Distorted Utility Voltage Research Articles

Single-phase power line conditioning with unity power factor under distorted utility voltage

The paper proposes a control method of a single-phase active power line conditioner (APLC) aimed at correcting the power factor of linear and non-linear loads supplied by distorted voltage utility. The method, that is based on the single-phase p-q theory and utilizes a third-order sinusoidal signal integrator, gets utility unity power factor and, at the same time, overcomes the shortcomings of the solutions pursuing utility sinusoidal current, namely the possible onset of un-damped resonance phenomena and the reduction in the energy delivery capabilities; moreover, the method makes the power factor correction robust against the supply distortion. The excellent performance of the method is substantiated by testing it by means of a hardware-in-the-loop setup.

Reference Current Extraction through Sliding DFT Assisted Single Phase p-q Theory for Shunt Active Power Filter

Abstract: Active Power Filters (APF) are more effective than conventional passive filters with regard to mitigating harmonics and compensating reactive power. As a result, deployment of APF in the distribution network is ever increasing. The performance of APF mainly depends on the reference extraction technique adopted. This work proposes sliding Discrete Fourier Transform (DFT) assisted single phase p-q theory for the extraction of reference current. The proposed algorithm exploits the inherent ability of sliding DFT (SDFT) to provide the fundamental and its quadrature component of signal (voltage or current) to derive the reference current with the help of a single-phase p-q theory. Furthermore, the algorithm involves the phase shifting of the fundamental component alone, and is suitable even for distorted utility voltage. Effectiveness of the proposed method is demonstrated through simulation results.

Reduction of Input Current Harmonics for Three Phase PWM Converter Systems under a Distorted Utility Voltage

This paper proposes a harmonics reduction technique for the input currents of three phase PWM converters. The quality of the phase angle information on the utility voltage connected to the PWM converters affects their control performance. Under a distorted utility voltage, the extracted phase angle based on the synchronous reference frame PLL method is distorted. This causes large harmonics in the input currents of a PWM converter. In this paper, a harmonics reduction method that makes the input currents in the PWM converter sinusoidal even under distorted utility conditions is proposed. By the proposed method, without additional hardware, the THD (Total Harmonic Distortion) of the input currents can be readily limited to below 5% which is the harmonic current requirements of IEEE std. 519. Its validity is verified by simulations and experimental results.

Generalised single-phase p-q theory for active power filtering: simulation and DSP-based experimental investigation

The single-phase p-q theory for the purpose of active power filtering in the case of single-phase loads is dealt with here. A simple modification is proposed to develop a generalised single-phase p-q theory that can be utilised under the condition of distorted utility voltage. A systematic study is presented by realising both direct and indirect current control techniques. The simulation as well as the digital signal processor (DSP) (DS1104 of dSPACE) based experimental results are discussed. The developed single-phase shunt active power filter (APF) prototype is tested under different operating conditions with different loads to evaluate the full capabilities of the proposed generalised theory for practical uses. The shunt APF reduces the source current total harmonics distortion (THD) from 27.2 to 3.4% under a distorted supply voltage with a THD of 16.2%.

Analysis of Zig-Zag Transformer Applying in the Three-Phase Four-Wire Distribution Power System

The load unbalance and the nonlinear loads result in a significant neutral current in the three-phase four-wire distribution power system. The Zig-Zag transformer has been proposed to attenuate the neutral current of the three-phase four-wire distribution power system. In this paper, an analysis is carried out and computer simulation is used to evaluate the performance of the Zig-Zag transformer under ideal and nonideal power conditions. The simulation results show that (a) the Zig-Zag transformer can effectively attenuate the neutral current and zero-sequence harmonic currents on the utility side under the balanced utility voltage, (b) the utility side neutral current becomes larger under the unbalanced utility voltage or the distorted utility voltage with zero sequence harmonic components after applying the Zig-Zag transformer, (c) the insertion of an inductor in the utility side of the neutral conductor can alleviate overloading of the neutral current caused by the unbalanced utility voltages and the distorted utility voltages with zero sequence harmonic components.