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Active Shunt Filter for Harmonic Mitigation in Wind Turbines Generators

Conference Paper  in  PESC Record - IEEE Annual Power Electronics Specialists Conference · July 2006
DOI: 10.1109/PESC.2006.1711743 · Source: IEEE Xplore

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 37th IEEE Power Electronics Specialists Conference / June 18 - 22, 2006, Jeju, Korea
Active Shunt Filter for Harmonic Mitigation in Wind Turbines Generators
Fernando Soares dos Reis - Jorge Antonio Villar Alé
Fabiano Daher Adegas - Reinaldo Tonkoski Jr.
Pontifical Catholic University of Rio Grande do Sul
Av. Ipiranga 6681, Porto Alegre, RS, CEP 90619-900, Brazil
Email: f.dosreis@pucrs.br
Abstract—One of the preferred technologies in variable speed
wind turbines (VSWT) is formed by a wind rotor, permanent
magnet synchronous generator (PMSG), three-phase bridge
rectifier (BR) with a bulky capacitor, and power electronics
converter for grid interface. High-intensity, low-frequency
harmonic currents flows into the PMSG as electric load has a
non-linear characteristic.
This paper presents an analysis and simulation of an active
shunt filter (ASF) for harmonic mitigation in wind turbines
generators. Currents are represented in d-q synchronous
reference frame (SRF) and PWM carrier strategy is used to
control the active filter. A new scheme to synchronize d-q
currents using mechanical rotor angular speed is adopted.
A dynamic wind turbine model and the active filter are
implemented on software PSIM©. Representative waveforms
and spectral analysis is presented. Simulations show that the
proposed active filtering configuration can mitigate harmonic
content into the PMSG.
Index Terms—Active shunt filter, wind turbines, permanent
magnet synchronous generator, wind energy conversion
systems.
I. INTRODUCTION
W ind power is the most rapidly-growing means of
electricity generation at the turn of the 21st century
Global installed capacity has raised 20% in 2004 [1].
Developments in wind turbine technology follow this
grown. Fixed speed wind turbines (FSWT) with passive
power control are now giving place to variable speed wind
turbines (VSWT) with active power control. VSWT has
some advantages when compared to FSWT, e.g. lower
mechanical stress, increased energy capture, active reactive
power / voltage control [2].
Operation principle of VSWT is to decouple system
electrical frequency from mechanical frequency. Power
electronics has a main role on this task. Two VSWT
topologies are emerging as preferred technologies.
Doubly-Fed Induction Generator (DFIG) wind turbines
utilize a wound rotor induction generator, where the rotor
winding is fed through back-to-back variable frequency,
voltage source converters [3].
Developments in gearless, variable-speed generators with
power electronics grid interface leads to a generation of
quiet, reliable, economical wind turbines. The most usual
technology of this direct-driven wind turbine is composed
1-4244-9717-7/06/$20.00 2006 IEEE.
PS 1-9
Syed Slan - Kevin Tan
Curtin University of Technology
School of Electrical and Computer Engineering
Kent Street, Bentley, WA 6102 GPO box U1987, Australia
Email: tankh@ece.curtin.edu.au
by a multi-pole permanent magnet synchronous generator
(PMSG), three-phase bridge rectifier with a bulky capacitor,
and current-controlled voltage source inverter (CC-VSI) or
line-commutated SRC with active harmonic compensation
for grid interface [4]. Three-phase bridge rectifier with
bulky capacitor presents a non-linear characteristic and
consequently harmonic current content flows into the
PMSG. Asynchronous components in the air-gap field
induces eddy currents in the solid rotor iron, increasing
PMSG losses and temperature [5]
An alternative to mitigate harmonic content into PMSG is
to use power electronics converter that actively cancel
harmonic currents, providing a sinusoidal waveform. One of
the ways to compensate harmonic content is to use an active
shunt filter (ASF). ASF is being used with success to reduce
harmonic content in industry and distribution lines [6]. The
use of ASF in wind turbines must be investigated.
This paper presents an analysis and simulation of an
active shunt filter (ASF) for harmonic mitigation in wind
turbines generators. Currents are represented in d-q
synchronous reference frame (SRF), and PWM carried
strategy is used to control the active filter. A new scheme to
synchronize d-q currents using rotor mechanical angular
speed is adopted.
A dynamic wind turbine model and the active filter are
implemented on software PSIM©. Representative
waveforms and spectral analysis is presented. Simulations
show that the proposed active filtering configuration can
mitigate harmonic content into the PMSG.
II. WIND ENERGY CONVERSION SYSTEM MODEL
The basic diagram of the wind energy conversion system
to be analyzed on this paper is illustrated in Fig. 1. The
system is composed by a wind rotor which transforms the
kinetic energy from the wind with uwind speed in mechanical
torque in the shaft. The shaft drives directly the PMSG,
which generates power with variable-frequency and
alternate current. A rectifier bridge with a bulky capacitor
Clink is responsible for AC-DC conversion to form the DC
link. Grid interfacing DC-AC power converter is
represented by a equivalent resistance Rload.
The ASF is connected on main bus between generator
and bridge rectifier. It consists of a six-switch, three-phase
voltage source inverter (VSI), a CDC capacitor on the DC
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side of the inverter, and a LF to suppress high-frequency
currents originated by the switching of the VSI. A bank of
capacitors C is used for filter high-frequency voltage
occasioned by the inverter.
where R is the stator winding resistance; Ld and Lq are stator
inductances in direct and quadrature axis, respectively; id e
iq are the currents in direct and quadrature axis, respectively;
ωe is the electrical angular speed of the generator; λm is the
amplitude of the flux linkages established by the permanent
magnet viewed by the stator windings, and ρ is the operator
d/dt.

