IEEE TRANSACTIONS ON POWER ELECTRONICS, VOL. 28, NO.

7, JULY 2013 3539

Carrier-Based Randomized Pulse Position

Modulation of an Indirect Matrix Converter
for Attenuating the Harmonic Peaks
Chen Qi, Xiyou Chen, and Ying Qiu

Abstract—To attenuate the peaks of harmonics, three carrier-

based randomized pulse position modulation schemes are proposed
for an indirect matrix converter (IMC), which, to date, have not
been discussed in existing literatures. In the first scheme, to avoid
commutation of a rectifier stage at instants of carrier transition,
one of four different pulse positions of the rectifier stage is selected
randomly based on the Markov chain. The second scheme ran-
domly places the center of the pulse position with a limited degree
of freedom, which has a lower harmonic spectrum but higher com-
mutation frequency. The maximum degree of freedom is achieved
in the third scheme, which randomly varies the pulse position by
delaying its edge along entire carrier cycle, resulting in a continu-
ous and flat harmonic spectrum, but the maximum commutation
frequency in three proposed schemes. An alternative carrier of an
inverter stage is applied in all the schemes to maintain smooth
operation at instants of carrier transition. Effectiveness of the pro-
posed schemes is validated through experimental tests on an IMC
prototype.
Index Terms—Carrier-based modulation, harmonic reduction,
indirect matrix converter (IMC), randomized pulse position mod-
ulation (RPPM).
I. INTRODUCTION
ECENTLY, there has been a growing interest in the de-
R velopment of matrix converters, because these topologies
offer some advantages, such as compact and packed structure,
sinusoidal input and output current, controllable input power
factor, and bidirectional power flow [1]–[3]. As an alternative to
conventional nine-switch topology, an indirect matrix converter
(IMC) is a two-stage converter (see Fig. 1), which consists of a
separated four-quadrant current source rectifier stage and a stan-
dard voltage source inverter stage without requiring capacitors
in the dc link, leading to a simpler commutation and a higher
reliability [4], [5].
The traditional modulation scheme of an IMC using regular
pulsewidth modulation (PWM), such as space-vector PWM [6]
and carrier-based PWM [7], [8], suffers from discrete and high
Manuscript received June 17, 2012; revised August 28, 2012; accepted
October 2, 2012. Date of current version December 24, 2012. This work
was supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China un-
der Grant 50877007. Recommended for publication by Associate Editor
A. M. Trzynadlowski.
The authors are with the Department of Electrical and Electronics En-
gineering, Dalian University of Technology, Dalian 116023, China (e-mail:
qichen@mail.dlut.edu.cn; chenxy@dlut.edu.cn; ying.qiu@mail.dlut.edu.cn).
Color versions of one or more of the figures in this paper are available online
at http://ieeexplore.ieee.org.
Digital Object Identifier 10.1109/TPEL.2012.2224140
0885-8993/$31.00 © 2012 IEEE
Fig. 1. Topology of the IMC.
harmonics at multiplies of the switching frequency in the power
spectra of output voltages and input currents, resulting in seri-
ous electromagnetic interference (EMI) problems. To overcome
these, a spread-spectrum technique is required to attenuate the
harmonic peaks in the power spectrum as much as possible.
The random PWM technique is an active spread-spectrum
method to attenuate switching-frequency-related harmonics on
the basis of varying the switching instants in a random man-
ner, while keeping the desired duty ratio [9]–[11]. The random
PWM technique can be classified into three groups [12]: namely,
randomized carrier frequency modulation (RCFM), randomized
pulse position modulation (RPPM), and randomized switching
modulation. The RCFM randomly varies switching frequency,
but problems arise in the control system because then a variable
sample frequency in the controller is needed if the modula-
tor and the controller shall operate in synchronism [13]. On
the other hand, the pulse is randomly positioned with a fixed
switching frequency. Until now, the random PWM technique
has been widely applied to dc/dc converters [14]–[16], dc/ac
converters [17]–[21], ac/dc converters [22], and even multilevel
