Reactive power compensation and harmonic mitigation through quasi Z source converter for marine applications

Abstract

This research work brings out the unique approach for attaining an efficient grid connected PV system with suppression of current harmonics by Shunt Active Power Filter (SAPF) as grid connected inverter. But the performance of SAPF is not consistent and is varied based on the control techniques. Filter currents are created using Phase Locked Loop (PLL) based park transformation. Control loops of SAPF are employed with Proportional Integral (PI) controllers. Tuning of PI controller is found to be crucial in improving the harmonic compensation of SAPF. Various optimization algorithms are used for obtaining optimized control parameters of PI controller. Self tuning of PI controller is proposed through Imperialist Competitive Algorithm (ICA) to get the optimal value of PI parameters. Simulation works are carried out in MATLAB/Simulink and the performance of this proposed approach is compared in minimizing Total Harmonic Distortion (THD), to maintain the quality of utility grid without distortion and thus increasing energy efficiency of the system.