Davan Jaisarie (109002504) 1

Simulation of Shunt Passive Filter to Reduce

Harmonics (March 2011)
D. Jaisarie, Student, University of Trinidad and Tobago

Abstract—Passive filters are employed in industrial and

commercial facilities to control harmonic levels within IEEE
Std. 519 limits. Passive filters are used for their simplicity and
low cost. This report describes the multi-section shunt passive
filter operation characteristics and gives simulation results to
show its effectiveness.

Index Terms—Passive filter, Harmonics Fig 1. Typical distribution system showing possible location for harmonic
filter

I. INTRODUCTION Given the high cost of a series filter and the fact that shunt

P ASSIVE filters applications have been described in a

number of publications. The increasing use of power
electronics-based loads (adjustable speed drives, switch mode
filters may supply reactive power at the fundamental
frequency, shunt passive filters are more popular than series
ones. Also since shunt passive filters carry only a fraction of
power supplies, etc.) to improve system efficiency and the current that series filters carry making the shunt passive
controllability is increasing the concern for harmonic filter is the most common method for controlling harmonic
distortion levels in the end use facilities and on the overall currents.
power system. Harmonics can adversely affect the operation
of cables, capacitors, metering, and protective relays. Table
1 summarizes this. II.SHUNT PASSIVE FILTERS
Shunt passive filters are usually placed to divert a selected
A. Single tuned
portion of the harmonic currents produced by the non-linear
load. The filter is made up of one or more sections and is The shunt passive filters are usually made up of one or
placed at the point of common coupling (PCC) as shown in more sections, as shown in Fig 2, with the singe tuned filters
Fig. 1. being the most common. For the rest of this paper, the
single-tuned RLC filter will be focused on.
Device Effect The single-tuned filters are tuned to remove a single
Circuit breakers Malfunction harmonic component with a frequency of a multiple value of
Capacitor banks Overheating the fundamental frequency.
Insulation breakdown
Failure of internal fuses
Protection equipment False tripping
No tripping
Measurement devices Wrong measurements
Transformer, reactors Overheating
Motors Increased noise level
Overheating
Additional vibrations
Lines Overheating
Electronic devices Wrong pulses on data
transmission
Over/Under voltage
Flickering screens
Incandescent lamps Reduced lifetime

Fig 2. Shunt filters

B. Multi-section filters
When there are higher order harmonics (5h, 7th, 11th etc)
present in the system, multi-section harmonic filters can be
 Davan Jaisarie (109002504) 2

implemented. Each section of the filter is tuned to attenuate 0 .5

a specific harmonic order. This is done by applying the 0 .4

following equation: 0 .3

0 .2

0 .1

1
fn = (1)
0

2π Ln C n -0 .1

-0 .2

-0 .3

Where ƒ = harmonic frequency -0 .4

n = harmonic order -0 .5
0 0.0 1 0 .0 2 0 .03 0.0 4 0.0 5 0.0 6 0 .0 7 0 .08 0.0 9 0 .1

L = filter inductance
Fig 5. Current waveform without passive filter
C = filter capacitance

Fig 3 shows a representation of the system that was

simulated using a Simulink environment. The line is
modeled as an ideal voltage source, with a line inductance of
220μH and a line resistance of 0.01Ω.

III. SIMULATION
The system illustrated in Fig 3 was constructed using
Simulink. The Simulink model is shown in Fig 4. The non-
linear load was represented by a full wave rectifier.
Harmonic measurements were taken, using the fft analysis
tool in the PowerGui block, before and after the
implementation of the shunt passive filter.
A. Before implementation of filter
The following diagrams shows the results obtained from the
simulation without the passive filter. Fig 5 shows the load
current waveform and Fig 6 shows the harmonic spectrum of
the load current.
Fig 6. Harmonic spectrum of the load current without passive filter
If the load current waveform is observed carefully, it can
be noticed that it is not a pure sinusoidal wave. A pure
sinusoidal wave is the desired waveform. Fig 6 shows that
the 3rd, 5th, 7th and 11th harmonics are the largest and produce
a THD of 1.36%.
B. Tuning of filter
Using (1), each section of the filter was tuned to attenuate
the 3rd, 5ht, 7th and 11th harmonic orders which correspond to
a frequency of 180Hz, 300Hz, 420Hz and 660Hz
respectively. This was done as shown in (2) – (6).

2
1
C= (2)
f n ⋅ 2π ⋅ Ln
Fig 3. Power system analyzed 2
1
C3 = = 1563 .598 ×10 −6
180 ⋅ 2π ⋅ 500 µH
(3)
2
1
C5 = = 562 .895 ×10 −6 (4)
300 ⋅ 2π ⋅ 500 µH
2
1
C7 = = 287 .191 ×10 −6 (5)
420 ⋅ 2π ⋅ 500 µH
2
1
C11 = = 116 .3 ×10 −6
660 ⋅ 2π ⋅ 500 µH
(6)
Fig 4. Simulink model without passive filter
The filter inductance was kept at a constant value as shown
to obtain a value of the filter capacitance. The filter
resistance was then tuned to obtain satisfactory results. The
resistor value used for the filter is 0.01Ω.
 Davan Jaisarie (109002504) 3

C. After implementation of filter
Fig 7 shows the position of the passive filter in the model.
This multi-section filter consists of four sections, each of was
tuned to attenuate a specific harmonic frequency; 3rd, 5th, 7th,
and 11th. Fig 8 shows the components present in the filter.
Fig 9 shows the load current waveform after the passive
filter has been implemented. Fig 10 shows the harmonic
spectrum of the load current waveform.
If Fig 9 is observed carefully it can be seen that the current
waveform is smoother and is a purer sinusoidal that that
without the filter. This point is proven by Fig 10. Notice
how the 3rd, 5th, 7th and 11th harmonic orders were reduced in
magnitude. The THD with the passive filter is 0.02%. This
is a drastic reduction in the THD of the power system.
IV. CONCLUSION

Harmonic filters have been used to eliminate harmonics in

the power system and it is an area of growing concern and
study. This paper has shown the effect of the shunt passive
filter in harmonic mitigation and the effects were proven to
be satisfactory

REFERENCES
Fig 7. Simulink model with passive filter present [1] A. Kusko and M. T. Thompson, “Power Quality in Electrical Systems,”
in Harmonicss, McGraw-Hill, 2007

Fig 8. Components of passive filter

0.5

0.4

0.3

0.2

0.1

-0.1

-0.2

-0.3

-0.4

-0.5
0 0.01 0.02 0.03 0.04 0.05 0.06 0.07 0.08 0.09 0.1

Fig 9. Load current waveform after filter implementation

Fig 10. Harmonic spectrum of load current