Lastmonth,wediscussedlowpowerfactorandhowresonancecandisruptfacilityoperations.

Thismonth,we'lltalkaboutharmonicfilterdesignandvarioussystemparametersthataffect
filterperformance.

UPSharmonicfiltershowingthreeseparateinductors(green
arrow)andassociatedcapacitors(yellowarrow).

Whatdoharmonicfilterslooklike?ThePhotoshowstheinputharmonicfilterofalargeUPS.The
greenarrowhighlightsoneofthethreeseparateinductors,andtheyellowarrowhighlightsthe
associatedcapacitors.Whyusethreeseparateinductorsratherthanasinglecommoncore?The
answerliesinfluxdensitydevelopedinthesteelofthecore.Withacommoncore(EIlamination),
it'sdifficulttoachieveconsistentfluxdensityinallthreelegs.Becauseinductanceinasteelcore
inductorvarieswiththepermeabilityofthesteel,therateofchangeofthecurrentflowingthrough
theinductor,andtheresultingfluxdensity,it'seasiertoachieveandmaintainconsistentfilter
performancewiththreeseparatecomponents.
Whatshouldthecurrentthroughthefilterlooklike?Hopefully,thefrequencyofthecurrentwillbe
closetotheharmonicthatitisintendedtoaddress,andthemagnitudeofcurrentineach
leg/phasewillbeveryclose.Figure1showsharmoniccurrentsflowingthroughanUPSinput
harmonicfilter:PhaseAis89ArmsPhaseBis86ArmsPhaseCis87Armsandthefiltercurrent
frequencyis660Hz(11thharmonic).Thisfilterisworkingcorrectly.

<b>Fig.1.</b>PlotofharmoniccurrentsflowingthroughaUPS
inputharmonicfilter.

Anygoodpowermonitorwithharmonicanalysiscapabilitycanperformthesemeasurements.
Fourieranalysisofthewaveformdataisalsoveryimportant.Themonitorshouldbesettorecord
thecurrentflowingthrougheachphaseofthefilter.Ifdesired,youcanusevoltagechannelsto
examinethevoltagedevelopingacrossindividualinductorsandcapacitorsaswellasthevoltage
acrossboth.

Filterdesignvariationsandperformanceresults
Whathappensifaharmonicfilterdesignusesaverysmallvalueofinductancealongwithavery
largevalueofcapacitance(inductorsareexpensiveandbulky,whereascapacitorsaresmallerand
cheaper).Thefollowingequationdescribestheresultingtankcircuit:
hr=12(LcircuitCfilter)
Potentially,wearebacktothesameunwantedresonanceproblemsthatexistedwithsimpleshunt
capacitance.
Filterdesignersusuallydesignforcommonapplications,acknowledgingthat5%impedanceis
fairlycommonforserviceentranceelectricutilitytransformers.However,siteswithsource
impedance(Z)muchgreaterthan5%mayexperiencemoreproblemsbecausethehigherthe
sourceimpedanceandthelargerthefiltercapacitancetheworsetheproblemsbecome.To
helpaddressthispotentialscenario,designerscommonlyaddablockinginductance.(clickhereto
seeFig.2)showstheuseofablockinginductancetolowerupstreamfrequencyresponse
characteristics.
Figure3(clickheretoseeFig.3)depictsaUPSapplicationinafacility,andFig.4(clickhereto
seeFig.4)onpage18showsaplotofanunintended,momentaryresonancethatoccursinthe
facility,despitethebestdesignefforts.Theloadisa500kVAUPSthathasaninputharmonicfilter
withaddedblockinginductancetodetunethefilteragainstupstreamharmonicsources.However,
thecombinationoffacilityinductancecreatesanewtankcircuitthatisexcitedbytheactuationsof
electricutilityPFcorrectioncapacitors.ThevoltagewaveforminFig.4showsoneverysevereevent
recordedattheUPS.Thetransientvoltagereachesnearly1,400Vpkandlastsmilliseconds.This
typeofeventseverelystrainsanddamagesUPSinputcomponents.
Notonlyistheharmonicfilteractinglikeasink,butthecircuitryalsotendstoamplifythetransient
voltages.Atthemomenttheelectricutilitycapacitorbankexcitesthetransientresonanttank,the
reactive(harmonic)voltagesdevelopedacrossallofthevariousinductancesequalsthereactive
(harmonic)voltagesdevelopedacrossthecapacitors.Wherethevoltagesdevelopedacrosseach
inductiveelementareindividuallysmall,thecollectivevoltagedevelopedacrossthecapacitive
elementsareconcentratedatasinglepoint.Asaresult,itbecomesverylargeanddamaging.
Thereareseveralpossiblesolutionstothisproblem,suchasmovingtheelectricutilitybankfarther
awayorincreasingtheabilityoftheUPStosustaintheseevents.Theeasiestsolutioninthiscase
wastodisengagetheharmonicfilter.Therestillisatransientvoltage,butthemagnitudedrops

from1,400Vpeaktoroughly700Vpeak.

Concludingcomments
Thepresenteconomicdownturnnotwithstanding,energypriceswillinevitablyincreaseinthe
future.Therefore,economicswilldriveeffortstoaddressbothharmonicsandPF.Insomecases,an
electricutilitymaymandatetheuseoffilterstoaddressIEEE519concernsandpublicutility
filings.Inaddition,harmonicfiltersareeitheralreadyincorporatedintodesigns(UPSsystems)or
highlyrecommended(variablespeeddrives).Inanycase,theuseofcapacitorsandfiltersshould
continue,ifnotincrease,intheforeseeablefuture.
Theuseofthesedevicesisusuallyuneventful,andtheresultsareprettymuchwhatwereoriginally
intended.However,therewillalwaysbemarginalapplicationsortotalmisapplications.Inthese
instances,you'llneedtoperformananalysistounderstandtheproblemandimplementaproper
solution.
Modernpowermonitorsareideallysuitedtoaidintheseinvestigations.Youwillnotneed
extremelyfastsamplingratesordeeprecordlengths.However,youwillneedtocaptureunwanted
conditionsortotrenddatainordertoidentifyresonantconditions.
Thebestplacetomonitorisrightatthecapacitorbankorharmonicfilter.Thecurrentflowing
throughacapacitororfilterismostimportant.Voltagesdevelopingacrossinductorsand
capacitorswillaidinproblemanalysis.
Shaughnessyisvicepresident,PowerCETCorp.,SantaClara,Calif.Hecanbereached
atTomS@powercet.com.