Salem Rahmani

Correction to “Experimental Design of a Nonlinear Control Technique for Three-Phase Shunt Active Power Filter”

This paper presents a nonlinear control technique for a three-phase shunt active power filter (SAPF). The method provides compensation for reactive, unbalanced, and harmonic load current components. A proportional-integral (PI) control law is derived through linearization of the inherently nonlinear SAPF system model, so that the tasks of current control dynamics and dc capacitor voltage dynamics become decoupled. This decoupling allows us to control the SAPF output currents and the dc bus voltage independently of each other, thereby providing either one of these decoupled subsystems a dynamic response that significantly slower than that of the other. To overcome the drawbacks of the conventional method, a computational control delay compensation method, which delaylessly and accurately generates the SAPF reference currents, is proposed. The first step is to extract the SAPF reference currents from the sensed nonlinear load currents by applying the synchronous reference frame method, where a three-phase diode bridge rectifier with R-L load is taken as the nonlinear load, and then, the reference currents are modified, so that the delay will be compensated. The converter, which is controlled by the described control strategy, guarantees balanced overall supply currents, unity displacement power factor, and reduced harmonic load currents in the common coupling point. Various simulation and experimental results demonstrate the high performance of the nonlinear controller.

A Lyapunov-Function-Based Control for a Three-Phase Shunt Hybrid Active Filter

In this paper, an energy-based Lyapunov function control technique is developed for a three-phase shunt hybrid active filter (SH-AF) to compensate harmonics generated by nonlinear loads and is applied for balanced operation. The method provides compensation for harmonic load current components. The strategy determines the control law that makes the derivative of the Lyapunov function always negative for all values of the states. The dc bus voltage of the SH-AF is maintained to 50 V, which is significantly lower than that of the conventional hybrid active filter. The rating of the active filter in the SH-AF system is much smaller than the one used in the conventional shunt active power filter because the passive filter takes care of the major burden of compensation. The SH-AF performances, during both nominal and severe operating conditions, are then evaluated using a dSPACE DS1104 controller board, supported by a Matlab/Simulink Real-Time Workshop environment. A significantly high correlation between the experimental results and the theoretical model, implemented with Simulink/Matlab, is obtained.

A New Control Technique for Three-Phase Shunt Hybrid Power Filter

This paper presents a nonlinear control technique for a three-phase shunt hybrid power filter (SHPF) to enhance its dynamic response when it is used to compensate for harmonic currents and reactive power. The dynamic model of the SHPF system is first elaborated in the stationary ldquoabcrdquo reference frame and then transformed into the synchronous orthogonal ldquodqrdquo reference frame. The ldquodqrdquo frame model is divided into two separate loops, namely, the two current dynamic inner loops and the dc-voltage dynamic outer loop. Proportional-integral (PI) controllers are utilized to control the SHPF input currents and dc-bus voltage. The currents track closely their references so that the SHPF behaves as a quasi-ideal current source connected in parallel with the load. It provides the reactive power and harmonic currents required by the nonlinear load, thereby achieving sinusoidal supply currents in phase with supply voltages under dynamic and steady-state conditions. The SHPF consists of a small-rating voltage-source inverter (VSI) in series with a fifth-harmonic tuned LC passive filter. The rating of the VSI in the SHPF system is much smaller than that in the conventional shunt active power filter because the passive filter takes care of the major burden of compensation. The effectiveness of the control technique is demonstrated through simulation and experimentation under steady-state and dynamic operating conditions.

A Combination of Shunt Hybrid Power Filter and Thyristor-Controlled Reactor for Power Quality

This paper proposes a combined system of a thyristor-controlled reactor (TCR) and a shunt hybrid power filter (SHPF) for harmonic and reactive power compensation. The SHPF is the combination of a small-rating active power filter (APF) and a fifth-harmonic-tuned LC passive filter. The tuned passive filter and the TCR form a shunt passive filter (SPF) to compensate reactive power. The small-rating APF is used to improve the filtering characteristics of SPF and to suppress the possibility of resonance between the SPF and line inductances. A proportional-integral controller was used, and a triggering alpha was extracted using a lookup table to control the TCR. A nonlinear control of APF was developed for current tracking and voltage regulation. The latter is based on a decoupled control strategy, which considers that the controlled system may be divided into an inner fast loop and an outer slow one. Thus, an exact linearization control was applied to the inner loop, and a nonlinear feedback control law was used for the outer voltage loop. Integral compensators were added in both current and voltage loops in order to eliminate the steady-state errors due to system parameter uncertainty. The simulation and experimental results are found to be quite satisfactory to mitigate harmonic distortions and reactive power compensation.

