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ORG/IAS

36

DIGITAL STOCK 1997 & CORBIS

Subsea cable applications

with six-pulse variable frequency drives

ARALLEL RESONANCE IS COMMON

more reliable filter design scheme is urgently needed by off-

in offshore distribution systems with lengthy

shore industry. A practical and effective single-tuned passive

subsea cables and variable frequency drives

harmonic filter design scheme is proposed in this article. The

(VFDs). A traditional passive harmonic filter

control strategy of the proposed filter design is slightly more

complicated than that of the traditional

design scheme for six-pulse VFDs is

generally acceptable when all filters
are functioning properly, but when the

B Y X I A OD ON G L I A NG &
OBINNA ILOCHONWU

one, and the conductor of each subfilter needs to be oversized. However,

the probability that all filters must be

interlocking control switches off all filters due to individual filter failure, the offshore system is

switched off due to individual filter failure is greatly reduced.

exposed to rich harmonic content and could experience

equipment malfunction or even the system shut down. A
Digital Object Identifier 10.1109/MIAS.2010.939652
Date of publication: 28 June 2011

Single-Tuned Passive Harmonic Filter

A traditional single-tuned passive harmonic filter design
adapts a single unit trap tuned at a specific harmonic

1077-2618/11/$26.002011 IEEE

h kq  1,

(1)

q 6m,

(2)

1
Parallel resonance condition [4].

IEEE INDUSTRY APPLICATIONS MAGAZINE  SEPT j OCT 2011  WWW.IEEE.ORG/IAS

frequency. These types of filters offer

I1
Ih ,
(3)
mature technology, reliable operah
A
TRADITIONAL
tion, and lower installation and
maintenance cost. They serve as one
PASSIVE
of harmonic mitigation solutions for
where h is the harmonic order, k and m
the offshore industry. McLean et al.
any positive integer, q the pulse numHARMONIC FILTER
[1] and Merhej and Nichols [2] recber of the rectifier circuit, Ih the ampliommend the 5th, 7th, 11th, and
tude of the harmonic current of order
DESIGN SCHEME
13th passive harmonic filters to mith, and I1 the amplitude of the fundaigate harmonics for an offshore sysmental current.
FOR SIX-PULSE
tem with a subsea cable link and sixThe characteristic harmonic currents
VFDS IS
pulse VFDs. Smith and Ran [3],
for a six-pulse rectifier are 5th, 7th,
however, propose an active filter that
11th, 13th, . . . , 6k  1, . . . As defined
GENERALLY
is a tunable passive harmonic filter
in IEEE Standard 519-1992, a parallel
in nature with either tunable reactresonance occurs when the inductive
ACCEPTABLE.
ance or capacitance. It sounds attracand capacitive reactance are equal at
tive due to a great deal of flexibility,
some frequencies in the system as shown
but the control scheme is compliin Figure 1 [4]. It is called parallel resocated with a higher cost and less reliability.
nance because the inductance and capacitance appear to be
A traditional passive filter design scheme needs the connected in parallel for the flow of harmonic current. If the
interlocking control when the 5th, 7th, 11th, and 13th parallel resonance is near one of the characteristic harmonics
harmonic filters are installed in the system. Although the generated by nonlinear loads, the harmonic current will
interlocking control provides positive protection, switch- excite the tank circuit, thereby causing an amplified curing off filter traps will leave the system without enough or rent to oscillate between the energy storage in the inductno harmonic filtering at all, which could result in opera- ance and capacitance. The amplified current will further
tion issues such as meters and relays malfunction or result in greater voltage distortions and can cause severe
nuisance tripping, equipment overheating, and so on. A damage to the electrical components of the system [4]. The
more reliable passive harmonic filter design scheme for off- parallel resonance is usually related to harmonic currents
shore distribution systems is urgently needed to ease the generated at the input of the drives.
strong field demand.
A parallel resonance is a high impedance to the flow
In this article, a new passive harmonic filter design of harmonic currents. When harmonic currents see high
scheme is proposed for offshore power distribution sys- impedances due to a parallel resonance, significant volttems with subsea cables and six-pulse VFDs. This filter age distortions and current amplifications occur. Theredesign scheme can also apply to the systems using fore, it is important to be able to analyze the system
higher pulse VFDs. When compared to the traditional frequency response characteristics and to avoid system
passive harmonic filter design, the proposed design resonance problems. Harmonic currents tend to flow
method divides the kvar size of one filter into two from the nonlinear loads (harmonic sources) toward the
equal-sized subfilters to provide the redundancy and lowest impedance, usually the utility source. The
improve reliability.
impedance of the utility source is usually much lower
Basic theory on harmonic currents generated by than parallel paths offered by loads. However, the harVFDs and parallel resonance is introduced briefly. A monic current will split depending on the impedance
sample offshore distribution system is used as a case ratios [4].
study to verify the effectiveness of the proposed filter
Subsea cables normally run a long distance connectdesign scheme. The proposed filter design is further ing remote power generation to offshore platforms.
compared with the traditional one considering various Shunt capacitance of subsea cables interacting with the
possible filter outage conditions.
inductance of the system might excite a parallel resonance. The length and impedance of the subsea cable as
well as the harmonic content in the system play an
Harmonics of Six-Pulse VFDs
and Parallel Resonance
IEEE Standard 519-1992 proposes harmonic currents generated at a bridge rectifier for an ideal condition. Ideal is
based on the assumption that the dc current has no ripple
and is transferred from one phase to another at the instant
Xc
Xs
ih
the voltage on the incoming phase exceeds the voltage on
the outgoing phase [4]. According to [4], the harmonic
current components for ideal condition are derived from
ih
the following equations:
Xc = Xs

