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Passive Filter for Harmonics Mitigation In

Standalone PV System for non Linear Load
CONFERENCE PAPER OCTOBER 2014

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Passive Filter for Harmonics Mitigation

In Standalone PV System for non Linear Load
Mouna TALI, Abdellatif OBBADI*, Abdelkrim ELFAJRI, Youssef ERRAMI
Laboratory: Electronics, Instrumentation and Energy Team: Exploitation and Processing of Renewable Energy
Faculty of Science University Chouaib Doukkali Department of Physics
Route Ben Maachou, 24000 El-Jadida, Morocco
natalimou@hotmail.fr
obbadi.a@ucd.ac.ma
elfajri@hotmail.com
errami_y@hotmail.com

AbstractSeveral studies have been presented regarding the

harmonics mitigation by using different types of filters. Passive
filter is one of them and is employed due to his simplicity,
economical cost and high reliability in power system. This paper
presents an analysis and study of three types of passive filters to
minimize harmonics distortion caused by non linear loads in
standalone PV system. In order to achieve the certain filtering
effect, it is necessary to combine different filter topologies;
generally these topologies can be divided into two categories:
series AC reactor and shunt passive filter such as tuned filters
and high pass filters. This paper presents firstly the basic design
and components of PV system, secondly describes the causes of
harmonics and their effects and presents the means to improve
power quality and to protect the equipment in our power system.
The proposed system is verified by the simulation using
Matlab/Simulink environment.
Keywords- Passive Harmonic Filter; Total Harmonic Distortion
(THD); Photovoltaic cell; PV inverter; LC filter; Non Linear Load.

I.

proposed in literature including passive, active and hybrid

filters [6].
This paper focuses on the analysis and design of harmonic
passive filters for a single phase standalone PV system, single
tuned filter for low order frequencies and high passive filter
for high order frequencies [6-7]. This work is organized as
follows section discusses in brief the modeling of the
standalone PV system; section describes the passive filters
design for the harmonics mitigation in the standalone PV
system. Figure 1 shows the block diagram of the proposed
standalone system.
Boost
Converter

Non Linear

Inverter
DC/AC

Load

PV module
Passive
Filter

INTRODUCTION

The global energy demand is constantly increasing, and the

pollutant nature of fossil energies has increased the interest of
the development of renewable energies.
Solar energy is plentiful worldwide, and the best way to
produce electricity without pollution[1].We can use solar PV
systems for domestic use and store excess electricity in
batteries for later use this is a Standalone PV System, or feed
into the electricity grid to reduce the electricity bill [2-3].
In standalone PV system power electronic equipment and non
linear loads are widely used and resulted serious harmonic
problems. Normally, standalone PV system is designed to
operate at frequencies of 50Hz. Although certain types of
loads produce current and voltage signal with frequencies that
are integer multiples of the 50Hz fundamental frequency [4].
These higher frequencies are called electrical pollution that is
known as power system harmonics. Harmonics causes
obstruction to the normal operation of the equipment or the
system. Harmonics are generated by various reasons such as
saturation, switching like thyristor/diode rectifiers, cyclo
converters can interact adversely in the PV system. It is
imperative to analyze, quantify and reduce these harmonics to
a level which meets the IEEE 519-1992 standard [5]. A large
number of filter topologies and filtering techniques are

Figure 1. Bloc diagram of PV system

The system comprises of a PV module containing a number

of PV cells connected in series to obtain a desired DC voltage,
a DC/DC boost converter is used to generate a higher DC
voltage, a DC/AC inverter is necessary to provide an AC
output voltage. For the standalone application and non linear
loads, Passive Filter must be used for harmonics mitigations.
II.

MODELING OF STANDALONE PV SYSTEM

A. PV Cell
Photovoltaic cell generates electricity by converting
sunlight, due to the fact that the voltage and current output of a
signal PV cell can be too small, PV cell is connected in series
or parallel combination to obtain the voltage and current level
suitable for practical use. The PV cell can be modeled as a
current source Iph in parallel with a diode, shunt resistor Rsh and
series Rs resistor as shown in figure 2.

Where x can be the voltage or the current.

vd
Figure 2. Model of a PV cell

By applying Kirchhoffs law in the equivalent circuit of

solar cell, the current generated I can be obtained as:
I = I I I

(1)

Where Iph is the light generating current which depends on

the solar irradiance, Id is the current flowing through the diode
which depends on the solar cell temperature; Ish is the current
flowing in the equivalent shunt resistance of the solar cell [2].
V = V + R I

(2)

I = (V + IR )R sh
qV
I = I [ exp(
) 1 ]
nKT

(3)

Where ILmax is the maximum RMS (Root Mean Square)

Load current, f is output voltage frequency 50Hz and Vo is the
RMS value of inverter output voltage, the filter capacitance
value C is then calculated from the resonance relation as given
in:
1
(2f0 )2 L

III.

