Gazi University Journal of Science

GU J Sci
23(2):177-186 (2010) www.gujs.org

Simulation of The DC Capacitor Voltage Controlled

Single Phase Shunt Active Power Filters for Power
Quality Improvement

Đlhami ÇOLAK1♠, Ramazan BAYINDIR1, Orhan KAPLAN1

1
Gazi Electrical Machines and Energy Control (GEMEC) Group, Gazi University, Faculty
of Technical Education, Electrical Education Department, 06500 Ankara Turkey

Received: 21.76.2009 Revised: 25.11.2009 Accepted: 23.12.2009

ABSTRACT
In this paper, a new algorithm has been introduced to regulate the DC capacitor voltage in single phase shunt active
power filters to supply converter losses over the grid. In the system, the DC busbar voltage cannot be kept stable
due to converter losses. The variation in DC busbar voltage decreases the power supplied by an active power filter.
Conventionally, the voltage of a DC capacitor is regulated with a PI controller to overcome this problem. In this
study, a new algorithm has been introduced to compensate for converter losses in the grid. According to this
algorithm, converter losses are calculated by comparing the real average active power and the reference average
active power of the converter at the fundamental frequency. The power losses calculated have been added to
average active power of the load and then the power losses consumed by converter have been supplied from the
grid. The executed simulation results demonstrate the simplicity, effectiveness and low cost of the new algorithm.

Key Words: Shunt active filter, Harmonics, DC voltage control.

1. INTRODUCTION limited to a few harmonics and they can cause

resonance in the power system. Addition, passive
Local and industrial loads such as power electronic filters have the drawback of bulky size [5]. The
equipment and non-linear electronic devices cause a alternative technique to prevent harmonics and
type of voltage and current waveform distortion in compensate for reactive power is a shunt active power
power systems called as “harmonics” [1]. Harmonics filter in power systems.
cause several problems in consumer products and in
power systems, such as higher losses, capacitor bank There are various studies on three and single phase
failure, extra neutral current, low power factor, shunt active power filters [6-14]. The studies focused on
shortened usage time of electronics equipment, errors the calculation of reference compensation currents,
on zero crossing sensitive control systems and current control and regulation of DC capacitor voltage.
resonance [2-4]. Calculation of reference current of the single phase
shunt active power filter was presented by H.L. Jou et
Conventionally LC passive filters are used to reduce to al. [6]. In this study a PI controller was used for the
effects harmonics is due to their simple structure and regulation of DC capacitor voltage. C.Y. Hsu et. al.
low cost. However, effectiveness of passive filters is performed a technique to provide regulation of DC
♠
Corresponding author, e-mail: [email protected]
178 GU J Sci, 23(2):177-186 (2010)/ Đlhami ÇOLAK1♠, Ramazan BAYINDIR1, Orhan KAPLAN1

capacitor voltage in a single phase shunt active power DC capacitor. So, a new algorithm has been proposed.
filter [7]. This technique decreased fluctuations of DC The algorithm proposed determines the converter losses
capacitor voltage, but requires complex calculations. In by comparing reference average active power of
“Least Compensation Current Control Method” compensation and real average active power of
introduced by L. Zhou and Z. Li, the reference compensation at the fundamental frequency. The
compensation current for a single phase active power determined power losses are added to the average active
filter was calculated [8]. The initial value of the power of the load and then the power losses consumed
fundamental frequency of the load current’s active by the converter are supplied over the grid. The
component causes a time delay in the calculation. S. simulation data used to design the active power filter
Buso et. al. demonstrated that hysteresis current control were achieved using MATLAB Simulink Toolbar.
provided better results than linear current control or
deadbeat control for active power filters [9]. W. Shireen 2. DEFINITION OF SYSTEM AND
has proposed a technique to prevent converter losses CALCULATION OF REFERENCE
over the DC capacitor and to regulate DC capacitor COMPENSATION CURRENT
voltage [10]. In the studies done previously a PI was Fig.1 shows the power system connected to a non-linear
used controller for DC capacitor voltage. Furthermore, load and a single phase shunt active power filter. The
DC capacitor voltage was regulated with fuzzy logic in Single phase shunt active power filter consists of a DC
[15]. However the design of PI controller parameters capacitor located in the DC busbar as an energy storage
and control rules for fuzzy logic circuits can be element, a H-bridge converter and a filter inductor (Lc)
determined only through complex and quite difficult to smooth the switching ripples and to limit the
processes. converter current.
This study is focused on regulation of DC capacitor
voltage and the prevention of converter losses over a

