College Of Technology And

Engineering

Maharana Pratap University Of

Agriculture And Technology

Reactive Power Compensation Using

Matrix Converter

A seminar report submitted in partial fulfillment for the award of the degree

of

Bachelor of Technology

In Department of Electrical Engineering

 Guided by:

Submitted By

Dr. R.R Joshi Sir

Dhruvi gandhi

CERTIFICATE

Certified that the seminar work entitled Reactive power compensation using matrix
converter is bonafied work carried out by Dhruvi gandhi, in partial fulfillment of the
requirements for the award of the degree of Bachelor of Electrical Engineering ,College of
technology and engineering, Udaipur, during the year 2016-2017. It is certified that all the
corrections/suggestions indicated for internal assessment have been incorporated in the report.
The Seminar report has been approved as it satisfies the academic requirements in respect of
seminar work prescribed for the Bachelor of Engineering degree.

Signature of the Guide Signature of the HOD Signature of the Principal

Mrs. Himani paliwal. Dr . RR joshi Mr. SS Rathore

Guest faculty, Associate Professor and Head, Principal,

Dept. of EE, CTAE. Dept. of EE, CTAE CTAE , Udaipur

Name of the Examiners: Signature with date:

1. .

2. .
 CANDIDATES DECLARATION

I hereby declare that the work, which is being presented in the dissertation, entitled Reactive
power compensation using matrix converter in partial fulfillment for the award of Degree of
Bachelor of Technology in Electrical Engineering and submitted to the Department of
Electrical Engineering, CTAE, Maharana pratap University of agriculture and technology
(UDAIPUR) is a record of my own investigations carried under the Guidance of Mrs Himani
paliwal .

I have not submitted the matter presented in this Dissertation anywhere for the award of any
other Degree.

Dhruvi gandhi

Electrical Engineering,

CTAE, Udaipur
 ACKNOWLEDGEMENT

I would like to express my most sincere gratitude to my guide and B..Tech. Coordinator Mrs.
Himani paliwal for his guidance, support and encouragement. His experience proved to be
immense help to me, and also his profound view- points and extraordinary motivation
enlightened me in many ways. I just hope my thinking and working attitudes have been shaped
according to such outstanding qualities.

A special acknowledgement goes to Mrs. Meenal Sharma, for their guidance, concern and help at
all stages of my study.

I am also grateful to H.O.D. of Electrical engineering Department Mr. RR joshi for all
measurement, computer and technical assistance throughout my graduate program, and to all of
the for all the instances in which their assistance helped me along the way.

I would also thank to my institution and my faculty members without whom this seminar report
would have been a distant reality. I cannot finish without mentioning my mother, who has been
giving all round support during the period of my study.

Dhruvi gandhi
Contents
CERTIFICATE................................................................................................................ 2
CANDIDATES DECLARATION........................................................................................ 3
ACKNOWLEDGEMENT.................................................................................................. 4
Introduction.................................................................................................................... 6
Problem Description......................................................................................................... 6
Need of reactive power compensation................................................................................... 7
Previous work in Reactive power compensation.......................................................................9
Mechanically switched capacitors and reactors.....................................................................9
Synchronous condensers................................................................................................. 9
Static VAR Compensator (SVC)..................................................................................... 10
Static Synchronous Compensator (STATCOM)...................................................................11
Matrix Converter And Its Operation................................................................................... 12
A. Introduction to the Matrix Converter............................................................................ 12
B. Application of the Venturini Modulation Method to the Matrix Converter...............................14
C. Derivation of the Current Phase Reversal Property...........................................................16
D. Switch Realization of the Modulation Functions..............................................................19
E. Simulation Results................................................................................................... 24
Reactive power compensation with matrix converter............................................................30
Output voltage........................................................................................................... 36
Input current.............................................................................................................. 38
Input power factor....................................................................................................... 39
Applications................................................................................................................. 40
Advantages.................................................................................................................. 40
Disadvantages............................................................................................................... 41
Future scope................................................................................................................. 42
Conclusion................................................................................................................... 43
References................................................................................................................... 44
Introduction

