See discussions, stats, and author profiles for this publication at:

https://www.researchgate.net/publication/308673421

Design of active filters to reduce harmonics for Power Quality

improvement

Conference Paper · April 2015

DOI: 10.1109/ICCPEIC.2015.7259523

CITATION READS
S
2,575
3

2 authors:

H. Prasad Sudhakar T D
St. Joseph's College of Engineering, St. Joseph's College of Engineering,
Chennai Chennai
3 PUBLICATIONS 7 CITATIONS 41 PUBLICATIONS 188 CITATIONS
SEE SEE
PROFILE PROFILE

Some of the authors of this publication are also working on these related
projects:

Power System Restoration in Distribution Network View project

All content following this page was uploaded by Sudhakar T D on 07 April

2017.

The user has requested enhancement of the downloaded file.

 2 0 1 5 I N T E R N AT I O N A L C O N F E R E N C E O N C O M P U T AT I O N O F P O W E R , E N E R G Y, I N F O R M AT I O N A N D
C O M M U N I C AT I O N
Design of Active Filters to
reduce Harmonics for Power
Qualify Improvement
Mr. H. Prasad, M . E
Assistant Professor,
Department of Electrical and Electronics
Engineering
st. Joseph's college of
engineering Chennai - 119, India
prasadh.vidyut@gmail.com
Abstract - D e l i v e r i n g h i gh qualit y of p ow e r to
the consumers has become a n indis pensable
issue of concern to p ow e r engineers. T h e r e a re
v ari ous issues r e g ar d i n g po w er qualit y
w hi ch har m oni cs affect the power system
operati on a n d thei r mit igati on should be giv en
p a r a m o u n t importance. H a r m o n i c filters a r e
used to address this issue. O f the v ar ious types
of h a r m o n i c filters, Active h ar m o n i c filters a r e
seen as a v e r y m u c h feasible a n d a f f or da b l e
s olution a n d t heir commer ci al implementation
is being researched b y a lot of people. T h i s
p a pe r discusses the s imulation of a n A ctiv e
p o w e r filter to mitigate har mo ni cs i n single
phase system using M A T L A B / S imulink.
Keywords - Activ e p o w e r filter, R L - load,
compensating curr ent, harmonics , THD
T ot al H a r m o n i c Distortion.
I. INTRODUCTION
Power Quality (PQ) issues were considered
only in the past few years ago. Earlier this
problem was only considered by the power
engineers. Recently only the community
deals about the PQ problems because of their
awareness and the standard power stations
maintain. Even in the industries only the
recent generation people are trained in these
power quality areas. There are various PQ
issues related in power system. Some of the
power quality issues are reactive power
balance, voltage imbalance, harmonics,
transients and interruption. Of these issues,
harmonics play a major role in the PQ.
Harmonics generally refer to something that
co-exists. In electrical terminology
harmonics can be detfmed as components that
are present with fundamental waveform of
voltage or current and that are integer
multiples of fundamental frequency.
Harmonics cause certain undesirable effects
978-1-4673-6524-6/15/$ 31.00
Dr. T. D. Sudhakar, M.E., Ph.D.
Associate Professor,
Department of Electrical and Electronics
Engineering
st. Joseph's college of
engineering Chennai - 119, India
t.d.sudhakar@gmail.com
in the operation of a load and affect its
performance badly [12]. Harmonics are
generally caused due to non-linear nature of
of
loads which inject harmonic currents in the
AC system and increase overall reactive
power demanded by the equivalent load [l3].
This increases in power electronic based
non-linear loads may cumulatively lead to a
state of harmonic pollution that affects the
operation of power system since modem day
digital electronics and control equipments
require high quality of power supply for
perfect operation and thus they cannot yield
expected results with a system affected by
harmonics [5]. A harmonic filter is used to
-
eliminate the harmonics [5]. There are three
basic types of harmonics filters namely
Passive, Active and Hybrid harmonic filters
[14]. A lot of work, surveying and analysis
were done so as to design a suitable filter to
reduce harmonics for power quality
improvement. Primitively used filters were
of passive type which consisted of inductors
and capacitors. But later it was found that
active power filters are advantageous in
many respects when compared to passive
harmonic filters [2] [ll].Then the advent of
technology has paved way for the
development of active power filters and
hybrid power filters [15].
II. PRINCIPLE OF OPERATION
The objective of the active filtering is to
solve these problems in a dynamic way
rather than using components whose rating is
predetermined, along with a much-reduced
rating unlike bulky passive components [2].
The idea of active filters is relatively old, but
their practical development was made
possible with the new developments in
© 20151£££
0336
H . P R A S A D et a l : D E S I G N O F A C T I V E F I LT E R S T O R E D U C E H A R M O N I C S F O R P O W E R Q U A L I T Y
IMPROVEMENT

