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2, APRIL 2004

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A Novel Active Power Filter with Fundamental Magnetic Flux Compensation

Dayi Li, Qiaofu Chen, Zhengchun Jia, and Jianxing Ke
the initial cost is very high and it is very difficult to realize a large rated PWM inverter with rapid current response. The combined system of shunt passive and series active filters was proposed by F. Z. Peng , H. Akagi and A. Nabae. It aimed to act as a harmonic isolator and present zero impedance to the external circuit at the fundamental frequency and a high resistance K to source or load harmonics [4]. But the authors didnt clarify how such a combined system of shunt passive and series active filters exhibited zero impedance at the fundamental frequency. In the two types of typical active power filters, it is not very easy to timely detect and follow harmonic currents till now. In order to solve the above questions, a series hybrid active power filter based on fundamental magnetic flux compensation (FMFC) of the transformer is proposed in the paper and how such a series hybrid active power filter exhibited low impedance (not zero impedance as described in [4]) at the fundamental frequency is originally clarified. A series transformer with air gap is chosen and its primary winding is connected in series between the power utility and harmonic-producing loads. The fundamental current instead of the harmonic currents of the transformers primary winding is detected and followed by applying a source PWM converter so as to produce a compensating fundamental current. The compensating fundamental current is injected to the secondary winding of the series transformer. When the injected fundamental current and power utility fundamental current component satisfy the fundamental magnetic flux compensation condition, the main magnetic flux of the series transformer to fundamental can be compensated to zero. And then the proposed series hybrid active power filter with FMFC exhibits very low primary leakage impedance at the fundamental frequency and naturally magnetizing impedance to harmonics so that the harmonic currents are forced to flow into the passive filter branches. As a result, the series transformer improves the source impedance to harmonics rather than fundamental so as to really act as harmonic isolator. The validity of the novel principle is verified by the experimental results of two kinds of typical harmonic-producing loads. The excellent filtering characteristic is independent with the type of the harmonic source, which is different from the conclusion described as in [9]. II. SYSTEM CONFIGURATION
Manuscript received January 3, 2003. This work was supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China under Project 5967702. and DELTAS Science, Technology and Education Development Foundation for Power Electronics. The authors are with the College of Electrical and Electronic Engineering, Huazhong University of Science and Technology, Wuhan 430074, China (e-mail: lidayi2000@yahoo.com). Digital Object Identifier 10.1109/TPWRD.2003.823194

Abstract--In the paper, a novel practical principle of series hybrid active power filter based on the fundamental magnetic flux compensation (FMFC) of a series transformer is proposed. In the active power filter, the fundamental current component of power utility is detected and tracked to produce a fundamental compensation current, which is injected into the secondary winding. According to the law of superposition, when the injected fundamental current and the fundamental current component of the power utility satisfy the fundamental magnetic flux compensation condition, the series transformer can really exhibit very low impedance to fundamental and naturally magnetizing impedance to harmonics. As a result, the series hybrid active power filter with FMFC really acts as harmonic isolator. The current control scheme and fundamental detecting method are analyzed. The validity of the novel principle and excellent filtering characteristics are verified by the experimental results of the two kinds of typical harmonic-producing loads. Index Terms--Active power filter, Fourier series, fundamental, harmonic, hysteresis control, magnetic flux, passive filters, PWM inverter, transformer

I. INTRODUCTION armonic interference problems in power system become increasingly serious due to the wide application of power electronic equipments and nonlinear loads in recent years. Harmonic contamination has become a major concern because it affects the power utility in many aspects. Many methods have been proposed to solve it. Conventionally, shunt passive LC filters have been widely used to attenuate the power harmonic currents. However, shunt passive filters have a lot of disadvantages, e.g., it may cause resonance phenomenon and the source impedance strongly affects the filtering characteristics [1]. To overcome these disadvantages, active power filter has been proposed and developed in recent years. Many control strategies and filter configurations have been researched [1]-[9]. So far, there are two kinds of typical active filters in terms of their configurations: conventional shunt active filter [2][3] and combined system of shunt passive and series active power filters [4][5]. Shunt active filter injects compensating harmonic currents into the power system to cancel the harmonic currents contained in the loads so as to shape the source current into sinusoid. However, there are still some problems in their practical applications [4]. When conventional shunt active filter is used,

Fig.1 shows the detailed system configuration of the proposed series hybrid active power filter with FMFC. Ls and Us represent the source impedance and voltage, respectively. The passive filters consisting of 3rd- and 5th-tuned LC filter, which play the main role of filtering, are shunted with a harmonic-producing load. If necessary, high-pass filter can be added. The primary

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Fig. 2. Series transformer circuit.

