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2012-ESC-744

Design of Passive Harmonic Filters to Enhance Power Quality and Energy Efficiency
in Ship Power Systems
Chun-Lien Su

Ci-Jhang Hong

Member, IEEE
Department of Marine Engineering
National Kaohsiung Marine University
Kaohsiung, TAIWAN
cls@webmail.nkmu.edu.tw

Department of Marine Engineering

National Kaohsiung Marine University
Kaohsiung, TAIWAN
agga0612msa@hotmail.com

Abstract Variable frequency drives (VFDs) driven motors

for pumps, blowers and fans, and heating, ventilation and air
conditioning (HVAC) equipment on ships are rapidly growing in
number. Due to their nonlinear nature, they become the major
sources of harmonics in electrical power systems on board. To
mitigate the harmonics, passive harmonic filters that are an LC
circuittuned to each harmonic order to be filtered have been
used. In compliance with the new rule in the emission regulation
of the maritime industry, the installation of passive filters has
attracting more attention in managing service power energy
efficiency. This paper proposed a design of passive filters to
reduce the voltage and current distortions in ship power systems
while increasing energy efficiency with power factor corrected
by passive filters. The inductance and capacitance in the filter
are designed according to harmonic currents and reactive power
required. The on-board power system of a practical ship with a
great number of VFDs is analyzed to illustrate the filter design.
The field testing results verified the performance of system with
the filter designed by the proposed method.
Index Terms--Energy-saving, Filter, Harmonics, Ship.

I.

INTRODUCTION

Variable frequency drives (VFDs) are increasingly used in

maritime applications ranging from small appliances to the
largest of propulsion drives and compressors in order to meet
the energy efficiency and control performance requirements
[1,2]. These electrical loads that have nonlinear
characteristics can produce non-sinusoidal harmonic injection
currents when they are operated. The harmonic currents are
delivered and broadcasted through the power network, thus
distorting the bus voltages and degrading the supply
qualityon board [3]. Ship owners and shipyards are facing a
rising number of ship accidents and incidences related to the
harmonics due to more sensitive loads and automated
equipment installed on modern ships [4].
From the perspective of system design, the harmonics in
ship power systems should not exceed the permitted value;
however, rigorous constraints can increase shipbuilding costs.
In order to evaluate the harmonic interference on a ship
power system, and reduce the harmonics, many classification
societies and international regulations have set limits on
power harmonics for marine vessels [5], which are similar to
the standards for harmonic limits for industrial networks.
These limits cover low-voltage networks as well as medium

voltage supplies. The voltage of total harmonic distortion

(THD), VTHD, should be less than 5%. Some limits are
relaxed, and call for less than 8% or 10%. The voltage
individual harmonic distortion (IHD), V IHD, depends on the
different regulations of the classification societies and
international standards, and is usually 3%, 5% and 8%. For
example, the ship used for research complies with IEC
60092-507 [6]. The limits for the VTHD and VIHD are 5% and
3%, respectively. These limits can be used as a reference for
shipbuilders when devising harmonic mitigation strategies.1
Many methods can be used for harmonics reduction. In
cases where the preventive actions, such as modifications in
the installation and special devices in the supply system, are
insufficient, it is necessary to equip the installation with
filtering systems [7]. Among all types of filters, the passive
filter, which is an LC circuit tuned to each harmonic order to
be filtered and installed in parallel with the non-linear load, is
widely used in industries due to its characteristics of mature
technology, reliable operation, and lower installation and
maintenance cost. This bypass circuit absorbs the harmonics,
thus avoiding their flow in the distribution network.
Generally speaking, the passive filter is tuned to a harmonic
order close to the order to be eliminated. Several parallelconnected branches of filters can be used if a significant
reduction in the distortion of a number of harmonic orders is
required.
There are a few literatures on the design of passive filters
to maritime power harmonics applications. The literature
mainly covers the design of passive filters for ship propulsion
drives [5,8,9] and off-shore submarine cable power supply
systems [10], passive filter placement [11,12,13], and passive
filter performance validation [14]. The design of a passive
filter is formulated as an optimal problem to minimize the
investment cost to solve possible optimal design solutions by
the penalty function algorithm in order to achieve a desired
level of system power factor [15]. Similar solution method
was also used in [16], which used an objective function to
minimize the system line losses and added the expected value
of VTHD to the constraints. A passive filter design
This work was supported by the Ministry of Education of Taiwan under
Grant 101E-7-025 and the National Science Council of Taiwanunder Grant
NSC 101-2221-E-022-016.

