World Applied Sciences Journal 4 (1): 124-132, 2008

ISSN 1818-4952
IDOSI Publications, 2008

Nonlinear Sliding Mode Control Design for Shunt Active Power Filter
with the Minimization of Load Current
Majid Nayeripour and Taher Niknam
Department of Electrical Engineering, Shiraz University of Technology, Shiraz, Iran
Abstract: This paper proposes a new method of sliding mode base controller for shunt active power filter
to compensate the harmonic currents of a load. In this controller there isn't any need to PI DC voltage
controller to regulate the DC capacitor voltage of shunt active power filter. In this method, first the
reference currents of shunt active power filter that should be tracked to reduce or eliminate the harmonic
currents of line and power loss are derived based on Lagrange function. In the Lagrange function, the active
components of load currents are minimized with the constraint of three-phase reactive power to zero. Then,
three sliding surfaces are defined such that three-phase currents and voltage of capacitors in shunt active
power filter are gone to reference values. The coefficients of sliding surfaces are derived such that the
sliding surfaces go to zero with fast dynamic and more error reduction than conventional sliding mode
controller.
Key words: Shunt active power filter harmonic inverter sliding mode control

INTRODUCTION
Nonlinear loads create current harmonics in the
case of sinusoidal or non-sinusoidal voltages. These
current harmonics cause to voltage harmonic drops and
power loss in the impedance of lines [1]. Active and
Passive filters can be used to comp ensation, if these
harmonics or their powers are known.
Passive filters are designed for the elimination of
one current harmonic however; the active filters are
able to compensate total current harmonics.
Current harmonics of a load can be generated by an
active filter comprised of a PWM inverter and a DC bus
capacitor. The capacitors of this bus are charged
through anti parallel diodes with switches, which define
reference capacitor voltages (Fig. 1).
Various methods are presented in the literature to
control of a shunt active filter.
In [2] two sliding surfaces, corresponding to d-axis
and q-axis current errors are used to trace the reference
currents for compensation of current harmonics by
three-phase active power filter with sliding mode
controller.
In [3] the compensation of load current harmonics
is performed using a three phase shunt active power
filter with a null wire and sliding mode controller. In
that paper dq0-axis currents are chosen as the state
variables and three sliding surfaces are defined
corresponding to the errors of these state variables.

Although the actual dqo-axis currents follow their

reference currents, there are no controls on the voltage
of capacitors, which may be lead to large capacitor
voltage fluctuation and instability.
In this paper, two different methods of
compensation are discussed using the definition of
power in three-phase systems. Next with the
minimization of active component of load current, the
reactive component of power is eliminated and power
transfer is improved. Finally with a modified sliding
mode controller, three sliding surfaces are defined such
that the error of three-phase currents and voltage of DC
capacitors will be go to zero.

u2

u1
i fc

u3

L
R

VC 1

Null Wire

i fb

i fa

u4

u5

VC 2

u6

u6

u1

I abc

Vabc

V1abc

Vabc

Fig. 1: Three-phase shunt active power filter

Corresponding Author: Majid Nayeripour, Department of Electrical Engineering, Shiraz University of Technology, Shiraz,
Iran
124

World Appl. Sci. J., 4 (1): 124-132, 2008

POWER DEFINITIONS

D = S2 P 2 Q 2

In the sinusoidal voltage case, the instantaneous

power, active and reactive powers of a signal phase
linear load are defined as

[ 4]

It is clear that using of this method for active or

passive filters is not appropriate because the effect of
voltage and current harmonics with each other are not
considered [5].
In the time domain, the apparent power, active and
reactive powers are defined as:

p(t) = va (t)i a (t) = vm im sin( t)sin(t )

v i
= m m {cos cos(2t )}
2
vm i m
v i
P=
cos, Q = m m sin
2
2

(1)

S = VI
1
P = v(t)i(t)dt
T
Q = S 2 P2

The above equations for a three-phase linear load

with sinusoidal voltages are represented as:
p(t) = va (t)i a (t) + vb (t)i b (t) + vc (t)ic (t) = 3

v mi m
cos
2

v i
v i
P = 3 m m cos , Q= 3 m m sin
2
2

(5)

(6)

In this method, the part of instantaneous power

which doesn't contribute to active power is considered
as the reactive power. This paper uses the time domain
analysis to derive the reference currents.

(2)

POWER COMPENSATION
In this case the instantaneous power is time
independent and equal to average active power.
In the non-sinusoidal voltage case, the
instantaneous power for signal phase and three-phase
systems are defined as:
p(t) = v(t)i(t)
p(t) = va (t)i a (t) + v b(t)i b (t) + vc (t)i c (t)

In this paper, we use two methods for power

compensation
A. Compensation of power in dqo frame
B. Compensation with minimization of active
component of load current

(3)

In the first method, dqo component of voltage and

current can be obtained from abc-phase by the Clark [5]
transformation.

