732

IEEE TRANSACTIONS ON INDUSTRY APPLICATIONS, VOL. 33, NO. 3, MAY/JUNE 1997

Hybrid Solutions for Improving Passive Filter

Performance in High Power Applications
Subhashish Bhattacharya, Student Member, IEEE, Po-Tai Cheng, Student Member, IEEE,
and Deepak M. Divan, Senior Member, IEEE

Abstract This paper presents a new control scheme for a

parallel hybrid active filter system intended for harmonic compensation of large nonlinear loads up to 50 MVA, to meet IEEE
519 recommended harmonic standards. The active filter is small
rated, 2%3% of load kilovoltampere rating. The control scheme
is based on the concept of synthesizing a dynamically variable
inductance, and its usefulness is demonstrated for an active
filtering application. A synchronous reference frame (SRF) controller implements the dynamically varying negative or positive
inductance by generating active filter inverter voltage commands.
This variable inductance controller parallel hybrid active filter
system can selectively synthesize multiple active inductances
at dominant harmonic frequencies without affecting passive filter
impedances at all other frequencies. This controller also provides
a current limiting function to prevent passive filter overloading
under ambient harmonic loads and/or supply voltage distortions.
Three implementation variations of a parallel hybrid active filter
system are presented. This paper also proposes the use of power
factor correction capacitors as low cost passive filters for a parallel hybrid active filter system, which are controlled to provide
either single or multiple tuned harmonic sinks and to increase
cost effectiveness for high power applications. Simulation results
with small rated pulsewidth modulated (PWM) and square-wave
active filter inverters validate the proposed variable inductance
controller operation for mistuned passive filters, to provide single
and multiple frequency tuning to achieve harmonic compensation
of a 325 kVA harmonic load under supply voltage harmonics and
ambient harmonic loads.
Index TermsActive inductance, harmonic compensation, hybrid active filter system, IEEE 519 harmonic standard, parallel
hybrid active filter system, synchronous reference frame.

I. INTRODUCTION

HE CONCEPT that an inverter topology can be used as

a generalized impedance converter (GIC) or gyrator
to realize either negative or positive inductance has been
proposed in [1]. It is based on the principle that an inverter
can be treated as a two-port network to realize any relationship
between its terminal voltage and current by appropriately
controlling the inverter switches. The synthesized voltage and
current relationship can be either linear or nonlinear and is
Paper IPCSD 9703, approved by the Industrial Power Converter Committee of the IEEE Industry Applications Society for presentation at the 1996
IEEE Applied Power Electronics Conference and Exposition, San Jose, CA,
March 37. Manuscript released for publication January 6, 1997.
S. Bhattacharya and P.-T. Cheng are with the Department of Electrical and
Computer Engineering, University of Wisconsin, Madison, WI 53706 USA.
D. M. Divan is with Soft Switching Technologies Corporation, Middleton,
WI 53562 USA, on leave from the Department of Electrical and Computer
Engineering, University of Wisconsin, Madison, WI 53706 USA.
Publisher Item Identifier S 0093-9994(97)03940-6.

valid under both steady state and transient conditions. The GIC
concept has been used to realize a series negative inductance
compensator for high power distribution/transmission systems
as a potential flexible ac transmission system (FACTS) device
[2]. The GIC realized series negative inductance compensator
offers the same fundamental frequency characteristics as a series capacitor, without the subsynchronous resonance problem
associated with fixed series capacitor compensation systems.
Further, it provides variable VAR compensation capabilities
and greatly reduced size compared to conventional thyristor
switched capacitor systems. A similar concept of a series
negative inductance compensator has been recently proposed
as variable activepassive reactance in [3][5].
In this paper, a new control scheme is proposed to achieve
dynamically varying negative or positive inductances at single
or multiple dominant harmonic frequencies, based on the GIC
principle. This concept of variable inductance has been applied
to a parallel hybrid active filter system intended for harmonic
compensation of high power nonlinear loads up to 50 MW.
Synchronous reference frame (SRF) based controller implementation of the proposed dynamically variable inductance
concept for a parallel hybrid active filter system is validated
by simulation results.
Proliferation of power electronic loads, such as three phase
diode and thyristor bridge rectifiers for dc power supplies,
adjustable speed drives (ASDs), and uninterruptible power
systems (UPSs), which are prerequisites for realizing energy
efficiency and productivity benefits, has brought utilities to
crossroads. Utilities frequently encounter harmonic related
problems, including substantially higher transformer and line
losses, reactive power and resonance problems, required derating of distribution equipment, and severe harmonic interactions
between customers or between the utility and load, reduced
system stability, and safe operating margins. To alleviate harmonic related problems, utilities are beginning to implement
IEEE 519 recommended harmonic standards. It is important
to note that IEEE 519 harmonic standard is a customerutility
point of common coupling (PCC) specification and not an
equipment specification.
Passive filters have traditionally been used to absorb harmonics generated by large industrial loads, because of their
low cost and high efficiency. However, they have several
drawbacks. The supply impedance strongly influences the
compensation characteristics of passive filters, and they are
highly susceptible to undesirable series and parallel resonances
with the supply and load. Passive filters are also sensitive to

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BHATTACHARYA et al.: HYBRID SOLUTIONS FOR IMPROVING PASSIVE FILTER PERFORMANCE

LC component tolerances. Passive filters tuned to dominant

harmonic frequencies have the caveat of being overloaded due
to ambient harmonic loads and/or supply voltage distortions.
Hence, they are usually off-tuned, e.g., the fifth harmonic
passive filter is usually off-tuned to 4.7th, which in turn defeats
their very purpose as harmonic sinks. They are also susceptible
to load and line switching transients. For industrial nonlinear
loads connected to stiff utility supply, it is particularly
difficult to design passive filters with sharp tuning and high
quality
factor, at dominant harmonic frequencies, to
absorb a significant percentage of load harmonic currents,
and their effectiveness reduces for stiff supply systems [6].
Stiff supply systems refers to low supply inductance
Passive filters can provide harmonic filtering at the load, i.e., at
the source of harmonics and, hence, reduce voltage distortion
at the load terminals. They can also be installed at distribution
substations, as opposed to at the harmonic loads, to provide
both harmonic filtering and reactive power compensation for
the entire substation load. This has the advantage of one
point installation, but results in higher voltage distortion along
the feeders. Passive filter designs require extensive system
studies and engineering effort and are justified for high voltage
transmission systems for which detailed system studies are
invariably done and engineering cost is only a small fraction
of the total system cost.
Active filters were developed to mitigate the problems
of passive filters and consist of pure active filters, such
as parallel and series active filters, and hybrid active filter
solutions [7][11]. The optimal active filter solution is application and utility interface specific and, hence, requires
a systems approach to its design [6]. Parallel active filters
usually require a large inverter kilovoltampere rating with
high current bandwidth and do not constitute a cost-effective
harmonic filtering solution for nonlinear loads above 500
kW. Increasing enforcement of IEEE 519 harmonic standards
by utilities, especially for large industrial customers, has
perpetrated the need for viable and cost-effective active filters.
As a result, more viable and cost-effective hybrid active filter
topologies have been developed which enable the use of
significantly small rated active filters ( 5%), compared to
pure parallel or series active filter solutions. Hybrid active
filters improve the compensation characteristics of passive
filters and realize a reduction in the active filter rating. They
effectively mitigate problems of both active and passive filters
and offer several additional value-added features, such as
line voltage regulation, reactive power compensation, and
harmonic isolation between supply and load, which increase
their practical viability, as given in [6] and [12][17].
Among the hybrid active filter solutions, parallel hybrid active filters offer a practically viable and cost-effective topology
for harmonic and reactive power compensation of multiple and
diverse high power nonlinear industrial loads, due to small
rating of the active filter2%3% of load kilovoltampere
rating [13]. They allow retrofit applications with existing
LC passive filters or power factor correction capacitors and
can provide tuning for off-tuned (e.g., the fifth harmonic
passive filter is usually off-tuned to 4.7th harmonic frequency
to prevent overloading) or mistuned passive filters, due to

