A NEW SINGLE PHASE TO THREE-PHASE CONVERTER

WITH ACTIVE INPUT CURRENT SHAPING FOR

AC MOTOR DRIVES

Authorised By
SANTOSH BHARADWAJ REDDY
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ABSTRACT

In this paper a new single phase to three-phase converter for ac motor is proposed.
The proposed converter employs only six switches and incorporates active input current
shaping feature, which results in sinusoidal input current at close to unity power factor.
The front-end rectifier in the proposed converter permits bidirectional power flow and
therefore provides for excellent regulation against fluctuations in source voltage. This
feature also facilitates regenerative braking of ac motor drive. An easy to implement
control strategy to maintain near unity power factor over the full operating range is
detailed. Suitable design guide for the selection of filter component is presented.

1. INTRODUCTION:

With the recent progress in power semiconductor device technology followed by the
advancements in electronic control methods, variable speed inverter-fed ac motor drives
are finding wide variety of applications. Typical applications include the variable speed
operation of fans, air-compressors, pumps etc with excellent energy saving benefits. Also
recent research reports published by electric power research institute (EPRI) cites energy
potential saving figures for operating the residential heating ventilation and air
conditioning (HVAC) systems at variable speed. The report also suggest that for wide
spread application of this technology for HVDC systems, the power converter for the ac
motor must satisfy low cost and low harmonic pollution requirements.
Despite the enormous application potential of variable speed ac motor
drives in residential HVDC systems a simplified, low cost-efficient power converter
topology which draws sinusoidal input current from single phase ac mains and powers a
variable speed three phase ac motor is unavailable. Previous work on single phase to
three phase conversion suggest the employment of four thyristor devices and energy
balance inductor and capacitor elements. The principle disadvantage of this scheme is its
fixed frequency operation. The present topology for adjustable speed HVDC systems
employs a diode bridge rectifier and a regular six-switch PWM inverter to power a three-
phase induction motor from single-phase ac mains. This approach suffers from poor input
current quality and lack of bidirectional power flow capability. In response to future
regulations and strict harmonic current standards on single-phase ac mains, the additional
of a boost switch and a blocking diode to shape the input current has been suggested in
several investigations. The need for additional power devices to maintain input power
quality adds to the cost and power losses. Several resonant circuit topologies are
suggested. The increase in component count to reap the additional benefit of low
switching losses is apparent from these topologies. A direct conversion scheme to convert
1-phase ac to 3-phase output by using a forced commutated cycloconverter (FCC)
structure is suggested. The primary disadvantage of the FCC structure is low voltage gain
of the power conversion stage and the unavailability of bidirectional switches at the
present time. Several other low cost converters for ac motor drives do not provide for
active input current shaping and require additional stage to achieve this objective
 In this paper a new single phase to three-phase converter that employs only six
transistors or IGBT type switches is proposed. The proposed configuration incorporates a
front-end half bridge active rectifier structure, which provides the dc link with active
input current shaping feature. Further, the front-end rectifier allows bi-directional power
flow between the dc link and ac mains. A four-switch inverter configuration with split
capacitors in the dc-link provides a balanced three-phase output to the ac motor load at
adjustable voltage and frequency. Since transistors and IGBT switches can operate at
high frequency, advanced PWM techniques known for inverter control can be used.
Therefore the proposed converter can be controlled to draw sinusoidal input current at
close to unity power factor and to simultaneously deliver high quality high quality three
phase output voltages to the load.
The advantages of the proposed converters are:
1. Employs only six transistor or IGBT switches for single phase to three phase
variable voltage and variable frequency conversion, hence low cost.
2. Bi-directional power flow is possible between the ac mains and the dc link. This
feature provides for excellent voltage regulation against voltage fluctuations in the
ac- mains and also facilitates regenerative braking of the ac motor drive.
3. Compact size, since the six switches converter structure is available in a modular
package from several device manufacturers.
4. Provides high quality balanced three phase output voltages.
5. Draws near sinusoidal current for the ac mains at close to unity power factor and
therefore satisfies strict harmonic current standards.

