NATIONAL UNIVERSITY OF RWANDA FACULTY OF APPLIED SCINCES DEPARTMENT OF ELECTRICITY AND ELECTRONICS OPTION OF ELECTRICAL POWER ENGINEERING ACADEMIC

YEAR 2011-2012

COMPARATIVE STUDY OF PASSIVE AND ACTIVE POWER FILTERS IN FIGHTING AGAINST HARMONIC PROBLEMS.

FINAL PROJECT PROPOSAL PRESENTED BY: INNOCENT NSABIMANA: UG10106117

SUPERVISOR: BIKORIMANA JEAN MARIE

CHAPTER I: GENERAL INTRODUCTION 1.1. Background

Nowadays like many countries of the world, Rwanda is facing a rapid increment in use of energy resources like hydropower plant, thermal power plant, solar energy, methane gas. This proliferation has increased loss in the pipe line systems which are responsible of elecdisturbances mainly known as current distortion and voltage distortion effects sometimes considered as negligible but they provocate great effects. Some of the most widely acknowledged effects caused by high current distortion and high voltage distortion are responsible to many problems are mentioned to the following part. 1.2. Problem statement

When you observe a Rwandan electrical network, you recognize many disturbances. Most of those are due to harmonics, sometimes considered as negligible but responsible of many effects in electrical materials. We can enumerate some of them:

Effects due to high current distortion are:

Overheating of conductors and insulation degradation Very high neutral currents Premature failure of transformers and uninterruptible power supplies (UPSs) Random tripping of circuit breakers Neutral-earth potential Significant voltage distortion on networks with generators Overheating and possible resonance with capacitors Flickering and even ballast failure of lights PC monitor stroboscopic effect Mal-operation of microprocessor-based equipment Re-injection of harmonic currents into the utility network Voltage Flat topping Overheated phase conductors, panels, and transformers Reduced power factor Reduced system capacity(because harmonics create additional heat, distribution equipment cannot carry full rated load)

transformers and other

Effects due to high voltage distortion are:

Can cause linear devices to draw non-linear current

Torque pulsation in motors Capacitor dielectric failure Insulation breakdown PC monitor and power supply failure Electronic lighting failure

In the following part of this work we shall give the details of each of these effects. As a result of this increment in use of electronics, many industries, factories and high institutions are trying to protect themselves by investing in more sophisticate equipment for harmonic compensation. Installation of filters is the best technique used for compensation of current and voltage disturbances in power distribution systems. This project will focus in comparing, modeling and simulation of active and passive power filters and their scheme representation respectively. 1.3. Objectives of study

In this project, we want to analyze theoretically active power filters and their modeling and computer simulation comparing to passive power filters as a solution to harmonic problems compensation in power distribution system.

1.4.

Hypotheses of the work

Harmonic effects are very dangerous to power distribution systrm, electrical apparatus and to power utilities even if there not known very well and are considered as negligible. For harmonic compensation, active power filters are the best comparing to passive power filters. 1.5. Scope and delimitation of the study applicable

Due to some constraints, this work will be mostly limited to passive power filters and active power filters.

1.6.

Interests of the study

After accomplishing this project, my knowledge and interested people in electrical power distribution system will improved. Many people will know very well all effects due to harmonics. Some effects considered negligible will be seriously taken into account, industrial plants, institutes and people in their houses will use active power filters to fight against harmonics. 1.7. Methodology

For a good verification of the hypothesis mentioned above, we will ask the Technique Director of Estate in National university of Rwanda (nur), in other to get full information about different consequencies caused by harmonics. We will read on internet to know what others think about that issue. We will use different books from internet and from National University of Rwanda library. With computer, MATLAB SIMULINK, we will model, simulate and analyze some types of filters.

1.8.

Memoir layout

The current work comprises the following five chapters:

Chapter I: General introduction. This chapter contains a precise explanation of what the research in different points known as Background, Problem statement, Objectives of study, Research methodology, Research question, Hypotheses, Scope and delimitation of the study, Interest of the study and Methodology. Chapter II: The theoretical concept and the literature review of passive power filters and active power filters. Chapter III: Harmonic problems in power system. In this chapter all problems in power system due to the presence of harmonics in transmission line or in distribution system will be assessed. Chapter IV: Comparison of passive power filter and active power filter performance in fighting against harmonic problems in power system. Modeling and simulation on each type of filters using Matlab simulink software will be included in this chapter. Chapter V: Conclusion and recommendations. This chapter will include the overview of the whole study, my interpretation and some recommendations.

Reference 1. Vedam, R.Sastry. Power quality. 2008. 2. Padiyor, K.R. " Facts controllers in Power Transmission and Distribution". 2007. 3. K.EICHERT, T.MANGOLD and M.WEINHOLD. "Power Quality Issues and their Solutions". 1999.

CHAPTER II: THE THEORETICAL CONCEPT AND THE LITERATURE REVIEW OFPASSIVE POWER FILTERS AND ACTIVE POWER FILTERS. 2.1. HARMONICS 2.1.1. Definition Power electronic devices like microprocessors for industrial control, automation in factories and in offices, home appliances and digital devices and hospital diagnostic system due to their operating principle, absorb a non sinusoidal current (non linear load). Such current causes on the supply side of the network a voltage drop of non sinusoidal type with the consequence that also the linear loads are supplied by a distorted voltage. The harmonics are the components of a distorted waveform and their use allows analyzing any non-sinusoidal periodic waveform by decomposing it into several sinusoidal components. Harmonics is a steady state distortion of the electrical sine wave, as cleared in figure1 showing the voltage distortion in function of time. Most often called the THD (total harmonic distortion), it is referred to in percent. THD is also broken down into an ITHD (for current) and VTHD (for voltage). According to the Fourier theorem, any periodic function with period T generally continuous and limited may be represented by a series of infinite sinusoidal terms with a frequency equal to integer multiples of the frequency of the original function.

Figure 1