2011 IEEE International Electric Machines & Drives Conference (IEMDC)

Comparative Study of Switching Signal Generation

Techniques for Three Phase Four Wire Shunt Active
Power Filter
Heli Golwala, R. Chudamani
Electrical Engineering Department, Sardar Vallabhbhai National Institute of Technology,
Surat, Gujarat, India
heligolwala@gmail.com, rc@eed.svnit.ac.in

Abstract In this paper the performance of three switching
signal generation techniques for three phase four wire shunt
active power filters are compared for balanced and unbalanced
load conditions. The techniques which are considered for
comparative study are (i) Traditional Hysteresis Current Control
Method, (ii) Three Dimensional space vector modulation with
null vector, (iii) Three dimensional space vector modulation
without null vector. Comparison is done using simulation studies
carried out in MATLAB / SIMULINK environment. It is shown
through simulation studies that switching losses in the voltage
source inverter of active power filter are reduced in three
dimensional space vector modulation without null vector as the
number of switches controlled at any instant of time is six out of
eight.
Keywords-3-D SVM, Null Vector, Hysteresis Current Control,
Active power filter, Switching Losses
I. INTRODUCTION
he distortion of Utility supply arising out of widespread
T use of nonlinear loads is a cause of great concern.
Adjustable speed drives, electric arc furnaces, switched
mode power supplies, and power converters which employ
thyristors, are typical cases. Conventionally, these problems
were addressed by using conventional passive LC filters. The
main drawback of these filters is that they provide fixed
compensation. Moreover, the values of these components
require fine-tuning, and they also suffer from the problems of
large size and ageing. An effective solution to these problems
is to use active power filters. These equipment use power
electronics to inject suitable anti-phase harmonics in a manner
that the utility sees an effective linear load. Generation of
gating control signals for these power electronics devices is a
very important part of the Active Power filter controller. In
this paper, we confine ourselves to the methods used for
generation of gating signals and their control on the filter
behavior.
In many commercial and industrial installations power is
distributed through a there phase four wire system. This type
of system has a unique problem. If nonlinear single phase
loads are present or the three phase load is unbalanced, line
currents are unbalanced and neutral currents flow. These
neutral currents contain both fundamental and triplen
harmonic components. In severe cases, the neutral currents are
potentially damaging to both the neutral conductor and the
transformer to which it is connected. Three phase three wire
shunt active power filters cannot effectively reduce or
eliminate line harmonics in this situation [1]. Three phase four
wire active power filters have been proposed by researchers as
an effective solution to these problems [1, 2].
An active power filter consists of four essential parts
namely, (i) the signal conditioning circuit; (ii) the reference
current generation circuit, (iii) the control circuit, and (iv) the
power converter. The signal conditioning circuit acquires the
essential voltage and current signals to provide accurate
system information. The reference current generation circuit
generates the required harmonic currents to be amplified and
injected into the lines, at the point where the load is connected.
The control circuit compares the reference currents (ia*, ib*,
ic*, in*) and the injected currents (ia, ib, ic, in) and generates the
gating signals for the devices used in the power converter.
Several methods have been proposed for generating
switching signals for active power filter. In many papers the
authors use hysteresis current control method to obtain the
switching signals for voltage source converter of active power
filter. While simple, the method suffers from the problem of
variation in switching frequency over a wide range. Hysteresis
current controller generates PWM pulses for each phase
individually. This problem is overcome in space vector
switching technique using null vector and also the switching
losses are reduced to some extent. In the modified 3
Dimensional Space Vector Modulation i.e. without null
vector, the switching losses are further reduced. In this method
the frequency varies over a small range.
This paper presents a comparative study of the switching
signal generation techniques based on the performance of the
three phase four wire shunt active power filter. The switching
algorithms that are considered for comparative study are (i)
Hysteresis Current Control Method, (ii) 3 D SVM with Null
Vector and (iii) 3 D SVM without Null Vector.
A brief description of each algorithm with necessary
equations is provided in section II. In section III the simulation
results are presented and a comparative analysis is made based
on the simulation results. A three-phase, four-wire shunt
active power filter is used for testing the efficacy of these
algorithms. The simulation study is carried out using
MATLAB / SIMULINK environment.
II. DESCRIPTION OF DIFFERENT SWITCHING TECHNIQUES
A. Hysteresis Current Control Technique
Hysteresis based current control is a common pulse width
modulation control used in voltage fed converters to force
these converters to behave as controlled ac current source to
the power system. It is basically an instantaneous feedback

