ISSN 2319-8885

Vol.03,Issue.10
May-2014,
Pages:1934-1940
www.semargroup.org,
www.ijsetr.com

Design and Simulation of Active Harmonic Filter for Reducing Harmonic

Distortion and Improving Power Factor in Industrial Load
SAW SANDAR MOE
Dept of Electrical Power Engineering, Mandalay Technological University, Mandalay, Myanmar,
Email: sawsandarmoe@gmail.com.

Abstract: Power factor correction in industrial facilities has become a problem nowadays because of the widespread use of
power electronic equipment. This paper presents a method capable of designing and simulation of active power filters to reduce
harmonic distortion and correct the power factor. The modern electric power systems that include non-linear loads may
experience power quality problem such as harmonic distortion and reducing power factor. Non-linear loads draw current that
passes through all of the impedances between the loads and the system sources. The current causes power quality problems.
This paper also investigates the use of harmonic elimination methods to evaluate and reduce total harmonic distortion (THD)
and power factor correction in the three-phase system. The proposed method improve power factor and reduce the total
harmonic distortion within an acceptable range.

Keywords: Active Power Filter, Power Factor Correction, Nonlinear Loads, Harmonic, Total Harmonic Distortion.

I. INTRODUCTION and, therefore, have a negative impact on electric utility

Nowadays, the development of the industries is become a distribution system components. While the exact relationship
main roll during the transition period of agriculture-based between harmonics and losses is very complex and difficult
country to industry-based country. In industrial sector to generalize, the well-established concept of power factor
improving, these points are major parameters to be fulfilled. does provide some measure of the relationship, and it is
In this paper, SAF is used to obtain electric power useful when comparing the relative impacts of nonlinear
continuously and to achieve the electric power in high loads–providing that harmonics are incorporated into the
quality. Harmonic distortion is a major problem in power power factor definition. The major objectives in this paper
system and reduction of harmonic is very essential for the are to use shunt active filter for following - (i) to improve the
power quality improvement. Since most loads in modern power factor, (ii) to reduce total harmonic distortion within
industrial power supply system are non linear loads with the standard limits [3].
development of power electronics, the converters are widely
used in the power supply devices and control application. II. ACTIVE HARMONIC FILTER
Harmonic currents produced by nonlinear loads are injected The active power filter (APF) is a device that is connected
back into power distribution systems through the point of in system to cancels the reactive and harmonic currents from
common coupling (PCC).As the harmonic currents pass a group of nonlinear loads so that the resulting total current
through the line impedance of the system, harmonic voltage
appear, causing distortion at the PCC. Different topologies Active Power Filter
and control techniques have been proposed for their
implementation. AFs are superior to passive filters in terms
of filtering characteristics and improve the system stability
by removing resonance related problems [1]. Harmonics in Shunt APF Series APF Hybird APF
power distribution system are current or voltage that are
integer multiples of fundamental frequency. Ideally, voltage
and current waveforms are perfect sinusoids.
However, because of the increased popularity of Current Voltage Shunt APF Series APF Shunt APF APF in
electronic and non linear loads, these waveforms become source source + + +
series
distorted. In order to quantify the distortion, the term of Total inveter inveter with
Harmonics Distortion (THD) is used [2]. Voltage and current Series APF Shunt PF Shunt PF shunt PF
harmonic produced by nonlinear loads increase power losses Fig.1 Classification of Active Power Filter.

Copyright @ 2014 SEMAR GROUPS TECHNICAL SOCIETY. All rights reserved.