Figure 1. Non-linear load and a single phase shunt active power filter.
If the voltage of the grid is a pure sinusoidal wave form, ∞
the instantaneous value of the voltage can be
represented as Eq.1.
i L (t ) = ∑ in sin(nωt − θ n ) (2)
n =1
v s (t ) = v s sin(ωt ) (1) Eq.2 can be expressed as Eq.3
Non-linear load demands current contain harmonics ∞
from the grid. This current can be described as in Eq.2. i L (t ) = i1 sin(ωt − θ1 ) + ∑ in sin(nωt − θ n )
n=2
1 2 (3)
 GU J Sci, 23(2):177-186 (2010)/ Đlhami ÇOLAK1♠, Ramazan BAYINDIR1, Orhan KAPLAN1 179

The first part is the fundamental component of the load of the load current has been supplied from the grid
current and the second part is the harmonic component. while the harmonics and reactive component demanded
The active power filter provides both harmonic by the load is being provided by the active power filter.
elimination and reactive power compensation of the This sharing of the load current is depicted in Figure 2.
load current. In another words, only the real component

Figure 2. Sharing of the load current.

In Figure 2, i s ( t ) is the active component of the load If the active component of the fundamental load current
is calculated, the compensation current needed for
current which is in phase with the voltage of the grid at switching signals can be found by subtracting the total
the fundamental frequency. ic ( t ) is the compensation current from the active component. The magnitude of
the active component of the fundamental load current
current and i L ( t ) is the total current demanded by the can be obtained from the average active power of the
load. load. Instantaneous power demanded from the load is
formulated as in Eq.5.
i L (t ) = i s (t ) + i c (t ) (4)
p L (t ) = v s (t ).i L (t ) (5)
Eq.5 is explained as Eq.6
∞
p L (t ) = v s .i1 sin 2 (ωt ). cos θ1 + v s .i1 sin(ωt ). cos(ωt ). sin θ1 + ∑ vs sin(ωt ).in sin(nωt − θ n ) (6)
n=2

1 2 3

The first term is the active power of load current at the The second term is the reactive power of the load
fundamental frequency and it must be provided by the current at the fundamental frequency and the third term
supply. is the power constituted by harmonics. These two
powers are provided by the active power filter.
p *s (t ) = v s .i1 sin 2 (ωt ). cos θ1 (7)

∞
pc* (t ) = v s .i1 sin(ωt ). cos(ωt ). sin θ1 + ∑ vs sin(ωt).in sin(nωt − θ n ) (8)
n=2

The average active power of the load can be calculated T

1
at the fundamental frequency as Eq.9 and Eq.10. Ps* =
T ∫ p L (t )dt (9)
0
180 GU J Sci, 23(2):177-186 (2010)/ Đlhami ÇOLAK1♠, Ramazan BAYINDIR1, Orhan KAPLAN1

v .i . cosθ1 The reference compensation current of the converter is

Ps* = s 1 = Vs .I1 cosθ1 (10) calculated by subtracting the instantaneous value of the
2
total active current from the total current demanded the
The total average active power which must be supplied by load as in Eq.14.
by the grid is equal to sum of average losses of the
converter and average active power of the load. So, ic* (t ) = i L (t ) − i s (t ) (14)
calculation of converter losses is very important.
3. THE CURRENT CONTROL
Ps = Ps* + Ploss (11) Various control techniques have been used to generate a
The magnitude of total active current which must be current reference in an active power filter. The most
supplied by grid can be calculated as Eq.12. predominant control techniques are hysteresis control,
PWM control, deadbeat control and linear control [9].
P Because of its simple and extremely robust structure,
I1 cos θ1 = s (12) hysteresis control has been the most widely used
Vs
technique a seen in literature. The switching signals are
The instantaneous value of this current is obtained by derived from the comparison of the current error with a
multiplying the magnitude of total active current with fixed hysteresis band in the basic implementation of the
sinus signal which is in phase with the grid voltage at hysteresis current controller. The basic block diagram
the fundamental frequency as in Eq.13. of the hysteresis current control technique is shown in
Figure 3.
i s (t ) = 2 .i1 cos θ1. sin(ωt ) (13)

Figure 3. Block diagram of hysteresis current control.

