POWER SYSTEMS QUALITY

Topic 7- Harmonic Filter Design

Part II: Case Study
EE589-Power System Quality & Harmonics
Dr. E. A. Feilat
Electrical Engineering Department
School of Engineering
University of Jordan

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Dr. E. A. Feilat
 Harmonic Filter Design- Limitations
Equipment withstand capabilities
 According to existing equipment standards, harmonics should be
limited to the equipment withstand capabilities.

 When transformers are operating at rated load, the total harmonic

current distortion should be limited to 5% as defined in IEEE Std
C57-2000. IEEE Std C57-1998 defines the method for derating
transformers when supplying nonsinusoidal loads.

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Dr. E. A. Feilat
 Harmonic Filter Design- Limitations
 IEEE Std 1036-1992 and IEEE Std 18-2002 state that
capacitors are intended to be operated at or below their rated
voltage. Capacitors shall be capable of continuous operation
under contingency system and bank conditions provided that none
of the following limitations are exceeded:
1. 135% of nameplate kVAR
2. 110% of rated rms voltage (including harmonics but excluding transients)
3. 135% of rated rms current (including fundamental and harmonic current)
4. 120% of peak voltage (including harmonics).

IEEE Standard for Shunt Power

Capacitors (IEEE Standard 18-
2000) specifies the following
continuous capacitor ratings:
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Dr. E. A. Feilat
 Harmonic Filter Design- A Case Study
 Filter design procedures are detailed in the steps shown
below. The best way to illustrate the design procedures is
through an example.

 A single-tuned notch filter will be designed for an industrial

facility and applied at a 480-V bus. The load where the filter
will be installed is approximately 1200 kVA with a relatively
poor displacement power factor of 0.75 lagging. The total
harmonic current produced by this load is approximately 30
percent of the fundamental current, with a maximum of 25
percent fifth harmonic.

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Dr. E. A. Feilat
 Harmonic Filter Design- A Case Study
 The facility is supplied by a 1500-kVA transformer with 6.0
percent of impedance. The fifth-harmonic background
voltage distortion on the utility side of the transformer is 1.0
percent of the fundamental when there is no load. The
harmonic design procedures are provided in the following
steps.

Industrial facility where

the filter will be applied
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Dr. E. A. Feilat
 Harmonics Filter Design Example
 This example deals with the designing consideration for a
single-tuned filter for a 480 V bus as shown in the figure.
The system parameters are as follows:
 The load where the filter to be installed is 1.2 MVA.
 Load power factor is 0.75 lagging.
 Total harmonic current produced by the load is about 30 % of the
fundamental current with a maximum of 25 % 5th harmonic
component.
 The facility is supplied via a 1.5 MVA transformer with 6 %
impedance.
 At no-load, the 5th harmonic voltage distortion on the utility side of the
transformer is 1 % of the fundamental.

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Dr. E. A. Feilat
 Step # 1: Filter’s Tuned Frequency Selection
 Filters tuning frequency selection depends on the harmonic
characteristics of the loads. For the single-tuned filter under
consideration, the filtering starts at the lowest harmonic frequency
generated by the load.
 In this example, the lowest harmonic frequency is the 5th harmonic.
Usually the filter is tuned at slightly lower frequency than the desired
tuned frequency for the following:
 To allow for variations in the system impedance and tolerance in the
filter components.
 To minimize the possibility of dangerous harmonic resonance if the
system parameters changed and results in a shift in the tuning
frequency.
 To prevent the filter from acting as a short circuit for the offending
harmonic current.
 To reduce the duty on the filter components.

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Dr. E. A. Feilat
 Filter’s Tuned Frequency Selection (Cont.)
 For this example, the filter will be tuned to the 4.7th
harmonic. The proposed filter configuration is shown in
Figure.

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Dr. E. A. Feilat
 Step # 2: Capacitor Bank size and
Resonant Frequency Computation
 In general, the filter size depends on the load reactive power requirement for
power factor correction. If a power factor correction capacitor is already
installed in the system, it is converted to harmonic filter. In such case, the
capacitor size is known and the reactor size is determined to tune the
capacitor at the desired frequency.

 For this example, no power factor correction capacitor is installed.