0,08

0,07

0,06

Torque Coefficient
0,05

0,04

Fig. 1. Basic diagram of the wind energy conversion system. 0,03

A. Wind Rotor 0,02

The fundamental dynamics of VSWT can be expressed

0,01
by this simple mathematical model:
dω m 0
J = Ta − T f − Te (1) 2 4 6 8 10 12
dt Tip Speed Ratio
where J is the moment of inertia (rotor inertia plus generator Fig. 2. Torque coefficient CT versus tip-speed ratio λ.
inertia), ωm is the mechanical angular speed, Ta is the
aerodynamic torque; Tf is the friction torque (rotor fiction The expression for the electromagnetic torque can be
plus generator friction); and Te is the electrical load torque described as:
from wind turbine.
Aerodynamic torque Ta is determined by: Te = ⎜ ⎟⎜ ⎟ (Ld − Lq )iq i d − λ m iq
⎛ 3 ⎞⎛ P ⎞
[ ] (7)
⎝ 2 ⎠⎝ 2 ⎠
1 D
Ta = CT (λ , β ) ρA u wind
2
(2) where P is the number of poles. The relation between
2 2 electrical angular speed ωe and mechanical angular speed ωm
where CT is the rotor torque coefficient; ρ is the air density; is expressed by:
P
A is the rotor swept area; D is the rotor diameter; and uwind is ωe = ωm (8)
the wind speed. Torque coefficient is a non-linear function 2
of the tip-speed ratio λ and blades pitch angle β. This
C. Bridge Rectifier and DC Load
relation can be found by computational simulations or
experimentally. Tip-speed ratio is expressed by: The WECS uses the well-known three-phase six-pulse
bridge rectifier. The DC link is formed by the capacitance
ωm ⋅ D 2 Clink Load characteristics applied to the wind turbine can be
λ= (3) easily represented by changing the value of the resistor Rload,
u wind
seen on Fig. 1.
For a fixed-pitch blade rotor, CT is a function of λ only. High-intensity, low-frequency harmonic currents flows
The CT(λ) curve to be used on this work is illustrated on into the PMSG as BR has a non-linear characteristic. A
Fig. 2. study case is presented showing the PMSG output currents
Friction torque is determined by: at WECS full load condition (20 kW resistive load,
T f = Bω m (4) Clink=5000uF, RL=6.5 Ω, VL=360 V) using a conventional
BR, at steady-state operation. The wind speed in this case is
where B is the friction coefficient. 12 m/s. A detail of the PMSG WECS simulated output
B. PMSG current and line-to-line voltage (divided by 4), for the rated
power deliver situation at 12 m/s wind speed, is shown in
Dynamic modeling of PMSG can be described in d-q
Fig. 3. The harmonic content and the total harmonic
reference system [7]:
( )
distortion (THD) of the output PMSG current and voltage
v q = − R + pLq iq − ω e Ld id + ω e λm (5) were obtained using Fourier analysis. The results are
v d = −(R + pLd )id + ω e Lq iq summarized in Fig. 4 and Fig. 5.
(6)

