Control of Power Electronic Converters and Systems: Volume 2

China

Part IV

Power System and Quality

Chapter 13

Active Rectifiers and Their Control

Pooya Davari⁎; Firuz Zare†; Ahmed Abdelhakim‡    ⁎ Aalborg University, Aalborg, Denmark

† The University of Queensland, St. Lucia, QLD, Australia

‡ University of Padova, Vicenza, Italy

Abstract

This chapter investigates the control design of active rectifiers and their applications in power electronics-based power system. The harmonic emission and measures are firstly addressed as a basis of evaluating the active rectifier's effectiveness. Furthermore, the importance of new coming standards is highlighted. Application-oriented design of active rectifiers as a main reason behind evolvement of different topologies is discussed. Then, the main principle in designing different control schemes in single-phase and three-phase rectifiers is investigated, analyzed, and experimentally verified. The influence of nonideal operating conditions with possible solutions is addressed. Finally, future prospective of active rectifiers as a one of the key enabler of carbon-free power system is summarized.

Keywords

AC-DC power conversion; Active rectifier; Converter control; Harmonic mitigation; Power factor correction; Power quality; Three-phase rectifier

13.1 Introduction

With a rapid advancement of power switching devices and digital signal processing units, power electronics technology has found its way into many applications of renewable energy generation, transmission, and consumption. Today, the global shift of energy paradigm to carbon-free technologies has made the role of the power electronics technology in power conversion process more essential. As a result, the penetration of grid-tied power electronics-based systems has dramatically increased. This not only intensifies the role of power electronics technology in power conversion process, but also implies that the power systems are undergoing a paradigm shift from centralized distribution to distributed generation.

Although power electronics systems are a key enabler as a cross-functional technology in the energy conversion process, their pulse energy conversion with inherent switching behavior exhibit disturbing harmonic emissions and electromagnetic noises. Thereby, the generated harmonic and noise disturbances should be controlled within specific limits by applying proper control scheme, topology, and filtering.

AC to DC converters as a front-end stage of most power electronics systems are the very first conversion stage tied to the power grid. Therefore, their harmonic emissions have a significant influence on the power grid quality, and can cause the power grid to operate in an unpredictable and undesirable fashion. Hence, they play a major role in accelerating deployment of modern power electronics applications.

Their basic function is to act as a rectifier by providing required DC voltage or current for the rear-end converter. The basic topology for rectifiers has started by utilizing a diode bridge in both single-phase and three-phase systems. However, diode rectifier imposes a high level of input current harmonics. Primarily, passive filtering techniques have been employed in order to damp the generated harmonics. Fig. 13.1 exemplifies a three-phase diode rectifier system using a DC-side or AC-side inductor (choke) to improve the input current quality. As it can be seen without passive filter in place, the generated harmonics are significantly high. Although active rectification in single-phase systems, commonly known as power factor correction (PFC) converters, has become a mature technology, this is not a case with three-phase rectifiers. In fact, single-phase PFC converters can generate almost sinusoidal input current waveforms by employing only single-switch based topologies, such as boost converter. While PFC converters are widely in use, three-phase rectifiers are still using conventional line-commutated rectifiers, such as diode or silicon-controlled rectifier (SCR) utilizing passive filtering as shown in Fig. 13.1A at AC-side, DC-side, or combination of both. This is due to many reasons such as simplicity, reliability, robustness, and being cost-effective compared with the active rectifiers, which are more complex and costly. For instance, the illustrated three-phase diode rectifier with passive inductor is well adopted in low voltage motor drive systems [1–4].

Fig. 13.1 Common three-phase diode rectifier in a motor drive system: (A) system structure with AC-side and/or DC-side passive filters, (B) typical input current harmonics with and without passive filter.

Although conventional three-phase diode rectifiers are still in use, eventually their performance needs to be improved applying active rectification techniques. This can be explained based on the following key factors. Firstly, the performance of the conventional rectifiers is significantly load dependent. As Fig. 13.2A shows, at partial loading conditions the performance of the system with respect to the input current quality changes. In order to improve their performance size of the passive inductor should be increased (Fig. 13.2B), however increasing the inductance size makes the system bulky and impair its power density and dynamic performance. Secondly, the international standards are becoming more and more stringent due to the massive penetration of power electronics-based systems into the grid.