Reactive power compensation is defined as the Reactive power, known as volt-ampere reactive
(VARs), is attributed to the complex impedance of typical ac power system loads and
transmission lines. Even though its presence in the power system network is fundamental, it has
several undesirable consequences including reduced stability limits (steady-state, dynamic and
transient) and lowered power transfer capability. It also leads to increased transmission losses,
inefficient performance of power system equipment and the potential for the onset of system-
wide voltage instability (caused by variation in the reactive power demands of the loads), if not
properly management and control of reactive power in the ac network, achieved by supplying or
absorbing VARs from the system. The suggested Matrix Converter-based Reactive power
Compensation (MCRC) device is composed of a matrix converter, which input is connected to
the grid and an electric machine at the output of the converter. The reactive power flowing in or
out of the grid can be regulated with the matrix converter by controlling the magnitude and/or
phase angle of the current at the input of the converter.
Problem Description

A matrix converter combined with an electrical machine for reactive power compensation will be
Analytically investigated to determine the physical limits of the solution for fulfilling reactive
power requirements from a network under normal operating conditions. The possibility to use the
suggested topology also for active power or for a load will be investigated. Constraints for
reactive power compensation in capacitive and inductive mode will be qualitatively compared to
a synchronous condenser and conventional STATCOM solution. A network model will be build
and the proposed reactive power compensator will be tested with a control system provided with
a command for reactive power requirement from the network.

Need of reactive power compensation

The electricity grid is under a lot of strain: The load and the electricity generation are increasing
year after year. Nevertheless the expansion of the grid is limited because of economical and
environmental reasons. It is therefore becoming very important to utilize the power transfer
capabilities of the grid to its maximum. Reactive power, denoted as volt-ampere reactive (VARs),
is fundamental to ac power systems and is due to the complex impedance of the loads and
transmission lines. It has several undesirable consequences which include increased transmission
loss, reduction of power transfer capability, and the potential for the onset of system-wide
voltage instability, if not properly compensated and controlled. Reactive power compensation is
a technique used to manage and control reactive power in the ac network by supplying or
consuming VARs from points near the loads or along the transmission lines. Load compensation
is aimed at applying power factor correction techniques directly at the loads by locally supplying
VARs. Typical loads such as motors and other inductive devices operate with lagging power
factor and consume VARs; compensation techniques have traditionally employed capacitor
banks to supply the required VARs. However, capacitors are known to have reliability problems
with both catastrophic failure modes and wear-out mechanisms. Thus, they require constant
monitoring and periodic replacement, which greatly increases the cost of traditional load
compensation techniques. For a simple lossless line like the one presented in gure 1.1, the
power transfer is as in equation (1.1). VS is the voltage at the generation bus and is assumed to
be constant. We see from equation (1.1) that there are three parameters that can be controlled to
increase the power transfer; VR, the voltage at the load, X, the reactance of the line and s, the
power angle. In addition to the transmission lines reaching their loading maximum, there are
many disturbances.

The continuous variation of the load, random occurrence of faults on the power lines and the
introduction of new renewable energies, like wind or solar power, which have varying and
unpredictable generation. These variations all make it very important to be able to dynamically
control VR, X and . The reactive power at the receiving end of the line can be calculated as in
equation (1.2) and plotted as a function of the receiving end voltage VR as in gure 1.2.
Previous work in Reactive power compensation

Several reactive power compensation solutions that are applicable to load compensation have
been proposed in the past and are summarized below. Load compensation employs shunt-
connected techniques and so, series compensation methods have been omitted from the
discussion.
Mechanically switched capacitors and reactors

Initially, mechanically switched capacitor and reactor banks were used to provide lagging and
leading reactive power to support the power system. Depending on the VAR requirement, the
banks are switched in and out of the system through mechanical relays and circuit breakers. This
approach is fundamentally discrete and the compensation solution does not offer continuously
variable reactive power support. It also suffers from other drawbacks including slow speed of
response, lifetime wear-out of the switch elements, switching transients and lack of flexible,
continuously variable VAR Compensation.

Synchronous condensers

Synchronous condensers are essentially synchronous motors operated at no-

load. By varying the excitation field, the rotating loads can be made to
supply VARs (under excited) or consume VARs (over-excited) from the ac
system. The advantages of synchronous condensers include continuously
variable reactive power support, high short-term overload capability and
harmonic-free operation. However, they suffer from major disadvantages
including high installation time and costs, maintenance costs, mechanical
losses and slow response time. Further, they contribute to high system fault
current and cannot be easily relocated due to their large size.

Static VAR Compensator (SVC)

With advances in semiconductor technology, the solutions listed above were subsequently
replaced by the static VAR compensator (SVC) which consists of banks of capacitors and
reactors that are switched on/off or phase-controlled using thyristors. The number of banks
switched in at a time depends on the VAR requirement.

a. Thyristor-Switched Capacitor (TSC)

b. Thyristor-Controlled Reactor (TCR)
Static Synchronous Compensator (STATCOM)

A static synchronous compensator (STATCOM) is based on power electronic converters that

behave as ideal ac sources such as the voltage-source and current-source inverters. The
converters are connected to the ac power system network through reactors .

