A New Contribution into Performance of Active Power

Filter Utilizing SVM based HCC Technique

M. I. Marei, Student Member, E. F. El-Saadany, Member, and M. M. A. Salama, Fellow

Abstract: This paper proposes a control algorithm for shunt

active power filters APFs, based on space vector modulation
SVM and hysteresis current controller HCC techniques for
current regulated voltage source converters VSC, which
allows precise compensation of harmonic currents produced
by distorted loads. The approach is based on the direct
current control in which the load current is measured, then
filtering out the fundamental component. Two sets of
hysteresis comparators determine the switching vector. The
set with wider hysteresis band works as a region detector.
Utilizing the proposed SVM based HCC technique leads to a
significant reduction in the number of switching and hence
the cost is reduced.
Index

Terms Harmonic distortion, Space

modulation, HCC, Active filters, distribution network.

vector

I. Intorduction

URRENT harmonics produced by nonlinear loads,

such as switching power supplies and motor speed
controllers, are prevalent in todays distribution networks.
These harmonics interface with sensitive electronic
equipment and cause unnecessary losses in electrical
equipment. Active Power Filters APFs have been
successfully developed to reduce the harmonic levels to the
permissible limits [1-4]. The harmonic current reference of
the APF is filtered from the load current by means of
digital signal processing then the output is regarded the
command current signal for the current control. This
methodology is called direct current control [5,6]. The
current control system is the key element in the control
structure of active power filtering system. There are many
methods proposed in the literature for current control of
Voltage Source Converter (VSC) [7-10]. The important
features differ among current controllers:
Quick response,
Ease of implementation,
Maximum current capability,
Insensitivity to line parameters, and
Number of switching.
Hysteresis Current Controller HCC is a popular
control strategy, in which three units are used
independently, one for each phase. The outputs from this
set drive directly the switches of VSC. It is clear that there
is no relation between the switching functions of the three
phases. This lack of coordination between the three
individual HCCs, results in high number of switching. As
an attempt to decrease the number of switching and in turn
the switching frequency, zero switching vector was
introduced with HCC [9-11]. Another advance is the use of
____________________________________
M. I. Marei, E.F. El-Saadany and M.M.A. Salama are with the
Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, University of
Waterloo, Waterloo, Ontario, N2L3G1, CANADA
(E-mail: ehab@uwaterloo.ca).

Space Vector Modulation technique SVM for the

current controller. This technique overcomes the lack of
coordination problem of HCC by calculating the switching
vector of VSC [10-12]. On the other hand, SVM technique
require information from the terminal voltage of the VSC,
derivative of the current error and the line parameters,
which is not suitable for the distribution system where the
network parameters are not constant as there are
transformers and dynamic loads.
HCC can be used in conjunction with SVM to
overcome its dependency on the parameters and terminal
voltage measurements with an additional set of HCC
beside the main HCC [13-14]. This extra set works as a
region detector. It inherently presents information of the
current error derivative to coordinate between the three
phases of VSC. This will lead to the utilization of suitable
switching vector at any time as well as zero vectors
resulting in reduced number of switching with almost
negligible response time and insensitivity to line voltage
and line parameter variations. Therefore, the SVM based
HCC technique combines all the features of HCC and
SVM techniques.
This paper presents the analysis of a three phase APF,
which utilizes SVM based HCC technique to compensate
load harmonics current. The performance of the proposed
system is examined utilizing PSCAD/EMTDC program.
The merits of reducing the switching frequency and
coordination of the switching vectors for the three legs of
VSC of the APF by this technique in comparison with
HCC are investigated. Direct control of the current space
vector has the advantages of improved current reference
tracking and transient performance at any operating
condition, compared to other PWM techniques like HCC.
II. System Configuration
Figure 1 shows the fundamental building block of an
APF connected to a distribution network. It is assembled of
a standard three-phase IGBT inverter bridge with input AC
inductance Lh, resistance Rh and a DC capacitor Cdc. The
harmonic extraction block presented the reference
harmonic current required for the current control technique.
This harmonic reference current in conjunction with the
switching topology is utilized in order to generate the
appropriate gating signals of the inverter of that module.
The generated harmonic current from the inverter is then
injected into the PCC with 180 degree phase shift to cancel
the line harmonics.
The proposed current control block is composed of the
SVM scheme combined with the HCC switching
technique. The harmonic reference currents acquired from
the load current are compared with the actual harmonic
currents generated by the APF. If there is any discrepancy,
then the current error signal has to be fed to the SVM based

