Active Filters

Active filtering
• Active filtering is a matured technology that uses intelligent circuits to measure harmonics and take corrective
actions.
• Active filters use either the phase-cancellation principle by injecting equal but opposite harmonics, or they
inject/absorb current bursts to hold the voltage waveform within an acceptable tolerance of sinusoidal
• They are much more expensive than passive filters, but they have some great advantages.
• Like, they do not resonate with the system. Because of this advantage, they can be used in very difficult parallel
resonance spots where passive filters cannot operate successfully.
• They are very useful for large distorting loads fed from somewhat weak points on the power system.
• Also, they can be used for more than one harmonics at a time and are useful against other power quality problems
such as flickers.
• The main idea is to replace the missing sine wave portion in a nonlinear load.
• In an active filter, an electronic control monitors the line voltage and/or current, switching the power electronics
very precisely to track the load current or voltage and force it to be sinusoidal.
• Either an inductor is used to store up current to be injected into the system at the appropriate instant or a capacitor is
used instead. As a result, the load current is distorted as demanded by the nonlinear load but the current seen by the
system is much more sinusoidal.
• Active filters correct both harmonics and PF of the load.
• Active power filter (APF) is also called active power line conditioner (APLC), instantaneous reactive power
compensator (IRPC), and active power quality conditioner (APQC).
The working of APF
• The Figure shows the components of a typical APF system and their connections.
The compensation reference signal from the estimator drives the overall system
controller. This in turn provides the control for the gating signal generator. The
output of the gating signal generator controls the power circuit via a suitable
interface.
• Finally, the power circuit in the generalized block diagram can be connected in
parallel, series or parallel/series configurations depending on the interfacing
inductor/transformer used.
• An unfavorable but inseparable feature of APF is the necessity of fast switching of
high currents in the power circuit of the APF. An active power filter can be
considered as a compensator for power system harmonics. The working of active
power filter consists of mainly three stages.
• They are:
• 1. Signal conditioning 2. Derivation of compensating signal. 3. Generation of gating signal.
• Signal conditioning refers to the detection or sensing of harmonics in the
power distribution line. As shown in Figure, the reference signal to be
processed by the controller is the key component that ensures the correct
operation of APF.
• The reference signal estimation is initiated through the detection of
essential voltage/current signals to gather accurate system variables
information.
• The voltage and current variables in power system is sensed by using
potential transformers, current transformers, isolation amplifiers etc. The
voltage variables to be sensed are AC source voltage, DC-bus voltage of the
APF, and voltage across interfacing transformer.
• Typical current variables are load current, AC source current, compensation
current and DC-link current of the APF.
• Based on these system variables feedbacks, reference signals estimation in
terms of voltage/current levels are estimated in frequency-domain or time-
domain.
• The next stage is the derivation of compensating signal from the disrupted
wave consists of both fundamental wave and the harmonic content.
• It can be done by two different methods-frequency domain approach and
time domain approach. Frequency domain approach use Fourier
transformation method for this purpose. While Time domain approach
uses different methods like Instantaneous Reactive-Power Theorem,
Synchronous-Reference-Frame Theorem, Synchronous Detection Theorem,
Sine-Multiplication Theorem, notch filter method etc.
• The third stage is the generation of gating signal for harmonic suppression.
So many control techniques like space Vector PWM, repetitive control,
hysteresis current control, one-cycle control, dead-beat control, sliding
mode control, fuzzy control and the artificial neural network method have
been introduced and applied to various configurations of active power
filters. Gating signal generator in the general block diagram of APF is used
for this purpose.
Classifications of APF
• APF can be connected in several power circuit configurations as
illustrated in the block diagram
Shunt Active Power Filter
• This class of filter configurations is the most important and most widely used type in active
filtering applications. It is connected to the main power circuit, as shown in the single-line
diagram.
• The purpose is to cancel the load current harmonics fed to the supply. It can also contribute to
reactive-power compensation and balancing of three-phase currents. Parallel filters have the
advantage of carrying only the compensation current plus a small amount of active fundamental
current supplied to compensate for system losses. It is also possible to connect several filters in
parallel for higher currents, which makes this type of circuit suitable for a wide range of power
ratings.
Classification of Shunt Active Filters