733

component tolerances. They permit passive filter designs to

be insensitive to supply line impedances and enable their cost
and size optimization. Parallel hybrid active filter systems
are particularly suited for harmonic compensation of loads
connected to stiff supply systems (low supply inductance
, since they are based on the principle of improving passive
filter compensation characteristics.
Implementation of the parallel hybrid active filter system is
given in Section II. The proposed dynamically variable inductance concept and its implementation by an SRF controller is
given in Section III. Section IV describes the SRF controller
implementation for generating variable inductance command
and its application for harmonic compensation of a nonlinear
load with a parallel hybrid active filter system. Simulation
results are given for three different passive filter structures
with square-wave and PWM inverter implementation for the
active filters in Section V. Section VI includes conclusions
and application of the proposed variable inductance controller
parallel active filter for harmonic damping in a distribution
feeder.

II. PARALLEL HYBRID ACTIVE FILTER

SYSTEM IMPLEMENTATION
The parallel hybrid active filter system is shown in Fig. 1.
The active filter is implemented by a three phase PWM or
square-wave voltage source inverter (VSI) connected in series
with the passive filter branch. The passive filter capacitor
supports the fundamental line voltage and enables a small
harmonic voltage requirement of the active filter. For six-pulse
thyristor rectifier front-ends with inductive load, the lower
order fifth and seventh current harmonics predominantly contribute to supply current THD and inevitably require harmonic
filtering to meet IEEE 519 harmonic standard.
Implementation of three parallel hybrid active filter topologies based on three different passive filter structures are
detailed in this paper. The first parallel hybrid active filter
topology consists of fifth and seventh LC tuned passive filter
branches with corresponding active filters connected in series,
as shown in Figs. 1 and 5 and discussed in Section V-A.
Alternatively, there can be one active filter connected in series
with the entire passive filter system such as fifth, seventh,
and optional high-pass filters, as given in [13]. In this case,
however, the active filter inverter has to implemented by a
high frequency PWM inverter.
This paper also proposes the use of power factor correction
capacitors as cost-effective passive filters with an active filter
connected in series, as shown in Fig. 6. Multi-tuned filter
performance can be achieved by tuning the passive filter
at fifth harmonic frequency by inverter output filter
inductor
; and with active filter connected in series to
provide tuning at seventh harmonic frequency with
as
shown in Fig. 6 and discussed in Section V-B. In this case, a
PWM inverter is required for the active filter implementation.
For high power industrial loads, which typically employ a
12-pulse thyristor rectifier front-end, theoretically, LC passive filters can be designed to compensate for the dominant
eleventh and thirteenth harmonic frequencies. However, in

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IEEE TRANSACTIONS ON INDUSTRY APPLICATIONS, VOL. 33, NO. 3, MAY/JUNE 1997

Fig. 1. Parallel hybrid active filter system diagram.

Fig. 2. SRF controller for variable inductance.

practice, due to leakage inductance mismatch between the

transformer windings interfacing the two six-pulse thyristor
rectifier bridges to the utility, and due to possible firing angle
mismatch between the upper and lower six-pulse thyristor
rectifier bridges, there can be significant fifth and seventh harmonics in the load current. Hence, 12-pulse thyristor rectifier
loads inadvertently require fifth and seventh harmonic filtering
to meet IEEE 519 harmonic limits [18].
The proposed variable inductance controller based parallel
hybrid active filter system with fifth and seventh passive filters
can effectively provide harmonic compensation of the load
and prevent passive filter overloading by a current limiting
feature, as explained in Section IV, in presence of ambient
harmonic loads and supply voltage harmonics. The fifth and
seventh passive filters can be designed such that they sink a
significant percentage of higher harmonics, such as eleventh,
thirteenth, seventeenth, nineteenth, etc., to meet IEEE 519
harmonic limits in the supply current. Higher order load
current harmonics can also be filtered by a high-pass filter.
The series connection of the active filter can be achieved
with or without the coupling transformer, which is used to
match the current and voltage rating of the inverter devices. A
cost optimization between inverter device current and voltage
rating and their cost and the coupling transformer cost can
be done based on the manufacturers cost structure for the

devices (IGBTs or GTO thyristors) compared to that of the

transformers. The coupling transformer and its ratio also has
dc bus voltage
, and
an impact on dc bus capacitance
inverter output filter inductor
III. SRF BASED CONTROLLER FOR
IMPLEMENTATION OF VARIABLE INDUCTANCE
The SRF controller concept, as given in [15] and [16] and
shown in Fig. 2, is used to implement a dynamically varyingeither negative or positive active inductance
The SRF controller generates the desired active inductor
inverter reference voltage at a specified frequency, which is
then synthesized either by a three phase PWM or a squarewave VSI, as shown in Fig. 2. The implementation of variable
inductance is explained for an active filtering application and
can be applied similarly for other applications. The active filter
inverter currents
are measured and transformed into a
synchronously rotating reference frame, at the specified
th harmonic frequency of synthesis of
given by
and
This is achieved by unit vectors
and
derived from the phase-locked loop (PLL) on the passive
filter terminal voltage
as shown in Fig. 1. In the SRF
rotating at th harmonic frequency, the th harmonic active
filter current is transformed to a dc quantity and is extracted
by a low-pass filter (LPF) to yield
and
Extraction

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BHATTACHARYA et al.: HYBRID SOLUTIONS FOR IMPROVING PASSIVE FILTER PERFORMANCE

of the dc signal by the LPF provides insensitivity to phase

errors, which is an advantage, since most other controllers will
introduce significant phase shift at fundamental and harmonic
frequencies. The active inductor inverter reference voltage
is given by

