This paper presents a new control method for an active power filter that is a combination of backstepping control and global fast terminal sliding mode control. The model order of the power system can be reduced by the backstepping method. The GFTSM control ensures that the tracking error of the system state reaches zero in a finite time. The integral design of the backstepping and GFTSM control can guarantee the control’s stability, robustness and speed. Experiments were designed to compare GFTSM backstepping control with single backstepping control using MATLAB/ SIMULINK(R). The validity of the proposed controller for a three-phase three-wire system was demonstrated by the results regarding the total harmonic distortion in the system.

Keywords: Active power filter (APF), Backstepping, Global fast terminal sliding mode (GFTSM), Sliding mode control, Total harmonic distortion (THD)