2004 11th International Conference on Harmonics and Quality of Power

Theory for the Design of C-type Filter

Yao XIAO. Jie ZHAO, Shijie MAO

capacity at fundamental frequency Q, should be firstly

Abstract-Based on the theoretical analysis, the paper
introduces an algorithm for calculating the parameters of C-type
fdter that has not been published before. Firstly, the
relationships of all parameters are established and discussed.
Then, Parameters with least cost of the filter are derived, and the
method is testified by the parameters of C-type filters having
been used in some HVDC projects.
specified, then the parameters R, L, C are reckoned up
according to the given data.
If neglecting the resistance in reactor and the dielectric
power loss in capacitors, tbe impedance of the filter can be
written from figure 1:
1

Index Tenns-Filter, Harmonic filter, Power system harmonics (1)

- R(oLC-17 + jRwC(wzLC-l) - j- 1
I. INTRODUCTION ( R d Y + ( 0 2 L C -I p d l
To avoid the power loss at fundamental frequency on
T HE configuration of C-type filter is shown in Figure I. It
was first introduced in the France-England
Interconnection HVDC project [I], then in Intermountain and
damping resistor R, parameters L and C are tuned up to
fundamental frequencyf, , i.e.
Qubec-New England HVDC projects [Z]. The significant ui;LC-I= 0 , (2)
feature of C-type filter differing from other types such as the Therefore the impedance of the filter at fundamental
Znd and the 3d order filters is its components L andC being frequency is determined by C, only:
resonant at fundamental frequencyf,, thus the power loss on
the damping resistor R is reduced to the minimum. (3)
The Znd and the 3R1order filters were mainly used for In this way, CI can he reckoned up immediately.
suppressing the low order harmonic on AC side of HVDC At the tuned 6equency. the total reactance of the filter
station in earlier projects [I], but now C-type filters is should be zero:
preferred [2] for the sake of green power transmission, and
some projects in planning will adopt such configuration as C - _ =1
R Z ~ , C ( ~ ; L-1) 0, (4)
well. (w,RCY +(oiLC-ly %CI
Although C-type filter has been in operation for years, the and the total resistauce of the filter is
algorithm for calculating the parameters has rarely been r= R(wiLC-IY
discussed. Some paper dealt with such a topic, hut the (5)
deriving process was not reasonable. This paper intends to (w,RCT +(wiLC-lP

reveal the basic theory of C-type filter, so as to push forward From (4) and (5), result in
C-type filter more widely used.
The paper mainly established mathematical relations
among the parameters through analyzing the feature of C-type So, equation ( 5 ) can be rewritten as
filter, then the optimal parameters for the least cost of the
filter is deduced. Further research reveals that the parameters
with least cost of C-type filter can be directly derived out from
r= . R

a single tuned filter with same reactive power capacity,

nominal voltage and tuned frequency. Finally, the technical
and economical merits of C-type filter are discussed.

Il. BASICRELATIONSHIP AMONG THE PARAMETERS OF THE

FILTER
In order to design the C-type filter, the nominal voltage
U,, tuning frequencyfa of the filter, and the reactive power

Yao XIAO, lie ZH40, Shijie MAO are of E m a High Voltage Power
klr
Figure 1. C a n f p t i o n of C-type filter
TranrMssion Company, China Southcm Power Grid. Tian He Road 116,
Guangzhau 510620, P.R.China.