978-1-4577-0061-3/11/$26.00 2011 IEEE 1409

current control method of PWM where the actual current shows the physical positions of the switching state vectors in
continually tracks the command current within a hysteresis 0-- coordinate system.
band. Fig. 1 explains the operation principle of hysteresis- V14
V = 1.7321Vdc

band PWM for a half-bridge inverter. The control circuit V12

generated the sine reference current wave of desired V6 V = 1.1547Vdc

magnitude and frequency and it is compared with the injected V10

current wave [6].

V4
V8
V = 0.5774Vdc

V2

V = 0

V13

V7 V = -0.5774Vdc

V11

V5
V9
V = -1.1547Vdc

V3
V1
V = -1.7321Vdc

Figure 2: Physical Position of Switching State Vector

Figure 1: Principle of Hysteresis Band Current Control [6]
The identification of prism is based on the value of the
The conditions of switching devices are:
switching vectors expressed in 0-- reference frame. An
Upper switch on: algorithm for prism identification is explained with the help of
(1) a flowchart. Fig. 3 shows the logic flow in prism
Lower switch on: identification.
(2)
The hysteresis-band PWM has been very popular because
of its simple implementation, fast transient response, direct
limiting of device peak current. However, there are a few
drawbacks of this method. It can be seen that the PWM
frequency is not constant and, as a result, the magnitude
spectrum spreads over a wider range. This poses practical
difficulty in the design of interfacing inductor. The hysteresis
band considered for simulation studies is 5% of the maximum
current to be injected.

B. Three Dimensional Space Vector Modulation with Null

Vector
The major advantage of a four-leg inverter is that the DC
bus utilization can be improved by using a 3-D space vector
modulation [6]. In 3D-SVM, there are 16 possible switching
vectors: fourteen active nonzero vectors and two null vectors.
The entire 3- D Space is divided into 6 prisms and 24
tetrahedrons. Each prism consists of four tetrahedrons. An
instantaneous reference input vector may lie in any of these
tetrahedrons at any point of time. The 3 D SVM is
implemented in the following sequence:
1) Prism Identification
The prism identification is very similar to the sector
identification for 2-D SVM. Based on the projections of the
reference vector on the - plane, V and V, six prisms in the
3-D space can be identified and numbered as Prisms I through
VI. Within the selected prism, there are six non zero switching
state vectors and two zero switching state vectors. Fig. 2
Figure 3: Sequence of Operations in Prism Identification
2) Tetrahedron Identification
Once the prism information is obtained the next step is to
identify the tetrahedron in which the reference vector is
present. To do this each prism is further subdivided into four
tetrahedrons - thus leading to a total of 24 tetrahedrons. Each
tetrahedron is formed by three non-zero switching state
vectors and two zero switching state vectors. The line-to-
neutral voltage polarities produced by each non zero switching
state vectors are indicated as + or - or 0. It is important
to notice that within each tetrahedron, all the non zero
switching state vectors produce nonconflicting line-to-neutral
voltages, and thus they are adjacent vectors. Synthesizing the
reference vector by using the adjacent non zero switching state
vectors of a tetrahedron leads to minimal circulating energy
and current ripple. Table I shows how these tetrahedrons could