• Shunt active power filters can be classified based on the type of converter used, topology and the number of
phases.
• The converter used in the SAPF can be either a current source converter or a voltage source converter.
• Different topologies of SAPF can be realized by using various circuits of VSCs.
• The third classification is based on the number of phases: single-phase two-wire, three-phase three-wire, and
three phase four-wire APF systems.
Converter Based Classification

• Two types of converters are used to develop APFs. Figure shows a SAPF using a current fed PWM (pulse-
width modulation) converter or a CSC bridge. It behaves as a non sinusoidal current source to meet the
harmonic current requirement of the nonlinear loads. A diode is used in series with the self commutating
device (IGBT) for reverse voltage blocking. However, GTO-based circuit configurations do not need the
series diode, but they have restricted frequency of switching. These CSC-based SAPFs are considered
sufficiently reliable, but have higher losses and require higher values of parallel AC power capacitors.
Moreover, they cannot be used in multilevel or multistep modes to improve the performance of SAPFs in
higher ratings.
• The other converter used in APF is a voltage-fed PWM converter or voltage source converter shown in
Figure. It has a self-supporting DC voltage bus with a large DC capacitor. It is more widely used because it is
lighter, cheaper, and expandable to multilevel and multistep versions to enhance the performance with lower
switching frequencies. It is more popular in UPS-based applications because in the presence of AC mains, the
same converter bridge can be used in SAPF to eliminate harmonics of critical nonlinear loads.
Topology Based Classification

• SAPFs can also be classified based on topology, namely, half-bridge topology, full- bridge topology and H-
bridge topology. Figures show these topologies of SAPFs. The VSC-based half-bridge topology of SAPFs
involves less number of solid-state devices and their control and hence is cheap and cost-effective. The VSC-
based full-bridge topology of SAPFs is considered ideal for three-phase three wire and three-phase four-wire
AC systems and it does not require transformers for isolation. The VSC based H-bridge topology of SAPFs
consists of single-phase full H-bridges with two legs and four switching devices with independent control of
each phase with unipolar switching to reduce the switching frequency and losses. Each H-bridge for each
phase of VSC-based SAPFs needs a separate transformer for isolation, voltage matching and reliability from
safety point of view, this is the most preferred configuration in SAPFs by the industries.
Supply System Based Classification

• This classification of SAPFs is based on the supply and/or the load system, namely, single-phase two wire,
three-phase three-wire, and three-phase four-wire systems. There are many nonlinear loads such as domestic
appliances connected to single-phase supply systems. Some three-phase nonlinear loads are without neutral
terminal, such as ASDs, fed from three- phase three-wire supply systems. There are many single-phase
nonlinear loads distributed on three-phase four-wire supply systems, such as computers and commercial
lighting Hence, these SAPFs may also be classified accordingly as two-wire, three-wire and four-wire SAPFs.
• Two-Wire SAPFs:
• Single-phase two-wire SAPFs are used in both converter configurations, namely, current source converter
PWM bridge with inductive energy storage element and voltage source converter PWM bridge with
capacitive DC bus energy storage element to form two- wire SAPF circuits. In some cases, active filtering is
included in the power conversion stage to improve input characteristics at the supply end.
Three-Wire SAPFs:
• Solid-state power converters have been widely used in three-phase three-wire nonlinear loads such as ASDs
and lately many other electrical loads have also incorporated active power filters in their front design.
• SAPFs are developed in current fed type or voltage fed type with single-stage or multistep/multilevel and
multi series configurations. Figure shows a typical VSC-based three-wire SAPF. SAPFs are also designed
with three single phase APFs with isolation transformers for proper voltage matching, independent phase
control and reliable compensation with unbalanced systems.
Four-Wire SAPFs:

• A large number of single-phase loads may be supplied from three-phase AC mains with a neutral conductor.
They cause excessive neutral current, harmonics and reactive power burden and unbalanced currents. To
reduce these problems, four-wire SAPFs have been used in four-wire distribution systems. They have been
developed as active shunt mode with current fed converter and voltage fed converter