Application of Hysteretic Current-mode

Control Technology for Electrostatic

Precipitator
Qiang Bo1*, Haitao Xu1, 2, Wei Duan1, 2, Di Yang3, Chongjian Li 1, 2, Chunyi Zhu1, 2
1Automation Research and Design Institute of Metallurgical Industry, China
2 State Key Laboratory of Hybrid Process Industry Automation System and Equipment Technology, China
3 Beijing Boqian Engineering Technology Ltd, China

Email: boqiang418@foxmail.com

Abstract—The electrostatic precipitator (ESP) system operation within a wide range of mains voltages from 380
depends heavily on the three-phase IGBT intelligent inverter V up to 690 V. The power spectrum covers a range from
high voltage (HV) power supply. To improve the dynamic 100 kVA to 200 kVA depending on various load
responses of ESPs during the event of flashovers and back conditions. In comparison with conventional HV power
corona, a magnificent nonlinear-controll technology called
supplies, the IGBT intelligent inverter offers much higher
hysteretic current-mode control (HCMC) concept is
proposed based on the working characteristics of ESPs. This and faster dynamic behavior. Voltage and current can be
method adapts the parameters to the load conditions of controlled much more precisely with HCMC control
ESPs dynamically and accurately. It can also greatly method.
improve the vibrant behavior of HV power supply with a
fast variation of input voltage or load current according to
different working conditions. PSIM simulation results and
the physical application waveforms of JiNan Steel Group
demonstrate that the valid values of current and voltage can
be increased by this fast automatic adjustment control and
the average corona power can also be increased to improve
the ESP efficiency significantly.
Index Terms-- IGBT intelligent inverter, Hysteretic
Current-mode Control, Flashover and back corona,
Simulation and experimental Waveforms Fig.1. Three-phase IGBT intelligent inverter HV power supply

I. INTRODUCTION The following Fig.2 describes the operating principle

of ESP. The T/R-set builds an electric field of DC voltage
Electrostatic precipitator (ESP) is successfully
between the discharge electrode and collecting electrode.
developed in 1906 by the American engineer E.G
From a defined voltage, the discharge and collecting
Cottrell, which is a dust removing device that uses the DC
electrodes become electrically conductive when the dust
electric field to make the aerosol particles separated from
gas flowing. i.e. corona discharge occurs. As a result,
the gas, and devices using this working principle can
charged carriers (like free electrons, positive and negative
eliminate the environmental pollution problems caused by
ions) are produced in the area of the discharge electrodes.
the industrial production. Now, ESP has been widely used
Under the action of the electric field, the negative charge
in cement, metallurgy, thermal power and other industrial
carriers are accelerated towards the collecting electrodes.
fields. Because the electric field force of ESP is formed in
The charged carriers are retained on the collecting
the electrostatic field with a high dc voltage (usually more
electrode due to electrical adhesion forces until it is
than 30 kV dc), so it was called the name.
dislodged by a mechanical rapping system. The dislodged
The three-phase IGBT intelligent inverter HV power
dust drops into dust hoppers from where it is discharged
supply (Fig.1) consists of a fuse switch, a commutation
and transported to storage, e.g. a dust bin.
reactor and a six-pulse bridge rectifier with an adequate
power factor near unity and no compensation is necessary.
The voltage link capacitor must be charged before the
system is switched on. The rectifier is always driven like
a diode rectifier in operation on maximum voltage. So
power devices of the rectifier can be diodes under
industrial conditions. The switching frequency of IGBT
device is 10 kHz or higher. The output current of the H-
bridge inverter is controlled only by the IGBT devices,
even on full load. The current inversion frequency can be
controlled at 500 Hz for a specially designed transformer
rectifier set (T/R-set) with lower inductance. Therefore a
higher self-motivated behavior of current and voltage is Fig.2. Working principle of ESP
conceivable. The new IGBT inverter device allows

978-1-5386-3246-8/17/$31.00 © 2017 IEEE

 According to experimental results, the ESP devices can voltage and it is fed to the controller together with the
be equivalent to the electrical model of electric resistance desired voltage and the induction current . The
and capacitance in parallel as a simple approximation, an upper limit and the lower limit of the hysteresis band
ESP can be described electrically by the simplified are obtained from the output of hysteresis controller.
electrical diagram shown in Fig.3. The capacitor C
representing the electrical capacitance of ESP which
depends mainly on the geometrical layout and dimensions.
The non-linear resistor R depends on the particle transport
in the electrical field. Experimental results of the
industrial field proved that the typical values are:
C: 10 nF --- 300 nF
R: 10 kΩ --- 300 kΩ
The data range of these measurements can be used in
reference during the process of PSIM simulation.

