Design and Control of an LCL-filter based Three-phase Active Rectifier

Marco Liserre Frede Blaabjerg Steffan Hansen

Dipartimento di Elettrotecnica ed Elettronica Institute of Energy Technology Control Engineering Technology
Politecnico di Bari Aalborg University Danfoss Drives A/S
Bari, Italy Aalborg, Denmark Graasten, Denmark
liserre@ieee.org fbl@iet.auc.dk s_hansen@danfoss.com

Abstract- The aim of the paper is to propose a design
procedure for an LCL-filter in a front-end three-phase active
rectifier. The main goal is to ensure a reduction of the switching
frequency ripple at a reasonable cost and, at the same time, to
obtain a high performance rectifier. In this paper a step-by-step
procedure for designing an LCL-filter is proposed and verified
by simulations and experiments. An example of LCL-filter
design has been reported and, with the obtained values, the filter
has been realised and tested. The experimental results
demonstrate the goodness of the design procedure both of the
LCL-filter and of the controllers. The performance of the
overall system is good both in the low and high frequency
ranges. Moreover the good agreement between these results and
those obtained in simulation validate the adopted model: the
design procedure and the simulation model represent a powerful
tool to design an LCL active rectifier without the need for the
realisation of several prototypes.
I. INTRODUCTION
The Voltage Source Converter (VSC) may be used as an
active rectifier. The advantages are the possibility of full
control both of the dc voltage and of the power factor,
working in rectifying and regenerating modes [1]. Moreover,
the VSC based active rectifier represents an attractive
solution due to the possibility to obtain sinusoidal input
current with a Total Harmonic Distortion (THD) below 5 %,
[2]-[5]. Unfortunately, the power devices switching
frequency is generally between 2 kHz and 15 kHz and causes
high order harmonics, that can disturb other EMI sensitive
loads/equipment on the grid [6].
To reduce the current harmonics around the switching
frequency a high value of input inductance should be
selected. But for applications above several kW it becomes
quite expensive to realise higher harmonic reactors.
Moreover, the system dynamic would become poor.
On the contrary an attractive industrial solution to this
problem is to use an LCL-filter [6]-[7] (see Fig. 1). Optimum
results can be obtained, with this solution, also with limited
values of inductors and capacitors.
Firstly, a good criterion to choose the parameters should be
found then the difficulty in maintaining unity power factor
should be considered and finally possible resonance or
increase of power losses, if a passive damping is utilised to
avoid resonance, should be minimised.
Some solutions have been proposed in the literature: few
criteria of parameter choice [8]-[9], the active damping of the
filter [7], state feedback control also with state observer [8]-
[12] and a linearised model to study and prove the stability of
the system [13]. Some current control techniques have, also,
been compared taking into account the LCL filter design [14].
However, nobody has analytical studied the LCL-filter
solution and how the design might be optimised.
This paper presents a design procedure for the LCL-filter
and some considerations on the control of active rectifier
employing an LCL-filter. PI-based controls for the dc voltage
and for the ac current have been adopted. The current
regulators have been designed in a rotating frame but the use
of the LCL filter claims for additional investigation for a
correct orientation of the frame. Then also stability problems
should be correctly addressed considering the zero/pole
placements in the z-plane. Finally, the dynamic of the
controlled system should be verified. All these topics are
addressed in the paper, aiming to offer a detailed guideline
both for design and control of LCL active rectifiers.

io iL
Sa Sb Sc
Lg L iC
+
ea iag ia a
n eb ibg ib b vo
C
ec icg ic c
-
Cf Sa Sb Sc

Fig. 1. Three-phase active rectifier with LCL-filter.

