A New Study for Harmonic suppression and

Reactive Power Compensation

Wenjin Dai
1
, Yongtao Dai
2
, Min Wu
3
Department of Electrical and Automatic Engineering
Nanchang University
Nanchang, 330031 China
AbstractThis paper presents a new method for harmonic and
reactive power compensation with an artificial neural
network(ANN) controller and a new control algorithm for active
power filter (APF) to eliminate harmonics and compensate the
reactive power of three-phase thyristor bridge rectifier. The
artificial neural network (ANN) current controller is adapted to
active power filter (APF) and the current controller based on
modified hysteresis current controller is used to generate the
firing pulses. All of the studies have been carried out through
detail digital dynamic simulation using the MATLAB Simulink
Power System Toolbox. The results of simulation study of new
APF control technique and algorithm presented in this paper are
found quite satisfactory to eliminate harmonics and reactive
power components from utility current.
Key Words: Artificial neural network (ANN), Active power filter,
Harmonic current compensation, Reactive power

.INTRODUCTION
Recent wide spread of power electronic equipment has
caused an increase of the harmonic disturbances in the power
systems. The harmonics causes problems in power systems and
in consumer products such as equipment overheating, capacitor
blowing, motor vibration, excessive neutral currents and low
power factor. Without the drawbacks of passive harmonic
filters, such as component aging and resonant problems, the
active power filter appears to be a viable solution for reactive
power compensation as well as for eliminating harmonic
currents. Active power filter (APF) can solve problems of
harmonic and reactive power simultaneously. The theories and
applications of active power filters have become more popular
and have attracted great attention since two decades ago [2].
APF consisting of voltage source inverters and a dc capacitor
have been researched and developed for improving the power
factor and stability of transmission systems. APF have the
ability to adjust the amplitude of the synthesized ac voltage of
the inverters by means of pulse width modulation or by control
of the dc-link voltage, thus drawing either leading or lagging
reactive power from the supply. APF are an up-to-date solution
to power quality problems. Shunt APF allows the
compensation of current harmonics and unbalance, together
with power factor correction, and can be a much better solution
than conventional approach (capacitors and passive filters).
Generally, the performance of APF is based on three design
criteria [3-10]: (i) design of power inverter; (ii) types of current
controllers used; (iii) methods used to obtain the reference
current. Many control techniques have been used to obtain the
reference current. These techniques such as instantaneous
reactive power theory [3], notch filters [6], flux based
controller [7], power balance theory [6-10] and sliding mode
controller [4,5] have been used to improve performance of the
active filters. However, most of these control techniques
include a number of transformations and are difficult to
implement [10].
In APF design and control, the instantaneous reactive power
theory may not be valid for application of compensation
current for unbalanced and/or distorted mains voltage in most
of time and most of industry power systems [1]. Thus the
synchronous d-q-0 reference frame theory has been applied in
the control of three-phase active power filters. The proposed
control algorithm gives adequate compensating current
reference even for non ideal voltage system. Thus this paper
presents a new technique with synchronous d-q-0 reference
frame theory as a suitable method to the analysis of the control
of APF in the non-linear three-phase systems. The output of
the artificial neural network (ANN) is used to generate the
reference currents of APF. The basic objective of this control is
to provide a very precise solution to get the reference current
even under unbalanced conditions of supply voltages. A
hysteresis controller based on PWM current control is used,
which is widely used due to its fast response. Then, simulation
results are presented followed by the conclusion. The proposed
scheme has been found feasible and excellent to the
instantaneous reactive power algorithms.
. ACTIVE POWER FILTER
The shunt active power filter (APF) is a device that is
connected in parallel to and cancels the reactive and harmonic
currents from a nonlinear load. The resulting total current
drawn from the ac main is sinusoidal. Ideally, the APF needs to
generate just enough reactive and harmonic current to
compensate the nonlinear loads in the line.
This paper subject is supported by Jiang'xi province special
innovation fund for university postgraduates. (YC07B010)
978-1-4244-1706-3/08/$25.00 2008 IEEE.
In an APF depicted in Fig.1, a current controlled voltage
source inverter is used to generate the compensating current
(
c
i ) and is injected into the utility power source grid. This
cancels the harmonic components drawn by the nonlinear load
and keeps the utility line current (i
s
) sinusoidal. A voltage-
source inverter having IGBT switches and an energy storage
capacitor on dc bus is implemented as a shunt APF. The main
aim of the APF is to compensate harmonics and reactive power.
Fig. 1 Basic Principle Block Diagram of APF