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Fig. 3. PMSG output currents and line to line voltage div. by 4.
Applying Kirchoff’s law on the coupling point of the
ASF to the main bus as seen on Fig. 1, current iF can be
determined as:
i F = i PMSG − iC − i NL (9)
where iPMSG is the current supplied by the PMSG, iC is the
current drained by the filter capacitor C and iNL is the non
linear current drained by the load.
A. ASF Control Circuit
Control circuit of ASF has three main objectives: to
calculate harmonic currents that must be compensated; to
regulate voltage on the capacitor CDC; and to control current
iF in order to inject as close as possible the calculated
reference currents.
1) Reference Currents: The blocks diagram on Fig. 6
illustrates the harmonic currents calculation and voltage vDC
control of the capacitor

Fig. 4. Harmonic content of the PMSG output current.

Fig. 6. Block diagram of the ASF harmonic currents calculation and vDC
Fig. 5. Harmonic content of the PMSG output voltage. voltage control.

The fundamental component was omitted in these figures Calculation of compensating currents is done by
in order to remark the harmonic content. From these figures transforming three-phase load currents in the direct-
it is possible to observe that the 5th, 7th, 11th, 13th, 17th and quadrature synchronous reference frame (d-q SRF). For this,
19th harmonics are significant. The obtained total harmonic phase currents iNLa, iNLb and iNLc are measured and
distortion was THD = 10.68 % and 29.15 % for current and transformed in α-β coordinates:
voltage respectively, which are quite high. At full load, the
harmonic content of the output current is minimized by the ⎡ −1 − 1 ⎤ ⎡i a ⎤
⎡iα ⎤ 2⎢ 1 2 2 ⎥ ⎢i ⎥
influence of the machine stator equivalent inductance and
⎢i ⎥ = − 3 ⎥⎢ b ⎥
(10)
resistance which are Ls = 3 mH and Rs = 0.432 Ω ⎣β⎦ 3 ⎢0 3
respectively. Unfortunately this effect is not so noticeable ⎣ 2 2 ⎦ ⎢⎣ic ⎥⎦
when the available wind decreases and, therefore, the α-β currents is transformed in d-q SRF coordinates by
maximum power output decreases and the THD increases. using a matrix of unitary amplitude sinus and cosines:
⎡i d ⎤ ⎡ cos(θ SRF ) sin(θ SRF ) ⎤ ⎡iα ⎤
III. 3-PHASE ACTIVE SHUNT FILTER ⎢i ⎥ = ⎢ ⎥⎢ ⎥ (11)
The basic compensation principle of the ASF is to control ⎣ q ⎦ ⎣− sin(θ SRF ) cos(θ SRF )⎦ ⎣i β ⎦
filter current in a closed loop manner to actively shape the where θSRF is the synchronous reference frame angle.
source current is into the sinusoid. [8]