0-7803-7116-X/01/$10.00 (C) 2001 IEEE

299
 II. MODEL AND CONTROL OF THE SYSTEM following equation can be written, neglecting the filter
capacitor Cf:
The LCL-filter active rectifier has already been modelled
in rotating frames [7] and state feedback controls have been
d
proposed to guarantee the stability of the system with an v c (t ) = RT i (t ) + LT i (t ) + v (t ) (1)
increased number of sensors or of the complexity of the dt
control algorithm [8]-[12].
The purpose of the paper, instead, is to propose a simple where LT = L+Lf+LIT and RT = R+Rf+RIT (Fig. 2).
and low cost (both in the hardware and in the software) LCL- Lets consider the control developed in a general frame
filter based active rectifier. The system is shown in Fig. 2. that rotates at angular speed (that can also be zero). In that
The VSC is connected to the grid through an LCL filter and frame two voltage equations can be written to control the two
an isolation transformer used in the set-up for security current components:
purpose (its inductance LIT and resistance RIT have to be taken
into account in the design of the filter and of the controllers). d
The LCL filter is made by three reactors with resistance R v cd (t ) = RT i d (t ) + LT i d (t ) + v d (t ) LT i q (t )
dt
and inductance L on the converters side, three reactors with (2)
resistance Rf and inductance Lf on the grid side and three v (t ) = R i (t ) + L d
i q (t ) + v q (t ) + LT i d (t )
capacitors Cf (damped with a resistor Rd). cq T q T
dt
There are no additional sensors, respect to an L filter
configuration. It should be noted that even if the grid current where the dq currents are controlled by means of the right
is controlled the current sensors are on the converter side choice of the dq converter side voltages. Two PI regulators
because an industrial inverter, that includes the current command a space-vector modulator to generate the voltage
sensors in its hardware, is used. that should control the current. The design of the PI
The main aim is to decrease the switching conducted controllers is done using the zero/pole placement in the z-
emission with a little increase of the hardware and adapting plane and as criterion the technical optimum [7]: both the
the parameters of the PI-based control, which are already plants for the dq-currents control have the same time constant
used for the L-filter configuration. This is justified by the fact TRL=LT/RT. All the processing and modulation delays should
that the LC part of the LCL filter aims to reduce the high be taken into account [15]-[16].
frequency current ripple so if the capacitor value is low, as a As it regards the dc voltage control, once defined the dc
first approximation, the capacitor can be neglected in the load current iL , the dc load voltage vo and the converter side
current control design. In fact the current control should current io, the following equation can be written:
regulate essentially the lower order current harmonics.
Thus it will be proved that the upgrade is easy and d
effective with a little increase in the cost of the overall system i L = io C vo (3)
and no new sensors needed. dt
In conclusion the designer is needs the model in rotating
The dc voltage is controlled by means of the converter side
frame of the L-filter based active rectifier (for the control)
dc current. The design of the PI controllers is done using the
and the transfer function of the overall filter with the damping
zero/pole placement in z-plane aiming to obtain the better
for stability and dynamic purposes.
compromise possible between high dynamic performance of
A. Controller design the dc output voltage and reduction of the ac current
overshoot. All the processing and filtering delays have been
As it regards the ac current control, once defined the space- considered.
vectors v c (t ) voltage across the input filter capacitor, i (t )
converter side current, v(t ) converter side voltage, the

ig Rf Lf RL i io iL

}
LOAD

}
GRID

Cf
e e
IT
Rd vc v C vo
Isolation
Transformer
VSC
RIT LIT

CONTROL & MODULATION

Fig. 2. Control of active rectifier with LCL-filter.