Average value of p(t) is defined as the active power

drawn from the source. The instantaneous power minus
the average power is the power that oscillates between
%
source and load (p)
In this case, power definitions can be considered in
the time or frequency domains.
In the frequency domain the rms value of voltage
and current, apparent power, active and reactive powers
are defined as respectively:
V=

I=

1
T

i q

2
i d =
3
i
o

In

1
1
2

1
2
3
2
1
2

1
2
i a
3
ib
2
i c
1
2

(7)

Phase voltages can be also transformed dqo-axis

values by similar equations.
The instantaneous power is equal to

2
2
v dt = Vn

1 2
I dt =
T

p(t) = va (t)i a (t) + vb (t)ib (t) + vc( t ) ic( t )

(4)

3
= (v did + vq iq ) + 3voi o = P + Po
2
3
p(t) = ( vdi d + vq iq ), p o (t) = 3voi o
2
1
3
%p = p(t)
p(t)dt, q(t) = (vdi q vq id )
T
2

S = VI
P = pn = Vn In cos n
Q = q n = Vn In sin n

In this method the reciprocal effects of harmonics

are not considered and for balancing of the powers, the
harmonic power is defined as:

125

1 ( v a (t) vb (t) ) i c (t) + ( vb (t) vc (t) ) ia (t)

3 + ( vc( t ) v a (t)) ib (t)

(8)

World Appl. Sci. J., 4 (1): 124-132, 2008

p(t) = va (t)i a (t) + v b(t)i b (t) + vc (t)i c (t)

We can rewrite the above equation as:

vq
p
3
q =
v
2 d

po
0

0 i q

0 i d

2v o i o

vd
v q
0

DYNAMIC EQUATION OF SHUNT ACTIVE

POWER FILTER AND CONTROLLER DESIGN

(9)

Figure 1 shows the topology of a three-phase shunt

active power filter. If we use the null wire, the zero
sequence current can be compensated by this null wire.
In the controller design it is assumed that the phase
voltages are symmetrical and if they are not
symmetrical, positive sequence of phase voltages and
reference currents can be determined with a Phase
Locked Loop (PLL) [6]. Control circuit contains the
sliding based on controller that uses three sliding
surfaces to track the three phase currents from their
references. Block diagram of this controller is
shown in Fig. 2.
To eliminate the harmonics of currents, the active
power filter currents (i fa ,i fb ,ifc ) should be following the
reference currents. Switching control variables
(ua ,u b ,u c ) , are defined such that if the upper switch is

% and p0
In this method one can compensate the p,q
% and
individually. For example, to compensate the p,q

p 0 the reference currents of active power filter in a

three-phase system without null wire should be:
~
i cq
2 / 3 vq vd p p
0
= 2
2 v v

q q
i cd vd + vq d

(10)

These reference currents in abc-phase will be:

ica
i =
cb
icc

0
1

2 1 3

3 2
2
1
3

2
2

1
2 i
cq
1
i cd
2
0
1
2

(11)

closed u=-1, if the lower switch is closed u=1 and if

both switches are open u=0.
Considering the state variables as:
X1 = ifa , X 2 = i fb
X 3 = i fc , X4 = vc1 ,

In the second method, each phase current is

decomposed into active and reactive components and
minimizes the Lagrange function as fallows:
i k = i wk + i k

K = a,b,c

(12)

L = (i a i a ) + (i b i b ) + (i c i c )
2

R
L

& 0
X
1
&
X2
& = 0
X
&3
X4 1
X&
5 2C1
1

2C 2

(13)

With the Constraint of:

(i a ,ib ,ic ) = v ai a + v bi b + vc ic = 0

(14)

1
2L (X4 + X5 )

X1
2C1

X1
2C 2

It will be leaded to:

ia i
v a
a
p(t)

i
=
i

v
b b
2
2
2 b
v
+
v
+
v
i
a
b
c v
c
ic c
i
wa
p(t)
i b = 2
2
2
va + vb + vc
ic

va

vb
v c

(17)

The state equations are shown in (18) and

summarized as (19) [7]:

Minimize:
2

X5 = vc2

(15)