Moreover, the desired power factor is assumed 0.96. The capacitor rating and
the capacitive reactance can be determined as follows;
 Reactive power demand for a 0.75 power factor lagging load is
1200 x sin[cos-1(0.75)] = 793.73 kVAR

 Reactive power demand for a 0.96 power factor lagging load is

1200 x sin[cos-1(0.96)] = 336 kVAR

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Dr. E. A. Feilat
 Capacitor Bank size and
Resonant Frequency Computation
 Required capacitive reactive power compensation is
793.73 – 336 = 457.73 kVAR
 The net Y-equivalent filter reactance “XF” can be determined by
V 2 kV 2 x 1000 0.48 x 1000
2
XF     0.5034 
Q k var 457.73
 This filter reactance (XF) is expressed in terms of the capacitive
reactance (XC) and the inductive reactance (XL), at fundamental
frequency, as follows
XF = XC - XL (1)
 For tuning at the 4.7th harmonic, the capacitive reactance is
expressed in terms of the inductive reactance as follows
1 1
   2  fh 2 
LC LC
XC = h2 XL = (4.7)2 XL (2)
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Dr. E. A. Feilat
 Capacitor Bank size and
Resonant Frequency Computation
♦ Therefore, from (1) and (2) the required capacitive reactance is

X F x h 2 0.5034 x 4.7 
2
XC  2   0.5272 
h 1 4.7  1
2

♦ To achieve this required capacitive reactance, the capacitor has to

be rated at (using the 480 V base)

kV x 1000 0.48 x 1000

2 2
Qc    437 kVAR
XC 0.5272
♦ The commonly available capacitor rating close to the calculated
desired value is 450 kVAR. According to this rating, the capacitive
reactance XC (using the 480 V base) is 0.512 .

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Dr. E. A. Feilat
 Step # 3: Filter Reactor Size Computation
 As mentioned in Step # 1, the filter is designed to be tuned at the
4.7th harmonic which corresponds to 282 Hz. From step # 2
(equation 2), the filter reactor size is determined from the Y-
equivalent capacitive reactance as follows

X C 0.512
XL  2   0.02318 
h 4.7 2

Therefore,

X L  fund 
0.02318
L   0.06148 mH
2 x 60 2 x 60

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Dr. E. A. Feilat
 Step # 4: Filter Duty Requirements Evaluation
 Filter duty requirements to be evaluated include; peak voltage, current,
kVAR production, and rms voltage.

 These duties are evaluated according to the limitations provided by the

IEEE standard 18-1992, IEEE Standard for Shunt Capacitors.

 Computations of these duties are divided into three main sections;

 fundamental duties,
 harmonic duties, and
 peak voltage and rms current duties.

 These will be explained in the following steps

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Dr. E. A. Feilat
Step # 5: Fundamental Duty Requirements Computation
 This step is dedicated to compute the fundamental frequency operating
voltage across the capacitor bank as follows:
 The net filter reactance (combining the capacitive reactance and
the reactor) at fundamental frequency is given by
X F  fund   X L  X C  0.02318  0.512  0.489 

 The fundamental frequency filter current is given by

kVactual / 3 480 / 3
I F  fund     567 A
X F  fund  0.489

 The fundamental frequency operating voltage across the

capacitor bank is given by
VL  L , Cap  fund   3 x I F  fund  x X C  3 x 567 x 0.512  502.8 V
 This is the nominal fundamental voltage across the capacitor
bank and it should be less than 110 % of the capacitor rated
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Dr. E. A. Feilat
Fundamental Duty Requirements Computation
 The filter draws more fundamental current than the capacitor
bank alone. Therefore, the actual reactive power produced is
given by

QF  fund   3 x I F  fund  x kVactual

 3 x 567 x 480  471.4 kVAR

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Dr. E. A. Feilat
 Step # 6: Harmonic Duty Requirements Computation
 This step is dedicated to compute the maximum harmonic current in the
filter. This current consists of two components as follows:
 The harmonic current produced by the nonlinear load that was
assumed to be 25 % of the fundamental current (5th harmonic
component) and is given by,

1200
I h  I h  pu  x
kVA
 0.25 x  360.8 A
3 x kVactual 3 x 0.48
 The harmonic current contributed to the filter from the utility side
that can be estimated as follows,
 The fundamental frequency impedance of the service transformer
is given by
% x kVactual 2 0.482
X T  fund   Z T  0.06 x  0.0092 
MVATran 1.5
 The 5th harmonic impedance of the service transformer is given by
X T harm   h x X T  fund   5 x 0.0092  0.0461 
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Dr. E. A. Feilat
 Harmonic Duty Requirements Computation
► The harmonic impedance of the capacitor bank is given by
0.512
X Cap
X Cap harm     0.1024 
h 5
► The harmonic impedance of the reactor is given by

X L harm   h x X L  fund   5 x 0.02318  0.1159 

► The 5th harmonic impedance of the service transformer is given by
X T harm   h x X T  fund   5 x 0.0092  0.0461 
► Given that the voltage distortion on the utility side of the transformer is
1 % (0.01 pu) of the fundamental, the estimated 5th harmonic current
contributed to the filter from the utility side is given by
Vh utility   pu  x Vactual 0.01 x 480
I h utility   
3 x X T harm   X Cap harm   X L harm   3 x 0.0461  0.1024  0.1159
 46.5 A
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Dr. E. A. Feilat
Harmonic Duty Requirements Computation

