CPC-Based Minimizing of Balancing Compensators in Four-Wire Nonsinusoidal Asymmetrical Systems

The article presents the possibility of using the currents’ physical components (CPC) theory to generate the reference current of the active power filter (APF). The solution proposed by the authors is based on the cooperation of minimizing balancing compensators (MBC), which, due to their use in 4-wire systems, have been divided into two structures. The first compensator, which purpose is to minimize and balance the reactive current and the unbalanced current of the zero sequence, is built in the star system (STAR-MBC). The purpose of the second compensator, which operation occurs in the delta system (DELTA-MBC), is to minimize and balance the other two components, i.e., the unbalanced current of the negative sequence and the unbalanced current of the positive sequence. The two structures cooperating with each other significantly reduce the currents associated with the reactive elements, i.e., reactive current, and the unbalanced current. As mentioned, these currents are reduced but not compensated to zero or to the reference value. In order for the compensation and balancing to bring the preferable effect, an APF system should be included, which will cooperate with MBC compensators. This solution is presented in this publication. The control of the active part of the hybrid active power filter (HAPF), which was presented in the paper, consists of the reflection of the waveform of the nonsinusoidal active current. In this approach, no current shift in relation to voltage is obtained, but the waveforms of these quantities remain distorted. The reactive current is compensated and the unbalanced currents are balanced. The second definition of generating a reference current can also be used. Through this approach, the active current with a sinusoidal waveform is achieved. The second approach allows for an additional reduction of the three-phase RMS value of the load’s current. In both of these approaches, the active currents flowing through the lines will reflect the amplitude and phase asymmetry that is present in the supply voltage. The APF system will follow the changes in power or load conditions and generate the correct value for the reference current. The calculations presented in the article, as well as the current and voltage waveforms, were created as a result of the constructed mathematical models, which were used for theoretical illustrations. Calculations and waveforms were generated based on a script written in Matlab.