Achieving High Efficiency in a Double Conversion Transformerless UPS
John G. Tracy
Power Quality Systems Division
Eaton Corporation
3301 Spring Forest Road
Raleigh, North Carolina, 27612
JohnGTracy@Eaton.com
A b s t r a c t – This paper describes the design of a
transformerless UPS that uses two high frequency PWM
power converters in series without sacrificing efficiency
compared to their transformered forerunners. It has long
been accepted, however, that a high frequency PWM
converter will have higher losses than a diode rectifier or
SCR phase control rectifier and that the loss in efficiency is
simply one way to bare the cost for the increased
performance. The advantages of using a high frequency
PWM converter for the AC-to-DC stage are generally well
known: Improved input power factor; Improved input
current THD; and Improved performance on a generator.
This paper presents, as a case study, how one UPS design
addressed the efficiency issue and controlled the losses to
produce a product with efficiency equal to or better than the
SCR forerunner.
I. INTRODUCTION
The scope of this paper is for 3 phase UPS in the 50
kVA to 200 kVA size range. Many of the users in this
product range have some awareness of technology and
what is new and what is old. For example, they are aware
that an IGBT PWM converter has improved electronic
filtering as compared to SCR converters with passive
filters. It is instructive at this point to look at the old and
new technologies and note some key differences. The
terms “old” and “new” are simply statements of fact and
are not intended to convey “inferior” and “superior”.
The methodology and solutions presented in this paper
describe the process employed by a couple of engineers on
a new product development team who were focused on a
single parameter to affect a technical improvement. The
numbers presented are from a compilation of test reports
and knowledge based calculations. For example: the end
efficiencies are from test reports but the split of losses are
from calculations that take into account such things as
switching losses, conduction losses, and the skin-effect or
current-crowding caused by high frequency current. The
Figure 1 Simplified Schematics of Old and New Technology.
0-7803-9252-3/05/$20.00 ©2005 IEEE
Hans-Erik Pfitzer
Power Quality Systems Division
Eaton Corporation
3301 Spring Forest Road
Raleigh, North Carolina, 27612
Hans-ErikPfitzer@Eaton.com
results are part of a new product that has been shipping
now for over a year.
Figure 1, below, shows a simplified schematic of the
“old” and “new” technologies for the UPSs compared in
this paper. The “old” technology has a SCR rectifier and a
transformer output. The “new” technology has an IGBT
rectifier and no transformer. Let us look at a brief
description of these two technologies.
A. Old Technology with SCR Rectifier and Transformer
The old technology uses an SCR rectifier which
regulates the DC voltage by controlling the power factor at
its input AC terminals. The current at these terminals is
rich in low order harmonics so such a rectifier has an input
filter with a trap for the low order harmonics. This is
usually a large filter and may be 40% or higher in kVAR
than the rating of the UPS. This is a buck rectifier,
meaning that the DC voltage will be lower than the peak
AC voltage.
The DC node in this technology generally consists of a
large bulk storage capacitor with some inductance to filter
the rectifier ripple which is 6 times the frequency of the
input AC. This filter is sized to handle the high frequency
PWM currents, the load imbalance, and the rectifier ripple
current. In some implementations, the rectifier ripple
inductor is on the AC side of the rectifier.
The inverter is a three phase IGBT PWM inverter
coupled to an output filter through a transformer. The
leakage inductance of the transformer serves as the
inductor for the output filter. This filter need only be sized
to handle the high frequency PWM currents and can be
smaller than the input filter. The PWM frequency is a zero
sequence component and does not cause any current at that
frequency. This is also a buck type converter and the
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maximum peak AC voltage that can be generated must be
less than the DC voltage supplying the inverter. Since
both the rectifier and inverter are buck converters, the
transformer is needed to boost the voltage back up to the
needed level.
B. New Technology with Two IGBT converters.
The new technology uses two IGBT converters that can
be identical in make-up. One is controlled as a rectifier
which converts the AC voltage to a DC voltage. The other
is an inverter which converts the DC voltage to an AC
voltage. The nature of this type of converter is that it
boosts from AC to DC and bucks from DC to AC. Thus,
no transformer is necessary. This type of UPS may have a
higher DC voltage than needed in the old technology and
usually has a separate converter to handle the battery. The