power electronics and control strategies as signal obtained. If this through properly
well as with reduction in cost of electronic gated output of VSI is fed back to source
components [3]. Depending on the problem side in phase opposition, leads to the phase
nature, active filters can be implemented in cancellation of harmonic components. The
three basic topologies as shunt type, series source current after compensation is given
type, or a combination of shunt and series by,
active filters (shunt-series type) [10]. The
shunt active filter, with a dc capacitor or dc
voltage source, has a topology similar to that
of a static compensator (STATCOM) used for
reactive power compensation in power
transmission systems [4]. Through power (Or) Is(t)* = I t(t) + Ih(t) - Ic(t)
electronic switching, the active filter
introduces current or voltage components, The output of VSI is a voltage and it can be
which cancel the harmonic components of converted to current source by connecting an
the nonlinear loads. Shunt active power R L branch in series. The value of the R L
filters compensate load current harmonics by branch is determined in accordance with the
injecting equal-but opposite harmonic magnitude of compensating current. The
compensating current [4] [10]. In this case process of active harmonic filtering involves
the shunt active power filter operates as a the following steps.
• Harmonic component extraction.
current source injecting the harmonic
• Inverter operation to generate
components generated by the load but phase­
compensating current.
shifted by 180°. Series active power filters
• To moderate the compensating
act as a voltage regulator and as a harmonic
current by control of gating pulses
isolator between the nonlinear load and the
to the inverter based on reference
utility system [6]. The series-connected filter
can mitigate inadequate supply- voltage
quality. This type of approach is especially
A. cure nt m ec h a ni s m .
H a rm o n ic e x tr action
There are various methods of
recommended for compensation of voltage methods
unbalances and voltage sags from the ac extraction of harmonic components from the
supply. The figures I and 2 shown below fundamental component. This is done in
depict the placement of single phase shunt order to separate the harmonics from the
active power filter in an electrical network. supply waveform mathematically [8]. Some
of the harmonic extraction methods surveyed
[3] [8] are given as follows.
• PQ theory and modified PQ
theory
• DQ axis with fourier method
• Synchronous Reference frame
method
• Synchronous detection method
• Sine multiplication method.
E. Voltage Source Inverter
Figure 1 APF Installations. Most of the active power filter
topologies in use today use a voltage source
inverter for their operation. It can operate in
all four quadrants i.e supply and absorb both
real as well as reactive power. Self
commutation is possible in VSI due to
IGBTs and MOSFETs. The advantages of
the VSC are:
• Rapid control of active as well
as reactive power [9],
• It provides a high level of power
quality. [9]
Figure 2 A P F control schematic
• Low power (less than 250 MW)
HVDC transmission (commercially
The compensating current obtained in the the
referred to as "HVDC Light") [9],
operation will be Ic (t) equal to the error

978-1-4673-6524-6/15/$ 31.00 © 20151£££

0337
2 0 1 5 I N T E R N AT I O N A L C O N F E R E N C E O N C O M P U T AT I O N O F P O W E R , E N E R G Y, I N F O R M AT I O N A N D
C O M M U N I C AT I O N

• VAR Computation (SVC and inverter consist of chopping the dc bus

STATCOM), and Active Power voltage to produce an ac voltage of an
Filters [9], arbitrary waveform. There are a large
• VSCs utilize self-commutating number of PWM techniques available to
switches (e.g. GTOs, IGBTs) which synthesize sinusoidal patterns or any
can be turned-on or off at will. This arbitrary pattern of which the Triangular
is in contrast to the conventional PWM technique is the most prefered which
CSCs which operate with line­ is discussed [7]. PWM works by means of
commutated thyristor switches [9]. one of the simplest method namely the
Commutation in a force commutated VSC triangular carrier technique. It forces the
valve can occur many times per cycle, output voltage over a switching cycle,
whereas in a line commutated CSC it can defined by the carrier period, to be equal to
happen only once per cycle. This feature the average amplitude of the modulating
allows the voltage/current in a VSC to be wave Vref. Though there are various carriers
modulated to produce a nearly sinusoidal used, the triangular carrier is most widely
output and control the power factor as well. used owing to its effectiveness. As for active
Thus VSls are an obvious choice for the filter implementation is concerned, this
implementation of active filters [9], method compares the output current error
with a fixed amplitude and fixed triangular
wave: the triangular carrier. Thus the
compensating current generated for a shunt
active power filter. The schematic
representation of PWM technique is shown
in figure 4 as follows.

