Harmonic compensation in ac distribution systems using smart electronic loads with PFC converters

The number of electronic loads in ac distribution systems is rapidly increasing, and some of such nonlinear loads are injecting harmonics and reducing the power quality. At the same time, there are electronic loads that are equipped with high-bandwidth converters and power factor correction (PFC), which inject sinusoidal currents at line frequency back into the grid. Moreover, modern smart meters have the capability of measuring higher-order harmonics in addition to power. This paper proposes and investigates using the smart electronic loads with PFCs for compensation of harmonics in distributed power systems. Such smart loads may communicate with each other and the smart meter for monitoring and control of power quality in a building or community distribution systems and microgrids. Due to the topology and hardware constraints, the traditional PFCs cannot achieve ideal harmonic compensation. This paper analyzes the operation of PFC converter and proposes a new approach to broaden the range of harmonic compensation. Simulation and experimental results are presented based on a commercial PFC prototype to validate the proposed approach.