Controlling harmonics in electrical power systems for satisfying total and individual harmonic distortion constraints

The increase in the number of power electronic applications has led to harmonic pollution of the power grid. Harmonic resonance that can result in severe voltage distortion is a well documented problem. Several suppression techniques have been proposed to solve this problem. This paper proposes a technique to cooperatively operate multiple Active Power Line Conditioner (APLC) installed in the same Electric Power System (EPS) for minimizing the effect of harmonic pollution. The APLC operates as a tunable conductance for specific harmonic frequencies based on to the maximum desired harmonic voltage distortion. The proposed control is based on the reference Total Harmonic Distortion (THD) and Individual Harmonic Distortion (IHD) values specified by the IEEE Std 519-1992 recommendations. The damping conductance for each harmonic frequency can be adjusted separately and autonomously without any communication between the points of common coupling. Simulation and experimental results are used to demonstrate the correctness of the proposed approach as well as its feasibility.