37

MVGenSWGR
11 kV

ESP motor is rated at 300 hp and

operates at 80 and 90% loading factors under normal and peak loading
conditions, respectively. The system
also consists of some utility loads
and small motors with about 30%
demand of total power consumption
on the platform.
The impedance of the subsea cable
is given as follows: the resistance R is
equal to 0.16 X/km, the reactance X
is equal to 0.1257 X/km at 50 Hz,
and the susceptance Y is equal to
0.0000754 S/km at 50 Hz. The
impedance values of both the step-up
and step-down transformers are equal
to 7.15%.

Gen 1
4 MW

Step-Up-TX
5 MVA
11/22 kV
7.15 %z
Subsea Cable Bus1
22 kV

Utility Loads

Subsea Cable 12 km
Subsea Cable Bus2
22 kV

Traditional Passive Harmonic Filter Design

The traditional passive harmonic filter design scheme is
explained through a sample offshore power distribution
system in this article. The electrical single-line diagram
of the system is shown in Figure 2. The generation of the
offshore platform is a 4-MW generator located onshore. A
12-km subsea cable link connects between the generator
and eight VFDs on the platform. The six-pulse VFDs are
rated at 350 kVA. They are used to supply power to
electrical submersible pump (ESP) installations. Each

59th
9th

20

40
60
Harmonic Order

80

100

3
Frequency response characteristics at the 11-kV generator
switchgear, MV-Gen-SWGR, without harmonic filters.

H
ar
Fi mo
lte n
rs ic

ot
lM
al
Sm

38

important role in determining the possibility of a parallel resonance.

Impedance ()

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Electrical single-line diagram of the offshore platform.