(1)

is the positive or negative active inductance

where
to be synthesized at th harmonic frequency.
The differentiation of current in steady state is achieved
by interchanging
and
currents - and -axis currentsand multiplying by
This operation is valid because
of the orthogonal relationship between the current and voltage
for an inductor and, thus, achieves the differential operator
function of 90 phase rotation and multiplication by
for a single frequency. This avoids the differential operator implementation as a difference equation. The resulting
values in the - and -axes are
multiplied by the desired active inductance
which
is then transformed to three phase stationary frame inverter
reference voltages
and
The inverter reference
voltages can be synthesized by a sine-triangle carrier based
PWM inverter, as shown in Fig. 2, or by a square-wave
inverter modulated with a triangle-wave PWM carrier at the
same th harmonic frequency, e.g., a PWM carrier frequency
of 300 Hz is required for
or fifth harmonic frequency.
The SRF controller implementation for variable positive or
negative active inductance facilitates synthesis of different
values at multiple frequencies by superposition of
desired active inductor voltages. This is possible because the
SRF controller for implementation of variable inductance generates active inductor inverter reference voltages
and
as shown in Fig. 2. For example, different
and
values can be synthesized simultaneously by adding
the active inductor voltages corresponding to
and
Further, it should be noted that the direct generation
of inverter reference voltages allows the use of voltage based
PWM schemes which can be implemented by simple and
constant switching frequency sine-triangle or space vector
PWM schemes [19].
The variable reactance scheme proposed in [3][5] can only
synthesize a single active inductance value at a specified
frequency. Hysteresis based current regulators are required
for implementation in [3][5], which have several undesirable
features, such as low-frequency current errors, limit cycles in
current, and variable switching frequency.
Another active inductance implementation is proposed in
[20]. In this case, the active filter emulates an active inductance
at a broad range of harmonic frequencies. This implementation
also requires a high frequency PWM inverter to achieve high
current bandwidth, with its concomitant cost penalties and
higher losses.
Voltage based PWM schemes require lower inverter bandwidth than conventional current regulated PWM schemes and,
hence, are the preferred solution for high power applications.

735

IV. SRF BASED CONTROLLER FOR

PARALLEL HYBRID ACTIVE-FILTER SYSTEM
The SRF controller concept [15], [16] for implementation
of variable inductance is applied for an active filtering application. The active filter is controlled to generate dynamically
varying positive or negative active inductance to achieve
harmonic compensation of nonlinear loads by a parallel hybrid
active filter system.
The SRF controller implementation for generating variable
by the active filter for fifth harmonic filter
inductance
branch of the parallel hybrid active filter system in Fig. 5,
is shown in Fig. 3. An identical SRF controller, as shown
in Fig. 3, is implemented for generating variable inductance
by the active filter of seventh harmonic filter branch of
the parallel hybrid active filter system in Fig. 5.
The SRF controller for the active filter in the fifth harmonic filter branch, generates required active inductance
value from the measured fifth harmonic filter branch
and load currents
The
currents
measured fifth harmonic filter branch currents
are transformed into a synchronously rotating
reference
and
frame at fifth harmonic frequency, given by
The dc components in the SRF are extracted by low-pass
and
The dc components
filters, as indicated by
correspond to the fifth harmonic component in the filter branch
current, and its magnitude is computed from the dc compoare
nents. Similarly, the measured load currents
reference
transformed into a synchronously rotating
and
The
frame at fifth harmonic frequency, given by
dc components in the SRF are extracted by low-pass filters as
and
and its magnitude is computed
indicated by
as shown in Fig. 3. Note that the dc components correspond
to fifth harmonic component of the load current.
To achieve harmonic compensation of the load at fifth
harmonic frequency, the entire fifth harmonic load current
must flow into the fifth harmonic filter branch. This
corresponds to tuning the fifth harmonic filter branch at fifth
harmonic frequency. In this case, the active filter is controlled
to generate an inverter voltage according to a positive or
value to tune the
negative active inductance
passive filter at fifth harmonic frequency. However, in case of
supply voltage harmonics or ambient load current harmonics
at fifth and seventh harmonic frequencies, the passive filters
can be overloaded.
The load harmonic current magnitude limiter block shown in
Fig. 3 achieves two functions and generates the fifth harmonic
As
reference magnitude current in the fifth filter
its first function, it limits the maximum harmonic current in
the passive filter to its designed value and, thus, prevents
passive filter overloading. Consequently, harmonic currents
due to ambient harmonic loads and supply voltage distortions
are treated as disturbances and rejected into the supply.
As its second function, the load harmonic current magnitude
limiter can be set so as to just meet IEEE 519 individual
supply current harmonic limits and overall supply current THD
limits. IEEE 519 specifies individual harmonic current limits
depending on the short-circuit ratio (SCR) at the PCC. This,

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736

IEEE TRANSACTIONS ON INDUSTRY APPLICATIONS, VOL. 33, NO. 3, MAY/JUNE 1997

Fig. 3. SRF controller for parallel hybrid active filter system.

in effect, allows controlled injection of load harmonic currents

into the supply and results in lower passive filter harmonic
current rating and cost. This scheme can also effectively reduce
voltage distortion at load terminals. For example, with fifth
and seventh passive filters, controlled percentages of higher
load current harmonics ( seventh) can be injected into the
distortion and
supply, thus, reducing load terminal voltage
simultaneously meeting IEEE 519 harmonic current limits.
Further, it enables the use of simpler passive filters such as
a power factor correction capacitor, by implicitly achieving
the equivalent function of a modified SRF controller given in
[21] and [22]. For example, at a given operating point, the
can be multiplied
extracted fifth harmonic load current
with a factor 0.9 determined by the limiter block, which will
allow controlled injection of 10% fifth harmonic load current
into the supply.
The SRF controller generates the required active inducvalue by a PI controller on the error between
tance
and actual
fifth harmonic load current magnitude
The load harmonic current
filter current magnitude
magnitude limiter generates the reference magnitude of fifth
(or seventh) filter current and determines the percentage of
fifth (or seventh) load current harmonic to be compensated
by the parallel hybrid active filter system under all supply and
load conditions. The implementation of variable inductance by

generating appropriate active filter inverter voltage references

, and
is explained in Section III and given by
, as shown in Fig. 3.
at a single frequency
Heterodyning of fifth filter current
based on the
(at fifth harmonic) and generation of
magnitude error between fifth harmonic current in fifth filter
and fifth harmonic load current magnitude
guarantees convergence of
value. The actual fifth
can be
harmonic current magnitude in fifth filter
which determines
higher or lower than the reference
magnitude and sign. The plot of
versus
the
until steady state is reached is monotonic. This is
either
validated by simulation results, which show that
increases or decreases to its steady state reference value.
A dc bus controller is required to regulate the dc bus voltage
and to compensate for the inverter losses. This is achieved
in
by generating a small inverter fundamental voltage
phase with the fundamental positive sequence reactive filter
, as shown in Fig. 3. The active inductance
current
based control generates an active filter inverter voltage
orthogonal to the fifth harmonic current in the passive
filter and ensures no real power transfer at harmonic frequencies, under all supply and load conditions. Hence, supply
voltage harmonics do not impact real power transfer and, consequently, do not require dc bus power balancing, unlike other

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BHATTACHARYA et al.: HYBRID SOLUTIONS FOR IMPROVING PASSIVE FILTER PERFORMANCE