C. Full-Bridge Inverter:
Single phase Full-Bridge inverter is used to convert the DC
output voltage of the DC/DC Boost Converter into AC voltage
required for an AC loads, in the standalone PV system. Pulse
Width Modulation (PWM) is used to create proper gating
signals for switches. The gate signals are pulses obtained by
comparing a reference sinusoidal signal Vref with a triangular
signal Vc [2-3-4].
In general, there is much harmonic component in output
inverter voltage, thus by choosing a high value of the carrier
frequency facilitates filtering of current and reduces the
harmonic output voltage but power switches have a limited
time of conduction then its necessary to find a compromise,
hence a LC filter is designed and used to filter the high
frequency harmonic in output inverter voltage.
The most commonly used indices to quantify voltage and
current distortions are voltage and current THD that can be
calculated as follows.

X1

(6)

(7)

Where f0 is cut off frequency.

(4)

B. DC/DC Boost Converter:

A Boost converter is proposed and preferred of DC/DC
converter in standalone PV system because he can step up
small DC voltage produced by PV panel to a higher level
suitable for the DC/AC inverter [2].

THDX =

2. f. L. ILmax < 0,03. 0

C=

n : ideality factor of p-n junction of cell.

Vd: voltage across the diode.
q: electronic charge: 1,60210-19 C.
K: Boltzmanns constant: 1,3810-23.
T: solar temperature in Kelvin scale.
Is: rated short circuit current of solar cell.

max 2
hh=2
Xh

D. LC filter:
To reduce harmonics contained in output inverter voltage
and to create a clean output sinusoidal voltage the LC Low pass
filter is used. It is placed between the inverter and the load in a
standalone PV system. The LC filter chosen is a second order
which eliminates all high order harmonics; the filter inductance
value L is calculated such that the voltage drop across the
inductor is less than 3% of the inverter output voltage Vo [2].

(5)

HARMONIC PASSIVE FILTER

A. Non linear loads:

Non-linear loads consisting of components such as rectifiers,
lighting electronic ballasts, fluorescent lights generate and
inject current and voltage Harmonics in the power system. The
main problems are additional power losses in the electrical
equipment, errors in measurement. Therefore mitigation is
required to maintain Power Quality and improve energy
efficiency and reduce the potential for device failure by using
Harmonic Passive filters [8].
B. Seriesconnected AC Reactor :
Series AC Reactor is constituted of an inductor connected
in series with the non linear loads, this type of configurations
is considered as a low pass filter. Figure 3 illustrates the basic
configuration of series-connected reactor in the power system.
It has the ability to pass low frequency harmonics and
provides high impedance to high frequency harmonic currents
to limit their proliferation into the power system. The merit of
this filter is in its low cost, small size and provides no system
resonance condition.
The value of the inductor is set to a voltage drop of between
3% and 5% of the nominal voltage of the network [9].
Li
Voltage
source

Non linear
load

Figure 3. Series AC Reactor

C. Shunt Passive Filters:

Shunt Passive filters always been considered as a good
solution to solve harmonic current problems [10], shunt

passive filters can be classified into three basic categories as

follows:
1. Band pass filters (of single or double tuned).
2. High pass filters (of first, second, third-order or C-type).
3. Composite filters.
Shunt passives filters as shown in figure 4.

The quality factor Q determines the sharpness of tuning.

Usually, a value of Q ranges between 20 and 100. High Qvalue filter gives the best reduction in harmonic distortion.
The interaction of the filter with the source reactance Ls
always creates a parallel resonance condition addition to the
series resonance frequency of the filter [11].
fp =

Rf

E. High pass filterdesign:

Higher order filter is a single-tuned filter where the Lh and Rh
elements are connected in parallel instead of series. This
connection results in a wide-band filter having impedance at
high frequencies limited by the resistance Rh.
Its total impedance is given by:

Lf
Ch
Cf
(b) High pass filter

Figure 4. shunt passive filters

D. Single Tuned filter design:

The single tuned filter consisting of inductor Lf, capacitor
Cf and small damping resistor Rf are connected in parallel with
non linear loads to provide low-impedance paths for specific
harmonic frequencies, thus resulting in absorbing the dominant
harmonic currents flowing out of the load. Furthermore it also
compensates reactive power at system operating frequency.
The impedance versus frequency of this filter is shown:
1 + R f Cf S + Lf Cf S
Zf (S) =
Cf S