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be identified based on the sign of required phase voltages at
the output of the inverter [11].
TABLE I: TETRAHEDRON IDENTIFICATION
ACTIVE
PRISM TETRAHEDRON CONDITION
VECTORS
P1_T1 V8,V9,V13 Vaf > 0, Vbf < 0, Vcf < 0
P1_T2 V8,V12,V13 Vaf > 0, Vbf > 0, Vcf < 0
1
P1_T3 V1,V9,V13 Vaf < 0,Vbf < 0, Vcf < 0
P1_T4 V8,V12,V14 Vaf > 0, Vbf > 0, Vcf > 0
P2_T1 V4,V12,V13 Vaf > 0, Vbf > 0, Vcf < 0
P2_T2 V4,V5,V13 Vaf < 0, Vbf > 0, Vcf < 0
2
P2_T3 V1,V5,V13 Vaf < 0, Vbf < 0, Vcf < 0
P2_T4 V4,V12,V14 Vaf > 0, Vbf > 0, Vcf > 0
P3_T1 V4,V5,V7 Vaf < 0, Vbf > 0, Vcf < 0
P3_T2 V4,V6,V7 Vaf < 0, Vbf > 0, Vcf > 0
3
P3_T3 V1,V5,V7 Vaf < 0, Vbf < 0, Vcf < 0
P3_T4 V4,V6,V14 Vaf > 0, Vbf > 0, Vcf > 0
P4_T1 V2,V6,V7 Vaf < 0, Vbf > 0, Vcf > 0
P4_T2 V2,V3,V7 Vaf < 0, Vbf < 0, Vcf > 0
4 Figure 4: Principle of PWM pulses Generation
P4_T3 V1,V3,V7 Vaf < 0, Vbf < 0, Vcf < 0
P4_T4 V2,V6,V14 Vaf > 0, Vbf > 0, Vcf > 0 C. Three Dimensional Space Vector Modulation without Null
P5_T1 V2,V3,V11 Vaf < 0, Vbf < 0, Vcf > 0
Vector
P5_T2 V2,V10,V11 Vaf > 0, Vbf < 0, Vcf > 0
5
P5_T3 V1,V3,V11 Vaf < 0, Vbf < 0, Vcf < 0 In the proposed method the prism and tetrahedron
P5_T4 V2,V10,V14 Vaf > 0, Vbf > 0, Vcf > 0 identification are done as described in the earlier method. In
P6_T1 V8,V10,V11 Vaf > 0, Vbf < 0, Vcf > 0 3D-SVM with null vector, there are 16 possible switching
P6_T2 V8,V9,V11 Vaf > 0, Vbf < 0, Vcf < 0
6
P6_T3 V1,V9,V11 Vaf < 0, Vbf < 0, Vcf < 0
vectors: fourteen active nonzero vectors and two null vectors
P6_T4 V8,V10,V14 Vaf > 0, Vbf > 0, Vcf > 0 whereas in the proposed method two null vectors are
eliminated.
3) Duty cycle Calculation and Pulse Generation The computation of the duty cycles is based on calculation
The computation of the duty cycles is based on calculation of geometric projection of the reference vector along the three
of geometric projection of the reference vector along the three non-zero switching state vectors which form the edges of the
non-zero switching state vectors which form the edges of the given tetrahedron at a given instant. For each tetrahedron we
given tetrahedron at a given instant. For each tetrahedron we can find a 3x3 projection matrix: St. The reference vector in 0-
can find a 3x3 projection matrix: St. The reference vector in - reference frame at any given time is denoted by a 3x1
0-- reference frame at any given time is denoted by a 3x1 column matrix Sr. Then at any given instant, the duty cycle
column matrix Sr. Then at any given instant, the duty cycle matrix D can be computed from the simple matrix equation:
matrix D can be computed from the simple matrix equation: d
d D = d = St-1 * Sr (6)
D = d = St-1 * Sr (3) d
d As the null vector is eliminated the duration for each
1 (4) switching period varies. The switching period is determined
The fourth step is to choose an appropriate switching by (d1 + d2 + d3) * Ts where Ts is the sampling period if the
scheme and to generate the four PWM pulses for the top null vectors were considered. This results in variable
switches of the inverter. The four duty-cycle values d0, d1, d2 switching frequency operation. Though the frequency of
and d3 are already known prior to this step. The PWM pulses operation is not constant it varies over a small range only. This
are generated by comparing the four signals X1, X2, X3, and X4 is evident from the plot of (d1 + d2 + d3) as a function of time
with a triangular waveform of switching frequency equals to as shown in Fig. 5. It is observed from Fig. 5 that the
the sampling frequency of the modulator, where sampling switching frequency varies from to i.e. 14 kHz to
. T . T
frequency of modulator is given by Ts. Let X1, X2, X3 and X4 28 kHz. This plot is obtained with a reference vector derived
be the four signals calculated from the duty cycles d0, d1, d2, from the following equation.
and d3 as given in the following matrix equation. 1
sin (7)