Unified Power Flow Controller

A unified power flow controller (or UPFC) is an electrical device for providing fast-acting
reactive power compensation on high-voltage electricity transmission networks. It uses a pair of
three-phase controllable bridges to produce current that is injected into a transmission line using
a series transformer. The controller can control active and reactive power flows in a transmission
line.

The UPFC uses solid state devices, which provide functional flexibility, generally not attainable
by conventional thyristor controlled systems. The UPFC is a combination of a static synchronous
compensator (STATCOM) and a static synchronous series compensator (SSSC) coupled via a
common DC voltage link.

The main advantage of the UPFC is to control the active and reactive power flows in the
transmission line. If there are any disturbances or faults in the source side, the UPFC will not
work.The UPFC operates only under balanced sine wave source.The controllable parameters of
the UPFC are reactance in the line, phase angle and voltage. The UPFC concept was described in
1995 by L. Gyugyi of Westinghouse. The UPFC allows a secondary but important function such
as stability control to suppress power system oscillations improving the transient stability of
power system.

Unified Power Quality Conditioner

The unified power quality conditioner is commonly called UPQC. The design configuration is
based on the connection of series and shunt inverters. In this, the design configuration is right
series and left shunt with the current source converter (CSC) . In this paper, UPQC-CSC is
designed and analysis of the results has been done. Unified power quality conditioner (UPQC)
for nonlinear and voltage sensitive load has following facilities.

i. It reduces the harmonics in the supply current, so that it can improve utility current
quality for nonlinear loads.

ii. UPQC provides the VAR requirement of the load, so that the supply voltage and current
are always in phase; therefore, no additional power factor correction equipment is
required.

iii. UPQC maintains load end voltage at the rated value even in the presence of supply
voltage sag.
Matrix Converter and Its Operation

A. Introduction to the Matrix Converter

A matrix converter is a direct ac-to-ac force-commutated converter which has the ability to
transform the magnitude, phase angle and frequency of the input voltage without using
intermediate energy storage elements. An m/n matrix converter results in energy conversion
between m output phases and n input phases. As 3-phase power is most widely used, the 3/3
matrix converter (MC) will be considered hereafter. The basic layout of the MC, shown in Fig. 5,
illustrates that each of the output phases is connected to every input phase by a matrix of
switches. There are no intermediate energy storage elements and the switches are
 Fig. 5. Basic layout of a 3/3 MC

bi-directional (bi-lateral) capable of handling positive as well as negative voltages and

currents (four-quadrant operation).

The concept of direct ac-to-ac converters was introduced by Hazeltine in 1923 , but a detailed
treatment was first carried out by Gyugyi and Pelly in , where they are referred to as frequency
changers or cycloconverters. These converters were based on the semiconductor device thyristor
and were broadly classified as naturally commutated (NCCs) and force-commutated
(FCCs).Though cycloconverters offered a wide range of operational flexibility, their widespread
usage was hindered by the large requirement of thyristors (36 switches for 3-phase applications)
and the difficulty of switching these early technology thyristor are retalively high frequency.
With developments in power transistor technology, interest in cycloconverters was restablished. .
However, the earnest development of direct ac-ac converters was initiated by the Venturini and
Alesina in which they introduced the concept of the matrix converter. They developed and
analyzed the principle of the low-frequency modulation matrix, which views the converter as a
single mathematical transfer function (direct modulation method). Following the work of
Venturini and Alesina, several modulation methods were proposed as summarized. The Venturini
modulation method is characterized by sinusoidal input and output waveforms. It has a
maximum attainable voltage gain of 0.5, which could be increased to 0.866 by the addition of
common-mode voltages to the output voltages. But, this increase is obtained at the cost of greater
switching frequencies and implementation complexities. The indirect modulation methods,
which model the MC as a two-stage transfer function, were analyzed in . These methods were
able to increase the voltage gain to 1.05 at the expense of low-frequency distortion in the
input/output waveforms or both. Space vector modulation methods were developed in with the
aim of achieving the superior performance of space vector based inverters in MCs as well. But,
even these methods have a limited voltage gain of 0.866 and offer similar performance as
Venturini modulation method.

