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Simulation and Analysis of a Three-phase Shunt Active Power Filter

Article · December 2020

DOI: 10.36785/jaes.102457

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Journal of Applied and Emerging Sciences Vol (10), Issue (02)

https://doi.org/10.36785/BUITEMS.JAES.457

Simulation and Analysis of a Three-phase Shunt

Active Power Filter
Asad Saleem, Jawad Zia, Muhammad Talha Ahmad, * Saad Ullah Khan,
Shahid Hussain Abbassi

Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, Air University, Islamabad, Pakistan.

* Corresponding Author Email: saadullah@mail.au.edu.pk

Abstract- This paper presents the simulation-based study and results of a three-phase shunt active power filter (SAPF) for power quality
improvement. The power quality of the power systems is degraded because of the presence of non-linear loads at the consumer end. The
SAPF can reduce the impact of harmonics caused by the non-linear loads. The analyzed SAPF system is modeled and simulated using
MATLAB-Simulink workspace. The ultimate goal of this study is to improve the total harmonic distortion of the system as per the
standards defined by IEEE-519.

Keywords- Power Quality Improvement, Reactive Power Compensation, Shunt Active Power Filter (SAPF), Total Harmonic Distortion
(THD) Reduction.
technique used for reference current generation and the control
Date Received 20-11-2020 methodology used to insert the required compensation current
Date Accepted 01-12-2020 back into the system.
Date Published 18-12-2020 The possible approaches that can be used by SAPF are based
either on time-domain techniques such as Hysteresis current
control technique, PI-control, sliding mode control or the fre-
I. INTRODUCTION quency domain methods that include fast fourier transform
In the electrical power industry, we are significantly concerned (FFT), discrete fourier transform (DFT), and recursive discrete
with power quality as it helps us conclude how efficiently the fourier transform (RDFT). However, frequency domain based
electric power is utilized by the load. Poor power quality causes methods demand huge memory, much more computation
power loss, harmonic generation due to non-linearities, and a power, and the results for transient condition lack precision. On
reduction in the efficiency and life span of the electric equip- the other side, the time-domain techniques are easy to imple-
ment used in the power systems. In this era, for efficient power ment and understand, require less calculation, and are widely
control, power electronic devices are used that are non-linear in adopted for generating the reference current. Among them, hys-
behavior and generate harmonics in the power system. Harmon- teresis control is mostly used by SAPF [4], [5].
ics affects the power system in various ways such as excessive
heating of capacitors that are used for power factor improve- II. SHUNT ACTIVE POWER FILTER (SAPF)
ment, overheating of transformer and motors, and problems in SAPF is adaptable to any change in the sinusoidal waveform by
generating units while synchronizing [1], [2]. comparing the load current and source voltages with the refer-
Before the advancements in the shunt active power filter ence current waveform, and then with the help of a power con-
(SAPF), passive filters (or LC-filters) were generally used to verter, it generates the ‘anti-harmonics’. By using SAPF; reac-
deal with the problems related to power quality. Some other tive power can also be compensated. SAPF is preferred over
drawbacks of passive filters are: bulkiness, provides only fixed passive filter because of its dynamic response as we don’t have
compensation, can only be designed and operated for a certain to redesign the whole filter according to change in load condi-
fundamental frequency. But because of the non-dynamic nature tions.
of passive filters, scientists and engineers made their effort in
developing more suitable solutions and they come up with A. Working of Shunt Active Power
SAPF using advanced control techniques. Some types of equip- The principle of the SAPF is that it detects the harmonics in the
ment other than active and passive filters used for power quality power system and then produces anti-harmonics, which are
improvement are Line reactors, isolation and phase-shifting equal to the harmonics in the magnitude present in the power
transformer, etc. [3]. line but 180º opposite in phase. SAPF is connected in parallel
The base of the SAPF is a PWM controlled voltage source to the non-linear load and helps in attaining only sinusoidal cur-
inverter (VSI) that is connected in parallel with the load, hence rent (fundamental component) at the receiving end. In figure 1,
called ‘Shunt Active Power Filter’. The primary elements of the SAPF is introduced in a circuit where iL is the load current, iS is
SAPF are VSI, a DC-Link Capacitor, and the implemented con-
trol circuitry. The efficiency of SAPF depends mainly upon the
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Journal of Applied and Emerging Sciences Vol (10), Issue (02)