In this study, the hysteresis current control technique is DC capacitor voltage, thus increasing the cost of the
used to generate reference compensation current in an control system. Classic DC voltage control is given in
active power filter. The switching signals of the Figure 4.
converter indicated in Figure 1 are derived by following
rules;

a-) If ic < ( ic* − hb ) , then S1 and S4 switches are off

and S2 and S3 switches are on

b-) If ic > ( ic* + hb ) , then S1 and S4 switches are on

and S2 and S3 switches are off
4. THE PROPOSED CONTROL OF DC
VOLTAGE

The DC busbar voltage of the converter, vc ( t ) , cannot

be kept constant because of the power loss of the
converter [6]. DC link capacitor losses are combined,
which decreases the compensation power provided by Figure 4. Classical block diagram of DC busbar voltage
the active power filter. Moreover, DC voltage of the control.
capacitor fluctuates [10]. In general, this problem can In this paper, the new algorithm has been proposed to
be solved by controlling the voltage of the DC capacitor regulate the voltage of the DC capacitor. According to
with a PI controller. The PI controller output supplies a the new algorithm, the reference compensation current,
correction signal to compensate for converter losses.
This signal is added to the total active current. ic* ( t ) , does not contain the active current at
However, to determination of PI controller parameters fundamental frequency. Hence, reference average active
is quite difficult in non-linear systems [16]. In addition, *
power of the converter, Pc , must be equal to zero at the
the system requires an extra voltage sensor to determine
 GU J Sci, 23(2):177-186 (2010)/ Đlhami ÇOLAK1♠, Ramazan BAYINDIR1, Orhan KAPLAN1 181

fundamental frequency. This situation is shown in Eq. T

1
15.
T
Pc =
T ∫ vs (t).ic (t )dt ≠ 0 …(16)
0
1
Pc* =
T ∫ v s (t ).ic* (t ) dt = 0 …(15)
The difference between real and reference power of the
0 converter shows converter losses of the filter at the
fundamental frequency. The power losses of the
Similarly, real compensation current, ic ( t ) , generated converter must necessarily be supplied by the grid. The
by the switches, should not contain active current at the total average power required, which must be supplied
fundamental frequency. However, real average active by grid, will be calculated by adding the obtained
power of the converter is not equal to zero because of dissipation power value to the active power demanded
converter losses. by the load. The block diagram of proposed algorithm is
depicted in Figure 5.

Figure 5. Block diagram of the proposed algorithm.

The total average active power which must be supplied A simulation prototype design was built to compare the
by the grid, Ps , can be calculated by using Eqs. 17 and performance of the new algorithm for the DC voltage
controller with a conventional PI controller in an active
18. power filter. The application that contains nonlinear
load current has been developed in a
Ploss = Pc* − Pc …(17) Matlab/Simulink/simpower tool to prove the validation
of the proposed technique as shown in Figure 6. The
Ps = Ps* + Ploss …(18) circuit parameters are given in Table 1.

5. MODELING STUDIES
Table 1. The circuit parameters.
AC source voltage 220 V (RMS)
Vs
Fundamental frequency F 50 Hz

Source inductance Ls 1 mH

Load RL // C L RL // C L 20 Ω/1000 µF

DC bus capacitor C DC 660 µF

Filter inductor Lc 1.2 mH

182 GU J Sci, 23(2):177-186 (2010)/ Đlhami ÇOLAK1♠, Ramazan BAYINDIR1, Orhan KAPLAN1

Figure 6. Model circuit.

Figure 7 (a) illustrates the waveform of the load current and the load current THD ratio of a nonlinear load has
while the THD analysis of the load current is shown in been measured as 95.86%. The peak value of the load
Figure 7 (b). The load current has equal to the mains current has been measured as 69.8A with a 20Ω load
current before the connection of the active power filter resistor and a 1000µF load capacitor.

a) waveform of load current b) THD analysis

Figure 7. Waveform and THD analysis of load current.

