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Using a Synchronous Converter for Harmonic Mitigation with AC Drives

By Rick Hoadley 10/01/03

This paper examines the operation and benefits of a synchronous converter, also known as an active rectifier. Summary of benefits Unity power factor Low harmonic content Fully regenerative Regulates DC bus voltage during high, low and brown-out conditions Can be used as a single front end for multiple drives Outline of paper What is an AC Drive? What is a synchronous converter? What is so special about a synchronous converter? How does a synchronous converter work? Two voltage sources Lagging power factor Unity power factor Leading power factor Regenerating How does the synchronous converter control the DC Bus voltage? Does the synchronous converter create line notches? What about the line current harmonics? How much is too much? How does I(THD) and V(THD) vary with load? What are the advantages of using a drive with a synchronous converter? Conclusions Summary of benefits 2 2 3 3

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Using a Synchronous Converter for Harmonic Mitigation with AC Drives

By Rick Hoadley 10/01/03

What is an AC Drive?
AC Power Line AC DC AC/DC Converter DC Filter DC AC DC/AC Inverter

M
AC Motor

Figure 1 AC drive sections

AC Power Line

DC Bus

Figure 2 AC/DC converter with DC link chokes

AC Power Line

DC Bus

Figure 3 AC/DC converter with AC line reactors

An AC drive is a power circuit that takes the fixed voltage, fixed frequency, 3-phase AC power line and transforms it into an adjustable voltage, adjustable frequency, 3-phase AC power used to control the speed and torque of an AC motor. It usually consists of three main sections as shown in Figure 1. The first is an AC/DC converter that takes the AC power line and converts or rectifies it into a fixed DC voltage. The DC filter helps to smooth out the ripples in the DC voltage that resulted from the conversion. The DC/AC inverter takes the DC voltage and creates the adjustable 3-phase power for the motor. There are a couple of basic configurations used for the AC/DC converter. Each one consists of a 3-phase, full-wave, diode bridge rectifier that requires six diodes connected as shown in Figure 2. The difference between Figure 2 and Figure 3 is how the filter is implemented. Some create the DC filter using a DC link choke and bus caps as you see in Figure 2, while others place AC line reactors ahead of the diode bridge. The result is very similar in terms of operation and line currents. The reactors are typically chosen to be about 3%. The average DC bus voltage is around 1.35*Vac line (about 621Vdc for a 460Vac power line). Since diodes are passive devices and are not controlled, this 3phase diode bridge could be considered an inactive converter.

What is a synchronous converter? Examining Figure 4, you will notice that the only difference between it and Figure 3 is that IGBTs were AC added in parallel with each diode. Since IGBTs are DC Power Bus active devices, meaning that they can be switched on Line and off by some kind of controller, our inactive converter has now become an active converter. By synchronizing the switching algorithm to the AC power line, we now have a synchronous converter. This is the Figure 4 AC/DC synchronous converter reason there are several other names that have been applied to synchronous converters, such as an active converter, active rectifier, active front-end, synchronous rectifier, line supply unit, regenerative unit or regenerative converter. They all describe the basic function that it performs namely, it converts the AC power line into DC. However, it can do much more than just that.

What is so special about a synchronous converter? Examining the circuit in Figure 4, you will see that if the IGBTs were never turned on, then there is no difference in the operation of a synchronous converter compared to a 3-phase diode bridge. It will fully rectify the 3-phase AC voltage into DC. The DC will contain the expected 6 pulse ripple (360Hz for a 60Hz power system) and the power flow will be from the distribution transformer, through the converter and filter, and on to the inverter and motor. The line current will look like that shown in Figure 5. However, by modulating (turning on and off) the IGBTs we are able to do all of the following: a) Convert 3-phase AC voltage into DC voltage b) Convert DC voltage into 3-phase AC voltage c) The DC voltage will have very little ripple associated with it d) The DC voltage can be controlled 1) The DC voltage can be higher than the peak of the AC voltage 2) The DC voltage can be lower than 1.35*Vrms e) The power flow can be controlled 1) Provide motoring power from the transformer to the inverter and motor 2) Provide regenerative power from the motor and inverter back to the transformer f) The power factor can be controlled 1) The line current from the transformer can be set at unity power factor 2) It can be set at leading power factor 3) It can be set at lagging power factor When operating at unity power factor, providing motoring power, the line current will look like that shown in Figure 6.

Figure 5 Line current and voltage for 6-pulse converter

Figure 6 Line current and voltage for a synchronous converter

How does a synchronous converter work?

