1002 IEEE Transactions on Power Delivery, Vol. 14, No.

3, July 1999

Field Tests of a Filter to Reduce Harmonic Currents in

a Three Phase Fluorescent Lamp System

W. Mielczarski, Senior Member, IEEE w B hwrance, Member IEEE J Szczepanik

Monash University Curtin University of Technology Royal Melbourne Institute of
Department of Electrical and Computer Department of Electrical Engineering Technology, Department of Electrical
Systems Engineering PO Box U 1987, Perth, Engineering, Melbourne 3000,
Clayton, Victoria 3 168, Australia Western Australia 6001 Australia

Abstract: This paper presents laboratory and field tests of the
filters constructed to reduce harmonic currents generated by
three phase systems of fluorescent lamps. The main idea is to
develop a filter with high impedance for harmonic currents to
reduce harmonic distortion and a with low impedance for
flow of the fundamental in asymmetrical regimes. This filter
is included in the neutral conductor with the primary role of
reducing the zero sequence harmonics.
The filter design procedure is based on “levels of
aspirations” to reduce harmonic currents. With the use of a
lamp equivalent circuit, it provides the required filter
impedances for a given harmonic frequency. Rosenbrock’s
optimization procedure is employed to search for the optimal
filter parameters, minimizing the objective function
formulated.
Laboratory and field tests show that a tuned filter in the
neutral conductor can an effective method to reduce harmonic
current distortion. It can be applied to any set of discharge
lamps arranged as a three phase circuit. The method is
especially suitable for high rise buildings and industrial
installations where a large amount of electrical energy is
consumed by lighting.
Keywords: Harmonics, fluorescent lamps, filters.
1. INTRODUCTION
The presence of harmonics in power system is cause for
increasing concern by supply authorities. The origin of these
harmonics is usually attributed to power electronic devices
PE-055PWRD-0-10-1998 A paper recommended and apprwed by
the IEEE Transmission and Distribution Committee of the IEEE Power
Engineering Society for publication in the IEEE Transactions on Power
Delivery. Manuscript s u b r n i i February 2, 1998; made available for
printing November 10,1998.
such as inverters and rectifiers, which have inherently non-
linear characteristics.
Measurements carried out on distribution lines supplying
’light industry and small commercial buildings, show high
distortion of supply currents and a high value of the neutral
current with significant phase asymmetry. In industry and
high rise buildings there are often thousands of fluorescent
fittings, these are usually connected in a 4 or 5 wire, three
phase circuit. The implication of this configuration, is that the
neutral current will increase significantly due to the additive
effect of the zero sequence components, in many cases
combined with any current due to unbalanced loading [2], 131.
This effect leads to neutral overloading and distribution
transformer overheating.
A solution has been proposed, which involves splitting the
main distribution transformer into two smaller transformers
with the corresponding phases 180” out of phase 141. This
connection leads to cancellation of the triplen current
components in the neutral, however there is no improvement
in the line current waveforms. Moreover, splitting the
distribution transformer is expensive. An alternative method,
proposed by the State Electricity Commission in Victoria,
was to add a series inductor to the neutral [ 6 ] .However this
adds significantly to the system impedance, which should be
minimal to allow unbalanced currents to flow in the neutral.
The solution proposed by the authors of this paper involves
connecting a tuned filter into the neutral as shown in Fig. 1.
This filter is designed so as to have a high impedance to the
harmonic components of the neutral current and minimal
impedance to the fundamental unbalanced component. The
neutral filter, if designed correctly, will reduce the neutral
loading as well as improving the waveform of the line
currents. Although the scheme is conceptually simple, there
are complications due to factors such as the varying nature of
the load impedance. Installation of filters in the neutral
conductor of a three phase system needs careful design and
verification taking into account filter structure, parameters
and equivalent circuits of three phase lamp systems.
This paper presents the second stage of the research project
leading to the verification of the harmonic filter effectiveness
in reducing harmonic distortion for various regimes of the
supply system. In the first stage, the idea of a parallel or
double tuned filter included into the neutral conductor has