Fig. 13.2 Performance of three-phase diode rectifier using DC-side passive filtering: (A) effect of partial loading, (B) effect of increasing DC-link inductor size; [ P o,rated  = 7.5 kW, U ph  = 230 Vrms, C DC  = 500 μF].

Thereby, considering the limited performance of the conventional three-phase rectifiers it is not feasible to cope with the future standards. Thirdly, with the continuous cost reduction of active power switches, using active rectifiers will become a cost-effective solution. Moreover, in modern power electronics systems, improving power density is an everlasting need and market requirement. Notably, new wide-band gap (WBG) devices such as silicon carbide (SiC) and gallium nitride (GaN) capable of operating at high power and high frequency have fueled the impetus for newer growth on power density that transcends conventional applications.

Finally, it is of significant importance to highlight that there is no ultimate solution in designing an active rectifier. There are many factors such as quality, cost, reliability, and standard regulation, which influence the control and topology design of a system. This is due to the fact that controlling the generated harmonics with active rectifiers requires additional circuitry which can affect the aforementioned factors. Thereby, one of the main aims in this chapter is to emphasis on different required aspects in designing an active rectifier in order to meet the desired application demands.

13.2 Harmonic Emission Standard and Measures

13.2.1 Harmonic Emission Standard and Filtering

Generally, the generated harmonics and noise disturbances of power electronics converter can be divided into two main frequency ranges. First, the frequency range below 2 kHz, which conventionally is the main concern in grid power quality. Secondly, the frequency ranges of above 2 kHz up to the GHz range. The later one is mainly responsible for electromagnetic interference (EMI) issues. Fig. 13.3 shows the harmonic and EMI frequency ranges including subdivided high-frequency ranges in conjunction with typical standards.

Fig. 13.3 Harmonic and EMI frequency ranges classified by IEC for distribution networks.

Standard limits are set based on the reported disturbance incidents on the power grid over the years in order to protect sensitive equipment and control emitted harmonics from noise sources. While frequency ranges below 2 kHz and above 150 kHz are well covered with multitude standards, notably there are no general standards for the 2–150 kHz range [5–7]. The main reason that this frequency range has gained a lot of attention than before is the extensive penetration of the pulse-width modulated (PWM) converters and main communication system (MCS) due to their technological advancement and significant market price reduction, which has increased the harmonic emission interferences within this range.

Consequently, International Electrotechnical Commission (IEC), the world leading authority to prepare technical documents for international standards, has requested international experts to define standardization for harmonics within the frequency range of 2–150 kHz.

Filtering is one of the most important parts of the active rectifiers and should not be overlooked, therefore different filter types and their performance are briefly addressed here. In order to mitigate harmonic and EMI, based on the earlier discussion, commonly two different types of filters are utilized at the supply-side of the active front-end converter. It should be noted that EMI is a complex phenomenon and depending on the layout, load and wiring of the rear-end converter and the load, EMI filters can be applied at different part of the power converter structure. Fig. 13.4 exemplifies the placement of these filters in a rectifier system. The power harmonic filter (PHF) should provide enough damping at the switching frequency. Fig. 13.5A shows single-phase representation of different filter topology, which can be applied either to single-phase or three-phase active rectifiers. The simplest filter is the L-filter. The problem associated with the L-filter is to obtain the required damping it will result in a large value which not only impair power density but also results in voltage drop, thereby increased losses in the filter and the converter as the converter gain ratio should be increased (i.e., boost rectifier). Thereby, using an LCL configuration would be much more efficient. Another configuration is the trapped LCL filter, which another inductor (Lf) is connected in series with Cf tuned at the switching frequency.

Fig. 13.4 General block diagram of power harmonic filter (PHF) and radio frequency interference (RFI) filters placement in a grid-tied voltage source rectifier.

Fig. 13.5 Single-phase representation of different power harmonic filter with and without damping: (A) filter configurations, (B) simulated gains [ L fc  = 1 mH, L fg  = 500 μH, C f  = 1 μF, R d  = 5 Ω, L f  = 51 μH].

The demerit of using LCL or trapped LCL filter is the presence of a resonant frequency. If this resonant frequency is close to the switching frequency of the converter or impairs the gain and phase margin of the closed loop control, then it causes instability issues. In addition, even if it does not affect the converter stability, from grid point of view it results in an unintentional increase on the grid impedance. As a result, if any harmonics are generated from other converters connected to the same point of common coupling (PCC) it will result in resonance. Hence, this resonant frequency should be damped. Normally, this can be accomplished by adding a damping resistor in series with the capacitor as it has been shown in Fig. 13.5A. Fig. 13.5B exemplifies the simulated gains of the earlier-mentioned filters with trapped filter tuned at 20 kHz. Although adding physical resistance is a reliable solution, it also causes losses. An alternative solution to damp the resonant frequency without introducing additional losses is to apply active damping within the converter controller. The active damping solutions have been addressed at the end of this chapter.