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optimization model was proposed in [17] to minimize the

V THD for load buses, while maintaining a certain level of
power factor.
In compliance with the new rule in the emission regulation
of the maritime industry [18], the installation of passive
filters has attracting more attention in managing service
power energy efficiency. The measures are defined and used
for the development of a ship energy efficiency management
plan. Operators could measure the fuel efficiency of a ship
and adopt the best practices for fuel-efficient operation. In
this new energy usage framework, a new passive harmonic
filter design model that addresses issues of quality and
efficiency of ship power systems could be considered.
To enhance service power quality and efficiency for
marine vessels, a passive filter design model, which combines
the functions of reactive power compensation and harmonic
current filtering, is proposed in this paper. The
capacitance/inductance combination behaves as a capacitance
at the fundamental supply frequency, while has a filtering
behavior for a specific harmonic frequency. The inductance
and capacitance involved in the filter are designed according
to harmonic currents and reactive power required, in order to
improve the harmonics and the power factor in the system,
and reduce the on-board power generator fuel oil
consumption. The performance of the proposed method is
validated by a practical ship power system with a great
number of VFDs. The passive filter design model and field
testing result are detailed in the following sections.

the generators is Q G(Var). If the harmonic order to be filtered

is h, the frequency is fh(Hz), and the reactances of the
inductance and capacitance in the filter and of the power
generator under the tuned frequency hfS are X Lh(), XCh()
and X Gh(), respectively. The reactance XF() of the passive
filter at a fundamental frequency can be calculated using the
following equation:

II. MATHEMATICAL MODEL FOR SHIP PASSIVE FILTER D ESIGN

When the harmonic filter is tuned to the h order frequency,

the relationship of XC and XLcan be expressed as

In ship power systems, there are a number of power

generators and loads equipped with VFDs. All power
generators and large loads are directly connected to the main
switching board (MSB) bus that feeds power to the
distribution and section boards for other loads through
distribution feeders and branches. To simplify the problem, it
is assumed that the voltage distortion at this bus can be
considerably the most serious in all buses in the system and
the passive filters are connected to the MSB bus for the
whole system supply quality and efficiency enhancement
purposes. Thus, the mathematic model for the passive filter
design can be described as follows.
For a ship power system with a number of VFDs
equipment modeled as an equivalent harmonic current source
and an h-order harmonic passive filter, as shown in Fig. 1, the
rated phase voltage is VS(V), the rated frequency
(fundamental frequency) is f S(Hz), and the reactive power
demand required for each phase in the system is QC(Var). It is
assumed that the output of power generators is pure sine
wave, i.e., no harmonic component is included and the
harmonic currents from the power generators on ships can
then be ignored. It is further assumed that the minimum
reactive power demand of the system can be provided by the
capacitance in the filter and the reactive power produced by

Fig. 1. Harmonic and reactive power flows for ship power systems with a
passive harmonic filter

XF =

VS2
QC

(1)

At fundamental frequency fS, the XF() that is the

difference between the capacitor reactance XC() and
inductor reactance XL() for the filter is described as follows:
XF = XC XL

X C = h2 X L

(2)

(3)

(3) is substituted into (2) and the X C is

XC =

X F h2
h2 1

(4)

The capacitance C(F) can then be determined by the

following equation:
C=

1
2 fS X C

(5)

The capacitance and inductance in the filter can be

determined using (4) and (5). The results are used to calculate
the XL() at the h-order harmonic frequency by the following
equation:
XL =

XC
h2

The inductance L(H) can then be determined by

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(6)

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2012-ESC-744

XL
L=
2 fS

(7)

After calculating the capacitance and inductance in the

filter, duty requirements should be calculated to determine
the withstand voltage and current for the capacitance and
reactance. First, the current I F1(A) at a fundamental frequency
can be determined based on the calculation result of XF by the
following equation:

V
IF1 = S
XF

(8)

The voltage VC1(V) across the capacitor at the fundamental

frequency is obtained as follows:
(9)

VC1 = I F1 X C

The filter reactance XFh() and generator synchronous

reactance XGh() at the tuned frequency hfS are expressed as:

1
2 h f S L
2 h f S C

X Gh = h X G

(11)

It is supposed that the h-order harmonic current Ih with

known statistics that can be obtained from the historical
record, statistical analysis, or engineering judgment is given.
The harmonic current IFh(A) absorbed by the h-order filter
can be calculated by the following equation:

X Gh
X Gh + X Fh

(12)

The rms value of VCh(V) across the capacitance at the horder harmonic frequency is:
VCh = I Fh

XC
h

For the rated voltage of the capacitance, it is assumed that

the maximum values of the VC1 and VCh across the
capacitance occurred at the same time. Then, the minimum
withstand voltage of the capacitor should be larger than the
maximum capacitor peak voltage VCmax (V) obtained from
the following equation:

VCmax = 2(VC1 + VCh )

(15)

Using the calculation result obtained from (15) as the

capacitor rated voltage VC, the effect of different rated
voltages on the capacitor capacity should be further
considered. The reactive power QC (Var) for the capacitor
can be corrected using the following equation:
QC = (

(10)

where X G() is the generator synchronous reactance at

the fundamental frequency.

I Fh = I h

(14)

VC 2
) QC
VS

(16)

Thus, the corrected capacitor reactance X C at the h-order

harmonic frequency is:

X F h = X C h X Lh

2
2
IFrms = I F1
+ IFh

(13)

The calculation of the rms value of I Frms (A) through the

filter should consider the rms values of I F1and IFh passing
through the filter at the fundamental and h-order harmonic
frequency. The minimum withstand current required for the
inductance in the filter can be obtained as follows:

X C =

VC2
QC

(17)

The corrected inductor reactance X L is as follows:

X L =

X C

(18)

h2

The corrected capacitor and inductor reactance obtained

from (17) and (18) is substituted into (5) and (7), respectively,
to determine the final capacity values of the capacitance and
inductance in the filter. Since a part of the reactive power
supplied by the power generators is compensated by the filter,
it can reduce the reactive current of the power generators and
thus, the operating efficiency of the generators can be
enhanced due to the reactive power compensated and
harmonics controlled by the filter. The mechanical input
power Pin of the diesel power generators is reduced
accordingly [20]. Therefore, the energy savings in fuel
consumption of power generators on ships before and after
the passive filter connection can be quantified by

FO = (

b
Pout

a
Pout

) RT FOR 103

(19)

where FO is the fuel saving for the diesel electric generator

b
a
and Pout
are the generator output powers before
(kg); Pout

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and after the filter connection, respectively (kW); b and

a are the generator operating efficiency before or after the

filter connection and can be obtained from the relationship of
power factor and efficiency of power generators for a specific
loading condition, which can be found in the technical data
for on-board power generators; RT is the generator running
time (hours); FOR is the generator fuel oil consumption rate
(g/kWh).
The design model described above can be used to mitigate
any specific order harmonics in the power system for existing
or new ships. The demands and harmonic currents are
assumed to have known statistics that can be obtained from
the historical record, statistical analysis, or engineering
judgment. If the harmonics mitigation result for a single
tuned filter cannot be accepted or meet the limits, several
tuned filters can be used. In this situation, the reactive power
compensated by the filters needs to be allocated to other
filters, and the above design procedure is applied. When there
are several passive filters in the system, the effect of the
impedances for different harmonic order filters at different
frequencies on the harmonic currents is considered. The
harmonic frequency scan calculation, which can be used to
tune the harmonic filter parameters and test the final results,
is then performed to ensure and maintain the system
operation security against an overvoltage condition due to
resonance conditions in the ship power system.

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factor of 0.92 lagging. Due to a limited power generation

with high harmonic demands, the system had suffered
significant harmonic distortions. Table I shows the statistical
data of the actual measurements of power harmonics for the
ship power system under different operating conditions. The
maximum value of the VTHD was 15.83%, and the maximum
third-order and fifth-order voltage harmonic distortions were
14.72% and 4.62%, respectively, which are considered as the
most serious harmonic order among all frequencies. Either
VTHD or VIHD exceeded the allowed limits suggested in the
classification societies. This indicated that for better supply
quality the ship power harmonics could be further reduced.
Generally, the primary harmonic distortion in the singlephase power system is third-order harmonics, which was
proven by the actual measured data shown in Table I. The
change in the third-order harmonic current is shown in Fig. 3
and its maximum value was 53.69A.