Where; Vm = Peak value of the voltage phasor

Xt = = 2 * At (5)
Fig. 4 shows the set of signals derived for tetrahedron
P1_T1. In (5), At is the peak value of the triangular waveform.
The period of this waveform is Ts, which decides the
switching frequency of the inverter. The relation between the
elements of matrix Xt and the switching signals Sa, Sb, Sc, and
Sf would be different for different tetrahedrons [11].
n = 5,7,11,13,17,19
When reference vector is pure sine wave the switching
frequency variation is 14 kHz to 16 kHz. The next step is to
choose an appropriate switching scheme and to generate the
four PWM pulses for the top switches of the inverter. The
three duty-cycle values d1, d2 and d3 are already known prior
to this step. The PWM pulses are generated by comparing the
four signals X1, X2, X3, and X4 with a triangular waveform of
switching frequency equals to the sampling frequency of the
modulator, where sampling frequency of modulator is given

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by (d1+d2+d3) * Ts. As the null vector is eliminated only X2 The injected current is expected to follow the reference
and X3 need to be calculated and it is given by current. Therefore it is assumed that
(13)
Xt = = 2 * At (8)
(14)
X4 = 1 (9)
X1 = 0 (10)
(15)
0.8

Thus voltage references for all three phases can be derived

0.7 using the above equation.
TABLE II: PULSE ASSIGNMENT FOR EACH TETRAHEDRON
0.6
3
d +d +d

NON ZERO
2

SWITCHING
PRISM TETRAHEDRON Sa Sb Sc Sf
1

0.5
STATE
VECTORS
0.4 P1_T1 V8,V9,V13 0 X3 1 X2
P1_T2 V8,V12,V13 0 X2 1 X3
1
P1_T3 V1,V9,V13 X2 X3 1 0
0 0.005 0.01 0.015 0.02 0.025 0.03 0.035 0.04
Time (ms) P1_T4 V8,V12,V14 0 X2 X3 1
Figure 5: Plot of (d1+d2+d3) with Reference vector derived from harmonic P2_T1 V4,V12,V13 X2 0 1 X3
voltage sources P2_T2 V4,V5,V13 X3 0 1 X2
2
Fig. 6 shows the set of signals derived for tetrahedron P2_T3 V1,V5,V13 X3 X2 1 0
P2_T4 V4,V12,V14 X2 0 X3 1
P4_T3. It is seen from the table that one device remains ON
P3_T1 V4,V5,V7 1 0 X3 X2
and one device remains OFF throughout the switching P3_T2 V4,V6,V7 1 0 X2 X3
3
period. In fig. 6 At is the peak value of the triangular P3_T3 V1,V5,V7 1 X2 X3 0
waveform. The period of this waveform is (d1+d2+d3) * Ts, P3_T4 V4,V6,V14 X3 0 X2 1
P4_T1 V2,V6,V7 1 X2 0 X3
which decides the switching frequency of the inverter. The
P4_T2 V2,V3,V7 1 X3 0 X2
relation between the elements of matrix Xt and the switching 4
P4_T3 V1,V3,V7 1 X3 X2 0
signals Sa, Sb, Sc, and Sf would be different for different P4_T4 V2,V6,V14 X3 X2 0 1
tetrahedrons. The assignment of the pulses generated by the P5_T1 V2,V3,V11 X3 1 0 X2
comparator is given in table II. P5_T2 V2,V10,V11 X2 1 0 X3
5
P5_T3 V1,V3,V11 X3 1 X2 0
P5_T4 V2,V10,V14 X2 X3 0 1
P6_T1 V8,V10,V11 0 1 X2 X3
P6_T2 V8,V9,V11 0 1 X3 X2
6
P6_T3 V1,V9,V11 X2 1 X3 0
P6_T4 V8,V10,V14 0 X3 X2 1