Fig. 1. Configuration of the series hybrid active power filter.

winding of a transformer is inserted in series between the power utility and the harmonic-producing load, while the secondary winding is connected with a voltage-source PWM converter. is the voltage of the dc side of the inverter. and are designed to suppress the switching ripples of the inverter. The fundamental component of the power utility current, which is a single frequency, can be detected through a parallel resonance circuit. The whole current control and inverter circuit are used to produce the compensating fundamental current. III. THE COMPENSATION PRINCIPLE Fig. 2 shows a circuit of a series transformer with air gap. The turns of the primary and secondary winding of the transformer and , respectively; the turns ratio is represented by are . Assume that the primary winding is inserted in series between the power utility and a harmonic-producing load. Then the source current, i.e., the primary current, consists of the fundamental current and nth order harmonic currents, that . The fundamental component is to say, is detected from the power utility current and followed by applying a voltage source inverter so as to produce a fundamental current , which has the same frequency as . is inversely in phase injected to the secondary winding . For the fundamental and harmonics, there are two cases in terms of the law of superposition. 1) For the fundamental, from the transformer circuit, we can obtain the voltage equations in phasor form (1) (2) where fundamental angular frequency; self-inductance of primary winding; self-inductance of secondary winding; mutual inductance between the primary and secondary winding. Equations (1) and (2) can be changed into (3) (4)

is the leakage inductance of primary where is the leakage inductance of winding and secondary winding. Let . Here, and represent the fundamental leakage inductive reactance of the is the fundaprimary and secondary winding, respectively. mental magnetizing impedance of the transformer. If the injected fundamental current satisfies (5) then (3) and (4) will simplify into (6) (7) From terminals former is derived , the equivalent impedance of the trans-

(8) Here, is the fundamental leakage impedance of the primary winding of the series transformer. Note that (5) is the condition of the fundamental magnetic flux compensation. , the equivalent impedance is Likewise, from terminals derived (9) Then the equivalent impedance of the secondary winding referred to primary winding is (10) Here, the prime denotes referred quantities of secondary winding to primary winding. The primary and secondary impedance (8) and (10) suggest the equivalent circuit of the series transformer to the fundamental shown in Fig. 3. 2) For th-order harmonic: Since only a fundamental current is injected to the secondary doesnt include any order harwinding of the transformer, monic besides the fundamental current, i.e., . In this case, (3) can be changed into

(11)

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Fig. 3.

The fundamental equivalent circuit.

Fig. 4.

The harmonic equivalent circuit.

From the terminals

, the equivalent impedance is (12)

According to (11) and (12), the equivalent circuit of the transformer to the th-order harmonic can be represented by Fig. 4. From the above analysis, in the series hybrid active power filter with FMFC, if the injected fundamental current and the fundamental component of the overall current of primary winding satisfy the fundamental magnetic flux compensation , the fundamental main magnetic condition flux is compensated to zero. From primary winding, the series transformer exhibits very low impedance (i.e., primary leakage impedance ) at the fundamental frequency and simultaneously exhibits magnetizing impedance to harmonics ( for th-order harmonic). It is known that there are in nature two kinds of impedances in a common transformer, i.e., short-circuit impedance and magnetizing impedance. The and short-circuit impedance, which means the sum of , is generally much less than the magnetizing impedance and the primary leakage impedance is nearly half of the short-circuit impedance. For fundamental, the ratio of the magnetizing impedance and the leakage impedance can be over 100 when a transformer is commonly designed. Thus, the ratio of magnetizing impedance to the th order harmonic and the fundamental leakage impedance exceed 100 times . Therefore, the series transformer in the series hybrid active power filter with FMFC improves greatly the source impedance to harmonics rather than fundamental and really acts as a harmonic isolator. Then the harmonic currents are forced to flow into the passive LC filter branches. IV. CONTROL STRATEGY AND FUNDAMENTAL DETECTING There are three kinds of typical current control schemes in active filter [2]. For simplicitys sake, hysteresis current control scheme is applied. Fig. 5(a) shows a block diagram of the hysteresis current PWM controller. Suppose the detected fundamental reference current and the feedback fundamental current are presented and , respectively; presents the width of hysteresis. by Fig. 5(b) shows the current locus by applying hysteresis current control. The change process of the current is as follows: when , the output of the controller is low level, and the appropriate switching devices are switched on, and then begins to decrease; while , the output of controllers changes into high level, and the other appropriate switching devices are switched on, and then begins to increase. When in another switching period, the output of controller

