IEEE TRANSACTIONS ON POWER ELECTRONICS, VOL. 9, NO.

1, JANUARY 1994

Active Power Filter for Nonlinear AC Loads

Janko Nastran, Member, IEEE, Rafael Cajhen, Matija Seliger, and Peter Jereb, Member, ZEEE
Abstruct- This paper describes an active power filter for nonlinear ac loads with the power part carried out in the bridge connection. A theoretical approach to the implementation of the current reference is given for this original solution of the serial active filter. The paper also provides experimental results of the filter application on two specific nonlinear loads, i.e., on the ohmic load, fed over a pair of antiparallel thyristors, and on the accumulator feeder.

I
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($limiter)

101z;
1

I Lnad

accumulator

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I. INTRODUCTION UE TO the intensive use of power electronics in all branches of industry as well as by general consumers of electric energy an ever increasing corruption, manifesting itself in deformation of the line voltage and current, can be observed. Research and development efforts are thus being concentrated on low cost solutions by which distortion influences can be eliminated or at least reduced. Circuits with physically smaller and lower cost elements than those required with passive filters are being developed. An active power filter has been developed allowing for an unknown ac nonlinear load and reducing the third harmonic component by 60 dB and the next higher harmonics by 100 dB. This paper describes a bridge circuii without any transformer. Instead of the transformer, however, higher voltage switches must be used. This presents no real difficulty as a direct connection of semiconductors to the line has been successfully implemented. Such an implementation of the active power filter can be applied to any unknown nonlinear
load. Two basic solutions for establishing current references can be identified, namely:

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I

Fig. 1. Filter power unit.

iefl = effective current value

-.

Fig. 2. Filter power unit function.

1. The positive halfperiod

2.

The nsgativs halfpenod

either with cos cp = constant (power factor) or with coscp = variable. These solutions differ in their advantages and disadvantages and can thus be applied only to specific cases. Consequently, the article does not present only the overall theoretical model but also results of the experimental use of the filter with different specific loads.
11. DESIGN PRINCIPLE
a. The line writ flows ulrough a. The line current flows thmugh

Uansistors T,and T,
+o
U".

Inmiitom T2and T ,

b. The current flows UUOueh

dioda 0, and D,

b. The current nom through

diodes D, and D,

The filter power unit is shown in Fig. 1 . As seen from Fig. 1, transistors TI through T4 perform the function of switches. The function of the filter can be seen
Manuscript received November 8, 1991; revised October 5 , 1993. J. Nastran. R. Cajhen, and P. Jereb are with the Faculty of Electrical Engineering and Computer Sciences, Ljubljana, Slovenia. M. Seliger is with the Institute for Automatization and the Iskra Research Institute. also in Ljubljana. lEEE Log Number 9214834.

Fig. 3. The circuit operating modes.

from Fig. 2. It is also indicated which of the elements are active in the corresponding time intervals. Providing that the capacitance of capacitor C is high enough, it can be assumed that in the very short time intervals as shown in Fig. 2, the capacitor voltage is practically constant. Fig. 3 indicates the circuit operating modes.

0885-8993/94$04.00 0 1994 IEEE

NAS7R A N et a/ : ACTIVE POWER FILTER FOR NONLINEAR AC LOADS

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93

h4
Active
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According to Kirchoff's law, we have thus the following equation for the equivalent load circuit

From this equation the filter voltage can be expressed as

L I

filter

UF(t) = Unet s i n w t - L-

dinet

dt

- L1-

di,,,+ - Rli,,t. dt

(4)

Fig. 4. A simplified equivalent load circuit diagram.

The average power in the capacitor C on the dc side of the active filter in Fig. 1 is

Substituting U F ( ~ from (4) and inet(t) ) from (2) into ( 5 ) yields:

Fig. 5. Network current and voltage.