III. SIMULATION RESULTS AND DISCUSSION

Using MATLAB / SIMULINK environment the behavior
of the three-phase four-wire shunt Active Power Filter shown
in Fig. 7 with the three algorithms is studied.

Figure 6: Principle of PWM waveform Generation

1) Reference Voltage Generation

The voltage references for the 3D-SVM without null vector

and with null vector are derived from a Forward Eulers
Integration Algorithm.The Forward Euler method is based on
the forward difference approximation and written as
, (11)
Where h = step size

By using this equation, equations for reference voltage

generation can be written as below:
Figure 7: Schematic Diagram of 3 - Phase 4 - Wire Shunt APF
(12)

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 The three phase four wire shunt active power filter used 500
Vsc
here consists of a four-leg inverter connected at the PCC to a 0 Vsa
Vsb
(i)
three-phase four-wire grid through the interface inductances. -500
0.1 0.12 0.14 0.16 0.18 0.2
The power system neutral wire is tied to the fourth leg of the 100 isc
inverter. The switch control signals are derived from three 0 isa
isb
(ii)
different switching techniques which are used for comparative -100
0.1 0.12 0.14 0.16 0.18 0.2
study. The active filter reference currents are calculated using 200
iLc
synchronous reference frame theory from the sensed three 0 iLa
iLb
(iii)
phase load currents. -200
0.1 0.12 0.14 0.16 0.18 0.2
A combination of linear and nonlinear; balanced and 20
unbalanced load is connected at the PCC. The load (iv)

