A Filter Bank Solution for Active Power Filter Control Algorithms

K. P. Sozanski and R. Strzelecki

University of Zielona Gbra,
Institute of Electrical Engineering
ul. P o d g h a 50
65-246 Zielona Gbra, Poland

Abstract Thb paper describes the proposed active power fiIter

(APF) with a new control circuit based on an algorithm using
ufilter bank and a harmonic predictor. The conirol circuit was
realized using the digiiaI signor processor ADSP-21065L and
FPGA circuiL In the proposed circuit transient performunee of
APF is improved The active power fdter circuil has been built and
teste6 and some illustrative, experimental results are uIso
presented in the paper.

A simplified diagram of the conventional parallel APF

circuit with nonlinear load consists of a thyristor power
controller in which the resistive load is depicted in Fig. 2.
AC Maim

Power Conlroller

3dSOV

I. INTRODUCTION
To suppress power line harmonics, an active powerharmonic-compensation filter can he used. The active power
filter (AF'F) can he connected in series or in parallel with the
supply network. The series APF is suitable for the harmonic
compensation of a large capacity diode rectifier with a D C
link capacitor. The parallel APF (shunt active power filter)
permits compensation of the harmonics and asymmetries of
the mains currents caused by nonlinear loads. The parallel
APF without feedback, as shown in Fig. 1 (with unity gain),
was chosen because of its greater stability in use.
Power System

Active Power Filter

Nonlinear
Fig. 2. Three-phase active power filtcr test circuit

Experimental waveforms of the APF circuit in steady-state

are shown in Fig. 3. The APF control current dynamics is
dependent on the inverter output time constant consisting of
APF output inductance and resultant impedance of load and
mains.
When the value of load current changes rapidly as in
current iL in Fig. 3 the APF transient response is too slow
[I], [5] and the line current is suffers from dynamic distortion.
This distortion causes an increase of harmonic content in the
line current, which is dependent on a time constant. In the
APF shown in Fig. 2 the THD ratio is increased bv ahout

Fig. 1. Harmonic compensation circuit with current-fcdactive power filter

without feedback (with unity gain)

10%.

The shunt active power filter injects AC power current ic

to cancel out the main AC harmonic content. The line current
i s is the result of summing the load current iL and the
compensating current ic

is =iL +ic .

0-7803-7754-0/03/$17.0002003 IEEE

(l)

The loads can be divided into two main categories:

predictable loads and noise-like loads. Most loads belong to
the first categov. For this reason it is possible to predict
current values in subsequent periods, after a few periods of
observation. It is also possible to predict the current spectrum
as a function of time [2], [3], [4].

1015

In this paper a new control algorithm with filter banks and which can be kept arbitrady small is called a filter bank with
predictive harmonics compensation is presented. For analysis almostperfct reconstruction (APR) [6].
Another function important for the discussed filter banks is
and synthesis signal filter banks will be used.
power complementary. This ensures representation of whole
input signal spectrum in subbands. For an M-channel power
complementary filter bank the square sum of transfer
functions H&) module is equal to one
4'

"

'

"

"

(4)

"

Aa

IAI

The typical frequency responses of M-channel overlapping

uniform band analysis and synthesis filter banks are shown in
Fig. 5 .

20
0

30

4'

"

"

'

'

'

'

"

Analydl EUter Bank

,.

4Q0.01 0.b 0.k

Oh

Synthesis Filter Bank

,,
0.05 0 . k 0.07 0.08 0.00

011

t Is1
Fig. 3. Experimental waveforms of an active power filter in steady-state with
thc resistive load: load current iLI(blue), compensating current icl (green),
linc current is, (red)

11. FILTER BANKS

R g 4 An M-ehannel uniform barid analysis and synlhcsls filter bank

Analysis filter banks decompose signal spectra into

a number of directly adjacent frequency bands and recombine
the signal spectra by means of synthesis filter banks. In most
cases signals are separated into more than two subband
signals [6], [7]. By cascading two-channel filter hanks into a
tree structure it is possible to obtain a uniform M-channel
filter bank with Mequalling 2. If the two-channel filter bank
provides perfect reconstruction then this also holds for the tree
structure filter bank. One disadvantage is that the tree
structure filter bank possesses high computational complexity.
This is why another filter bank has become more popular, i.e.,
the uniform parallel-structured filter bank, depicted in Fig. 4.
The general form of the M-channel filter banks is shown in
Fig. 4, where M is the number of subbands. The output signal
of filter banks Y(z) can be calculated by the equation

111. CONTROL
ALFORITNM

The control algorithm for the proposed APE is based on

filter banks with predictive harmonic compensation.
A simplified block diagram fca the active power filter control
algorithm is depicted in Fig. 6.
The algorithm realized using the digital signal processor
ADSP-21065L and Field Programmable Gate Array (FPGA)
circuit is divided into two parts: the first one has sampling rate
fpl, and the second has sampling rate&. The digital signal
processor is synchronized with the mains voltage and the
algorithm is performed N times per mains period. For the
mains voltage frequency of f,=SOHz and the number of
samples chosen to N=256 and R=8, the sampling periods is
equal T,, ~ 7 8 . 1 2 5ps, Tpz=7.766 ps and the sampling rate is
equal tof,,=12800 samples/sf,~=102400 samples/s.
Three phase current signals iLl(nTpl),iLz(nTp,)iu(nTpl) are
divided into M-subbands by ;analysis filter banks. In the next
It is possible to simplify this equation to
stage harmonic amplitudes and phases are controlled by
Y ( z ) =F ( z ) X ( z ) ,
(3) predictive harmonic compens.ation circuits. In synthesis filter
banks harmonic signals are synthesized to current
where F(z) denotes the quality of signal reconstruction.
compensating signals icR,(nT,,),, ic&Tpl), ic&T,I). In the
If IF(dQI = 1 for all frequencies, the filter bank is without next step the output compensatlon reference current signals
amplitude distortion. If F(e'a) has linear phase (constant group icRl(nTPl), icIu(nTpl) icu(nTpl) are interpolated with
delay), the filter bank is without phase distortion. When F(z) oversampling ratio R=8, to signals iml(nTp2), ic&Tp2)
is pure delay, the filter bank is called pe&f reconsfnrcfion
(PR). A filter hank with amplitude and/or phase distortion

