EEEE PEDS 2005
Hybrid Active Power Filter for power quality
compensation
Huann-Keng Chiang, Bor-Ren Lin, Senior Member, IEEE, Kai-Tsang Yang and Kuan-Wei Wu
Department of Electrical Engineering
National Yunlin University of Science and Technology
Yunlin 640, Taiwan, ROC
Abstract-This paper presents a hybrid active power filter
to achieve power quality compensation. There is a passive
filter and an active power filter in the adopted system. The
passive power filter is used to filter the low order
harmonic current with large power rating. The active
power filter with low power rating is used to filter the
other high order harmonics. Therefore the cost of hybrid
active power filter is much lower than shunt active power
filter. The neutral point diode clamped inverter is operated
as an active power filter to achieve compensated current
tracking. A dc-link voltage controller and a phase locked
loop circuit are used in the system to generate the
reference line currents. The hysteresis comparators are
adopted to track current commands. Experimental results
based on a laboratory prototype are provided to verify the
effectiveness of the control scheme.
Keywords-active power filter, passive powerfilter, power quality
compensator
I. INTRODUCTION
Harmonics generated from nonlinear loads such as
switching mode power supplies, commercial lighting, ovens
and adjustable speed drives have become the serious problem
in the distribution and transmission systems. The serious
power pollution results in the degradation of power quality in
the distribution system. The non-sinusoidal balanced or
unbalanced currents have low power factor and high total
harmonic distortion. In three-phase four-wire system the
unbalanced currents may cause the excessive neutral current
and unbalance loading of the mains. Recently active power
filters [1-3] have been widely studied for the compensation of
harmonic and reactive currents in power systems. Active
power filters are operated as an ideal current source to provide
a dynamic and adjustable solution for eliminating the
harmonic currents and compensating the reactive power.
These active filters are divided into voltage source active
filters and current source active filters. The performance of
voltage source active filters is better than that of current
source active filters. Multilevel inverters [4-6] have the
advantages of using lower voltage rating devices for medium
voltage and high power applications. The other advantages of
multilevel inverters are lower voltage harmonics on the ac side,
smaller filter size, lower switching losses, lower
0-7803-9296-5/05/$20.00 C 2005 IEEE
electromagnetic interference, lower voltage stress of power
semiconductors and lower acoustic noise.
A hybrid active power filter is presented to achieve
harmonic currents elimination, reactive power compensation
and neutral line current suppression. In the adopted hybrid
active filter there is a passive power filter with high power
rating to filter the low order harmonics and one active filter
with low power rating to filter the other high order harmonics.
The neutral point diode clamped (NPC) topology is used in the
active filter to reduce the voltage rating of power
semiconductors. The voltage stress of power semiconductors
equals half the DC bus voltage. Therefore the adopted hybrid
active filter has lower cost, low voltage stress and high system
performance. The classical proportional-integral controller is
used to obtain the amplitude of line current commands. The
hysteresis current controller is used in the inner loop to
achieve line current commands tracking. Experimental results
are provided to verify the effectiveness ofthe proposed control
strategy.
LR VL
Il
Fig. 1 System configuration of hybrid active filter.
J. SYSTEm ANALYsIs
Fig. 1 gives the system configuration of the hybrid active
power filter for power quality compensation. There is line
impedance L, and R, between the ac source and the load side.
The linear or nonlinear load is connected to load terminal.
