Energy controlled shunt active power filters

Abstract

PurposeShunt active power filters are used to decrease or almost eliminate non‐active currents flowing through the supply source. Numerous control methods of active filters have been proposed in many papers. The aim of this paper is to demonstrate a simple but very effective method of obtaining the compensated load active current.Design/methodology/approachThe method allows one to control the shunt active power filter only by monitoring energy stored in the filter. Based on the introduced generic structure of the filter the changes of filter energy are examined in order to obtain the reference current for the filter compensation action.FindingsThis presented method can be implemented to nearly all structures of active filters. It is suitable not only for the single‐phase but also for the three‐phase circuit. Such energy‐controlled filters may be built on the basis of voltage‐ and current‐source inverters as well.Originality/valueThis paper provides an alternative approach to address the problem of the shunt active filter control method. The paper shows that monitoring the filter's energy suffices for proper control of the filter compensation action.