0-7803-8746-5/04/$20.00 02004 IEEE. 11

 In such a way, we get another important equation at the
tuned frequency:

They are obviously the same. When the current is given,

the larger the inductanceL (or the less the capacitance C), the
Let ho be the harmonic at the tuned frequency greater the capacities are needed for both components L and C.
h, = 0,I oF= m o m (9) Also, the cost for both components L and C are proportional
to their capacities. If their capacities can be reduced to the
and suppose
minimum, the total investment of the filter will he reduced to
2 2u;
&=-=- the least.
G U ' Investigate the function
(8) becomes
g(m) = m2 - m E , (21)
r' - R r + - %'-
4
- 0. (1 1) its derivative
As mentioned above, r is the total resistance of the filter at
tuned frequency; it must be a positive real value having a
physical meaning. In order to get real roots of (Il), the
coefficients should meet the relationship of is always negative, so it is a monotonous decreasing function,
Rt&. (12) and the extremum while m w is
Introduce a factor m and suppose limm2-mJ"-l=0.5
limg(m)= ",+e (23)
m+m
R=m& for m t l : (13)
So parameters L and Care simplified as
Equation (1 1) can be rewritten as

r' - mR,r+ -
R i --0 (14)
A

-
Therefore one of the roots of (14) is

According to (23), these final parameters are based on the

Based on the result of r, parameters L and C of the filter assumption that the intermediate factor m is infinite. This
can be derived out from equation (2) and (6): means there were not any resistance R in parallel, thus C-type
filter become a single tuned filter with damping resistance r,
C= h,'-1 Q, (16) being zero as shown in figure 2.
m2 -m J m i - 1 2 ~ ? 0 , In fact, there are some close relationship among the
parameters of single tuned filter and C-type filter. Suppose
(17) that the single tuned filter has the same nominal voltage (Ul),
reactive compensation power ( Q , ) and tuned harmonic
Till now, the basic relationships among the parameters of (h,) as those of C-type filter, then parameters L, and C, of
the filter are all determined. By choosing an appropriate factor single tuned filter are
m ( m A ) , other parameters R, L, C and C, of the filter can be
determined subsequently, but these are not the final and
optimal results.

In. O P T I W PARAMETERS FOR THE LEASTCOST OF THE

FILTER
Because L, C are tuned up to'fundamental fkequency, the
fundamental current IIdetermined by nominal voltage U, and
reactive compensation power Ql (or by C1) will entirely flow
through the components L and C. The current is

The capacities of components L and C at fundamental

frequency are respectively
QL=31:wFL=,2Q'
llo -1
(m ' - m )" m'-1 (19)
Figure 2. Matching the parameters between single
m e d filter and C-type filter

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 TABEL I. PARAMETERSOF C - M E FILTERAPPLIEDIN SOME HVDC PROJECTS

1
Comparing (25) with (26), the inductances of L and L, are
entirely the same. On another hand, the sum of C, and C of C- Resistance (muMplesof2b)
type filter in series connection is 0.6

It is also same as Cs of single tuned filter. This proposes a

simple way to estimate the parameters of C - t y p filter. At first, 0.2

the inductance Ls and capacitance Cs are derived out 0

according to the single tuned filter configuration with same U,, 0 3 6 9 12 15
Q, and ho. Then the capacitance Cs is separated into C, and C
as series connection, but C i s specified to he resonant with LS
at fundamental frequency&. Figure 2 simply illustrates these
estimating processes.
At last, the damping resistance R has to be determined. To
get R, one should make use the quality factor of the filter,
which is specified as the performance for the filter to
suppressing the harmonic overvoltage nearhy the tuned
frequency. In C-type filter, the quality factor is defmed as
0
0
\\J,
3 6 9 12 15

so the damping resistance should be 1

0.6

The equations can be verified through the parameters of

C-type filters in table I, which is quoted from [2].

w.SOME F E A W OF C-TYPEFILTER
In this section, all the analyses are based on the I
parameters with least cost of the filter. 0 3 6 9 12 15
In a normalized form, the impedance of the filter versus Figure 3. Characteristicc w e of C-ripe filter
harmonic h is
4)
-= hu(h2-1pq In section 11, the derivation of parameters L and C are
zb h2(# -1)zq2 +hi(h2- I p initialized &om the total reactance of the filter at tuned
harmonic being zero. But if the least cost parameters are
prefemd, the total reactance of the filter at the designed
harmonic ho is

where 2, = U : / Q , is referred as the base value. From (31), = ( h ) =4 q'+l

[q'+1 - j('-!]" h, 3
(32)
an impedance frequency response curve can be drawn as
which is capacitive. The position where the total reactance of
figure 3, which is for ho=3 and 4'2.
the filter being zero now shifts to a higher harmonic as

