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Subsea cable applications with six-pulse variable frequency drives

ARALLEL RESONANCE IS COMMON in offshore distribution systems with lengthy subsea cables and variable frequency drives (VFDs). A traditional passive harmonic filter more reliable filter design scheme is urgently needed by offshore industry. A practical and effective single-tuned passive harmonic filter design scheme is proposed in this article. The control strategy of the proposed filter design is slightly more complicated than that of the traditional
B Y X I A OD ON G L I A NG & OBINNA ILOCHONWU

design scheme for six-pulse VFDs is generally acceptable when all filters are functioning properly, but when the interlocking control switches off all filters due to individual filter failure, the offshore system is 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

one, and the conductor of each subfilter needs to be oversized. However, the probability that all filters must be

switched off due to individual filter failure is greatly reduced. Single-Tuned Passive Harmonic Filter A traditional single-tuned passive harmonic filter design adapts a single unit trap tuned at a specific harmonic

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1077-2618/11/$26.002011 IEEE

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 h kq 1, q 6m, (1) (2)
Parallel resonance condition [4].

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

Gen 1 4 MW

Utility Loads

Subsea Cable 12 km Subsea Cable Bus2 22 kV Step-Down TX 5 MVA 22/0.38 kV VFD Main Bus 7.15 %z 0.38 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%.
Harmonic Analysis and Resonance Study Without Filters

Electrical single-line diagram of the offshore platform.

important role in determining the possibility of a parallel resonance. 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

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59th 9th

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

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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
H ar Fi mo lte n rs ic

VF

VF

VF

VF

VF

VF

VF

VF

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Impedance ()

Sm

al

lM

ot

or

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.

25 Voltage Spectrum (%) 20 15 10 5 0 5th 7th 11th 13th 17th 19th 23rd 25th 29th 31st 35th 37th 41st 43rd 47th 49th
HF-5th-300 kvar Single Tuned HF-7th-150 kvar Single Tuned HF-11th-100 kvar Single Tuned Bus Filter 0.38 kV CB7 CB5

CB11

CB12

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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.

150 Voltage in % of Nominal Bus Voltage Impedance () 100 50 0 0 50 100 150 Time (c) 0.2 0.4 0.6 0.8 1

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

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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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
TABLE 1. INTERLOCKING CONTROL OF TRADITIONAL PASSIVE HARMONIC FILTERS. Conditions Triggering Interlocking Control
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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
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 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).

With Interlocking Control 7th and 11th filters off (no filters in the system) 11th filter off (no filters in the system) 5th filter on, 11th filter off

Without Interlocking Control 7th and 11th filters on

5th filter fails

5th and 7th filters fail 7th filter fails

11th filter on

Voltage Spectrum (%)

5th filter on, 11th filter on

59th 12th 9th

Voltage in % of Nominal Bus Voltage

Impedance ()

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40 20 5th 0

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).

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TABLE 2. SIMULATED VTHD AT MAIN BUSES WITH AND WITHOUT INTERLOCKING CONTROL OF PASSIVE HARMONIC FILTERS. VTHD% with Interlocking Control Scenarios 5th filter fails 7th filter fails 5th and 7th filters fail 5th and 11th filters fail No filters fail MV-Gen-SWGR, 11 kV 22.6 (no filters) 8.52 22.6 22.6 3.55 VFD main bus, 380 V 41.23 (no filters) 12.93 41.23 41.23 3.89 VTHD% Without Interlocking Control MV-Gen-SWGR, 11 kV 43.6 12.03 27.91 22.6 3.55 VFD main bus, 380 V 89.02 20.95 51.24 41.12 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.

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

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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.

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
TABLE 4. SIMULATED VTHD OF PROPOSED PASSIVE HARMONIC FILTERS UNDER VARIOUS SUBFILTERS OUTAGE. VTHD (%) Scenarios (Various Subfilters Outage) Scenario 1: one 5th subfilter fails Scenario 2: one 7th subfilter fails Scenario 3: one 11th subfilter fails MV-GenSWGR, 11 kV 4.02 3.71 3.42 4.13 VFD main bus, 380 V 5.64 4.52 3.96 5.97

3.5 Voltage Spectrum (%) 3.0 2.5 2.0 1.5 1.0 5 0 5th 7th 11th 13th 17th 19th 23rd 25th 29th 31st 35th 37th 41st 43rd 47th 49th

Harmonic Order

12

Scenario 4: one 5th and one 7th subfilters fail Scenario 5: one 5th and one 11th subfilters fail Scenario 6: one 7th and one 11th subfilters fail Scenario 7: one 5th, one 7th, and one 11th subfilters fail

Voltage harmonic spectrum at the 11-kV generator switchgear for the offshore platform with proposed passive harmonic filters.