This implements the Venturini modulation method because it can be operated such that it
has the advantageous current phase reversal property, which is fundamental to the operation of
the proposed reactive power load compensator. The maximum voltage gain of 0.5 is not viewed
as a limitation in this application of a matrix converter as the output terminals of the MC are
internal nodes of the VAR compensator and do not connect to any load such as a motor, where
the output voltage is important. Thus, other modulation methods need not be explored with the
aim of improving the voltage gain.

B. Application of the Venturini Modulation Method to the Matrix Converter

A block diagram of the MC indicating the input and output currents and voltages is shown in Fig.
6. The line-neutral input voltages of the MC are given by vi1,LN, vi2,LN and vi3,LN, while the
line-neutral output voltages are denoted by vo1,LN, vo2,LN and vo3,LN. The input and output
line currents of the MC are given by ii1, ii2, ii3 and io1, io2, io3 respectively. While the
amplitudes of the input and output voltages are denoted by Vi and Vo
respectively, the phase angles are given by i and o respectively. The input
and output side frequencies of the converter are denoted by i and o.
 Fig. 6. Block diagram of MC showing voltages and currents

The MC can be modeled as a mathematical transfer function, the modulation matrix H which
relates the input and output voltages.
The modulation matrix element Hxy is the transfer function between the xth output phase and the
yth input phase. Since there are no energy storage elements in the MC and assuming that there is
no power loss in the MC, the instantaneous three-phase powers are equal on the input and output
sides. Consequently, the relationship between the input and output currents of the MC is given by
(3).

where HT is the transpose of the modulation matrix H.

According to the Venturini modulation method, the proposed generalized modulation matrix for
the MC is given by (4-6), the detailed mathematical treatment of which is presented in .
Depending on our requirements of output frequency, phase angle and amplitude in relation with
the input voltage parameters, the corresponding H matrix is derived.
The above equations are subjected to the constraints given by (6) to ensure that the matrix H is
finite, positive, semi-definite and therefore, invertible.

C. Derivation of the Current Phase Reversal Property

Consider the following input voltages for the MC of Fig. 6 such that the input frequency i is set
to and the input phase angle i is set to 0.

Further, let the desired output voltages be in phase with the input voltages and have the same
frequency, such that

Then, from (5), we have

Substituting (9) into (4), we obtain the following modulation matrix

It can be seen that the modulation functions H1, H2 and H3 have twice the frequency 2 as that
of the input and output voltages. The term q, known as the modulation index, is the ratio
between the output and input voltage amplitudes and is a control parameter of the modulation
functions (5). The coefficient 1/3 is used to limit the duty cycle of the MC switches to 2/3, this
maximum value being reached when one of the other modulation functions becomes zero. The
coefficient 2 is used to ensure that the output phases are never left unconnected even when one
of the modulation functions becomes zero. The unity term asserts the same property when the
required output voltages are zero and consequently, q is made to be zero.
The modulation matrix of (10) and (11) must result in the MC operation as described in (7) and
(8). As verification, (10)-(11) and (7) are substituted into (1). The resulting output voltages are
obtained as in (12) and they are found to be in conformity with the desired output voltage
parameters.
Let it now be assumed that the output currents have a phase angle with respect to the output
voltages and are given by

Substituting (10) and (13) into (3), the following input currents are obtained

The output current io1 can be expressed as a phasor as follows

Similarly, the input current io1 can be expressed as a phasor as

Comparing (15) and (16), it is clearly seen that there is a reversal in the sign of the phase angles
of the output and input currents the current phase reversal property. Similarly, this property can
be observed in all the phase currents by expressing them in the phasor notation. Comparing the
voltage and current expressions, it can be observed that while the output currents lead the
corresponding output voltages by , the input currents lag the corresponding input voltages by
. This implies that the current phase reversal property evaluates to a power factor reversal
between the input and output terminals as both the input and output voltages have phase angles
of 0 degrees. Thus, the modulation matrix H which operates the MC with the special current
phase reversal property has been established.