III. TEST RESULTS AND DISCUSSIONS

To ensure the validity of the proposed method, a practical
ship power system is selected for computer simulation and
field testing to explore the benefits of passive filters to supply
quality and efficiency for ship service powers. Fig. 2 shows
the simplified single line diagram of the ship power system.
The ship was 107 feet long and equipped with two power
generators of 50kW/1/230V/50Hz and their fundamental
frequency reactance is 0.095 and average fuel oil
consumption rate is 232g/kWh. The AC system voltage is
single phase 220V and DC system voltage is 24V. The power
generator output was directly transmitted to the main bus, and
no transformers were used. The tie switch was used for power
generators operation control, where one power generator was
running, the tie was closed to form a single circuit. When the
two power generators operated in parallel, the tie was opened,
and these two generators supplied power to their respective
independent systems.
In the system, the variable frequency drive driven
equipment mainly were four 5.5kW air conditioner
compressors, two 3.5kW engine room ventilation fan pumps,
and one 14.9kW stabilizer hydraulic pump. Under normal
conditions, the demands for the power system with a single
power generator were maximum active power of 43.65kW,
minimum reactive power of 13.11kVar and an average power

Fig. 2. A simplified line diagram of a practical ship power system

TABLE I
STATISTIC DATA OF ACTUAL MEASUREMENTS OF POWER HARMONICS IN
THE SHIP UNDER STUDY
Statistics
Harmonic
Min.
Max.
Avg.
Voltage (V)/Current (A)
V1
229.00
233.80
231.50
V3
21.81
33.86
27.61
V5
6.09
10.63
7.85
V7
4.79
6.89
5.32
V11
0.80
5.15
2.45
V13
0.37
5.96
2.48
VTHD (%)
11.79
15.83
13.93
I1
91.48
211.7
145.7
I3
31.47
53.69
43.11
I5
8.55
13.06
9.84
I7
3.14
6.24
4.76
I11
1.18
3.35
1.66
I13
0.46
2.76
0.95
ITDD (%)
25.80
42.10
30.78

The third-order (h=3) tuned harmonic filter was considered

first. The inductance and capacitance in the filter were
determined by (1) to (7) based on the actual measurements
shown in Table I. Given the system rated voltage of 220V
and the minimum reactive power of 13.11kVar, the filter

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apparent reactance XF was calculated to be 3.69, and the

filter capacitance and inductance were 4.15 and 0.46,
respectively. Hence, the inductance was 1.46mH and the
capacitance was 767.4F. After determining the capacitance
and inductance, the capacitance withstand voltage and
inductance withstand current were calculated. The filter
apparent reactance and generator synchronous reactance at
the third-order tuned frequency were calculated as 0.01 and
4.5 (150Hz) by (10) and (11). The maximum third-order
harmonic current of 53.69A then was used to calculate the
harmonic current absorbed by the filter and the third-order
harmonic rms voltage across the capacitor that was
determined as 74.11V. When the maximum values of
fundamental and third-order frequency rms currents through
the filter were 63.14A and 53.57A, respectively, the
minimum inductance withstand current obtained by (14)
should be greater than 82.80A. When the fundamental and
third-order frequencies voltages across the capacitor were
262.03V and 74.11V, respectively, the capacitor withstand
voltage calculated by (15) should be greater than 475.37V.
The capacitor rated voltage and the reactor withstand current
were determined as 480V and 160A according to the standard
[21], respectively. The capacitor reactive power and
reactance were then corrected to 2.75kVar and 83.78,
respectively, by using (16) and (17) because of a change in
the capacitor rated voltage. These results were substituted
into (5) to obtain a determined capacitance of 38F. Finally,
the inductor reactance and inductance corrected by (18) and
(7) were 9.31 and 29.6mH, respectively. Based on the final
design results of the third-order filter, the capacitor
capacitance and rated voltage were 38F and 480V, and the
inductor inductance and rated current were 29.6mH and 160A.
The fifth-order filter can also be designed by the procedure
mentioned above but the minimum reactive demand is
distributed to the third-order and fifth-order filters and the
third-order filter is redesigned. The final results for the thirdorder filter were the capacitance of 431.54F and of rated
voltage of 480V; the inductance of 2.61mH and of rated
current of 120A. The results of the fifth-order filter were the
431.53F and 480V for the capacitance and the 0.94mH and
60A for the inductance.