inverters [23], [24]. However, due to complex modulation and
commutation scheme of an IMC, there has been only one litera-
ture [25] reporting a randomized carrier modulation scheme for
a four-leg matrix converter. Indeed, the literature [25] has just
randomly placed the pulse position of an inverter stage.
In this paper, three RPPM schemes of an IMC, namely
randomized Markov-chain-based pulse position modulation
(RMCBPPM), randomized center-displacement pulse position
modulation (RCDPPM), and randomized delayed pulse posi-
tion modulation (RDPPM), are proposed and can be understood
intuitively using a carrier-based modulation method. The basic
idea of these schemes is that by choosing a random pulse posi-
tion in a rectifier stage, the switching instants of both rectifier
3540
Fig. 2. TCBM scheme.
stage and inverter stage will vary randomly because the two
stages commutate in synchronism. In comparison with a tradi-
tional carrier-based modulation (TCBM) scheme, the proposed
modulation methods have a spread harmonic spectrum and can
therefore be used to attenuate the harmonic peaks in an IMC
efficiently.
II. TCBM SCHEME
The TCBM scheme has been well described in the literature
[7], [8], but several details that could serve as the foundation
for building carrier-based RPPM schemes are included in this
section.
Suppose that the balanced three-phase input voltages and the
desired fundamental components of output phase voltages (see
Fig. 1) are given by
va = Vim cos(θa ), vA = Vom cos(θA )
vb = Vim cos(θb ), vB = Vom cos(θB )
vc = Vim cos(θc ), vC = Vom cos(θC ) (1)
where Vim and Vom are the input and output voltage amplitudes,
and θi (i = a, b, c) and θo (o = A, B, C) are the respective
phase angle displacements.
A TCBM scheme discussed in the literature [8] is shown in
Fig. 2. In order to maximize the output voltage range and obtain
the desired sinusoidal input current, the rectifier stage should
provide two positive input line voltages corresponding to two
switching states A1 and A2 during each carrier cycle Tc . The
variable ε is the delay interval of the first pulse and can be used
to quantify the degree of freedom for randomizing the pulse
position.
By dividing the input voltages described in (1) into six sectors
(see Fig. 3) where the polarity of one input voltage is always
opposite to the other two, a general modulation function mi is
defined in all sectors such that the switching states A1 and A2
of the rectifier stage are generated by comparing the function
IEEE TRANSACTIONS ON POWER ELECTRONICS, VOL. 28, NO. 7, JULY 2013
Fig. 3. Six sectors for the input voltages.
TABLE I
SECTOR AND SWITCHING STATES OF THE RECTIFIER STAGE
Fig. 4. Six sectors for the output voltages.
with a saw-tooth carrier. The mi is given by
cos[θa − (k − 1)60◦ + 60◦ ]
mi = (2)
cos[θa − (k − 1)60◦ ]
where k = 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, or 6 is the number of rectifier stage
sectors.
A summary of A1 and A2 in all sectors is shown in Table I,
where, for example, (ab) means that the input a is connected to
the positive dc-bus p and the input b is connected to the negative
dc-bus n.
To obtain balanced input currents and output voltages in each
carrier cycle, the carrier of an inverter stage should synchronize
with switching state intervals T1 and T2 of the rectifier stage.
As shown in Fig. 2, the rising and falling intervals of triangular
carrier are determined by T1 and T2 . The maximum, medium,
and minimum modulation functions mm ax , mm id , and mm in of
an inverter stage are obtained and compared with the triangu-
lar carrier to generate freewheeling states and active switching
states. During the rising interval, two active switching states are
generated, donated by Aγ and Aξ in sequence. But, Aξ and Aγ
are offered in opposite sequence during the falling interval. Two
commutations of a rectifier stage in each carrier cycle always
take place during the freewheeling states of an inverter stage,
which are donated by N7 and N0 .
The output voltages described in (1) can also be divided into
six sectors (see Fig. 4), where one is always the largest voltage
vm ax and another is always the minimum voltage vm in .
QI et al.: CARRIER-BASED RANDOMIZED PULSE POSITION MODULATION OF AN INDIRECT MATRIX CONVERTER 3541

