An energy efficient modified passive power filter for power quality enhancement in electric drives

In most industrial applications, AC drives are used. These drives require power electronic modules to convert AC to DC and also DC to AC. The power modules used for power conversion consist of power semiconductor switches. There is distortion in the voltage and current obtained from the power modules due to non-linear behaviors of semiconductor switches. To reduce the distortion in the input current, inductors are used along with the line impedance. A high value of inductance is required to maintain the percentage of THD within limits set by the latest standards. Along with the increased size and cost, it also reduces the power factor and output DC voltage at higher loads. The use of a passive power filter (PPF) is the conventional method followed for the reduction of percentage THD and promotion of the power factor. PPFs comprise passive elements such as the resistor, inductor, and capacitor. These passive elements are connected at the point of common coupling (PCC) in shunt to compensate for the harmonics present in the input current. In this study, a modified multi-tuned passive filter is considered to reduce the source current harmonics. A bridge rectifier with resistive load, three-phase induction motor drive, and linear resistive–inductive load is connected at the point of common coupling to analyze the harmonics present in the source current, and also unbalanced created in one phase. To achieve proper selection of the resistance value for the passive filter, the class topper optimization technique is used. To validate the simulation results obtained for the multi-tuned passive filter, the hardware is implemented with a three-phase AC induction motor drive load, in which the speed of the motor is controlled with voltage by a frequency control algorithm using an FPGA controller; The 50% THD is reduced by using the fifth-order filter alone, 75% by combining the fifth- and seventh-order filters, 85% by combining the 5th-, 7th-, 11th-, 13th-, and higher-order filters, and 90% for varying loads. For single-phase AC induction motor load, THD % is reduced to 4%, and for three-phase AC induction motor drive, THD % is reduced to 10% with the same value of the filter.