I-line XL Vline Vsync

DC Bus

Synchronous Converter
Figure 7 Synchronous converter model

When the synchronous converter is modulating, it acts like a 3-phase, AC current regulated, voltage source whose phase and magnitude can be controlled in order to control the required AC line current and the associated power factor. It also controls whether the synchronous converter is providing motoring or regenerating power to the AC inverter connected to the DC Bus, and it controls the magnitude of the voltage on the DC Bus. As a voltage source, it creates a PWM 3-phase AC voltage waveform from the DC bus voltage, and is used to make sinusoidal line currents.

4 In order to understand how the synchronous converter works, please refer to the one-line equivalent diagram of the system as shown in Figure 7. Between the AC line power and the IGBT bridge are three line reactors, one in each line. They are simply inductors (sometimes referred to as chokes). The AC line is a voltage source on the left side of the reactor, the IGBT bridge and DC bus caps is a voltage source on the Figure 8 Vline = Vsync, so I-line = 0 right side of the reactor. The rms magnitude of Vline is fixed, and its phase angle is used as the reference. If the magnitude and phase angle of Vsync is identical to Vline, there is no voltage difference between Vline and Vsync, so no current will flow through the line reactor XL, and I-line will be 0. This is shown in Figure 8, where Vline is blue, Vsync is hot-pink, and I-line is turquoise. If the magnitude of Vsync is less than Vline, then current will flow from Vline to Vsync. Or, if the phase angle of Vline is ahead of Vsync, even though the magnitudes are the same, then current will flow from Vline to Vsync. So, changing the magnitude and phase angle of the synchronous converter creates a voltage difference between Vline and Vsync causing current to flow in the line reactor. The magnitude and phase angle of I-line determines whether the synchronous converter is motoring or regenerating, and if the power factor is leading, lagging or unity.
Vline XL*Iq Vrgu

Iq

Vline

Id
XL*Id
Figure 9a Voltage Vector Diagram

I-line

Figure 9b Motoring Current Vector Diagram, Lagging P.F.

Figure 9c Vline, Vsync, with I-line lagging

Lets examine the voltage vector diagram in Figure 9a. Vline is the AC line voltage, at phase angle 0. The IGBT bridge terminal voltage of the synchronous converter is labeled Vsync, the line reactor is XL, the real current in the line (in phase with Vline) is Iq, and the reactive current in the line (lagging 90 to Iq) is Id. Please note that when current flows from the ac line to the synchronous converter, the voltages across the line reactor (XL * Iq and XL * Id) are rotated 90 as shown. Figure 9b shows the

5 current vectors with respect to Vline, and Figure 9c shows what the Vline, Vsync and I-line waveforms look like in this situation. Vsync is controlled by the synchronous converter to be at the proper magnitude and phase angle with respect to Vline, the AC line voltage, so that the commanded Iq and Id exist. In Figures 9a,b,c, Id is commanded to be slightly positive to provide a lagging power factor, and Iq is commanded to be at some non-zero motoring current level.
Vline XL*Iq

Iq = I-line

Vline

Please note: XL*Id = 0

Vrgu
Figure 10b Motoring Current Vector Diagram, Unity P.F.

Figure 10a Voltage Vector Diagram

If Id were commanded to be equal to 0, Vsync would be increased in magnitude and shifted closer toward Vline as shown in Figure 10a, then we would have the condition where the same amount of real current would be flowing, but now Id would be equal to zero. I-line would be equal to Iq and in phase with Vline. The power factor is now unity!

Figure 10c Vline, Vsync, with I-line at unity

Notice that in Figure 10c, Vline and Iline are in phase with each other and that the synchronous converter is motoring by supplying power to the DC Bus.

Vline XL*Iq

Id

I-line Iq Vline

Vrgu XL*Id

Figure 11a Voltage Vector Diagram

Figure 11b Motoring Current Vector Diagram, Leading P.F.

6 Now, if Id were commanded to be at some negative level, Vsync would be increased and shifted closer still to Vline as shown in Figure 11a. We would have the same real current Iq, but Id in Figure 11b is now opposite to the Id in Figure 9b, and the power factor is leading. This is clearly seen in Figure 11c. Commanding Iq to be negative causes a phase shift in Vsync in order to lead Figure 11c Vline, Vsync, with I-line leading Vline as shown in Figure 12a. This mode of operation regenerates power to the ac line. If Id is commanded to be 0, the synchronous converter will regenerate at unity power factor as shown in Figures 12a,b,c.
Please note: XL*Id = 0

Vrgu
Iq = I-line Vline

XL*Iq
Figure 12a Voltage Vector Diagram

Vline

Figure 12b Regenerating Current Vector Diagram, Unity P.F.

Notice that in Figure 12c, Vline and Iline are 180 degrees out of phase with each other and that the synchronous converter is regenerating power to the AC power line. In summary, the magnitude and phase angle of the Id and Iq currents, that control the Vsync terminal voltage, determine whether the synchronous converter is motoring or regenerating, and whether the power factor is leading, lagging, or unity.