Fig. 4. Parallel hybrid active filter system diagram.

parallel hybrid active filters controlled to provide harmonic

is
isolation [23]. The fundamental passive filter current
extracted by SRF controller at the fundamental frequency. The
measured fifth harmonic filter branch currents
are transformed into a positive sequence synchronously roreference frame at the fundamental frequency,
tating
given by
and
The dc components in the SRF are
extracted by low-pass filters as indicated by
and
and correspond to fundamental positive sequence filter current.
The measured dc bus voltage
is low-pass filtered and
compared with nominal reference dc bus voltage
and the
error is fed into a PI controller. The output is multiplied
by extracted dc values
and
and transformed
at fundamental frequency to generate three phase inverter
voltage references given by
, and
This is
added to inverter voltage references generated by the variable
inductance controller
, and
and gives
,
the total active filter inverter reference voltages
and
, as shown in Fig. 3. Note that the active filter
inverter real power is extracted from fundamental reactive
power of the supply.
It is important to ensure that real power flow due to the dc
bus controller occurs only at fundamental frequency and not at
harmonic frequencies, to avoid supply/load and passive filter
interaction and resulting supply current distortion. Hence, the
measured dc bus voltage
is low-pass filtered with a cutoff
frequency of 150 Hz. In presence of supply voltage unbalance,
there will be a 120 Hz ripple on dc bus voltage and dc bus
capacitors have to be sized accordingly.
The low-pass filters for the fifth harmonic filter current
and load current
are implemented by sixth order
Butterworth low-pass filters and, for filter fundamental current
, by a fourth order Butterworth low-pass filter. The
cutoff frequency is 10 Hz for all cases, and the response is
designed to be maximally flat.
Note that if the system frequency changes (typically within
2%), the PLL will track the fundamental and harmonic
and
frequencies. The PLL which generates unit vectors
for the fifth harmonic is derived from the PLL output
of fundamental frequency.

737

The distinguishing feature of SRF controller implementation

for a parallel hybrid active filter system is its ability to
selectively produce desired active inductance
active
filter inverter reference voltages at multiple dominant harmonic frequencies, without affecting passive filter impedance
characteristics at all other frequencies. The SRF controlled
active filter inverter can emulate negative active inductances
at desired dominant harmonic frequencies to provide ideal
notch-filter characteristics for off-tuned and mistuned (due
to component tolerances) passive filters. It can also emulate
positive inductances at a specified harmonic frequency to
provide passive filter current limiting. This is illustrated in
Fig. 4, where the solid and dotted line show the impedance at
PCC of the fifth and seventh passive filter under tuned and offtuned conditions, respectively. The passive filter components
, and
are off-tuned by 10%, due to component
tolerances, as given in Table II. Hence, the fifth passive filter
is tuned at 4.5 and the seventh passive filter is tuned at 6.35
harmonic frequency , as shown by the dotted line. To provide
passive filter tuning, the SRF controller generates negative
and
only at the fifth and
active inductance
seventh harmonic frequencies to create ideal notch-filter
characteristics, as shown by the solid arrow lines. In case of
supply voltage distortion and ambient load current harmonics,
the SRF controller generates active positive inductance only
at fifth and seventh harmonic frequencies, to provide current
limiting and to avoid overloading of the passive filters. For
mistuned passive filters, the impedance at the fifth and seventh
harmonic frequencies can be either inductive (for passive
filters tuned below resonance, as given in Table II for Case
A.1 and Case A.2) or capacitive (for passive filters tuned
above resonance, as given in Table VI for Case B.1 and Case
B.2 for the fifth harmonic frequency). If the impedance is
capacitive, it has the potential of series resonance with supply
inductance
in presence of supply voltage distortion. In
such a case, the SRF controlled active filter generates positive
inductance to provide current limiting. In addition, if the
parallel hybrid active filter system is controlled to just meet
IEEE 519 individual supply current harmonic limits and the
supply current THD limit, the SRF controllers can generate
negative active inductance at fifth harmonic, to provide
required tuning and active positive inductance at seventh
harmonic to inject controlled percentage of seventh harmonic
load current into the supply. However, this condition depends
on the supply inductance or short circuit ratio (SCR) at PCC
and is demonstrated by Case A.2 simulation results.
The inverter reference voltages generated by the fifth and
and
, respectively, can
seventh SRF controllers
be superimposed to generate active filter inverter reference
voltage for the topology shown in Fig. 6. In this case, a single
active filter inverter emulates a multi-tuned filter. However,
a PWM inverter is required to provide multiple tuning at
the fifth and seventh harmonic frequencies. The passive filter
structure can be simplified in this case, such as by use of costThe inverter
effective power factor correction capacitor
can be designed to be part of the passive
output inductor
filter, as shown in Section V. The active filter inverter rating
can be reduced by tuning the passive filter at the fifth harmonic

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IEEE TRANSACTIONS ON INDUSTRY APPLICATIONS, VOL. 33, NO. 3, MAY/JUNE 1997

frequency by inductor
, as validated by simulation results
in Section V-B. In this case, the active filter is controlled
to provide harmonic compensation only at seventh harmonic
frequency. This requires a systems based design to optimize
coupling transformer ratio, dc bus capacitance
and voltage
and PWM switching frequency.
Note that the SRF controller is based on local measurements
of load current
and filter currents
and
and does
measurement. This allows only
not require supply current
harmonic compensation of the nonlinear load, as opposed to
harmonic isolation between the supply and load, and results
in lower active filter inverter rating and inverter current
bandwidth requirements. Since the generation of the
value is based on the direct measurement of load current, ,
which forms the reference filter current magnitude
the
value dynamically varies under load dynamics or load
changes and supply voltage variations.
The SRF variable inductance
controlled parallel
hybrid active filter system does not change the quality
factor of the
passive filter. This ensures damping of
any supply current and load terminal voltage oscillations,
due to load changes, supply voltage distortions, and supply
voltage sags or surges. This is an important distinction from
the controller proposed in [24] where the active filter inverter
is controlled to actively drive the load terminal harmonic
voltage
to zero, under all conditions, including supply
voltage distortions. This controller [24] compensates for the
resistive voltage drop across the
passive filter, thereby
actively increasing its quality factor. In this case, the inverter
is controlled to emulate a negative resistance and requires a
dc energy source, such as a battery or auxiliary dc power
supply, due to real power transfer at harmonic frequencies.
This controller also results in large circulating current between
the fifth and seventh passive filters.
The supply current harmonics
and filter current harmonics
for the fifth passive filter and
for the
seventh filter), for the parallel hybrid active filter system
shown in Figs. 5 and 6, are given by steady state phasor
equations (2)(5), in terms of load current harmonics
and supply voltage harmonics
In (2)(9),
, and
represent supply, fifth, and seventh passive filter impedances,
respectively, and
represents combined fifth and seventh
passive filter impedance:

(2)

(3)

(4)
(5)

Fig. 5. Simulation model for Case Afifth, seventh parallel hybrid active
filter system.

where
(6)
at

and
(7)

at all other frequencies.