1016

Fig. 5. Frequency responses afM-channel uniform band analysis and synthesis filter banks

Fig. 6. Simplified block diagram for the active power filter contml algorithm

i,-m(nTD2).The chosen polyphase interpolator is based on an

FIR filter with periodically time-vwing coefficients [I].

Finally, the output compensation reference current signals
are transformed to transistor controlling pulses by a current
controller. In the proposed circuit a current delta sigma
modulator (CDSM) is employed to control current, realized
using the digital signal processor ADSP-21065L [I, 41 and
FPGA. For the APF control circuit a 64-channel almost
perfect reconshction pow'er complementary filter bank has

been chosen. Between filter hanks there is placed a harmonics

predictor for predicting harmonics occumng in predictable
loads, as in Fig. 3. Amplitudes of current harmonics separated
by the analysis filter bank are stored in DSP memory and are
used to predict harmonic contents in subsequent periods. If
load current is changed during mains periods the harmonics
predictive algorithm is switch off. The algorithm waits for
a steady-state and when detected it once again switches on.

1017

In the proposed solution the user can select which

harmonics are most important in the active power filtration
process. This is very important, especially when several APFs
are working in parallel or cascaded connection.

Mogniludc

(a) without predictive harmonics compensation

IdBl

,,

,.

,,

,,

,,

,,

,
,

,,

,,

IV. RESULTS

A prototype of the three-phase active power filter was

built and tested in OUT laboratoly. To model the nonlinear
Inad a thyristor power controller with resistive loads was
used as depicted in Fig. 2.
Oscillogram records of the various waveforms of the test
circuit are shown in Fig. 3 , 7 . The experimental waveforms
of the active power filter in steady-state with the resistive
load are presented in Fig. 3,7: without predictive harmonics
compensation (Fig. 3), with predictive harmonics
compensation (Fig. 7). Depicted are the following
waveforms: load currents irl, compensating currents icl, line
currents isl. The harmonic spectrum of the line current isl for
a circuit without predictive harmonic compensation
isdepicted in Fig. Sa, and with predictive harmonic
compensation, in Fig. Sb.
Using the new control algorithm with predictive
harmonic compensation it is possible to decrease the
harmonic contents in power line currents as shown in Fig. 8.

'

@) with predictive compensation

4
MI

200

8W

6W

1000 12W 1m 16W 18W 2wo

f lW
Fig. 8. Harmonic spectrum of experimental waveforms ofactive power filter
in steady-state with resistive loal-l:(a) without predictive harmonies
compensation, line current isl (red), @)with predictive compensation, line
current i s (blue)

V. AN ALTERNATIVE TO FILTER BANKS

As a corollary to the ;solution for filter banks and
harmonic predictor the authors propose a simple alternative.
In this solution, for predictable loads it is possible to use
a circuit with non-causal current Compensation. This
compensation is dependent on the inverter output time
constant.
(a)

dmplilude

Amplitude

001 0.02

Ok

0.04 0.05

0.06 0.07 0.08

Oh

011

1 Is1

Fig. I. Experimental waveforms ofan active power filter in steady-state

with the resistive load with predictive harmonics compensation: load current
iLI (blue), compensating current icl (green), linc current is)(red)

Fig. 9. Trmsicnt response of APF <currentcompensating signal ldnT,) and

invencr output current I, (=;I causal case, (b) non-causal case

1018

Fig. IO. Simplified block diagnrm ofharmonics compensation with non

causal circuit

Current samples ic(nT,) are stored in DSP memory and

subsequent periods of mains current are compared with
present samples, and if respective sample differences are less
than assumed values the non-causal current compensation
algorithm is switched on and to the output are sent non-causal
samples i:(nTp).
Previous current compensation signal samples i&T,I) are
stored in memory, and are sent to present output in advance.
In Fig. 9 are depicted transient response of APF current
compensating signal ic(nTpI)and inverter output current IC for
causal case (Fig. 9a), and for non-causal case (Fig. 9h).
In the experimental circuit the timing TA was ahout
several hundred microseconds in advance. Because the time
constant is dependent on load parameter an adaptive
algorithm to calculate time ahead was employed. Block
diagram of such compensation is depicted in Fig. 10.

VI. CONCLUSIONS

illustrative, experimental results have also been presented in

the paper. The proposed technique makes the compensation
process instantaneous, it allows optimal filtering and
cancelling of permanent errors. The new algorithm shows
areduction in the harmonic content of line current in
comparison with classical algorithms. The control algorithm
of the proposed APF is implemented in the floating-point
digital signal processor ADSP-21065L and FPGA.
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4.

5.

6.

This paper describes the proposed active power filter with

anew control circuit using a filter bank and harmonics
predictive control algorithm. The new active power filter for
a power supply of 75 kVA has been built and tested. Some

7.

1019

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