0885-8977/99/$10.00 0 1998 IEEE


been verified by the construction and testing of a laboratory
installation 161. This has confirmed the effectiveness of the
new idea giving experience in equivalent circuit derivation.
filter design and construction. Laboratory equipment and
computer programs for parameter optimization were also
developed. In the second stage, a filter for field tests has been
designed, constructed and subjected to tests in a system with
high level of distortion and fluctuating loads.
Harmonic voltage distortion depends on harmonic current
and the supply system impedance hence it is difficult to verify
the effectiveness of the new circuit by analysis of voltage
distortion. In laboratory and field tests, harmonic current
reduction has been used as a measure of the filter
effectiveness.
Lsmp A
, -
A m
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
Lamp B
, -
B . m
.
Lamp C
~ ~~~~~~~~.~~
Fig. 1. Three phase system of fluorescent lamps
3. FILTER DESIGN AND CONSTRUCTION
There are two candidates for the neutral current filters:
parallel LC filter and double tuned filter. Design of a parallel
Fig. 2. Filter construction
1003
filter is relatively simple as under the assumption that reactor
resistance is a function of reactance, only two parameters, L
and C leading to parallel resonance. for the dominant 3"
harmonic. have to be calculated. The reduction of reactor
resistance leads to smaller filter losses. However, higher
impedance at the resonant frequency narrows the impedance
characteristic. This may result in degradation of the filtering
effects when system parameters and frequency are varying.
Fig. 2 shows the structure of the tuned filters used in
laboratory and field tests. Switches S1 and S2 and terminals
T1 - T4 allow the changes in the filter structure and
measurements of currents and voltages. There are three
possible filter combinations:
No Filter - Switch S1 is closed
Parallel Filter - Switch S1 is opened while S2 is closed
Double tuned filter, (DBL) - Both switches S1 and S2 are
opened
The absolute value of the filter impedance for n' harmonic
is given by
4
where R I , R = resistances of the inductors. L , ,L 2 = the
reactance of inductors, C,, C2 = values of capacitors.
The supply system selected for field tests, supplies the
engineering laboratories at Curtin University of Technology
and is subjected to large load fluctuations. Moreover, other
nonlinear loads in the neighborhood, cause harmonic
pollution, in particular 5*, 7'h, 11' and 13' harmonic currents
generated by six-pulse bridge rectifiers as well as by single
phase electronic equipment. Facing large variations in the
supply system, a simple equivalent seen from terminals
( O , O 0 )has been selected to represent the average conditions
of supply.
s1
1004
The idea of a tuned filter included in the neutral conductor
is based on assumptions that in symmetrical regimes, the filter
will be subjected to the flow of harmonic currents of zero
sequence such as 3d, 9" and 15" order generated by
fluorescent lamps. In practice the filter is subjected not only
to harmaiics, for which it has been designed, but also to a
wider range of hamonic currents, positive and negative
sequence, resulting from system asymmetry and other
nonlinear loads.
The filter has been designed assuming that a three phase
system of fluorescent lamps can be represented by a Thevenin
equivalent seen from terminals (OL,OG),see Fig. 3. The
measurements carried in the laboratory for an experimental
set of 3 x 7 ~(2*40W) fluorescent lamps, provided experience
in how to evaluate the equivalents seen from (O,O,)and
apply them to filter design [6].
The following assumptions are set up as levels of aspiration
of harmonic current reduction:
filters should reduce the 31d harmonic current in the
neutral conductor to at least 5%of the previous value
double tuned filter should additionally reduce the 9"
harmonic current and 15" harmonic current to at least
50%of the previous values
- C,= 1,25OpF, C2 = 340pF, L1 = 4.4mH, L2 = 3.3mH and
Fig. 3. Equivalent circuit with filter connected into the neutral
conductor.
When the filter is connected to terminals (OL,0,)the
system can be 'considered as a voltage divider, see Fig. 3, for
a particular harmonic and the filter impedance required can
be easily calculated as
where 5'"' is a ratio of the required current reduction for
harmonic (n),ZgLr - the filter impedance for harmonic
number (n), and z:$" - the equivalent impedance for
harmonic (n).
Impedances of the system subjected to the field tests were
evaluated as
zl',
z:~=4.3~, = 1 2 ~ ,z::= 2 m . ~ h e r a t i o s o f t h e
harmonic current reduction assigned to particular harmonics:
5'" = 0.05, 5"' = 05; 5'"' = 05 represent "a priori"
selection based on experience from the first stage of the
project.
The required impedances were calculated for three
harmonic currents generated by a --phase fluorescent
lamp system, namely 3rd7 9" and 15" ordq. Assuming that the
resistance of the inductive reactors is a &tion of inductive
impedance, the filter design requires the manipulation of four
parameters to obtain the assigned impedance values. To
simplify the design process, the resistances of both reactors
were assumed to be equal to 0.1 Ohm. It has led to the reactor
being designed for fixed resistance and reactance resulting
from filter calculation. To select double filter parameters for
which the filter impedance satisfies the required impedance
values, the objective function has been constructed as
+ &(Zf3o - f3 (x[11..-d41)) -!-P 3 (zf90- f 9 (x[11..-d41)) +
+ P4(Zfl5a - f15(x[11...x[41))
(3)
where f,,(411. . - filter impedances for the nthharmonic
.x[4])
current as functions of filter parameters, xi11...xi41 -
arguments of impedance function which represent values of
filter elements C,,C2, L,,L2 ,
a l , a 2 , ~ 3 , a 4 , P 1 . P 2 , P 3- ,weightingcoefficients
P4
selected experimentally.
The optimization process based on Rosenbrock's
procedure provided the following filter parameters:
RL, = 0.lR, R L 2 = 0.lR
The filter impedance assumed and obtained for harmonic
currents is shown in Table 1 .
Specially manufactured capacitors (by ABB) and reactors
allow to match impedances resulting from the optimization
procedure. The filter construction has been designed to carry
up to 200%of maximum values of the expected currents and
voltages. As the total weight of the filter is above(@kg, the
filter elements are installed on a trolley to allow easy
transport, see Fig. 4.
4. LABORATORY TESTS
Before field tests, a number of laboratory tests have been
carried out to verify filter construction and performance. A
set of 3 x 7 (2*40W)
~ fluorescent lamps has been employed to
generated harmonic currents. Although the currents obtained
in laboratory tests were smaller than the currents expected in
field tests, the laboratory tests confirmed good the filter

