An Active Power Filter using SinglePhase NPC

Converters and Predictive Control for Medium

Voltage Distribution Systems
P. Acuna, L. Moran Marco Rivera Juan Dixon Rolando Burgos
Dep. of Electrical Engineering Dep. of Industrial Technologies Dep. of Electrical Engineering Dep. Electrical and Computer Engineering
U. de Concepcion U. de Talca Pontificia U. Catolica de Chile Virginia Tech
Concepcion, CHILE Talca, Chile Santiago, Chile Blacksburg, USA
pabloacuna@udec.cl marcoriv@utalca.cl jdixon@ing.puc.cl rolando@vt.edu

AbstractAn active power filter implemented with three their systems. In effect, there is an increasing need for the
single-phase Neutral Point Clamped (NPC) converters is pre- transmission of electric power generated by renewable energy
sented and analyzed. The proposed active power filter is aimed sources in remote areas, such as wind or solar farms, to regular
to compensate current harmonics and reactive power in three-
phase medium voltage power distribution systems. A predictive end users and customers with high levels of reliability and
control algorithm provides the switching states that ensure fast power quality. A key limitation in the distribution of electric
current tracking capability. To take advantage of the predictive power from these non-standard sources has accordingly been
control implementation simplicity, this paper includes useful transmission system weakness. Specifically, the latter affects
information to replicate this implementation on similar topologies the capability to fulfill the stability requirements against power
of multilevel converters. The proposed scheme presents lower line
to line voltage harmonic distortion as well as an independent disturbances at the Point of Common Coupling (PCC), such as
control in each phase, compared with the conventional three- sudden active and reactive power changes, current harmonic
phase NPC topology. Simulated results confirm the implemen- resonances, and current or voltage transients. Additionally,
tation viability of the proposed active power filter topology and the inherent short-term power fluctuation of the renewable
associated control strategy. resources produces voltage oscillations that must be dealt with
Index TermsActive Power Filter, Current Control, Predictive
Control, Neutral Point Clamped. too [1].
Renewable power generation often relies in power
I. N OMENCLATURE electronics to ensure suitable interconnection to the power
NPC Neutral point clamped grid. Power electronics solutions, such as multilevel converters
AC Alternating current and active power filters are able to integrate renewable power
dc Direct current resources with minimum impact in the power quality. The
PWM Pulse width modulation introduction of commercially available multilevel converters
VSI Voltage source inverter creates an interesting market for high voltage active power
PCC Point of common coupling compensation technologies. While power electronic solutions,
FACTS Flexible ac transmissions systems such as FACTS devices, have been proposed and presented
PC Predictive controller as a good alternative to deliver the leading or lagging reac-
PLL Phase-locked-loop tive power necessary in high voltage transmission systems,
vP N dc converter voltage its application is limited to reactive power compensation.
vs System voltage vector [vsu vsv vsw ]T However, the fast development experienced in the design and
is System current vector [isu isv isw ]T construction of medium voltage PWM converters, especially
iL Load current vector [iLu iLv iLw ]T for motor drive applications, will help overcome the lack of
vo VSI output voltage vector [vou vov vow ]T confidence associated with more sophisticated and accurate
io VSI output current vector [iou iov iow ]T active compensation technologies.
io Reference current vector [iou iov iow ]T Medium voltage PWM converters have been used with
in Neutral current great success in industrial motor drives since the 1990s.
Lf Filter inductance Different converter topologies, such as NPC, flying capacitors,
Rf Filter resistance and cascaded H-bridges, have already demonstrated that this
technology is highly reliable and cost effective for industrial
II. I NTRODUCTION applications [2][4]. Since the active power compensators,
Instead of using traditional electric power distribution based such as power filters, operates as current followers, com-
on large-scale generators, electric power distribution com- pensation performance depends on the implemented control
panies are presently expanding their generation capacity by systems dynamic response, therefore the selection of the
integrating smaller scale local renewable energy sources into control scheme is crucial. Same converter topologies but with

978-1-4799-0224-8/13/$31.00 2013 IEEE 8516

 Renewable Active
Energy Step-down
an adequate control schemes can also be used for active power Power Load
Source Filter Transformer
filter implementations [5], [6]. A predictive control algorithm
vs
has been recently used in active power filter applications [7] Ls Rs is iL
and demonstrated to be an effective solution for this applica-
tion. The predictive control strategy is suitably implemented Zs io
in an active power filter, since all parameters used in the Step-up Rf ZL
predictive model are well known. Another important aspect Transformer Zf
Lf
in the design of active power filters for medium or high +
voltage applications, is the selection of the power converter. Single-phase
vf 1