the source current, and iF is the compensation current (or filter A. Alpha–Beta Transformation
current at the output of the power converter) [6]. The Clarke Transformation maps three-phase instantaneous
currents (ia, ib, and ic) and voltages (Va, Vb Vc) onto the α-β
frame to obtain Vα, Iα, Vβ, Iβ, V0, and I0. The Clarke Transfor-
mation of three-phase voltages and currents can be represented
in matrix form as [11]:
Vo  1/ 2 1/ 2 1/ 2  Va 
   
V   2 / 3  1 1/ 2 1/ 2  Vb  (1)
V   0 3 / 2  Vc 
   3/ 2
 i0  1/ 2 1/ 2 1/ 2  ia 
   
i   2 / 3  1 1/ 2 1/ 2  ib  (2)

i   0 3 / 2   ic 
Fig. 1. Single Line Diagram of Shunt Active Power Filter    3/ 2
One main advantage of using the α-β transformation that it
Voltages vS and VDC represent the measured source voltage separates the 0-sequence component of load current that will
and the voltage at the DC-side of the SAPF respectively. Using simplify the equations for further calculations. For this case, the
vS, VDC, and iL, the SAPF controller continuously generates the real and imaginary power components are given by:
reference current Iref in real-time.
 p  V V  i 
 q   V
SAPF can be subjected to two major parts: (3)
1) Power Circuit
    V  i 
2) Control Circuit
SAPF keeps the track of load current and also keeps on gen- Ideally, the only component of power demand by load should
erating the compensation current in real-time with the help of only be the average value of the instantaneous real power P avg
control techniques such as p-q theory, d-q trans-formation, Slid- from the source and all other power components, harmonic and
ing mode control method, unity power factor method, Algo- reactive, should be supplied or compensated by the SAPF. To
rithms based on DSP, etc. Among these, we will be utilizing p- find compensation current, in α-β coordinate, we will proceed
q theory along with Clarke Transformation and hysteresis band as [12], [13]:
current controller [7], [8], preg  k p (Vref  Vdc ) (4)

B. DC-Link Capacitor The value of px that defines the power to be compensated is

The DC-link capacitor has the following applications: given by [14]
1) It maintains a nearly constant DC-voltage with a very px  ( p  pavg )  preg
(5)
small ripple at the dc side of the VSI.
2) During the transient period, it serves as an energy stor-
qx  q (6)

age element to supply the real power demand of load Load currents can be used to retrieve the compensation current
from the source. in the 0-coordinate by the following expression:
iref  1  V V   px  (7)
  2 2   
iref  V  V V V   qx 
1
iref0  iL0  (ia  ib  ic ) (8)
3
The reference currents in the three-phase system (Irefa, Irefb, Irefc)
are recalculated by using the inverse Clarke Transformation to
the currents in the α-β coordinate system. [15]
irefa  1/ 2 1   iref 
0
    0 
 refb 
i  2 / 3 1/ 2 1/ 2 3 / 2  iref  (9)

    
Fig. 2. Shunt Active Power Filter (SAPF) Schematic
irefc  1/ 2 1/ 2  3 / 2  iref  
III. THE INSTANTANEOUS POWER THEORY / P-Q
B. Reference Current Generation Block
THEORY
The estimation of reference current is the most crucial step in
The p-q theory deals with the reactive and components of the which load currents and source voltages are measured and Clark
power and uses the Clarke Transformation, which is also known
Transformation is used. These quantities are mapped on a two-
as the α-β transformation [9], [10].
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Journal of Applied and Emerging Sciences Vol (10), Issue (02)