R
L

0
1
2C1
1
2C2

R
L
1
2C1
1
2C2

1
2L
1
2L
1
2L
0
0

1
2L

1 &
X1
2L &
X2
1
& +
2L X3
&
X
4
0 &
X5

va
(X4 + X5 )
0

2L
u a L
1
0
(X 4 + X5 ) u b + v b
L
2L
uc
1
1
vc
X2
X1
2C 1
2C 3

1
1
X2
X3
2C 2
2C3

(18)

(16)

X = AX + B(X)u + C

126

(19)

World Appl. Sci. J., 4 (1): 124-132, 2008

1
1

& t = s1
(X4 + X5) +
X1 a sgn( a )
2L
2C1

In the design of controller for equation of (19),

three sliding surfaces based on PI controller input and
the error of capacitor voltage are defined in (20). In this
design, without any need to regulate the capacitor
voltage by PI controller, all state variables are gone to
zero.
= [ a

c ]T

+
X sgn( b ) +
X3 a sgn(c )
2C 2 a
2C 2

1
1
+ s 2
(X4 + X5 ) +
X2 b sgn( a )
2L
2C
2

(20)

a = s1( X1 X1 ) + I1 (X1 X1 )dt

+ s 4 (1 + sgnv a )(X 4 X4 ) m
+ s5 (1 s g n v a )(X5 X5 ) m
b = s2 (X 2X2) +I 2

m
(X2 X2 )dt +s6 (1+s g n v b (X4 X4 )
+s7 (1sgn vb )(X5 X5 ) m

+
X2 c sgn( b ) +
X3 c sgn(c ) 0
2C
2C
2

If we divide the first and second part of (24) by

( a sgn(a )) , we have :

c = s3 (X3 X3 )
+ I3 (X3 X3 )dt +s8 (1 + sgn vc )(X 4 X4 ) m
+ s8 (1 sgn vc)(X 5 X5 ) m

Indeed

0
~

s1

represents a set of nonlinear

differential equation whose unique solution is X-X* 0,

with initial conditions, the problem of tracking the state
variable can be constrained to that of keeping the scalar
quantity (t) at zero which depend on m coefficient.
In order to evaluate the design parameters, the
RMS value of state variables error signals are
minimized. The control variables u are defined as:
X X 0u = sgn a sgn b sgn c

sgn ( c )
1
X3
0
2C1
sgn ( a )

(25)

1
sgn ( b )
sgn ( c )

1
1
2L
s1
X1
X

(26)
2C1 2 sgn ( a ) 2C1 3 sgn ( a ) (X 4 + X5 )
2C1

The same condition is derived for S2 and S3 .

For m 1, the error of sliding surfaces are different
from the error of sliding surfaces for m = 1 and we can
determine the value of m that errors are minimized. In
this case, the sliding surfaces in (20) approach to zero
fast and stability conditions are satisfied too. It is
required that the effect of load variation in the sliding
surfaces (20) is considered. So the coefficient of m can
be evaluated such that the sliding surfaces are
minimized.
Block diagram of a shunt active power filter is
shown in Fig. 2. In this block diagram, the reference
currents are derived using Lagrange method for
minimization of load current.
The state variable references and actual values are
the input to the sliding mode controller.
In the proposed method in this paper, the capacitor
voltage error with exponent m and current errors are
considered as the sliding surfaces.
For some specific values of m, the state variable
errors in (20) approaches to zero very fast and the terms
of integral in (20) can be ignored. By eliminating these

(21)

The necessary condition to reach the sliding

surfaces to zero in a finite time is that:
(22)

For m = 1 we have:

& X )
(& t 0) = S(X

= S(AX + B(X)U + C) SX

sgn ( b )
1
1
1
(X4 + X5 ) +
X1
X2
2L
2C1
2C1
sgn ( a )

So the condition of stability is:

These control variable force the state errors

towards the sliding surfaces and hold the state variables
at the origin ( = 0, & = 0 ) .

(& t 0)

(24)

+
X2 b sgn( b ) +
X3 b sgn( c )
2C1

2C 2

1
1
+ s 4
(X4 + X5 ) +
X3 c sgn( b )
2L
2C

(23)

= (SAX + SB(X)u + SC SX )

From (22) and (23) we have:

127

World Appl. Sci. J., 4 (1): 124-132, 2008

terms from (20), the errors are reduced and dynamic

response is improved.

power harmonics with null wire and without null wire

respectively.
Figure 8 shows the simulation results similar to
Fig. 4 with null wire, but the compensation of zero
sequence power is included in the control system.
Figure 9 depicts the same results without null wire.