(8)

Generally the filter capacitor is sized for a known reactive

power compensation Qc required to improve power factor, Cf
can be expressed as:
Qc
1
(1 2 )
2
2f1 U

Zh (S) =

R h + L h S + R h L h Ch S 2
R h C h S + L h Ch S 2

(9)

The value of resistance is calculated for a specific quality factor

[12] as given by the equation (15):
with

1
Lf 2fn =
Cf 2fn

The inductive value of the filter can be obtained from equation

(11) as:
Lf =

1
(2fn )Cf

(11)

The value of the low-impedance Rf for each single-tuned filter

is affected by the quality factor of the filter Q.
R f = 2f1 n

Lf
Q

(12)

(15)

F. Analysis and description of system :

The previous descriptions imply that the passive harmonic
filters can be characterized by their impedance variation with
frequency. The harmonic currents and voltage of a system with
a non linear load and a harmonic filter can be analyzed
approximately by using the model shown in figure 5.
Li

(a)

(b)

Is
Zs
Voltage
Source
Passive filter

(10)

0,5 < < 5

Value of Rh should be Low to have Less Power Loss.

Where U is the supply voltage, n is the harmonic order and f1 is

a fundamental frequency.
At the harmonic frequency f = n. f1 the filter reactor provides
a series resonance.

(14)

The values of capacitor Ch and reactor inductor Lh can be

calculate with formula (9) and (11).

R h = Q. Lh h

Where = 2

(13)

2(Lf + Ls )Cf

Lh

Rh

(a) Tuned filter

Non
Linear
Load

If
Zf

Vs

Ih

Figure 5. Harmonic circuit model of a system with a nonlinear load and a

harmonic filter.

Where the non linear load is modeled as a current source of

harmonic Ih, passive filters are modeled as impedance
elements. The harmonic currents to system source and
harmonic filter, and harmonic voltage in the system can be
found as:
Zs = Zsource + ZLi
Is =

Zf
.I
Zf + Zs h

(16)
(17)

Zs
.I
Zf + Zs h

(18)

Vs =

Zf . Zs
.I
Zf + Zs h

(19)

Zf =

Zfs . Zfh
Zfs + Zfh

(20)

If =

IV.

Is
1
H(S) = =
Ih 1 + Zs Yf
Y =

The transfer function can be evaluated at low and high

frequencies. For low frequencies, it has a 0dB gain from 0Hz to
the parallel resonant frequency in passive filter r. Hence, the
harmonics filtering is divided between the two filters: the low
order harmonics are compensated using the tuned filters, while
the high-order harmonics are filtered by the high pass filter.

The standalone PV system with passive filter connecting to

a full wave bridge rectifier with RL Load is proposed and
simulated using Matlab/Simulink in this paper as shown in
figure 8, the simulation is carried out as series AC reactor
alone, and combination of series reactor and two single tuned
filters to the 3rd and 5th harmonics and a high pass filter to
compensate higher order harmonics.

(21)

1
1
1
=
+
Zf Zfh Zfs

(22)

Where Zf is the equivalent impedance between tuned filter

impedance Zfs and high order filter impedance Zfh. Equation
(17) and (19) show that the harmonic current Is and voltage Vs
can be reduce by the harmonic filter. In the composite passive
filter, combination of two lower order filters 3rd and 5this
designed to suppress lower harmonic frequencies, and one
second order high pass filter is used for eliminating the high
order frequencies.
1

SIMULATION RESULTS:

= is the equivalent admittance of the composite passive

filter is shown in figure 5:

Voltage source

1
Cf3 S
Cf5 S
=
+
Zf 1 + R f3 Cf3 S + Lf3 Cf3 S 2 1 + R f5 Cf5 S + Lf5 Cf5S 2
R h Ch S + Lh Ch S
+
R h + Lh S + R h Ch Lh S

Passive Filters

Non Linear Load

Figure 8. Passive filter in standalone PV system with non linear load.

The harmonic spectra and THD for source voltage and source
current are analyzed with no filter, with a series AC reactor and
with composite filters.

(23)

Figure 9 illustrates the voltage waveform were sinusoidal after

LC filter connecting.

Figure 9. Output voltage of the inverter with LC passive filter.

Figure 6. Impedance frequency plot of passive filters combination

Figure 10 (a) and (b) show the source current and source
voltage waveforms before filtering.

