Analysis and Design of a Three Phase Sliding Mode Controller for a Shunt Active

Power Filter

V. Cardenas N. Viizquez* C. Hernandez* S. H o r t i *

CENIDET *Institute Tecnologico de Celaya. **ITESM Campus Ciudad de Mexico.

Depto. de Ingenieria Electronica. Depto. de electronica. Mexico, D. F.
Cuernavaca, Mkxico Celaya, Mexico. Phone: 52 (5) 48-32-202
Phone: 52 (73 1) 877-41 Phone: 52 (461) 175-75 e-mail: shorta@campus. ccm.itesm.mx
Fax: 52 (73 1) 224-34 Fax: 52 (461) 179-79
e-mail: v.cardenas@ieee.org e-mail: nvazquez@itc.mx

Abstract .- In this paper a three-phase sliding mode section I1 the active power filter model is obtained as a three
controller for a shunt active power filter is presented; analysis, phase converter; in section 111 the sliding mode controller is
design, simulation and experimental results are included. The analyzed, in section IV the simulation and experimental
sliding mode controller proposed is a three phase controller results are presented, and finally the conclusions are
that considers the overall system, and the loop to regulate the
capacitor voltage is added to the sliding mode control strategy.
mentioned in V.
The instantaneous reactive power theory is used to generate the
references.

I. INTRODUCTION
Active power filters are connected to ac mains in order to
eliminate voltage variations and harmonic components.
Shunt active power filters eliminate the current harmonic
components and correct the power factor working as a
harmonic current source, so that only the fundamental
component is supplied in the ac mains.
In active power filters there are many control strategies,
which have been studied in order to obtain a good
performance [l-31. This paper presents a three-phase shunt
active power filter (see Fig. 1) controlled by a technique Fig. 1 Shunt active power filter
based on variable structure systems (VSS): the sliding mode
control (SMC). Previous efforts were made to control a shunt 11. MODELOF THE ACTIVE POWER FILTER
active power filter with a sliding mode control [3,4], but
both cases the controller do not consider the complete three The first step, before to analyze the closed loop system, is
phase converter, just one phase was considered. to obtain the model of the controlled converter; the converter
is modeled as a three phase converter and not as three one-
In this paper a complete analysis of the three-phase shunt phase converters. Each phase is controlled independently in
active power filter controlled with the sliding mode control order to compensate adequately the harmonic components;
is presented, and it is shown that the analysis considering the control signals are named uarub, and U, according to the
the complete system is different to analyze it as three one- phase controlled (Fig. 2).
phase converter. In the proposed control scheme the When h = l , the following equation is obtained with the
regulation of the dc bus capacitor is included into the SMC voltage Kirchoff law:
strategy. Additionally, the instantaneous reactive power
theory is used to generate the references; this technique
permits to compensate non-linear loads even for an
unbalanced cases. The paper is organized as follows: in And when s = - 1 it is obtained:

This work was partially sponsored by COSNET (Mexican

Council of The Technological Education System) and
CONACyT (Mexican Council for Science and Technology).

0-7803-5421-4/99/$10.000 1999 IEEE 219

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 Similar equations for the phases b and c can be obtained,
it is just necessary to consider the respective current and (7)
inductance according to the control signal.

d- +
I$ +-- 1 dVc2 -0
Ia IC3 Non C2 dt
--t
Icb
Linear
Load Taking into account that Cl=C2=C, Lf,=Lb=Lf,=L and
IC considering the inductance resistance (af), the equations can
be expressed as:

For ua=l
x, = a - w , x , - w o x , (9)
For &=-1
2,= a - w , X , +WO& (10)

where:
X,=I,JZ, x,=v,,fi, X,=V,,Jc
Fig. 2 Converter modeled and control signals

Considering the switches in the position &=ub=&=l, the

current is obtained with the current Kirchoff law: Similar equations are obtained when ub=l, &='l and
&=l, &=-1 for Xb and xc
respectively.
I,+I,,+I,---=O 1 dVcl
C, dt
With the same switch position is also obtained:

Now considering the switches in the position &=&=&=

1 it is obtained:

and where:
vb
Xb = I p a , X,= I f i J Z , b=-,
I , + I p +If,+--=0
1 dVc2 &
C2 dt
c = -vc
The equations for every combination of the switch
position can be easily obtained, if the equations (3-6) are
a
observed carefully. It can be noted that considering different
positions for each switch it is necessary to add or remove the
respective current in the equations according to the
considered phase. For example if equations (3) and (4) are -wr 0 0 -w0/2 wo/2--xa-
used, and it is considered that &=Ub=l and &=-1 the 0 -W, 0 -Wo/2 WO/?. xb
resultant equations are obtained removing Ifc from equation x, + (9)
0 -w, -wo/2 wo/2
(3) and adding 1, to equation (4): w0/2 w0/2 0 0 x1
-w0/2 -w0/2 0 0 x2

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 1 1
sI 0 0 2
-(l+sgnVa) 2
--(1-sgnVa)
1 1
s, = 0 SI 0 -2( l + s P V b ) 2
--(l-sPVb)
1 1
0 0 SI 2
-(l+sgnVc) 2
--(l-SgnVC)

X = State variables
a X, = Reference variables
b
+ c
The sliding surface is expressed as:
0
S=[o, o b oc]'
0

or The control law proposed is:

x = AX +- B(X)U + c u=ueq+uN
The model obtained when the converter is analyzed as a where:
three one-phase converter is [4]:
U eq = Matrix of the equivalent control.

=[swoaswab s@'c]T

The first term (U,, ) is valid only in the sliding surface

and the second one ( U , ) assures the sliding mode
(17) existence.

b) Existence of the sliding mode.

111. SLIDING MODE CONTROLLER
The sliding mode control have been widely applied to
power converters due to the characteristics introduced to the
closed loop system; such as fastness, robustness, and stability
in large load variations [5-71.
Normally to verify the existence condition the inequality
SS < 0 is used, but this condition is valid only when the
control law is scalar; for multivariable systems, where the
control law is a vector, the following inequality is used [SI:

Beginning with a surface definition which is named

S'S <o (20)
sliding surface, the system is attracted and maintained into The inequality (20) must be fullfilled to assure the
the surface by the SMC. Basically can be considered three existence condition of the sliding mode.
design steps [8,9]: 1) to propose a sliding surface, 2) to
ver@ SMC existence, 3) and to analyze stability into
surface. Obtaining S results:

a) Sliding surface. S=S,AX+S,BU+S,C-S,~, (21)

Substituting in (21) the equivalent control and the
The sliding surface ( S ) proposed is a linear combination
equation (19, it is obtained:
of the state variables and the references, for this case the
sliding surface is a set of surfaces, one surface for each
control law. It can be expressed as:

s = s,x-s,x, = 0 (18)
where:

22 1

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 d) Reference generation.

Into the control strategy is necessary to generate the

Thls inequality is relatively complex, but due to the
similarity of some terms, the existence condition can be
reduced. To fulfill the inequality (23) is just necessary that
the first four terms of the inequality must be negative; the
other terms, due to the similarity, are automatically negative,
resulting that the complete inequality is fulfilled; therefore
the existence condition is reduced to:
0 > -sl(swo,)ou(xl +x2) + (sgna,)o,x, (sgn Va)
+(%n ob b o X b (%n Val + (sgn c c ba c (sgn
To simplify the inequality, the term 1/ sgn(o,)a,will
be multiplied to the inequality; it is important to note that
this factor is always positive; the resultant inequality is:
references in some way; in this paper the references are
generated with the PQ theory. The physical meaning and the
reason for the naming of the instantaneous active and
reactive currents are presented in [ 111.
Iv. SIMULATION AND EXPERIMENTAL RESULTS
In order to validate the proposed idea some simulations
and experiments were made. They were made with the
following parameters: L= 2 mH, C= 1700 ,uF, and the power
(24) demanded is around 8 LVA.
The simulation results are shown in figures 3 through 5.
Fig. 3 shows the load currents, and Fig. 4 shows the ac
mains current compensated.

