New trends in active filters for improving power quality

Since their basic compensation principles were proposed around 1970, active filters have been studied by many researchers and engineers aiming to put them into practical applications. Shunt active filters for harmonic compensation with or without reactive power compensation, flicker compensation or voltage regulation have been put on a commercial base in Japan, and their rating or capacity has ranged from 50 kVA to 60 MVA at present. In near future, the term of active filters will cover a much wider sense than that of active filters in the 1970s did. The function of active filters will be expanded from voltage flicker compensation or voltage regulation into power quality improvement for power distribution systems as the capacity of active filters becomes larger. This paper describes present states of the active filters based on state-of-the-art power electronics technology, and their future prospects toward the 21st century, including the personal view and expectation of the author</p

Suppression of common-mode voltage in a PWM rectifier/inverter system

This paper proposes a PWM rectifier/inverter system capable of suppressing not only supply harmonic currents but also electromagnetic interference (EMI). An active common-noise canceler (ACC) developed for this system is characterized by sophisticated connection of a common-mode transformer which can compensate for common-mode voltages produced by both PWM rectifier and inverter. As a result, the size of the common-mode transformer can be reduced to 1/3, compared with the previously proposed ACC. A prototype PWM rectifier/inverter system (2.2 kW) has been implemented and tested. Some experimental results show reduction characteristics of the supply harmonic current and EMI</p

A 2-MHz 2-kW voltage-source inverter for low-temperature plasma generators: implementation of fast switching with a third-order resonant circuit

This paper presents a specially designed third-order resonant circuit intended to achieve fast switching operation for a voltage-source series-resonant inverter using four MOSFETs. The third-order resonant current superimposed on a sinusoidal load current helps to quickly charge or discharge the output capacitance of each MOSFET. This results not only in a reduction of the commutation period which is required to turn the MOSFET on and off, but also in an improvement of the displacement factor at the output of the inverter. Moreover, the third-order resonant circuit acts as a low-pass filter to suppress the parasitic oscillation between line inductance and stray capacitance. The viability and effectiveness of the third-order resonant circuit is verified by a 2 MHz 2 kW prototype inverter developed for a low-temperature plasma generator </p

The state-of-the-art of power electronics in Japan

Since the late 1950s, power electronics has been developing by leaps and bounds without saturation to become the key technology essential to modern society and human life as well as to electrical engineering. This paper mainly focuses on the state-of-the-art of power electronics technology and its medium to high-power applications because the author cannot survey the whole spectrum of power electronics ranging from a 5 W switching regulator to a 2.8 GW high-voltage DC transmission system now under construction in Japan. This paper also presents prospects and directions of power electronics in the 21st Century, including the personal views and expectations of the author</p

Control strategy and site selection of a shunt active filter for damping of harmonic propagation in power distribution systems

This paper deals with a shunt active filter which will be installed by an electric utility, putting much emphasis on the control strategy and the best point of installation of the shunt active filter on a feeder in a power distribution system. The objective of the shunt active filter is to damp harmonic propagation, which results from harmonic resonance between many capacitors for power factor improvement and line inductors in the feeder, rather than to minimize voltage distortion throughout the feeder. Harmonic mitigation is a welcome “by-product” of the shunt active filter, which comes from damping of harmonic propagation. This paper concludes that the shunt active filter based on detection of voltage at the point of installation is superior in stability to others, and that the best site selection is not the beginning terminal but the end terminal of the primary line in the feeder. Computer simulation is performed to verify the validity and effectiveness of the shunt active filter by means of an analog circuit simulator, which is characterized by installing it on a feeder of a radial distribution system in a residential area</p

Trends in active power line conditioners

Active power line conditioners, which are classified into shunt and series ones, have been studied with the focus on their practical installation in industrial power systems. In 1986, a combined system of a shunt active conditioner of rating 900 kVA and a shunt passive filter of rating 6600 kVA was practically installed to suppress the harmonics produced by a large capacity cycloconverter for steel mill drives. More than one hundred shunt active conditioners have been operating properly in Japan. The largest one is 20 MVA, which was developed for flicker compensation for an arc furnace with the help of a shunt passive filter of 20 MVA. In this paper, the term of “active power line conditioners” is used instead of that of “active power filters” because active power line conditioners would cover a wider sense than active power filters. The primary intent of this paper is to present trends in active power line conditioners using PWM inverters, paying attention to practical applications</p

New trends in active filters for power conditioning

Attention has been paid to active filters for power conditioning which provide the following multifunctions: reactive power compensation; harmonic compensation; flicker/imbalance compensation; and voltage regulation. Active filters in a range of 50 kVA-60 MVA have been practically installed in Japan. In the near future, the term “active filters” will have a much wider meaning than it did in the 1970s. For instance, active filters intended for harmonic solutions are expanding their functions from harmonic compensation of nonlinear loads into harmonic isolation between utilities and consumers, and harmonic damping throughout power distribution systems. This paper presents the present status of active filters based on state-of-the-art power electronics technology, and their future prospects and directions toward the 21st Century, including the personal views and expectations of the author</p

Utility applications of power electronics in Japan

Since the late 1950s, power electronics has been developing by leaps and bounds without saturation into the key technology essential to modern society and human life, as well as to electrical engineering. This paper is focused on utility applications of power electronics technology in Japan, and on the state of the art of power semiconductor devices for high power applications. For instance, attention is paid to a ±500 kV, 2.8 GW high-voltage DC transmission system under construction, and to 8 kV, 3.5 kA light-triggered thyristors used for constituting its thyristor valves. This paper also presents future prospects and directions of power electronics technology in the 21st century, including the personal views and expectations of the author</p

Control and analysis of a unified power flow controller

This paper presents a control scheme and comprehensive analysis for a unified power flow controller (UPFC) on the basis of theory, computer simulation and experiment. This developed theoretical analysis reveals that a conventional power feedback control scheme makes the UPFC induce power fluctuation in transient states. The conventional control scheme cannot attenuate the power fluctuation, and so the time constant of damping is independent of active and reactive power feedback gains integrated in its control circuit. This paper proposes an advanced control scheme which has the function of successfully damping out the power fluctuation. A UPFC rated at 10 kVA is designed and constructed, which is a combination of a series device consisting of three single-phase pulsewidth modulation (PWM) converters and a shunt device consisting of a three-phase diode rectifier. Although the dynamics of the shunt device are not included, it is possible to confirm and demonstrate the performance of the series device. Experimental results agree well with both analytical and simulated results and show viability and effectiveness of the proposed control scheme </p