Shaping the Current Waveform of an Active Filter for Optimized System Level Harmonic Conditioning

Harmonic voltages and currents in electrical systems, when present to a certain degree, represent not only a
\npower quality problem but they are also strongly associated with the electrical system overall losses and they
\nare arguably a source of instability and a safety concern. Mitigating harmonics distortion across the entire
\nsystem by actively reducing harmonic currents propagation is an effective way of coping with these issues and
\ncan be dealt with the injection of a compensating current waveform with an active filter installed at a given
\nbus. This paper shows how, by shaping the compensating current waveform in an optimal way, the overall
\nelectrical system harmonic distortion can be optimally reduced in a cost effective manner with a minimum
\nsize of the compensating device. The process of shaping this optimal compensating current is shown by how
\nits components are defined by the optimization algorithm using the phase and amplitude of each harmonic as
\ndegrees of freedom in the process of finding the optimal waveform. A marine vessel distribution grid is used
\nas representative example to prove the concept.