D. Switch Realization of the Modulation Functions

The mathematical model of the MC presented in the previous section will now be implemented
in the switch matrix of Fig. 11. Switching functions which define the on/off states of the switches
as a continuous function of time are to be derived from the modulation functions. The
relationships between the input and output voltages and currents of the MC can be expressed in
terms of these switching functions as
where the matrix element Sxy represents the switching function governing the switch connecting
the xth output phase and the yth input phase.
Comparing (2) and (19), the modulation function associated with each switching function is
easily inferred. As there are three basic functions H1, H2 and H3 in the chosen Venturini
modulation matrix (10)-(11), the S matrix is constituted by three corresponding switching
functions

It is assumed that the switches are operated at a frequency much higher than the input and output
frequencies such that their average behavior, given by their duty cycles over each switching
period, equals the modulation function values at each instant of time. Thus, while the H
matrix is a low-frequency description of the MC, the S matrix additionally includes a range
of switching harmonics. To obtain the on-off times from the duty cycle values (modulation
functions), a suitable switching period Tdisc is obtained by dividing the time period of the
modulation functions into N time intervals given by

Discrete-time versions of the modulation functions (switch-averaged functions), developed by

applying a zero-order hold of time period Tdisc as shown in Fig. 13, determine the switch
duty ratios over each of the N intervals. The ON times of the three switching functions are
then derived as
Fig. 7. Modulation function and its discrete version
 Within each kth interval, the switches governed by S1 are turned on for time t1, followed by
the switches governed by S2 and S3 which are turned on for times t2 and t3, respectively, as
shown in Fig. 8. Based on this pattern, the on-off states of the switches can be obtained as a
function of time, thus, completely defining the switching functions.
The effective switching frequency is

Fig. 7 implies that as the value of N is increased, the switching functions more accurately model
the modulation functions.
 Fig. 8. Switching function for a discrete interval k, 0 k N-1

As mentioned before, the MC requires bi-directional switches; but, semiconductor switches with
inherent bi-directional capability are not yet commercially available. So, bilateral functionality is
constructed from one or more unidirectional

Fig. 9. Different bi-directional switch realizations based on discrete switches

switch elements. Three possible realizations are illustrated in Fig. 9 . The diode bridge type
realization (Fig. 9(a)) requires only a single controlled switch but is generally not practical due to
the diode losses. The common-emitter (Fig. 9(b)) and common-collector (Fig. 9(c))
configurations are more efficient realizations, but they require two gate-drive circuits and careful
commutation techniques to prevent converter failures. The common-collector configuration is the
more preferred switch arrangement as it requires lesser number of isolated gate-drive power
supplies than the common-emitter configuration. For example, in the case of the MC, while the
common-emitter configuration requires 9 isolated power supplies, the common-collector
configuration requires only 6 supplies. This reduced number of supplies is also an advantage in
view of the isolation distance between independent voltage potentials within the MC.

E . Commutation methods for Matrix Converter

The commutation has to be actively controlled at all times. It is Important that no two
bidirectional switches are switched on at the same instant. This results in short circuit at
capacitor input and open circuit at inductive load. There are different types of commutation of
the matrix converter available .

Dead Time Commutation

This type of commutation method is used in the inverter side. It means that load current
freewheel to throw antiparallel diode during the dead time period. In case of the matrix converter
dead time commutation method is useless. It results in the open circuit at the load side. Then
forced spike occurs across the switches. To avoid this snubber clamping devices are provided.

Current Commutation based on Multiple Steps

This type of commutation uses bidirectional switches. These are reliable in current commutation
and obey the basic rules. It can be able to control the direction of the current. This strategy is
essential in case of controlled current flow. This commutation technique relies on knowledge of
the output current direction. This current direction can be difficult to reliably determine and
allow current levels in high power drives. To avoid this problem a technique of using the voltage
across the bi-directional switch to determine the current direction has been developed. This
technique provides reliable current commutation using an intelligent gate drive circuit which
controls the firing of the IGBTs and detects the direction of current flow within the bidirectional
switch cell. The current direction information calculated by the active gate drive is passed to all
the other gate drivers on the same output leg. In this way all the gate drivers contribute to operate
a safe commutation. In matrix converter commutation issue is taken care by matlab
simulation. Forced commutation is a employed throughout the process.

F. Simulation Results

The system shown in Fig. 10 has been considered for simulation study. The MC is connected to a
3-phase wye-connected source of 480V (rms) line-line voltage and 60

Fig. 10. System simulated to study MC operation

1. Simulation in MATLAB
The ON times of the switches are obtained using (22). The switching functions, which are
vectors of 1s and 0s, are derived by expressing these ON times in terms of a suitable time step.
The simulated modulation and switching functions are shown in Fig. 11. The switch-averaged
function, obtained by averaging the switching functions over every switching period T disc,
closely follows the corresponding modulation function. This indicates that the switching function
models the modulation function as expected
Fig. 19. Line-neutral input voltages and output voltages of the MC
The currents of the MC are shown in Fig. 20. The input currents are seen to be switching
between the output currents as indicated by (18). The fundamental components of the input
currents are stepped down by a factor of 0.3 when compared to the output currents.