Figure 6 shows the impedance modulus plots for 3rd, 5th

harmonics and after 7th harmonics high pass filter provides low
impedance to attenuate high frequency harmonics.
(a)

The bode magnitude of transfer function of combination of

filters H(s) shown by equation (21) is plotted to assess the
overall filter performance as shown in figure 7.
(b)

Figure 10. source current and source voltage before filtering.

Figure 7. Bode magnitude diagram of the transfer function for the passive
filter.

Figure 11 (a) and (b) show harmonic spectrum of source

current and source voltage before compensation.

Figure 11. (a) Current Harmonic Spectrum without passive filter.

Figure 13. (b) Voltage Harmonic Spectrums with series inductor.

After series inductor installation THD in current was

reduced to 8,31% from 17% whereas voltage harmonic
distortion is reduced to 6,63% from 14,1%, it is clear that is an
acceptable mitigation, through it is not coming with the limits
specified by the std IEEE 519, its advantage is also that it does
not cause the problem of resonance.
Figure 14 (a) and (b) show the source current and source
voltage waveforms after combination of shunt passive filter
and series inductor.
Figure 11. (b) Voltage Harmonic Spectrum without Passive filter.

Figure 12 (a) and (b) show the source current Is and source
voltage Vs wave forms after the first solution: series inductor
installation, as a result is much closer to sinusoidal one.

(a)

(a)
(b)

Figure 14. Source current and source Voltage with composite filter.

(b)

Figure 15 (a) and (b) show harmonic spectrum source

current and supply voltage after Passive Filter combination.
Figure 12. source current is and source voltage Vs with series inductor.

Figure 13 (a) and (b) show harmonic spectrum source

current and supply voltage after series inductor installation.

The source current THD is drastically improved by use of

Combination of passive filters to 1,09% and also the supply
voltage is reduced to 2,03%.

Figure13. (a) Current Harmonic Spectrum with series inductor.

Figure 15. (a) Source current spectra after filtering.

V.

CONCLUSION:

This paper has presented a harmonic mitigation study in the

standalone system, using three types of passive filters namely,
series reactor and shunt passive filters: single tuned and high
pass filters in eliminating harmonics. Line reactor offers the
advantage of his simplicity and low cost it provides no system
resonance condition and its can achieve a significant reduction
in harmonics but the total harmonic distortion cannot be below
to 5% that is why use of shunt passive filters was necessary to
improve system quality.
Figure 15. (b) Source Voltage spectra after filtering.
TABLE . TOTAL HARMONIC DISTORTION FOR CURRENT AND
VOLTAGE.

The proposed solution allows a better performance

compensation of the source current and source voltage at a high
level THDI = 1,09% THDV= 2,03% in the simulation. Our
results meet the IEEE 519 recommended harmonic standard.

Total harmonic Distortion THD

Current source Is

Harmoni
c order
3rd

inductor

11.99%
6.74%
3.55%
17.00%

5th
7th
THD

With
passive
filter

With
series

Without
filter

Voltage source Vs

7.00%
3.73%
2.03%
8.31%

0.05%
0.02%
0.8%
1.09%

Without
filter

10.70%
6.76%
4.35%
14.10%

With
series
inductor

5.2%
2.92%
1.71%
6.63%

With
Passive
filter

0.12%
0.09%
0.79%
2.03%

Table I shows performance of THD of source current and

source voltage of the system before compensation and with
combination of passive filters. After connecting a line reactor
we can see that source current and source voltage are improved
as compared to the previous case, through it is not coming with
the limits specified by the std IEEE 519, after connecting shunt
passive filter, it is observed that the distortion of the mains
current and voltage decreased to a level as mentioned in the std
IEEE 519, THD of the voltage and current are lying below
2,03% and 1,09% respectively where as the limits specified by
IEEE 519.
The R, L, C parameters of the PFs for the simulation are given
in table II and III.
TABLE .VALUES OF DESIGNED PASSIVE FILTERS
Filters

C(F)

R()

L(H)

Series reactor

Li= 15e-3

Tuned filter

C3rd= 60 e-6

L3rd = 18.7 e-3

R3rd = 0.05

Tuned filter

C5th= 333.38 e-6

L5th = 12.15e-3

R5th = 0.05

High pass filter

CHP= 50 e-6

LHP = 4.2 e-3

RHP = 20

TABLE . PARAMETERS USED FOR SIMULATION

LC filter

Lc = 2.25mH ; Cc = 4.7 F

PV source

VDC=400v Vs=220V,f=50Hz

Load

RL=10; LL=25mH

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