battery converter is beyond the scope of this paper and is
shown here for completeness of this simplified schematic.
C. Typical Efficiency of the Old and New Technologies.
The table below represents typical losses for a UPS
designed to deliver 100 kW to a critical load.
Input Rectifier Inverter Output Efficiency
Filter Filter
Old 200 W 500 W 4,300 W 2,500 W
New 1000 W 6,200 W 5,100 W 900 W
Table 1. Typical loss and efficiencies of old and new style UPS.
The old technology UPS uses a simple SCR rectifier
which is relatively low in losses. However, both the
inverter and output filter have hefty losses. The inverter
has a relatively high DC voltage for the produced AC
voltage. This is because the battery sits on this node and
the inverter must be able to also produce that voltage at the
end of discharge for the battery. Since IGBT switching
losses are proportional to DC voltage, this scheme would
generate high switching losses. The output filter uses the
leakage inductance of the output transformer. This means
that both the primary and secondary must carry the high
frequency PWM currents.
The new technology UPS uses an IGBT converter for
both the rectifier and inverter. These both must operate at
high PWM frequencies which is the cause of the high
losses.
II LOSS DRIVERS
The switching frequency used for the IGBT converter is
the main driver of the losses. Table 2 shows typical
harmonic content for harmonics near the carrier and near
twice the carrier.
A. Need for High Frequency PWM
The higher harmonic content created by transformerless
Figure 2. How neutral is created with and without a transformer.
PWM technology is the main driving force to higher PWM
frequencies. Figure 2 can be used to understand why this
is so. The old technology modulates a three phase system
for the “delta” winding of the output transformer. The
neutral is formed by the transformer secondary. In the new
93%
technology, the neutral must be formed by the converter
88% which is chosen as the center of the DC link. An
additional IGBT leg is used to keep the “neutral” in the
center of the DC.
All three phases of the old technology are modulated
with the same PWM carrier which makes it a common
mode or, zero sequence, and therefore does not show up in
the line to line voltage. In the new technology, however,
this same carrier is normal mode to the neutral and thus
creates a harmonic larger than the fundamental. These
harmonics must be filtered in either case. The higher
harmonic content of the new technology requires that it
have some combination of a larger filter or higher PWM
switching frequency.
B. Switching Losses
The switching losses are proportional to the switching
frequency and DC voltage. The old technology may
typically use a switching frequency of 6 kHz while the
new technology uses 20 kHz. The old technology has no
neutral or ground reference and may use a discontinuous
modulation scheme that gives near 6 kHz of performance
Harmonics @ fc Harmonics @ 2 x fc
Old 63% 40%
New 103% 56%
Table 2. The PWM harmonic content near the carrier frequency
and at twice the carrier frequency. The value is the root-sum-
square (rss) of the near harmonics expressed as a percent of the
fundamental.
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 Figure 3. Complete UPS with a modulated neutral. Battery and battery converter details are omitted
with 4 kHz of switching. This is not possible with the new This additional modulation reduces the harmonic
technology since the voltage must always be balanced content sufficiently to allow approximately a 25%
about neutral. reduction in the PWM switching frequency. This raises
the overall efficiency about 3 percent.
The discontinuous modulation schemes allow the DC
voltage to be 15% lower than it would need to be B. Reduce the DC voltage
otherwise. However, in the example UPS topologies used
here the old technology places the battery directly on the Now that the neutral is modulated like a phase leg, rather
DC link so the nominal DC voltage is kept high for other than being kept at the center of the DC rails, a zero
reasons. As a result, the relative DC voltage to AC in both sequence may be added to all vectors. Figure 4 shows an
the old and new technologies is about the same. example of a zero sequence that allows producing 120
Y/208 system from the same input voltage but at 10% high
C. Harmonics and Harmonic Currents. line. The required DC voltage for this is about 335 VDC.
A center VDC neutral scheme would typically be designed
The harmonic voltages drive harmonic currents in the for 400 VDC or higher.
filter inductors and capacitors. In general, resistance
increases with frequency due to eddy currents, skin effect,
or the like. Where efficiency is concerned, there is a trade-
off to be made in regards to inductor size. If the inductor
is large the harmonic currents are small so there won’t be
much high frequency heating or losses. However a large
inductor may then have high low frequency losses.