Figure 3 Single phase VS I topology

This topology, shown in figure 3 converts a

dc voltage into an ac voltage
appropriately gating by the
semiconductor switches.
converters are preferred over current source
power
converter because it is higher Voltage source
in efficiency
and lower initial cost than the current source F i gu r e 4. Tr i an gu l ar P W M t ech ni qu e.
converters.
C.
Gating ulses SIMULATION AND
III.
APF RESULTS
This is a very important process Consider a typical single phase 230 V 50 Hz
which demands high accuracy for the desired AC system feeding an R L load through a
operation of APF. Gating is also the most converter and inverter setup. Converters and
complex process in control of APF which inverters are essential in the new era of
needs utmost concern. The vanous control methodologies using power
techniques for gating pulse generation are electronic switches. But the problem of
listed below. harmonics associated with them needs to be
• External pulse generation based mitigated in order to ensure better power
on frequency. quality. The system consists of diode bridge
• Sine PWM. [7] rectifier and Inverter with MOSFET
• Space Vector PWM. [7] switches. Separate pulse arrangement is for
• Triangular PWM. [7] MOSFET switches which
For most applications requiring dynamic provided
decide the frequency of AC output of the
performance, triangular pulse width inverter. A schematic of the system is given
modulation (PWM) is the most commonly below in figure 5.
used technique for gating today. PWM
techniques applied to a voltage source

978-1-4673-6524-6/15/$ 31.00 © 20151£££

0338
0339
2 0 1 5 I N T E R N AT I O N A L C O N F E R E N C E O N C O M P U T AT I O N O F P O W E R , E N E R G Y, I N F O R M AT I O N A N D
C O M M U N I C AT I O N

F i g u r e 5 S c h e m a t i c o f Te s t S y s t e m
The simulation system parameters and signal to a PWM block with a triangular
results are given in table L The parameters carrier where it is compared with the same
of the active filter topology along with its R L and switching pulses are generated. These
values are also given in the same table for switching pulses are to be given as gating
reference, Active power filters are always signals to the VSI of the Active filter setup.
compared with passive filters in terms of The circuit shown in figure 6 is the
performance, ease of implementation ability simulation circuit of APF incorporated
to operate in a generalized manner. The system. A breaker is used to connect the APF
active filtering concept aims at the derivation to the source side as and when required. The
of compensating current by separating out APF topology consists of a voltage source
the harmonic component from the inverter for which the gating pulse is
fundamental component The source current provided by a PWM generator which uses
in a system feeding a non-linear load will the extracted harmonic component from the
contain all the harmonic components along source current as the modulating waveform.
with the fundamental component It is given Based on these pulses, the output of the APF
by will vary. The amplitude of output of APF is
[set) = moderated by the DC source input to the
bridge. The APF R L branch is used to _

(2) convert the constant voltage output of the

Where denotes the VSI to current in order to cancel out current
harmonics of various orders.
fundamental component while the other term TA B L E I . Parameters o f Single phase system with AP F
consists of harmonic
components up to nth order. This term Parameters Va l u e s
containing the n order harmonic components Vo l t a g e 230 V R M S
will be the error signal. This is the Frequency 50
component that has to be compensated to
D C link Hz
achieve better power quality. This is being
determined by subtracting the entire source R L load IJ . l F

current from the ideal sinusoidal reference 10 ohms, 50

Sine wave r e f mH
current which is exactly in magnitude and
1 5 2A k, H
5 0z H z
phase with the fundamental component Carrier frequency

which is the reference. This Sample time 0.5J.lseconds

ideal sinusoidal reference current can be Inverter switching

50 Hz
Frequency
obtained using a mathematical model in
1490 V
simulink or a low pass filter to extract the Vdc_comp

fundamental component or more precisely a APF RL B R ANC H

R =IOO o h m s ,
L =0.314 H
band pass filter can be used. Thus the error
signal obtained is now given as a modulating

978-1-4673-6524-6/15/$ 31.00 © 20151£££

0340
0341
2 0 1 5 I N T E R N AT I O N A L C O N F E R E N C E O N C O M P U T AT I O N O F P O W E R , E N E R G Y, I N F O R M AT I O N A N D
C O M M U N I C AT I O N

F ig u re 6 S im ulati on o f s i n g l e p h a s e circuit A P F.
The results of the simulation with and
without the incorporation of filters can be
analyzed using the table 3 which compares
the results in both cases, It can be seen
evidently that incorporation of Active filters
reduces harmonics of various orders.