SIMULATION RESULTS
Figure 3-7 show the simulation results of different
compensation methods. Figure 3 depicts the phase
voltages, load currents and inverter reference currents
for compensation with the minimization method of load
current active component.
Figure 4 shows the phase voltages, load currents
and inverter reference currents, with compensation of
instantaneous
active
power
harmonics
and
compensation of instantaneous reactive power with null
wire. Simulation results of Fig. 4 without null wire are
shown in Fig. 5.
Figure 6 and 7 shows the simulation results for
compensation of instantaneous active and reactive

icaref

ias

Va

-2

0.01

0.02

0.03

0.04
icbref

0.05
ibs

0.06
Vb

-2

0.01

0.02

0.03

0.04

0.05

0.06

2
Iccref

Ics

Vc

-2

Vc

Vb Va

I fc I fb I fa

0.01

0.02

Ic

0.03
time(Sec.)

0.04

0.05

0.06

Ib
fc

fb

Ia

fa

Ua

sigma a

Vc 2
Vc1

Vb

Uc

sigma c

Fig. 4: Phase voltages, reference currents and phase

currents with compensation of instantaneous
active power harmonics and total reactive power
with null wire

I fa I f b I f c V
c

Ub

sigma b

Vc 1
Vc2

Va

Fig. 2: Block diagram of shunt active power filter

control
Icaref

Ias

Va

0.01

0.02

0.03

0.01

0.02

0.03

0.04
Icbref

0.05
Ibs

Vb

-2

0.01

0.02

0.03

2
0

0.01

0.02

0.03

0.04
Iccref

0.05
Ics

Va

0.05
Ibs

0.06
Vb

0.06

-2

0.04
Icbref

-2

Ias

-2
2

Icaref

0.04
Iccref

0.05
Ics

0.06
Vc

0.06

Vc

-2
-2

0.01

0.02

0.03
time(Sec.)

0.04

0.05

0.06

0.01

0.02

0.03
time(Sec.)

0.04

0.05

0.06

Fig. 5: Phase voltages, reference currents and phase

currents with compensation of instantaneous
active power harmonics and total reactive power
without null wire

Fig. 3: Phase voltages, reference currents and phase

current
after
compensation
with
the
minimization of load current active component
128

World Appl. Sci. J., 4 (1): 124-132, 2008

2

icaref

ias

Va

0.01

0.02

0.03

0.04
Icbref

0.05
Ibs

-2

0.06

Va

0.01

0.02

0.03

0.04
Icbref

0.05

0.06

Ibs

Vb

-2

0.01

0.02

0.03

0.04

0.05

0.06

-2

Vb

-2

Ias

0
-2

Icaref

-2

0.01

0.02

0.03
time(Sec.)

0.04

0.05

0.06

Icaref

Ias

0.01

0.02

0.03

0.04
Iccref

0.01

0.02

0.03
time(Sec.)

0.05

0.06

Ics

0.04

Vc

0.05

0.06

Fig. 8: Phase voltages, reference currents and phase

currents with compensation of instantaneous
active power harmonics and total reactive power
and zero sequence power with null wire

Fig. 6: Phase voltages, reference currents and phase

currents with compensation of instantaneous
active and reactive power harmonics with
null wire
2

Va

Icaref

Ias

Va

0
0

-2

0.01

0.02

0.03

0.04
Icbref

0.05
Ibs

0.06

-2

Vb

0.01

0.02

0.03

0.04
Icbref

0.05
Ibs

0.06
Vb

-2
0

0.01

0.02

0.03

0.04

0.05

-2

0.06

2
Iccref

Ics

0.01

0.02

0.03

Vc

-2

0.04
Iccref

0.05
Ics

0.06
Vc

-2

0.01

0.02

0.03
time(Sec.)

0.04

0.05

0.06

0.01

0.02

0.03
time(Sec.)

0.04

0.05

0.06

Fig. 9: Phase voltages, reference currents and phase

currents with compensation of instantaneous
active power harmonics and total reactive power
and zero sequence power without null wire

Fig. 7: Phase voltages, reference currents and phase

currents with compensation of instantaneous
active and reactive power harmonics without
null wire
129

World Appl. Sci. J., 4 (1): 124-132, 2008

2

Icaref

Ias

Figure 10 and 11 shows the simulation results for

compensation of instantaneous active and reactive
power harmonics and zero sequence power with null
wire and without null wire respectively.
Fig. 12 shows the total state variable error with
different values of coefficient m. It is seen that with
m=4 the error is minimized.
Fig. 13 shows the simulation results of the
proposed controller with minimization of the load
current active component with m=4. The same results
with m=1 are shown in Fig. 14 (conventional sliding
mode control).
Optimized values of S1, S2 and S3 with different
values of m is shown in Fig. 15.
In above simulations the parameters are:

Va

0
-2
0

0.01

0.02

0.03

0.04
Icbref

0.05
Ibs

0.06
Vb

-2
0

0.01

0.02

0.03

0.04
Iccref

0.05
Ics

0.06
Vc

R = 0.01
-2
0

Vs = 220v = 1pu
0.01

0.02

0.03
time(Sec.)

