A Double-Resistive Active Power Filter System to Attenuate Harmonic Voltages of a Radial Power Distribution Feeder

Harmonic propagation between power-factor correction capacitors and system inductors seriously deteriorates power quality in a radial power distribution feeder. Installation of a resistive active power filter (RAPF) at the end bus only suppresses harmonic propagation, not attenuates harmonic voltages. This paper proposes a double-resistive active power filter (D-RAPF) system consisting of a terminal-RAPF and an attenuation-RAPF for each individual harmonic. The terminal-RAPF operating as the characteristic impedance of the feeder is installed at the end bus to suppress harmonic propagation at all harmonic frequencies. The attenuation-RAPF, whose control gain can be set according to the requirements of the harmonic voltage distortion limit, is installed at a specific position for each individual harmonic to attenuate the corresponding harmonic voltages. The D-RAPF system not only suppresses harmonic propagation and attenuates harmonic voltages more effectively, but also has the same rated power capacity as the RAPF. However, both the harmonic damping performance and the rated power capacity must be considered to choose the D-RAPF system or the RAPF when a harmonic current source exists at a position between the attenuation-RAPF and the terminal-RAPF. Simulation and experiment results verify the theoretical analysis and demonstrate the effectiveness of the D-RAPF system.