180
160
140
120
100
80
60
40
20
0

A harmonic analysis and resonance

study are performed for the sample
system. Resonance study provides
frequency response characteristics at
main buses of the system, which
explains the systems response to individual harmonics. Because of shunt
capacitance of the subsea cable inter2
acting with the system inductance
and the rich harmonic content generated by six-pulse VFDs, a parallel
resonance occurs in the system.
Frequency response characteristics at the 11-kV generator switchgear, MV-Gen-SWGR, without any harmonic
mitigation in the system is shown in Figure 3. Two
impedance peaks, which represent the parallel resonant
points, are found at the 9th and 59th harmonic frequencies. If harmonic currents at resonant frequencies flow in
the system, these currents will excite parallel resonance
and cause large harmonic distortions. Because the harmonic current at the 59th harmonic order is very small,
its influence can be ignored, although the parallel resonance exists at this specific frequency. The first resonant
point is located at the 9th harmonic order, which is not a
characteristic harmonic current and thus very small, but
the impedance band around the 9th harmonic order also
exposes the 7th harmonic current with large impedance.
The 7th harmonic current is the second largest characteristic harmonic current generated at the input of six-pulse
VFDs. As a result, a serious parallel resonance occurs at
the 7th harmonic frequency in the system. The voltage
harmonic spectrum at the switchgear (Figure 4) shows
21% 7th harmonic voltage in percent of the fundamental.
The voltage waveform at the switchgear is severely distorted as shown in Figure 5.
Because of the parallel resonance introduced by the
subsea cable and VFDs in the system, the voltage total harmonic distortion (VTHD) at the switchgear, MV-GenSWGR, is 22.6%, and the current total harmonic distortion (ITHD) through the generator is 47.05%, which are
far above 5% IEEE VTHD and ITHD limits for the generation equipment [4]. Therefore, harmonic filters must be

s
or

8
D

7
VF

6
VF

Harmonic Analysis and Resonance

Study Without Filters

VF

4
VF

3
VF

2
VF

D
VF

VF

Step-Down TX
5 MVA
22/0.38 kV
VFD Main Bus
7.15 %z
0.38 kV

points, are shifted to the 4th, 6th, 9th,

12th, and 60th harmonic frequencies.
IEEE STANDARD
The harmonic filters effectively shift
these resonant points away from the
519-1992
characteristic harmonic frequencies
PROPOSES
generated by VFDs such as the 7th harHarmonic Analysis and
monic frequency. On the other hand,
Resonance Study with
HARMONIC
the low-impedance points appear at
Traditional Filters
the 5th, 7th, and 11th harmonic freThe traditional single-tuned passive
CURRENTS
quencies due to these filters. The simuharmonic filter design scheme is conlated VTHD value at the switchgear in
sidered for the offshore platform. The
GENERATED AT A
this case is reduced to 3.55% from the
300 kvar 5th, 150 kvar 7th, and 100
previous 22.6% without filters.
kvar 11th single-tuned filters are
BRIDGE RECTIFIER
Note that since the shunt capacidesigned and connected to the 380-V
tance of the subsea cable is the major
VFD main bus, which is the same bus
FOR AN IDEAL
factor that determines the parallel resothat the eight six-pulse VFDs are conCONDITION.
nance condition in such offshore power
nected to, shown in Figure 2. The
distribution systems, the parallel resoconfiguration of the three filters is
nance characteristics will vary slightly
shown in Figure 6.
When the three filters are in operation without outage, with the different system operating scenarios. As the genthe harmonics in the system are effectively mitigated, and eral engineering practice during the harmonic filter
the parallel resonance is attenuated significantly. The design, the possible load and generation variations must be
frequency response characteristics at the switchgear with evaluated for the designed harmonic filters. The worst-case
the three filters in operation are shown in Figure 7. The scenario should be used for the filter design. The filters
peak impedance points, which are also parallel resonance usually have detuning capacitors in case the harmonic
designed in a reliable operation in the
offshore system with subsea cables to
avoid potential operation issues caused
by excessive harmonics.

Bus Filter
0.38 kV

20
15

CB7

CB5

CB12

CB11

10
HF-5th-300 kvar
Single Tuned

HF-7th-150 kvar
Single Tuned
HF-11th-100 kvar
Single Tuned

5th
7th
11th
13th
17th
19th
23rd
25th
29th
31st
35th
37th
41st
43rd
47th
49th

Harmonic Order

A voltage harmonic spectrum at the 11-kV generator

switchgear, MV-Gen-SWGR, without harmonic filters.

6
A traditional passive harmonic filter design scheme for the
offshore platform.

100

Impedance ()

Voltage in % of
Nominal Bus Voltage

150

50
0
0

0.2

0.4

0.6

0.8

50
100
150
Time (c)

5
Voltage waveform at 11-kV generator switchgear,
MV-Gen-SWGR, without harmonic filters.

180
160
140
120
9th
100
80
12th
60
40 6th
4th
20
0
0
20

60th

40
60
Harmonic Order

80

100

7
Frequency response characteristics at the 11-KV generator
switchgear, MV-Gen-SWGR, with the three traditional
harmonic filters in operation.