Figure 12c Vline, Vsync, with I-line at 180 degrees

How does the synchronous converter control the DC Bus voltage? The bus voltage is a function of the average amount of current entering the filter caps connected across the dc bus (Icap). The drive connected to the dc bus will draw some average amount of current to support the rotating load on the motor (Idrive). The synchronous converter will control the amount of real current entering the DC bus (Iq). Putting this together, we see that Iq = Icap + Idrive. To keep the cap voltage the same, Icap must equal zero, and Iq needs to equal Idrive since Icap = Iq - Idrive .

7 Monitoring the dc bus voltage allows the synchronous converter to control the voltage across the caps (Icap = C*dVcap/dt). If the voltage starts to drop because of an increase in the load on the motor, the synchronous converter will respond by increasing Iq. If the voltage starts to rise because of an overhauling load on the motor, the synchronous converter will respond by decreasing or even reversing the direction of Iq to regenerate power to the AC power line. See Figure 13.
I-line Iq Idrive Icap

AC Power Line

AC DC Synchronous Converter

DC AC

M
AC Motor

DC Filter

DC/AC Inverter

Figure 13 DC bus voltage control with the synchronous converter

Does the synchronous converter create line notches?

utility transformer

100m
2500kVA 5.75%Z 480Vsec

AC DC

Synchronous Converter

E1

L1
14.1u

L2
50u

L3
102u

480

0%

(14.1/166.1)

8.5%

(64.1/166.1)

38.6%

100%

Figure 14 Line notching depths as a function of the point of interest

Line notching takes place whenever a diode, SCR or IGBT within a rectifier bridge, is switched. It takes a finite amount of time, usually on the order of microseconds, for the current that was flowing in the one phase of the power line to transfer from the one power switch that was turned off to the next one that is turned on. During this period of time, there is actually a short circuit that exists between two of the power lines, creating a dip (notch) in the power line voltage. Synchronous converters create line notches because the IGBT power switches are turning on and off repeatedly at its carrier frequency rate, typically 2kHz or higher.

How deep are these notches? It depends on where you are in the circuit. The notch depth is considered to be 100% at the IGBT terminals within the synchronous converter. The depth is considered to be 0% within the transformer feeding the drive. Between these two points, the depth is figured to be equal to 100%*(sum of inductance from the transformer to the point of interest)/(sum of inductance from the transformer to the IGBT terminals). This is illustrated in Figure 14, where there is 100m of cable (equivalent to about 50uH of inductance) between the transformer and the synchronous converter.

8 What do these notches look like? See Figure 15. IEEE std 519-1992 provides limits to the depth of line notches, too. They should be less than 20% for general systems and less than 10% for special applications. The notch area is another factor that comes into play. How can we eliminate these notches? By adding a notch filter. This is simply an LC series filter tuned to the carrier frequency of the synchronous converter. This changes the notches to harmonic ripple on the line voltages, keeping the AC power lines clean. This is shown in Figure 16 along with the line-to-line voltage.

E1

L1
14.1u

L2
50u

L3
102u

480

100%

8.5%
Voltages shown are Line to Line

38.6%

Figure 15 Line voltage waveforms showing notching

1000

What about the line current harmonics? The line currents to the synchronous converter contain very little harmonics. Performing an FFT (Fast Fourier Transform) utility on the line current, shows that the transformer 800hp Notch harmonics are sidebands around AC 842Af DC the carrier frequency and its Filter 33Ah Synchronous multiples. This line current was 2500kVA Converter 5.75%Z also shown in Figure 6. Compare 480Vsec this to a typical drive using a diode Figure 16 Line voltage waveform with notch filter installed bridge with the same load, shown in Figure 5. As you can see, the I(THD) for the synchronous converter is only 3.9%, where the I(THD) for a diode bridge is 33%! This is a significant reduction in current harmonics.
600 400 200 0 -200 -400 -600 -800

800

I(THD) = 3.9% V(THD) = 2.3%

-1000 0.000

0.005

0.010

0.015

This reduction in current harmonics directly leads to a reduction in line voltage harmonics. This is also shown by comparing Figure 6 to Figure 5. The V(THD) for the synchronous converter is only 2.3%, where the V(THD) for a diode bridge is 4.2%! Again, a significant reduction. Remember that any other equipment that is connected to the distribution transformer feeding the synchronous converter has to be able to operate properly with the voltage distortion that is present on the secondary of the transformer. The lower the distortion, the cleaner the voltage, the fewer the possible problems with other equipment. How much is too much? IEEE std 519-1992 gives us a guideline. Regarding line current distortion, the limit is 5% I(THD) where the Isc/Iload ratio is less than or equal to 20. The synchronous converter easily meets this limit.