3.88

5.59

3.58

4.52

120
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Voltage in % of Nominal Bus Voltage

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4.00

5.89

Scenario 8: two 5th subfilters fail (with interlocking control) Scenario 9: two 7th subfilters fail (with interlocking control) Scenario 10: two 11th subfilters fail Scenario 11: all 5th and 7th subfilters fail (with interlocking control) Scenario 12: all 5th and 11th subfilters fail (with interlocking control) Scenario 13: all 7th and 11th subfilters fail Scenario 14: no subfilters failed

22.6

41.12

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

7.82 22.6

8.51 41.12

TABLE 3. INTERLOCKING CONTROL OF PROPOSED PASSIVE HARMONIC FILTERS. Conditions Triggering Interlocking Control Two 5th subfilters fail Interlocking Control All 7th and 11th subfilters off (no filters in the system) Two 11th subfilters off (no filters in the system) Two 5th subfilters on, two 11th subfilters off

22.6

41.12

Two 5th subfilters and two 7th subfilters fail Two 7th subfilters fail

8.52

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3.55

3.89

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Frequency response characteristics at the 11-kV generator switchgear, MV-Gen-SWGR, when one of each 5th, 7th, and 11th subfilters fail.

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

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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. Tuning Frequency in Harmonic Order 4.8 4.51 4.26 4.62 4.71 4.80 4.90 5.00 4.34 4.42 4.51 4.60 4.70 4.10 4.18 4.26 4.35 4.45 Current of Subfilter Varied from Nominal (%) 13.2 7.4 0 9.7 22.4 20.9 17.6 13.3 8.2 2.0 22.7 20.6 17.8 14.3 10.4

150 kvar 5th Subfilter Rated voltage (V) Rated frequency (Hz) Nominal main capacitor (kvar) Detuning capacitor (kvar) only Detuning capacitor (kvar) only Taps on reactor only

Parameters 380 50 150 20 40 8% 4% 0% 4% 8%

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20 kvar detuning capacitor and taps on reactor

8% 4% 0% 4% 8%

40 kvar detuning capacitor and taps on reactor

8% 4% 0% 4% 8%

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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 reactor taps on the tuning frequency of the subfilter as [1] A. McLean, K. McLeay, and A. Sheldrake, Harmonic suppression filter for offshore interconnected power system, in Proc. IEE Colloquium well as the corresponding root-mean-square current flow on Three Phase LV Industrial Supplies: Harmonic Pollution and Recent Develof the subfilter. opments in Remedies, London, June 14, 1993, pp. 6/16/6. Table 5 indicates that by adding proper-sized detuned [2] S. J. Merhej and W. H. Nichols, Harmonic filtering for the offshore industry, IEEE Trans. Ind. Applicat., vol. 30, no. 3, pp. 533542, capacitors and taps on reactors, the current flowing through May/June 1994. the subfilter varies significantly compared to the nominal [3] K. S. Smith and L. Ran, Active filter used as a controlled reactance to current without them. For example, using 40 kvar detuning prevent harmonic resonance interconnected offshore power systems, capacitor for the 150 kvar 5th subfilter, when the tap setting IEE Proc. Gener. Transm., Distrib., vol. 146, no. 4, pp. 393399, July 1999. of the reactor is set at 8%, the current flowing through the reactor is reduced by 22.7% compared to the nominal cur- [4] IEEE Recommended Practices and Requirements for Harmonic Control in Power Systems, IEEE Standard 519-1992. rent. Although the harmonic currents flowing through the [5] Electrical J. R. Attwood, Cable design for subsea power links, IEEE Power Eng.
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Rev., vol. 20, no. 9, pp. 1314, 21, Sept. 2000. [6] M. Grotzbach and J. Schorner, Harmonic study of a CSI-fed subsea cable transmission, in Proc. 9th Int. Conf. Harmonics and Quality of Power, Oct. 14, 2000, vol. 3, pp. 948954. [7] G. Skibinski and S. Breit, Line and load friendly solutions for long length cable applications in electrical submersible pump applications, in Proc. IEEE 51th Petroleum and Chemical Industry Tech. Conf. (PCIC), Sept. 13-15, 2004, pp. 269278. [8] C. H. Chien and R. W. G. Bucknall, Analysis of harmonics in subsea power transmission cables used in VSC-HVDC transmission systems operating under steady-state conditions, IEEE Trans. Power Delivery, vol. 22, no. 4, pp. 24892497, Oct. 2007.

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

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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.