 SAW SANDAR MOE
drawn from the ac main is sinusoidal. The basic principle of
APF is to utilize power electronics technologies to produce
specific currents components that cancel the harmonic
currents components caused by the nonlinear load. APF’s
have a number of advantages over the passive filters. APF
can suppress not only the supply current harmonics, but also
the reactive currents. Active filters can offer a flexible and
versatile solution to voltage quality problems and operates in
a wide frequency range, adjusting their operation to the
resultant harmonic spectrum. Active filters can be classified
according to the ways:
A. Shunt active power filter
The shunt active power filter has proved to be a useful
device to eliminate harmonic currents and to compensate
reactive power for linear/nonlinear loads. A three-phase
system feeding an inverter load has been selected to study the
performance of the APF system. It has been observed that
due to the non-linear characteristics of power electronics
system is used to inject a current equal in magnitude but in
phase opposition to harmonic current to achieve a purely
Mains is iL
ic
Non Linear Load
L Mains
C
VSI
Fig.2 Shunt active powers filter Basic compensation
principle.
Fig.3 Shunt active power filter-Shapes of load, source and
desired filter current wave forms.
International Journal of Scientific Engineering and Technology Research
Volume.03, IssueNo.10, May-2014, Pages: 1934-1940
loads the THD’s of source current and terminal voltage fall
well below the IEEE-519 standard and in principle APF
sinusoidal current wave in phase with the supply
voltage.Figure.2.shows the basic compensation principle of a
shunt active power filter. It is controlled to draw / supply a
compensating current i from / to the utility, so that it cancels
c
current harmonics on the AC side, and makes the source
current in phase with the source voltage. Figure.3. shows the
different waveforms. Curve A is the load current waveform
and curve B is the desired mains current. Curve C shows the
compensating current injected by the active filter containing
all the harmonics, to make mains current sinusoidal.
B. Series active power filter
A voltage Vf is injected in series with the line and it
compensates the voltage distortion produced by a nonlinear
load. A series active filter is more suitable for harmonic
compensation of diode rectifiers where the dc voltage for the
inverter is derived from a capacitor, which opposes the
change of the voltage. Figure.4 shows the operation principle
of series APF is based on isolation of the harmonics in
between the nonlinear load and the source. This is obtained
by the injection of harmonic voltages (vf ) across the
interfacing transformer. The injected harmonic voltages are
added / subtracted, to/from the source voltage to maintain a
pure sinusoidal voltage waveform across the nonlinear load.
is iL
Vf
Non Linear Load
+
Cf
-
VSI
Fig.4 Principal Configuration of a VSI based series APF.
C. Hybrid Active Power Filter
The combination of shunt active and passive filters has
already been applied to harmonic compensation of large steel
mill drives. The shunt passive filter will draw a large source
current from a stiff system and may act as a sink to the
upstream harmonics. It is required that in a hybrid
combination the filters share compensation properly in the
frequency domain. Depending on application type, series or
parallel configurations or combination of active and passive
filters are used. Active power filters can be used in
conjunction with passive filters improving compensation
characteristics of the passive filter and to avoid the possible
occurrence of the generation of series or parallel resonance.
This type of configuration is very convenient for
 Design and Simulation of Active Harmonic Filter for Reducing Harmonic Distortion and Improving Power Factor in
Industrial Load
compensation of high power medium voltage non-linear Whose rms values can be shown to be
loads, such as large power ac drives with cycloconverters or
high power medium voltage rectifiers for application in arc 
Vk
2 
Vrms    
2
furnaces. Vkrms (5)
k 1 2 k 1
III. POWER FACTOR CORRECTION
A. Power Factor
 2 
In most modern electrical distribution systems, the Ik
I rms    I
2
predominant loads are resistive and inductive. Resistive loads krms (6)
k 1 2 k 1
are incandescent lighting and resistance heating. Inductive
loads are AC Motors, induction furnaces, transformers and
ballast-type lighting. Inductive loads require two kinds of
The average power is given by
power: (i) active (or) working power to perform the work
(motion) and (ii) reactive power to create and maintain 
electro-magnetic fields. The vector sum of the active power Pavg   Vkrms I krms cos(δ k  θ k )  P1avg  P2avg  P3avg  ... (7)
and reactive power make up the total (or) apparent power k 1
used. This is the power generated by the utility for the user to
perform a given amount of work. Power factor is the ratio of A frequently used measure of harmonic levels is total
working power to apparent power. It measures how harmonic distortion (or distortion factor), which is the ratio
effectively electrical power is being used. A high power of the rms value of the harmonics (above fundamental) to the
factor signals efficient utilization of electrical power, while a rms value of the fundamental, times 100%, or
low power factor indicates poor utilization of electrical
 
power. To determine power factor (PF), divide working
 Vkrms V
2 2
power (kW) by apparent power (kVA). For sinusoidal k
k 2 k 2
situations, unity power factor corresponds to zero reactive THDV   100%   100% (8)
V1rms V1
power Q, and low power factors correspond to high Q. Since
most loads consume reactive power, low power factors in  

