2013 International Conference on Circuits, Power and Computing Technologies [ICCPCT-2013]
Design of Passive High Pass Filter for Shunt Active
Power Filter Application
Gourishankar Mishra,
Department of Electrical Engineering
National Institute ofTechnology, Rourkela, India
Abstract: Modern active power filters are
compensate high order harmonics (typically,
dynamically. Even though, shunt active power filter maintains
source current nearly sinusoidal, considerable distortion is
observed in source current due the presence of high order
harmonics (greater than 25th). A passive high pass filter is used
to filter out these harmonics. The design procedure of these
high pass filters involves equations of more than second order;
hence the parameters are selected by trial and error. In this
paper, a simplitied design procedure is proposed for designing
a high pass filter used for shunt active
applications. Equations are derived from the basics and design
procedure is demonstrated by considering a case study of a
single phase shunt active power filter.
Keywords-shunt active power filter; high pass filter; filter
design; total harmonie distortion
INTRODUCTTON
Due to increase in power electronic equipment at the load
end of the modern day power system, the power quality of
the source voltage and current is deteriorated. Active Power
Filter (APF) plays an important role in improving power
quality by maintaining sinusoidal voltage and current at the
source with unity power factor [1-4]. Shunt APF supplies the
compensating current which comprises the reactive
component of the fundamental current and the harmonie
current demanded by the load. Modem shunt APFs are found
to compensate current harmonics dynamically (typically till
25 th order). Current distortion still exists due to high
frequency current harmonics present because of the
following reasons (i) uncompensated harmonics of the load
current (ii) switching harmonics introduced due to high
switching rate of APF [8]. Due to the presence of source
inductance, these higher order current harmonics introduces
higher order voltage harmonics of high magnitude in the
source voltage. As per IEEE Std. 519, the limits for the
individual voltage harmonics and the Total Harmonie
Distortion (THD) of the voltage are 3 % and 5 % respectively
[9]. Hence reduction in higher order current harmonics is
also important in maintaining good quality of voltage. A
properly designed High Pass Filter (HPF) connected parallel
to APF as shown in Fig.l , bypasses the high frequency
currents [6-7], [10-12].
Even though literature shows the use of HPF for reducing
the higher order current harmonics, a proper design
procedure is not illustrated [10-12]. Most of the design
978-1-4673-4922-2/13/$31.00 ©2013 IEEE
Gopalakrishna S.
Department of Electrical Engineering
National Institute ofTechnology, Rourkela, India
capable to
the 25th)
)- ---- ....
---- -1 Non-linear load
Figure 1. Parallel connection of HPF with APF in a power circuit
power filter
procedure involves trial and error. This paper gives a
systematic procedure for the design of HPF from the derived
equations. The design procedure is demonstrated by
considering a case study on a single phase shunt APF.
PASSIVE HIGH PASS FILTERS
Traditionally three types of passive high pass filters are
used as shown in Fig. 2 [6-7], [10]. Fig. 2(a) shows the first
order high pass filter whose design is quite simple. When it
is used to filter out the high frequency currents, it increases
the power losses due to the presence of series resistance. If
the source impedance is inductive, the filter capacitance (Ch)
resonates with source inductance. This resonance peak is
high for small values of filter resistance (Rh)' Thus
harmonics of source current that fall near resonant frequency
are amplified causing an increase in THD. For large values
of Rh, the attenuation decreases, thus affecting the filter
performance. Hence the use of first order filter is limited
[6-7].
The second order filter as shown in Fig. 2(b) is widely
used as an inductor bypasses the resistance at low
frequencies. High frequency currents pass through the
resistance of the high pass filter. If the value of resistance is
low, power dissipation will be low; otherwise a capacitor in
series with the resistance is connected as shown in Fig. 2(c)
to reduce the power loss. The HPF shown in Fig. 2(c) is a
third order filter is used to increase the filter energy
efficiency and does not provide any significant increase in
filter performance [6-7].