Similarly,
(8)
at

and
(9)

at all other frequencies.

The series or parallel resonance conditions due to supply
and load are damped by the passive filter current limiting
feature of the system. Small circulating current exists between
the fifth and seventh passive filters. The circulating current
is detected and limited by the current limiting feature. For
a single passive filter branch, as shown in Fig. 6, resonance
conditions with supply and load can occur, and an increased
active filter inverter rating is required to provide damping.
V. SIMULATION RESULTS OF PARALLEL
HYBRID ACTIVE FILTER SYSTEM
Simulation results of the parallel hybrid active filter system
are given for a combined load consisting of a diode rectifier
front-end with dc capacitor for an ASD load and a thyristor
rectifier front-end with a small dc side inductor for a dc drive
system. The total input power is 300 kW with a power factor of
0.866 lagging. Hence, the load requires 173.5 kVAR reactive
power for unity power factor operation. The rms load harmonic
current spectrum is given in Table I. It is seen that the fifth
and seventh harmonics contribute predominantly to the load
current THD. The nominal supply voltage
is 480 V, and
supply voltage distortion consists of 3% each of the fifth
and seventh voltage harmonics. The PCC transformer rating
is 400 kVA, and it is assumed that the remaining auxiliary
loads are linear. Three different transformer impedances of
3.25% (50 H), 6.5% (100 H), and 9.75% (150 H) with
corresponding SCRs of 30.6, 15.3, and 10.2 are simulated.
The supply current THD limits for SCR 20 is 5% and for
SCR 20 is 8%. The individual harmonic current limits are
given in Table I.

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BHATTACHARYA et al.: HYBRID SOLUTIONS FOR IMPROVING PASSIVE FILTER PERFORMANCE

TABLE I
HARMONIC SPECTRUM OF SUPPLY AND LOAD CURRENTS FOR Case A.1, Case A.2,

739

AND

Case B.1 WITH ACTIVE FILTERS

TABLE II
PASSIVE FILTER TUNED AND MIS-TUNED COMPONENT VALUES

Fig. 6. Simulation model for Case B.

Fig. 7. Simplified distribution system with proposed active filter.

Three topologies of parallel hybrid active filter system characterized by their passive filter structures have been simulated.
passive filters which are misCase A: fifth and seventh
10% and
10%,
tuned due to component tolerances of
as shown in Fig. 5 and given in Table II. Passive filters can also
be mistuned due to out of specification inductors or discrete
inductor taps. Mistuning of passive filters significantly reduces
their harmonic compensation capability, especially for stiff
supply systems, as validated by simulation results. Simulation
results in Case A.1 are without supply voltage distortion and
Case A.2 are with supply voltage distortions. The fifth and
seventh passive filters provide 135 kVAR and 65 kVAR,
respectively, for both Case A.1 and Case A.2. In Case B,

power factor correction capacitor

of 220 kVAR is used as
a passive filter, as shown in Fig. 6. In Case B.1, the inductor
is inverter output filter inductor and is not used for passive
filter tuning at any dominant harmonic frequency. In Case
B.2The inductor
is integrated with the passive filter and
is used to provide tuning at fifth harmonic frequency.
Table I gives simulated results of rms supply current
spectrum after the active filters are started and IEEE 519
supply harmonic current limits for Case A.1, Case A.2 and
Case B.1. The load current
THD is computed on its
fundamental current of 361.3 A as the base value. For supply
the base value used is 481 A, which is the rated
current
current for a 400 kVA PCC transformer load. Note that the
supply current fundamental
is different for Case A.1,
Case A.2, and Case B.1, due to different supply inductance
values. The passive filters were designed such that supply
current higher order harmonics ( seventh), such as eleventh,
thirteenth, etc., meet IEEE 519 individual harmonic current
limits for SCRs 20 and 20, as indicated by Table I. The
supply current higher harmonics ( seventh) are the same as
given in Table I before the active filters are started. This
is because the active filters generate only fifth and seventh
harmonic voltages
and
and, hence, do not change
the compensation characteristics of passive filters at higher
harmonic ( seventh) frequencies.
Simulation results show the peak magnitudes of fifth
and seventh
harmonics in fifth and seventh passive
and
values. The
filters and active inductance
fifth and seventh passive filters are rated to sink load current
harmonics. The fifth and seventh harmonics in their respective

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740

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filter currents
and
are actively controlled and limited
to
and
peak values of 191.6 A (135.5 A rms) and
98.5 A (69.7 A rms), respectively, under all supply and load
conditions. The supply
load , and total filter
currents are shown under transient and steady state conditions.
A. Simulation Model A with Fifth and Seventh
Parallel Hybrid Active Filter System
The simulation model A is shown in Fig. 5 with fifth and
seventh passive filters which are mistuned, due to
component tolerances of 10%, as given in Table II. The fifth
and seventh passive filters are tuned at 4.5 and 6.35, respectively, reducing their effectiveness for harmonic compensation,
depending on the supply inductance
value. Note that the
passive filters are tuned below resonance, hence, there is no
The
potential for series resonance with supply inductance
simulation model A with mistuned passive filters, as given in
Table II, has been considered for both Case A.1 and Case A.2.
The active filters are interfaced by coupling transformers in
series with passive filters for both Case A.1 and Case A.2.
1) Case A.1Operation Under Mistuned Passive Filters;
Parallel Hybrid Active Filters Implemented With Square-Wave
Inverter Without Supply Voltage Harmonics: Case A.1 demonstrates the harmonic compensation capability with the active
filters implemented by square-wave inverters for both fifth
and seventh passive filter branches. The fifth active filter
square-wave inverter is operated at 300 Hz (fifth harmonic
frequency). Similarly, the seventh active filter square-wave
inverter is operated at 420 Hz (seventh harmonic frequency).
The coupling transformer ratio is 1:10 and the fifth and seventh
active filter inverter dc bus nominal voltages
and
are 750 V. The dc bus capacitances are
F
and
F The supply voltage has no background
harmonic distortion. The supply system is considered stiff
with supply inductance
of 50 H, which is 3.25% with
a SCR of 30.6. Stiff supply system constitutes the worstcase condition for harmonic compensation, as the passive
filter impedance has to be substantially lower than supply
impedance to sink a significant portion of load harmonic
current. The filter/load terminal voltage
THD without
passive and active filters is 6.2%.
In the absence of supply voltage harmonics, the SRF controlled active filter provides tuning for mistuned passive filters,
by actively inserting required positive or negative
and
inductance values. They effectively improve passive
filter compensation characteristics, provide insensitivity to
supply inductance
and eliminate field retuning and passive
filter redesign costs.
Fig. 8 shows the transient and steady state simulation results
before and after the fifth and seventh active filters are started at
s. Before both active filters are started at
s, mistuned passive filters do not absorb all fifth and seventh
load current harmonics as shown by steady state fifth and
seventh harmonic filter current magnitudes
A
peak (93.6 A rms) and
A peak (34.0 A rms)
and supply current THD is 22.4%. The values
and
indicate that due to mistuning, only 69.0% of fifth harmonic