TABLE II
SECTOR, MAXIMUN, MEDIUM, AND MINIMUM MODULATION FUNCTIONS,
AND ACTIVE SWITCHING STATES OF THE INVERTER STAGE

A summary of mm ax , mm id , and mm in and Aγ and Aξ in all

sectors is shown in Table II,where, for example, (pnp) means
that the outputs A and C are connected to p and the output B is
connected to n. The freewheeling states N7 and N0 correspond Fig. 5. Four cases using (a) rising saw-tooth, (b) falling saw-tooth, (c) sym-
to (ppp) and (nnn), respectively. mA , mB , and mC are modula- metrical triangular, and (d) inverted carriers of the rectifier stage.
tion functions used for generating the required gating signals in
three-phase output bridges, and are expressed as [7]
 
M vm ax + vm in
mA = vA −
Vom 2
 
M vm ax + vm in
mB = vB −
Vom 2
 
M vm ax + vm in
mC = vC − (3)
Vom 2
where M = 2Vom /Vpn(av) is the modulation ratio. Vpn(av) is the
average value of dc-link voltage during one carrier cycle.

III. RPPM SCHEMES

As shown in Fig. 2, due to a fixed saw-tooth carrier of the
rectifier stage used in each carrier cycle, the output pulses are
always generated with a fixed position, such that the TCBM
scheme leads to a discrete and high power spectrum of har-
monics. Indeed, different pulse positions of the rectifier stage
and an inverter stage can be obtained through reshaping the
carrier of the rectifier stage because both stages commutate in
synchronism. The increment in degree of freedom for random-
izing the pulse position leads to corresponding decrement in a
harmonic spectrum. Based on the aforementioned analysis, this
paper proposed three RPPM schemes with different degrees of
freedom to spread harmonic spectrum, in one of which vari-
able ε is discrete, while it keeps continuous in the other two
schemes.
A. RMCBPPM Scheme
There are four basic cases of rectifier stage carriers, as shown
in Fig. 5.
Case I uses a rising saw-tooth carrier and has two pulse inter-
vals with A1 and A2 in sequence during entire carrier cycle. In
case II, a falling saw-tooth carrier is used and reverse switching
states A2 and A1 are offered in contrast with case I. Case III uses
a symmetrical triangular carrier and has three pulse intervals,
during which the first and the third one are equal with A1 , and
the second one is in the center with A2 . Case IV uses an inverted
carrier and is a reverse case in contrast with case III.
Fig. 6. Alternative carriers of the inverter stage with (a) two-pulse modulation
and (b) three-pulse modulation of the rectifier stage.
The carrier of an inverter stage should synchronize with pulse
intervals of a rectifier stage, as shown in Fig. 6. To avoid switch-
ing at instants of transition between two carrier cycles, a carrier
(see upper one in Fig. 6) and an inverted carrier (see lower one
in Fig. 6) of an inverter stage are alternative. For example, while
crossing from one carrier cycle in case II to another carrier cy-
cle in case I, the upper carrier in case II should be followed by
the lower carrier in case I to maintain smooth operation with-
out commutations. Alternatively, when case II uses the lower
carrier, case I should use the upper carrier instead.
The rectifier stage carrier shown in Fig. 5 is randomly selected
during each carrier cycle and the variable ε can only be chosen as
one of four discrete intervals 0, T2 , 0.5T1 + T2 , and 0.5T2 . This
scheme will cause commutation at instants of carrier transition.
To avoid extra commutations, the selection of a rectifier stage
carrier can be based on the Markov chain, as shown in Fig. 7.
Consequently, in a rectifier stage, the last switching state in the
previous carrier cycle is identical with the first switching state
in the latter carrier cycle. However, only two available cases can
be selected by a random bit “0” or “1.”
The selection of a case during the first carrier cycle in a new
sector cannot be based on the Markov chain, because only A2
3542
Fig. 7. Selection of four cases based on the Markov chain by a random bit “0”
or “1.”
Fig. 8. RCDPPM scheme with pulse center moving to right.
Fig. 9. Two cases with (a) T 1 > T 2 and (b) T 2 > T 1 .
of the previous sector is identical with A1 of the latter sector.
To avoid commutation at instants of sextant transition, case I
should be imposed during the first carrier cycle in a new sector.
Although the occurrences of commutation at instants of car-
rier transition are eliminated, the varying of pulse positions is
still discrete due to the restriction of selection in variable ε.
To increase the degree of freedom, two RPPM schemes with
continuously varying ε are proposed as follows.
B. RCDPPM Scheme
As shown in Fig. 5(c) and (d), the center of pulse position is
fixed at half of carrier cycle. Instead, the RCDPPM scheme
places the center randomly during one carrier cycle and its
scheme is shown in Fig. 8, where T1 is greater than T2 and
the pulse center moves to right. A part of third pulse P3 which
overruns the carrier cycle is shifted to the beginning of the
present carrier cycle, shown as P3 instead. To avoid commu-
tation at instants of carrier transition, it should prevent all the
third pulse from overrunning; thus, the displacement of center-
aligned pulse interval should be within the limits of 0.5T1 and
the maximum ε is less than T1 .
To maximize the center displacement, two possible cases
shown in Fig. 9 are investigated. Case I should be used dur-
ing the first half of sector where T1 is greater than T2 and case
II should be used during the second half of sector where T2 is
greater than T1 .
Since ε shown in Fig. 9 is within the limits of T1 or T2 , the
pulse position cannot vary continuously during entire carrier
cycle in a random manner and the maximum degree of freedom
IEEE TRANSACTIONS ON POWER ELECTRONICS, VOL. 28, NO. 7, JULY 2013
Fig. 10. RDPPM scheme.
Fig. 11. Four cases with (a) ε = 0, (b) ε < T 2 , (c) ε = T 2 , and (d) ε > T 2 .
can therefore not be obtained. ε can be obtained by multiplying
a decimal number randomly varying between 0 and 1 and T1
or T2 . The random number is donated by R(0,1) . For example,
in case I, ε is equal to R(0,1) T1 and in case II, ε is equal to
R(0,1) T2 . ε of case I smaller than 0.5 T1 or ε of case II smaller