- 82 -
 The θSRF, when ASF is applied to industry or distribution and then compared to a triangular PWM carrier signal in
lines, is usually determined by phase voltage detection and order to command VSI switches. Fig. 7 illustrates PWM
using a phase-locked-loop (PLL) system. To obtain θSRF in control for ASF current.
this work it was used the mechanical angular speed ωm. The
idea is to use the relation between ωm and ωe expressed on
Eq. (8) and integrate ωe, obtaining the SRF angle θSRF. In
frequency domain:
1P
θ SRF = ω m ( s) (12)
s 2
where s is the Laplace operator.
id contains fundamental and harmonics information of
active current, and iq contains fundamental and harmonics
information of reactive currents. A first order low-pass filter
with unit gain is used to obtain the DC part of id, idDC, and iq,
iqDC:
k
G (s) = (13)
s+k
where k is the pole of the filter. idDC and iqDC contains
information of the current’s fundamental frequency.
The DC bus nominal voltage vDC must be greater than or
equal to line-to-line voltage peak to actively control iF. In
order to maintain the vDC voltage on the capacitor, an
Fig. 7. PWM carrier control for ASF current.
amount of active current must be delivered to the ASF. The
vDC is regulated by a closed-loop Proporcional-Integral (PI)
2) Circuit Design: The selection of the filter inductance
control. The PI control signal ∆id is summed with idDC,
LF must consider the ability to track the desired source
adjusting the amount of active fundamental current handled
current. The ability improves as the filter inductance is
by the ASF.
smaller. However, a higher switching frequency is required
The DC currents idDC+ ∆id and iqDC returns to α-β
to keep the ripple in the line current acceptably small. A
coordinates using the inverse transformation of Eq. 11:
practical choice of LF guarantees that the active filter can
⎡iαf ⎤ ⎡cos(θ SRF ) − sin(θ SRF )⎤ ⎡i d ⎤ generate a current with a slope equal to the maximum slope
⎢i ⎥ = ⎢ ⎥⎢ ⎥ (14)
⎣ βf ⎦ ⎣ sin(θ SRF ) cos(θ SRF ) ⎦ ⎣i q ⎦ of the load current [9]. The upper bound on filter
inductance, for the switching scheme used in this work, is:
The fundamental current components on 3-phase a-b-c
VDC − Vn
coordinates, iaf, ibf, icf are obtained by the inverse LF ≤ (17)
transformation of Eq. 10: di (t )
max NLn
⎡ ⎤ dt
⎡i af ⎤ ⎢ 1 0 ⎥
⎢ ⎥ 2 ⎢− 1 3 ⎥ ⎡iα ⎤ where Vn is the line-to-neutral voltage and iNLn is the load
⎥= 3⎢ 2
(15)
⎢ibf 2 ⎥ ⎢i β ⎥ current of phase n, respectively.
⎢i cf ⎥ ⎣ ⎦
⎣ ⎦ ⎢− 1 − 3 ⎥ The capacitor size CDC can be estimated based on filter
⎣ 2 2⎦ current iF and maximum accepted voltage ripple ∆vDCmax:
The reference currents to the ASF per phase, i*Fa, i*Fb and t
i*Fc are determined by the subtraction of non-linear currents max ∫ i F (t )dt
iNLa, iNLb, iNLc and fundamental currents iaf, ibf, icf:
C DC ≥
0
(18)
i * Fa = i NLa − i af ∆v DC max
i * Fb = i NLb − ibf (16) From ASF output voltage to PMSG output voltage, the
inductance LF and capacitance C forms an LC filter which
i * Fc = i NLc − icf cutoff frequency is:
1
Just harmonics and vDC control current information is
ω cutoff = (19)
contained on the reference currents. LF C
2) Current Control by PWM Carrier Strategy: The filter
The value of LF, CDC and C can be adjusted based on
current is controlled by a PWM carrier strategy. Reference
simulation results.
currents i*Fa, i*Fb and i*Fb and measured currents iFa, iFb and
iFc are used in a PI loop control. Control signal is limited

