Analysis, Dimensioning and Robust Control of Shunt Active Filter for Harmonic Currents Compensation in Electrical Mains

In this chapter, analysis, dimensioning and control issues of a particular kind of Active Power Filter (APF), the so-called Shunt Active Filters (SAF), are addressed. The main purpose is compensation of harmonic current distortion in the electric supply grid. Robust nonlinear control techniques are exploited; an internal model paradigm is followed to properly track filter currents references despite of parameters uncertainties, while averaging and singular perturbation theory is used to cope with the unstable internal dynamics given by DC-link voltage behavior. It’s further to notice that, owing to the structural properties of the system, the components sizing, cannot be considered apart from the canonical control aspects, hence a proper dimensioning algorithm is provided in order to avoid unfeasibility of desired control objectives, and ensure a proper time-scale separation between the filter currents and DC-link voltage dynamics.