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Voltage Spectrum (%)

25

39

currents vary in the system and cause the overloading of

the filters. The proposed passive harmonic filters discussed
in this article already consider such uncertainties.
Interlocking Control

As part of the operation requirement, the interlocking

control must apply to the three filters in case the 5th filter and/or 7th filter fail. The interlocking control strategies are summarized in Table 1. On and off status of the
filters with and without interlocking control are listed in
the table.
Table 1 indicates that when the 5th filter fails, the 7th
and 11th filters must be switched off. The reason of such
control strategy can be explained by the simulation results
of harmonic and resonance studies. The frequency response
characteristics at the switchgear are shown in Figure 8
when the 5th filter fails and the 7th and 11th harmonic filters are still in operation. It is found in Figure 8 that a resonant point is created at the 5th harmonic frequency.
Because the 5th harmonic current is the most dominant
harmonics in the six-pulse VFD applications, a serious 5th
harmonic resonance occurs in the system. The consequence

40

Without
Interlocking
Control

5th filter fails

7th and 11th

filters off
(no filters in
the system)

7th and 11th

filters on

5th and 7th

filters fail

11th filter off

(no filters in
the system)

11th filter on

5th filter on,

11th filter off

5th filter on,

11th filter on

7th filter fails

180
160
140
120
100
80
60

45
40
35
30
25
20
15
10
5
0
5th
7th
11th
13th
17th
19th
23rd
25th
29th
31st
35th
37th
41st
43rd
47th
49th

With
Interlocking
Control

Harmonic Order

A voltage harmonic spectrum at the 11-kV generator

switchgear, MV-Gen-SWGR, when the 5th harmonic filter
fails and the 7th and 11th filters are still in operation (no
interlocking control).

150
Voltage in % of
Nominal Bus Voltage

Impedance ()

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Conditions
Triggering
Interlocking
Control

Voltage Spectrum (%)

TABLE 1. INTERLOCKING CONTROL

OF TRADITIONAL PASSIVE HARMONIC FILTERS.

is that the 5th harmonic voltage at the switchgear rises to

43.5% of the fundamental voltage as shown in Figure 9.
Figure 10 shows the corresponding voltage waveform at
the switchgear in this case. The voltage waveform is distorted due to the large 5th harmonic content. The simulated VTHD and ITHD at the switchgear in this case are
equal to 43.6 and 123.56%, respectively.
Simulated VTHD values at the 11-kV generator
switchgear, MV-Gen-SWGR, and 380-V bus, VFD main
bus, considering various filter outage scenarios without
and with the interlocking control are listed in Table 2. The
worst-case scenario is when the 5th filter fails without the
interlocking control as discussed earlier. Therefore, the
interlocking control is an important protection for the filters and system.
Although the interlocking control provides positive
protection, the system could end up without any harmonic filters due to filters outage. For the sample offshore system without filters, the VTHD and ITHD at
the switchgear are 22.6 and 47.05%, respectively,
which are very high and could cause the generator and
system operation issues such as equipment overheating

59th
12th
9th

40
20 5th
0

100
50
0
0

0.2

0.4

0.6

0.8

50
100
150

20

40
60
Harmonic Order

80

100

Time (c)

8
Frequency response characteristics at the 11-kV generator
switchgear, MV-Gen-SWGR, when the 5th harmonic filter
fails and the 7th and 11th filters are still in operation (no
interlocking control).

10
Voltage waveform at the 11-kV generator switchgear,
MV-Gen-SWGR, when the 5th harmonic filter fails and the
7th and 11th filters are still in operation (no interlocking
control).