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 IV. POWER LOSSES CALCULATION PBR = 6(V D I D _ AVG + rD I D _ RMS ) (26)
1) PMSG Losses: Basically the total power losses
generated into the machine can be divided into two big where VD is the diode voltage drop under conduction, ID_AVG
groups: copper losses and core losses. The copper power and ID_RMS is the average and RMS current of diode
losses PCU are produced in the stator winding as function of respectively, and rD is diode resistance under conduction.
the RMS current, according to:
∞
V. SIMULATION RESULTS
PCU = 3R A ∑I
i =1
Ai
(20) For simulation of the proposed configuration, PSIM®
software was used. Table I is a summary of the parameter
where IAi is the RMS value of the ith harmonic component of values.
TABLE I – SIMULATION PARAMETERS
the current IA and RA is stator equivalent resistance. [10,
11]. However, operating at higher current level resulted to Parameter Description Value
have temperature rise. The change of Ra due to temperature LF Inductor Filter 1.5mH
rise was not included in the calculations. The high C Capacitor Filter 3.9µF
frequency flux changing generated by the harmonics causes fPWM PWM carrier Frequency 20 kHz
hysteresis Ph and eddy current power losses Pe in the core, CDC ASF DC capacitor 10000 µF
represented by [11]: vDC ASF DC voltage 500 V
Clink Rectifier Bridge Link Capacitor 5000 µF
6.5 Ω
Pcore = Pe + Ph ≅ (k e f 2 Bmax + k h fBmax ) ⋅ weight (21)
2 2 Rload Resistance Load
D Turbine Rotor Diameter 10 m
J Turbine Inertia 1500 kg.m2
where: ke and kh are constants, Bmax is peak flux density, f is B Friction Coefficient 20 N s/rad
the rated frequency, weight represents the core and copper Ld d-axis inductance 5.24 mH
weight. Lq q-axis inductance 5.24 mH
Ra Stator Resistance 0.432 Ω
The influence of the voltage harmonic content in
magnetic losses may be evaluated using Eq. 22 and 23
The waveforms of steady-state simulation at WECS full
proposed by Kaboli et al in [10]:
2
load condition (20 kW resistive load, Clink=5000uF, RL=6.5
Pe ∞
⎛V ⎞ Ω, VL=360 V) with wind speed of 12 m/s is shown on Fig.
= ∑ ⎜⎜ i ⎟⎟ (22) 8. Harmonic content in percent of fundamental component
Pe1 i =1 ⎝ V1 ⎠ using ASF, for PMSG output current and voltage, is
2 illustrated on Figs. 9 and 10 respectively. The ASF filter
Ph ∞
⎛V ⎞ 1
≅ ∑ ⎜⎜ i ⎟⎟ (23)
reduces considerably the total harmonic distortion of
Ph1 i =1 ⎝ V1 ⎠ i current, from 10.68% to 2.60%.Voltage THD got better as
well, from 29.15% to 20.77%. The lower harmonic content
Ph1, Pe1 and V1 are the hysteresis and eddy current power
of voltage diminishes the core losses. Due to ASF voltage
losses and the PMSG line to line output voltage respectively
vDC control, a larger amount of fundamental current is
at the nominal condition resistive load without harmonics, i
required from the PMSG, implying in larger copper losses.
is the harmonic order and Vi are the amplitude of the
harmonic components of the PMSG line to line output The WECS system and its subsystems power losses and
voltage. efficiencies are summarized in Tab. II.

2) ASF Converter Losses: Losses generated by the ASF VI. CONCLUSION

consists of passive and active component losses. For one
passive component (e.g. capacitor, inductor), losses can be
determined by:
Ppc = I pcRMS ESR (24)
where IpcRMS is the passive component RMS current and
ESR is the component series equivalent resistance.
For one IGBT switch current, PIGBT loss can be obtained:
PIGBT = VCESAT I IGBT _ AVG (25)
where VCESAT is the collector-emitter voltage during
conduction and IIGBT_AVG is the IGBT average current.
3) Bridge Rectifier Losses: For the bridge rectifier, losses
can be determined by:
The use of active shunt filter in wind energy generation
systems for harmonic mitigation was analyzed and
computationally simulated. The ASF is able to mitigate
harmonic content of current that flows on the permanent
magnet synchronous generator. A capacitor bank filter was
used to suppress high-switching frequency voltage
component generated by the ASF on PMSG terminals. The
d-q SRF synchronization using the angular rotor speed had
worked, and its physical implementation using sensors must
be investigated.
The ASF could diminish voltage core losses. Although,
PMSG efficiency is lower because copper losses are higher
when using ASF. Overall wind energy conversion system
efficiency is lower as well, so the use of ASF could be
justified if only the PMSG could have a larger life cycle.