0.04

0.05

0.06

S 4 = 1 S5 = 1 S6 = 1 S7 = 1 S8 = 1 S9 = 1

PI controller coefficients used in the simulations

for m=1 are as:

Fig. 10: Phase voltages, reference currents and phase

currents with compensation of instantaneous
active and reactive power harmonics and zero
sequence power with null wire
2

Icaref

Ias

0.04

0.05

Icbref

Ibs

S1 = 3.6,S2 = 8.6,S3 = 5.8,I1 = 3.4,I2 = 4.1,I 3 = 3.8

The above coefficients are calculated based on

minimization of state variable RMS error.
The parameters of S1 , S2 and S3 are almost robust
against variations of m as shown in Fig. 15 but in order
to achieve the best result, we have used optimum values
of S1 , S2 , S3 for each value of m.
Simulation results indicate that with the increasing of
m, PI controller coefficients are less effective and for
m=4, their effects are minimal:

Va

-2

L = 0.0024 H C1 = C2 = 1700 f

0.01

0.02

0.03

0.06
Vb

S1 = 4.2 S2 = 8 S3 = 5.8 I1 = I2 = I3 = 0

-2

In above simulations load current harmonics in

perunit are:

0.01

0.02

0.03

0.04
Iccref

0.05
Ics

0.06

i m1 = 1, im3 = 2/3, i m5 = 3/5, i m7 = 5/7, i m9 = 1 / 3

i m11 = 4/11, i m13 = 3/13, im15 = 3/15, i m17 = 2/17

Vc

1.4

1.2

-2

%Error(rms)

0.01

0.02

0.03
time(Sec.)

0.04

0.05

0.06

0.8

0.6

0.4

0.2

Fig. 11: Phase voltages, reference currents and phase

currents with compensation of instantaneous
active and reactive power harmonics and zero
sequence power without null wire

3
m

time (Sec.)

Fig. 12: Total state variables error with different values

of coefficient m
130

World Appl. Sci. J., 4 (1): 124-132, 2008

Optimization of S1

6.5

Ifa

Icaref

s
1

5.5

4.5

-2
0

3.5

.005

.01

.015

.02

.025

.03

Ifb

Icbref

.035

.04

3
m

Optimization of S2

10.5

10

9.5

s
2

8.5

7.5

-2
0

.005

.01

.015

.02

.025

.03

.035

3
m
Optimization of S3

9.5
9

.04

8.5

Ifc

s
3

Iccref

7.5
7
6.5
6
5.5

0
-2
0

.005

.01

.015

.02
.025
time(Sec.)

.03

.035

3
m

Fig. 15: Optimized values of S1 , S2 , S3 with different

values of m

.04

CONCLUSIONS
Fig. 13: Reference and actual currents with the
minimization of active component of load
current with m=4
2

Two method of compensation in shunt active

power filter were considered in this paper.
Using instantaneous reactive power theory it is
possible to compensate the active or reactive power
harmonics, total reactive power or zero sequence
power.
In the minimization method of the active
component of load current, the instantaneous reactive
power is zero, which is an advantage of this method.
In the control system design, since the capacitor
voltage error exponent m, PI controller and the error of
state variables are used as the sliding mode controller
inputs, there are some values of m1 that results in fast
dynamic response compared to conventional methods.
With this method, we can select m such that the
state variable errors are minimized. This minimization
improves the dynamic response and reduces the state
variable errors. The optimum value of m in the
simulated system was determined to be 4 and it was
shown that m is almost constant due to load variations.
In this controller, there is not any need to use the PI
DC voltage controllers for internal control loop of
capacitor voltages.

Ifa
Icaref

-2
0

.005

.01

.015

.02

.025

.03

.035

.04

Ifb
Icbref

-2
0

.005

.01

.015

.02

.025

.03

.035

.04

2
0

-2
0

Ifc
Iccref
.005

.01

.015

.02
.025
time(Sec.)

.03

.035

.04

REFERENCES
1.

Fig. 14: Reference and actual currents with the

minimization of active component of load
current with m=1. (conventional sliding mode
control)
131

Miret, J., and L. Cruz, 2004. A Simple Sliding

Mode Control of an Active Power Filter, proc.of
IEEE Power Electronics Specialists Conference,
pp: 1052-1056.

World Appl. Sci. J., 4 (1): 124-132, 2008

2.

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