effectiveness in reducing harmonic current flowing in a,three
phase fluorescent lamp system, see Fig. 5 .
Both filters are very effective in the reduction of 3d
harmonic currents with smaller impact on harmonic distortion
resulting from other nonlinear load.
TABLE 1
ASSUMED AND OBTAINED FIL'IER IMPEDANCES
1005
Table 2 shows phase and the neutral currents for all
configurations. The supply voltage was fluctuating close to
240V.Tests were carried out on a live system with some
fluctuations of load and supply voltages during
measurements, so some differences in results occurred due to
changing supply conditions.

I Frequency I Impedance I Parallel 1 Double-tuned 1

assigned filter filter
50 Hz 022 1.1722 0.23R
150 Hz 81.7S2 96.622 96.9Q
150 Hz 81.722 96.622 96.9@'
450 Hz 12R'" 1.1622 10.9822
750 Hz 2122'" 0.6522 19.922

5. FIELD TESTS

The filter was constructed at Monash University in

Melbourne and subjected to laboratory tests there.
Afterwards, it was transported to Perth for field tests carried
out in the engineering laboratories. Supply waveforms were
strongly distorted, not only by fluorescent lamps but also by Fig. 4.Filter during field tests.
six pulse bridge rectifiers working in the neighborhood.
The tests were carried out for three configurations of the Fig. 6 presents the reduction of harmonic current in three
networks, reflecting possible loading of the system:
cases for three options: No Filter, a parallel filter, and a
Case A - three phase system (symmetry)
double-tuned filter (DBL).
Case B - two phase system (asymmetry 1)
Case C - single phase systems (asymmetry 2)

1.2-

3 5 7 9 11 13 15 1 3 5 7 9 11 1 3 1 5
Hamania, Hamwnica

1.o 12
SO.8 %a
E 8
f 0.6
U 0 6
$0.4 $ 4
f 0.2 2
---
no 0
3 5 7 9 11 13 15 1 3 5 7 9 11 1 3 1 5
m c s Harmonics

Fig. 5. Reduction of harmonic currents during laboratory tests: (a) Symmetry - Phase Current, (b) Symmetry - Neutral
Current, (c) Asymmetry - Two-phase regime - Phase current, (d) Asymmetry - Two-phase regime - Neutral current.
1006
TABLE 2
PHASE AND NEUTRAL CURRENTS

l l 3
-A-
& 7 9 1 3 5 7 9

3 5
L7 9
CaseA Case6
-
2
ii
B
CaseC-Ha~~n~nics

Fig. 6 Reduction of harmonic distortion in phase current (Blue) in percentage of the total current for No
Filter option
TABLE 3