than 0.5 T2 means that the center of pulse position moves to
left, otherwise, to right. There are also alternative carriers of an
inverter stage, like RMCBPPM, to avoid switching at instants
of carrier transition.
Although the RCDPPM has a larger degree of freedom than
previous scheme, some room for improvement still remains for
randomizing pulse position. To obtain a better effect on spread-
ing the power spectrum of harmonics, a third RPPM scheme is
proposed as follows.
C. RDPPM Scheme
Unlike the case shown in Fig. 5(a), the RDPPM scheme shown
in Fig. 10 delays its first pulse P1 by a random interval ε, which
yields a part of second pulse P2 to overrun the carrier cycle
undesirably. To prevent P2 from overlapping the output pulse
in the next carrier cycle, P2 is shifted to the beginning of the
present carrier cycle, which is shown as P2 . Based on this
arrangement, the maximum degree of freedom for randomizing
pulse placing can be eventually obtained in RDPPM by setting
maximum delay interval ε to Tc , which makes it different from
other two proposed modulation schemes.
Comparing ε (ε = R(0,1) T c) with the second pulse interval
T2 leads to four possible cases shown in Fig. 11.
In the first case where ε is equal to zero, the position of the
first and second pulses remains constant without any overrun,
like that case shown in Fig. 5(a). In the second case where ε
is smaller than T2 , a part of the second pulse overrunning the
carrier cycle is shifted to the beginning of present carrier cycle.
In the third case where ε is equal to T2 , all the second pulse
QI et al.: CARRIER-BASED RANDOMIZED PULSE POSITION MODULATION OF AN INDIRECT MATRIX CONVERTER
Fig. 12. Switching pulses during a carrier cycle with narrow pulse P 1 .
is shifted to the beginning of present carrier cycle, like that
case shown in Fig. 5(b). In the last case where ε is greater than
T2 , the whole of the second pulse and a part of the first pulse
overrunning the carrier cycle are shifted to the beginning of
present carrier cycle.
Like RMCBPPM, there are alternative carriers of an inverter
stage and case IV or I is imposed during the first carrier cycle
of a new sector.
The RDPPM scheme has a maximum degree of freedom and
offers a worthwhile advantage of high attenuation and com-
plete (theoretically) elimination of discrete harmonics, thereby
resulting in lower peak spectral power, but it will cause com-
mutations more frequently than the RCDPPM scheme, while
crossing from one carrier cycle to another.
IV. EFFECT OF RPPM ON INPUT AND OUTPUT CURRENT
PERFORMANCE
The modulation function mi is close to 1 or 0 during the sector
boundaries such that it directly translates to narrow pulses in a
rectifier stage near each sextant transition. Simple methods to
avoid the narrow pulse are to set a low limit for its interval or
pull it down to zero, but both methods will cause the distorted
input currents [7]. Furthermore, the interval of narrow pulse is
too short to output all the active pulses of an inverter stage such
that it will cause the distorted output currents too.
Unfortunately, the proposed RPPM methods have more
chance of narrow pulses. Especially, in RCDPPM and RDPPM
schemes, a too small or too large ε will cause narrow pulses. If
ε was limited within a smaller varying range to avoid narrow
pulses, it could have reduced the degree of freedom. In order to
retain the degree of freedom, this paper made no limit on the
varying range of ε and dealt with the narrow pulse P1 shown in
Fig. 12 for an example. In the rectifier stage, the narrow pulse
P1 in switching state A1 is output, then the zero-current com-
mutations from A1 to A2 occur during a safety interval Tsafe ,
and after commutation, the pulse P2 is output. In the inverter
stage, all the pulses P7 , Pγ , Pξ , and P0 are output and there
must be a safety interval Tsafe during the transition between
two pulses. The pulse intervals Tγ , Tξ , and T0 will become zero
when they are smaller than the safety interval Tsafe . The interval
T1 is determined by the sum of T7 , Tγ , Tξ , T0 , and three safety
intervals, and the sum of T1 and T2 still keeps at the carrier cycle
3543
Fig. 13. Experimental setup used for testing the proposed schemes.
TABLE III
IMC AND LOAD PARAMETERS
Tc . It should be noted that this method also cannot eliminate the
nonlinear currents at the input and output of an IMC.
Furthermore, another reason of distortion in input and output
currents is that the RPPM schemes equally spread the power
of harmonics along a very wide spectrum and produce some
unfiltered low-frequency harmonics.
V. EXPERIMENTAL RESULTS
In this section, several experimental results are shown to illus-
trate the performance of the proposed schemes. Fig. 13 shows
the experimental setup used for testing the proposed schemes.
Three proposed RPPM schemes and a TCBM scheme de-
scribed in Section II were programmed to a TMS320F2812 DSP.
To synchronize the PWM signals with input voltages across the
filter capacitors, a pulse sequence generated by the zero-crossing
comparator based on measuring the filter capacitor voltage was
required to be input to a capture input port CAP of the DSP.
A random bit required in the RMCBPPM scheme and a ran-
dom number varying between 0 and 1 required in RCDPPM
and RDPPM schemes were also generated in the DSP program,
which were based on the 16-bit linear feedback shift register.
The waveforms and spectra of currents and voltages were ob-
tained using the TDS3032B oscilloscope from a Tektronix and
FSL3 spectrum analyzer from Rohde and Schwarz. The line
impedance stabilizing network (LISN) was applied according
to CISPR 16. To offer an impartial and valuable reference, all
the experimental results were shown under the same condi-
tions listed in Table III. The measured spectra and experimental
waveforms shown in the following were carried out at output fre-
quency 30 Hz and transfer ratio 0.4. Some further comparisons
of spread spectrum effect and power efficiency between four
schemes with different output frequencies and transfer ratios
were also provided.
3544 IEEE TRANSACTIONS ON POWER ELECTRONICS, VOL. 28, NO. 7, JULY 2013