A Hybrid Passive Filter Configuration for VAR Control and Harmonic Compensation

This paper proposes a novel topology for a three-phase hybrid passive filter (HPF) to compensate for reactive power and harmonics. The HPF consists of a series passive filter and a thyristor-controlled-reactor-based variable-impedance shunt passive filter (SPF). A mutual-inductance design concept is used to reduce the series passive filter inductance rating. The special features of the proposed HPF system are as follows: 1) insensitivity to source-impedance variations; 2) no series or parallel resonance problems; 3) fast dynamic response; and 4) significant size reduction in an SPF capacitor. The performance of the proposed HPF system is validated by simulation, as well as by experimentation, under different load conditions. Experimental and simulation results show that the proposed system can effectively compensate all voltage and current harmonics and reactive power for large nonlinear loads.

A comparative study of shunt hybrid and shunt active power filters for single-phase applications: simulation and experimental validation

The aim of this paper is to compare the performance of the single-phase shunt active power filter (SPSAPF) and the single-phase shunt hybrid power filter (SPSHPF) that adopt both an indirect current control scheme with a unipolar pulse width modulation (U-PWM) strategy. The SPSHPF topology includes, in addition to the components of the SPSAPF, a power factor correction capacitor connected in series with a transformer. The primary winding of the transformer is connected to the single-phase voltage-source inverter, which is the main part of the filter. The indirect current control technique that is implemented for both filters is based on extracting the source current reference from the distorted waveform of the load current. The U-PWM control technique is based on comparing simultaneously a triangular high frequency carrier signal with a slow-varying regulation signal and its opposite. The double comparison process results in the gate signals for the semiconductors. A laboratory prototype for each filter is built. It is demonstrated that the rating of the inverter used in the SPSHPF is three to four times lower than the one corresponding to the SPSAPF. In addition, the performance of the SPSHPF is found to be much better than that of the SPSAPF as far as the line current distortion is concerned.

Pinned mid-points multilevel inverter (PMP): Three-phase topology with high voltage levels and one bidirectional switch

High power applications need high efficiency devices to produce lower power losses and harmonics while meeting the limitation of voltage and current. Multilevel inverters generate smoother and higher voltage at the output with lower harmonics. They can deliver high power while using medium-voltage switches. In this paper a Pinned Mid-Points (PMP) multilevel inverter topology is introduced and studied which is derived from a Bidirectional Neutral Point Clamped (BNPC) three-level inverter. The proposed PMP multilevel inverter has fewer switches and clamping diodes than the Cascaded H-bridge (CHB) and Neutral Point Clamped (NPC) inverters, moreover it has less bidirectional switches in comparison with the BNPC. Moreover, it can be extended to three-phase inverter same as a NPC only using three legs and common DC link. A five-level inverter using proposed topology is validated by Matlab/SimPowerSystems. It shows the appropriate results of voltage and current as well as their THD%.

A series hybrid power filter to compensate harmonic currents and voltages

In this paper a series hybrid power filter (SHPF) to compensate harmonic currents and voltages at PCC is proposed. The SHPF consists of a small-rated series active power filter (SRSAPF) and a series tuned passive filter (STPF). This combination is suitable for compensating voltage type harmonics-producing load. The SHPF uses the synchronous rotating frame method, which detects both source current and load voltage harmonics. Simulation results using Power System Blockset Toolbox PSB of Matlab show the performance of the series hybrid power filter, and its capability to compensate for voltage type harmonics-producing load.

Comparison of fuzzy logic and proportional integral controller of voltage source active filter compensating current harmonics and power factor

This paper presents and compares the performance of two control techniques namely fuzzy logic FL and proportional integral PI applied to a voltage source inverter operating as an active power filter. The controllers permit to compensate harmonics and reactive power generated by the non-linear load simultaneously. This work is performed in order to make an accurate comparison of fuzzy logic controller and classical control technique such as PI controller. The fuzzy logic controller implemented uses Sugeno method, and is optimized by using adaptive neuro fuzzy inference system ANFIS. Steady state and transient performance are compared for different methods. The obtained results show the fuzzy logic controller is performing much better than the PI controller over a wide operating range.

Cascaded multilevel inverter with multicarrier PWM technique and voltage balancing feature

Multilevel inverters generate low harmonic waveforms at the output, which makes them suitable for high voltage energy conversion scheme to deliver efficient high power to the loads from renewable energy sources like photovoltaic systems which are penetrating to the electric grid nowadays, significantly. In this paper a single-phase hybrid multilevel inverter based on cascading full bridge and half bridge cells is introduced. Moreover the associated switching technique with multicarrier PWM is designed to generate five-level voltage at the output. As well, the designed switching technique allows the capacitors of the half bridge cell to have balanced voltage despite load changes. Furthermore, this study is extended to more cells using unequal DC sources to produce more voltage levels. Simulations have been performed on two and three cells to demonstrate the efficiency of the presented cascaded inverter with equal and unequal DC sources and switching technique.