A Shunt Active Filter Control for One-Phase

and Three-phase Four-Wire Systems

A. DELL’AQUKA, MEMBERIEEE, A. LECCI, M E M B E RIEEE

Dipartimento di Elettrotecnica ed Elettronica, Politecnico di Bari, 701 25 Ban, Italy

email: dellaqui@poliba.it lecci@ieee.org

In this paper a new current control for shunt active filters

Abstract - The proposed active filter is based on a shunt
configuration made up of three one-phase current controlled
VSI-PWM inverters. A deep analysis of reference and filtering
waveforms during a sampling period has been carried out to
obtain a relationship between electrical, feedback parameters
and dut: cycle of switching waveform. This analysis provides a
design equation for switching signal generation and effective
current tracking. Simulations have been carried on to show
active filter performance under highly polluting load operation.
Simulation resnlts highlight a high reduction of line current
harmonic distortion with an acceptable switching frequency as
well as a sensible reduction of line neutral current.
Introduction
In the last years harmonic pollution has drastically
increased due to the wide diffusion of residential and
industrial non-linear loads. Different solutions to the
deterioration of the quality of voltage wavefornis have been
proposed. The traditional compensating systems, ac; passive
filters with the well known drawbacks, and the innovative
ones, including as active part power electronics equipment,
with a vast range of intermediate solutions, have been deeply
tested. Among them, the shunt active filter configuration,
employing an inverter parallel connected to the grid, can
pcrforni a good compensation action. Hence this type of
configuration has been largely studied and its stability has
been investigated, [ 1]-[9].
is proposed and its efficiency is tested either in one-phase
or in three-phase four-wire configuration. In both situations,
proposed solution proved to meet hard compensation
requirements, as numerical results point out.
Inverter topology and reference c o m p u t i n g
Fig. 1 shows proposed one-phase active filter topology.
It is made up of a voltage source current controlled PWM
inverter. parallel connected to the mains by a passive output
filter. The output filter is constituted by a link reactor. which
limits the amplitude of current switching ripple.
Reference computation is achieved aiming at two
different compensating tasks. Harmonic compensation still
remains main goal. but by means of a proper reference
waveform it is possible to achieve reactive power
conipensation too.
The aim is to make mains provide a sinusoidal current in
phase with mains voltage, in order that full active power
absorbed by the load is fed by the source.
The active power provided by the source Ps should be
equal to that absorbed by the load P, :
L

Till now the authors have focused their research activity The amplitude of mains current which satisfies these
on shunt active filters in order to improve their grid-side constraints is the following:
efficiency either dealing with industrial loads, such as a.c. i”s - i L I C O S ( P L 1
- (2)
and d.c. drives, or with residential loads, [IO]-[ 141.
Even residential electronic loads cause high harmonic
pollution: in this paper siniulations are carried out to
compensate harmonic currents characterised by a THD
greater than 1 OO%, due to PC power suppliers.
In three-phase four-wire supply networks these problems
can grow worse since zero sequence currents caused by
unbalanced harmonics of third and multiple orders may
produce a high neutral current. As a result an increasing
voltage distortion will arise in the point of common
coupling especially in mcdium and high power three-phase
four-wire networks where the neutral wire usually have
roughly one half of the section of phase wires. Therefore not
only current harmonic compensation but even neutral
current reduction is required.
Fig 1 -Three-phase four-wire APF topolopy

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 where ii, i s the amplitude of load fundamental frequency
current and ( p L I is load fundamental current phase lag.
So reference current for the APF is:
i, = i, - I,, cos ( p L I 'sin cot (3)
In previous equations mains voltage is assumed sinusoidal
with zero phase.

Control principles
I I I I t
I
Main task for an APF design is the choice of a good I
control technique. In fact in order to ensure the generation
of a useful filtering current by the APF it is necessary that ! I

current generated by the APF is as close as possible to

reference. This goal is achieved by synthesizing a proper Fig. 2 ~ Reference and filtering currents dui-ing a sampling
period of active filter current control
switching wavefomi. Generally the higher the switching
frequency. the steeper the reference waveform that can be
successfully tracked. So switching frequency can be mains voltage, \bc is dc bus voltage. and g is a function the
increased to achieve the desired reduction of tracking error, value of which is 1 or -1 depending on the inverter switches
provided that high frequencies are not reached, otherwise status.
there should be an increase in power losses and even damage If tracking error is to be zero by the end of the interval,
to the devices. the following relation holds:
Hysteresis control technique has been widely used in the
past since it could ensure a proper limit to tracking error and
it was conceptually easy to carry out with very few devices.
On the other hand the necessity to further lower tracking where AI,,, is the change of reference current during Ts.
error leads switching frequency to unpredictably high values,
err is the tracking error and Ai, and Aiz are the filtering
with all the drawbacks previously introduced.
In this paper a novel control technique is investigated to current changes during the two complenientary states of the
obtain the reduction of tracking error even with a fixed switches.
frequency switching waveform. A deep analysis of reference In order to highlight filtering and reference currents
and filtering waveform during a sampling period is carried slopes, the following relations hold:
out to obtain a relationship between electrical. feedback
parameters and duty cycle of switching waveform. AIre, = S * T ,
In proposed simulation case fundamental frequency of Ai, = sIDTs
electrical waveforms is 50 Hz. while switching frequency
Ai2 = s , ( l - D ) T ,
may be chosen around 10000 Hz, that is 200 times greater.
This way it is possible to approximate reference waveform
with a line, in a sampling period. Main constraint is a null where 3 and 3 are the two slopes of filtering current
tracking error at the end of sampling period. Fig. 2 shows during the switching period and is reference current
reference and tracking waveforms during a sampling period. slope, D is the duty cycle.
At an instant during the sampling period, the inverter Reference current slope s* is a feedback quantity while S I
switches are commuted. Change of switches status leads to and s2 are related to d.c. bus and line phase voltages by
the change of filtering current slope. The goal is the choice means of coupling inductance:
of the optimum switching instant, so that the choice of the
optimum duty cycle, for each period, in order to let filtering
(7)
current reach reference one at the end of the sampling
period. Because of active filter topology, filtering current
slope is influenced by supply voltage vph and d.c. bus By using (6) and (7) in (5), the following equation is
capacitor voltage too. The analysis of the circuit shows the obtained:
relationship between voltage drop across link reactor and the
other voltages:
11, = -1',,,1 + g ' (4)
where \c is the voltage drop across the reactor, vh is
Control system tums computed duty cycle into a