As Fig. 13.4 shows, the second filter is an EMI filter. Notably, in industry this filter is commonly referred to as radio frequency interference (RFI) filter. The role of this filter is to damp the generated high-frequency noise emissions. Currently, it mainly targets EMI noises of above 150 kHz. Depending on the application, these filters should take care of two different types of EMI noises. One is the common-mode (CM) noise, which the CM noise source is due to the parasitic capacitive couplings between the protective earth (PE) and other part of the circuits such as heatsink, cables, etc. The second type is called differential mode (DM) noise, which is generated due to the inherent switching behavior of the power converter. Fig. 13.6 exemplifies single-phase representation of two common EMI filters. As it is shown in Fig. 13.6A, in order to come up with a cost-effective solution the leakage inductance of the common-mode choke is used as DM inductance. Depending on the filter construction and quality of the filter, this leakage inductance can be 0.5%–2% of LCM.

Fig. 13.6 Single-phase representation of different EMI filters configuration: (A) CM and DM noise EMI filter with leakage inductance as DM inductance, (B) multistage DM noise filter with one damping stage.

It is to be noted that same scenario holds true regarding resonant frequency in EMI filter. Thereby, proper damping of the EMI filter should be considered. Fig. 13.6B shows one damping stage with damp resistance in parallel with an inductor. The main idea is to prevent excessive losses at low frequency (i.e., fundamental frequency). Therefore, the inductor in parallel with Rdamp should provide short circuit at low frequency and high impedance at the resonant frequency, so that the damping is performed using the resistor. Fig. 13.7 illustrates simulated filter gain for up to three DM filter stages with and without damping. Although increasing number of the stages can provide higher damping, considering the filter size and loss, economically having above three stages is impractical.

Fig. 13.7 Comparative simulated results of DM noise EMI filter frequency response: (A) effect of increasing number of filter stages without damping, (B) frequency responses with only single stage damping.

Notably, different damping configurations with optimizing the damping resistor value have been introduced in the literature, which can be employed based on the filter design constraints [8]. Considering the impedance behavior of PHF, one can assume that the harmonic filter can also damp the high-frequency DM noises as well. In fact, the harmonic filter influences the high-frequency noises only to some extent. Because at high frequencies the parasitic and near-field cross-couplings completely deteriorate the filter performance. This is also the same with the EMI filter design. It is significantly important to consider effect of parasitic components and near-field cross-couplings. The filter gains presented so far are based on ideal models. In reality, obtaining such behavior is impossible. To exemplify this, Fig. 13.8 compares an EMI DM filter behaviors with ideal, parasitic model and real measurement. As it can be seen, including the parasitic model matches the real measurement to some extent. Here, beyond 600 kHz the near-field cross-coupling effect kicks in and reduces the damping of the filter. The effects of near-filed couplings and possible solutions are extensively addressed in Ref. [9].

Fig. 13.8 Nonideal behavior of a DM noise EMI filter: (A) the high frequency (HF) model of two-stage DM noise filter (parasitic model), (B) comparing insertion loss of ideal, HF model and real measurement based on a 50 Ω/50 Ω setup [ L DM  = 180 μH, C DM  = 250 nF, R damp  = 11 Ω].

13.2.2 Harmonic and Power Quality Measures

Generally, active rectifiers are power factor correctors. As mentioned earlier one of the main goals of utilizing an active rectifier is to improve the supply-side current quality and power factor. Thereby, in order to evaluate the performance of an active rectifier unit, harmonic and power quality measures are required. In this section, these measures are addressed.