As the average effective power of the capacitor is zero (the capacitor voltage U, is constant), we obtain:

When the current flows through the appropriate pair of semi conductors, the capacitor C is connected to the line circuit in such a way that it increases the value of the load current above the value of the desired current and thus discharges the capacitor; when the current is conducted by the appropriate pair of diodes, the capacitor C is connected in such a way that its voltage U c brings about the drop of the current below the desired value which means that the capacitor is charged. Such a switching scheme enables the best match adaptation of the effective current value to the desired one. The precision of the adaptation depends on the switching frequency of semiconductor elements. The main problems concerning power control are related to the desired current value, which can be achieved in different ways depending on the purpose for which the filter is being used. A prerequisite for determining the desired load current value is an ideal filter, i.e., one without losses. This means that the input capacitor energy in charging time intervals and output energy in discharging time intervals have to be equal; this guarantees a constant value of the voltage on the capacitor.
111. CURRENT CONTROL

P = -(UnetInet cosp - RJ:,t) C

Consequently,

1 2

= 0.

(7)

The constant capacitor voltage UC can be maintained: 1) Either by changing network current f,,,, at constant cos p 2) or by changing cos cp at constant current Inpt.

Iv. ANALYSIS OF
Inet

CONTROL SOLUTIONS

A simplified equivalent load circuit diagram is given in Fig. 4. It is assumed that the resistive-inductive load is linear and that the network voltage is sinusoidal at the network fundamental frequency

unet = Unetsin wt.

(1)

The control block diagram where cosp = const., i.e., = U",, cos 9 , is given in Fig. 6. RI With a given load RI only one value of the load current is possible when cos cp is constant. This principle of controlling the reference current value at a constant cosp is very simple and can be applied to general R-L loads. It should however be noted that a certain adjustment of the desired cos p to the load cos p is desirable. This control principle cannot be applied to the battery charger as can be seen from the following analysis. The equivalent circuit diagram for the battery charger is presented in Fig. 7. The current and the voltage must be in phase, i.e., cos 'p = 1. Considering only the behavior of the fundamental current
~

The network current lags behind the voltage by the angle shown in Fig. 5 . The network current is equal to: inet
inet

UB

4 = -UB sin wt
K

(9)
(10)
(1 1 )

sin(wt

+ cp)

unet = Urletsin wt

in,, = Inrt wt. sin

( 2 ) to the rectifier activity is shown in Fig. 8.

which may also be expressed as:

inet = fnet(sin t cos cp + cos(wt sin p). w

The storage battery voltage as perceived by the network due

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IEEE TRANSACTIONS ON POWER ELECTRONICS, VOL. 9, NO. 1, JANUARY 1994

a
o----o+-----,
'F
t Inet

.p

'ref

L-d i n e t dt

Controller U,

Fig. 7. Active filter in series with a battery charger.

+-U, n
0

--UB 1 n
Fig. 6 . The control block diagram where c o s y = constant. Fig. 8. Voltage oscillogram for Fig. 7

-U, sin cot

4 n

From Fig. 7,

U,,,

+ L-dinet + ~g dt 4 sin w t = U F + LwI,,t w t + - U B sin w t n%et

= UF

COS

UF

= (U,,,

4 - -UB)sinwt
n-

-~ L I , , , ~ c o s w ~ . ( ~ ~ )
Controller Q,

The capacitor must not receive nor deliver energy in steady state which means that

Pc =

lT

U F Isin w t~ t ~ ~ d

P
fL

e-

Adjustement ?f current value I,,

Fig. 9. The control block diagram with a variable

*)

- w L f i e , cos wt sin w t ) d t = 0.

(14)

The integral of the product COS wt sin wt in the above equation equals 0. Consequently, Pc = 0 only for:

The storage battery can be charged only at the current voltage Unet = :UB. This is, however, an ideal case. Therefore, we have to implement the other principle for controlling the reference current value, i.e., changing cos cp at constant current. This can be realized by introducing the equation:

storage battery having 48 V and with the network voltage varying from 65 V to 150 V. In the case of general nonlinear loads, this new control principle brings about the stabilization of the load voltage. The current value depends on the desired load voltage as shown in the control block diagram in Fig. 10. This control scheme was tested with a general R-L load and fully confirmed the expected load stabilizing performance. According to this principle of controlling the current reference, the active filter does not only execute filtering functions for high current harmonics but has also the characteristics of a variable inductance which provides additional stabilization.