(a)

(b) Fig. 5. (a) Hysteresis current PWM controller and (b) its current locus.

returns to a low level again, and then begins to decrease again, and so on. Therefore, is always fluctuating between and . In every period, the current change process consists to of two stages, which are the decreasing from and the increasing from to , respectively. Assume that the fall time and rise time of one period are presented and , respectively; so means the by switching cycle. According to Figs. 1 and 3 (note that here the presents fundamental counter emf is ideally zero), suppose the voltage of the dc side of the inverter, denotes the sum and the leakage inductance of the of filter inductance is the sum of resistance component secondary winding ax, and the leakage impedance of the secondary winding ax. of From Fig. 5(b), the following expressions can be achieved: (13) (14) If the fundamental reference current is here means the initial phase angle, when and (14) are simplified as follows: , is neglected, (13)

(15) (16) Switching cycle can be calculated as (17)

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Then the switching frequency

is (18)

In the series hybrid active power filter with FMFC, is can be easily chosen to be much more than very small, and (i.e., ). The switching frequency of hysteresis control (above 7 kHz) is designed to be much higher than the frequency of power harmonics and can be easily with very little capacitance. filtered by a capacitor Fig. 6 shows the fundamental detecting circuit in terms of parallel resonance. means the output current of hall current transformer and consists of the fundamental and harmonics. and are the inductance and resistance component of the resonance reactor, respectively, and is the resonance capacitor. Then the impedance of the terminals is

Fig. 6. Parallel resonance circuit.

(19) When the circuit satisfies parallel resonance condition (20) The resonance angular frequency is derived (21) and then the resonance frequency is (22) In this case, the impedance in resonance frequency (23) is In this paper, the resonance fundamental frequency 50 Hz. A group of resonance reactor and capacitor are chosen in terms of (21). Herein, and are 50.54 mH and 0.785 , respectively. is 200 F. The frequency response curve of is shown in Fig. 7. The the impedance of the terminals is purely real, which fundamental impedance of terminals is 322 . While the third harmonic impedance is 5.97 , for the fifth and above order harmonics, the impedance is much smaller. The fundamental impedance is much more than that of other harmonics. Thus, there is hardly harmonic voltage drop besides the fundamental voltage; the across the terminals voltage across the terminals can be used as fundamental reference after being amplified. In addition, there is no phase difference between the detected fundamental current compo. nent of the power utility and the voltage across terminals The detecting approach is made up of analog elements, so it has a faster response speed than the other digital detecting approaches. The fundamental current can be timely detected without any delay by using the approach as the load current varies.
Fig. 7. Frequency response curve of the resonance circuit.

Fig. 8. Two kinds of typical harmonic-producing loads.

V. EXPERIMENTAL RESULTS To demonstrate the validity of the novel principle of the series hybrid active power filter with FMFC, a prototype was manufactured on the base of the system configuration Fig. 1. Two kinds of typical harmonic-producing loads are chosen. One is the current type harmonic-producing load A, namely, the diode full-bridge with resistive and inductive load (RL load), shown in Fig. 8(a). The other is the voltage type harmonic-producing load B, namely, the diode full-bridge with a large dc filter capacitor and resistive load, shown in Fig. 8(b).

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TABLE I MAIN HARMONIC CONTENTS OF EXPERIMENTAL RESULTS WITH HARMONIC-PRODUCING LOAD A

(a)

Fig. 10. Voltage waveform (10 V/div and 5 ms/div) across the primary winding with harmonic-producing load A when the series hybrid active power filter with FMFC is adopted. (b)

(c) Fig. 9. Source current waveforms with harmonic-producing load A in three cases: (a) no filter is added; (b) only passive filters are added; and (c) the series hybrid active power filter with FMFC is adopted.

