Active Power Filter Solution to the Harmonic Issues Caused by a Nonlinear Industrial Load

The paper addresses the voltage and current harmonics mitigation issues for a specific large power nonlinear load from automotive industry. Due to the high level of the waveform's distortion and their rapid spectrum change, passive or hybrid filter solutions could not be considered. Accordingly, the usage of an active harmonic filter (AHF) is adopted. The adequate selection of this equipment is conducted after the proper investigation of the main power quality parameters at the industrial load terminals. Consequently, a unit of 300 A rated current was connected in parallel to the load (at low-voltage part of the installation). This manages to constantly reduce the current and voltage harmonics, maintaining their values under the ones prescribed by the actual norms and regulations. The solution is confirmed by the carried-out measurement before and after the active harmonic filter installation.