RF and Shunt Active Power Filters at Multiple Points of Common Couplings of Radial Electrical Systems
Nor Farahaida Abdul Rahman

Nor Farahaaida Abdul Rahman, School of Electrical Engineering, College of Engineering, Universiti Teknologi MARA, Shah Alam, Selangor, Malaysia.

Manuscript received on 05 September 2022 | Revised Manuscript received on 07 September 2022 | Manuscript Accepted on 15 November 2022 | Manuscript published on 30 November 2022 | PP: 6-12 | Volume-11 Issue-4, November 2022 | Retrieval Number: 100.1/ijrte.D72901111422 | DOI: 10.35940/ijrte.D7290.1111422
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© The Authors. Blue Eyes Intelligence Engineering and Sciences Publication (BEIESP). This is an open access article under the CC-BY-NC-ND license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/)

Abstract: This work investigates the effects of RL filters and single-phase Shunt Active Power Filters (SAPFs) on the supply and load current waveforms and their properties. The parameters involved are rms, input Power Factor (PF) and Total Harmonic Distortion (THD). These parameters can describe the quality of any electrical power system, especially PF and THD. This work focuses on implementing both filters in an electrical radial system due to the limited research work. Hence, the effects of utilising both filters in the radial system are studied. In this work, both filters connect at different Points of Common Couplings (PCCs) of a single-phase radial electrical system. The PCCs are located before composite loads (Case 1), before all nonlinear loads (Case 1) and before individual nonlinear loads (Case 3). Both Cases 1 and 2 apply a centralised SAPF, and Case 3 employs individual SAPFs. Matlab/ Simulink simulates all case studies under four operating conditions: (1) without any filters, (2) with SAPFs only, (3) with RL filters only, and (4) with the RL filters and SAPFs. According to the simulation results, the SAPFs require the RF filters to compensate harmonic components effectively. Otherwise, the SAPF’s injection current consists of high current spikes. However, the RF filters may slightly alter the load current waveforms, rms and THD values; the changes are insignificant. Moreover, based on the THD values of the compensated supply current waveform, the centralised SAPFs seem more suitable to be employed in the radial system. By utilising the centralised SAPFs, the THD values of the supply current are lower than using the individual SAPFs. Thus, it can be stated that the centralised SAPFs exhibit better performance. Nevertheless, connecting both filters on the PCCs of all nonlinear loads (Case 2) is suitable to avoid any linear load current waveform deterioration. 
Keywords: Composite Loads, Linear Load, Nonlinear Load, Shunt Active Power Filters (SAPFs), Power Factor (PF), Total Harmonic Distortion (THD).
Scope of the Article: Composite Materials