Instantaneous Power Theory and Applications to Power Conditioning

Hirofumi Akagi, Edson Hirokazu Watanabe, Mauricio Aredes

• Publisher: Wiley-IEEE Press
• Year: 2017
• ISBN:
  9781119307211
• Edition: 2
• Topic: Technology & Engineering
• Subtopic: Power Resources
• Index: Technology & Engineering

This book covers instantaneous power theory as well as the importance of design of shunt, series, and combined shunt-series power active filters and hybrid passive-active power filters

• Illustrates pioneering applications of the p-q theory to power conditioning, which highlights distinct differences from conventional theories
• Explores p-q-r theory to give a new method of analyzing the different powers in a three-phase circuit
• Provides exercises at the end of many chapters that are unique to the second edition

CHAPTER 1
INTRODUCTION

THE INSTANTANEOUS ACTIVE AND REACTIVE POWER theory, or the so-called “p-q theory,” was introduced by Akagi, Kanazawa, and Nabae in 1983. Since then, it has been extended by the authors of this book, as well as other research scientists. This book deals with the theory in a complete form for the first time, including comparisons with other sets of instantaneous power definitions. The usefulness of the p-q theory is confirmed in the following chapters dealing with applications in controllers of compensators that are generically classified here as active power line conditioners.

The term “power conditioning” used in this book has much broader meaning than the term “harmonic filtering.” In other words, the power conditioning is not confined to harmonic filtering, but contains harmonic damping, harmonic isolation, harmonic termination, reactive-power control for power factor correction, power flow control, and voltage regulation, load balancing, voltage-flicker reduction, and/or their combinations. Active power line conditioners are based on leading edge power electronics technology that includes power conversion circuits, power semiconductor devices, analog/digital signal processing, voltage/current sensors, and control theory.

Concepts and evolution of electric power theory are briefly described later. Then, the need for a consistent set of power definitions is emphasized to deal with electric systems under nonsinusoidal conditions. Problems with harmonic pollution in alternating current systems (ac systems) are classified, including a list of the principal harmonic-producing loads. Basic principles of harmonic compensation are introduced. Finally, this chapter describes the fundaments of power flow control. All these topics are the subjects of scope and will be discussed deeply in the following chapters of the book.

1.1 Concepts and Evolution of Electric Power Theory

One of main points in the development of alternating current (ac) transmission and distribution power systems at the end of the nineteenth century was based on sinusoidal voltage at constant-frequency generation. Sinusoidal voltage with constant frequency has made easier the design of transformers and transmission lines, including very long distance lines. If the voltage were not sinusoidal, complications would appear in the design of transformers, machines, and transmission lines. These complications would not allow, certainly, such a development as the generalized “electrification of the human society.” Today, there are very few communities in the world without ac power systems with “constant” voltage and frequency.

With the emergence of sinusoidal voltage sources, the electric power network could be made more efficient if the load current were in phase with the source voltage. Therefore, the concept of reactive power was defined to represent the quantity of electric power due to the load current that is not in phase with the source voltage. The average of this reactive power during one period of the line frequency is zero. In other words, this power does not contribute to energy transfer from the source to the load. At the same time, the concepts of apparent power and power factor were created. Apparent power gives the idea of how much power can be delivered or consumed if the voltage and current are sinusoidal and perfectly in phase. The power factor gives a relation between the average power actually delivered or consumed in a circuit and the apparent power at the same point. Naturally, the higher the power factor, the better the circuit utilization. As a consequence, the power factor is more efficient not only electrically but also economically. Therefore, electric power utilities have specified lower limits for the power factor. Loads operated at low power factor pay an extra charge for not using the circuit efficiently.

For a long time, one of the main concerns related to electric equipment was power factor correction, which could be done by using capacitor banks or, in some cases, reactors. For all situations, the load acted as a linear circuit drawing a sinusoidal current from a sinusoidal voltage source. Hence, the conventional power theory based on active-, reactive-, and apparent-power definitions was sufficient for design and analysis of power systems. Nevertheless, some papers were published in the 1920s, showing that the conventional concept of reactive and apparent power loses its usefulness in nonsinusoidal cases [1,2]. Then, two important approaches to power definitions under nonsinusoidal conditions were introduced by Budeanu [3,4] in 1927 and Fryze [5] in 1932. Fryze defined power in the time domain, whereas Budeanu did it in the frequency domain. At that time, nonlinear loads were negligible, and little attention was paid to this matter for a long time.

Since power electronics was introduced in the late 1960s, nonlinear loads that consume nonsinusoidal current have increased significantly. In some cases, they represent a very high percentage of the total loads. Today, it is common to find a house without linear loads such as conventional incandescent lamps. In most cases, these lamps have been replaced by electronically controlled fluorescent lamps. In industrial applications, an induction motor that can be considered as a linear load in a steady state is now equipped with a rectifier and in...