Fig.4. Circuit of buck converter employing a hysteresis controller

Fig.5 is the waveforms of inductor current ，output

voltage and pulses trigger signal . The inductor
current increases when the MOSFET is on, and
decreases when the MOSFET is off. And the MOSFET is
switched on whenever the value of the inductor current
Fig.3. Simplified electrical diagram of an ESP
> , and switched off whenever the value of inductor
current < , the inductor current flows through the
For operations of a dust cleaning system, what we freewheeling diode D at the off time. Hysteresis controller
consideration is the dust-removal efficiency which tends to have simple implementations as analysis above.
depends on the balance between the power consumption
and the required level of dust emission. To achieve the
optimum dust collection efficiency during various
operations, the values of voltage and current which
supplied to the electrostatic precipitator have to be fastly
adapted to the complex operating conditions, including
flashovers. For this purpose, HCMC control technology in
conjunction with energy management visualization
software is proposed compared with the conventional
power supplies. With such an automatic optimization
control system, the total power consumption of ESP can
be minimized. Additionally, the average corona power
can also be increased to improve the ESP efficiency Fig.5. Simulation waveforms of induction current and output voltage
significantly. HCMC control theory that we use was and pulses signal
derived from the dc-dc switching power supply originally,
so the buck chopper circuit was used to explain the B. Mathematical Analysis of HCMC Control Results
HCMC control concept, at the same time, the
mathematical modeling method is used to deduce the Fig.6 is the typical waveform during one period. The
factors that affect the experimental results. inductor current increases when the MOSFET is on
(and the time is , and descreaes when the MOSFET is
II. HYSTERETIC CURRENT-MODEL ANALYSIS AND off (and the time is , 2h is the value of the ripple
SIMULATION VERIFICATION FOR BUCK CONVERTER current. So we can lead to the following equations:
When the switch S is on, the inductor current
A. Simulation Results for Buck Converter Using HCMC increases, and the inductor is in the phase of energy
Control Method storage,
Fig.4 shows the basic circuit schematic of the buck - = L* = L* (1)
converter employing a hysteresis controller. It is a circuit
When the switch S is off and D is on, and the inductor
of dc chopper which adopts the MOSFET device S, the
current decreases gradually,
circuit consists of a freewheeling diode D, smoothing
reactor L, and the load is R and C parallel circuit, the
control circuit consists only of the hysteretic controller V = L* = L* (2)
and neither error amplifier nor external clock signal is 2h is the ripple value of inductor current, it reflects the
necessary. The hysteresis controller has three input size of hysteresis band, then,
parameters and two output parameters, is the sensed
 ∗ ∗ inversely proportional to the product of and LC.
2h = = (3)
Therefore, to reduce the ripple voltage, it is better to
If we set the switching period is T, then according to (1) increase the products of LC or increase the switching
and (2), we can draw several conclusions, frequency f.

