Impedance Factor based Control Strategy for Series Active Power Filter in Distribution System

The power electronics based non-linear loads in low voltage distribution system (LVDS) has significant power quality problems. These non-linear loads are mainly voltage source harmonic loads (VSHL) dominating over current source harmonic loads (CSHL) in the LVDS. Shunt active power filters (ShAPF) have well established active solution for source current compensation. However, the ShAPF without the use of high input reactance at the nonlinear load has poor compensation capability for VSHL dominant systems. This prompted the use of series active power filter (SeAPF) for compensation in VSHL dominant system. In this paper, a new feeder impedance factor (FIF) has been proposed which is used to develop the control strategy for effective compensation. The performance of the SeAPF based upon FIF has been demonstrated through simulation results obtained in PSCAD simulation platform. The results are verified experimentally in the laboratory on model distribution system.