The block diagram of this concept for controlling the desired current value is in Fig. 9, where the load current can be adjusted to any desired value, while the constant capacitor voltage U, is maintained by the cp controller. The control scheme presented in Fig. 9 was used with the storage battery and met all theoretical assumptions. It was possible to adjust any value of the charging current with a

v.

SUMMARY OF

RESULTS

As a nonlinear load, first, a resistive load supplied through a pair of antiparallel thyristors (Fig. 11, cos cp = constant), and, secondly, a battery charger accumulator (Fig. 12, cos cp = variable) was used. In the first case, high-harmonic components provided by a passive resonant circuit are required. With a

NASTRAN er ul.: ACTIVE POWER FILTER FOR NONLINEAR AC LOADS

95

and Fig. 10. The control block diagram with variable ; voltage stabilization on the load.

Scale: X=5 mdcm Y=2 Ncm

Fig. 13. Circ:uit currents from Fig. 11.

I
%et

L
&t

Active' filter

11
'net

Ti,
Fig. 11. A resistive load supplied through a pair of antiparallel thyristors ( c o s ; = constant).

Tr

Ire,

Active filter
= Fig. 12. Battery charger accumulator (cos ; variable).

battery charger accumulator, high-harmonic components of the current are not needed. Current oscillograms for the circuits in Fig. 11 and Fig. 12 are shown in Fig. 13 and Fig. 14. An example of the load current caused by antiparallel thyristors and of the network current supplied by the serial active power filter is shown in Fig. 13. The sinusoidal character of the current is quite obvious, which means that all high-harmonic components of the current are duly compensated. The same can be seen from Fig. 14, presenting a storage battery charger current (circuit of Fig. 12). A comparison of iref and inet shows that the lower-frequency harmonic currents are suppressed. The use of the active series filter has given very good results and met all requirements, in particular those connected with the elimination of low-frequency harmonic components (the third, fifth and seventh harmonic components). The switching frequency of the active filter is equal to 4 kHz and can be produced by the control electronics. This solution can be applied to any AC load. An experimental model of the filter was built for 6 A, 220 V and 50 Hz using 4 bipolar transistor switches BUV 98 A by SGS Thomson. With optimal base drive circuits and the

(b)

Scale: X=5 mdcm Y=4 Ncm

Fig. 14. Circuit currents from Fig. 12. (a) without a filter. (b) with a filter.

so-called relieving circuits (dildt and duldt limitations) a high efficiency of up to 87% was achieved. Voltage on the capacitor C (electrolytic capacitor C = 1000 p F in Fig. 1) equaled 250 V for experiments presented in Fig. 11 and 85 V for the storage battery charging presented in Fig. 12. As demonstrated in Fig. 3 (and something that has also been experimentally confirmed) this capacitor voltage can be even lower for less demanding nonlinear loads. It should be noted that a filter serially connected to the load and thus conducting the complete load current processes less power

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IEEE TRANSACTIONS ON POWER ELECTRONICS, VOL. 9, NO. I , JANUARY 1994

whenever the capacitor voltage is reduced. In the course of experiments, capacitor stock energy, primarily intended for the energy storage, was also used as the control power supply for the power electronics.

VI. CONCLUSION
The required modification of the input load current can be activated by the power filter only when capacitor C is charged with a particular voltage. As demonstrated in Fig. 1, this capacitor is charged by two reversible diodes which function within the indicated time period as bridge rectifiers. From the control block diagrams in Fig. 6, Fig. 9 and Fig. 10, it is further quite clear that the filtering converter starts to actively shape the current only when the desired voltage value on the capacitor C is achieved.

