A new approach to harmonic compensation in power systems-a combined system of shunt passive and series active filters

A novel approach to compensating for harmonics in power systems is presented. It is a combined system of a shunt passive filter and a small rated series active filter. The compensation principle is described, and some filtering characteristics are discussed in detail. Excellent practicability and validity to compensate for harmonics in power systems are demonstrated experimentally. Although the source harmonic voltage was only 1%, the source harmonic current reached about 10% before the series active filter was started. After it was started, no harmonic current flowed into the shunt passive filter. In addition, no harmonic voltage appeared at the terminals of the shunt passive filter, because the source harmonic voltage was applied to the series active filter. The total loss of the series active filter was less than 40 W. It is concluded that the combined system is far superior in efficiency to conventional shunt active filters