Protecting PFC Capacitors from Overvoltage Caused by Harmonics and System Resonance Using High Temperature Superconducting Reactors

Shunt capacitors are deployed for power factor correction (PFC) to reduce the load reactive power and to provide voltage support. Nonlinear loads, such as variable speed drives, can inject harmonics into the network. If the line impedance value produces a resonance with the PFC capacitor and the injected frequency coincides with the resonant frequency, an overvoltage is produced across the capacitor, which can lead to failure or explosion. To protect the PFC capacitor, a reactor can be connected in series with the PFC capacitor and tuned at the harmonic frequency of the system resonance. This paper proposes the use of a high temperature-superconducting reactor (HTSR) as the tuned reactor. The reactor will have an extremely high-quality factor (Q) compared to the normal reactor that can never be manufactured commercially with such a high Q. The performance of the HTSR reactor in terms of its ability to protect the capacitor from overvoltage and to reduce power losses has been investigated. The results are compared with those using the conventional (low Q) reactor and show that the HTSR can significantly improve filter performance and reduce power losses in the filter.