More importantly, each input current has exactly the opposite phase as the corresponding output
current, as expected from (13) and (14). Thus, the Venturini modulation method is seen to assert
the unique property of phase reversal between the input and output currents.

Fig. 21. Accuracy of MC waveforms for switching frequency of 12kHz

The magnitudes and phase angles of the fundamental components of the MC voltages are
summarized in TABLE 2. Slight differences between the simulated and expected values can be
noted from the table. Also, a closer observation of Fig. 21 shows that the input and output
voltages are not exactly in phase, and the input and output currents are not exactly out of phase.
This deviation has been found to be attributed to the modeling inaccuracy introduced by the
Venturini method while deriving the switching functions from the discrete-time modulation
functions (Fig. 13).The difference between the modulation function and its discrete version for a
switching frequency of 12 kHz is shown in Fig. 22.
 Fig. 22. Comparison between modulation and switch-averaged functions for switching
frequency of 12kHz

As mentioned earlier, the discrete versions follow the original modulation functions with greater
accuracy as the zero-order hold period Tdisc is decreased. In other words, as the switching
frequency is increased by using larger values of N, the switching functions will more closely
model the modulation functions. The modeling inaccuracy is depicted for a switching frequency
of 1.2 kHz (N=10) in Fig. 23 and Fig. 24. In Fig. 24, the phase difference between the
modulation function H1 and the geometric mean of the discrete version of H1 is approximately
0.26 radians. The phase difference in voltages of Fig. 23 is also approximately the same (0.32
radians). Thus, the correlation between the modeling error of the Venturini method and the
inaccuracy in the MC waveforms is further ascertained.
 Fig. 23. Accuracy of MC waveforms for switching frequency of 1.2 kHz

Reactive power compensation with matrix converter

It is important to select carefully relevant data from the simulations to properly show the features
of the reactive power compensation device. The very first feature of the MCRC system presented
is , all the input and output voltage and current waveforms of the matrix converter. The input
displacement angle is kept to zero (_i ,ref = 0), no reactive power at the input, the modulation
index reference is set to qref = 0.5 and the excitation voltage is set to Ef = 50 /2 20.

The excitation voltage was chosen with a negative rotor angle so as to have the active power
flow into the PM machine. The magnitude and phase angle were chosen so as to have a
substantial power flow. The waveforms of only one phase are reported figure 2 for readability.
The input current and output voltage contain harmonics as there is no input filter in these first
simulations. While the output voltage and the input current contain a lot of harmonics, the output
current is smoothened out by the inductance of the equivalent circuit of the PM machine. The
fundamental component at 50Hz and phase angle of the previously shown waveforms are shown
in figure 4 for the input voltage and current and for the output voltage and current. Also we can
read from graph a) in figure 4 that Vo = 54 V and from graph c) that _i = 0.35 . The measured
value correspond well to the reference. There is however a small discrepancy which could be
due to the fact that the high harmonic content makes the measurements in MATLAB Simulink
inaccurate. Another factor that should be taken into account when assessing the simulation
results and their small errors compared with their references is that the solver in MATLAB does
not give an exact solutions. For instance, using different solvers or different time-step will yield
slightly different results. Otherwise it could also be an error in the modulation, however it is then
small because the matrix converter performs overall well and no errors could be found when
inspecting [7]the modulation closely several times. The next feature presented is the modulation
curve of the matrix converter. The input displacement angle reference, _i,ref , is still kept
constant at zero (no input reactive power) and Ef = 50/220. Only the modulation index
reference of the voltage qref is increased.

Figure 2: One phase of the input voltage (a)

and current (b) and output voltage (c) and
current (d) waveforms for i,ref = 0 and qref =
0.5.

Fig.3 The magnitude of the input voltage (a)

and current (b) and input voltage and
current phase angle (c) for i,ref = 0 and
qref = 0.5.
Fig.4 The magnitude of the output voltage (a) and current (b) and output voltage and
current phase angle (c) for i,ref = 0 and qref = 0.5

Fig.5 Modulation curves of the output voltage Vo versus the modulation index qref build
with experimental data from simulations (upper curve in red) and build with the theoretical
values (lower curve in blue).