A variety of methods are used for instantaneous current
harmonics detection in active power filter such as FFT (fast
Fourier technique) technique, instantaneous p-q theory,
synchronous d-q reference frame theory or by using suitable
analog or digital electronic filters separating successive
harmonic compo components. In this paper, the synchronous d-
q-0 reference frame theory based algorithm is proposed.

.SYNCHRONOUS d-q-0 REFERENCE FRAME BASED
COMPENSATION
The three phase load currents shown in Fig.2 have already
been transformed to the synchronous reference frame (a-b-c to
d-q-0 transformation). A high pass filter is used to extract the
dc component representing the fundamental frequency of the
currents. The coordinate transformation from three-phase load
currents (
La
i ,
Lb
i ,
Lc
i ) to the synchronous reference frame
based load currents (
Ld
i ,
Lq
i ,
0 L
i ) is obtained as follows:

+
+
=

2 1 2 1 2 1
)] 3 2 ( sin[ )] 3 2 ( sin[ ) sin(
)] 3 2 ( cos[ )] 3 2 ( cos[ ) cos(
3
2
0


t t t
t t t
i
i
i
L
Lq
Ld

Lc
Lb
La
i
i
i
!
The high pass filter to remove the dc component of load
current should only be applied to the
La
i current. Q axis
current (
Lq
i ) is applied to inverse transformation to
compensate reactive power. The zero axis current (
0 L
i ) must
be used when the voltages are distorted or unbalanced and
sinusoidal current are desired. In this study, it is not
investigated. The dc side voltage of APF should be controlled
and kept at a constant value to maintain the normal operation
of the inverter. Because there is an energy loss due to
conduction and switching power losses associated with the
diodes and IGBTs in the inverter in APF, which tends to
reduce the value of Vc across capacitor C, a feedback voltage
control circuit needs to be incorporated into the inverter. The
difference between the reference value (V
ref
) and the feedback
value (V
c
), an error function first passes a PI regulator and the
output of the PI regulator is subtracted from the d axis value of
the harmonic current components. The synchronous d-q-0
reference frame based compensation algorithm, described
above, is depicted in Fig.2. The reference filter currents (
*
abc
i )
are determined negatives of the outputs of the inverse
transformation matrix (d-q-0 to a-b-c).
Fig.2 Synchronous d-q-0 Reference Frame Based Compensation Algorithm.

. SYSTEM DESCRIPTION AND OPERATION
As shown in Fig.1, the APF system consists of a three phase
voltage inverter with the current regulation, which is used to
inject the compensating current into the power line. The VSI
contains a three-phase isolated gate bipolar transistor (IGBT)
with anti-paralleling diodes. The VSI is connected in Parallel
with the three-phase supply through three inductors L
f1
, L
f2
and
L
f3
. The DC side of the VSI is connected to a DC capacitor, C,
that carries the input ripple current of the inverter and the main
reactive energy storage element. The DC capacitor provides a
constant DC voltage and the real power necessary to cover the
losses of the system. The inductors L
f1
, L
f2
and L
f3
perform the
voltage boost operation in combination with the capacitor, and
at the same time act as the low pass filter for the AC source
current. Then the APF must be controlled to produce the
compensating currents i
f1
, i
f2
and i
f3
following the reference
currents
*
1 f
i ,
*
2 f
i and
*
3 f
i through the control circuit.
The representation of a three-phase voltages and currents of
the VSI in Fig.1 is as follows: the voltages V
f1
, V
f2
and V
f3
supplied by the inverter as a function of the capacitor voltage,
V
c
, and the state of the switches G
1
, G
3
and G
5
are:

5
3
1
3
2
1
2 1 1
1 2 1
1 1 2
6
G
G
G
V
V
V
V
C
f
f
f
?
Where G
1
, G
2
and G
3
represents three logic variables of the
three legs of the inverter respectively. The inverter conduction
state is represented by these logics. Then the APF currents can
be written as:
1 1
1
1 f S
f
f
V V
dt
di
L = 3
2 2
2
2 f s
f
f
V V
dt
di
L = +
3 3
3
3 f s
f
f
V V
dt
di
L =
Where i
f1
, i
f2
and i
f3
are APF currents and V
s1
, V
s2
and V
s3
are
the supply voltages. The voltage in the DC capacitor can be
calculated from the APF currents and switching function as
follows:
] [
1
3 5 2 3 1 1 f f f c
i G i G i G
c
V + + =

b
The set point of the storing capacitor voltage must be greater
than the peak value of the line neutral mains voltage in order to
be able to shape properly the mains currents.
. PROPOSED CONTROL METHOD WITH ANN
This method is based on the recovering of the fundamental
active phase currents in the load. Once these currents are
obtained, they are subtracted from the total load currents to get
the desired reference waveform. Assume that the nonlinear
load current can be represented as:

=
+ + + =
2
1 1
) sin( cos sin sin cos
n
n n l
t n i t i t i i
) ( ) ( ) ( t i t i t i
h q p
+ + = 7
Where, i
p
(t) represents the active current, i
q
(t) represents the
reactive current and i
h
(t) represents the sum of all harmonic
currents. If the SAF can generate i
f
(t) which is equivalent to
i
q
(t)+i
h
(t), the mains only needs to supply the active current i
p
(t), which is a sine wave and in phase with the supply voltage
V
s
(t). Eq. (7) becomes:
) sin( ) cos( ) ( ) ( ) ( ) (
1
t I t i t i t i t i
L p L f
=
Where, sin (t) =
m s
V V 8
) ( ) ( ) ( t WV t i t i
s L f
=
"h,
M
V I W ) cos(
1
= 9
With the result of the calculation for W, the reference current
of the APF is easy to be calculated which changes according to
the nonlinear load current and the supply voltage. The
calculation of W is based on neural network. The basic
principle diagram of this control algorithm is shown in Fig.3.
) (t i
L
) (t i
p
) (t V
S
Fig.3. Basic Principle Diagram of Proposed Method.

The ANN in Fig.3 consists of a neuron that is an adaptive
linear element. The weigh of the neuron is equivalent W and
the bias is equivalent to zero. The input of the system is the
supply voltage V
s
(t). The output of the ANN is fundamental
active current i
p
(t) and the output of the system is the APF
reference current i
*
f
. According to Widrow-Hoff learning rule,
the update weight equation is as follows:
) 1 ( ) 1 ( ) ( + = n V i n W n W
s fr
!0)
Where, the term ) 1 ( n V i
S fr
represents the change of
weight.
) ( ) ( ) ( ) ( n V n W n i n i
s L fr
= 11
With Eqs. (10) and (11), the proposed control method for a-
phase is designed, as shown in Fig. 4.
S
V
p
i
L
i *
f
i
1
z

1
z

Fig.4. Proposed Control Method for A- phase
The neural network learning and training by Widrow-Hoff
learning rule is used to obtain the weight (W). Then the APF
reference current can be calculated from Eq.(11). After
calculating the reference current for the APF, the hysteresis
current controller has been presented to provide the signals
pulses of the VSI that controlled APF currents.
.HYSTERESIS CURRENT CONTROLLER
Hysteresis current controller with fixed band derives the
switching signals of the inverter from the comparison of the
current error to keep the current within the hysteresis band.
Then the APF reference currents
*
1 f
i ,
*
2 f
i ,
*
3 f
i compared with
APF feedback currents
1 f
i ,
2 f
i ,
3 f
i and the error signals are
operated by the hysteresis current controller to generate the
firing pulses which activate the inverter power switches in a
manner that reduces the current error. Let
b
h be the width of
the hysteresis band around respective phase APF currents, then
the equation for the fixed band is as follows:
) sin(
max 1
t i i
f
=

