Power Technology and Engineering

Vol. 42, No. 2, 2008

TUNING OF HIGHER HARMONIC FILTERS CONNECTED

TO THE TERTIARY WINDINGS OF CONVERTER TRANSFORMERS
L. L. Balyberdin,1 Yu. S. Kraichik,1 N. G. Lozinova,1 and G. G. Prochan2
Translated from lektricheskie Stantsii, No. 2, pp. 63 66, 2008.

The features of the tuning of filters, connected with the tertiary windings of converter transformers, is considered. It is shown that such a connection is effective, but encounters difficulties due to the fact that the tunable
filters have impedances as low as the external circuits. A theory and practical methods are given on how to
overcome these difficulties. Positive results, obtained when tuning the filters in the Vyborg dc installation are
described.
Keywords: Switched converters, converter substations, converter transformers, harmonics, filters, filter tuning, dc installation.

cal transmission line. The content of this paper is based on

experience in the development and use of this substation
over many years.
To satisfy the standards on quality of electric power, it is
necessary to reduce the current harmonics, which enter the
outgoing 400 kV lines from the converters, by a factor of not
less than several tens. While, according to estimates made by
the IVO Company (Finland), the input impedances of these
lines at frequencies of the harmonics in unfavorable cases
could be very small (a factor of 3 4 times less than the
short-circuit impedances at the fundamental frequency), they
were not a factor in limiting the harmonics. Calculations and
discussions of their results from the Finnish side showed that
the traditional versions of connecting filters to the buses of
the receiving system not only does not enable one to guarantee that the required level of current harmonics in the line
will not be excessive, but does not even guarantee that it will
approximate to it. In contrast to this, the version in which the
filters are connected to the tertiary windings of the converter
transformers enabled such guarantees to be given, and on this
basis it was also accepted.
The realization and prolonged operation of electrical
transmission with filters of this kind confirmed the correctness of the above decision [1 4]. In particular, the
possibility of designing multisection filters of high efficiency
on the tertiary-winding side of converter transformers was
confirmed.
The physical features of carrying out this work and the
recommendations are presented, as far as possible, in general
form, to enable the expository material and other objects to
be used.

The connection of higher harmonic filters to the leads of

the tertiary windings of converter transformers has a considerable advantage over the traditional way of connecting them
in the buses of the adjacent network. Firstly, it becomes possible to reduce (and optimize) the nominal voltage of the filters. This enables the number of filter sections connected in
parallel, tuned to different frequencies, to be increased, and
thereby enables the number of harmonics that are filtered to
be extended.
Another advantage is the artificial creation of a point of
reference of the sinusoidal voltage, next to the converter,
which has a favorable effect on the switching processes that
occur, making them less dependent on the operating changes
in the form of the voltage of the adjacent network.
It is particularly important that, when the filters are connected to the tertiary windings of the converter transformers
with a special position of these windings between the network and switching windings, one obtains a circuit in which
the impedances of the network windings of the transformer
are added to the network impedances, thereby limiting the
penetration of current harmonics from the converters in the
adjacent electric network. The latter can be of considerable
importance when taking technical decisions on limiting harmonics under conditions when very stringent normalization
of the harmonics in the adjacent circuit is combined with uncertainty in the parameters of this network at the frequencies
of the harmonics.
Such conditions occurred when constructing the Vyborg
switched-inverter substation in the Russia Finland electri1
2

JSC NIIPT, Russia.

JSC FChK ES MS Severo-Zapada, Russia.

119
1570-145X/08/4202-0119 2008 Springer Science + Business Media, Inc.

120

L. L. Balyberdin et al.
330 kV on the rectifier
side and 400 kV
on the inverter side

=5

35 kV
MF

AF

Q = 10 MV A

= 11

40

= 13

30

= 23

10

=5

10

= 11

20

= 13

15

= 23 Q = 10 MV A

67.5 kV on the rectifier

side and 70 kV
on the inverter side

Fig. 1. Filters connected to the tertiary windings of converter transformers.