◙ The maximum harmonic current is given by,

I h total   I h  I h utility   360.8  46.5  407.3 A

◙ The harmonic voltage across the capacitor can be estimated as

follows,

X Cap
VL  L , Cap harm , max  3 x I h total  x
h
0.512
 3 x 407.3 x  72.2 V
5

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Dr. E. A. Feilat
 Step # 7: Total RMS Current and
Peak Voltage Requirements Evaluation
 This step is dedicated to compute the total rms current, peak
voltage across the capacitor, and the total kVAR seen by the
capacitor. These parameters can be calculated as follows:

 The total rms current passing through the filter (this is the
current rating of the reactor) is given by,

I rms, total  I h2Total   I F2  fund   407.32  5672  698 A

 The maximum voltage across the capacitor (assuming that

the harmonic and fundamental components add together) can
be estimated as follows,
VL  L , Cap max   VL  L , Cap  fund   VL  L , Cap harm 
 502.8  72.2  575 V
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Dr. E. A. Feilat
 Total RMS Current and Peak Voltage
Requirements Evaluation

 The rms voltage across the capacitor can be estimated as

follows,

V L  L, Cap rms, total   VL2 L, Cap  fund   VCap

2
L  L, rms, harm   502.82  72.22
 508 V
 The total kvar seen by the capacitor can be estimated as
follows,

QCap total   3 x I rms , total x kVL  L , Cap rms , total   3 x 698 x 0.508
 614 k var

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Dr. E. A. Feilat
Step # 8: Capacitor Rating Limits Evaluation
 Proposed filter duty requirements (represented by peak voltage, rms voltage
and current, and kvar production calculated in previous steps) are compared
to the IEEE standard limits given the following Table.
Capacitor Limits: (IEEE Standard 18-2002)

Limit Contingency Actual Value

Peak Voltage (V) 100% 120% 120 575
RMS Current (A) 100% 135% 129 698
kVAR 100% 135% 136 614
RMS Voltage (V) 100% 110% 106 508

 This shows that the proposed filter duty requirements are very close to
the limits.
 Therefore, there is no tolerance for any deviations in the assumptions or
the service voltage.
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Dr. E. A. Feilat
 Capacitor Rating Limits Evaluation
 In such case, a 480 V capacitor will have a short life.
 Thus, a capacitor rated at higher voltage levels must be used.
 Assuming the capacitor rated voltage to be 600 V, the
equivalent capacitor rating would be,

QCnew  QC 
V
actual , new 
2

 450 
600
2
 703 kVAR
V
actual , old 
2
4802

 A nominal capacitor rating of 700 kVAR with the reactor

values as computed in Step # 3 would provide the same
filtering action within the normal manufacturing tolerances.

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Dr. E. A. Feilat
Step # 9: Filter Frequency Response Evaluation
 This step is dedicated to evaluate the filter frequency response to
ensure that the filter doesn’t create any new resonance at frequencies
that might cause additional problems.

 The harmonic at which parallel resonance below the notch frequency

will occur can be expressed by (assuming that the service transformer
reactance dominates the source impedance),

XC = h2 XL
X Cap 0.512
ho    3.97
X T  fund   X L  fund  0.0092  0.02318

 This reveals that the filter results in a resonance close to the 4th
harmonic.

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Dr. E. A. Feilat
 Filter Frequency Response Evaluation
 Normally, very few harmonic sources generate even harmonics
during steady-state operation; consequently the designed filter
will operate very properly.

 However, 4th harmonic currents can occur during transient

operation such as transformers energizing.

 In such case, filter designers have to consider utility system

impedance in their calculations and the basic filter size would
have to be increased to gain additional margin from the 4th
harmonic.

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Dr. E. A. Feilat
 Step # 10: Evaluation of the Effect of Filter
Parameters Variations within Specified Tolerance
 While designing a filter, designers usually consider the following
tolerances;
 + 15 % tolerance of the nominal capacitance value.
  5 % tolerance of the nominal reactor inductance value.

 Such tolerances can significantly affect the filter performance and

can create a harmful resonance. Therefore, the final stage in
designing a filter is dedicated to check the filter design for various
extremes.

 The previous example deals with the designing consideration for a

single-tuned filter. For multiple single tuned filters, the general
designing procedure is the same except that the reactive power
requirement is divided between the filter stages

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Dr. E. A. Feilat
 Step # 8: Capacitor Rating Limits Evaluation

 Proposed filter duty requirements (represented by peak voltage, rms voltage and
current, and kvar production calculated in previous steps) are compared to the IEEE
standard limits given the following Table.

 This shows that the proposed filter duty requirements are very close to the
limits.
 Therefore, there is no tolerance for any deviations in the assumptions or the
service voltage.

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Dr. E. A. Feilat