The total harmonic distortion index of the phase currents was
very high reaching nearly 27%. Switching in the filter led to
significant distortion reduction, in particular in Case C, single
phase configuration. Smaller reduction of phase current
distortion occurred in Case A, symmetry. This is a result of
reduction of only zero sequence harmonics flowing in the
neutral conductor. In this case, negative (5”) and positive
(7”) sequence harmonics can flow in phase currents as they
are not effected by filters installed in the neutral conductor.
6. CONCLUSIONS
Laboratory and field tests have confirmed that the inclusion
of a parallel or double tuned filter in the neutral conductor
leads to the harmonic current reduction in the neutral and
phase currents. It can be considered as one of possible
options of harmonic current reduction in particular of zero
sequence components. It seems to be effective way of
reducing distortion especially for low frequency harmonics,
like 3d order, for which tuned parallel filters connected
between supply line and the ground are very expensive.
Although, laboratory and field tests generally confirm the
effectiveness of the new idea, there are still many problems to
analyse, in particular, how to design low cost construction
and influence of filters on system characteristics.
During tests, both filters have been subjected to strong
harmonic distortion. The double tuned filter dampens more
effectively higher harmonic currents compared to the parallel
filter. However, its construction is more complicated and
expensive. It is worth installation in systems with strong
asymmetry and harmonic distortion resulting from other
nonlinear loads.
Filters can be applied to new and existing installations on
various levels of supply systems. They can be used for a
group of lamps, one entire floor in a building or the complete
building supply system. The decision depends of typical
regimes of system loading and cost calculation.
The most promising approach seems to install such filters
in the neutral of three phase lamp fittings. Symmetry of a
three phase fitting permits the implementation of a parallel
filter, reducing the cost. Moreover, a three phase fitting
reduces the stroboscope effect of discharge lamps by shifting
phase voltages 120”. The common application of parallel
filters in new, three phase fluorescent fittings will allow
significant harmonic current reduction in neutral and phase
currents.
Acknowledgment
This research project has been supported by Mineral and
Energy Research Institute of Western Australia, Grant E232,
and ABB Capacitor Division in Melbourne.
REFERENCES
[I] M.S. Bazaraa, and C.M. Shetty, Non - linear
programming - theory and algorithms, John Wiley, 1979.
1007
[2] E. Gluskin, “High harmonic current in fluorescent lamp
circuits,” IEEE Trans on Industry Applications, vol. 26,
no. 2, MarcWApril 1990, pp. 347-351.
[3] W. Lawrance, G. Michalik, W. Mielczarski, and
J. Szczepanik, “Reduction of Harmonic Pollution in
Distribution Networks,” Proceedings of EPDM’95, 2 1-
24 November 1995, Singapore, IEEE Catalogue No
95TH8130, pp. 198-202.
[4] A. Liew, “Excessive neutral currents in three-phase
fluorescent lighting circuits,“ IEEE Trans. on Industry
Applications, vol. 25, no.4, July-Aug. 1989.
(51 Standards Association of Australia, Disturban- ‘
mains supply networks, Part 1 - Limitation of h
caused by household and similar appliances,
Limitation of harmonics caused by industrial equipment,
AS 2279 - 1979.
[6] J. Szczepanik,. “Reduction of harmonic distortion in
distribution circuits caused by discharge lamp systems,”
MEngSc Thesis, Monash University, 1995.
Wladyslaw Mielczarski (M’9 1 -SM’94) received his
M.Sc..Ph.D. and D.Sc. degrees in electrical engineering from
the Technical University of Lodz, Lodz, Poland, in 1973,
1978 and 1987, respectively.
From 1978 to 1990, he was with the Institute of Electrical
Power Engineering, Technical University of Lodz, as a
Lecturer and an Associate Professor. Currently, he is an
Associate Professor with Department of Electrical and
Computer Systems Engineering, Monash University,
Melbourne, Australia. His research interests include
applications of optimization methods in electrical
engineering, quality of electricity supply and fuzzy logic
methods.
William B. Lawrance (M86) received his B.Eng degree in
electrical engineering from the Royal Melbourne Institute of
Technology, Melbourne, Australia, 1968, Master’s degrees
from the University of Surrey, Surryy, the U.K., and
Laughborough University, Laughborough, the U.K. in 1974
and 1980 respectively, and the Ph.D. degree from Curtin
University of Technology, Perth, Australia in 1995.
Currently, he is the Head of the Department of Electrical
Engineering, Curtin University. His research interests include
power system harmonics and photovoltaic applications.
Jerzy Szeczepanik received his MSc. degree in electrical
engineering from the Academy of Mining and Metallurgy,
Cracow, Poland. From 1993 till 1995 he was studying
towards his MEngSc at Monash University, Melbourne,
Australia. Currently he is a Ph.D. student at the Royal
Melbourne Institute of Technology, Melbourne, Australia.