TA B L E 2 Results with and without AP F

Wi t h o u t
Harmonics With A P F I)
Filter
DC 1. 11 0.6277
component 14.64 15.7
3RD
F u n dOaRmDe nEt R
al
15 .99 6.55

5TH O R D E R 6.07
7.66
4.68 Figure 7 S ou rce current witho ut A P F.
7TH O R D E R 5.32
2.39
2.51
9TH O R D E R 1.20
0.89 The distortion is more when filters are not
0.85
11TH O R D E R 1. 31 incorporated. Current wave form reaches a
13TH O R D E R 29.67 15.86
peak of 15 amperes in this case. When APF
TO TA L is included in the circuit operation, the
FIgure
HARM 6 O Nand
I C 7 show the source current distortion reduces considerably and the
DIS TORTIO N
waveform without and with APF waveform tends to be more like an ideal sine
installations. It can be observed that the wave which is desirable. This is shown in
distortion significantly reduces after the figure 8. For the same peak at around 15
incorporating the APF into the circuit. amperes, the waveform is less distorted.
There is an approximately 13 % reduction in
THO of source current waveform as
observed from table 2.

978-1-4673-6524-6/15/$ 31.00 © 20151£E£

0342
H . P R A S A D et a l : D E S I G N O F A C T I V E F I LT E R S T O R E D U C E H A R M O N I C S F O R P O W E R Q U A L I T Y
IMPROVEMENT

I n d u s t r i a l A p p l i c a t i o n s Vo l . 3 2 ( 6 ) : 1 3 1 2 -
1322, 1996.
[2]. A k a g i . H , " M o d e r n a c t i v e filters a n d
t radi ti onal p a s s i v e filters", B ul l et i n o f t he
P o l i s h A c a d e m y o f S ci ences, Tec h n i c al
S ci en ce s 54(3), 2 5 5 - 2 6 9 , 2 0 0 6 .
[3]. K-L. Areerak and K-N . Areerak, "The
Comparison Study o f Harm o nic Detection
Methods for S h u n t A c t i v e P o w e r Filters",
Wo r l d A c a d e m y o f Science, Engi nee r i ng a nd
Te c h n o l o g y 4 6 2 0 1 0 p g 2 4 3 - 2 4 8 .
[4]. Bhim Singh, Kamal AI-
Haddad &
Ambrish Chandra," A Review of Active
Fil t ers for Power Quality Improvement",
Figure 8 Source current with AP F I E E E Tr an s a ct i o n s o n Industrial Electro nics ,
Vo l . 4 6 , N o . 5 , p p 9 6 0 - 9 7 0 , O c t . 1 9 9 9 .
[5].
IV. S.Khalid & Bharti Dwivedi "Power
Quali ty Issues, Problems, standards & their
CONCLUSION
effe ct s i n i n d u s t r y w i t h c o r r e c t i v e m e a n s " ,
I nntge ir nn ea et ir oi nn ga l & TJ eo cuhr nn ao ll o g yo, f M a A
E y d2v0a1n1c. e s In
implementation ofThusactive
thispower
chapterfilter
aimstoatthe [6]. L. Moran, J. Dixon, J. Espinoza, & R.
single phase system andstudying
the impactthe and role Wa l l a c e , " U s i n g A c t i v e P o w e r F i l t r es t o
of active power filters in mitigation of Im p ro ve P o w e r Quality", 5t h Brasilian P o w e r
Electronics Conference, C O B E P '9 9 .
harmonics. Active power filters separate the
[7]. Muhammad H. Rashid, "POWER
harmonic from fundamental component there ELECTRONICS - CIRCUITS, DEVICES
by it can mitigate the entire order harmonics A N D A P P L I C AT I O N S T H I R D EDITION,
unlike passive filters where n units are P e a r s o n , N e w J e r s e y, U S A "
Ve d a t M . K a r s h , M e h m e t T u m a y , B e r r i n
needed to mitigate n order harmonics. The [8].
SOslOoglu, "An evaluation of time
concept of Active power filters involves domain techniques for compensating
various harmonic extraction and various currents of SHUNT ACTIVE POWER
control strategies which can be surveyed to [9]. F I LT E R S "
Vi j a y K Sood, "HVDC and FA C TS
suggest a better solution. Thus an active filter
Controllers-Applications o f S tatic Converters
posses the quality of dynamism, robustness in Power Syst em s" Kluwer Academi c
and doesn't cause electrical resonance or [10]. publishers, 2 0 0 4
isn't made up of large or bulky equipments. Zainal Salam, Ta n Perng Cheng and