Fig. 14 shows the measured spectra of output line voltage for

the TCBM and three proposed schemes, in which harmonics in
a bandwidth from 9 up to 150 kHz are shown. In Fig. 14(a) for
the TCBM scheme, the most dominant discrete components of
harmonics appear around twice the switching frequency, the sec-
ond dominant discrete harmonics appear around the switching
frequency and the residuary harmonics occur at the multiples
of switching frequency. On the other hand, in the RMCBPPM,
RCDPPM, and RDPPM schemes shown in Fig. 14(b)–(d), the
discrete harmonics are dispersed to a wider sideband and have
lower amplitudes. It can be noted from Fig. 14(b) that some dis-
crete and high harmonics still appear around twice the switching
frequency. As shown in Fig. 14(c) and (d), the output line voltage
spectra are low and flat and the dominant discrete components
of harmonics have disappeared dramatically. This means that
the output voltage spectrum is continuously distributed over the
wideband frequency area. Although the RDPPM scheme has
a larger degree of freedom than that of the RCDPPM scheme
and yields a theoretically complete elimination of discrete har-
monics, the measured spectra are in practice similar to that of
the RCDPPM scheme due to the presence of commutations and
narrow pulses.
Fig. 15 shows the measured spectra of unfiltered input current
for the TCBM and three proposed schemes, in which harmonics
in a bandwidth from 9 up to 150 kHz are shown. On comparing
Fig. 15 with Fig. 14 for each scheme, it should be noted that
as a result of synchronous commutations of the rectifier stage
and inverter stage, the distribution of unfiltered input current
spectra seems similar to that of output line voltage spectra. It
should be noted from Fig. 15(b)–(d) that the RCDPPM and
RDPPM schemes have the lowest spectrum power level and the
RMCBPPM scheme has the highest one.
For evaluating the RPPM schemes, the concept of statistical
deviation can be employed, and harmonic spread factor (HSF)
[17], [23] is defined as


