Novel control architecture for programmable electronic AC load to achieve harmonic load profiles

A programmable power electronic load solution is usually needed for comprehensive test of generator and power supplies. An Active Programmable Electronic AC Load (APEL) based on a Voltage Source Inverter (VSI) is introduced to emulate a variety of load characteristics such as resistive, inductive, capacitive and harmonic loads. This paper focuses on the development of a novel control structure to emulate harmonic load behaviors. Resonant control method is presented to track high order harmonic components. Standard harmonic loads such as six-pulse and twelve-pulse diode rectifiers are emulated by configuring the amplitude and phase of programmable dominant odd harmonics. Experimental results have been carried out to validate the effectiveness of the proposed control structure.