I I
2 2
sinusoidal systems can be corrected by simply adding shunt krms k
k 2 k 2
capacitors. In a linear or sinusoidal system, the result is also THDI   100%   100% (9)
referred to as the consine; I1rms I1

kW Pavg 1
PF   cosθ (1) PFtotal   (10)
kVA V1rms I1rms 1  (THDV /100) 2
1  (THDI /100) 2

Qt Neglecting the power contributed by harmonics and also

Total Power Factor, PFt  cos[tan1 ] (2)
Pt
B. Power Factor in Nonsinusoidal Situation
Now, consider nonsinusoidal situations, where network
voltages and currents contain harmonics. While some
harmonics are caused by system nonlinearities such as
transformer saturation, most harmonics are produced by
power electronic loads such as adjustable-speed drives and
diode bridge rectifiers. The significant harmonics (above the
fundamental, i.e., the first harmonic) are usually the 3rd, 5th,
and 7th multiples of 50/60 Hz, so that the frequencies of
interest in harmonics studies are in the low-audible range.
When steady-state harmonics are present, voltages and
currents may be represented by Fourier series of the form
 supplies are typical nonlinear loads producing harmonics.
v(t)   Vk sin (kω0 t  δ k ) (3)
k 1
 transformers are located at each industry and 400 V three
i(t)   Vk sin (kω0 t  θ k ) (4)
k 1
voltage distortion, as it is generally small. The power factor
is the product of displacement power factor (which is the
same as the fundamental power factor) and is multiplied by
the distortion factor as defined below.
Pavg1 1
PFtotal  
V1rms I1rms 1  (THDI /100) 2
 PFdisplacement  PFdistortion (11)
IV. MODELING OF PROPOSED INDUSTRIAL LOAD
There are several sources in the industrial loads.
These are loads with nonlinear characteristics. The converters
pulse width modulation converters, cycloconverter, arc
furnace, static var compensators and switch mode power
The electric power is taken from 11 kV feeders in small
industries and 33 kV feeders in large industries. The power
phase lines execute power distribution in industry. From the
field study, three types of loads are found as follow:

International Journal of Scientific Engineering and Technology Research

Volume.03, IssueNo.10, May-2014, Pages: 1934-1940
 SAW SANDAR MOE

 Normal AC Loads (induction motors, compressors, TABLE I: COMPARISON OF THD IN PROPOSED

pumps, etc.) SYSTEM
 AC Loads with Power Electronic Drives and DC Parameter
Calculated Allowable
Remarks
Loads (DC motors, Speed and Torque Controlled AC Values Values
Motors)
 Dynamic Loads (Stamping, Metal Pressing, Cutting, PCC 33.044% 8.0% Not acceptable
etc)
Feeder-1 34.165% 5.0% Not acceptable
In the mentioned loads, the first type of loads cause the
displacement power factor and their contribution in current Feeder-2 20.395% 8.0% Not acceptable
waveform distortion is small. But the second and third types
are the sources of harmonics due to the power electronic
switches used in their drives and converters. Feeder-3 34.647% 5.0% Not acceptable

