A practical assessment of different active power filter configurations

Along the last years, the practical use of active filters to mitigate harmonics has been extended in electric power systems. Different configurations of series active filters versus shunt active filters have been proposed, among them, hybrid topologies which combine active and passive filters. Nevertheless, there is not any clear accordance about the most suitable configuration for each type of harmonic sources. In this paper, four different topologies of active power filters to eliminate harmonics have been analyzed. An experimental prototype has been implemented to each configuration and have been submitted to different performance tests. With this objective, a test bank has been developed, which includes nonlinear loads kind harmonic current source, harmonic voltage source, and other whose behavior is between they both. The analysis of experimental results obtained allows the most suitable active filter power topology to be determined for each type of load.