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 switching waveform which is characterised by a proper be fed by the source is is obtained, in the hypothesis of
different duty cycle in each period. This task is achieved by a sinusoidal source phase voltage:
comparison between a bias proportional to the duty cycle
and a fixed frequency carrier. i*S -- Lo1 cos(PLoI + I L b I cOs(PLbl + I L c I cos(PLcI
( 10)
3
Three-phase four-wire active filter topology where, fLII is load fundamental current amplitude on j

Previous control well fits to three-phase four-wire phase, while qLlIis load fundamental current phase lag o n j
systems too. Proposed three-phase four-wire active filter phase.
topology is shown in Fig. 3. By means of Fig. 3 assumptions, active power filter
In this case, the APF is made up of three one-phase shunt reference currents are:
active filters which are linked to the mains by a passive .* . .* .^X

iFrr = iLrr - i S t r = iLo - I , sinw/

output filter. The output filter is constitued by a link reactor,
.* . *
iFl, =iLl,-iSh =iL,,-ls sin(o/--x)
^* 1
which limits the amplitude and frequency of switching
3
ripple.
.* . .* . 4
In proposed three-phase topology the compensation of i F c = i L ( - i s < = i L c - I : sin(o/ ---IT)
several disturbances is still achieved by means of the 3
injection of currents characterized by a proper waveform. In equations ( 1 1 ) subscripts F. S, L stand for filter, supply,
Reference waveform is chosen in order to meet desired and load. respectively, and they refer to filter, supply and
compensating requirements. In three-phase four-wire load quantities.
operation there are different compensating tasks to be
considered and each one adds a bond to the reference
One-phase simulation results
waveform synthesis. In both topologies, simulations have been carried on to
In the hypothesis of mains sinusoidal balanced and evaluate the effectiveness of proposed control method.
symmetrical voltages line currents must be sinusoidal, in More in detail a typical residential load has been used as
phase with mains voltages, and they must be balanced. In fact polluting load, fed by sinusoidal mains voltage. As a result
sinusoidal currents are harmonics free and they do not cause the load drew a highly distorted current characterised by a
hamionic voltage drops on line impedances. If there are no THD greater than 100%. Without active filtering, this non-
phase lags between line currents and symmetrical mains linear load proved to drastically reduce the quality of mains
phase voltages, mains power factor is highly maximized. currents as well as the same voltages, due to line
Moreover balanced mains currents in three-phase four-wire impedances.
systems ensure the reduction of line neutral currents that is The introduction of a performance index. THD reduction,
a valuable compensating result. defined in the following, allows to evaluate the effectiveness
In case that reactive power, harmonic currents, and current of APF harmonic filtering.
unbalance compensation is achieved, active power fed by the
3 * ^*
source is Ps = 3 V s I s , while active power absorbed by an
-
THDR= I--
[ THDYoS
THDNL)
,100

where THD%s is THD of mains current while THD%L is

unbalanced load IS
I ^

v 1 THD of load current.

+I,/,, co~(PLl1l+ J L c l Co"L,.l)
COS(PLrr/
PL = s ( L'rl (9) The usage of the proposed active filter proved to be really
2
effective since it ensured a sensible reduction of current
By equalizing these two expressions, reference current to
THD, as well as reactive power compensation. THDR index
exceeded 88% in this test, Fig. 4.

Three-phase simulation results

In order to carry out a three-phase system simulation, a

typical unbalanced commercial load has been used. The
largest current THD has been reached in 'a' phase and its
value was around 91%, while peak neutral current reached 10
A.
The use of the proposed active filter proved to be really
effective since it ensured a sensible reduction of current
THD, line neutral current reduction as well as reactive power
I I II . IL" , ^ .e. IIX
1111111111

Fig. 3 -Three-phase Four-wire APF topology

compensation.

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 Time (s)

Time (s)
Fig. 4 - Hanuonic compensating action: load (upper plot)
and mains current i n one-pliase system simulation Fig. 5 Harmonic compensating action in three-phase
-

four-wire system simulation:

As shown in figures 5 and 6, proposed algorithm proved to load (upper plot) and mains 'a' phase current
be effective in reducing mains harmonic content as well as
neutral current. In proposed simulations. THDR index
exceeded 92% and, above all, peak neutral current has been
reduced from 10 A to less than 3 A.

Conclusions

A shunt active filter has been proposed. Its control

strategy comes out of a deep analytical development which
supplies a design equation for switching signal generation
.>i
and effective current tracking. Simulations have been carried
out to show active filter performance under highly polluting
load operation; the effectiveness of proposed filter has been
proved by numerical results.

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