300
B. Rotating frame orientation (fixed)

A rotating frame is, often, chosen to obtain a current

control with high dynamic [15]. For active rectifier, usually, q
the angular speed of dq-frame is the line pulsation. If the d- (rotating)
i(t ) d
axis is oriented on the grid voltage vector e(t ) , to obtain a (rotating)
unity power factor, the grid current vector i g (t ) must have e(t )
the q-component equal to zero (see Fig. 3). On the other hand id
iq
the d-component is used to perform the regulation of the dc- (fixed)
voltage vo. However, some problems could arise from a
wrong orientation of the dq-frame: first of all it could be Fig. 3. Vector diagram for the active rectifier.
difficult to obtain a unity power factor, then the efficiency of
the control loops could be compromised. Two considerations v
should be done: _ 1
+ sL
a) The current control is performed not on the grid current i
but on the converter current; so this one should be
controlled with the goal of zero displacement between
the grid current and the grid voltage. This implies that vc 1 _
the reference for the q-component of the converter + Rd
sC f +
current should not be settled to zero, to take into account
the presence of the filter capacitor [16].
b) The voltage used for the dq-frame orientation could not e _ 1 ig
be the grid one, if an isolation transformer is present or if +
the capacitor voltage needs to be sensed instead of the sLg
grid one, as done in [7] to realise the active damping.
Thus the voltage drop between the grid voltage and the
sensed voltage creates an angle displacement that should Fig. 4. Input filter model for active rectifier.
be taken into account. Also this results in a q-reference
current different from zero. III. CONSTRAINTS ON THE LCL FILTER DESIGN
In conclusion the d-component of the current is used for The LCL-filter aims to reduce the high order harmonics at
the dc voltage control purpose and the q-reference current is the grid side, but a poor design of the filter can cause a lower
used for the correct orientation of the dq-frame. attenuation compared to that expected or even an increase of
C. LC filter influence the distortion due to oscillation effects. In fact the current
harmonics generated by the rectifier can cause saturation of
The choice of the parameters of the filter will be explained the inductors or filter resonance. So the inductors should be
in the next sections but the configuration of the filter should correctly designed considering the current ripple and the filter
be taken into account, when the stability of the system is should be damped to avoid resonance. However, the cost
investigated. The current controller design has been done limits the value of the inductors, the losses and the
neglecting the zero and poles introduced by the capacitor degradation of the performances of the filter, limits the
presence. If the whole LCL filter in Fig. 4 is considered, the damping.
transfer function is: The procedure for the choice of the LCL-filter parameters
has as inputs the power rating of the converter, the line
G( s) =
i( s)
=
(
1 s 2 + z LC
2
) frequency and the switching frequency.
(
v ( s ) Ls s 2 + res
2
) (4) So in the following the filter values will be referred in %
of the base values:

[
where z L2 C = L g C f ]1
(Lg = Lf+LIT) and res
2
= LT z LC
2
L. Z b = (E n )2 Pn (5)
Thus the LCL filter has two zero and two poles more, in
the open loop transfer function, compared to consider only Cb = 1 n Z b (6)
the L-filter.
If the transfer function expressed by (4) is discretised and where En is the line to line rms voltage, n is the grid
the closed loop root locus is considered, with the PI controller
frequency and Pn is the active power absorbed by the
tuned using the previously reported criteria (i.e. considering
converter in rated conditions. The resonance frequency will
only the inductance LT), the new zero and poles can make the
be referred in % of the switching frequency value:
system unstable if a proper damping is not adopted. The
damping is performed by a resistor in series with the filter res = k sw (7)
capacitor: this will move the unstable poles more inside the
stability region as will be shown with the z-locus analysis in
section VI. The factor k, expresses how far the switching frequency
sw is from the resonance frequency res.

301
 The equivalent single phase LCL-filter configuration for b The total value of inductance should be lower than 10%
the h harmonic, is shown in Fig. 5, neglecting the resistors R, to limit the voltage drop during operation.
Rg and Rd. In the following i(h) and v(h) will indicate the h
harmonic of the current and of the voltage: hsw is the order of c The resonance frequency should be included in a range
the switching frequency harmonic. The ripple attenuation between ten times the line frequency and one half of the
could be computed, considering that, at high frequencies, the switching frequency in order not to create resonance
converter is a harmonic generator and the grid can be problems in the lower and higher parts of the harmonic
considered short-circuited. So the converter voltage spectrum.
harmonic, at the switching frequency, is v(hsw) 0 and the d The passive damping cannot be too low to avoid
grid voltage harmonic, at the switching frequency, is vg(hsw) = 0. oscillation [7] and the losses cannot be too high to not
reduce efficiency.
GRID CONVERTER
side Lg = Lf + LIT L side Finally on the basis of the desired application the designer
should impose some constraints: on the filter efficiency at
ig(h) i(h) low frequency (first 50 harmonics) and high frequency
(around the switching frequency), and on the current tracking
Cf capability (that can be compromised by the reactive power
vg(h) v(h)
absorbed by the input capacitors).
The following factors will be used to verify the efficiency
of the filter (the first three at low frequency and the last two
Fig. 5. Equivalent single phase LCL-filter at the h harmonic. at high frequency):
Total Harmonic Distortion of the current
The ripple attenuation, passing from the converter side to
50
I 2 (h)
the grid side, can be calculated with few steps:
THD = I (1) ;
i g (hsw ) 2 h=2
z
= LC
(8) Power Factor PF = (I (1) I )cos ;
v(hsw ) sw L 2 res 2 sw
the mean of the absolute dc voltage error vo;
i (hsw ) 1
(9) the biggest of the current harmonics around the
v(hsw ) sw L switching frequency I(hsw);

i g (hsw ) 2
z LC rms value of the high frequency (2.5 kHz to 20 kHz)
(10)
i (hsw )
400
2 res 2 sw harmonic content of the current I rms , sw = I 2 (h)
h =51