TABLE III
SQUARE-WAVE INVERTER ACTIVE FILTER RATINGS UNDER
MISTUNED FIFTH AND SEVENTH PASSIVE FILTERS

load current
and only 48.8% of seventh harmonic load
flow into their respective passive filters. The
current
THD before the active filters
filter/load terminal voltage
are started is 3.1%.
s, they provide
After both active filters are started at
tuning of passive filters at the fifth and seventh harmonic
A peak (141.4 A
frequencies as shown by increased
A peak (71.1 A rms). This is achieved
rms) and
H and negative
by generating negative
H inductances, by the fifth and seventh
active filters, respectively. Active filter inverter voltages
and
(lineneutral) in Fig. 8 show square-wave inverter
value is slightly higher than
operation in steady state. The
, as
has not reached
the fifth harmonic load current
its steady state value. This results in 17.0 A of fifth harmonic
supply current, whereas the seventh harmonic supply current
THD is reduced to
is driven to zero. The supply current
4.68% (Table I) and meets the IEEE 519 allowable THD limit
THD after the
of 8.0%. The filter/load terminal voltage
active filters are started is reduced to 1.7%. Note that the
and
values are nonoscillatory in steady state,
as shown in Fig. 8.
Startup of the active filters results in oscillations in
values, due to the interaction of passive filter and supply
inductance
with square-wave inverter based active filters.
oscillations are because the PI gains are
The startup
not tuned for the square-wave inverter case and initial inverter
oscillations do not
dc bus voltage is high. The startup
exist with a PWM inverter implementation, as shown in Case
A.2 and Fig. 9.
Square-wave inverter implementation increases the practical
viability and cost effectiveness of this attractive scheme for
harmonic compensation of large nonlinear loads up to 50
MVA. The active filter inverter ratings are given in Table
III. The 2.2% of fifth and 0.73% of seventh active filter
inverter ratings (as percentages of load kilovoltampere rating)
are cost-effective and imply 1.1 MVA and 365 kVA squarewave inverters, respectively, for harmonic compensation of a
50 MVA load. The active filter kilovoltampere rating is given
by the product of the rms harmonic voltage requirement and
the total rms passive filter current.
2) Case A.2Filter Harmonic Current Rejection Capability
Under Supply Voltage Distortion and Mistuned Passive Filter Components With PWM Inverter Active Filters: Case A.2
demonstrates the current limiting function to prevent passive
filter overloading in presence of 3% each of fifth and seventh
supply voltage distortion. In this case, the fifth and seventh
active filters are implemented by 5 kHz PWM inverters. The
coupling transformer ratio is 1:20 and inverter dc bus nominal
and
are 750 V. The dc bus capacitances
voltages

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BHATTACHARYA et al.: HYBRID SOLUTIONS FOR IMPROVING PASSIVE FILTER PERFORMANCE

TABLE IV
PASSIVE FILTER HARMONIC CURRENTS DUE TO ONLY 3% EACH OF FIFTH

TABLE V
PWM INVERTER ACTIVE FILTER RATINGS UNDER MISTUNED PASSIVE FILTERS
WITH 3% EACH OF FIFTH AND SEVENTH SUPPLY VOLTAGE HARMONICS

are
F and
F The supply
inductance
is
H which is 6.5% with an SCR of
15.3. The filter/load terminal voltage
THD without passive
and active filters is 15.1%.
In the presence of supply voltage harmonics, the SRF controlled active filter provides insensitivity to supply inductance
, by actively limiting the passive filter currents to their rated
values. This is achieved by actively inserting required positive
inductance values at dominant harmonic frequencies.
Fig. 9 shows the system response for Case A.2 before
and after the fifth and seventh active filters are started at
s. Before both active filters are started
s), the steady state fifth and seventh harmonic filter current
magnitudes are
A peak (148.5 A rms) and
A peak (53.4 A rms). Hence, the fifth harmonic
current in the fifth passive filter
exceeds its rated value
of 191.6 A peak (135.5 A rms), due to fifth harmonic supply
voltage distortion. However, note that the seventh passive filter
is not overloaded. The supply current THD is 11.3%. The
THD before the active filters
filter/load terminal voltage
are started is 16.4%.
Note that before the active filters are started, the mistuned
seventh harmonic passive filter does not sink all the seventh
harmonic load current
This demonstrates the effect of
the phase of supply voltage harmonics which determines the
seventh harmonic current into the mistuned seventh harmonic
passive filter. Note that the fifth harmonic current is negative
sequence, whereas the seventh harmonic current is positive
sequence with respect to fundamental positive sequence supply
voltage. The supply voltage harmonics are synchronized with
the fundamental supply voltage for all simulation results.
Table IV shows harmonic currents in the supply and passive
filters under tuned and mistuned conditions, due to only supply
voltage harmonics for Case A.1, Case A.2, and Case B. Table
IV shows the effect of phase of supply voltage harmonics and
supply inductance
and gives the distribution of fifth and

AND

741

SEVENTH SUPPLY VOLTAGE HARMONICS

seventh harmonic currents in the passive filters for Case A.1

and Case A.2. For both Case A.1 and Case A.2, fifth harmonic
current in the fifth passive filter (40.5 A) is higher than seventh
harmonic current in the seventh passive filter (18.73 A). For
Case B, Case B.1, and Case B.2, there is a large current of
41.0 A at fifth harmonic frequency. This is due to capacitive
impedance of the passive filter at fifth harmonic frequency
H and presence of 3% fifth harmonic supply
with
voltage.
s, it alleviates
After both active filters are started at
the fifth passive filter overloading by generating a positive
H at fifth harmonic
active inductance
frequency. The fifth harmonic filter current is regulated to
A peak (135.5 A rms). The
its rated value of
seventh active filter generates a negative active inductance
H at seventh harmonic frequency to absorb
A peak
rated seventh harmonic filter current of
and
(69.7 A rms). Active filter inverter voltages
(lineneutral) in Fig. 9 show PWM inverter operation in steady
state and different phases of fifth and seventh inverter voltages.
The active filters achieve disturbance rejection to increased
fifth and seventh harmonic currents in the respective passive
value, by injecting
filters, irrespective of supply inductance
and
Any excessive fifth and seventh
voltages
harmonic currents in the passive filters are rejected into the
THD of
supply and result in increased supply current
THD
24.1% (Table I). The filter/load terminal voltage
after the active filters are started is 15.86%, due to injected
and
Note that the parallel hybrid active
voltages
filter system is controlled to operate similarly under ambient
harmonic loads in the power system.
This case also demonstrates the condition where one active
inductance value at fifth
filter generates a positive
harmonic frequency to achieve current limiting function,
whereas the active filter in seventh passive filter branch geninductance value to provide harmonic
erates a negative
compensation at seventh harmonic frequency. The startup
is higher and
is lower than their steady
value of
is higher than its rated value, whereas
state, because
is lower than its rated value. Note that the
and
values are nonoscillatory in steady state, as shown in Fig. 9.
The active filter inverter ratings are given in Table V.
The 1.8% of fifth and 0.35% of seventh active filter inverter

