Commutation effect of Adjustable Speed Drives due to installation of active harmonic filters

The success of designing an industrial installation with Active Filters depends on how precise the load profile of the application is known, because this determines the amount of harmonic currents to be compensated. However, once the Active Filter is added to the installation, the harmonic currents may increase due to changes in the commutation behavior of diode rectifier converters. The change of natural commutation determines higher harmonics currents of the diode rectifiers and therefore higher harmonic loading of the Active Filter in the installation. This paper presents a method to estimate the commutation behavior of Adjustable Speed Drives when their harmonic currents are compensated by a Shunt Active Filter. The method is formulated as an analytical computation algorithm verified by simulations. Further on the method is implemented in a Harmonic Calculation Toolbox which facilitates calculation and sizing industrial Active Filter applications together with Adjustable Speed Drives. Examples of using the developed toolbox are given in the paper, supported with practical measurements.