Reducing Harmonic Distortion in Ship Power Systems: An Evaluation of Three Shunt Active Power Filter Control Strategies

Nowadays, the challenge of preserving and improving the electrical power quality is increasing due to the widespread use of non-linear loads in ship power systems. This may lead to degradation that can adversely affect the operation of electrical equipment and cause overall system instability. To mitigate these effects, various approaches, including use of active and passive filters, and other techniques, can be implemented. This research presents a comparison of three control methods for the Shunt Active Power Filter (SAPF) in an autonomous ship power system using a proposed mathematical model. The Synchronous Reference Frame (SRF) theory, PQ-based control theory, and Peak detection control method were implemented and analyzed. The Total Harmonic Distortion (THD) reduction performance and the impact of the filters on the variables of the synchronous generator were evaluated through simulation. The results show that the Peak detection control method outperforms the other two methods in terms of THD reduction while having minimal impact on the parameters of the synchronous generator.