In a typical electrical system with u(t) and i(t) as instantaneous voltage and current of input supply, active power P, reactive power Q, and apparent power S are defined as [10]:

   (13.1)

with h as the harmonic order, U and I as the root mean-squared (RMS) values of input voltage and current, and φ being phase displacement between corresponding current and voltage. Following Eq. (13.1) the fundamental powers can be expressed as:

   (13.2)

Based on the assumption that the voltage harmonics are negligible, the apparent power in Eq. (13.1) can be written as:

   (13.3)

where the total harmonic distortion (THD) of the current is defined as:

   (13.4)

THD is usually used as current or voltage quality indicator. However, the main drawback of using THD is that it does not represent the detailed information of harmonic spectrum. Following Eq. (13.3), it can be observed that the total apparent power S is not equal to the fundamental apparent power S1. The additional part is commonly defined as distortion power D:

   (13.5)

Following Eqs. (13.2)–(13.5) a phasor diagram of electric power components can be presented as Fig. 13.9. Beside the input current quality (THDi), it is also important to clarify a power factor (PF) of an electrical system:

   (13.6)

Fig. 13.9 Phasor diagram representation of electric power components.

Following Eqs. (13.2), (13.3), the power factor of a system is defined as:

   (13.7)

Thus, the power factor of a power electronics-based electrical system consists of two factors, λdisp (displacement factor) and λdist (distortion factor). Although both factors contribute to power factor definition, they have completely two different effects on supply network or power grid. The displacement factor λdisp indicates the amount of reactive power and can affect the grid voltage level and line-current at 50 Hz (i.e., fundamental frequency), this may increase losses through cables and transformers. On the other hand, the distortion factor λdist has a big impact on power quality and energy efficiency of the grid. In fact, the loss models of circuit components significantly depend on the order of harmonics. Thus, the distortion factor can significantly influence energy efficiency of the grid.

13.3 Application-Oriented Design

Achieving desirable power quality, low complexity, low cost, high-power density, high efficiency, high robustness, and electromagnetic compatibility (EMC) are the key factors, which restricts design of power electronics rectifiers in different applications. Although satisfying all the aforementioned factors in a rectifier system is probable, in reality, designers consider a trade-off among these factors to come up with a feasible solution.

For instance, in the low voltage motor drive sector, due to the presence of too many vendors competing closely with each other, low-cost, high efficiency, and high robustness are significantly weighted over other factors. Another example is in airborne industry, where low cost and low complexity are of less importance.

Notably, from power quality and EMC point of view, all applications should comply with the international emission and immunity standard limits. Thereby, over the years with the growth of power electronics applications multitude of topologies and control strategies are introduced in order to meet specific application demand. Consequently, categorizing rectifier systems from different vantage points have been extensively addressed in the literature [11,12]. With the advancement of power semiconductor and passive components technology and continuous cost reduction of these components, new applications may emerge in the future. Therefore, this section rather than focusing on classifying different rectifier systems explains the main concept behind varying power converter configuration and architecture in order to obtain an application-oriented design.

13.3.1 Voltage/Current Source Rectifiers

Active rectifiers can be classified as voltage source and current source rectifiers (CSRs). The first one is a boost rectifier as it increases the DC-link voltage and the later one is known as buck rectifier (i.e., reduced the DC-link voltage). Fig. 13.10 shows a single-phase representation of both topologies that can be applied to either single-phase or three-phase full-bridge rectifier. As it can be seen, the main differences between these two topologies are the employed storage element at the DC-link and power semiconductor switch type. Although voltage source rectifier (VSR) has applied to many applications, CSR is well suited for high-power drive applications. This is due to its low dv/dt switching and more importantly its reliable operation due to providing an effective overcurrent/short circuit protection [12].

Fig. 13.10 Basic topologies of active rectifiers: (A) voltage source rectifier (VSR), (B) current source rectifier (CSR).

The employed power switch in the CSR should be unidirectional as the DC-current iDC is positive and the DC-link voltage is bipolar. Moreover, the CSR generates high di/dt and due to the presence of supply inductance, it results in high-voltage spikes. Thereby, a capacitive filter Cf should be in place in order to prevent from voltage spikes.

13.3.2 Regenerative Rectifiers

Another way in classifying the rectifiers is categorizing them as regenerative (bidirectional) and nonregenerative (unidirectional) rectifiers. In many applications, the load can operate in generative mode and therefore it fed back this power to the power converter. This situation is quite common with electric motors that the generative mode occurs when the motor is decelerating from one speed to another or during a breaking mode [13]. If the front-end rectifier is not capable of feeding this power back to the source (i.e., grid), then the excess energy at the DC-link increases the DC-link capacitor voltage beyond its rated limits. In many applications that conventional line-commutated and unidirectional active rectifiers are in use, the regenerated power will be dissipated in braking resistors as heat (see Fig. 13.1A).