Normally the load current iL contains lots of harmonics and
reactive current. Normally the low order harmonics have large
current amplitude and high order harmonics have low current
amplitude. The passive filters with large rated power are
shunt-connected at the load side to eliminate low order
harmonics such that the current i'L contains only high order
harmonics. Therefore the low rated power of active power
filter is adapted in the system to filter out the low order
harmonics. In this way the line current is a sinusoidal
waveform with nearly unity power factor. The neutral point
949
 V. L4' ?vP-s T

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - _

S'L1 i S'R-I S'.2 vC2 i

Active Filter
Fig. 2 Hybrid active filter for power quality compensator.
diode clamped inverter is used in the system to achieve i , if Sx1 and Sx2 are closed
multilevel PWM operation and perform compensated current = 0, if Sx1 and Sx2 are closed (1)
command tracking. Two control ioops are used in the control SW= ' i x
algorithm. The dc-link voltage control of the inverter is t-1, if Sx and Sx areclosed
achieved using the conventional proportional-integral where Sx and S 'x, are complementary each other, x=a, b, c,
controller. The compensated current control is implemented y=l, 2. In the NPC inverter two capacitor voltages on the dc
using the hysteresis comparator. side are controlled to be equal, VCI=VC2--VdJ2. If the switches
Sg, and 5a2 are turned on, the ac side voltage vI equals vc.
Ill. CIRCUIT CONFIGURATION The capacitor Cl is charged or discharged if the input
The hybrid active power filter based on the neutral point diode compensated current is positive or negative, respectively. If
clamped inverter is shown in Fig. 2. The passive filters are the switches S'gl and Sa,2 are turned on, the ac side voltage v00
used to filter out the low order harmonics. A three-phase four- equals 0. No capacitor on the dc side is chargedor discharged
wire neutral point clamped (NPC) inverter is used as a power since the input current does not flow through any one of
quality compensator to achieve harmonics elimination and capacitor. If the switches S'c n and S'I2
are turned on, the ac
reactive power compensation. There are four switches and two side voltage V=0 equals -vc2. The capacitor C2 is charged or
clamp diodes with voltage stress of half the dc-link voltage in discharged if the input compensated current is negative or
each inverter leg. Three voltage levels Vpo20 tand -vdi2 are positive, respectively. Based on the switching states in each
generated on the ac terminal to neutral point voltage. Three inverter leg, the ac side voltages of inverter can be expressed
boost inductors LC are connected between the ac sides of the as:
inverter and PCC point. Two capacitors on the dc side are v
used to smooth the dc bus voltage. To achieve the above Vo = SWx 2c (2)
control goals, a hysteresis comparator is adopted to track the The relationship between the dc side currents and the ac side
compensated current command, a proportional integral voltage compensated currents is expressed as:
controller is used to obtain a constant dc-link voltage, and a i+ 1 SWb + i
voltage compensator is adopted balance the neutral point as 2 2 C 2 CC
voltage. agIe= woSWa -achiSWb
acb+5W.=SW -1 (3)

IV. OPERATION PRINCIPLE
The adopted system is composed of three-phase ac source,
three line impedances, three passive filters one three-phase
inverter, and one three-phase load. A three-phase four-wire
NPC inverter is operated as a power quality compensator.
Based on the on/off states of switches in each inverter leg,
there are three valid operating states in each inverter leg.
Owing to system analysis, three equivalent switching
functions are defined in the NPC inverter.
10 (1 - (SW0 )2 )I'Ca +( 1- (SWb )2)6 Cb +(1 - (SWC )2)i CC
Based on the KCL and KVL circuit theory applied to the NPC
inverter, the equivalent circuit model of the adopted NPC
inverter is shown in Fig. 3. The simulation software package
can be adopted to simulate the circuit and obtain the simulated
voltage and current waveforms.

950
 E vIV output of multiplication of PI controller output and three
VW\ ,
-WJYYsinusoidal waves.