0-7803-7519-X/02/$17.00 2002 IEEE

1022

Vah

PCC
LS

PCC

IL

Supply

iah

Rh

Lh

Ea

Sa

Sb

Sc

iaL

ibL

i ah
i bh
i ch

dc

i cL

ibh

Vbh

Rh

Lh

Eb

ich

Rh

Lh

Ec
-

Lh

Vch

Figure 2: voltage source current regulated inverter module

C dc

2 Lh
6

Current Control
i ah
i bh
i ch

SVM
based

HCC
+

From equations (2) and (3) we obtain:

i*ah
i*bh
i*ch

Harmonic
extraction
tool

iaL
ibL

i cL

Figure 1: Block diagram of the proposed APF

HCC control block in order to modify the switching signal

for that module.

(1)

Where Sa, Sb and Sc are the switching functions

corresponding to each phase. For a positive DC voltage,
+Vdc , the switch shall be located at terminal 1 and for a
negative DC voltage, Vdc , the switch will be at terminal
0. From Figure 2, and by applying Kirchhoff voltage law,
the following equations can be obtained:
diah
di
+ Lh ch = 2 Rh iah Rh ich + (Vah Vbh ) (Ea Eb )
dt
dt

(4)

dich
R
1
= h ich +
[2(Vch E c ) (Vbh E b ) (V ah E a )
dt
Lh
3L h

(5)

dibh
R
1
= h ibh +
[ 2(Vbh Eb ) (Vah E a ) (Vch E c )
dt
Lh
3 Lh

The proposed combined control algorithm overcomes

the disadvantage of the HCC and SVM control if working
individually, that is high switching number of HCC and
time consuming of SVM. To explain the principle of SVM,
consider the basic voltage source inverter circuit as shown
in Figure 2. Each phase of the line connecting the APF
module to the PCC has been represented by a series RL
impedance and the neutral point of the supply is assumed
isolated. The APF can be controlled by costing the inverter
switches to the positive or the negative DC voltage source
terminals.
Mathematically, the terminal voltage of the inverter
can be described [12] by the following equations:

vah Sa
v = S V
bh b dc
vch Sc

diah
R
1
= h iah +
[ 2(Vah E a ) (Vbh Eb ) (Vch E c )
dt
Lh
3 Lh

The three phase are assumed to be balanced, therefore the

equation of phase b can be written as follows:

III. Principle of SVM Based HCC

2 Lh

(3)

Where:
Ea, Eb and Ec are the three-phase voltages at PCC.
iah, ibh and ich are the three phase harmonic currents.

dich
di
+ Lh ah = 2 Rh ich Rh iah + (Vch Vbh ) (E c E b )
dt
dt

(2)

(6)

The space phasors of the APF current and voltage as well

as the voltage at the PCC are given by:
2
ih = iah + aibh + a 2ich
(7)
3
2
Vh = Vah + aVbh + a 2Vch
(8)
3
2
E = Ea + aEb + a 2 Ec
(9)
3

Where: a = e

2
3

From equations (1) and (8), for various switching patterns

the inverter output voltage space vector can be given as
follows:

k = 1,2,.....,6
2
j (k 1)
Vdc e 3
Vk = 3
(10)
0
k = 0,7

Equations (4) to (10) yield:

d ih
R
1
= h ih +
(Vk E )
dt
Lh
Lh
Now consider the current error to be expressed as:

= ih ih

1023

(11)

(12)

d i
d
(13)
= Lh h + Rh ih Vk + E
dt
dt
The line current error has a time constant of Lh/Rh, and is
affected by the reference current, the voltage at the PCC as
well as the output voltage. In order to eliminate the current
Lh

of the three comparators with a little larger hysteresis band

than that of the main HCC. The proposed SVM based HCC
scheme is shown in Figure 4, where a region detector is
utilized without the utilization of any information of the
voltage at the PCC. While the status of the inner band of
the phase A current error is denoted by Hai, that of the outer
band is denoted by Hao