1  N
HSF =  (Hj − H0 )2 (4)
N j>1

1 
N
H0 = Hj (5)
N j>1

where Hj is the amplitude of jth harmonics and H0 is the

average value of all N harmonics.
The HSF quantifies the spread spectra effect of RPPM
schemes and smaller HSF means that flatter spectrum is ob-
tained. Fig. 16 illustrates the HSF of output voltage and unfil-
tered input current spectra of each scheme with different transfer
ratios and output frequencies. As shown in Fig. 16(a) and (b),
the TCBM scheme has a maximum HSF, while RCDPPM and
RDPPM schemes have similar and small HSF. The increment in
transfer ratio leads to a slight rise in HSF. One can also observed
that the change of output frequency does not significantly affect
the HSF.
The total conducted EMI measurement (line terminal) using
a LISN and spectrum analyzer (peak detect mode) in a band
Fig. 14. Spectra of output line voltage for (a) TCBM, (b) RMCBPPM,
between 9 and 150 kHz is shown in Fig. 17. The EMI limits (c) RCDPPM, and (d) RDPPM schemes.
QI et al.: CARRIER-BASED RANDOMIZED PULSE POSITION MODULATION OF AN INDIRECT MATRIX CONVERTER
Fig. 15. Spectra of unfiltered input current for (a) TCBM, (b) RMCBPPM,
(c) RCDPPM, and (d) RDPPM schemes.
3545
Fig. 16. HSF of (a) output voltage and (b) unfiltered input current spectra for
four schemes with different transfer ratios and output frequencies.
defined by CISPR11 (QP) [26] are also applied. The total con-
ducted EMI shown in Fig. 17(a) for the TCBM scheme exceeds
the limits around a frequency of 150 kHz, but those shown in
Fig. 17(b)–(d) for three proposed schemes satisfy the limits.
It can be confirmed that all proposed RPPM schemes have an
improvement in EMC and especially, RCDPPM and RDPPM
schemes have a powerful attenuation of EMI peaks around sev-
eral multiples of switching frequency.
Fig. 18 shows the experimental waveforms of input voltage
and current for the TCBM and three proposed schemes, in which
two input fundamental cycles are shown. The slight phase shift
between the voltage and the current is due to the input filter. It
should be noted from Fig. 18(a) that six oscillations imposed on
the input current appear within almost equal interval per input
fundamental cycle, which are mainly caused by LC resonance
of input filter excited by subharmonics. These subharmonics
are likely caused by the presence of narrow pulses at the six
sextant transition per input fundamental cycle, as discussed in
Section IV. Like the TCBM scheme shown in Fig. 18(a),
the proposed schemes shown in Fig. 18(b)–(d) also have six
same oscillations in input current, but more slight oscillations,
3546 IEEE TRANSACTIONS ON POWER ELECTRONICS, VOL. 28, NO. 7, JULY 2013

Fig. 18. Experimental waveforms of the input voltage and current for
(a) TCBM, (b) RMCBPPM, (c) RCDPPM, and (d) RDPPM schemes.
Fig. 17. Total conducted EMI measurement for (a) TCBM, (b) RMCBPPM,
(c) RCDPPM, and (d) RDPPM schemes.
QI et al.: CARRIER-BASED RANDOMIZED PULSE POSITION MODULATION OF AN INDIRECT MATRIX CONVERTER
Fig. 19. Experimental waveforms of the output current for (a) TCBM,
(b) RMCBPPM, (c) RCDPPM, and (d) RDPPM schemes.
3547
TABLE IV
COMMUTATION COUNT OF THE RECTIFIER STAGE DURING
0.1 S FOR FOUR SCHEMES
TABLE V
POWER EFFICIENCY OF THE IMC FOR FOUR SCHEMES WITH DIFFERENT
OUTPUT FREQUENCIES AND TRANSFER RATIOS
especially in Fig. 18(c) and (d), appear randomly due to the
narrow pulse and low-frequency harmonics generated by the
RPPM schemes, as discussed in Section IV.
Fig. 19 shows the experimental waveforms of output current
for the TCBM scheme and three proposed schemes, in which
three output fundamental cycles are shown. In Fig. 19(a), the
output current has a good performance. For the RMCBPPM
scheme, the waveform of the output current shown in Fig. 19(b)
has a similarity with that shown in Fig. 19(a). But in Fig. 19(c)
and (d), there are a few slight distortions in output currents due
to the more narrow pulses and low-frequency harmonics gen-
erated by the RCDPPM and RDPPM schemes, as discussed in
Section IV.
The commutation count of the rectifier stage for four schemes
during an interval of 0.1 s (five input fundamental cycles)
is shown in Table IV,which is added up in a DSP program.
Add one to commutation count when the change of switching
state of the rectifier stage occurs once. It should be noted from
Table IV that the minimum commutation frequency is achieved
in the RMCBPPM scheme while the maximum commutation
frequency occurs during the use of the RDPPM scheme.
A further comparison of power efficiency for different
schemes is shown in Table V.Due to its minimum commuta-
tion frequency shown in Table IV, the RMCBPPM scheme has
the highest power efficiency. Alternatively, the RDPPM scheme
has the lowest power efficiency. It can also be observed from
Table V that the power efficiency is increasing with rise in trans-
fer ratio and becoming high at output frequency of 60 Hz.
VI. CONCLUSION
A family of RPPM schemes based on randomly placing pulse
position of the rectifier stage is proposed, discussed, and imple-
mented for the IMC. It is shown that the proposed schemes have
a spread spectrum with lower harmonic peaks in output voltages
and input currents when compared with the TCBM scheme. The
minimum commutation frequency of the rectifier stage and also
the highest power efficiency are achieved in the RMCBPPM
scheme but with the highest harmonic peaks and HSF in three
proposed schemes. The improvement in harmonic peaks and
HSF can be achieved in both RCDPPM and RDPPM schemes
due to their continuous and flat harmonic spectra. However, the
3548 IEEE TRANSACTIONS ON POWER ELECTRONICS, VOL. 28, NO. 7, JULY 2013