However, feeding the regenerated power back to the source (i.e., grid) may improve the system energy efficiency to some extent. This requires utilizing regenerative rectifiers, which can provide bidirectional power flow. Typically, in industry, the regenerative rectifies are referred to as Active Front End (AFE).

Here, the rectification and generation operating modes in a VSR are addressed and summarized in Fig. 13.11 [12,14]. As it can be seen from the equivalent circuit models, ideally the VSR should work as a voltage source on the source side and as a current source on the load side. The direction of power flow can be explained by understanding the interaction between the voltage source (us) and the converter voltage (umod) through a phasor diagram and changing δ. When Umod is lagging Us, the rectifier is operating in rectifying mode, the load at DC-side is absorbing power and consequently iload > 0.

Fig. 13.11 VSR rectification and regeneration operating modes with an L -filter, one-phase equivalent circuit representation, capacitor charge, and discharge process.

In addition to the load, part of the power drawn from the source is dissipated as losses in the converter and following the power balance Ps = Pload + Plosses. Under this situation, if the converter current iDC matches the load current, the DC voltage will remain unchanged. If iDC is higher or lower than load current iload, then the DC voltage will increase (capacitor charging) or decrease (capacitor discharging).

On the other hand, when the load is generating power iload < 0, following the illustrated phasor diagram Umod is leading Us and power flows from DC-side to the AC-side. Under this circumstances the source current is has 180 degrees phase shift with the source voltage (see Fig. 13.11) and Ps = Pload − Plosses.

The principle of power flow in a VSR described earlier is based on neglecting the internal resistance of the input filter. This is a valid assumption since the internal resistance is commonly a small value. Also in the case of having CSR, same operating principle is applicable, however in the case of CSR the DC-current iDC direction is fixed and it is the DC voltage polarity which defines the rectifying or generating modes.

Notably, only having regenerative loading situations does not necessarily justify the use of regenerative rectifiers. In fact, a regenerative rectifier accounts for more active power switches compared with unidirectional rectifiers. Although the AFE may results in better input current quality compared with other active rectifiers, the feasibility of utilizing an AFE should be validated by considering the regenerative load cycle versus the additional costs and losses affecting both the power converter, the load, and the grid.

One of the cases where using an AFE is beneficial is when it is utilized in a common DC-bus system. As Fig. 13.12 exemplifies, in a multidrive system which multiple motor drives are supplied through a common DC-bus, having an AFE not only feed the regenerative power back to the grid (better energy efficiency), but it also results in better input current quality.

Fig. 13.12 A common DC-bus system with multidrive loads (parallel AFE modules may use for better redundancy and provide high power).

Besides power consumption, another application of regenerative rectifiers is in power generation. Fig. 13.13 illustrates possible configuration of power electronics converter in variable speed wind turbine systems, which highlights the importance of active rectifiers in wind-power generator applications. Fig. 13.13A shows a back-to-back power electronics converter in conjunction with a double-fed induction generator (DFIG). As it can be seen, the rotor windings are connected to a regenerative active rectifier, while the stator windings of DFIG are directly connected to the grid.

Fig. 13.13 Application of regenerative active rectifier in wind-power applications: (A) variable speed wind turbine with partial-scale power converter, (B) variable speed wind turbine with full-scale power converter.

Commonly the power converter in this configuration process only 30% of the wind turbine capacity. On the other hand, Fig. 13.13B illustrates a full-scale power converter as an intermediate converter between the stator winding and the power grid [15]. In general, beside the earlier-mentioned applications, regenerative rectifiers are suitable for any application with bidirectional power flow such as energy storage systems or battery charger in electric vehicles.

13.3.3 Hybrid Rectifier Topologies

Hybrid rectifiers have been evolved based on improving the diode bridge rectifier performance. Therefore, since a full diode bridge or part of it is kept in the topology, unlike regenerative rectifiers, most of these topologies have unidirectional power flow capability with few exceptions. Because large spectrum of different hybrid rectifier configurations exists, with the aim of explaining the reasoning behind each variation, this section is limited to only few of these topologies. Comprehensive overview on different rectifier topologies is provided in Ref. [11].