We see that the output voltage magnitude, Vo , means, increases along with the modulation index
reference q. In figure 5 which shows the output voltage versus the modulation index, it is
clear that the measured output voltage magnitude, Vo ,means, represented by the red curve
,follows approximately linearly the modulation index q ref . Modulation index q cannot exceed
q max = 3/2. When the modulation index is however increased above this limit, the output
voltage will saturate at a value a little above the limit of V max = q max Vi = 86 V . The red
curve in figure 5 settles at about 91 V . The theoretical modulation curve, q Vi, is added in blue
in figure 5 for comparison. The theoretical modulation curve was set to settle at V max = 86.6 V
because ideally to avoid increased harmonics in the output voltage and input current this limit
should not be exceeded.
The active and corresponding maximum reactive powers are calculated as a function of the

modulation index q, Ef and and are reported in figure 6in blue. To measure the active

power and the corresponding maximum reactive power the maximum input displacement angle

was tracked for each modulation index using the equation i, max = cos1 (q/ 3/2 )Since

the reference and the measured input displacement angles are always a little off, the reference
needed to be adjusted to obtain the real maximum input displacement angle.. The measured input
active and reactive powers are plotted in red in figure 6.

Figure.6: The active and the reactive power ranges at the input of the MCRC device; the
theoretical powers are in blue and the measured are in red; the active powers are the
growing curves while the reactive powers are the first increasing and then decreasing
curves.

Figure .7: The magnitude of the input voltage (a) and current (b) and input voltage and
current phase angle (c) for i,ref = 900 and qref = 0.5.

MCRC system increases with the modulation index q, the input reactive power first increases
and then falls down to zero for the maximum modulation index q max. The maximum input
reactive power occures for q = 0.6, which corresponds to a maximum input displacement angle
of approximately 450 .we know that for this angle the active and reactive powers are equal.
This is also clear from figure 6 as the active and reactive power curves cross at q = 0.6. With an
increasing modulation index q, the active power share of the apparent power increases while the
reactive power share decreases. For modulation indicis lower than q = 0.6,corresponding to
maximum input displacement angles lower than 450, the reactive power share is larger than the
active power share, So as Pi increases, Qi also increases but with a slower slope as q increases.
For q = 0.6 and correspondingly i , max the reactive power at the input is maximum. For
modulation index above q = 0.6, the active power share becomes so large that the reactive power
share can no longer increase and starts decreasing toward zero.
Now lets finally look at the waveforms for i , ref = 900 and q ref = 0.5 and see how the
matrix converter behaves. In figure 7 are represented the input voltage and current magnitudes
and the input displacement angle. In figure 7 are represented the output voltage, current and
displacement angle. From both figures it is again clear that the modulation collapses for a
displacement angle of 900.

Figure .8: The magnitude of the output voltage (a) and current (b) and output voltage and
current phase angle (c) for_i,ref = 900 and qref = 0.5.
Output voltage

Since no energy storage components are present between the input and output side of the matrix
converter, the output voltages have to be generated directly from the input voltages. Each output
voltage waveform is synthesized by sequential piecewise sampling of the input voltage
waveforms. The sampling rate has to be set much higher than both input and output frequencies,
and the duration of each sample is controlled in such a way that the average value of the output
waveform within each sample period tracks the desired output waveform . As consequence of the
input-output direct connection, at any instant, the output voltages have to fit within the
enveloping curve of the input voltage system. Under this constraint, the maximum output voltage
the matrix converter can generate without entering the over-modulation range is equal to v3/2 of
the maximum input voltage: this is an intrinsic limit of matrix converter and it holds for any
control law . Entering in the over-modulation range, thus accepting a certain amount of
distortion in the output voltages and input currents, it is possible to reach higher voltage transfer
ratio . the output voltage waveform of a matrix converter is shown and compared to the output
waveform of a traditional voltage source inverter (VSI). The output voltage of a VSI can assume
only two discrete fixed potential values, those of the positive and negative DC-bus. In the case of
the matrix converter the output voltages can assume either input voltage a, b or c and their value
is not time-invariant: the effect is a reduction of the switching harmonics.

Input current

Likewise to the output voltages, the input currents are directly generated by the output currents,
synthesized by sequential piecewise sampling of the output current waveforms. If the switching
frequency of the matrix converter is set to a value that is much higher than the input and output
frequency, the input currents drawn by the converter are sinusoidal: their harmonic spectrum
consists only of the fundamental desired component plus a harmonic content around the
switching frequency. The input current drawn by a matrix converter for a 2 kHz switching
frequency is shown. It can be noted that the amplitude of the switching harmonic components is
comparable to the fundamental amplitude. It is then obvious that an input filter is needed in order
to reduce the harmonic distortion of the input line current to an acceptable level. It follows that
care should be used in speaking about matrix converters as an all silicon solution for direct
AC/AC power conversion, since some reactive components are needed. The matrix converter
performance in terms of input currents represent a significant improvement with respect to the
input currents drawn by a traditional VSI converters with a diode bridge rectifier, whose
harmonic spectrum shows a high content of low-order harmonics. By the light of the standards
related to power quality and harmonic distortion of the power supply this is a very attractive
feature of matrix converter.

