Implementation of active power filter with asymmetrical inverter legs for harmonic and reactive power compensation

An asymmetrical voltage source inverter is proposed to operate as an active power filter to eliminate harmonics and compensate reactive power drawn from the nonlinear loads such that a sinusoidal line current is drawn from the ac source. Two inverter legs are used in the adopted circuit configuration. One inverter leg is operated in the line frequency and the other leg is operated in the high switching frequency to track the compensated current command. In the proposed control scheme, a voltage compensator, a carrier-based current controller and a proportional integral-based dc link controller are used to achieve balanced capacitor voltages, to track line current and to obtain a constant dc bus voltage, respectively. Based on the pulse-width modulation (PWM) control scheme, a three-level voltage pattern is generated on the ac terminal of the inverter. Computer simulation and experimental results are provided to verify the effectiveness of the control scheme.