NPC Series
A single-phase NPC converter is selected as the active power 1

Connection
see Fig. 2

filter topology in this paper. The proposed active power filter
topology is aimed to compensate reactive power and current +




harmonic in medium-voltage power distribution systems. The vf n
n
selection of single-phase NPC converters is based on the fact
that increases converter flexibility in order to reach higher
voltage level and compensation capacity. Once they are con- Fig. 1. Single-phase Equivalent Diagram of the Proposed Three-phase Shunt
Active Power Filter.
nected as a three-phase module, each NPC converter generates
a five-level output line to line voltage pushing the associated
switching harmonics to higher values, reducing the voltage
distortion compared with the conventional three-phase three- Single-Phase NPC
P
level NPC topology or the traditional three-phase two-level
topology. Moreover active power filters implemented with S1 S3
+
modular single-phase converters allows for independent phase vC1 Cdc
control, which can be employed for unbalanced power systems Zeq
S2 S4
compensation. iox Req Leq
This paper presents the mathematical converter model of
x
an active power filter implemented with single-phase NPC + vf x n
converters, including the principles of operation of the pro-
posed predictive multilevel control scheme, together with its + S1 S3
design procedure. The complete description of the selected vC2 Cdc
single-phase current reference generator implemented in the
S2 S4 w
active power filter is also presented. Finally, the proposed v
N u
active power filter and the compensation performance of the
associated control strategy is demonstrated through simulation
results. Fig. 2. Circuit Diagram of the Single-Phase NPC Converter.

III. NPC C ONVERTER M ODEL

Figure 1 shows the connection of the proposed active power
filter topology in a typical three-phase power distribution
system with renewable power generation. The electrical en-
ergy consumption of the loads is random and unpredictable,
and therefore it may be single or three-phase, balanced or
unbalanced, and linear or non-linear. The active power filter
as depicted is connected in parallel at the PCC to compensate
current harmonics, current unbalance, and reactive power. It is
composed by an electrolytic capacitor bank, three single-phase
NPC converters, together with their respective line inductors
acting as first-order output ripple filter, as shown in Fig. 2.
This figure shows the detailed circuit schematic of one of the
single-phase NPC converters.
To take advantage of the single-phase implementation, in
case of high voltage operation requirements, the active power
filter allows for series connection of more than one single-
phase converter, as shown in dotted line in Fig. 1. Regarding
voltage quality, the converter output voltage presents an im-
proved 5level voltage waveform which reduces both the dv/dt
at the semiconductors by factor of two and the instantaneous
voltage difference at the coupling reactor Lf when compared
to three-phase NPC converter implementations. As a conse-
quence, each output voltage vf x (x = u, v, w) can be generated
using the selected 9 switching states, as shown in Table I. The
transition from one switching state to another consecutive state
is done by switching only one switching therefore minimizing
the switching frequency, as shown in Fig. 3.
The output voltage vf x of each single-phase converter,
measured from the n point, can be expressed in terms of
switching states (Sy , y = 1, 2, 3, 4), as follows:
vf x = vC1 (S1 S3 ) + vC2 (S2 S4 ) , x = u, v, w, (1)
were the sum between vC1 and vC2 is the voltage between
P and N (vP N ), defined as:
vP N = vC1 + vC2 = 2vdc . (2)

