A DC Capacitor Voltage Control Method for Active Power Filters Using Modified Reference Including the Theoretically Derived Voltage Ripple

This paper proposes a new dc capacitor voltage control method suitable for active power filters equipped with a small dc capacitor. The proposed control method calculates the theoretical dc capacitor voltage ripple and provides it to the dc capacitor voltage feedback controller as the reference. As a result, the proposed method has the capability to regulate the mean value of the dc capacitor voltage under a large voltage ripple condition. The proposed method also allows us to use a high feedback gain for suppressing the capacitor voltage fluctuations without any performance deterioration in the harmonic compensation. Experimental results confirm a good harmonic compensation and an effective voltage regulation performance under a small dc capacitor condition. The results also demonstrate a significant improvement in the capacitor voltage regulation even when a sudden load change occurs.