Figure 8 depicts the comparison of the proposed outputs of compensation currents, ic* ( t ) , after the
controller algorithm and the conventional PI controller
connection of the active power filter to the system.
 GU J Sci, 23(2):177-186 (2010)/ Đlhami ÇOLAK1♠, Ramazan BAYINDIR1, Orhan KAPLAN1 183

b)
a) proposed control PI control
Figure 8. Waveform of compensation current.

The measured peak value of the mains current, i s ( t ) , from 95.86% to 3.63% by using the proposed controller
algorithm. The THD ratio obtained using a PI controller
with the proposed controller algorithm was 30.73A was 4.54%. The waveforms of the mains current
while it was 30.48A with a PI controller. The RMS obtained using the proposed algorithm and the PI
values of the mains current were 21.72 A in the controller is shown in Figure 9 (a) and Figure 9 b)
controller algorithm and 21.55A in the PI controller. respectively. The THD analysis and comparison are
The THD ratio of the mains current has been decreased depicted in Figure 10 (a) and Figure 10(b).

a) proposed control b) PI control

Figure 9. Waveform of mains current.

b)
a) proposed control PI control

Figure 10. THD analysis of mains current.

Figure 11 (a) Figure 11 (b) show the DC side capacitor control has a better overshoot and settling time
voltage with the proposed algorithm and with PI control compared to the proposed method, the proposed control
respectively. Table 2 compares the results of the has a better THD ratio result.
proposed control with a PI control. Although the PI
184 GU J Sci, 23(2):177-186 (2010)/ Đlhami ÇOLAK1♠, Ramazan BAYINDIR1, Orhan KAPLAN1

a) proposed control b) PI control

Figure 11. Voltage of DC capacitor.

Table 2. Results of comparison proposed control with PI control.

Control algorithm Overshoot tr (rising time) tset (settling time) THD

% (ms) (ms) %
PI 5 16 26 4.54

Proposed control 11.07 17 74 3.63

6. CONCLUSIONS control of DC capacitor processes. However, the main

difficulty in PI control is the definition of the
The harmonic contents seen are due to the effects of parameters. Moreover, the voltage of the DC capacitor
local and industrial loads which cause low power factor should be detected with a voltage sensor. In the
and losses in power systems. In this study, a new proposed method, capacitor voltage was maintained as a
technique has been proposed to regulate the DC voltage constant value without complex processes or an
of a capacitor and to compensate for converter losses additional voltage sensor. The simulation results
over the grid in a single phase active power filter of a obtained clearly show the effectiveness, simplicity and
converter which significantly solves power quality low cost of the proposed algorithms.
problems. In general, previous studies were based on PI
 GU J Sci, 23(2):177-186 (2010)/ Đlhami ÇOLAK1♠, Ramazan BAYINDIR1, Orhan KAPLAN1 185

Nomenclature

v s (t) = grid voltage

v s = peak value of grid voltage
Vs = rms value of grid voltage

T = period of the mains

θ n = phase of the nth − order harmonic of load current
θ1 = phase of the fundamental component of load current

in = peak value of nth − order harmonic of load current

i1 = peak value of the fundamental component of load current
I1 = rms value of the fundamental component of load current

i L ( t ) = load current
i s ( t ) = mains current
ic ( t ) = real compensation current

i*c ( t ) = reference compensation current

I cor = output of the PI controller

p L ( t ) = ins tan tan eous power of load

p*s ( t ) = ins tan tan eous active power of load

p*c ( t ) = ins tan tan eous power provided by active power filter

Ps* = reference average active power of load

Ps = real average active power of load

Pc* = reference average compensation power

Pc = real average compensation power

Ploss = average power loss of the converter

hb = hysteresis band
e( t ) = error value

C dc = DC capacitor
v dc ( t ) = DC capacitor voltage
Vdc = average voltage of DC capacitor

Vdcref = reference voltage of DC capacitor

Lc = filter inductor
Ls = source inductance

C DC = DC bus capacitor
186 GU J Sci, 23(2):177-186 (2010)/ Đlhami ÇOLAK1♠, Ramazan BAYINDIR1, Orhan KAPLAN1

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