Fig. 3. The variation in the third-order harmonic current in the test system

The design results of the third-order and fifth-order filters

were used for numerical simulations to ensure the
performance of the filters on total and individual current
distortions, IIDD and ITDD, defined in [22], and further
understand the effect of the filters designed on harmonic
voltage. According to the simulation results, with the thirdorder filter the third-order IIDD and ITDD for the system were
reduced from 29.52% and 31.00% to 0.13% and 7.18%,
respectively. After the fifth-order filter was used, the fifthorder IIDD was reduced from 5.51% to 0.02% and the ITDD
was reduced to 3.68%. Simulation results showed that as
expected, the tuned filters designed by the proposed method
can have a good result for reducing the current distortions in
ship power systems. Fig. 4 shows the frequency response of
system equivalent impedance with and without filters.

Fig. 4. Frequency response of system equivalent impedance

In addition to the harmonics mitigation, the filter can also

enhance the generator operating efficiency and further reduce
the fuel oil consumption through the power factor corrected
by the capacitance in the filter. It is assumed that the load in
the system is 40kW to be constant in the operating period of 1
hour and the generator loading is about 80%. It is further
assumed that the power factor is corrected from 0.91 lagging
to 0.99 lagging after the filter was connected. Based on the
assumptions and the generator technical data, the efficiency
of the generator can increased from 85% to 86.7% after the
filter is connected and the input power for the generator is
decreased from 47.05kW to 46.14kW. The fuel oil
consumption before and after the filter connection is
calculated and the fuel saved by the filter can be further
determined by (19). The calculation result showed that the
generator fuel consumption before and after the filter
connected was decreased from 10.92kg to 10.71kg. The fuel
saving was about 0.21kg and the energy-saving percentage
was 1.92%.
In order to understand the performance of application of
the filters designed by the proposed method to an actual ship
power system, the third-order filter designed above was
implemented and connected to the MSB1 in the system in Fig.
2. Fig. 5 showed the filter for the field test. The electrical
operating parameters including voltage, current, active power,
reactive power, power factor, and voltage and current

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distortions as well as generator fuel oil consumption before

and after the filter connected were measured and analyzed. In
the test, the generator maintains to have a closely full loading
and all the harmonic source equipment on ships were turned
on and operated to ensure the performance of the filter under
the most serious harmonic interference condition.

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produced a part of the generator reactive current required by

the loads in the system; thus, the generator output current is
reduced after the filter was turned on. Fig. 7 showed that the
measurements of power generator active and reactive powers
before and after the filter connected. It can be seen from Fig.
6 that the average active power was decreased from 40.48kW
to 38.44kW after the filter connected, but the reactive power
was significantly reduced from 17.71kVar to 5.2kVar. This
was the reason for that the generator output power factor
increased and current decreased.

Fig. 5. The passive filter for the field test

Fig. 6 showed that the measurements of power generator

output current and power factor before and after the filter
turned on. At the beginning of the test, the maximum
generator output current was about 200A, which accounts for
about 91% loading. The main power consuming device was
the VFD driven stabilizer hydraulic pump with a rated current
of 67A. This pump used two-stage high and low loads to
control the angle and momentum of the stabilizer hydraulic
motor at adjustable speeds according to the sea wave changes
encountered by the ship in order to stabilize the ship while
navigating and berthing. In the test, due to the large and
continuous sea wave fluctuations, the pump was operated at a
high loading, which resulted in a great variation in the
generator output current. After one hour (about 3600 to 3720
sec.), the variation in sea waves became small and the pump
turned to the low-load variable frequency control, resulting in
a small variation in currents. As can be seen from Fig. 6 that
before the filter turned on the total current ranged from 182A
to 198A with a difference of 16A due to the high-load VFD
driven stabilizer hydraulic pump operation. After 50 minutes,
the temperature of the cabin approached the settings, two
VFDs driven air conditioner chilled pumps operated at a low
speed for 2 min. At this time, the total current of the system
was decreased by 40A instantaneously, and high-speed
operation was restored immediately, that a greater variation
in the current was observed. The effects of VFD driven
stabilizer hydraulic pump and air conditioner chilled pumps
on the generator output current also can be observed after the
filter connected (after 3600 sec.). The main difference was
that when the filter was turned on the generator current varied
in a range of 167.34A to 184.93A, which can have a
reduction of about 15A in the generator output current with
the third-order filter; meanwhile, the power generator output
factor increased from 0.92 lagging to 0.99 lagging. The filter