Input power factor

The input power factor control capability is another attractive feature of matrix converters, which
holds for most of the control algorithms proposed in literature. Despite of this common
capability it is worth noting that a basic difference exists with respect to the load displacement
angle dependency. For instance, the algorithm proposed does not require the knowledge of the
load displacement angle in order to fully control the input power factor. On the contrary, the
algorithm does require the knowledge of the load displacement angle whenever the 19 reference
input power factor is different from unity. From an algorithm computational burden point of view
this is a drawback, since it implies additional quite heavy calculations.

Applications

Standard: Wind/Water Force Machines (blowers, boilers, incinerators), pumps, and

general Industrial Machines.
Specific Applications: Compact or Integrated Motor Drives Motor Drives for hostile
environments (aircrafts, submarines) AC/AC Power Conversions: wind energy, variable
speed drives...
Still a topic of research
Advantages

It provides sinusoidal input and output waveforms, with minimal higher order harmonics
and no sub harmonics;

it has inherent bi-directional energy flow capability;

the input power factor can be fully controlled.

it has minimal energy storage requirements, which allows to get rid of bulky and
lifetime-limited energy-storing capacitors

Disadvantages

First of all it has a maximum input output voltage transfer ratio limited to 87 % for
sinusoidal input and output waveforms.

It requires more semiconductor devices than a conventional AC-AC indirect power

frequency converter,

Since no monolithic bi-directional switches exist and consequently discrete unidirectional

devices, variously arranged, have to be used for each bi-directional switch.

Finally, it is particularly sensitive to the disturbances of the input voltage system

Industrial products

Yaskawa Medium voltage FSDrive-MX1S.

Launched in 2004
Worlds first matrix converter Drive
Super energy saving medium-voltage Matrix
Converter with Power regeneration
3kV 200 to 3000kVA
6kV 400 to 6000kVA
Applications:
Wind/Water Force Machines (blowers, boilers, incinerators),
pumps, and general Industrial Machines

Yaskawa Low voltage Matrix Converter

(Varispeed AC)
V/f and vector control
Future scope

As was made clear no control system was investigated for the MCRC system. This did not really
impair the investigations but further work should be dedicated to building a control system that
regulates the PM machine speed and that would compensate for the current when an input lter
is added or compensate for the voltage when voltage variations occur on the gridside, due to a
fault for instance. This would also mean that a more precise model of a PM machine than the
equivalent circuit should be introduced.
Conclusion

A new application for the matrix converter was investigated in this : A matrixconverter-
basedreactivepowercompensationdeviceorMCRCdevice. In combination with a PM machine, the
matrix converter can provide or extract reactive power to a grid it is shunt-connected to. When
the PM machine is loaded, the MCRC device can act as an energy buer in addition to
compensating for reactive power. When the PM machine runs at no-load, the device provides
pure reactive compensation.

The two main : The PM machine and the matrix converter. The aim of the PM machine
analysis ,in addition to understanding the general functioning of the machine, was to identify the
conditions it imposes at the output of the matrix converter for the two operation modes: loaded
and at no-load. The equation for the output current and output power factor were developed for
the loaded operation mode. In the no-load situation, the analysis showed that the output current is
purely reactive and the output power factor is zero. No active power ows through the matrix
converter and the input power factor is also zero.

The modulation of the matrix converter inuences strongly the reactive power transfer at the
input of the matrix converter. The conventional indirect space vector modulation inuences it
such that the input reactive power is dependent on the active power ow through the matrix
converter. The output power factor determines the amount of apparent power at the input of the
matrix converter. The input displacement angle will then decide how the apparent power
distributes in active and reactive power. The bigger the input displacement angle is, the larger the
reactive power share. The modulation index on the other hand increases the active power share.
However the input displacement angle and modulation index are inversely proportional. If the
modulation index is increased, the maximum input displacement angle is decreased and vice
versa.

As a conclusion, when the matrix converter is modulated with the conventional indirect space
vector modulation, it cannot be used for pure reactive compensation. It can only be used in
combination with active power transfer and with an energy buer, load on the rotor shaft.
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