The attenuation introduced by the LCL filter is effective in percentage of the fundamental harmonic I(1);
only if the filter is properly damped. Thus, if a resistor is put where I(h) is the rms value of the h harmonic and is the
in series with the filter capacitor, the losses can be easily angle between the fundamental current and fundamental
calculated as: voltage.
[
Pd = 3Rd i (h) i g (h ) ]
2
(11) IV. LCL FILTER DESIGN PROCEDURE
h
The filter can be designed following a step by step
where hres is the harmonic order of the resonance procedure:
frequency. The main terms of the sum in (11) are for the
index h near to the switching frequency and its multiples. In 1. Choice of the tolerable current ripple on the converter
fact the damping absorbs a part of the switching frequency side design of the inner inductor L, then the outer
ripple to avoid the resonance. The losses decrease as the inductor value will be reported as a function of L, using
damping resistor value increases but at the same time this the index r for the relation between the two inductances:
reduces its effectiveness. If a modulation strategy that offers a
good decoupling between low and high frequency harmonic L g = rL (12)
ranges is adopted then the value of the damping can be
reduced. If a modulation strategy is adopted, that has a 2. Choice of the reactive power absorbed in the rated
harmonic spectrum widely spread between the fundamental
condition capacitor value. Considering as x the
and the switching frequency harmonics, then a high damping
should be guaranteed. percentage of reactive power absorbed in rated
Once introduced (10) and (11) that will be used for the conditions:
design of the filter, some limits on the parameters values
should be introduced: C f = xCb (13)
a The capacitor value is limited by the tolerable decrease
the capacitor value is limited by condition a.
of the power factor at rated power (generally less than
5%).