n koi cb ,- [sFa(t) ILK p (t) + ilossa (t)I I sin(aZ)
l
0 /\
i ll ib(t) =
iLb,p(t) + ilossb(t) 1= sin(ar 2X/3) (7)
-

c
i"' ,~~~~~~~~~~i(t)JLiLc,p(t) + i10s, c (t)J L.Is sin(ar + 2ff 13)J
n C2 where i10Ss,,(t)
is the required active current for the
compensation of inverter losses. Therefore the compensated
Fig. 3 Equivalent circuit model of the NPC inverter. current commands are expressed as:
V. CONTROL SCHEME Fica(t)l isa (t) ipcc,a (t)
In the proposed control scheme, the shunt-connected ficb(t)f=Jib(t)-ipcCb(t)f (8)
voltage source inverter is operated to achieve the following [icc() ILc (t) - ipcc.c (t)
goals: 1) Harmonic component of nonlinear load current is To track the line current commands, there are two current
eliminated; and 2) Reactive power of nonlinear load is control schemes. One is the line current control scheme; the
compensated. The low order harmonic is compensated by other is the compensated current control scheme. In the line
passive filter and high order harmonics are eliminated by the current control approach, only line currents are measured and
NPC inverter. The ac source only supplies the active current to controlled. In the compensated current control approach, the
the load such that the line current is sinusoidal waveform with load and compensated currents both are sensed. To simplify
the unity power factor. For a balanced three-phase system, the the system control, the direct line current control scheme is
phase voltages are expressed as: adopted to achieve harmonics suppression and reactive power
sa [ V , sin(ca) compensation. The hysteresis comparator is used in the inner
Vsb =VVmsin(a -2ff/ 3) (4) loop to track the reference line currents. The relationship
LVSCJVs LVminSi(x / 3)j
sin(oa + 2ffr/3 betwzeen theas: input and output of the hysteresis comparator is
expressed
Three-phase nonlinear load current can be expressed as the 1, if Ais, > h
sum of the fundamental active current iLxp, fundament reactive hys(Aisx) = i (9)
current iLx, and harmonic current i,h, where x=a, b, c. 0, f Ails <h
jiLxQ) = ilc p(t) + iLJqq(t) + 1Lxhh(t) (5) where AisXi x=a, b, c. Three valid switching states in
The passive filter is used to filter the low order harmonic (such each inverter leg can be selected to generate three different
as 5bS harmonic) such that the current ip4,, is expressed as: voltage levels on the ac side of the inverter. During each half
iPCC, iL;c,p ix,q (t) + ih (t) - x5(6)
(t) +(t)1Lx,q
ipcc,x phasearevoltage,
cycle oflevel
~~~~~~~voltage to high
selectedone controlvoltage level
the line and one
current. For low
the
where iL,5 is the 5h harmonic current. Since the low order positive phase voltages, two voltage levels 0 and Vdc/2 (or vcI)
harmonic contain the large component of total harmonics, the are generated on the voltages v,O, vb, and v,,. High voltage
harmonic components in ip,,,x is reduced. The main function of level vdJ2 (or vcj) is generated to decrease the line current. On
voltage source inverter is to generate the equal-but-opposite the other hand, low voltage level 0 is generated on the ac side
high order harmonic and reactive components of load current. of the inverter to increase the line current. On the other hand
Therefore the line current is equal to active load current iLxp. two voltage levels -vdcI2 (or -vc2) and 0 are generated on the ac
There are several approaches to obtain the line current side of the inverter during the negative phase voltage. The low
command. The instantaneous reactive power theory and voltage level -vdc/2 is generated to increase the line current.
synchronous transformation scheme are widely used to obtain The high voltage level 0 is generated to decrease the line
line current reference. However the instantaneous reactive current. One can conclude that low voltage level is selected to
power theory cannot work well under the unbalance condition. increase the line current and high voltage level is adopted to
The synchronous transformation scheme needs more decrease the line current for each half cycle of phase voltage.