in s
0
specifications are as shown in Table III. The system -20
0.1 0.12 0.14 0.16 0.18 0.2
parameters considered for simulation are given in table IV. Time (s)
TABLE III: LOAD SPECIFICATIONS Figure 8: Simulation results with proposed switching technique with
unbalanced Load (i) Voltages at PCC (ii) Phase Currents after compensation
Three phase diode bridge rectifier with RL =
Non linear Balanced Load (iii) Phase Currents before compensation (iv) Neutral Current after
30 connected across the DC terminals
compensation
Three phase diode bridge rectifier with RL = Magnitude Spectrum of Source Currents before Compensation
Combination of balanced and 10 and LL = 20mH and Two single phase 60 100 100
Unbalanced Load diode bridge rectifier With RL = 15 and LL
= 1mH C = 470F 40
TABLE IV: SYSTEM PARAMETERS FOR SIMULATION 50 50
Parameter Value 20
Source voltage 327 V
Rs, Ls 10 m, 1.2 mH 0 0 0
0 1000 2000 0 1000 2000 0 1000 2000
Rn, Ln 20 m, 3 mH
Magnitude Spectrum of Source Currents after Compensation
Vdc 800 V 100 100 100
Sampling Time Ts (3-D SVM with null vector) 100 s
Sampling Time for reference voltage generation 20 s
Ri, Li 0.02 , 2.4 mH
50 50 50
DC Link Capacitor 4700 F
Fig. 8 shows the simulation results obtained with
unbalanced load condition and sinusoidal supply voltages. It is 0
0 1000 2000
0
0 1000 2000
0
0 1000 2000
clear from Fig. 8 (ii) that after compensation the source Figure 9: Magnitude Spectrum of Source Currents before and after
currents are balanced and have become almost sinusoidal. compensation (Unbalanced Load) for proposed method
Also the neutral current is in the range of 5A which is 5% of
the neutral current before compensation. The simulation Fig. 10 shows the switching signals to the top switch in all
results are tabulated in Table V. four phases using all switching schemes in three phase four
Fig. 9 shows the magnitude spectrum for source currents wire shunt active power filter. It can be seen from Fig. 10 that
before and after compensation. It is observed from the Fig.9 each device is gated only for 260 in a cycle unlike the
that the harmonic components are reduced after compensation, traditional hysteresis current controller and 3 D SVM with null
THD is 2.21% which is within prescribed IEEE standard and vector. Thus switching losses get reduced in the proposed
load balancing is achieved. switching scheme.
TABLE V: COMPARATIVE EVALUATION OF APF PERFORMANCE
Hysteresis Current Control 3 D SVM with Null Vector Proposed Method
Phases
a Phase b Phase c - Phase a Phase b Phase c - Phase a Phase b Phase c - Phase
Quantity
Vpcc (Fundamental, Peak) (V) 326.7 326 326.5 326.7 326 326.5 326.7 326 326.5
Vpcc (THD) (%) 1.55 1.47 1.73 1.55 1.47 1.73 1.55 1.47 1.73
I_source (Fundamental, Peak) (A) 73.4 73.3 73.26 73.6 73.5 73.23 73.24 73.41 72.95
I_source (THD) (%) 2.3 2.25 2.43 2.13 2.2 2.4 2.21 2.13 2.34
I_load (Fundamental, Peak) (A) 53.41 87.49 88.26 53.41 87.49 88.26 53.41 87.49 88.26
I_load (THD) (%) 18.65 50.18 36.23 18.65 50.18 36.23 18.65 50.18 36.23
Losses Hysteresis Current Control
Losses 3 D SVM with Null Vector
Fig. 11 shows the average losses for all three methods. It is 500
Losses 3 D SVM without Null Vector

clearly seen from Fig. 11 that average switching losses are 450
Average Losses

reduced in proposed switching method. Average losses for

400
load are 38 kW. Percentage loss reduction is shown with
respect to losses in load in Table VI. 350

TABLE VI: COMPARATIVE ANALYSIS OF AVERAGE LOSS AS A 300

PERCENTAGE OF LOAD POWER OF 38 kW
Method Hysteresis 3 D SVM with Proposed 250
0.065 0.07 0.075 0.08 0.085 0.09 0.095 0.1
Parmeter Current Control Null Vector Method Time (ms)

APF loss 12.86% 8.76% 7.43% Figure 11: Average Losses for all three methods

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 (i)

(ii)

(iii)

Hysteresis Current Control 3 D SVM with Null Vector Proposed Method

Figure 10: Switching Pulses (i) a Phase (ii) b Phase (iii) c Phase
[9]
IV. CONCLUSION [10] Zhang, R.; Prasad, V.H.; Boroyevich, D.; Lee, F.C., "Three-dimensional
space vector modulation for four-leg voltage-source converters", Power
In this paper the proposed switching technique is compared Electronics, IEEE Transactions on, Volume 17, Issue 3, May 2002
with traditional hysteresis current control method and three Page(s):314- 326.
dimensional space vector modulations with null vector. From [11] Abdelaziz Chaghi, Amor Guetta, Azzedine Benoudjit, Four legged
Active Power Filter Compensation For A Utility Distribution System,
the results obtained it is seen that the compensation Journal of ELECTRICAL ENGINEERING, VOL. 55, NO. 1-2, 2004.
performance of shunt APF is almost similar with all three [12] R. R. Sawant and M. C. Chandorkar, A multi-functional four leg grid
methods but the switching losses are reduced in the proposed connected compensator, Power Conversion Conference - Nagoya,
switching technique as at any instant of time three out of four 2007. PCC '07, April 2007
switches are to be controlled. Though the switching frequency
is not constant it varies only within a narrow range unlike the
hysteresis control wherein the frequency varies over a wide
range.

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