8517
 1100
1
1101 0100
1 1
4 uses this information to select the optimum switching state that
1111 0101 0000
3 optimization criteria. The predictive control algorithm is easy
0111 2 0001
0011
Fig. 3. Selected switching state trajectory examples of the Single-phase NPC
Converter.
The mathematical model of the active power filter, derived
from the equivalent circuit shown in Fig. 2, is:
d io
vs = vf x Req io Leq , (3)
dt
where Req and Leq are the NPC converter output parameters,
expressed as Thevenin impedances at the converter output
terminals, Zeq . This Thevenin equivalent impedance considers
the power system equivalent impedance Zs , the converter
output ripple filter impedance Zf and the load impedance ZL .
Therefore, the equivalent impedance value of Zeq is deter-
mined by the series connection of the ripple filter impedance
Zf and a parallel arrangement between the system equivalent
impedance Zs and the load impedance ZL (4).
Zs ZL
Zeq = + Zf Zs + Zf .
Zs + ZL
For this model, it is assumed that ZL >> Zs , also the re-
sistive part of the systems equivalent impedance is neglected,
and the series system equivalent reactance is in the range of
3-7% p.u., which is an acceptable approximation of the real
system. Finally, in equation (3) Req = Rf and Leq = Ls +Lf .
IV. D IGITAL P REDICTIVE C URRENT C ONTROL
The block diagram of the proposed digital predictive current
control scheme is shown in Fig. 4. This control scheme is
basically an optimization algorithm and therefore it has to be
implemented in a microprocessor. Consequently, the analysis
has to be developed using discrete mathematics in order to
consider additional restrictions such as time delays and system
model approximations [8][12]. The main characteristic of
predictive control is the use of the system model to predict the
future behavior of the variables to be controlled. The controller
will be applied to the power converter, according to predefined
to understand, and it can be implemented directly into a digital
platform with three main control blocks, as shown in Fig. 4.
1) Current Reference Generator: this unit is designed to
generate the required current reference that is used to compen-
sate the undesirable load current components. In this case, the
system voltages, the load currents and the dc voltage converter
are used to generate the required current reference signal.
2) Prediction Model: the converter model is used to eval-
uate one-step prediction horizon of each output converter
current. Since the controller operates in discrete time, both
the controller and the system model must be represented in a
discrete time domain [13]. The discrete time model consists
of a recursive matrix equation that represents this prediction
system. This means that for a given sampling time Ts , knowing
the converter switching states and control variables at instant
kTs , it is possible to predict the next states at any instant
[k + 1]Ts . Due to the first-order nature of the state equations
that describe the model in (1)-(3), a sufficiently-accurate first-
order approximation of the derivative is considered in this
paper:
dx x[k + 1] x[k]
. (5)
dt Ts
The nine possible output current predicted values of each
(4)
module can be obtained from (3) and (5) as:
Ts    Req Ts 
io [k + 1] = vf x [k] vs [k] + 1 io [k]. (6)
Leq Leq
As shown in (6), in order to predict the output current
io at the instant (k + 1), the output voltage value vo and
the converter output voltage vf x , are required. The algorithm
calculates all nine values of io [k + 1] associated with the
possible combinations that the state variables can achieve.
3) Cost Function Optimization: in order to select the opti-
mal switching state that must be applied to each single-phase
converter, the each of the nine predicted values obtained for
io [k+1] are compared with the reference using a cost function
g, as follows:

TABLE I 2
S ELECTED SWITCHING S TATES OF THE
g[k + 1] = (iox [k + 1] iox [k + 1]) . (7)
S INGLE - PHASE NPC C ONVERTER
The output current (io ) is equal to the reference (io ) when
S1 S2 S3 S4 vf x g = 0. Therefore, the optimization goal of the cost function is
1 1 1 1 0
1 1 0 1 vC1 = vdc to achieve a g value close to zero. The voltage vector vf x that
1 1 0 0 vC1 + vC2 = 2vdc minimizes the cost function is chosen and then applied at the
0 1 1 1 vC1 = vdc next sampling state. During each sampling state, the switching
0 1 0 1 0
0 1 0 0 vC2 = vdc state that generates the minimum value of g is selected from
0 0 1 1 vC1 vC2 = 2vdc the nine possible different values of the cost function. The
0 0 0 1 vC2 = vdc algorithm selects the switching state that produces the minimal
0 0 0 0 0
error value and applies it to the converter during the k+1 state.

8518
 w w w
vs v v v
u u u
3
io
iL Cost
Current Function
3 Reference Optimization 3
Generator io Sx
vPN g k+1
Single-phase
3
NPC

io k+1

w
3
v
u
vPN
Predictive
Model

Fig. 4. Proposed Predictive Digital Current Control Block Diagram.