Fig. 6. Measurements of on-board power generator output current and power

factor before and after the filter connected

Fig. 7. Measurements of power generator active and reactive powers before

and after the filter connected

The voltage and current total harmonic distortions for the

ship power system before and after the filter connected were
shown in Fig. 8. It can be seen that the main harmonic current
component was absorbed by the third-order tuned filter
prototype; thus, the current and voltage total distortions was
reduced significantly. Before the filter is connected, the
maximum, minimum, and average values of ITDD were 32.2%,
27.59% and 31.75%, respectively and they were 9.66%,
8.28% and 9.53% after the filter connected. The
improvements in average and maximum values of ITDD can be
about 69.98% and 70%, respectively. For the voltage total
distortion, before the filter connected the maximum,
minimum and average values of VTHD were 16.45%, 14.43%
and 16.14%, respectively and they were decreased to 4.06%,
4.92% and 4.52%, respectively, after the filter connected. The
reductions in average and maximum values of VTHD were
about 71.99% and 75.32%, respectively. The percentages of

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reduction in voltage total harmonic distortion and current

total demand distortion were about 69% and 75%,
respectively, after the filter connected. It also can be seen that
with the passive filter the variations in VTHD and ITDD can be
minimized. This is because the main component of the thirdorder harmonic current in the system had been absorbed by
the filter.

Fig. 8.

Changes in total harmonic demand distortions of voltage and current

before and after the filter turned on

The statistics on the distortion of different harmonic orders

for voltage and current before and after the filter turned on
are shown in Table II. It can be seen that the third-order
voltage harmonic distortion and current demand distortion
decreased from 15.17% and 28.25% to 2.13% and 5.37%
before and after the filter turned on, respectively. The thirdorder voltage harmonic distortion was less than the limit of
3% required by the standard. For other harmonic orders, the
individual harmonic distortion was also mitigated, but the
reduction was relatively smaller than that for the third-order
harmonics. Test results showed that the proposed method can
have a good performance because both the VIHD for each
harmonic order and the VTHD were within the permitted limits.
If the result is still not accepted, the tuned filters for other
harmonic orders could be considered for further enhancing
the ship supply quality. The field testing results shown in Fig.
7 and Table II confirms the validity of the proposed method
and demonstrates its applicability to ship power systems.
The operation of passive harmonic filters installed on a
ship power system should ensure system voltage security. Fig.
8 showed the variations in voltage at the main switchboard
during the heavy and light loading periods before and after
the filter connected. As seen from Fig. 9, the variation in the
voltage at the main switchboard during different operating
conditions for the filter was not great. This is because except
for the demand distortions, the system reactive demand was
also considered in the single tuned filter design. Reactive
power overcompensation did not occur and the system
voltage quality can be maintained and further enhanced.
The fuel oil consumption of the power generator before
and after the filter turned on were also measured and
analyzed. In the test, two oil recording meters were installed
at the inlet and return fuel oil pipes for the generator to
determine the savings in fuel oil consumption to quantify the

benefit in energy efficiency obtained with the filter designed

by the proposed method. The test results showed that without
the filter, the average output active power of the generator
was about 40.48kW during an operating period of 1 hour and
the generator power factor and loading were about 0.91
lagging and 80.96%, respectively, which consumed a total
fuel oil of about 11.08kg. When the filter was connected, the
active power, power factor, loading, and fuel oil consumption
for the generator were 38.44kW, 0.99 lagging, 76.88%, and
10.12kg, respectively. The field test results showed that with
the filter, a total fuel oil of 0.96kg can be saved and the
energy-saving percentage was about 6.47% larger than 1.92%
for the numerical analysis. It can be seen form a comparison
of the numerical analysis and field test results that the
generator energy efficiency in the field test was about 3.37
times more than that obtained from the numerical analysis.
This is because in the numerical analysis, the generator
output active power was assumed to be constant and the
effect of the filter on the generator output active power is not
considered in the analysis. In fact, the system voltage and
current distortions are mitigated with the filter, which can
reduce the actual generator active power and fuel demands,
that greatly enhances the generator energy efficiency.
Generally, the reduction in fuel consumption of on-board
power generators due to an increase in power factor corrected
by the harmonics filter is related to generator types, fuel oil
and electric power conversion coefficient, generator loading,
and running time. Test results have indicated that with the
proposed method the ship service power quality and
efficiency can be greatly enhanced with the passive harmonic
filter, as observed in the power quality and fuel consumption
measurements.