From the above discussion, it is seen that first order filter
is not reliable and third order filter is used only when power
loss is more. Thus second order filter is most important as it
is widely used for reducing the higher order harmonics in
current and hence higher order harmonics in source voltage.
In this paper, the design procedure is limited to second order
filter shown in Fig 2(b).
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 2013 International Conferenee on Cireuits, Power and Computing Teehnologies [ICCPCT-2013]
c ..L c ..L
h h
(a) (b) (c)
Figure 2. High pass filters (a) First order (b) Second order (c) Third order
A PASSIVE HIGH PASS FILTER DESIGN PROCEDURE
The single line diagram shown in Fig.l is represented as
a eireuit in Fig.3 whieh eonsists of a seeond order HPF and a
voltage souree V s with a souree induetanee Ls• A full wave
bridge reetifier with RL load is widely used in praetieal
applieations. Henee it is employed here in plaee of nonlinear
load with load terminals 'a' and 'b'. It is assumed that APF
h
shown in Fig. 3 is designed to eompensate till 25t harmonie.
Henee higher order (> 25) harmonie eurrent is required to be
filtered by proper design of HPF. The equations required to
design the HPF are derived based on following eonditions.
1) Loading effeet of the filter on the souree
2) Loeation of resonant frequeneies and resonant
magnitude of peak of the high frequeney model of
eireuit shown in Fig. 3.
3) Attenuation at switehing harmonie frequeneies to
maintain distortion level as per IEEE Std. 519.
Considering the above eonditions, a step by step design
proeedure is illustrated.
Step-l: An equation is derived eonsidering the load
impedanee and HPF impedanee at fundamental (power)
frequeney. If Vfi If and wf are the fundamental voltage,
fundamental eurrent and angular frequeney of the souree
respeetively, the impedanee (ZLf) offered by the load to this
fundamental frequeney is given by
Vj
ZLj= -
y to souree eurrent Ish is [6]
At fundamental frequeney, induetanee Lh aets like a short
eireuit and bypasses Rh and eapaeitive reaetanee dominates.
Henee the impedanee of the HPF at fundamental frequeney
is given by
1 resonant frequeneies depend on the values of Lh, Ch, Ls and
ZHPFj= -
W;Ch
To avoid loading effeet of HPF, ZHPFf is taken 'k' times
higher than ZLf given by (3). For example if k > 20,
fundamental eurrent of less than 5 % passes through HPF.
ZHPFj=kZLj
From (1), (2) and (3), the required value of eapaeitanee is
approximately given by (4),
a
bridge rectifier
,
with RL load
L...-.JW,i""""""'"
, RI)// HPF
APF
........ _---_ ....
Figure 3. Active power filter model with second order HPF
Step-2: One of the important faetor need to be eonsidered
while designing a filter is the system natural resonant
frequeneies. If the resonant frequeney falls near one or more
eritieal driving harmonie frequeneies, the latter tend to be
amplified. The amount of amplifieation of these harmonies
depends on the magnitude of resonant peak.
Proper loeation of system resonant frequeney is possible
by eareful seleetion of induetor and eapaeitor in HPF.
Similarly the magnitude of resonant peak ean be adjusted by
proper seleetion of resistor (Rh) in HPF.
Considering the eireuit shown in Fig. 3, the induetanee of
the load is very high eompared to the souree induetanee.
Henee at high frequeney, the load aeross the terminals 'a'
and 'b' is assumed to be open eireuit. The high frequeney
model of the eireuit shown in Fig. 3 is obtained by
representing the load by an open eireuit and other part of the
eireuit by its Norton's equivalent aeross the terminals 'a' and
'b' is shown in Fig. 4. Ih is the equivalent Norton's eurrent
and subseript 'h' denotes that the eurrent eontain high
frequeney harmonies (required to be filtered by HPF). For an
ideal HPF, all the eurrent Ih passes through HPF, thus
filtering the high frequeney harmonies in the souree eurrent
(passing through Ls)' Ish and Ifh denote the eurrent passing
through souree induetanee and HPF respeetively.
(1) The eurrent divider transfer funetion (Heds) with respeet
- Ish
H cds - J;;- (5)
Fig.5 is the bode plot of the eireuit shown in Fig. 4. The
(2)
Rh. Due to series resonanee the souree eurrent harmonies
near series resonant frequeney are attenuated but due to
a __----r---�--�----�
(3)
(4)
b __----�------�----�
Figure 4. High pass filter with source impedance
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 2013 International Conference on Circuits, Power and Computing Technologies [ICCPCT-2013]