302
3. Choice of the desired current ripple reduction
knowledge of r and design of the outer inductor Lf. The
ripple attenuation, calculated neglecting losses and
damping of the filter, is done by (10) and can be
rewritten, considering (12) and (13), as:
i g (hsw )
1 value for r equal 1 comes out (see Fig. 6). In the
= (14)
i (hsw ) 1 + r (1 a x )
where a=LCb2sw is a constant. Before using (14) to
calculate r, the attenuation desired should be multiplied
for a factor that takes into account the losses and the
damping. If the sum of the two inductances does not
respect condition b, another attenuation should be chosen
or another value of the absorbed reactive power,
returning in 2;
4. Verify the resonance frequency obtained:
LT
res = (15)
LL g C f
that can be written, considering (7), (12) and (13) as:
1+ r
k = b (16)
rx
where b = 1 sw Cb L g is a constant. The resonance
frequency is limited by condition c, if this is not true it is
possible to change the absorbed reactive power returning
in 2 or the attenuation returning in 3;
5. Introduce the damping, according to the limits of d. At
the resonance frequency the impedance of the filter is
zero, thus the aim of the damping should be to
compensate this lack of impedance that could create
oscillation. As a consequence the damping value could
be chosen near to the value of impedance, at the
resonance frequency, of the capacitor to which is put in
series.
Then if the attenuation of the filter is not good, the step 3
should be repeated considering more the decrease of the
filtering action due to the losses. If it is not sufficient
step 2 should be repeated accepting a higher value of the
reactive power.
6. Verify the filter attenuation in other load conditions and
with other switching frequencies.
V. LCL FILTER DESIGN EXAMPLE
A step by step procedure to obtain some values for the
parameters of the filter considering a 4.1 kW system (so the
base impedance is 35 , and the base capacitance is 90 F)
and a rectifier switching at 5 kHz, is done:
1. Adopting 2.7 % impedance for the converter side, a 10
% current ripple can be obtained. Adding the LC part the
aim is to reduce the ripple to 2 %.
2. The maximum capacitor value is 4.7 F to be in the
limits of condition 1. If a too low value of capacitor is
303
selected, a too high value of inductance could be
necessary so it is better to start with near one half of this
value (2.2 F) and then, if some of the constraints could
not be respected, increase it until the limit.
3. In the aim to obtain a current ripple attenuation of 20 %
respect to the ripple on the converter side, using (14), a
experimental set-up is already present an isolation
transformer with 2.7 % inductance. Then adding a 1.8 %
inductor a 4.6 % grid inductance is adopted to obtain a r
value equal to 1.6 that takes into account the reduction of
filter effectiveness caused by damping. It is worth
stressing that to obtain a ripple attenuation less than 20 %
the value of r increases too much (as shown by Fig. 6)
and the filter could become too expensive.
4. The consequent resonance frequency is 2.5 kHz that is
exactly one half of the switching frequency but if the
damping is effective this value can be tolerable.
5. The impedance of the filter capacitor at the resonance
frequency is 29 . The damping value is chosen one
third: 10 . The losses are 0.8 % of rated power (in rated
conditions). Even with the damping the filter gives good
results and the objective of ripple reduction to 20 % can
be fulfilled, as it will be shown in the following.
6. Both simulation and experimental tests, done with the
LCL filter designed (Table I), can show the ripple
reduction in a wide range of working conditions.
VI. ANALYSIS AND SIMULATION OF THE SYSTEM
The simulation models have been built using Matlab and
Simulink. The rated rms line to line voltage is 380 V and the
rated power of the system is 4.1 kW, the switching frequency
of the rectifier is 5 kHz and the modulation strategy adopted
is the single edge symmetrical PWM with sampling
frequency equal to 5 kHz. The dc-voltage reference is 700 V
and the rated load current is 5.5 A.
In the following the stability and the dynamic of the system
will be analysed; then the designed filter effectiveness will be
proved validating the previously reported procedure.
1
0.8
i g (hsw )0.6
i(hsw ) 0.4
0.2
0
0.2 0.4 0.6 0.8 1 1.2 1.4 1.6 1.8 2 2.2
r
Fig. 6. Relation between the harmonic attenuation at the
switching frequency and the ratio r between grid and
converter inductors.
TABLE I
LCL FILTER PARAMETERS
Isolation transformer inductance 3 [mH]
Grid side inductance 2 [mH]
Converter side inductance 3 [mH]
Capacitor (star connection) 2.2 [F]
Damping 10 []
A. Stability and dynamic
In the following the stability and dynamic of the overall
system is analysed with the root locus in the z-plane of the
current control closed loop. It should be noted that in the
system there is one sample delay for the digital processing
plus one half caused by PWM [7].
From the analysis of the left side of the z-plane it is clear
that the system is close to the border of the stability region, if
the damping is not adopted (zero and poles numbered with 1
in Fig. 7). If a damping of 10 is adopted then the system is
more stable (zero and poles numbered with 2 in Fig. 7).
From the analysis of the right side of the plane, it is clear
that the dynamic remains unchanged, with the introduction of
the damping, because the two complex poles, are moved only
a little. A further proof comes from the frequency analysis of
the filter using the Bode diagram of Fig. 8: at low frequency
the damped LCL filter behaves like an L-filter of value LT.
It is also worth studying the evolution of the zero and
poles changing the sampling frequency (with the consequent
change of the controllers parameters) and using the same
damping. As it regards the stability, as the sampling
frequency increases the poles move towards the stability
borders and so the damping becomes less effective (fig. 9). In
particular for 8 kHz the poles cross the border of the stability
region, but it should be noted that around the resonance
frequency the passive elements of the system has extra
resistance that offers extra damping.
As it regards the dynamic, as the sampling frequency
increases the bandwidth of the current controller varies from
200 Hz to 400 Hz. The dynamic studied with the z-plane can
be tested in simulation with a load change. Considering a step
from 33 % to 100 % rated load it is possible to prove if the
active rectifier with LCL filter is stable and if the controllers
have been well tuned.

1 1
1
0.8 0.8

0.6 2 0.6

0.4 0.4

2
0.2 0.2
1
0 0
1 2
-0.2 -0.2

-0.4 -0.4

-0.6 -0.6
2
-0.8 -0.8
1
-1 -1

-1 -0.5 0 0.5 1 -1 -0.5 0 0.5 1

Fig. 7. Closed loop z-plane root locus for the current control Fig. 9. Closed loop z-plane root locus for the current control
without (1) and with damping (2). varying the sampling frequency from 5kHz to 8 kHz
(5 kHz sampling frequency) (the arrows show the evolution of the zero and poles).