axis frame of reference. Also, real and reactive powers are cal- B. Circuit Parameters
culated by these components by the formulas discussed earlier. The values of the components used in the power and control
After that, the harmonic and reactive components of the power circuits are given in Table I:
are separated by using a low-pass filter. Only those components TABLE I
of power are considered by the SAPF that are responsible for System and component parameters
the harmonics and power loss at the inverter, not the actual
power demand of the connected non-linear load. [5] Phase to Phase RMS Voltage 400 V
Fundamental Frequency 50 Hz
C. Hysteresis Band Current Controller Resistance of Coupling Inductor 50 m
Hysteresis current control is an efficient method to control the Inductance of Coupling Inductor 5 mH
DC-Link Capacitor (each) 470 µF
output of an inverter. It helps to keep the output current close to
Resistance of Non-Linear Load 1k Ohm
the reference current waveform by comparing continuously and Inductance of Non-Linear Load 100 mH
eliminating the error. At the point when values of actual current
Icomp exceeds the reference current Iref, the comparators control V. SIMULATION RESULTS OF THREE-PHASE SAPF
flags in such a way to diminish the source current and keep it
within the defined band. The same thing happens vice versa In this model, the most important block is the “Reference Cur-
when the current is falling below the lower defined limit of the rent Generation Block” The reference current generated by this
hysteresis band. The error is treated by the HBCC to generate block is compared against the compensating current in the
the gating sequence for the switches of VSI. The SAPF will “Hysteresis Band Current Controller” block to generate the gat-
generate output such that the current will become sinusoidal and ing sequence that is being provided to “3-Phase Inverter”. The
the harmonic current components are compensated [16], [17]. measured capacitor voltage from this block is then fed to the
“P-loss Calculation” block to keep it constant using a PI-
controller using a reference voltage.

Fig. 3. Block Diagram Hysteresis Current Control

Hysteresis band current control technique is given preference

because its implementation is easy and not expensive, also its
dynamic response is excellent. However, in this control tech-
Fig. 4. Simulink Model of Three-Phase SAPF
nique, it is absurd to expect to fix the commutation frequency.
In our case, this inconvenience is minor. The current controllers
dependent on this strategy are presently utilized as a standard in
most current control systems [18].
D. P-Loss Calculation Block
The difference between the voltage across DC-Link Capacitor
Vcap and Vref is fed to a PI-controller to keep Vcap constant. As
the DC-link capacitor is supposed to provide the real power dif-
ference between load and the source during transients while act-
ing as an energy storage component. P loss is the real power cal-
culated to cater to switching-losses at the inverter [5].
Fig. 5. Source Voltage, Source Current, Compensating Current, Load current
IV. SYSTEM PARAMETERS respectively
In this section, we will be discussing the circuit parameters and
components used e.g. Non-linear load, DC-link Capacitor,
MOSFET based Inverter, etc. [19]
A. Non-Linear Load
To have non-sinusoidal current components (harmonics) in the
power line, we utilized a bridge rectifier with an RL branch in
parallel having a resistance of 1k Ohm capable of holding 100W
of power and inductor of 100mH inductance.

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Journal of Applied and Emerging Sciences Vol (10), Issue (02)

Fig. 6. Gating Sequence

In figure 5, the waveform of the various currents and source

voltage involved in the schematic. Figure 6 shows the gating
sequence. In Figure 7, the waveform of the DC-Link capacitor
voltage and current are shown:

Fig. 7. Voltage and Current Waveform of DC-Link Capacitor

In figure 8, the FFT-Analysis of Load Current. A high value of

47% has been measured for the non-linear load.

Fig. 9. FFT-Analysis of Source Current

VI. CONCLUSION
We simulated three-phase SAPF in Simulink and we success-
fully managed to improve THD% to a significant level. Also,
confining THD% close to 5% as per the IEEE-519 standard. By
having a comparative FFT-Analysis of load and source cur-
rents, we can easily see that the magnitude of the harmonics
current components is significantly reduced. Not only the THD,
but PF is also improved as these systems compensate for the
reactive power. The simulated system is flexible and its re-
sponse is dynamic enough to adjust itself as per the change in
load, and its power demand. In the end, we can conclude that
SAPF is an effective solution for the mitigation of harmonics
present in power systems by improving the THD% and also the
PF.

Fig. 8. FFT-Analysis of Load Current

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