T = 2Lh/ V V (4) III. HYSTERETIC CURRENT-MODE CONTROL

T = 2Lh/V
The switching period T is,
T = t + t
If we set the duty ratio of the switch MOSFET is M.
Then = MT and =（1-M）T, so
Ripple value of the inductor current,
ΔI = 2h = = (8)
When the circuit is in steady state, the capacitor of the
load should be equal during the charge and discharge time
and the average value of capacitor current = 0, by
Kirchhoff current law . The average inductor
current is equal to the average output current , so
when (t) is greater than (when (t) inflow capacitor),
the capacitor is in the state of charge, conversely, the
capacitor is in the state of discharge.
If we set the load current is constant, then the value
fluctuation of inductor current is,
(5) TECHNOLOGY FOR ESP
Fig.7 shows the simulation circuit of ESP and the
HCMC control method is based on this circuit in this
= (6) paper. The IGBT inverter supplies the transformer with
alternating voltage and current in a frequency of 500 Hz
because of the significantly higher and faster dynamic
behavior. That means that the primary transformer
V = MV (7) voltage has a practically square-wave characteristic. The
short switching times (approx. 300 ns) mean that the
system can react quickly and precisely to ESP flashovers.
The HV transformer and rectifier have the task of
generating a high voltage up to 90 kV. The inverter
operating frequency of 500 Hz means that the transformer
core can be made smaller than with conventional
transformers.

Δi Δi Δi ≈ Δi (9)
Therefore, the time of charge and discharge must be Fig.7. Simulation circuit of ESP
equal in one switching period and the value is equal to
half of the switching cycle. The average charge or The major section of the HCMC control system is
discharge current is, hysteresis controller, detailed information of this
I = (10) hysteresis controller is shown in Fig.8, the values of upper
Then the capacitor voltage, I and lower limit I are the hysteresis band of induction
current I . The hysteresis controller has three input
/ parameters and two output parameters as the buck circuit,
v t v 0 i t dt (11)
is the sensed voltage of ESP and it is fed to the
The ripple voltage of capacitor, ∗
controller together with the desired voltage and the
/ ∆ ∆ primary current I .
∆v = v t v 0 = dt = = (12)
According to (8) and (12), then

∆v = = (13)

Fig.8. Hysteresis controller for ESP

A. Switching States of IGBT Inverter and Power Losses

Fig.6. Typical waveform during one period
Because the capacitor is in parallel with the load, so
the capacitor ripple voltage is equal to the load ripple
voltage, we can see that the output ripple voltage is
Insulated Gate Bipolar Transistors (IGBTs) are used
primarily in converters which have the task of converting
the frequency of electrical energy. The choice of the most
suitable IGBTs for converter operation depends heavily
on the requirements of the respective drive system.
Different control methods will have different switching
states.
 As is shown in Fig.7, the IGBT inverter is able to
apply +U , -U or 0 V for both directions of I to
the terminals of the HV transformer. There are four
switching states used for operation of the inverter. Diodes
of the related IGBTs are named D1, D1, D3 and D4. The
following table shows the possible switching states of
IGBT inverter with HCMC control technology.
TABLE I
POSSIBLE SWITCHING STATES OF IGBT INVERTER
I U IGBT/Diode
1 +U T1&T4
2 0 T1&D3 D2&T4
3 -U T2&T3
4 0 D1&T3 T2&D4
Power losses in the IGBT inverter consist of two parts.
The forward losses depend mainly on the collector current,
the gate-emitter voltage and the device properties. Power
losses can be calculated by the switch-on/-off ratio of all
IGBTs. The switching losses can be influenced by the
switching times of the IGBTs. Faster switching will lead
to lower switching losses. Unfortunately this will lead in
turn to higher rates of current changes (L ) which
will result in higher overvoltage caused by the small
parasitic inductances in the commutation circuit. The
maximum breakthrough voltage must not be exceeded. A
further problem with shorter switching times comes with
the reverse recovery charge in the free-wheeling diodes.
These are soft-recovery diodes with low reverse recovery
charge. To avoid reverse current snap off, switching
speed has to be limited.
B. Simulation and Experimental Waveforms of the
Primary Voltage and Current
Fig.9 shows the simulation waveforms of the primary
voltage and current and Fig.10 is the physical waveforms.
The current is inverted by 500 Hz. The transition from the
negative current to the positive current is processed in a
short time against the stray inductance of the transformer.
The inverter output current is controlled by a two point
switches. When the upper limit of the current is reached
the selected IGBT is switched off causing the current to
decrease by commutating to the respective free-wheeling
diode. After reaching the lower limit of the current, the
selected IGBT is switched on again. The two-point
current control keeps the current within the desired band
even after rapid changes in , e.g. flashovers. The
width of that band can be varied to the control accuracy
and switching frequency of the IGBT devices.
Fig.9. Simulation waveforms of the primary voltage and current
Fig.10. Physical waveforms of primary voltage and current
The best performance of ESP is achieved at smooth
DC current. That requires a rectangular primary current at
the transformer. To approximate the rectangular shape,
the current inverter frequency was overlaid with a higher
switching frequency for controlling the current. Therefore
standard materials for the high voltage transformer could
be used. The electrical power is up to 200 kVA, which is
easily extendable by using larger IGBT-devices. The
average value of the current I is given by the valid
value between upper limits and lower limits I
as is shown in (14).
I 1/2 I I (14)
C. Simulation and Experimental Waveforms during
Flashovers
To ensure the generation of sufficient number of
charged carriers, ESP has to be operated at the maximum
possible voltage while, at the same time, ensuring a
sufficient current. Then the average voltage on the ESP
can be increased up to a level close to the flashover limit
of the entire ESP. For this purpose, the ESP voltage is
controlled just under the breakthrough voltage. When the
breakthrough voltage is attained, a plasma channel form
due to the high charge carrier density and a flashover
occurs. The flashover limit is varying widely in different
working conditions. Therefore flashovers can't be avoided.
It is a stochastic process. Flashover reaction of the IGBT
inverter with HCMC control is much faster compared to a
line commutated thyristor switch. Due to the shorter arc
duration less space charge is generated and the required
de-ionization time can be selected shorter. After de-
ionization time, the current rises within loops up to the
calculated value, much faster than a conventional power
supply can do it.
Fig.11 is the simulation waveform of ESP voltage
during a flashover event. And Fig.12 is the experimental
waveform of ESP voltage and current in the industrial
field. Waveforms of the simulation and the physical
experiment are analyzed to verify correctness of the
simulation model and quick response of HCMC control
system during flashovers.
Fig.11. Simulation waveform of ESP voltage during flashover