0
The result of the test is shown in Fig. 10 and it is
-10 satisfactory. It is worth stressing that this result has been
obtained without any change in the software, but simply
-20
adapting the parameters of the controllers.
Magnitude (Db)

-30

-40
10
-50
current (A)

-60 8

-70 6
1 2 3 4 5
10 10 10 10 10
P has e (Degree)

-200
4
-250
2
-300 0 0.02 0.04 0.06 0.08 0.10 0.12 0.14 0.16 0.18 0.2
1 2 3 4 5
10 10 10 10 10 time (s)
F requency (Hz)

Fig. 8. Bode plot of the transfer function of the LT filter Fig. 10. Simulation of d axis reference and real currents
and of the damped LCL filter (bold) for a change from 33% to 100% rated load
(5 kHz sampling and switching frequency).

304
B. Filter effectiveness VII. EXPERIMENTAL RESULTS
The converter and grid currents obtained with LCL-filter, The experimental set-up used in the laboratory of the
at rated condition in simulation with their spectrum at high Institute of Energy Technology at Aalborg University,
frequency are reported in Fig. 11. consists of a three-phase 30 kVA programmable power
The biggest harmonic around the switching frequency of the supply, a commercial Danfoss inverter VLT 3008 (TABLE
current, on the converter side is 0.48 Arms and on the grid side III) where the control card has been removed, and a load
is 0.07 Arms , thus is reduced to 15%. resistor. The control has been implemented on an Analog
Table II presents a comparison, in simulation, between Devices ADSP-21062 SHARC floating-point Digital Signal
LT filter configuration and LCL one; the factors reported have Processor; the timing of the system and the PWM generation
been defined in section III. The Table II comparison proves is performed by a Siemens microcontroller SAB80C167 [17]
that the ripple is reduced to one half, introducing the filter as shown in Fig. 12.
capacitors and that at low frequency the two filters are A. Validation of the model
equivalent.
The obtained experimental results have been used, firstly,
to validate the model used in simulation; this should be done
both in the low and in the high frequency ranges.
10
In the low frequency range, it can be noted that with
ia sinusoidal grid voltage, the grid current obtained in
5
simulation has a THD of 1.4 %; in the experimental system
current (A)

0 with a grid voltage THD of 1%, the grid current obtained has
a THD of 3% (Fig. 13). The experimental grid current
presents some low frequency harmonics between the 2nd and
-5

-1 0 the 8th with 1% amplitude respect to the fundamental. It has

0 .0 0 1 0 .0 0 3 0 .0 0 5 0 .0 0 7 0 .0 0 9 0 .0 1 1 0 .0 1 3 0 .0 1 5 0 .0 1 7 0 .0 1 9 been demonstrated that the odd harmonics come from system
tim e (s ) unbalances that also causes little even harmonics in the dc
(a) link voltage [18] (Fig. 14). The even harmonics in the grid
current come from the presence of dead time and some delays
and suppression of pulses.
10
The high frequency range is the most interesting to verify
iag the filter effectiveness. It has already been shown that in
5
simulation with a ripple free grid voltage, the highest
current (A)

0 harmonic current around the switching frequency on the

converter side is 0.48 Arms and on the grid side is 0.07 Arms;
-5
the experimental results are respectively 0.41 Arms and 0.07
-1 0 Arms. However, the total current ripple is quantified by the
0 .0 0 1 0 .0 0 3 0 .0 0 5 0 .0 0 7 0 .0 0 9 0 .0 1 1 0 .0 1 3 0 .0 1 5 0 .0 1 7 0 .0 1 9 rms value of the high frequency harmonic content (according
tim e (s ) to definition of section III) that is equal to 16 % of the
(b) fundamental on the converter side and 1.2 % on the grid side.