As already discussed, parallel resonance of HPF with

source inductance causes amplification of harmonics in

one of the design constraints is the location of ffip

source current that fall near parallel resonant frequency. So,
and other is
to limit the magnitude of resonant peak. This is achieved by

ffip and ffip in a frequency band where no

1. analyzing the source current harmonics and

, current2 is present.
selecting
critical source
Figure 5. Frequency response of current divider transfer function
for HPF shown in Fig. 4 2. tuning damping resistance (Rh) to reduce the
resonant peak
parallel resonance the source current harmonics near parallel
resonant frequency are amplified. Hence, only parallel It can be observed from (10) and (12) that the values of the

ffip ffip '

resonance is considered here. The value of filter resistance Rh capacitor and inductor are obtained by proper selection of

, 2
may vary from 0 to 00. Initial analysis is carried out by and

Selection of ffip and ffiP

considering the two limiting values of�.
Case 1: If Rh ---+ 00, the transfer function is , 2 it
a) From (13), is observed that loading effect due to

ffip ' ffip '

HPF is reduced by increasing the value of k and
(6)

2 2
hence This defines the lower limit of

ffiPI' where ffiP ->JkZLLjs-ü)j

2
The parallel resonant frequency is given by -
(14)

ffiPI= .J(Lh Ls)Ch

1
17i'::::::=;=;;=
+ =;:; (7) Modem APFs are capable of compensating
h
harmonics typically till 25t order [5]. So HPF is
required to filter all the high harmonics that APF is
not able to compensate. From Fig. 5, it is observed

CIhSL
Case 11: If Rh---+ 0, the transfer function is that attenuation of the HPF starts approximately

ffip
from parallel resonant frequency. Hence the upper
H cds -
-
ChS S
,
+ s
(8) limit upper limit of
ffiP2 < 25ffi/
is

ffip ' where 2

(15)

2
In this case the parallel resonant is given by

ffiP = .JLs Ch 1 From (14) and (15),

2
--
(9)

P2 s
1
Ch =� (10) (16)

From (7) and (9) From (16)

(11) (17)

This shows the constraint on 'k'. To avoid loading

So (12)
effect as discussed in Step-l, the value of 'k' is
selected as high as possible.
From (4) and (9)

kZLjü)j ü)p/ Ls b)
ffip ffip ffip
From (12), it is observed that Lh depends on square

ü)P Ls ffiP ' the value2of Lhl reduces. Thus decreases

l the
of the ratio of to . By choosing the nearer

k= 22
So
ZLjü)j (13)
to
2
cost of designed inductor. However if the ffip and
ffip are too near, the frequency response of 2HPF
Case 111: If 00 > Rh � O.
l more sensitive to the changes in Rh. Hence
becomes

of ffip '
a compromise must be made in choosing the value

,
Let wp be the parallel resonant frequency for a given

Thus ffip and ffiP are selected in a frequency band

value of Rh between 0 and 00. It is seen from (7) and (9) that

whose upper , limit2 lies below 25ffij

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 2013 International Conference on Circuits, Power and Computing Technologies [ICCPCT-2013]

Step-3: As frequency tends to be very high (near component of source current is less than 2 % of the
switching frequency), fundamental. From the frequency response of the source
current, fp and fp are chosen as 1160 Hz and 1230 Hz
(18) l 2
respectively. Hence the frequency components in radis are as
follows
From (18), it can be observed that high value of Rh
results in low attenuation near switching frequency and low (OPI = 2320n radis and (OP = 2460n radis
2
magnitude resonant peak at parallel resonance. The HPF will
show good performance when peak at resonance is low and By using equations (10), (12) and (19),
attenuation at switching frequency is high. Hence an Lh= 0.l 24 mH, Ch= 16.75 J.tF, Rh=1.90 Q
optimum value is to be selected. The limits of Rh can be
obtained by taking the typical values of quality factor used
for HPF in the literature [7], [11].
Selection of Rh
The value of Rh is obtained by selecting the quality factor
Qh. The quality factor is represented as

Qh=Rh � (19)

Typical values of quality factor are 0.5 ::; Qh ::; 2. The

limits of Rh are defmed based on the limits of Qh. By
selecting quality factor close to 0.7, the series resonance and
high pass performances are satisfactory.

A CASE STUDY
To demonstrate the performance of the proposed high
pass filter, a single phase APF circuit is built in
MATLAB/Simulink with the parameters as given in 0.1 0.12 0.14 0.16 0.18 0.2
Table. 1. A sinusoidal voltage source of 220 V rms (50 Hz) Time (5)
is connected to a full wave bridge rectifier with RL load
a. Mains voltage b. Mains Current
( R =10 n, L = 50 mH)
c. Compensating current d. Rectifier load current
Table 1. Major parameters of the prototype
Figure 6. Simulation results of the APF model without connecting HPF
Parameters Symbol Value