Fig.12. Experimental waveform of ESP voltage and current during
flashovers
The number of flashovers occurring varies during ESP
operation due to variations in the operating conditions.
The HCMC control system of ESP is rock-solid relativity
to be sure that no permanent arcs can form after a
flashover. The increase or decrease of the current I is
limited by the stray inductances L which both in the
transmission lines and the HV transformers. The primary
current of the HV transformers I can be calculated by
(15).
L + U U (15)
Where = / , u: transformer ratio.
If back-corona occurs during operation, e.g. with
highly-resistive dust. The deionization time is started after
a non self-extinguishing precipitator flashover. We call it
pause-time due to that the value of current is zero during
this deionization phase and it can overcome the
phenomenon of back corona. Flashovers are an immediate
change of in (15). That means, becomes much
higher by missing . The increase of the current within
the reaction time of the control system upon flashover and
back corona can be calculated and the design can be
optimized for low overcurrent on flashovers.
IV. EXPERIMENTAL RESULTS
The correlation between voltage, current and dust
emissions can be seen in Fig.13. This leads to a very
stable control which is self adapting to various process
conditions. The HCMC controller uses only input signals
which are available in the power supply unit, i.e.
electrical signals. The output signals are generated by
rules processing the direct input signals and the changes
in these signals. The set points of voltage and current and
the phenomenons of flashovers or back corona are all
processed in the HCMC control system. This leads to a
very stable automatic adjustment which is self adaptive to
various process conditions.
Fig.13. ESP voltage and current with HCMC control technology
V. CONCLUSIONS
The experimental results of the industrial field show
that the voltage and current waveforms of HCMC control
technology are magnificent. With such an automation
optimization system the total power consumption of ESP
can be minimized. Particularly it can overcome the
phenomenon of back corona, so the dust removal
efficiency is improved significantly.
ACKNOWLEDGMENT
This paper is supported by the Automation Research
and Design Institute of Metallurgical Industry, the State
Key Laboratory of Hybrid Process Industry Automation
System and Equipment Technology, and the Beijing
Boqian Engineering Technology Ltd, China.
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