use of these schemes implies the higher commutation frequen- [20] A. M. Trzynadlowski, M. M. Bech, F. Blaabjerg, J. K. Pedersen,
cies and leads to degradation of power efficiencies. It is shown R. L. Kirlin, and M. Zigliotto, “Optimization of switching frequencies
in the limited-pool random space vector PWM strategy for inverted-fed
that all the proposed schemes can operate with an improvement drives,” IEEE Trans. Power Electron., vol. 16, no. 6, pp. 852–857, Nov.
in EMC at the cost of slight distortions in input and output cur- 2001.
rents. These techniques can be an attractive alternative in IMC [21] M. M. Bech, J. K. Persen, and F. Blaabjerg, “Field-oriented control of an
induction motor using random pulsewidth modulation,” IEEE Trans. Ind.
applications where a flat harmonic spectrum is required. Appl., vol. 37, no. 6, pp. 1777–1785, Nov. 2001.
[22] Y.-C. Chang and C.-M. Liaw, “A flyback rectifier with spread harmonic
spectrum,” IEEE Trans. Ind. Electron., vol. 58, no. 8, pp. 3485–3499,
REFERENCES Aug. 2011.
[23] Y.-C. Lim, S.-O. Wi, J.-N. Kim, and Y.-G. Jung, “A pseudorandom carrier
[1] J. Rodriguez, M. Rivera, J. W. Kolar, and P. Wheeler, “A review of con-
modulation scheme,” IEEE Trans. Power Electron., vol. 25, no. 4, pp. 797–
trol and modulation methods for matrix converters,” IEEE Trans. Ind.
805, Apr. 2010.
Electron., vol. 59, no. 1, pp. 58–70, Jan. 2012.
[24] C. K. Lee, S. Y. R. Hui, H. S.-H. Chung, and Y. Shrivastava, “A random-
[2] P. W. Wheeler, J. Rodriguez, J. C. Clar, L. Empringham, and A. Weinstein,
ized voltage vector switching scheme for three-level power inverters,”
“Matrix converters: A technology review,” IEEE Trans. Ind. Electron.,
IEEE Trans. Power Electron., vol. 17, no. 1, pp. 94–100, Jan. 2002.
vol. 49, no. 2, pp. 276–288, Apr. 2002.
[25] Y. Sun, M. Su, L. Xia, and W. Gui, “Randomized carrier modulation for
[3] J. W. Kolar, T. Friedli, J. Rodriguez, and P. W. Wheeler, “Review of
four-leg matrix converter based on optimal Markov chain,” in Proc. IEEE
three-phase PWM ac-ac converter topologies,” IEEE Trans. Ind. Elec-
Int. Conf. Ind. Technol., Chengdu, China, 2008, pp. 1–6.
tron., vol. 58, no. 11, pp. 4988–5006, Nov. 2011.
[26] Industrial, Scientific and Medical Equipment—Radio-Frequency Distri-
[4] T. D. Nguyen and L. Hong-Hee, “Modulation strategies to reduce
bution Characteristics—Limits and Methods of Measurement, CISPR
common-mode voltage for indirect matrix converters,” IEEE Trans. Ind.
Publication 11, Geneva, Switzerland, 2009.
Electron., vol. 59, no. 1, pp. 129–140, Jan. 2012.
[5] R. Pena, R. Cardenas, E. Reyes, J. Clare, and P. Wheeler, “Control of
a doubly fed induction generator via an indirect matrix converter with
changing dc voltage,” IEEE Trans. Ind. Electron., vol. 58, no. 10, pp. 4664–
4674, Oct. 2011.
[6] M. Jussila and H. Tuusa, “Comparison of simple control strategies of
space-vector modulated indirect matrix converter under distorted supply
voltage,” IEEE Trans. Power Electron., vol. 22, no. 1, pp. 139–148, Jan. Chen Qi received the B.Sc. degree from the School
2007. of Electrical Engineering, Dalian University of Tech-
[7] P. C. Loh, R. J. Rong, F. Blaabjerg, and P. Wang, “Digital carrier mod- nology, Dalian, China, in 2009, where he is currently
ulation and sampling issues of matrix converters,” IEEE Trans. Power working toward the Ph.D. degree in the Department
Electron., vol. 24, no. 7, pp. 1690–1700, Jul. 2009. of Electrical and Electronics Engineering.
[8] B. Wang and G. Venkataramanan, “A carrier based PWM algorithm for His current research interests include modulation
