Design of Damping Strategies for LC Filter Applied in Medium Voltage Variable Speed Drive

Abstract

In recent years, medium-voltage variable-speed drives have become popular in the industry. However, in some applications, the use of long cables can lead to overvoltages at the motor terminals, affecting the motor lifespan. Under such conditions, the use of passive filters is recommended. However, the use of inductive capacitive (LC) filters results in resonances, leading to control stability issues. This issue can be mitigated by introducing a resonance damping strategy. In this work, four damping strategies are implemented and designed: Passive damping, capacitor current feedback, capacitor voltage feedback, and notch filter-based damping. The paper performs a comparative study on the current control phase margin, current and voltage harmonic spectra, and overall changes in the control structure. Then, the effect of the damping strategy on the VSD control is evaluated, creating guidelines to support the selection of the appropriate damping strategy. The results indicate that capacitor voltage feedback stands out, since this strategy presents an interesting dynamic behavior while allowing the elimination of the passive damping losses at a relatively low cost.