9 Regarding line voltage distortion, the limit is 5% for general applications, and 3% for special applications (hospitals and airports). Again, the synchronous converter meets these limits. This means that the addition of a drive, utilizing a synchronous converter, will have very little impact on the power quality within a plant or building. How does I(THD) and V(THD) vary with load?
RGU with Filter Converter Currents

100 90 80 70 60 50 40 30 20 10 0 0 20 40 60 80

Ifund Iharm Itotal Ithd

100 % Load

Figure 17 I(THD) and Iharm vs load

As shown in Figure 17, as the load decreases, the harmonic current remains constant while the fundamental current decreases. This means that the I(THD) will increase as the load is reduced. Is this a problem? No! IEEE std 519-1992 states that the I(THD) needs to be measured or estimated based on maximum load conditions (hence the term I(TDD) that is seen in Table 10.3 of IEEE 519). What is important to see is that the harmonic currents do not increase as the load decreases. What this also means is that the V(THD) will remain the same, regardless of the load.

What are the advantages of using a drive with a synchronous converter? There are several, significant advantages of a drive that uses a synchronous converter over a standard 6pulse, diode bridge converter. First, is the low current harmonics created by the synchronous converter. This means that the addition of this drive to a power system will have little impact on the operation of the other equipment connected to the system. The IEEE 519 guidelines will be met. No other harmonic filters or phase shifting transformers are needed. No harmonic studies will need to be conducted, and no verification measurements will need to be taken. Second, the synchronous converter is able to control the DC bus voltage. Why is this important? Since it can boost the DC bus voltage to be above the peak of the AC line voltage, this means that it can maintain a bus voltage even if the AC line were to experience a brownout of 50%. Other drives would trip off on Undervoltage, but not this one. This also means that if the AC line voltage were a little low, for example 440Vac instead of 480Vac, the synchronous converter is able to maintain a DC bus voltage level so that full voltage will be delivered to the motor at full speed, full load. Other drives would starve the motor for voltage resulting in higher slip and higher current causing overheating of the motor, but not this one. This will even provide a longer power ride-through during a power interruption. Please note that as the line voltage decreases, the line current will increase proportionally to maintain the same kW power going to the motor. Third, the power factor improvement is much greater than DC drives, and even better than 6-pulse drives. This is due to two factors. As you know, the total power factor is the product of the displacement power factor and the distortion power factor. For a 6-pulse drive, the displacement power

% of Total Full Load Current

10 factor is about 0.95, and the distortion power factor (since I(THD) is 35%) is 0.94, giving a total power factor of 0.89. A drive with a synchronous converter has a displacement power factor of 1.00, and a distortion power factor (since I(THD) is 3.9%) of 0.999, giving a total power factor of 0.999! This means lower energy costs for the same load. Fourth, is the ability of the synchronous converter to regenerate power from the rotating load on the motor back to the power lines. This eliminates the need for dynamic braking resistors and the heat and losses associated with them. This allows for a greater amount of control of the speed of the process during dynamic changes, giving the operator a more consistent product. This also reduces the energy costs since some of the rotating energy is returned to the power grid. There have been regenerative DC drives on the market for several years, but the power factor associated with them are extremely poor, and if there is a voltage sag or interruption during regeneration, the DC drive will have a fault resulting in a blown fuse or fuses. This is not the case with the synchronous converter. It will be able to maintain control of the regenerative energy even during voltage sags, and no fuses will blow during a power interruption. This is truly a next generation power converter in terms of functional ability and reliability. A fifth advantage is that when there are multiple drive inverters at a site, whether or not the inverters are coordinated with one another, they can be fed from one (or two if needed for redundancy) synchronous converters, giving the designer even more flexibility at a lower cost. Each motor would be powered by an inverter section fed from a common dc bus. The synchronous converter would handle the power needed by all of the inverter loads. Several applications have one inverter continually braking while others are motoring. This configuration is ideal for a common DC bus since the converter would only need to supply the energy difference between the motoring inverter and the braking inverter. Conclusions A robust, industrial grade AC motor drive with a synchronous converter will be made up of the functional sections shown in Figure 18. With this drive, the user will have full control over power flow and power factor, while producing very low AC power line current and voltage harmonics.

AC Power Line

AC DC Notch Synchronous Filter Converter DC Filter

DC AC DC/AC Inverter

M
AC Motor

Figure 18 Sectionalized view of a robust, AC drive using a synchronous converter

Summary of Synchronous Converter Benefits Unity power factor Low harmonic content Fully regenerative Regulates DC bus voltage during high, low and brown-out conditions Can be used as a single front end for multiple drives