2. PROPOSED SINGLE PHASE TO THREE PHASE CONVERTER

AND ITS OPERATION:
The above figure illustrates the proposed 1-phase to 3-phase converter employing six
transistor or IGBT type devices. A split capacitor bank forms the dc-link. The switches

and form the front end rectifier. The inverter to convert the dc-link voltage to a
balanced three phase output with adjustable voltage and frequency features is configured
with four switches and respectively.
2.1 FRONT END RECTIFIER:

The single phase ac input which is of fixed frequency is rectified by the front end rectifier

switches and .The split capacitor bank in the dc-link is charged through the diodes

present in and . The switches and are operated on a PWM pattern

synchronized to the ac mains to shape the input current to be sinusoidal. The filter
inductor aids in filtering higher order current harmonics. The fundamental component

of the voltage at points 'o' and 'c' is which is essentially the reflected voltage due to

the PWM operation of and . An advanced PWM technique which selectively

eliminates several lower order harmonics is used to control and .From the the input

current is given by

The real power flowing from the ac mains into the dc-link can be expressed as,

 (2)

This equation indicates that the input power is bilateral between the input ac mains and
dc-link for positive and negative values of respectively. Further, for =0 the real
power input is zero.
Above simulated results illustrates the simulation results of the front end rectifier
operating on an advanced PWM pattern SLN1.The chosen programmed pattern
selectively eliminates up to 59th harmonic.3rd graph shows the sinusoidal input current as
a result of PWM operation of the front end rectifier.
From Eqn (1) the power factor angle is given by,

and the input power factor pf is,

Now defining a constant k as,

A constant value of’k’implies that the dc-link voltage is regulated to maintain a constant

value as given by Eqn (5).Now from Eqn (2) to Eqn (5) we get these expressions

From Eqn (2) to Eqn (5) the value of ** to maintain unity input power factor is,

From Eqn (6) to Eqn (8) it is clear that for , unity input pf can be maintained only

for a particular value of the input power .The input voltage can be assumed to be

one per-unit to infer this result. Further, for Zero input power i.e., and ,
Eqn (6) and Eqn (7) suggest that and the input .Hence from the point of
view of input is not particularly a good choice . Therefore in order to maintain

close to unity pf and for changes in input power from 0 to 1 per-unit, the following
strategy is suggested.

2.2FOUR SWITCH THREE PHASE INVERTER TOPOLOGY:

The output side of the proposed single to three-phase converter
consists of four switch (T3&T6) inverter. The center point of the capacitor forms the
third phase c. A detailed comparison of the four-switch inverter with the conventional six
switch configurations is given in following graphs.

However, the operation & control options for the four switch inverter in conjunction with
the front end rectifier are dealt in the paper.
By controlling the switches T3&T4 in PWM fashion the output
voltage Vac can be defined. Further switches T3 &T6 determine the Vbc voltage .In
order to generate balanced three phase output voltages, the output is phase shifted by –60
degrees from Vac. Thus control of switches T3&T6 to have phase shift of 60degress
phase shift between Vac & Vbc voltages ensure the voltage to have the same magnitude
&power phase in accordance with the three phase laws .Fig 10 illustrates the inverter
output voltages Vac, Vbc & Vab and the line currents from R-L load. It is noted that
voltage Vab is three level swinging between Vo, 0, -Vo.On the other hand the voltages
Vab&Vbc are two level type swinging between Vo/2&-Vo/2. Further, the fundamental
content is the same in the three-phase output voltage.

2.3 SELECTION OF DC LINK FILTER CAPACITORS:

The split capacitor bank in the DC link is essential to minimize the required power
semiconductor switches in the front-end rectifier as well as in the output inverter stage.
Further the capacitors must be able to accept an effective alternating current of 0.707Ic.If
Ic, ripple is the front end per unit ripple current in the capacitor ,then the voltage drop in

the capacitor can be expressed as .

3. COMPARISION CHART

4. CONCLUSION:
A new single phase to three-phase converter topology has been
proposed .The proposed converter is capable of powering a three-phase adjustable speed
ac motor drives from a single-phase ac mains while maintaining sinusoidal input current
at near UPF. The proposed topology thus realizes the following features
• Employs only six switches.
• Draws near sinusoidal current from the ac mains at close to UPF.
 • Permits bi-directional power flow, and hence facilitates regenerative braking.
• Common neutral connection between input and output. Suitable design equations
are for the proposed topology. Finally, selected results have been verified
experimentally.

5. BIBLIOGRAPHY:
1. B.K.Bose."Adjustable speed ac drive systems."
2. S.B.Dewan and M.Showleh,"A Novel static Single phase to Three phase converter".
3. Jin He. and N.Mohan”Input current Shaping in Line Rectification by Resonant
Converter".