TABLE 2. SIMULATED VTHD AT MAIN BUSES WITH AND WITHOUT INTERLOCKING CONTROL OF PASSIVE
HARMONIC FILTERS.
VTHD% with Interlocking Control

VTHD% Without Interlocking Control

Scenarios

MV-Gen-SWGR,
11 kV

VFD main
bus, 380 V

MV-Gen-SWGR,
11 kV

VFD main
bus, 380 V

5th filter fails

22.6 (no filters)

41.23 (no filters)

43.6

89.02

7th filter fails

8.52

12.93

12.03

20.95

5th and 7th filters fail

22.6

41.23

27.91

51.24

5th and 11th filters fail

22.6

41.23

22.6

41.12

No filters fail

3.55

3.89

3.55

3.89

and relay nuisance tripping. Therefore, a more reliable

filter design method must be sought to effectively mitigate harmonics for offshore distribution systems with
subsea cables.

Proposed Passive Harmonic Filter Design

A new passive harmonic filter design scheme is proposed
in this article for offshore power distribution systems with
subsea cables. The proposed filter design method uses
two single-tuned passive harmonic filters each tuned at
specific frequency. Instead of a single unit 300 kvar 5th
harmonic filter, two 150 kvar filters tuned at 5th harmonic
frequency are designed and connected to a common bus.
Similarly, two 75 kvar filters tuned at 7th harmonic
frequency and two 50 kvar filters tuned at 11th harmonic
frequency are designed. Two filters tuned at the same harmonic frequency are known as subfilters in this article.
These filters will be installed at the same location as shown
in Figure 2. The configuration for the
proposed filters is shown in Figure 11.
The proposed filter design scheme
possesses a unique characteristic: harCB Filters
Bus Filter
monic mitigation remains effective as
0.38 kV
long as one of two subfilters at each
tuning frequency is in service. That
CB15
CB16
CB17
is, any subfilters combination will
Bus20
Bus21
Bus22
work when at least one of each 5th,
0.38 kV
0.38 kV
0.38 kV
7th, and 11th subfilters are working.
For example, if one 150 kvar 5th subfilter fails while two of the 7th and
11th subfilters are in operation, the
HF1-5th-150 kvar
remaining 5th subfilter combining
Single Tuned
with 7th and 11th subfilters can still
provide effective harmonic filtering.
HF2-5th-150 kvar
The chances that two subfilters tuned
Single Tuned
at each specific frequency fail at the
HF1-7th-75 kvar
same time are much lesser than that
Single Tuned
in the traditional single unit design.
HF2-7th-75 kvar
With the proposed passive filters, the
Single Tuned
simulated VTHD at the 11-kV generHF1-11th-50 kvar
ator switchgear is 3.55% (22.6% withSingle Tuned
out filters), and the simulated ITHD
HF2-11th-50 kvar
at the generator is 5.2% (47.05%
Single Tuned
without filters). The frequency
11
response characteristics at the switchgear with the proposed six subfilters in Proposed passive harmonic filter design on the offshore platform.

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operation are the same as that using the traditional passive

filter design scheme as shown in Figure 7 because the total
kvar size for each tuning frequency and the location of the
filters in the system are the same. The voltage harmonic
spectrum and voltage waveform at the generator switchgear in this case are shown in Figures 12 and 13, respectively. The voltage harmonic content is significantly
reduced with the highest 3.08% 13th harmonic voltage
in percent of the fundamental. The voltage waveform at
the generator switchgear is very close to sinusoidal.
The interlocking control for the proposed filters must
be properly setup as listed in Table 3. Triggering conditions in Table 3 are different from that for traditional passive filters design listed in Table 1. The interlocking
control applies when the two 5th subfilters and/or two 7th
subfilters fail in scenarios 8, 9, 11, and 12.
Simulated harmonic distortions using the proposed
passive filters under various possible subfilter outage

41

conditions are listed in Table 4. If there is no specific

description, subfilters not mentioned in this table are
considered to be in operation. The VTHD values for scenarios 8, 9, 11, and 12 without the interlocking control
are the same as that listed in Table 2. Table 4 lists as many
as one of each 5th, 7th, and 11th subfilters are in operation, and harmonic mitigation will remain effective with
VTHD values at the generator switchgear within 5%
IEEE limit.

