Single-phase power line conditioning with unity power factor under distorted utility voltage

• Published in: International journal of electrical power & energy systems 2020-10, Vol.121, p.106057, Article 106057
• Main Authors: Castellan, Simone, Buja, Giuseppe, Menis, Roberto
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Active power line conditioners; Single-phase grid; Unity power factor; Voltage distortion
• ISSN: 0142-0615; 1879-3517
• DOI: 10.1016/j.ijepes.2020.106057

•Novel proposed approach for power factor correction of single-phase loads.•Effectiveness of the compensation also when the utility voltage is distorted.•Control algorithm based on the single phase p-q theory and using TOSSI filters.•Achievement of unity power factor rather than sinusoidal utility current.•Effectiveness of the approach is corroborated by hardware-in-the-loop tests. The paper proposes a control method of a single-phase active power line conditioner (APLC) aimed at correcting the power factor of linear and non-linear loads supplied by distorted voltage utility. The method, that is based on the single-phase p-q theory and utilizes a third-order sinusoidal signal integrator, gets utility unity power factor and, at the same time, overcomes the shortcomings of the solutions pursuing utility sinusoidal current, namely the possible onset of un-damped resonance phenomena and the reduction in the energy delivery capabilities; moreover, the method makes the power factor correction robust against the supply distortion. The excellent performance of the method is substantiated by testing it by means of a hardware-in-the-loop setup.