For current type harmonic-producing load A, the turns ratio of a series transformer is 1:1, the tested value of the short and magnetizing impedance of the series transformer are 0.112 and 12.56 , respectively. The rms value of source voltage and current are 296 V and 46.5 A, respectively. SEMIKRONs NPT type IGBT SKM300GB123D is used to be the switching deV and inverter equivalent inducvice; the dc voltage mH. The passive filter branches only consist of tance F, mH, third- and fifth-tuned LC filters (

F, mH). Experimental waveforms were recorded by Hp5450A digital oscilloscope. Fig. 9(a)(c), respectively, shows the source current waveforms with harmonic-producing load A in three cases: no filter is added, only passive filters are added, and the series hybrid active power filter with FMFC is adopted. In order to verify the compensation results, the currents of above three cases with harmonic-producing load A are analyzed into a Fourier series and the results are shown in Table I. To prove the series hybrid active filter with FMFC exhibits low impedance at the fundamental frequency, the voltage waveform across the primary winding with harmonic-producing source A when the series hybrid active power filter with FMFC is adopted is observed and recorded as Fig. 10. The rms value of the primary winding current [Fig. 9(c)] and voltage [Fig. 10] are analyzed into Fourier series. The primary winding voltage is mainly composed of fundamental voltage with very low amplitude and a few harmonic voltages according to Fourier analysis results of Fig. 10. The rms value of fundamental , the fundamental voltage is only 2.7 V, so from terminals impedance of the primary winding of the series transformer is

which is 51.8% of the short-circuit impedance (0.112 ) of the transformer. Then the series transformer exhibits very low primary leakage impedance at the fundamental frequency, while the equivalent impedance to th-order harmonic is times the fundamental magnetizing impedance.

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TABLE II MAIN HARMONIC CONTENTS OF EXPERIMENTAL RESULTS WITH HARMONIC-PRODUCING LOAD B

(a)

Fig. 12. Voltage waveform (10 V/div and 5 ms/div) across the primary winding with harmonic-producing load B when the series hybrid active power filter with FMFC is adopted. (b)

(c) Fig. 11. Source current waveforms with harmonic-producing load B in three cases: (a) no filter is added; (b) only passive filters are added; and (c) the series hybrid active power filter with FMFC is adopted.

From the primary winding, the fundamental volt-ampere (VA) rating is VA and harmonic rating can be calculated in terms of the Fourier analysis results of the primary winding current [Fig. 9(c)] and voltage [Fig. 10]. The sum of the main harmonic rating is only 8.91 VA, which is very small because the primary harmonic current are nearly zero compared to the system fundamental current. So the overall rating is 134.46 VA, which is about 1% of the load power.

For voltage-type harmonic-producing load B, the turns ratio of another series transformer is 1:2, and the tested value of the short and magnetizing impedance of the second series transformer are 0.413 and 47.5 , respectively. The rms value of source voltage and current are 101.7 V and 8.49 A, respectively. SEMIKRONs NPT type IGBT SKM50GB063 is chosen to be V and inverter the switching device; the dc voltage mH. The passive filter branches equivalent inductance consist of third- and fifth-tuned LC filters ( F, mH, F, mH). The same digital oscilloscope is used to record the following experimental results. Fig. 11(a)(c), respectively, shows the source current waveforms with harmonic-producing load B in three cases: no filter is added; only passive filters are added; and the series hybrid active power filter with FMFC is adopted. Likewise, the currents of above three cases with harmonicproducing load B are analyzed into Fourier series and the results are shown in Table II. Tables I and II show the series hybrid active filter with FMFC obtains very excellent compensation characteristics. Fig. 12 shows the voltage waveform across the primary winding with harmonic-producing source B when the series hybrid active power filter with FMFC is adopted. The rms value of the primary winding current [Fig. 11(c)] and voltage (Fig. 12) are analyzed into Fourier series. The primary winding voltage is also mainly composed of fundamental voltage with very low amplitude and a few harmonic voltages according

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to Fourier analysis results of Fig. 12. The rms value of fundamental voltage is only 1.721 V. So from terminals AX, the fundamental impedance of the primary winding of the second series transformer is

which is 49.15% of the short-circuit impedance (0.413 ). From the primary winding, the fundamental volt-ampere VA and the sum of the main rating is harmonic rating is only 0.93 VA in terms of the Fourier analysis results of the primary winding current [Fig. 11(c)] and voltage (Fig. 12). So the overall rating is 16.46 VA, which is about 2% of the load power. Note that the fundamental current waveform injected to the secondary winding is almost the same as that of the primary winding in terms of the experimental results when the series hybrid active power filter with FMFC is adopted. According to the experimental results of the above two typical harmonic-producing loads, the filtering characteristic is independent with the type of harmonic sources. VI. CONCLUSION This paper presents a novel series hybrid active power filter with FMFC in terms of the characteristics of the transformer and the law of superposition. When the injected fundamental current and the fundamental current component of the power utility satisfy the fundamental magnetic flux compensation condition , the series hybrid active power filter with FMFC exhibits primary leakage impedance at the fundamental frequency and magnetizing impedance to harmonics. The validity of the novel principle is verified by the experimental results of two kinds of typical harmonic-producing loads and the filtering characteristic is independent with the type of harmonic sources. In the series hybrid active filter with FMFC, only the fundamental current component needs to be detected and tracked. The fundamental is a single frequency and can be easily detected through a resonance circuit, therefore the detecting and tracking with rapid response is more easily realized than harmonic detecting and tracking. The hysteresis current control scheme, which is robust, is employed so that the whole control system has excellent dynamic performance. In this paper, only a single-phase active power filter has already been discussed in detail and designed; the three-phase active power filter can easily be implemented in terms of the same principle. REFERENCES
[1] L. A. Moran, J. W. Dixon, and R. R. Wallace, A three-phase active power filter operating with fixed switching frequency for reactive power and current harmonic compensation, IEEE Trans. Ind. Electron., vol. 42, pp. 402408, Aug. 1995.