Voltage Spectrum (%)

3.0

Scenarios (Various
Subfilters Outage)

MV-GenSWGR, 11 kV

VFD main
bus, 380 V

Scenario 1: one
5th subfilter fails

4.02

5.64

Scenario 2: one
7th subfilter fails

3.71

4.52

Scenario 3: one
11th subfilter fails

3.42

3.96

Scenario 4: one
5th and one 7th
subfilters fail

4.13

5.97

Scenario 5: one
5th and one 11th
subfilters fail

3.88

5.59

Scenario 6: one
7th and one 11th
subfilters fail

3.58

4.52

Scenario 7: one 5th,

one 7th, and one
11th subfilters fail

4.00

5.89

Scenario 8: two
5th subfilters fail
(with interlocking
control)

22.6

41.12

Scenario 9: two
7th subfilters fail
(with interlocking
control)

8.52

12.93

Scenario 10: two

11th subfilters fail

7.82

8.51

Scenario 11: all 5th

and 7th subfilters
fail (with interlocking
control)

22.6

41.12

2.5
2.0
1.5
1.0
5
5th
7th
11th
13th
17th
19th
23rd
25th
29th
31st
35th
37th
41st
43rd
47th
49th

Harmonic Order

12

Voltage harmonic spectrum at the 11-kV generator

switchgear for the offshore platform with proposed passive
harmonic filters.

Voltage in % of
Nominal Bus Voltage

120
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TABLE 4. SIMULATED VTHD OF PROPOSED

PASSIVE HARMONIC FILTERS UNDER VARIOUS
SUBFILTERS OUTAGE.
VTHD (%)

3.5

42

For example, let us consider scenario 7 where one of each

5th, 7th, and 11th subfilters fails, and only one of each 5th,
7th, and 11th subfilters is left in operation in the system. In
this scenario, the harmonic mitigation is still effective. The
simulated VTHD and ITHD at the switchgear are 4 and

80
40
0
0

0.2

0.4

0.6

0.8

40
80
120
Time (c)

13
Voltage waveform at the generator switchgear, MV-GenSWGR, for the offshore platform with harmonic filters.

TABLE 3. INTERLOCKING CONTROL OF PROPOSED

PASSIVE HARMONIC FILTERS.
Conditions Triggering
Interlocking Control

Interlocking Control

41.12

All 7th and 11th subfilters off (no filters in

the system)

Scenario 12: all 5th

and 11th subfilters
fail (with interlocking
control)

22.6

Two 5th subfilters fail

Two 5th subfilters and

two 7th subfilters fail

Two 11th subfilters off

(no filters in the
system)

Scenario 13: all

7th and 11th
subfilters fail

8.52

12.93

Two 7th subfilters fail

Two 5th subfilters on,

two 11th subfilters off

Scenario 14: no
subfilters failed

3.55

3.89

3
Voltage Spectrum (%)

59th

2.5
2
1.5
1
0.5
0

40
60
Harmonic Order

80

5th
7th
11th
13th
17th
19th
23rd
25th
29th
31st
35th
37th
41st
43rd
47th
49th

Impedance ()

180
160
140
120
9th
100
80
12th
60
40 6th
20 4th
0
0
20

100

Harmonic Order

14

15

Frequency response characteristics at the 11-kV generator

switchgear, MV-Gen-SWGR, when one of each 5th, 7th, and
11th subfilters fail.

Voltage harmonic spectrum at the 11-kV generator

switchgear, MV-Gen-SWGR, when one of each 5th, 7th, and
11th subfilters fail.

7.49%, respectively. Although they are not as good as when

all subfilters are in operation, the power quality of the system is still significantly improved compared to the condition without filters. The VTHD value is able to meet the
IEEE limit of 5%. The frequency response characteristic at
the switchgear for scenario 7 is shown in Figure 14, which is
quite similar to Figure 7 representing all filters in operation.
The voltage harmonic spectrum and voltage waveform at

the switchgear are shown in Figures 15 and 16, respectively.

The remaining subfilters are able to shift the resonant points
away from those troublesome harmonic frequencies, and
the harmonic voltages in Figure 15 are below 3% of the
fundamental voltage. The voltage waveform is very close to
the sinusoidal waveform under such operating conditions.
For offshore distribution systems supplied power by
generators, another advantage of the proposed passive filter

TABLE 5. DETUNING CAPACITORS AND TAPS ON THE REACTOR FOR THE 5TH SUBFILTER.