The very first active rectifier was developed by using a single-switch in a boost topology. With the advantage of operating in different conduction mode, simplicity and resulting in an almost sinusoidal input current this topology has well adopted in different applications. Although all the active rectifiers are power factor correctors, this topology is conventionally known as PFC converter. Fig. 13.14A shows the conventional single-switch boost PFC converter. Since the boost switch should withstand the rated output voltage, therefore in order to improve its power capability while maintaining switching losses without impairing the system efficacy interleaving multitude boost cells can be considered (Fig. 13.14A). In fact, as it has been explained in Ref. [16], this topology can be optimized for a high-power density system.

Fig. 13.14 Different variation of single-phase PFC rectifier: (A) conventional boost PFC, (B) bridgeless PFC, (C) modified bridgeless PFC, (D) Totem-pole PFC.

With the aim of improving the converter efficiency by reducing the number of semiconductor devices, other variants of the conventional boost PFC are introduced. Fig. 13.14B illustrates a dual boost or bridgeless PFC topology, in which two diodes of the bridge rectifier are replaced with active power switches. In the bridgeless PFC, the line-current flows through only two semiconductors. Therefore, since a large portion of the system losses are in the diode bridge rectifier, using this topology can reduce conduction losses. The demerit of this topology is the excessive CM noise. As during the negative half cycle the output ground is pulsating relative to the supply. The pulsating high-frequency voltages will charge and discharge the parasitic capacitive coupling between the ground and supply line ground leading to an excessive CM noise.

In order to remedy this issue, as depicted in Fig. 13.14C two additional diodes were added to the circuit to provide a low frequency path between the supply and the output. With addition of a second inductor, this topology becomes like a two boost converter each operating in half cycle. This topology has been also widely used in the market. Nevertheless, the number of semiconductors has been increased. Finally, Fig. 13.14D shows another variation of the PFC converter, which is obtained by exchanging the position of D1 and S2 [17]. This topology, which is called totem pole, has a major challenge. Due to the poor reverse recovery of the conventional silicon (Si) power switches, it is not feasible to operate it in continuous conduction mode (CCM). Since the discontinues conduction mode (DCM) operation requires more effort on EMI filter design and only suitable for low power application, this topology did not gain much interest. However, lately with new advanced WBG devices with the fast switching capability and significant reverse recovery performance, it is possible to operate the totem pole in CCM. Notably, this topology has inherent bidirectional power flow capability and utilizing GaN power switches and replacing the diodes with conventional Si switches with low turn on resistance it can obtain high efficiency. Although the upper switch in this topology requires isolated gate driver, using WBG devices in this topology has become attractive choice for single-phase active rectifier applications.

While applying a single-switch boost topology to a single-phase bridge rectifier results in a high-quality sinusoidal input current, unfortunately this is not the case in a three-phase system. Fig. 13.15A shows three-phase single-switch boost type rectifier. As the converter replicates a constant current source at the DC-link, it behaves as an infinite ideal inductor. Thereby, this topology is known as electronic inductor (EI). Controlling the DC-link current in CCM at fixed value results in a square-wave input current waveform with 120 degrees conduction. This topology and its controller is explained in the next section. Although the resulting input current has THDi ≈ 30%, this input current quality is acceptable in applications such as motor drive [1–4] (compared with Fig. 13.1) or wind turbine systems [15].

Fig. 13.15 Three-phase single-switch boost rectifier structure: (A) CCM operation with inductor at DC-side (EI), (B) DCM operation with inductors at AC-side.

Fig. 13.15B shows another variation of the three-phase single-switch rectifier. Here, if the converter is operating in DCM, it can result in an almost sinusoidal input signal. However, for effective harmonic mitigation its output voltage should be boosted above 1 kV (i.e., for grid phase voltages of 220 or 230 Vrms). Moreover, with its significant EMI filtering effort and requiring three inductors at the AC-side, in general this topology did not gain any interest from industry [11].

As Fig. 13.16A shows, the bridgeless configuration of single-phase rectifiers can be extended to a three-phase system. However, this topology has a limited performance with respect to generating pure sinusoidal waveform and thereby its application is quite limited [11]. In high-power applications, multilevel active rectifiers are of particular interest. Not only the power switches should stand lower voltage level, but also due to ability to generate staircase waveforms, power switches operate at lower switching frequency that can improve energy efficiency of the system. Fig. 13.16B illustrates one example of three-level voltage source boost rectifier. This topology is one of the most famous unidirectional three-phase active rectifier systems and it is known as Vienna rectifier [11]. As it is shown, only three active switches are employed and because of its three-level operation, they only stressed with half of the output voltage.