�\1-SJ��'�o�'
Source Voltage Vs 220V

Source Frequency f 50Hz

rMM-���.r:�
Source inductance Ls I mH ·

DC bus voltage Vdc 600V

b
DC bus capacitor Cdc 2000llF

'� LN h jj ht B � ��'f:�
DC link inductance Lr 5mH

Switching frequency fs 10 kHz

V \T \.TV\T V
_ . • •0 ___ ' __ o. _ • ... ." . . •

From simulation of the given model without any

compensation, it is seen that load impedance at fundamental
frequency
Vf
ZLf= -
I
= 12Q
f
0.1 0.12 0.14 0.16 0.18 0.2
Choice of (OPI and (OP Time (5)
2
Corresponding cut-off frequencies in Hz be fp and fp '
l 2 a. Mains voltage b. Mains Current
From (15) c. Compensating current d. Rectifier load current
Hence frequencies fp and fp are chosen near to 1250 Hz; Figure 7. Simulation results of the APF model without connecting HPF
l 2
such that at those frequencies the magnitude of frequency

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 2013 International Conferenee on Cireuits, Power and Computing Teehnologies [ICCPCT-2013]

Performance of the active power filter before and after CONCLUSION

connecting HPF In power quality improvement, APF in eoordination with
Fig. 6 shows the simulated results of the aetive power a HPF is needed to have better results. The proper design of
filter model prior to eonneeting HPF. From the figures, it ean the HPF is neeessary to eliminate higher order harmonies, as
be seen that the souree eurrent and voltage are highly APF is eapable of eliminating harmonies typieally till 25 th
distorted. Fig. 8(a) and Fig. 9(a) show the harmonie eontent order. From the above design proeedure and test result, it is
in the souree voltage and souree eurrent without HPF. THD seen that the designed HPF is eapable of improving the
of the voltage and eurrent are 27.7 % and 10.1 % respeetively. power quality effeetively redueing THD. With the use of
HPF, the THD and the magnitude of harmonies of souree
Simulated results after eonneeting HPF are shown in Fig. 7. voltage and eurrent are found to be well below the limits
It is observed that the distortion of the mains eurrent and speeified by IEEE Std. 519.
voltage deereased to a level as mentioned in the standards
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"Eleetrieal Power Systems Quality," 2nd ed. USA: MeGraw-Hill,
�
2002
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E
�
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a Z
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�
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:E Eleetronies, Vol. 46, No. 5, Oet 1999, pp. 960-971
0 10 20 30 40 50
[6] J. K. Phipps, "Transfer funetion approaeh to harmonie filter design,"
Frequency (kHz)
IEEE Industry Applieation Magazine, MarehiApril I997, pp.68-82
� Fundamental (50 Hz)=308.7 V, THD=1.18% [7] D. Sutanto, M. Bou-rabee, K. S. Tam and C. S. Chang, "Harmonie
2c filters for industrial power systems," lEE Proe., International Conf. on
� 0.4 Advanees in Power Sys. Con!., Operation and Management, Vol. 2,
�
" Nov 1981, pp. 594-598
c
b Z [8] N. Mohan, T. Undeland and W. Robbins, "Power Eleetronies:
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�
� [9] "IEEE Reeommended Praetiees and Requirements for Harmonie
CI
� Control in Eleetrie Power Systems," IEEE Std. 519-1992
:E
[10] D. A. Gonzalez and J. C. Meeall, "Design of filters to reduee
0 20 30 40 50
Frequency (kHz) harmonie distortion in industrial power systems," IEEE Trans. on
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a. Without HPF b. With HPF 511
[ll] Z. Salam and P. C. Tan, "A new single-phase two-wire hybrid aetive
Figure 8. Hannonie speetrum of voltage
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applieation," IEEE Proe., PECon 2004, pp. 126-131
'"'
Fundamental (50 Hz)=25.53 A, THD=10.14%
! 2 [12] S. Fukuda and M. Yamaji, "Design and eharaeteristies of aetive
c
�1.6 power filter using eurrent souree eonverter," IEEE lAS Annu.
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�1.2
[13] J. C. Das, "Passive filters-Potentials and limitations," IEEE Trans. on
a ...
.2o.s Industry Applieations, Vol. 40, No. I, Jan./Feb. 2004, pp. 232-241
o
�O.4
01
..
:E
0 500 1000 1500 2000 2500 3000
Frequency (Hz)
'"'
Fundamental (50 Hz)=25.4 A, THD=4.00%
�c 2
<11
E
..
'tI
C
"
b ...
...
0
�
0
�

01
..
:E 0 500 1000 1500 2000 2500 3000
Frequency (Hz)

a. Without HPF b. With HPF

Figure 9. Hannonie speetrum of eurrent

21