Four-section filters, designed to filter the 5th, 11th, 13th

and 23rd harmonics were connected in the converter units of
the substation. They were connected to the tertiary windings
(38.5 kV) of the transformers, having split switched windings, feeding two-bridge 12-pulsed converters (Fig. 1). There
are main filters (MF), which are always operating, and additional filters (AF), connected when there are large loads.
Each section of the filters is constructed in the form of a capacitor-reactor chain. The reactive powers Q, distributed by
the capacitor batteries for a nominal voltage on the buses, are
shown in Fig. 1. The reactors in the filter sections are provided with 3 5% regulated seals, switched in the disconnected state. The filters are tuned when they are introduced
into use, checked, and, if necessary, corrected by planned
precautionary repairs.
A number of practical difficulties arose when tuning the
filters, which can be subdivided into three groups: organization, metrological and criterial.
Organizational difficulties arise due to the fact that it is
not possible to achieve a smooth change in the parameters of
modern filter equipment under load. Hence one cannot adjust
the filters directly under working conditions and one is
forced to carry out numerous additional operations. These
include:
disabling the converter unit, in which the adjustable
filters are connected;
connecting in these filters low-voltage power sources
with controllable frequency, for example, audio generators
and laboratory measuring instruments;
measuring the voltages and currents and then calculating from these the impedances of the filters at the frequencies of the filtered harmonics;
minimizing the calculated impedances by correcting
accessible parameters (in this case by switching the seals of
the filter reactors);
dismantling the power sources and instruments used;
reconstructing the working circuit of the filters and
the converter unit;

carring out control measurements of the harmonics

under operating conditions and estimating the results
obtained.
It should be noted that such operations are also necessary
when filters connected to the buses of the adjacent network
are tuned. The difference is that when tuning the latter the
converters can remain in operation, whereas when tuning filters connected to the tertiary windings of the converter transformers, the whole converter unit must be disconnected.
Metrological difficulties in tuning the filters in this
scheme are due primarily to the fact that a reduction in the
nominal filter voltage, which from many points of view is a
positive factor, is accompanied by an increase in the nominal
filter current. There is then a non-correspondence between
the high currents of the filter equipment and the low currents
of the laboratory power sources used during the adjustment.
This non-correspondence introduces unavoidable measurement errors in the adjustment procedure. Moreover, the large
dimensions of the circuits which form the filter sections
when they have low impedances sometimes produce conditions for such high current pickup in these circuits and measurement circuits from neighboring conversion units that it is
necessary either to increase considerably the power of the
power sources used for the adjustment, or to combine the filter adjustment with periods of planned disconnections of the
neighboring units. This causes additional difficulties.
The criterial difficulties in tuning the filters connected to
the tertiary windings of the converter transformers arise from
the fact that the minimum values of the impedances of these
filters Zf, strictly speaking, are not criteria of the optimum
tuning, since the equivalent circuit of the power circuits of
the converter unit in the filter branch also contains the equivalent impedances of the tertiary windings of the converter
transformer Ztr and also the impedances of the buses connecting the tertiary winding to the filters, Zbf. Both these impedances are in the same branch as the impedances of the filters
themselves. Hence, when tuning the filters one must measure
and minimize not Zf, but the sum
Zf.eq = Zf + Ztr + Zbf,

(1)

which is not accessible for direct physical measurements.

To overcome the above difficulties we developed and
employed a new procedure for tuning the filters without
measuring the impedance of the filters themselves. They are
replaced by measurements of the mutual impedances between the rectifier windings of the transformers, to the tertiary windings of which the filters are connected.
The principle of this replacement is based on the fact that
the mutual impedance of a passive circuit is the ratio of the
output voltage to the input current. It can be seen from
Fig. 2a that when the parameters of the rectified and tertiary
windings are reduced to the common voltage, it is this ratio
that formula (1) expresses. In order to use this method in
practice, we assembled the circuit shown in Fig. 2a.

Tuning of Higher Harmonic Filters Connected to the Tertiary Windings of Converter Transformers

121

Zf.eq,
4
f
3
A

AG

RW1

RW2

2
1
a

2I/3

AG

I/3

100

w3

IKT 2IKT/3
IKT/3

f
f

IKT IKT/3

700

900

w3KT
w3KT
w3KT

Fig. 2. Three-phase circuit of the converter transformers and filters

during the tuning (a) and the current distribution in it (b).

arrive at the position for which the frequencies of all the local minima of the equivalent impedance of the filter will be
close to the frequencies of the canonical harmonics of the
converter current, which is being filtered
fi fcan.

In Fig. 2b we show the flow of the currents in the phases

of the transformers and filters during the adjustment time.
From this figure we obtain the following formula connecting
Zm, Zf.eq, U, and U0
Z f.eq =

3
2 R T2

1100

Fig. 3. Frequency characteristic of the equivalent impedance of the

filters connected to the tertiary windings of the converter transformers of the Vyborg substation on the sections close to the local
minima.