Rafael Cajhen was bom on March 30, 1933 in Ljubljana, Slovenia. He received the Diploma, Master of Science and Ph.D. degrees in 1957, 1962 and 1971, respectively, from the Faculty of Electrical Engineering and Computer Sciences in Ljubljana. From 1958 to 1963, he was an assistant and, since 1963, a Professor for electricity conversion at the Faculty. In 1961-1962, he took specialization in Control Technique at the High Technical School in Stuttgart, Germany, where he worked with Dr. A. Leonhard. In 1967, he joined the Case Institute in Cleveland, Ohio. In 1973 he was appointed professor at the University of Maribor, Slovenia. In 1962, he founded the Laboratory for Control Technique at the Faculty of Electrical Engineering and Computer Sciences in Ljubljana whereupon he has been intensively collaborating with the industry. In 1965-1968, he was a scientific advisor and head of a research team for electric machine control with the Rade Koncar Institute, Zagreb. Since 1986, he has been a Scientific Advisor for automatic control at the Institute for Automatization and the Iskra Research Institute, both in Ljubljana. He has received a number of high state approbation and awards. Dr. Cajhen works in the areas of regulation, control technique and power electronics.

REFERENCES
[ I ] Harashima F., Inaba H. and Tsuboi K., A close-loop control system for the reduction of reactive power required by electronic converters, Toshiba Electric Co., Tokyo, Japan, Oct. 1975. [2] Knoell H., 3 kW-switch-mode supply providing sinusoidal mains current and large range of dc-output, PCI, Munich, Germany, 1980. [3] Nastran J.. Active Power Filter, dissertation presented at the Faculty of Electrical Engineering and Computer Sciences, Ljubljana, Yugoslavia, 1985. [4] Knoell H., Transistoren als schnelle Schalter in Gleichstromstellem hoher Leistung, dissertation, Universitaet Stuttgart, Germany, May 1981.

Matija Seliger was bom on February 21, 1925 at

Vrhnika, Slovenia. He received the Diploma, Master of Science and Ph.D. degrees in 1953, 1976 and 1978, respectively, from the Faculty of Electrical Engineering and Computer Sciences in Ljubljana In 1980 he qualified as a university professor at the Faculty. From 1950 to 1956, his work was in the development of measunng methods and equipment for developing electronic elements. From 1956 to 1977, he was in charge of developing semi-conductive elements at the Industry for Electncal Communications, whereupon he was assigned as scientific advisor for development of power electronics at IskraLjubljana. Dr. Seligers main interest lies in power electronics and the study of special elements and ferromagnetic matenals. He has received a number of awards for his work.

Peter Jereb (M89) was born on June 21, 1928 in

Ljubljana, Slovenia. He received the Diploma, Master of Science and Ph.D degrees from the Faculty of Electncal Engineenng and Computer Sciences in Ljubljana in 1953, 1962 and 1971, respectively. Since 1962 he has been a Professor at the Faculty and, since 1954, he has been closely associated with the work of the Institute for Power Engineenng and, currently, with the Laboratory for Electncal Machines at the Faculty From 1963 to 1964 and from 1965 to 1967, he was a scientific collaborator and consultant to Energoinvest, Power Transformer Works, &e. In 1966 he was a scientific consultant for linear motors to the Rade KonEar Institute, Zagreb Between 1985-1989, he was dean of the Faculty of Electrical Engineering and Computer Sciences, Ljubljana. In 1964 he became a member of the Yugoslav National Organization of CIGRE and, in 1972, a member of the CIGRE International Organization, Pans From 1972 to 1981, he was a reporter to JUKO CIGRE, Study Committee 12-Power Transformers. In 1981, he was elected President of the Committee. Dr. Jerebs work focuses on electrical machines and equipment.

Janko Nastran (M91) was bom on November

9, 1946 in Ljubljana, Slovenia. He received the Diploma, Master of Science and Ph.D. degrees in 197I , 1977 and 1985, respectively, from the Faculty of Electncal Engineenng and Computer Sciences, Ljubljana From 1973 to 1977, he worked in the I s b a Development Department in Novo Mesto in the field of rectifying equipment and static semi-conductive converters. From 1977 to 1986, he was an assistant and, since 1986, he has been a Docent in Power Electronics at the Faculty In 1981. 1986 and 1993, he was a visiting researcher at the Institute for Power Electronics at the University of Stuttgart, Germany, where he worked a i t h Dr A Boehringer. Dr. Nastran IS also involved with development-research work for the industry and is a recipient of the Award of the National Research Community