Fig. 9. The voltages at the main switchboard bus in the system during the
heavy and light loading periods before and after the filter connected

IV. CONCLUSIONS
A high degree of quality and efficiency in service powers
is the key to the development of future ships. A method for
designing passive filters to mitigate the harmonic distortions
in the system and enhance the generator energy efficiency for
ship power systems has been proposed. Performance of the
proposed method has been validated through computer
simulations and field tests of a practical ship power system.
The test results showed that installing tuned harmonic filters
has improved the power quality and optimized utilization of

978-1-4673-5242-0/12/$31.00 2013 IEEE

2012-ESC-744

the installed equipment. In combination with the successful

enhancement of power factor of power generators, this leads
to higher profits and reduce emissions from the generator.
The generator and distribution equipment can consequently
be used more effectively for providing and distributing highquality service power, as observed in the power quality and
fuel consumption measurements.
T ABLE II
STATISTIC D ATA OF MEASUREMENTS OF SHIP POWER HARMONICS WITHOUT
AND WITH THE F ILTER D ESIGNED BY THE PROPOSED METHOD
Statistics
Harmonic
voltage(V)/current (A)

V1
V3
V5
V7
V9
V11
V13
VTHD (%)
I1
I3
I5
I7
I9
I11
I13
ITDD (%)

Without/With the Filter

Min.

229.83
/230.31
31.01
/3.88
7.17
/2.01
5.81
/3.57
0.97
/0.27
0.96
/0.27
0.24
/0.07
14.43
/4.06
158.94
/148.27
48.50
/7.03
10.58
/2.43
6.05
/0.82
1.66
/0.38
1.05
/0.24
0.26
/0.06
27.59
/8.28

Max.

231.06
/230.96
35.05
/4.93
8.22
/2.30
7.14
/4.41
1.81
/0.51
1.34
/0.38
0.71
/0.20
16.45
/4.92
199.92
/186.63
56.47
/10.02
12.33
/2.84
7.86
/1.27
2.56
/0.59
1.90
/0.44
0.99
/0.23
32.20
/9.66

Avg.

230.49
/230.6
34.48
/4.39
7.99
/2.24
6.73
/4.13
1.64
/0.46
1.10
/0.31
0.52
/0.15
16.14
/4.52
191.02
/171.93
55.70
/8.52
12.04
/2.77
7.68
/1.10
2.45
/0.56
1.75
/0.40
0.90
/0.21
31.75
/9.53

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[4] I. Jonasson and L. Soder, Power quality on ships-a questionnaire
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[5] T. Hoevenaars, I. C. Evans, and A. Lawson, New marine harmonic
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[6] Electrical Installations in Ships Part 507: Small Vessels, IEC Std.
60092-507, January 2008.
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[8] I. C. Evans, Harmonic mitigation for AC thruster & small propulsion

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BIOGRAPHIES
Chun-Lien Su (S' 97-M' 01) was born in Taiwan,
R.O.C. on 1971. Hereceived the Diploma of
Electrical Engineering from National Kaohsiung
Institute of Technology, Taiwan, the M.S. and Ph.D.
degrees in Electrical Engineering from the National
Sun Yat-Sen University, Taiwan in 1992, 1997, and
2001, respectively. Since 2002, Dr. Su has been
with the National Kaohsiung Marine University,
Taiwanand is now Professor of the Marine
Engineering Department. His research interests
include Power System Analysis and Computing, Distributed Energy
Management, and Ship Electric Power System.
Ci-Jhang Hongwas born in Taiwan, R.O.C. on
1987. He received the B.S. degree of Marine
Engineering
Departmentfrom
the
National
Kaohsiung Marine University, Taiwan in 2010. He
is now pursuing his M.S. degree in Marine
Engineering from the National Kaohsiung Marine
University.

978-1-4673-5242-0/12/$31.00 2013 IEEE