w3

500
f, Hz

w3

I/3

300

U 2 - U 02
I

3
2K T2

Zm ,

(2)

where I and U are the readings of the ammeter and voltmeter,

Zm is the mutual impedance between the rectifier windings of
the converter transformers in the proposed measurement circuit, I is the current of the audio generator (AG), U is the
voltage of the rectifier winding RW2 when I = 0, U0 is the
voltage for I = 0 (a correction which takes onto account
possible pickups during the measurement time), and KT is
the transformation factor between the rectifier and tertiary
windings.
The coefficient 3 in the numerator of formula (2) reflects the relation between the numbers of turns of the rectifier windings RW1 and RW2. The coefficient 2 in the denominator takes into account the fact that two phases of the filters
occur in the measurement circuit.
By varying the frequency f, produced by the audio generator (AG), we can determine U(f), I(f) and Zf.eq(f).
If the local minimum of the equivalent impedance of the
filters occurs at a frequency fi, i.e., the following equality is
satisfied
Zf.eq(fi) = min Zf.eq(f),

(3)

this indicates that the filter has been exactly tuned to the frequency fi. By switching the seal of the filter reactors we can

(4)

The fact that the sum (1) is not accessible for direct physical measurements is not the only difficulty when using the
minimum of this sum (this is also the case for the minimum
of the mutual impedance between the rectifier windings), as
a criterion of the optimum tuning of the filter connected to
the tertiary windings of the converter transformers. An additional difficulty in using these criteria is the fact that the
quantity Ztr + Zbf occurs in them, shifting the zeros of the
equivalent reactance of the filter as a whole with respect to
the zeros of the reactances of the individual filter sections. If
the tertiary windings of the transformers are situated between
the network and rectifier windings, these zero shifts can be
taken into account using the following approximate relation:
Zf.eq(fcan) Zf.eq(fi)

2( f can - f i ) X r ( f i )
,
fi

(5)

where fi and fcan are the frequencies at which local minima of

the characteristics Zf.eq(f) are obtained when making measurements and the frequencies of the canonical harmonics
closest to them, which are being filtered, and Xr is the
reactance of the reactances in the corrected section at a frequency fi.
After correcting the inductances of the reactances, the
frequency characteristic Zf.eq(f) is again plotted in order to
confirm the applicability of the results obtained. The proposed algorithm of the operations for tuning the filters takes
into account the fact that the plotting of the frequency characteristics reduces to controlling the audio generator, which
is much simpler than switching the seals of the reactors.

122

L. L. Balyberdin et al.
p, %
40

40

30
kd.norm, %
15

10
32

p, % 0.2 0.4 0.6 0.8 1.0

40
25
20

2.0 kd, %

20
I150.norm

10
5

10
4
2

p, %

40

10 12

20 I150, A

45
30
I>250.norm

20

p, %

20 I>250, A

60

40

Ips.norm

20

In Fig. 3 we show the frequency characteristic of the filters in the Vyborgsk substation Zf.eq(f) averaged over several
measurements in different converter units. We were able to
plot it in sections close to the points of local minima. To obtain the frequency characteristic outside these sections one
must have an audio generator of higher power. But we did
not feel that there was any practical need for this.
In Fig. 4 we show histograms of all the normalized indicators of the non-sinusoidality of the currents and voltages of
the 400 kV Vyborg Yullikkyalya power line taken during
the year of operation (with the exception of periods when the
system was under repair). Not one of the indicators exceeds
the norm.
Progress in designing reactors, controllable under load,
enables us to assume that in the future it will be possible to
use such reactors not only to compensate reactive power but
also in filters. This will enable the filters to be tuned directly
under operating conditions by monitoring the effect achieved
during the tuning itself. This is important both for simplifying the tuning technology but also for increasing its quality.
REFERENCES

15
5

0.5 1.0 1.5 2.0 2.5

Ips, A

Fig. 4. Histograms of the normalized indicators of non-sinusoidality of the currents and voltages in the 400 kV lines emerging from
the Vyborg substation: p is the duration of the current flow of this
value during the period being tracked; kd is the distortion coefficient;
I150 is the real value of the currents in the line in the 50 200 Hz harmonic frequency band; I>250 is the real value of the currents in the
line at a frequency above 250 Hz; and Ips is the psophometric value
of the currents in the line.

1. Yu. S. Kraichik, Limitation of higher harmonics of the current in

the lines emerging from a converter substation, Izv. NIIPT
(1984).
2. A. M. Berkovskii, M. I. Golberg, A. M. Nazarov, and V. S. Lyashenko, The USSR Finland 330/400 kV electrical transmission converter substation, lektr. Stantsii, No. 3 (1982).
3. L. L. Balyberdin, V. I. Galanov, V. D. Kovalev, et al., Experience in the construction and operation of the Vyborg rectifier-inverter substation, lektr. Stantsii, No. 12 (2001).
4. L. L. Balyberdin, E. Yu. Zmaznov, Yu. S. Kraichik, et al., Transients which occur when connecting and disconnecting capacitive filter compensators, lektr. Stantsii, No. 4, (2004).