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h. =

#[(hi -Ik - 2]+,/h,"[(hi-I)$ - 2?-+4hi[(h: -Ik2- h i ]

2[(hi- I k ' - h i ]
(33)
Table I1 lists harmonic order h, at which the reactance of
the filter is zero. Figure 4 is the curve of the h, versus ha for
different q.
Figure 5 illustrates the relationship of ha and h,i. where
the minimum impedance is located for different q. harmonic orde hO
Although the minimum impedance of the filter is not 0
exactly at harmonic ha, but h,, is very close to ha. Table 111 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10
lists the ratio of h, Jha for different q. It can be seen that with Figure 5. Harmonic orders with minimum impedance
relatively high quality factor and low harmonic order, the versus Nned harmonic orders
performance of the filter is quite satisfactory.

TABLE 11. HARMONIC ORDER AT PURE R E S I S T N E IhPWANCE V. TECHNICAL AND ECONOMICAL mRITS
Here C-type filter with parameters of least investment is
compared with single tuned filter in two aspects: technology
and economy.
Suppose both filters have same specification such as the
compensation capacity Q l ,nominal voltage U,, and the quality
factors q, the resistance in series connection of the single
tuned filter is
rs = +x,.~ =
4 +I
U:
4 + I hoQi
+- (33)

Therefore the power loss of single tuned filter at

TABLE In. RATIOOF h&h0 QUALITYFACTOR
AT DIFFERENT q fundamental frequency is

This is a considerably figure at low harmonic ho. Even if

the Zd order or the 3d order filter is used, there will be some
power loss of them. This is why C-typefilter is mainly used
for suppressing low order of harmonics today.
The capacity of components L and C of single tuned filter
at fundamental frequency are

So the total capacity of capacitor and reactor of C-type

filter at fundamental frequency is same as that of single tuned
filter.
The rating of R is in fact very small for its little power
consumption, and the investment of R will be refund during
the operation. On the other hand, the single tuned filter needs
a series resistor on which the rating is also considerable.
By the way, the flat feature of C-type filter above ha can
bypass some higher harmonic current.

Figure 4. harmonic ho versus harmonic h, at pure resistive

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 VI. CONCLUSION
Base on the analyzing the feature of C-type filter,
algorithm for calculating parameters of it are derived. Further,
parameters with least cost of the filter are also given.
Because of the minimum power loss kom C-type filter, it
should be the widely used in harmonic suppressing projects.

VII. R~FERENCB
[l] E.I. Abamavieh, G. L. Brewer, Harmonic filtmfor the Scllindge
convert station, GEC Journal ofscience & feehnology,Vol. 48, No. I,
1982.
[Z] CIGRE WG 14.03, AC harmonicjillers andreocrive eompensafionfor
X M C Wrfh pmrinrlar reference 10 non-choracledstic h m o n i c s :
complemenr 10 fhe paper published in Electro No. 63(1979), CIGRE
report, Juoe 1990
[3] J. Anillaga, D.A.Bradley, P.S.Bodger,Powersyslem harmonics, Ihan-
wiley & sons, 1985

VIII. BIOGRAPHY
Yao Xiao is now a senior engineer working for Extra High
Voltage Transmission Co., China Southem Power Grid. His
interest is at power quality and HVDC. Email:
xiaoyao78@tsinghua.org.cn

Jie Zhao is the deputy manager of Extra High Voltage

Transmission Co., China Southem Power Grid.

Shijie Zhao is the director of operation and technology dept.

of Extra High Voltage Transmission Co., China Southem
Power Grid.

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