indirect matrix converters,” in Proc. IEEE Power Electron. Spec. Conf., and control of matrix converters and a spread spec-
Jeju, Korea, 2006, pp. 2780–2787. trum modulation technique.
[9] A. M. Trzynadlowski, “Active attenuation of electromagnetic noise in
an inverter-fed automotive electric drive system,” IEEE Trans. Power
Electron., vol. 21, no. 3, pp. 693–700, May 2006.
[10] K. K. Tse, H. S.-H. Chung, S. Y. Hui, and H. C. So, “Analysis and spec-
tral characteristics of a spread-spectrum technique for conducted EMI
suppression,” IEEE Trans. Power Electron., vol. 15, no. 2, pp. 399–410,
Mar. 2000.
[11] A. M. Trzynadlowski, F. Blaabjerg, J. K. Pedersen, R. L. Kirlin, and
S. Logewski, “Random pulse modulation techniques for converter-fed Xiyou Chen received the B.Sc., M.Sc., and Ph.D.
drive systems—A review,” IEEE Trans. Ind. Appl., vol. 30, no. 5, pp. 1166– degrees from the Harbin Institute of Technology,
1175, Sep. 1994. Harbin, China, in 1982, 1985, and 2000, respectively.
[12] S.-Y. Oh, Y.-G. Jung, S.-H. Yang, and Y.-C. Lim, “Harmonic- From April 2004 to March 2005, he was a Visit-
spectrum spreading effects of two-phase random centered distribution ing Scholar in the Department of Electrical and Com-
PWM(DZRCD) scheme with dual zero vectors,” IEEE Trans. Ind. Elec- puter Engineering, University of Waterloo, Waterloo,
tron., vol. 56, no. 8, pp. 3013–3020, Aug. 2009. ON, Canada. He is currently a Professor in the De-
[13] M. M. Bech, F. Blaabjerg, and J. K. Pedersen, “Random modulation tech- partment of Electrical and Electronics Engineering,
niques with fixed switching frequency for three-phase power converters,” Dalian University of Technology, Dalian, China. His
IEEE Trans. Power Electron., vol. 15, no. 4, pp. 753–761, Jul. 2000. research interests include the areas of power electron-
[14] G. M. Dousoky, M. Shoyama, and T. Ninomiya, “FPGA-based spread- ics and its control, green power conversion, renewable
spectrum schemes for conducted-noise mitigation in dc-dc power con- power generation, matrix converters, and motor drive.
verters: Design, implementation, and experimental investigation,” IEEE
Trans. Ind. Electron., vol. 58, no. 2, pp. 429–436, Feb. 2011.
[15] V. Adrian, J. S. Chang, and B.-H. Gwee, “A randomized wrapped-around
pulse position modulation scheme for dc-dc converters,” IEEE Trans.
Circuits Syst. I, Reg. Papers., vol. 57, no. 9, pp. 2320–2333, Sep. 2010.
[16] K. K. Tse, S.-H. Chung, S. Y. R. Hui, and H. C. So, “A comparative inves-
tigation on the use of random modulation schemes for dc/dc converters,”
IEEE Trans. Ind. Electron., vol. 47, no. 2, pp. 253–263, Apr. 2000. Ying Qiu received the B.Sc. and M.Sc. degrees from
[17] K.-S. Kim, Y.-G. Jung, and Y.-C. Lim, “A new hybrid random PWM the School of Electronic and Information Engineer-
scheme,” IEEE Trans. Power Electron., vol. 24, no. 1, pp. 192–200, Jan. ing, Dalian University of Technology, Dalian, China,
2009. in 2005 and 2008, respectively, where he is currently
[18] S. E. Schulz and D. L. Kowalewski, “Implementation of variable-delay working toward the Ph.D. degree in the Department
random PWM for automotive applications,” IEEE Trans. Veh. Technol., of Electrical and Electronics Engineering.
vol. 56, no. 3, pp. 1427–1433, May 2007. His current research interests include modeling,
[19] Y.-S. Lai and Y.-T. Chang, “Design and implementation of a vector- analysis, and control of dc–dc power electronics
controlled induction motor drives using random switching technique with systems.
constant sampling frequency,” IEEE Trans. Power Electron., vol. 16, no. 3,
pp. 400–409, May 2001.