0 0.01 0.02 0.03 0.04

The final existence condition to fulfill is (25), this 0 0.01 0.02 0.03 0.04
condition is relatively simple to fulfill. One method to assure
the existence condition is that si must be too big, since
(x, +x2) is always positive.
If the converter was analyzed as three one-phase 0 0.01 0.02 0.03 0.04
converters, the last con&tion results in a different inequality
Fig. 3 Non-linear load currents (up to down): phase a; phase b phase c
to fulfill [4]:

-SI(x, + x 2 ) + x, < 0 (26)

If the converter is analyzed as three one-phase converter, -10

:
a serious problem may occur, the existence condition may -30
b Oh 0.02 0.03 0.04
not be fulfilled. If si is chosen too big the problem can be
solved, but the fastness of the closed loop system is affected ;;;Ib
:

::&m
-10
-30

c) Stability into the sliding surface. 0 0.01 0.02 0.03 0.04

A tool developed to describe the movement into the '0 .................................................................

sliding surface is the equivalent control [lo]. The equivalent -30
0 0,'Ol 0.02 0.03 0.04
control is applied when S = 0 , hence S = 0 . These
conditions imply that the system is into the sliding surface. Fig. 4: Ac mains currents (up to down): phase a current, phase b current, phase
c current.
The equivalent control (U,, ) is obtained from S = 0 :

ue,= -(s,B)-'@,AX + S,C -sIxr) Fig. 5 shows the active filter when the system is affected
(27)
by a load transient. The signals are (top to bottom): the load
current (Ica); ac mains current (Ia, Ib); the capacitor voltages
The equivalent control must be substituted into the and the reference. It can be seen the transient response in the
system model, and the stability analysis must be done under ac mains current, with a sudden change in the current of
this condition. phase b and phase a.

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 for an unbalanced load. This control permits a better
performance of the active filter than the control analyzed as
, . , . .. .. .. .. . three one-phase converters.
0 0.01 0.02 0.03 0.04 0.05 0.06 0.07 0.08 0.09
Several non-linear control structures such as slidmg
mode control, passivity approach and fuzzy logic have been
applied to power electronics in order to obtain a better
0 0 k 0.02 0.b3 0.04 0.05 0.b6 0.07 0.bS 0.h performance than with linear controllers (PID).But it is
230 important to define conditions for a good comparison: good
transient response, adequate harmonic current compensation

L ~ J
220
210 and a minimum commutation frequency.
0 0 k 0.02 0.03 0.04 0.05 0.06 0.b7 0.bS 0.03
I I I I I I I I I I I
Fig. 5 Active filter under load variation (up to down): load phase a current, ac ‘La -I--+ --t +--&- -- -4--+- 20Ndiv
mains phase a and b currents, capacitor voltages.
0 .._ ..I . _ __I__.__._I
_ _. _
____
_ _ ._ _ _ _ _ _ _
I _ . _.._ ____
l....... _I....... _____..5msldiv
A laboratory prototype of a 20 kVA three phase active --T-T - -l--r l- T - -
filter was used to experimentally verify the performance of I
the control. The system works with 220V phase-phase and 20Ndiv
60 Hi. The controller is based on a digital signal processor
(DSP). The inverter is formed by IGBT’s operating at 10
kHz. Two 1700 pF electrolytic storage capacitor are used,
operating at 440 Vdc. The filter inductors have 2 mH value, 20Ndiv
whit a nominal current of 70 A. The load is an unbalanced
non-linear load. The experimental results are shown in
figures 6 and 7. Fig. 6 shows the load currents. Fig. 7 shows ,
I
,
I
.
I
.
I I I I I I I
the ac mains currents; it can be seen that the currents have a

1
low harmonic content compared with the load current, and Fig. 7 Active filter compensation with balanced ac mains currents (top to
bottom, Sms/div, 20 Ndiv): phase a; phase b; phase c.
also they are balanced.
REFERENCES
J. Dixon, J. Contardo, L. Morin “DC Link Fuzzy Control for an Active
‘La -l--L- 1- A---C- _- -J---C - 20A/div Power Filter, Sensing the Line Current Only” IEEE Power Electronics
. !__...._
0 ... ...1......._I_
- I-- --,-- I
..... ...... .....__
_I _ _ . ...
-r f--T
..... i....... .......
1- T - - Smddiv
Specialist Conference -PESC ‘97,pp. 1109-1114.
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l , I I I I ) I I
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S . Saetio, R. Devaraj, D.Torrey “The design and Implementation of a
Three Phase Active Power Filter Based on Sliding Mode Control”, IEEE
Transactions on Industrial Applications 1995 ,Vol. 31, p 993.
V. Cirdenas, N. Vizquez, C. Hemindez “Sliding Mode Control applied
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