PI
vP N + Controller
iLx (t) = |iLx | sin (t + ) = id sin (t + ) +
(8)
iq cos (t + ) .
vP N
   
id sin (t)
2 sin (t) iex sin (t) =2 i (t) . (9)
iq cos (t) Lx
+ Replacing (8) into (9), the equivalent mathematical expres-
+
Lowpass
Filter
+ sion can be expressed as (10):
id id + iox
iLx    
id |id | (1 cos (2t)) cos ()
+ = . (10)
iq |iq | (1 + cos (2t)) sin ()
+
Lowpass
Filter
Current components id and iq are filtered using a low-pass
iq iq filter (LFP), with 20 Hz of cut-off frequency, to avoid ac
components. The resulting expression (11) corresponds to dq
Reactive Power
2 cos (t) on/off Control cos (t) fundamental components of the input current signal. In order
to keep the dc voltage under control it is necessary to modify
Fig. 5. d q-based Single-phase Current Reference Generator Block
Diagram. the amplitude of the each converter reference current. This is
done by adding an active power reference signal (iex ) into the
d-component, as will be explained in the next section. The
final expressions of id and iq corresponds to d q reference
V. C URRENT R EFERENCE G ENERATION
components of each output current signal. The same single-
phase transformation used in (8) is applied to reconstruct the
Each current reference signal (iox) is obtained from the
single-phase stationary components of the current reference
load current using the single phase d q-based signal flow
signal from their d q components, as shown in (12).
diagram shown in Fig. 5. This block calculates the active
power required by the converter and delivers the current id
   
|id | cos ()
reference to each predictive current controller. The dq-based iq = . (11)
|iq | sin ()
scheme operates in a rotating reference frame by multiplying
the load current waveform by the sin(wt) and cos(wt) signals. iox = id sin (t + ) + iq cos (t + ) . (12)
Therefore, the d-component is synchronized with the phase-
to-neutral system voltage and the q-component is phase- A. DC-voltage Control
shifted by 90 . The synchronized signals are obtained from a One of the major advantages of the predictive current con-
synchronous reference frame (SRF) Phase-Locked-Loop [14]. troller implementation in active power filter applications is that
Equation (8) shows the relation between the current in the allows the independent control of the dc voltage control loop.
stationary frame iLx (t) and its d q-components (id and iq ), If the dc-voltage converter is controlled using a PI controller,
while (9) shows the transformation from stationary to rotating weighting factors are avoided from the cost function in the
reference frame. predictive algorithm. Therefore predictive control algorithm

8519
 2

(a) 0 vsu

2
2

(b) 0 iLu

2
2

(c) 0 iou

2
2

(d) 0 isu

1.1
(e) 1 vP N
0.9

(f) 0 vfn

2
t1 t2 t3 t4 t5

(50ms/div)

Fig. 6. Simulated waveforms of the proposed active power filter scheme. (a) Phase to neutral source voltage. (b) Load Current. (c) Active power filter output
current. (d) System current. (e) dc voltage converter. (f) Converter output voltage.

have only current components. For the sake of simplicity, the
analysis of the dc-voltage controller is not included in this
paper.
VI. S IMULATION
This section presents the simulation results to verify the
current compensation effectiveness and technical feasibility of
the proposed active power filter. Current harmonic and reactive
power compensation under different operating conditions are
presented.
A. Simulated Results
Simulated results have been obtained using MATLAB-
Simulink. The predictive control algorithm was programmed
using the S-function block that allows simulation of a discrete
model that can be easily implemented in a digital control
platform. Simulations were performed considering a 20 [s]
sampling time. The proposed active power filter was tested
with a non-linear load rated at 500 kVA and 4.16 kV. The
active power filter parameters are: vP N = 6100 V, Cdc = 2200
F, Rf = 0.02 ohm, Lf = 28 mH and fs = 6.35 kHz. All
voltages and current values in the figures are expressed in per
unit (p.u.).
In the simulated results shown in Fig. 6, the active filter
starts to compensate at t = t1 . At this time, the active power fil-
ter injects an output current io to compensate current harmonic
components. During compensation, the system currents (is )
show sinusoidal waveform, with low total harmonic distortion
(THD = 3.69%). At t = t2 , a three-phase balanced load step
change is generated from 1.0 to 1.3 p.u. The compensated
system currents remain sinusoidal despite the change in the
load current magnitude. At t = t3 , a three-phase motor load
is introduced, which is equivalent to an 0.86 lagging power
factor. Finally, at t = t4 , the active power filter turns on its
reactive power control signal. Simulated results show that
line currents are forzed to be sinusoidal and in phase with
the system voltage. Additionally, Fig. 6 (e) and (f) show
that the dc-voltage and converter output voltage remain stable
throughout the whole active power filter operation.
VII. C ONCLUSION
An active power filter implemented with three single-phase
NPC multilevel converters was presented and analyzed in this