computations in the transformation process. In the adopted Based on the above analysis, the PWM signals for power
control scheme, the stationary abc reference frame is used to switches are expressed as:
obtain the balanced line current command. In the adopted Sx = sign(vsx)[l - hys(Aisx)] (10)
control scheme only line currents are measured to control the
wh segn(v)
compensated currents. In order to compensate the switching = + [1- sign(vx )][l - hys(Aib)] ( 1)
and conduction losses in the voltage source inverter, the dc where x=a b, c and
bus voltage should be controlled at the desired value. To
obtain this goal a proportional-integral (PI) voltage controller
Fs1,
sign(v) =
if vx >0
< (12)
is used in the outer control loop to achieve the amplitude of B d t derive M siAl ( 1 NPC
the line currents. A phase locked loop circuit is adopted to inverte can achiedrved harMonicnas eiination,11comeNsat
generate three balanced sinusoidal waves in phase with mains nerca ahiv hrm iseliato,opnae
voltage. The line current commands are obtained from the reactive power and draw the sinusoidal line currents from the

951
utility system. However the neutral point voltage may be (a)
unbalanced in the NPC inverter. To eliminate this problem the
hysteresis band with a dynamic offset level was presented in
[7-8] to balance the neutral point voltage within an acceptable
tolerance band. Therefore the hysteresis band in (9) should be
changed to:
{sAL1,f Aimc > (-I + e)h (13) 2'

where A L
where0. 1, if (vcI -vC2) < -0.03v)
4= l t *
VCI VC2 if -0.03vl (vc -vc2) < 0.03vj (14)
1 0.03vl
-O. 1, f (vC - VC) > 0.03v 4.

v*d, is the desired dc bus voltage. Using this dynamic offset l w

hysteresis band the neutral point voltage can be compensated cm
5OO4 c24 SNA 9 A t
to the tolerance value. Fig. 4 gives the block diagram of the (b)
proposed control scheme. The internal high-bandwidth Fig. 5 Measured results of phase voltage, line current, load
hysteresis controller is designed to track the inverter current current and inverter current for phase a (a) only passive filter
commands. The outer DC bus voltage controller with low- operation (b) hybrid active filter operation.
bandwidth is used to obtain a constant DC bus voltage. A
phase-locked loop circuit is used to generate three unit -
sinusoidal waves with phase shift 120 degree. The digital
signal processor generates three unity sinusoidal waves using
a look-up table with the input 8-bit digital signal. These unity
sinusoidal waves are synchronized to three-phase source
voltages. 2

0
Isc~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~, ,5
.
2
.. _2? x
0, X24 .2
M:O24D SO24S0 4.........
... Lk.,,;,,;

^ | ( Vpb b (a)

Fig. 4 Control block of the hybrid active filter.

2h1 112DV 2,2 5.04 0 N l02,,i50f,lUI 202 "4.2,,.

Ch3 lOOV
2 Ch2 5.0A 2 A
L20
4-RO-9-10AVOW-03-(b)
Fig. 6 Measured results of phase voltage, line current, load
2l',1
Ch3 v
5.OA a
Ch4 '.OA
h2
S.OA
Q1 'il
A Lk.
current and inverter current for phase b (a) only passive filter
operation (b) hybrid active filter operation.

952
 VI. ExPERIMENTAL RESuLTS storage components", IEEE Transactions on Industry Applications,
vol. 20, no. 3, pp.625-630, 1984.
experimental results
The experimental results are presented
presented to verify
verif' the IEEE
effectiveness of the adopted control scheme. A digital ,[3] IndustryPeng, "Application filters",
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signal Applications magazine, vol. 3, no. 4,power
pp. 21-30, 1998.
processor TMS320C32 is used as the controller to implement [4 F. Z. Peng, J. S. Lai, J. W. Mckeever, and J. Vancoevering, "A
the control algorithm. The circuit parameters of the adopted multilevel voltage-source inverter with separate dc sources for
system are: v3=1 0V,,/60Hz, L=5mH, Lc=2mH, static var generation", IEEE Itansactions on Industrial
CJ=C2=2200pF, vcl=vc2=200V. The 5h harmonic is Applications, vol. 30, no. 5, pp. 1130-1137, 1996.