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742

IEEE TRANSACTIONS ON INDUSTRY APPLICATIONS, VOL. 33, NO. 3, MAY/JUNE 1997

ratings (as percentages of load kilovoltampere rating) are costeffective and imply 900 kVA and 175 kVA PWM inverters,
respectively, for harmonic compensation of 50 MVA load.
The inverter ratings are slightly lower than Case A.1, due
to higher magnitude of seventh harmonic filter current in the
seventh passive filter before the active filters are started. This
is due to seventh harmonic supply voltage and higher supply
inductance
in Case A.2 compared to Case A.1. Higher value
results in insensitivity to mistuning of passive filters
of
and results in smaller active filter ratings. Case A.2 provides
current limiting and
and
are generated in
such a way so as not to tune the passive filters at the fifth and
and
seventh harmonic frequencies, but to generate
passive filter terminal voltagesaccording to supply voltage
harmonicsto limit fifth and seventh harmonic currents in
the respective passive filters.

B. Simulation Model B with Power Factor

Correction Capacitor as Passive Filter
The simulation model B is shown in Fig. 6. Case B.1 and
Case B.2 demonstrate the viability of power factor correction
capacitors as cost-effective passive filters. In Case B.1, inductor
is the active filter inverter output inductor and is not
intended to provide passive filter tuning at dominant harmonic
frequencies. In Case B.2, however, the inverter output inductor
is used to provide passive filter tuning at fifth harmonic
frequency. In both cases, the supply impedance is 8.1% (150
H) with an SCR of 9.2. The active filter is implemented
by a 5 kHz PWM inverter and is interfaced with a coupling
transformer of 1:10 ratio. The nominal inverter dc bus voltage
is 750 V and
F The inverter output filter
inductor
can also be designed to be a part of the leakage
inductance of the coupling transformer. Both cases do not have
supply voltage harmonics. The filter/load terminal voltage
THD without passive and active filters is 19.15%.
1) Parallel Hybrid Active Filter System With Power
Factor Correction Capacitor and PWM Inverter Active
Filter; Passive Filter Not Tuned to Any Harmonic Frequency: Implementation of Case B.1 is shown in Fig. 6.
The system parameters are given in Table VI. Fig. 10 gives
transient and steady state results. Note that with
H
the passive filter
is tuned at 6.34 and is capacitive
at fifth and inductive at seventh harmonic frequency. Hence,
the passive filter can fall into series resonance with supply
inductance
in presence of fifth harmonic supply voltage.
Fig. 10 shows that before the active filter is started, the
magnitude of fifth harmonic filter current
A
peak (189.0 A rms) exceeds the rated fifth harmonic filter
current of 135.5 A rms. This amplification of load current
at fifth harmonic frequency by 1.4 times in the supply passive
filter circuit is due to parallel resonance phenomenon from
the load side. In absence of fifth harmonic supply voltage
harmonics, as in this case, there is no potential for series
resonance with the supply.
The seventh harmonic filter current magnitude
A peak (64.3 A rms) is smaller than rated seventh harmonic
load current of 69.7 A rms before the active filter is started.

TABLE VI
SYSTEM PARAMETERS AND PASSIVE FILTER COMPONENT
VALUES FOR POWER FACTOR CORRECTION CAPACITOR CASE

TABLE VII
PWM INVERTER ACTIVE FILTER RATINGS FOR MULTIPLE TUNING WITH
POWER FACTOR CORRECTION CAPACITOR PASSIVE FILTER CASE

The supply current THD is 11.72% and filter/load terminal

THD before the active filter is started is 6.13%.
voltage
inductance to
The active filter generates a positive
provide passive filter tuning and current limiting at fifth
harmonic frequency. It eliminates load current amplification
due to parallel resonance condition and regulates the passive
A peak (137.2 A rms).
filter current to
The
value is slightly higher than fifth harmonic load
current magnitude, as
has not reached its steady state
value. The active filter generates a negative
inductance
to provide tuning at seventh harmonic frequency and regulates
A peak (69.6 A
the seventh harmonic filter current
rms) equal to rated seventh harmonic load current
converges to
and
converges to
at steady state.
(lineneutral) in Fig. 10
The active filter inverter voltage
shows PWM inverter operation in steady state.
After the active filter is started, the supply current THD
is 1.58% and meets IEEE 519 harmonic current limits. The
filter/load terminal voltage
THD after the active filter
is started is 2.04%. This demonstrates the SRF controllers
based
ability to selectively produce active inductance
voltages at multiple harmonic frequencies by a single active
filter inverter. The active filter inverter rating is 3.5% of the
load kilovoltampere rating as given in Table VII, which is 1.75
MVA for harmonic compensation of a 50 MVA nonlinear load.
,
Startup of the active filter results in oscillations in
with the
due to the interaction of supply inductance
capacitive impedance of passive filter
at fifth harmonic frequency. Note the absence of any such oscillations
, due to inductive impedance of the passive filter at
in
and
values are
seventh harmonic frequency. The
nonoscillatory in steady state, as shown in Fig. 10.
2) Parallel Hybrid Active Filter System With Power Factor
Correction Capacitor and PWM Inverter Active Filter; Passive
Filter Tuned to Fifth Harmonic Frequency: Implementation
of Case B.2 is also shown in Fig. 6, with the same system
parameters as given in Table VI. In this case, inverter output
H is used to provide passive filter
filter inductor
tuning at fifth harmonic frequency. The passive filter
is inductive at seventh harmonic frequency with an
Fig. 11 shows transient and steady state
impedance of 0.14
simulation results. In absence of supply voltage harmonics,

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BHATTACHARYA et al.: HYBRID SOLUTIONS FOR IMPROVING PASSIVE FILTER PERFORMANCE

743

Fig. 8. Square-wave inverter fifth and seventh active filter operation under mistuned passive filter conditions without supply voltage harmonics. Note
different time scales for m5 ; m7 ; Lcmd ; Lcmd :

the potential of large fifth and seventh harmonic currents in

the passive filter does not exist, as shown by the simulation
THD is 3.1% and filter/load
results. The supply current
THD before the active filter is started is
terminal voltage
4.0%.
Before the active filter is started, the entire fifth harmonic
flows into the passive filter as shown by
load current
A peak (135.4 A rms). After the active filters are started,
active inductance,
the SRF controller generates zero
so as not to change the compensation characteristics of the

passive filter
which is tuned at fifth harmonic frequency. This simulation shows dynamic regulation of
active inductance value and corresponding fifth harmonic
inverter voltage
component to zero.
H the passive
Due to high supply inductance
filter sinks 73.2% of seventh harmonic load current
as
A peak (51.0 A rms) in Fig. 11.
shown by
After the active filter is started, it generates negative active
inductance at seventh harmonic frequency to provide tuning,
H
The supply current