They are considered to be advantageous in Aw a n g Jusoh, "Harmonics Mitigation Using

Active Power Filter: A Te c h n o l o g i c a l
such regards when compared to conventional
[ 11 ] . R e v i e w " E L E K T R I K A .
passive filters. But active power filter Anzari M, Rejil Chandran and
operation involves highly complex control A r u nK u m a r R, "Single-Phase Shunt Active

strategies and complicated compensation P o w e r Filter U s i n g Indirect C o nt rol M e t h o d "

Advance in Electronic and Electric
current generation techniques due to which Engineering ISSN 2231-1297, Vo l u m e 3,
engineers might face difficulty in [12]. N u m b e r 1 (2013 ), p p . 8 1 - 9 0
implementation. Thus a compromise I S F. Z . P e n g , " H a r m o n i c sources and
f i l t e r i n g a p p r o a c h e s " , I E E E Ind. Appl. Mag.
arrived at by combining the operational
[13]. 7, 1 8 - 2 5 ( 2 0 0 1 ) .
merits of both active and passive filters in George, J . W. , "Power Systems
order to reduce the complexity of Active Harmonics Fundamentals, Analysis and

power filters which has paved way for [14]. Filter D es i g n " , S pri n ger, 2 0 0 1 .

modern hybrid filters. Active filters can be Recommended Practice and

used with conventional passive filters as Requirements

[IS]. Electrical Syst em s, I E E E Std.
for Harmonic Control in

Hybrid filters in order to achieve better Ali I. Maswood and M.H. Haque ,
performance. A hybrid filter is a combined "Harmonics, Sources, Eflects and
topology of APFs and PPFs which aims at Mitigation Te c h n i q u e s " S c h o o l o f E E E ,
INnat ne rynaant gi o n a l C o n T f eercehnncoel o og ni c aEl l e c t r i c a l a n d
compensating for each other's disadvantages. CU on m
i vpe ur st ietry E n g i n e e r i nSg e cI oCnEdC E 2 0 0 2 , 2 6 - 2 8
Active power filters have various other December 2002, Dhaka, Bangladesh.
applications in power system domain like [16]. B a s k a r a n J. (2 011 ) " I m p l e m e n t a t i o n o f
reactive power compensation, voltage sag Synchronous Reference Frame Strategy
Based Shunt Active Filter", International
mitigation, flicker compensation and various C o n fe ren c e on Electronic
other applications which can also be Computer Te c h n o l o g y ( I C E C T 2 011 ) , M a r c h
implemented. 2011.

REFERENCES
[ I ] . A k a g i , H . , " N e w t r e n d s i n a c t i v e filters for
p o w e r c o n d i t i o n i n g , I E E E Tr a n s a c t i o n s on

978-1-4673-6524-6/15/$ 31.00 © 20151£££

0343
 2 0 1 5 I N T E R N AT I O N A L C O N F E R E N C E O N C O M P U T AT I O N O F P O W E R , E N E R G Y, I N F O R M AT I O N A N D
C O M M U N I C AT I O N

BIBLIOGRAPHY

H Prasad received his

B achelors degree in the faculty
of Electrical and Electronics
engineering
from Anna
University Chennai and his
M as t er s degree in the faculty o f
Power systems engineering
from Anna
U n i v e r s i t y,
Chennai. He is currently
working as Assistant Professor
in the D ep ar tm e nt o f Electrical
Engineering at St. Joseph's
College of
Engineering, Chennai. His
areas o f interest
include
Power
Q u a l i t y, Harmonic

filters

and application to renewable

energy systems.

T. D. S u d h a k a r r e c e i v e d t h e
Degree in Electrical &
Electronics Engineering (B. E.)
from Madras U n i v e r s i t y,
Chennai, India, in 2 0 0 I, t h e

M.E. degree and the Ph.D.

degree from A n n a u n i v e r s i t y,
India in 2004 and 2012
r e s p e c t i v e l y. H e i s c u r r e n t l y a n
Associate Professor in the
Electrical Engineering
field o f p o w e r systems &
Department at st. Joseph's
pCoo w and
l l ee rg e
qo uf a l i t yE n g i n e e r i n g , their

tpChehrreofnuongr am
hi a,s ni Im
cneudliaa t. i oHn es . h ea vs a lmu ao trieo n
than 35 Journal
and Conference at
International and National
level publications. His
technical interests are in the

978-1-4673-6524-6/15/$ 31.00 © 20151£E£

View publication stats 0344