V3 (0,1,0)

error i h i h , the desired output voltage vector Vh should

be obtained from equation (13) as:

Vh = Rh ih + Lh

d ih
+E
dt

(14)

V2 (1,1,0)

R2
d e3 /dt

d e2 /dt

R3

R1
d e1 /dt

V*
h

d e4 /dt
V4
(0,1,1)

V1
(1,1,0)

Equations (13) and (14) yield:

d
Lh
= Vh Vk
dt

d e6 /dt

R4
(15)

To match the output current and the reference current

vectors, the SVM technique requires the computation of
Equation (15). Yet, this task is complicated because it
needs a direct measurement of the PCC voltage space
vectors besides it is time consuming. HCC, on the other
hand can be utilized effectively to achieve precise tracking
to the reference vector with almost negligible response
time and negligible sensitivity to both line voltage and line
parameter variations. However, the HCC technique suffers
from the drawback of exchanging the switches at high
frequency and lack of coordination. To defeat the
switching problem associated with the HCC technique, the
SVM concept can be implemented in conjunction with the

d e5 /dt
(0,0,1)

R6

R5
V6

V5

Figure 3: Derivative vector of current error in region 1

*
i ch
+

*
i bh

*
i ah

the number of switching. Choosing a voltage vector Vk ,

which results in a minimum value of d dt is a necessity
to accomplish this task. For the ordinary HCC technique,
the coordination of the switching does not exist; however,
SVM technique imposes some rules on the switching
decreased. On the other hand, the utilization of nonzero
vectors instead of the zero vector gives steep slope for the
current error due to large voltage difference Vh Vk .
Thus, a set of space vectors, two vectors plus the zero
vector, is to be applied depending on the position of the
desired space voltage vector Vk .
Based on the previous principle, a new hysteresis current
controller employing further information of the error
derivative is proposed by a region detector in order to
detect the position of the output space vector Vh [13,14]. A
region is detected from the output signals Hao, Hbo and Hco

1024

PCC

i ch

i bh

i ah

S1

HCC. If the desired output space vector Vh is located in

region number 1, then the derivative vectors of the current
error corresponding to PWM phase voltage Vk will be as
shown in Figure 3. The proper discrete space vectors
producing small derivative values of the current error for
the space vector Vh are V1 , V2 and V0 .
The derivative d dt has a vital role in diminishing

(1,0,1)

.....

S6

Where ih is the command current and is the current error.

Accordingly, it can be seen from equation (11) that the
differential equation of the current error vector is derived
as follows:

Dead Zone
Control

Main HCC
Hai

Sa
Hbi

Sb

Sc

Switching
function table

Hci

Hao

Hbo

Hco

Region detector

Figure 4: Block diagram of SVM based HCC

Table 1, switching table of SVM based HCC.

Hco

Hai Hbi Hci

1
0
0
1
1
0
Other cases
1
1
0
0
1
0
Other cases
0
1
0
0
1
1
Other cases
0
1
1
0
0
1
Other cases
0
0
1
1
0
1
Other cases
1
0
1
1
0
0
Other cases

vk
v1
v2
v0
v2
v3
v0
v3
v4
v0
v4
v5
v0
v5
v6
v0
v6
v1
v0

20
0

20

40
0

0.005

0.01

0.015

0.02

0.025

0.03

0.015
Time

0.02

0.025

0.03

(a)

6
5
4

2
1
0
0

Region

0.005

0.01
(b)

Figure 5: SVM based HCC (a) Filter current, (b) Switching

vector.

40

Filter current

Hbo

40

20
0
20

40
0

0.005

0.01

0.015

0.02

0.025

0.03

0.015
Time

0.02

0.025

0.03

(a)

Switching vector

Hao

last for only 60 and the outer vector varies six times every
cycle. This denotes that the outer band acts as a region
detector of the output vector. Apart from the fact that the