150 kvar 5th Subfilter

Parameters

Rated voltage (V)

380

Rated frequency (Hz)

50

Nominal main capacitor (kvar)

150

4.8

Detuning capacitor (kvar) only

20

4.51

Detuning capacitor (kvar) only

40

4.26

Taps on reactor only

8%

4.62

13.2

4%

4.71

7.4

0%

4.80

4%

4.90

9.7

20 kvar detuning capacitor

and taps on reactor

40 kvar detuning capacitor

and taps on reactor

8%

5.00

22.4

8%

4.34

20.9

4%

4.42

17.6

0%

4.51

13.3

4%

4.60

8.2

8%

4.70

2.0

8%

4.10

22.7

4%

4.18

20.6

0%

4.26

17.8

4%

4.35

14.3

8%

4.45

10.4

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Current of
Subfilter Varied
from Nominal (%)

Tuning Frequency
in Harmonic Order

43

150
Voltage in % of
Nominal Bus Voltage

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44

filter could change with different operdesign is that it provides flexible power
ating scenarios such as adding more
factor control by turning off one or two
DETUNING
VFDs in the field, the proper detuning
subfilters in case the power factor at
could avoid the subfilter overloading
the generators go leading due to signifCAPACITORS
issue in the system.
icant loading changes on the platform.
The addition of the detuning
Great flexibility is achieved for the sysMUST BE
capacitors and reactor taps for the subtem operation.
filters in the proposed filter design
Passive harmonic filter design is
INCLUDED IN
scheme will add more cost to the filters
considered to be a mature topic. The
but improve the reliable operation of
reliable operation for traditional pasEACH SUBFILTER
the subfilters.
sive harmonic filter design does not
TO PROVIDE
seem to be an issue for most industrial
Conclusions
facilities. However, it is not the case for
FLEXIBILITY OF
In this article, a passive harmonic filter
offshore power distribution systems
design scheme is proposed for offshore
with subsea cables. Such systems could
DETUNING.
power distribution systems with subsea
have serious parallel resonance without
cables. Such an offshore system requires
very reliable harmonic filters, which
more reliable harmonic filters due to
could result in the entire platform
shutting down in the case of the outage of harmonic filters. parallel resonance and the resultant large harmonic distorThe proposed filter design scheme will increase the reli- tions in the system caused by subsea cables.
The new passive harmonic filter design scheme is easy
ability of the filter operation by providing redundancy of
the subfilters. The problems, on the other hand, to be con- to achieve and more reliable compared to traditional passidered are the overloading issue of the subfilters, i.e., the sive harmonic filter design. It also offers a flexible power
conductor of the reactor and capacitors could get over cur- factor control to the offshore platform with generators. The
rent especially for the worst case when only one subfilter is stability, reliability, and flexibility of the offshore distribution system with the proposed filters are significantly
left in operation.
To prevent the subfilter overloading problem, detun- improved.
To avoid subfilter overloading, detuning capacitors and
ing capacitors must be included in each subfilter to
provide flexibility of detuning. Adding taps on the reac- reactor taps should be provided for each subfilter in case
tor is another way to detune the subfilter. The combina- detuning is required in the field.
tion of using the detuning capacitors and reactor taps
will provide much more flexibility on the subfilter detuning. Table 5 lists the effect of the detuning capacitors and References
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100
150
Time (c)

16
Voltage waveform at the 11-kV generator switchgear,
MV-Gen-SWGR, when one of each 5th, 7th, and 11th
subfilters fail.

Xiaodong Liang (XLiang2@slb.com) and Obinna Ilochonwu

are with Schlumberger, Edmonton, Alberta, Canada. Liang is
a Senior Member of the IEEE. This article first appeared as
Passive Harmonic Filter Design Scheme for Subsea Cable
Applications with Six-Pulse Variable Frequency Drives at the
2009 IEEE Energy Conversion Congress and Exposition.