziaania rwnolegych filtrw
aktywnych przy nieliniowych obcieniach niespokojnych, in 5th
Polish-Ukrainian Seminar,. Lodz (Poland) 2007, pp. 93 99 (in Polish)
[5] Users Guide on the use of PSCAD: PSCAD Power Systems Computer
Aided Design, Revision 4.1.0, Manitoba HVDC Research Centre Inc.,
2003
VII. BIOGRAPHIES

Ryszard Paweek was born in 1952 in Chocz,
Poland. He received M.Sc. and Ph.D. degrees from
Technical University of Lodz. At present he is a
senior lecturer at the Institute of Electrical Power
Engineering of Technical University of Lodz. He is a
secretary of the Editorial Board of Polish periodical
Electrical Power Quality and Utilisation. His field
of interest is power quality.

Piotr Gburczyk graduated from the Technical
University of Lodz, Poland in 2002 with M.Sc.
degree. Presently he is a Ph.D. student at the Institute
of Electrical Power Engineering of Technical
University of Lodz. His research interests lie in the
area of power quality management, power system
modelling and simulation.

Irena Wasiak graduated from the Technical
University of Lodz, Poland. There she received the
Ph.D. and D.Sc. degree in electrical power
engineering. Presently she is a proffesor at the
Institute of Electrical Power Engineering, Technical
University of Lodz. She is a secretary of the Program
Board and a member of the Editorial Board of Polish
periodical Electrical Power Quality and Utilisation.
Her area of interest includes modelling and simulation
of transients in power systems, and power supply
quality.