III. ATTACK THE LOSSES

Figure 4. Illustration of how voltage vectors can be
modified so that DC voltage can be fit tightly around the
Wouldn’t it be nice if the transformerless technology
required voltage space
could have some of the same benefits as the older
transformer topologies. In other words, have reduced
harmonics at the carrier frequency, be able to use lower
DC voltage, and employ discontinuous modulation. Thus
we have the order of battle.

A. Modulate the Neutral

The first step is to modulate the neutral to reduce the

“normal” mode of the carrier. Figure 3 shows how a UPS
with a modulated neutral would look. The “neutral” leg is Figure 5. Illustration of a discontinuous modulation scheme.
no longer for balancing the plus and minus DC about a This illustration shows the vectors within the voltage space
central point. Instead, it modulates a zero sequence equal rather than referenced to neutral as done in figure 4.
to one-third the sum of the three output phases. The use of
an inductor in this leg is optional.

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 This added zero sequence that allows the DC voltage to
be reduced raises the efficiency approximately another 2
percentage points. These two changes, modulating the
neutral and adding a zero sequence amounts to a 5%
improvement in efficiency!
C. Employ Discontinuous Modulation.
One final efficiency improvement is to employ a
discontinuous modulation scheme. However, only the
input or the output can be in discontinuous mode. Figure 5
shows a modulation scheme that uses a zero sequence that
causes discontinuous modulation. The input voltage is
shown as 10% high as in figure 4 so the input has the
discontinuous modulation. If the input were 10% low,
then the discontinuous modulation would be on the output.
Since, only one of the converters can be in
discontinuous modulation, the over-all switching losses are
only reduced by one-sixth rather than the normal 1-third.
This type of modulation provides approximately 1 percent
additional improvement in efficiency.
IV SOLUTIONS
Let us now look at how all this is accomplished. Figure
3 shows that the rectifier is a 3 wire device. However it is
derived from a voltage system that has a neutral which is
the same neutral connected to the output for bypass
purposes. This relation cannot be ignored. In a
transformerless UPS, all voltage vectors must be
referenced to the same neutral.
The key to a simple solution is to think of the UPS as a
single 7 leg machine rather than a separate 3 wire (leg)
rectifier and a 4 wire (leg) inverter. Figure 6 illustrates
how this is done. Both the rectifier and inverter have
autonomous regulators that determine the vectors needed
for the next PWM switching cycle. After these vectors are
scaled to fit the numeric voltage space they are looked at
as a single “machine” in the box labelled “Determine
Vector Modification”. Here, the vectors are compared and
the one that would cause the minimum modification so that
it wouldn’t have to switch at all during the next PWM
cycle is selected. This modification is then added to all
vectors.
The simple process just described pays no attention to
whether it is dealing with a rectifier vector or inverter
vector. There is no “which is larger – rectifier or inverter
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Figure 6. Illustration of regulation scheme that shows how a
single vector modification (zero sequence) is used to modify
all voltage vectors including neutral.
voltage” decision that has to be made. In cases where the
inverter and rectifier voltage are close, the discontinuous
modulation may dither between the rectifier and inverter.
It simply doesn’t matter.
One final note. The product being described does not
actually regulate the DC link. Notice in figure 6 that there
is a value sent from the “Determine Vector Modification”
block to the rectifier “Regulator” block that is called
“Headroom Error”. This represents the minimum
additional voltage necessary to meet the requirements of
such things as device loss and transient response. This
error comes from a quasi peak filter and is actually the
voltage regulated. This enables the actual DC voltage to
fit the required voltage like “Cinderella’s slipper.”
V SUMMARY
UPS design is driven to meet higher and higher
performance requirements because of market demands and
available technologies. Manufactures are compelled to
deliver a product that meets these demands. On the other
hand energy costs are rising and are likely to continue to
rise. UPS users will pay for poor efficiency twice, once
in the UPS and again in the air conditioner which is
required to remove the heat produced by the UPS. The
technology presented results in a high performance UPS
that is also high in efficiency, thus combining two
characteristics that previously were considered mutually
exclusive.
VI. ACKNOWLEDGMENT
The authors gratefully acknowledge the contributions of
Keith Bauman for his simulation models and Phillip
Johnson and his group for the validation testing.