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 TABLE II – WECS COMPONENT LOSSES AND EFFICIENCIES
PMSG LOSSES
Friction
Copper Core
& Total
Topology Losses Losses η (%)
Windage (W)
(W) (W)
(W)
BR 2318.93 180.82 120 2619.75 88.42
ASF 2790.24 150.73 120 3060.97 86.73

ASF LOSSES
IGBT LF Losses C Losses CDC Losses
Total (W)
Losses (W) (W) (W) (W)
199.44 284.66 0.2166 116.00 600.33

ELECTRICAL SYSTEM LOSSES

Topology PMSG ASF Total Rectifier Efficiency
Total (W) (W) Total (W) (%)
BR 2619.75 0 95.16 88.05
ASF 3199.92 603.03 211.82 84.74

WECS EFFICIENCY
Topology Aero dynamical Electrical (%) Overall (%)
(%)
BR 43.26 88.05 38.09
ASF 43.88 84.74 37.18

VII. REFERENCES
[1] GWEC, “Global Wind Power Continues Expansion”, Global Wind
Energy Council Release, march 4th, 2005.
Fig. 8. Main waveforms of WECS with ASF at full load condition . [2] Spera, David A., ed. (1994). Wind Turbine Technology. New York,
NY: The American Society of Mechanical Engineers.
1,2 [3] J.B. Ekanayake, L. Holdsworth, N. Jenkins, “Comparison of 5th
order and 3rd order machine models for doubly fed induction
1,0 THD=2.60 % generator (DFIG) wind turbines” Electric Power Systems Research,
vol. 67, pp. 207-215, April 2003: Elsevier.
0,8 [4] Z. Chen, E. Spooner, “Wind Turbine Power Converters – A
comparative study”, IEE Conference on Power Electronics and
% 0,6 Variable Speed Drives, 21-23 September 1998, publ. no456.
[5] J.L.F.van der Veen, L.J.J.Offringa, A. J .A. Van den put, “Minimising
0,4
rotor losses in high-speed high-power permanent magnet synchronous
0,2 generators with rectifier load” IEE Proc-Electr. Power Appl., Vol.
144, No. 5, September 1997.
0,0 [6] Hirofumi Akagi, “New Trends in Active Filters for Power
2 7 12 17 22 27 32 37 42 47 52 57 Conditioning” IEEE Transactions on Industry Applications, vol 32,
no 6, November 1996.
Order
[7] Borowi, B. S., Salameh, Z. M., “Dynamic response of a stand alone
Fig. 9. Harmonic content of the PMSG output phase current using ASF. wind energy conversion system with battery energy storage to a wind
gust” IEEE Transactions on Energy Conversion, vol. 12, no 1, March
14 1997.
13 [8] Akagi, H., Nabae, A. Atoh, S., “Control Strategy of Active Power
12
11 Filters Using Multiple Voltage-Source PWM Converters” IEEE
10 THD=20.77 % Transactions on Industry Applications, vol. IA-22, No. 3, May 1986 .
9 [9] Al-Zamil, A. M., Torrey, D. A., “A Passive Series, Active Shunt
8 Filter for High PowerApplications” IEEE Transactions on Power
% 7
6 Electronics, vol. 16, no. 1, january 2001.
5 [10] Kaboli, Sh.; Zolghadri, M.R.; Homaifar, A., “Effects of sampling
4 time on the performance of direct torque controlled induction motor
3 drive”, IEEE International Symposium on Industrial Electronics,
2
1 2003. ISIE '03, Volume: 2 , June 9-11, 2003, pp.:1049 – 1052.
0 [11] Yao Tze Tat, "Analysis of Losses in a 20kW Permanent Magnet Wind
2 7 12 17 22 27 32 37 42 47 52 57 Energy Conversion System", in the Department of Electrical and
Order Computer Engineering. Western Australia: Curtin University of
Fig. 10. Harmonic content of the PMSG output line-to-line voltage using Technology, October 2003. pp. 101.
ASF.
VIII. ACKNOWLEDGEMENT
The authors want to thanks CAPES and CNPq for sponsoring this work.

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