[2] H. Akagi, A. Nabae, and S. Atoh, Control strategy of active power filters using voltage-source PWM converters, IEEE Trans. Ind. Applicat., vol. IA-22, pp. 460465, May/June 1986. [3] H. Akagi, Y. Tsukamoto, and A. Nabea, Analysis and design of an active power filter using quad-series voltage source PWM converters, IEEE Trans. Ind. Applicat., vol. 26, pp. 9398, Jan./Feb. 1990. [4] F. Z. Peng, H. Akagi, and A. Nabae, A new approach to harmonic compensation in power systemA combined system of shunt passive and series active filters, IEEE Trans. Ind. Applicat., vol. 26, pp. 983990, Nov./Dec. 1990. , Compensation characteristics of the combined system of shunt [5] passive and series active filters, IEEE Trans. Ind. Applicat., vol. 29, pp. 144152, Jan./Feb. 1993. [6] H. Fujita and H. Akagi, The unified power quality conditioner: The integration of series and shunt active filters, IEEE Trans. Power Electron., vol. 13, pp. 315322, Mar. 1998. [7] H. Akagi, H. Fujita, and K. Wada, A shunt active filter based on voltage detection for harmonic termination of a radial power distribution line, IEEE Trans. Ind. Applicat., vol. 35, pp. 638645, May/June 1999. [8] H. Fujita and H. Akagi, A practical approach to harmonic compensation in power systemsSeries connection of passive and active filters, IEEE Trans. Ind. Applicat., vol. 27, pp. 10201025, Nov./Dec. 1991. [9] Z. Wang, Q. Wang, W. Z. Yao, and J. J. Liu, A series active power filter adopting hybrid control approach, IEEE Trans. Power Electron., vol. 16, pp. 301310, May 2001.

Dayi Li was born in Hubei, China, in 1970. He received the B.S. degree in 1995 from Tianjin Industry University, Tianjin, China, and the M.S. degree in 2000 from Huazhong University of Science and Technology (HUST), Wuhan, China, where he is currently working toward the Ph.D. degree in power electronics. From 1995 to 1997, he was an Electrical Engineer at Wuhan no. 3 Cotton Mill, Wuhan. Currently, he is an Assistant Professor with HUST. His research interests include active power filters, transformers, and harmonic suppression.

Qiaofu Chen was born in Hubei, China, in 1946. He received the B.S. and M.S. degrees from Huazhong University of Science and Technology (HUST), Wuhan, China, in 1968 and 1982, respectively. From 1968 to 1978, he was an Engineer at Daye Electrical Machinery Factory, Hubei, China. Since 1982, he has been with HUST, and is currently a Professor. He is engaged in research on FACTS, harmonic suppression and active power filters, transformers, reactors, and fault current limiter. Mr. Chen is a member of the transformer subcommittee of the China Society of Electrical Engineering and member of the Transformer Standard of China.

Zhengchun Jia was born in Hunan, China, in 1938. He received the B.S. degree from Hunan University, Hunan, China, in 1965, and the M.S. degree from Huazhong University of Science and Technology (HUST), Wuhan, China, in 1967. Since 1967, he has been with HUST, where he is currently a Professor. He is engaged in research on power electronics, motor drivers, and switched-mode power supplies. Mr. Jia is a member of the China Electrotechnical Society.

Jianxing Ke was born in Fujian, China, in 1979. He received the B.S. degree from Huaqiao University, Quanzhou City, China. He is currently working toward the M.S. degree in power electronics at Huazhong University of Science and Technology (HUST), Wuhan, China. His research interests include fault current limiters and switched-mode power supplies.