Filter current

the desired output voltage vector Vh can be detected using

the outer hysteresis comparator. For an example, Hao=1,
Hbo=0 and Hco=0 indicate region 1. The inner three
hysteresis comparators with narrow band are used to track
the reference current and limit the current error within the
specified band. When the current error of phase A hits the
upper edge of the narrower hysteresis comparator and the
current error of both phases B and C hit the lower band,
Hai=1, Hbi=0 and Hci=0. The voltage vector V1 is applied
to decrease both phase B and phase C currents. V2 is
applied to increase ia and ib simultaneously when Hai=1
and Hbi=1. In the other cases the zero vector V0 is applied.
Whenever the outer hysteresis band is hit due to incorrect
regions, a proper nonzero space vector is always triggered
to reduce the current error magnitude and the correct
region is then recorded. The switching table for all regions
is shown in Table 1.

proposed current regulator, the zero vectors is more

frequently used than in the conventional HCC. The
transition from one region to another is clear. Each region

Switching vector

The set of space voltage vector is determined

according to the operating region. If a voltage vector is
properly applied at a correct instant, the current error will
remain inside the outer band. On the other hand, if a
voltage vector, which is not correct, is applied the currents
get out of the hysteresis band. Consequently, the region of

IV. Simulation Results

The performance of the proposed scheme is evaluated
by computer simulation using PSCAD/EMTDC program.
The parameters of the system studied, which is shown in
figure1, are given in the appendix. To evaluate the current
controller, the inner and outer bands are roughly set to 4%
and 8% from the maximum harmonic current. Figure 5(a)
shows the filter current, which is injected 180 out of phase
to cancel load harmonics at PCC. It is clear that the filter
current remains inside the bands, while figure 5(b) shows
the corresponding switching vectors obtained form SVM
based HCC. In comparison with figure 6 which is the same
case as in figure 5 except that ordinary HCC is used with
the same inner band, it is obvious that the proposed SVM
based HCC is able to choose proper space vectors. In the

2
1

0
0

0.005

0.01
(b)

Figure 6: HCC (a) Filter current, (b) Switching vector.

line current hits the outer band two times every cycle per
phase, this current remains always in the inner band.
To demonstrate the reduction in the switching
frequency accomplished by this technique Figure 7 shows a
comparison between the accumulated number of switching
generated from SVM-HCC algorithm and from that of the
ordinary HCC (bang-bang) current controller for the same
APF conditions. It is obvious that the accumulated number

1025

of switching of the SVM-HCC is reduced compared to the

HCC. So, the switching losses are reduced and the cost of
the switch is reduced.
3800

3600

Number of switching

3400

3200
HCC

3000

SVM based HCC

2800

2600

V. Conclusions
This paper contributes into the performance of APF by
utilization of SVM based HCC for the control system. This
technique for APF is very promising, since it reduces the
number of switching of the APF, which will consiquently
lead to a reduction in system losses and an increase in
switching devices life span. One of the major advantages of
this technique is being less sensitive to parameters
variation apart from being characterized by a negligible
response time, which is highly required in the distribution
systems. It is observed that the APF results in high quality
of the source current with reduce switching number and
perfect tracking even during transient conditions.

2400

2200
0

References
0.02

0.04

0.06

0.08

0.1

0.12

0.14

Time

[1]

Figure 7: Number of switching for SVM-HCC and HCC.

[2]

To evaluate the dynamic performance of the proposed

APF in eliminating the harmonics injected by variable nonlinear load. Figure 8(a) shows the supply current under
load changing as seen in figure 8(b), the load is raised and
reduced at different instants. Fig. 8(c) shows the injected
harmonic current by the proposed SVM-HCC active filter.
The supply current smoothly changes without notches.
Robust current control results in high quality, fast response
APF. One of the merits of the SVM-HCC over existing
schemes is the fast response. The proposed APF reduces
current THD from 30% to 3.5%.

[3]

[4]

[5]

[6]

[7]
Supply current

200
[8]

0
[9]

200
0

0.05

0.1

(a)

0.15

0.2

0.25

[10]

Load current

200
[11]

0
[12]

200
0

0.05

0.1

(b)

0.15

0.2

0.25

[13]

Filter current

100
[14]

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Appendix
100
0

0.05

0.1

0.15
Time

(c)

0.2

0.25

Figure 8: Sudden load change (a)Supply current, (b) Load current,

(c) Filter current

Vs(rms/phase)= 115 volt, f=50 Hz, Ls=1 mH, Lh=1.7 mH,

Cdc = 2000F , and the nonlinear load is a three phase
bridge rectifier connected to inductance of 35mH with
series variable resistance between 1.5 to 5 .

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