Fig. 13.16 Three-phase hybrid rectifier using only three active power switches: (A) three-phase bridgeless, (B) three-phase three-level Vienna rectifier.

13.3.4 Multirectifier Configuration

In order to increase power ratings of active rectifiers, it is a common practice to utilize paralleled rectifiers. The advantage of having such configuration is the possibility to further enhance the input current quality through selective harmonic elimination (SHE) methods and implementing proper interaction between each converter unit.

One of these possibilities is to use multipulse transformers such as 12-pulse or 18-pulse. The main merit in using multipulse transformer is mitigation of lower order harmonics such as 5th, 7th, 17th, and 19th harmonic orders in a 12-pulse transformer. Thereby, the paralleled active rectifiers can target the remaining harmonics resulting in a high-quality input current. Since the multipulse transformer can handle the low-order harmonics, a simple rectifier topology can be used. Fig. 13.17 exemplifies one of the introduced techniques that is based on parallel connection of two three-phase EI topology. As it is mentioned in Refs. [6,7], by using a pulse pattern harmonic elimination technique obtaining THDi of below 6% with power factor of above 0.99 is possible. As it is illustrated, the output terminals of two rectifiers are connected in parallel providing a common DC-bus. Connecting the loads through common DC-bus can improve the system redundancy as if in the case of rectifier unit failure the system can continue its operation based on the remaining one. The only modification applied to the EI topology in this configuration is the presence of two additional diodes D2 and D4 in order to prevent from circulating currents.

Fig. 13.17 Three-phase EI-based multirectifier topology utilizing 12-pulse transformer.

One of the drawbacks of having multipulse transformer is its bulkiness. Therefore, one idea is to replace it with an electronic-based multipulse transformer. This can be done by using SCR. The basic idea is to apply suitable firing angle to each SCR unit so the low-order harmonic is canceled out. Depending on the applied current control strategy to the EI and number of the parallel units, the input current quality at PCC can be improved. Fig. 13.18 shows two different structures. In Fig. 13.18A, each rectifier unit is connected to an individual load. The demerit of this type of connection is that the maximum harmonic elimination is achievable when all units draw equal current levels from the grid, which makes the input current quality load dependent. Another variation of this structure is illustrated in Fig. 13.18B when the output of all units is connected in parallel providing a common DC-bus.

Fig. 13.18 Three-phase multimodular EI-based rectifiers utilizing SCR as electronic phase shifting: (A) multiparallel rectifier with individual load, (B) multimodular rectifier with common DC-bus.

As a result, the performance of the system is load independent. Moreover, under partial loading condition some units can be in stand-by mode, which can improve the energy efficiency of the system. Obtaining almost sinusoidal input current signals and modularity of this topology makes it a suitable choice for medium- and high-power applications [1–4].

13.4 Control Strategies

In this section, different control methods and their adaptability for single-phase and three-phase VSRs are addressed. Starting from the simple single voltage-feedback control loop down to utilizing different coordinate transformation in current controlled schemes is discussed. Controllers are validated and analyzed based on simulation and experimental results. Over the years, a large spectrum of different control techniques have been developed which makes it practically impossible to cover them all. However, the basic controllers are explained. Thereby, extending them to more advanced control techniques such as sensorless control techniques is relatively simple.

13.4.1 Voltage Control

One of the very first controller types developed for active rectifier is the voltage control (VC) method. This control technique is only based on sensing DC-link and/or supply voltage and without utilizing any current sensor, it is capable of controlling the input current indirectly. That is why this technique is commonly referred to as indirect current control [18], which can be considered as its main advantage. However, as a consequence of only using one feedback voltage control loop and not sensing input current directly, the controller is quite sensitive; it is less stable and has slower dynamic response compared with other types of controllers. In this section, the voltage control scheme in a single-phase PFC is first addressed and following that its applicability is extended for a three-phase voltage source active rectifier.

Fig. 13.19 illustrates the block diagram of a single-phase PFC circuit and its controller using proportional integrator (PI). As it can be seen, the controller is quite simple and can be implemented with minimal effort by only using one voltage sensor. Fig. 13.20A exemplifies the DCM inductor current waveform along with the fundamental input voltage for a half a period. In order to control the converter in the DCM operation mode, the boost inductor value should be selected based on the selected switching frequency fsw and conversion ratio. However, it is a common practice to apply such converter for wide range of output power levels, therefore the inductor should be selected based on the maximum intended output power to assure DCM operation.