33 kV Bus bar Feeder-4 34.67% 5.0% Not acceptable

33/11 kV
Transformer PCC
In the above table the percentage of THDs in the proposed
15MVA system are not exist within acceptable level. In this paper
Shunt Active Filter (SAF) is used to reduce THD and
11 kV Bus bar 11 kV Bus bar
improve system’s power factor.
Feeder-1 Feeder-2 Feeder-3 Feeder-4
V. CALCULATION OF POWER FACTOR IN
11/0.4 kV 11/0.4 kV 11/0.4 kV 11/0.4 kV PROPOSED SYSTEM
Transformer Transformer Transformer Transformer
500kVA
A. For PCC
3000kVA 750kVA 500kVA
In the proposed system the Point of Common Coupling
(PCC) was installed outgoing of 15 MVA transformer or
incoming of the whole factory. Therefore, the real power (Pt)
and reactive power (Qt) are the combination of feeder-1,
feeder-2, feeder-3 and feeder-4.The total power factor or
Linear 1.5 ton 1.0 ton Linear DC Linear 0.75 ton Linear 0.75 ton fundamental power factor or displacement power factor;
loads Induction Induction loads Motor loads Induction loads Induction
Furnace Furnace Furnace Furnace
Qt
Fig.5 Complete Model of Proposed System. PFfundamental  cos[tan1 ]  0.84 (12)
Pt
A typical industrial load, induction furnace is taken based 1
Distortion Power Factor, PFdistortion   0.948
on field study. In this proposed system there are four feeders. 1  (THDI /100) 2
Each feeder has power transformer to supply the factory such
Total Power Factor  PFdisplacement  PFdistortion = 0.84  0.948
as 3000 kVA, 750 kVA, and two no. of 500kVA
respectively. The power is taken from 11/0.4 kV two winding
transformers. The single line diagram of typical industrial
load is illustrated in figure 5. This factory mainly consists of = 0.799
induction furnaces, induction machines and DC machine.
This power factor is the condition of without shunt active
Modern induction furnaces use electronic power converters
filter (SAF).
to supply a variable frequency to the furnace induction coil.
Induction furnaces have been widely used to heat ferrous and B. For Feeder-1
non-ferrous stocks in the forging and extruding industry. In this feeder-1 consist of 1.5 ton induction furnace, 1.0 ton
induction furnace and other linear loads. These loads are
The significant source of harmonic distorting commonly supplied by 300 kVA transformer and supplied voltage is
comes from rapidly changing load current such as in 400V.
induction furnaces and cycloconverters. Induction machines
are widely used for many purposes for this factory. It was Q
used to pour the melting iron (or) to rotate the furnace tank, PFfundamental  cos[tan1 t ]  0.83
to cool the existing water from the furnaces (for cooling Pt
system) and to push iron sticks to the furnace, and to curry 1
Distortion Power Factor, PFdistortion   0.946
the iron sticks. In this proposed system, DC machine is used 1  (THDI /100) 2
to extrude the iron sticks for getting necessary shape (or) size
because it offers a wider speed range and higher starting Total Power Factor  PFdisplacement  PFdistortion = 0.83  0.946
torque.
International Journal of Scientific Engineering and Technology Research
Volume.03, IssueNo.10, May-2014, Pages: 1934-1940
 Design and Simulation of Active Harmonic Filter for Reducing Harmonic Distortion and Improving Power Factor in
Industrial Load
= 0.785

This power factor is the condition of without shunt active

filter (SAF).
C. For Feeder-2
DC machine and other nonlinear loads are consisting of in
feeder-2. This feeder is supplied by 750 kVA transformer and
0.4 kV supply.

Qt
PFfundamental  cos[tan1 ]  0.997
Pt
1
Distortion Power Factor, PFdistortion   0.98
1  (THDI /100) 2

Total Power Factor  PFdisplacement  PFdistortion = 0.997  0.98

(a)
= 0.977

This power factor is also the condition of without shunt

active filter (SAF).
D. For Feeder-2
In the proposed system, Feeder - 3 and Feeder - 4 have
same parameters such as 500 kVA transformer and 400V
supply are used. Therefore the results are also same.
Qt
PFfundamental  cos[tan1 ]  0.83
Pt

1
Distortion Power Factor, PFdistortion   0.945
1  (THDI /100) 2

Total Power Factor  PFdisplacement  PFdistortion = 0.83  0.945

Fig.6(a) & (b) THD of the whole factory at PCC without
and with shunt active filter.
= 0.784

From the above mentions, all the power factors are reduce
below the fundamental power factor due to the presence of
harmonics in the currents.

VI. SIMULATION RESULTS

The present system is simulated using the Shunt Active
Filter to reduce Total Harmonic Distortion (THD) in the
current. The values of inductance and capacitance with 0.96
H and 72.7µF for SAF model are calculated depending upon
required compensated reactive power of the proposed system.
From the simulation results, Fig. 6(a) is the THD of current
without SAF and Fig.6 (b) is the THD of current with SAF
for the whole factory at PCC. As shown in Fig., THD is
33.05% before using SAF. It is not exist within acceptable
level. After using SAF, THD is reduced to 3.93%. And then,
Fig.7 (a) and 7(b) are the THD of Feeder-1 without and with
SAF. In this result THD is 33.76% before using SAF. After
using SAF, THD can reduce to 2.89%. In Fig.8 (a) and (b)
are described the percentage of THD in current for Feeder -2. (a)
International Journal of Scientific Engineering and Technology Research
Volume.03, IssueNo.10, May-2014, Pages: 1934-1940
 SAW SANDAR MOE

Fig.7 (a) & (b) THD of Feeder-1 without and with shunt
(a)
active filter.