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744

IEEE TRANSACTIONS ON INDUSTRY APPLICATIONS, VOL. 33, NO. 3, MAY/JUNE 1997

Fig. 9. PWM inverter fifth and seventh active filter with dc bus controller operation under supply voltage harmonics and mistuned passive filter conditions.
Note different time scales for m5 ; m7 ; Lcmd ; Lcmd :

THD is reduced to 1.76% and filter/load terminal voltage

THD after the active filter is started is reduced to 3.0%.
(lineneutral) in Fig. 11
Active filter inverter voltage
shows PWM inverter operation in steady state.
The active filter inverter rating is 3.2% of load kilovoltampere rating, as given in Table VII, which is 1.6 MVA for
harmonic compensation of a 50 MVA nonlinear load.. The
active filter inverter ratings for Case B.1 and Case B.2 are
of 8.1% (150 H).
similar, due to high supply inductance
the inverter rating for Case
For lower supply inductance

B.1 with tuned fifth passive filter case will be significantly

lower.
In presence of supply voltage harmonics or ambient harmonic loads at fifth harmonic, the active filter will generate
a positive
active inductance to prevent passive filter
overloading.
VI. CONCLUSIONS
This paper has validated the proposed SRF variable inductance controller and demonstrated its application for active

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BHATTACHARYA et al.: HYBRID SOLUTIONS FOR IMPROVING PASSIVE FILTER PERFORMANCE

Fig. 10.

PWM inverter active filter operation with power factor correction capacitor passive filter. Note different time scales for

filtering. The concept and synthesis of dynamically varying

positive or negative active inductance by the SRF controller
is general and has potential for applications other than harmonic filtering. The proposed controller is simple and can
be implemented by analog/digital hardware. This SRF based
variable inductance controller for parallel hybrid active filter
system provides a practically viable and cost-effective solution
for harmonic compensation of large and diverse nonlinear
loads in the range of 150 MVA to meet IEEE 519 recommended harmonic current standards. It alleviates passive filter
limitations such as mistuning and overloading under ambient

745

m5 ; m7 ; Lcmd ; Lcmd :

harmonic loads and supply voltage distortions, as validated by

simulation results. The use of a power factor correction capacitor as a cost-effective passive filter to achieve multiple tuning
for dominant harmonics has been demonstrated. A single
active filter provides multituning by selectively synthesizing
multiple active inductances at specified/dominant harmonic
frequencies. Harmonic compensation by square-wave inverter
based active filters increases the cost effectiveness of parallel
hybrid active filters for high power applications and for retrofit
applications. The active filters are small rated, 2%3% of load
kilovoltampere rating and are cost-effective.

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746

IEEE TRANSACTIONS ON INDUSTRY APPLICATIONS, VOL. 33, NO. 3, MAY/JUNE 1997

Fig. 11. PWM inverter active filter operation with power factor correction capacitor and
time scales for m5 ; m7 ; Lcmd ; Lcmd :

The proposed controller can also be applied to a distribution

system for harmonic damping with slight modification, as
shown in Fig. 7. The various loads connected to feeder 1
may have shunt power factor correction capacitors or series
reactors. The combination of these reactors, capacitors, and
the distribution line inductance may cause harmonic resonance
in the power system. The proposed SRF variable inductance
based controller can be applied to a parallel active filter
system which is installed at the end terminal of feeder 1, such
that feeder 1 becomes inductive from upstream. This strategy

Lf

Cf

tuned at fifth harmonic frequency. Note different

effectively provides damping to any harmonic propagation

throughout feeder 1 [25].
APPENDIX
SIMULATION RESULTS
The list of variables used in the simulation plots are as
follows:
active inductance generated at fifth harmonic
frequency;

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BHATTACHARYA et al.: HYBRID SOLUTIONS FOR IMPROVING PASSIVE FILTER PERFORMANCE

active inductance generated at seventh harmonic

frequency;
peak magnitutde of fifth harmonic current in fifth
passive filter;
peak magnitude of seventh harmonic current in
seventh passive filter;
supply current of phase a;
load current of phase a;
total filter current
inverter voltage (lineneutral) of fifth active filter;
inverter voltage (lineneutral) of seventh active
filter;
inverter voltage (lineneutral) of active filter for
power factor correction capacitor cases B.1 and
B.2.

747

[19] S. Bhattacharya, D.G. Holmes, and D. M. Divan, Optimizing three

phase current regulators for low inductance loads, in Conf. Rec. IEEEIAS Annu. Meeting, 1995, pp. 23572364.
[20] M. Takeda, K. Ikeda, and Y. Tominaga, Harmonic current compensation with active filter, in Conf. Rec. IEEE-IAS Annu. Meeting, 1988,
pp. 808815.
[21] S. Bhattacharya, D. M. Divan, and B. Banerjee, Control and reduction
of terminal voltage total harmonic distortion (THD) in a hybrid series
active and parallel passive filter system, in Conf. Rec. IEEE PESC,
1993, pp. 779786.
[22] S. Bhattacharya and D. M. Divan, Hybrid series active/parallel passive
power line conditioner with controlled harmonic injection, U.S. Patent
5 465 203, 1995.
[23] S. Bhattacharya, P. T. Cheng, and D. M. Divan, Control of square-wave
inverters in high power hybrid active filter systems, in Conf. Rec. IEEE
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[25] H. Akagi, Control strategy and site selection of a shunt active filter for
damping of harmonic propagation in power distribution systems, IEEE
Trans. Power Delivery, vol. 12, pp.354363, Jan. 1997.

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Subhashish Bhattacharya (S91) received the B.E.

(Hons) degree from the University of Roorkee,
Roorkee, India, in 1986 and the M.E. degree from
the Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore, India, in
1988, both in electrical engineering. He is currently
working toward the Ph.D. degree at the University
of Wisconsin, Madison.
His primary areas of interest are active filters,
utility applications of power electronics, drives, and
control techniques.

Po-Tai Cheng (S96) received the B.S. degree in

control engineering from National Chiao-Tung University, Hsinchu, Taiwan, in 1990 and the M.S.E.E.
degree in electrical engineering from the University
of Wisconsin, Madison. He is currently working
toward the Ph.D. degree at the University of Wisconsin, Madison.
His main research interests are active filters,
utility applications of power electronics, and power
quality issues.

Deepak M. Divan (S78M78SM91) received

the B.Tech degree from the India Institute of Technology, Kanpur, India, in 1975 and the M.S. and
Ph.D. degrees from the University of Calgary, Calgary, Alta., Canada, in 1979 and 1983, respectively,
all in electrical engineering.
He has been a Professor at the University of
Wisconsin, Madison, since 1985 and is an Associate
Director of the Wisconsin Electric Machines and
Power Electronics Consortium (WEMPEC). He is
currently on leave from the university and is President and CEO of Soft Switching Technologies Corporation, Middleton, WI, a
manufacturer of power conversion equipment. He is the holder of 20 issued
and pending patents and has authored over 90 technical publications, including
several prize-winning papers.

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