Power quality and Voltage Stability improvement of Shipboard Power Systems with Non-Linear Loads

Over recent years, due to the fast expansion of power electronics technology onboard shipboard power systems (SPSs), harmonic contamination has become one of the main concerns. Moreover, the SPSs are characterized by heavy pulsed loads, which can draw a large amount of power in a short duration, which usually causes a voltage drop. If the latter exceeds the norms, a voltage collapse might occur and leads to the blackout of the ship. The contribution of this paper is to propose a combined topology, which consists of a hybrid active power filter (HAPF) connected to the switchboard via a series passive filter (hereafter called HAPF), and a parallel fixed capacitor-thyristor controlled reactor (FC-TCR) to overcome the aforementioned deficiencies of the SPS. Based on the model predictive control (MPC) and synchronous reference frame technique (SRF), the HAPF estimates the harmonics of the system and counter them, while the FC-TCR is designed to act as a low-pass filter and a reactive power compensator to enhance the stability and reduce the distortion of the voltage. The modeling and control of the proposed topology are presented. Furthermore, the voltage stability analyses of the SPS are conducted. Finally, the performance of the proposed topology is carried out under MATLAB/Simulink environment, and the results demonstrate the efficacy of the HAPF and the FC-TCR in suppressing harmonics and improving the voltage stability of the SPS.