eliminated by the passive filter. Fig. 5(a) gives the measured [5]J. Rodriguez, J. S. Lai, and F. Z. Peng, "Multilevel inverters: a
results of phase voltage, line current, load current and inverter survey of topologies, controls and applications", IEEE
current for phase a without the NPC inverter operation. Oly Transactions on Industrial Electronics, vol. 49, no. 4, pp. 724-738,
2002.
the 5t harmonic of load current is suppressed in the line [6] B. R Lin, and Y. L. Hou, "Single-phase integrated power quality
current. Therefore the line current still contains reactive and compensator based on capacitor-clamped configuration", IEEE
high order components of load current. Fig. 5(b) gives the Transactions on Industrial Electronics, vol. 49, no. 1, pp. 173-185,
measured results for phase a under the NPC inverter and 2002.
passive filter operation. After the inverter operation the line [7] G. Bonifacio, A. Schiavo, P. Marino, and A. Testa, "A new high
current is a sinusoidal wave with nearly unity power factor. performance shunt active filter based on digital control", IEEE-
The total harmonic distortion of line current is 4.2%. Figs. 6 IAS Conference, pp. 2961-2966, 2000.
and 7 show the experimental results for phases b and c before [8] M. Aredes, J. Hafier, and K. Heumann, "Three-phase four-wire
and after the NPC inverter operation. Fig. 8 gives the shunt active filter control strategy", IEEE Transactions on Power
measured waveforms for three-phase voltage and line current Electronics, vol. 12, no. 2, pp. 311-318, 1997.
before and after the hybrid active filter operation. Before the
active NPC inverter operation, the line current still contains
high order harmonic and reactive components of nonlinear
load current. After the NPC inverter operation, almost the
harmonics are suppressed by the active filter so that the line
currents are sinusoidal waves with almost unity power factor.
tV4.4
26 .~Y!.... ...<..
VII. CONCLUSION
A hybrid active is adopted to achieve the harmonics and ,.
reactive power compensation. The passive filter with larger
rated power is used to filter the low order harmonic with large
current amplitude. The inverter with lower rated power is _
operated as a power factor compensator to eliminate high
order harmonics and compensate reactive power generated Ml ..
from nonlinear loads. Therefore the line currents only supply W 51 a14SmA a Af
the active current to the nonlinear loads. The neutral point (a)
clamped inverter is used in the adopted system. Therefore
twelve switches with voltage stress of half the dc-link voltage
are used in the inverter to generate the unipolar PWM
waveform on the ac terminal of the inverter. A neutral point
voltage compensator is adopted in the control scheme to
balance the capacitor voltages on the dc terminal of the 2
inverter. Hysteresis current controller is used to track the
compensated current commands. The adopted control schemes ...........

are verified through the experimental results.

ACKNOWLEDGMENT
This project is supported by National Science Council in
Taiwan, under grant NSC94-2213-E-224-041. 4

REFERENCES Ch, S.O

OhS
,O a
Oh2 5A D
Oh4 S DA 0
M10.OO-SOAS/s
Lhm
2fl.0Opg4*
[1] K. Sangsun, and P. N. Enjeti, "A new hybrid active power filter (b)
(APF) topology", IEEE Transactions on Power Electronics, vol. Fig. 7 Measured results of phase voltage, line current, load
17, no. 1, pp. 48-54, 2002. current and inverter current for phase c (a) only passive filter
[2] H. Akagi, Y. Kanazawa, and A. Nabae, "Instantaneous reactive
power compensator comprising switching devices without energy operation (b) hybrid active filter operation.

953
 4 W
Ch3 10.0A Q) Ch 10.04 a ALkf
Roll 1SOV 10m
(a)

(bV

Rs

Ch3 10.0A a Oh4 ODA 0 Lk

Rd1 lse lon-

(b)
Fig. 8 Measured results of three-phase voltage and line current (a)
only passive filter operation (b) hybrid active filter operation.

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