12 e i vo VLT 3008
Amplitude (% of fundamental)

driving signal
9
& enable
A/D s/h c
6
CONVERTER SAB80C167

IRQ
3

DSP
0 ADSP 21062
90 92 94 96 98 100 102 104 106 108 110
H a rm o n ic o rd er CONTROLLER
(c)
PC
PENTIUM 166
Fig. 11. Simulated steady state converter current (a), grid current (b) and
their spectra (black for the grid current and white for the converter one) at
high frequency (c) with LCL-filter (rated conditions).
Fig. 12. Controller set-up for active rectifier.

TABLE II TABLE III

LT FILTER VS LCL FILTER ELECTRICAL PARAMETERS OF THE VSC
LT LCL Type VLT 3008
I(hsw) (A) 0.16 0.07 Nominal voltage 3x380/400/415 [V]
THDg (%) 1.4 1.4 Nominal current 13 [A]
PFg 1 1 Rated power 9,3 [kVA]
vo (V) <1 <1 Dc-link capacitor 500 [F]

305
 The high THD at low power is caused by the fact that the
harmonics caused by the system unbalance, have more
grid voltage weight when the fundamental current value is low.
In the high frequency range the harmonic content of the
current, according to the definition of section III, is the
chosen parameter: Table V shows that the higher become the
grid current
switching frequency the more effective becomes the filter.
Even if a higher switching frequency does not produce
converter current sensible variation of the grid current THD, as demonstrated
by Table IV, it decreases the oscillation in the dc voltage
(Fig. 15) and consequently in d and q currents. This is due to
the increase of the current control closed loop bandwidth, as
reported in Section VI-A. The experimental result obtained at
input filter rated condition with 8 kHz shows the dc voltage oscillation
capacitor current reduction.
TABLE IV
GRID CURRENT THD VARYING THE LOAD
AND THE SAMPLING/SWITCHING FREQUENCY

Power 1 2
fsw Pn Pn Pn
3 3
5 kHz 7.8 % 3.8 % 2.9 %
6 kHz 8% 3.6 % 2.9 %
Fig. 13. Experimental grid voltage (86 V/div), grid, converter 7 kHz 7.3 % 3.4 % 2.6 %
and input filter capacitor currents (5 A/div) at rated conditions 8 kHz 6.3 % 3.2% 2.4 %
(5 kHz switching frequency).

dc voltage dc voltage

grid currents grid currents

Fig. 14. Experimental grid currents (5 A/div) and dc voltage Fig. 15. Experimental grid currents (5 A/div) and dc voltage
(14 V/div only ac component) at rated conditions (14 V/div only ac component) at rated conditions
(5 kHz switching frequency). (8 kHz switching frequency).

B. Evaluation of the performances of the overall system TABLE V

The analysis of the performances of the system on the GRID CURRENT HIGH FRQUENCY HARMONIC
CONTENT VARYING THE LOAD AND THE
grid side, shows that the low frequency distortion is well SAMPLING/SWITCHING FREQUENCY
below the 5% at rated load and the high frequency ripple is 1 2
Power
properly reduced. Moreover it is worth analysing the system fsw Pn Pn Pn
in different load conditions and for different switching 3 3
frequencies as stated at step 6 of the design procedure. 5 kHz 3.6 % 1.8 % 1.3 %
In the low frequency range the grid current THD is the 6 kHz 3.1 % 1.5 % 1.1 %
chosen parameter: Table IV shows it for different switching 7 kHz 2.8 % 2.3 % 1.0 %
frequencies and for three load conditions. 8 kHz 2.8 % 1.2% 0.9 %

306
 Once analysed the system behaviour varying the The design procedure has been tested with simulation and
switching frequency and the load, attention should be paid experimental results: the desired attenuation is guaranteed
also to the damping losses. Since the variation of load with the calculated parameters. Stability and high dynamic
produces little changes in the damping losses, Table VI offers are also proved. Moreover all the results have been obtained
a comparison, adopting the same value of damping resistor using a simple control method and no additional sensors.
(10 ) and varying only the switching frequency. The Thus an industrial inverter can be used.
damping losses decrease as the switching frequency If the results are compared with that obtained with an L-
increases, but as reported in Section VI A the system is also filter, which value is the sum of all the inductance of the
less damped and, at 8 kHz, reaches the limit of the stability LCL-filter, the ripple attenuation with the LCL-filter is more
region. than the double.
Finally the dynamic of the system has been tested
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