12
b f up
h i i + =

1
13
b f low
h i i =

1
14
Where, i
up
is the upper band and i
low
is the lower band. If the
APF current feedback i
f1
> ) (
*
1 b f
h i + , and G
1
=-1, which
means that the inverter output voltage is negative, in order to
keep the current within the hysteresis band. If the APF current
feedback i
f1
< ) (
*
1 b f
h i , G
1
= 1, which means that the
inverter output voltage switches to positive, in order to increase
the actual current. Similarly, the switching logics of other two-
phase G3, G5 are derived.
. SIMULATION RESULTS AND DISCUSSIONS
A number of simulation results with different operating
conditions were developed. In Fig. 5, APF is connected in
parallel with nonlinear load. Then, the three-phase controlled
rectifier with resistive load has to be compensated by the APF.
t
i
Fig.5. APF Connected in Parallel with Nonlinear Loads
In order to limit maximum slope of the rectifier current, a
smoothing inductor, L
r
, has been inserted before the rectifier. It
can also prevent the inverter saturation even in correspondence
of rectifier commutations. Since the compensation of the filter
depends upon the firing angle () of the rectifier, two operative
conditions have been considered. The uncontrolled rectifier is
the first case, while the second one is the controlled rectifier
with firing angle =40 . The parameters of system are
reported in Table1.
Table 1 Parameters of Active Power Filter
ASimulation with uncontrolled rectifier (=0)
The simulation results in steady state operation are presented.
Fig. 6 shows the performance of the APF system using artificial
neural network (ANN) controller. Waveform of the source
current without APF is shown in Fig.6 (a).The capacitor
voltage superimposed to its reference is shown in Fig.6(d). It is
noticed that the supply current in phase with the supply voltage
and the capacitor voltage follow its reference. Fig.6 shows the
performance of the APF using ANN algorithm. The source
current with the supply voltage is shown in Fig.6(b). Fig. 6(c)
shows the compensation current. This figure indicates that the
supply current is in phase with supply voltage. In order
evaluate the good performance of the control, the total
harmonic distortion (THD) is calculated for the source current
before and after compensating. The calculation shows that
THD improved from 24.04% without the APF 2.9156% for
using ANN control with the APF. The distortion in supply
current with ANN is little.
B. Simulation with firing angle (=40)
The simulation results in case of steady state operation with
static load when =40 are presented. Fig.7 shows the
simulation waveforms of the source current without APF, the
source current with APF superimposed to the supply voltage,
the APF current and the capacitor voltage using ANN
controller. The final values of THD of supply current before
and after compensating are listed in Table2. The supply current
has improved significantly when using the ANN algorithm.
Table 2 Source Current Total Harmonic Distortion: THD
(a)
(b)
(c)
(d)
Fig.6 Simulation Results of Proposed APF Using ANN
(a).Source Current without Filter (b). Source Current and Source Voltage
(c). Compensation Current. (d). Capacitor Voltage with its Reference
(a)
b
Fig.7. Simulation results of proposed APF using ANN.
(a) Source Current and Source Voltage. (b) Compensating Current.
. CONCLUSION
This paper demonstrates an artificial neural network (ANN)
current controller and its performance and the validity for
active power filters. Its control scheme using three independent
hysteresis current controllers has been implemented. The
operation and modeling of the APF have been described. The
results of simulation are found quite satisfactory to eliminate
harmonics and reactive power components from utility current,
which improves the input power factor.
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BIOGRAPHIES
Wenjin Dai was born in Nanchang City of Jiangxi Province in China, on
June 20, 1948. He graduated from the Department of Electrical Engineering of
Tsinghua University in Beijing. From that time, he has been working in the
Department of Electrical Automatic Engineering of Nanchang University in
Nanchang. He is a professor and the dean of the department. He is a senior
member of China Electro technical Society (CES) and Chinese Society for
Electrical Engineering (CSEE).He mainly research for electric drive and
control system.
E-mail:dwj480620@yahoo.com.cn
Yongtao Dai was born in Tieling City of Liaoning Province in China, on
May 9, 1978.He is the graduate student of Power Electronic and Electric Drive
under Professor Dais supervision. He mainly study in electrical power system
and control engineering .
E-mail:dytnc2007@126.com