Fig. Fig. 9 (a) & (b) THD of Feeder-3&4 without and

(a) with shunt active filter

Fig.8 (a) & (b) THD of Feeder-2 without and with shunt
active filter. Fig.10 Improvement of Power Factor in Proposed system
International Journal of Scientific Engineering and Technology Research
Volume.03, IssueNo.10, May-2014, Pages: 1934-1940
 Design and Simulation of Active Harmonic Filter for Reducing Harmonic Distortion and Improving Power Factor in
Industrial Load
Before using SAF the THD is 20.75% it is not exist [5] Michael Z. Lowenstein, Jim Holley, Myron Zucker,
acceptable level. After using SAF the THD is reduced to P.E.,1988, Controlling Harmonics While Improving Power
1.58%. Consequently, THD without SAF and with SAF id Factor Myron Zucker, Inc.
shown in Fig.9 (a) and (b) for the Feeder-3&4.In this figures;
THD of current distortion (33.11%) is higher than the [6] IEEE Standard 519, Recommended Practices and
allowable limit (1.10%) of the IEEE standard 519.By using Requirements for Harmonic Control in Electric Power
SAF, the THD in current can be reduced to acceptable limits Systems, 1996.
and can improvement power factors. The improvement of
power factors for the proposed system is shown in Fig.10. [7] T. Nageswara Prasad, “ Harmonic Reduction in Hybrid
Filters for Power Quality Improvement in Distribution
VII. CONCLUSION Systems”, Research Scholar, Department of EEE, S.V.U.
As a conclusion, the effectiveness of Shunt Active Filter Collage of Enginerring, Tirupati, India.
(SAF) has been achieved as the result of harmonics
components reduction that exists in a power system with a [8] Ramasamy Natarajan, “Computer- Aided Power System
chosen nonlinear load, proposed system. Moreover, shunt Analysis”, Practical Power Associates, Raleigh, North
active filter can be compensated the entire harmonic Carolina, U.S.A.
presented in proposed system by using one equipment. In this
paper, we are able to compensate the harmonic caused by
induction furnaces and DC machine of proposed system and
it provides positive and also improve the power factor.

VIII. ACKNOWLEDGMENT
The author would like to express grateful thanks to her
supervisor Dr. Yang Aung Oo, Associate Professor,
Department of Electrical Power Engineering, Mandalay
Technological University for all his help, great guidance and
support. The author wishes to thank to all her teachers from
Mandalay Technological University. The author greatly
expresses her thanks to all persons whom will concern to
support in preparing this paper. The author’s special thanks
are sent to her parents, for their support, encouragement to
attain her destination without any trouble throughout her life.

IX. REFERENCES
[1] M. Chakravarthy, Dr. S.N. Saxena and Dr. B.V. Sanker
Ram,“ Simulation of Shunt Active Power Filter using
Hysteresis Current Control Technique”, ISSN 0974-2158
Volume 5, Number 1 (2012), pp. 37-47, International
Research Publication House.

[2] W. Mack Grady, The University of Texas at Austin,

Austin, Texas 78721, Robert J. Gilleskie, San Diego, Gas &
Electric, San Diego, California 92123,“Harmonics and How
they Relate to Power Factor”.

[3] Ying- Tung Hsiao, “Design of Filtersvfor Reducing

Harmonic Distortion and Correcting Power Factor in
Industrial Distribution Syatems”, Department of Electrical
Engineering, Tamsui, Taipei, Taiwan 251,R O.C.

[4] Budwal Amrinder Singh, Chinmaya R. Chute, Shiva

Gourishetti, M.Tech Electrical Engineering, V.J.T.I.,
Mumbai, “ Harmonics Effect on Power Quality and its
Mitigation Techniques using Active power Filter”.

International Journal of Scientific Engineering and Technology Research

Volume.03, IssueNo.10, May-2014, Pages: 1934-1940