8520
 paper. One of the main advantages of the proposed topology is
related with the flexibility introduced by the three single phase
converters allowing current harmonics and reactive power
compensation reaching higher blocking voltage capabilities.
Moreover, the use of single phase NPC multilevel converters
improves the output voltage waveforms, reducing the low fre-
quency voltage harmonics associated with the converter topol-
ogy. Also the results clearly showed that the implementation
of the proposed predictive controller is robust over the whole
operation of the active power filter. The proposed active filter
constitutes an alternative to conventional three-phase active
power filters offering a new solution to harmonic mitigation
and reactive power compensation in medium voltage power
distribution systems.
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
The authors wish to thank the financial support from the
Chilean Fund for Scientific and Technological Development
(FONDECYT) through project 1110592 and the FONDAP
Project 15110019.
R EFERENCES
[1] E. Pouresmaeil, D. Montesinos-Miracle, and O. Gomis-Bellmunt, Con-
trol scheme of three-level npc inverter for integration of renewable
energy resources into ac grid, Systems Journal, IEEE, vol. 6, no. 2,
pp. 242 253, june 2012.
[2] H. Abu-Rub, J. Holtz, J. Rodriguez, and G. Baoming, Medium-voltage
multilevel converters ;state of the art, challenges, and requirements in
industrial applications, Industrial Electronics, IEEE Transactions on,
vol. 57, no. 8, pp. 2581 2596, aug. 2010.
[3] M. Khazraei, H. Sepahvand, M. Ferdowsi, and K. Corzine, Hysteresis-
based control of a single-phase multilevel flying capacitor active recti-
fier, Power Electronics, IEEE Transactions on, vol. 28, no. 1, pp. 154
164, jan. 2013.
8521
Powered by TCPDF (www.tcpdf.org)
[4] W. Song, X. Feng, and K. Smedley, A carrier-based pwm strategy with
the offset voltage injection for single-phase three-level neutral-point-
clamped converters, Power Electronics, IEEE Transactions on, vol. 28,
no. 3, pp. 1083 1095, march 2013.
[5] O. Vodyakho and C. Mi, Three-level inverter-based shunt active
power filter in three-phase three-wire and four-wire systems, Power
Electronics, IEEE Transactions on, vol. 24, no. 5, pp. 1350 1363, may
2009.
[6] S. Du, J. Liu, and J. Lin, Hybrid cascaded h-bridge converter for
harmonic current compensation, Power Electronics, IEEE Transactions
on, vol. 28, no. 5, pp. 2170 2179, may 2013.
[7] P. Acuna, L. Moran, M. Rivera, J. Dixon, and J. Rodriguez, Improved
active power filter performance for renewable power generation sys-
tems, Power Electronics, IEEE Transactions on, vol. PP, no. 99, pp.
11, 2013.
[8] D. Quevedo, R. Aguilera, M. Perez, P. Cortes, and R. Lizana, Model
predictive control of an afe rectifier with dynamic references, Power
Electronics, IEEE Transactions on, vol. 27, no. 7, pp. 3128 3136, july
2012.
[9] M. Rivera, C. Rojas, J. Rodriguez, P. Wheeler, B. Wu, and J. Espinoza,
Predictive current control with input filter resonance mitigation for
a direct matrix converter, Power Electronics, IEEE Transactions on,
vol. 26, no. 10, pp. 2794 2803, oct. 2011.
[10] J. Barros, J. Silva, and E. Jesus, Fast-predictive optimal control of
npc multilevel converters, Industrial Electronics, IEEE Transactions
on, vol. 60, no. 2, pp. 619 627, feb. 2013.
[11] M. Rivera, V. Yaramasu, J. Rodriguez, and B. Wu, Model predictive
current control of two-level four-leg inverters;part ii: Experimental
implementation and validation, Power Electronics, IEEE Transactions
on, vol. 28, no. 7, pp. 34693478, July. 2012.
[12] V. Yaramasu, M. Rivera, B. Wu, and J. Rodriguez, Model predictive
current control of two-level four-leg inverters;part i: Concept, algorithm,
and simulation analysis, Power Electronics, IEEE Transactions on,
vol. 28, no. 7, pp. 34593468, July. 2012.
[13] S. Kouro, P. Cortes, R. Vargas, U. Ammann, and J. Rodriguez, Model
predictive control - A simple and powerful method to control power
converters, Trans. Ind. Electron., IEEE, vol. 56, no. 6, pp. 18261838,
June 2009.
[14] S.-K. Chung, A phase tracking system for three phase utility interface
inverters, Power Electronics, IEEE Transactions on, vol. 15, no. 3, pp.
431 438, May 2000.