Generalised method of harmonic reduction in a.c.-d.c.

converters by harmonic current injection

A. Ametani, M.Sc, M.I.E.E.J., Mem.I.E.E.E. Indexing terms: Harmonics, Power convertors ABSTRACT The paper describes a general theory for a new method of current harmonic reduction in a.c.-d.c. convertors. The principle of the method is to modify the current waveforms on the d.c. windings of the convertor transformer by injecting harmonic currents at a particular frequency. Experimental results carried out prove that the new method is effective in reducing the alternating-current harmonics, and that it is applicable to any type of convertor.

LIST OF SYMBOLS I, = direct current on d.c. windings = injected harmonic current = 72 I e r cos (k0-/3) = effective value of injected current i r = ratio of I e r and I d , i.e.p = Ier/I* = harmonic order of injected current i r , k = 2m +l(m = 1,2,3,...) = phase angle of injected current i r to firing point of direct current = currents on phases a, b and c of d.c. windings in the case where harmonic current i r is injected = currents on phases A, B and C of a.c. windings = nth Fourier coefficient of current = nth harmonic component of current = effective value of nth harmonic current on d.c. windings = effective value of nth harmonic current on a.c. windings

This paper describes a general theory, applicable to any type of convertor and able to use not only 3rd harmonic current but also 3nth-order harmonics (n = 1, 3, 5,...), and experimental results are shown which corroborate the theory. PRINCIPLE AND THEORETICAL ANALYSIS OF NEW METHOD Principle 2.1 The fundamental principle of the new method of reducing current harmonics is to modify rectified-current waveforms which comprise many kinds of current harmonics on d.c. windings of a convertor transformer by an active circuit so that those harmonic components are reduced. Fig. 1 shows the principle. Curve a is a rectified-current waveform on d.c. windings and curve b is a waveform which consists of every harmonic component of the rectified current shown in curve a. If the current of curve b with an opposite phase is injected in the current (curve a), the waveform (curve c) is obtained, which is a fundamental current. Namely, by injecting a current which has a particular frequency and a waveform being similar to Fig. 1 b in d.c. windings of a convertor transformer, harmonic components of currents on

p k /3/k \
A> B>

n>bn in ne

Subscripts d r a b c A B C n for for for for for for for for for direct current on d.c. windings injected harmonic current phase a on d.c. windings phase b on d.c. windings phase c on d.c. windings phase A on a.c. windings phase B on a.c. windings phase C on a.c. windings nth component

1 INTRODUCTION The current waveform on a d.c. winding of a convertor transformer is discontinuous, and includes normal harmonic components which are transferred to the a.c. winding of the transformer. Harmonic filters which consist of passive elements are used to reduce the undesirable current harmonics. This paper describes a new method of reducing harmonics.1*2 The fundamental principle of the method is to modify the current waveform on the d.c. windings of the convertor transformer by injecting a harmonic current at a particular frequency. The injected currents flow through the closed circuit which consists of the current source and the d.c. windings, and thus the original current waveform on these windings is deformed by the injected current. By deforming the current waveform to a suitable shape, the harmonic components of the current on the a.c. system can be reduced. A recent paper has described techniques for the reduction of harmonics by means of 3rd-harmonic current injection4 which is suitable for a particular type of convertor. Paper 6701 P, first received 3rd February and in revised form 5th April 1972 Mr. Ametani is at present with the Department of Electrical & Electronic Engineering, University of Manchester Institute of Science & Technology, PO Box 88, Sackville Street, Manchester M60 1QD, England, and is on leave of absence from the Department of Electrical Engineering, Doshisha University, Kyoto 602, Japan PROC.IEE, Vol.119,No. 7, JULY 1972

Fig.l Principle of new method a Rectified current b Current waveform which consists of all harmonic components of a c Current waveform composed of a and b with opposite phase
857

the d.c. windings can be reduced, and thus harmonic components of alternating currents can be reduced. Application methods of the new harmonic reduction result in composing closed circutis with each phase of d.c. windings of a convertor transformer and current sources which have a particular frequency, and injecting the currents in the closed circuits from the current sources. Fig. 2 shows the basic circuits. Fig. 2a is applicable to star-connected d.c. windings and Fig 2b is applicable to both star- and delta-connected d.c. windings of a convertor transformer. It is obvious that the new method is applicable to any type of convertor independently of types of valve arrangements. A 3-phase current source or three single-phase current sources are required for the basic application, as shown in Fig. 2. It is also necessary to install control circuits which control current flows from the current sources and cutoff circuits of direct currents which interrupt rectified currents on the d.c. windings. As for the current source, a synchronous generator may be suitable for a high-power convertor and an electric power amplifier may be suitable for a low-power convertor. co n ver t or-tra nsf ormer d.c. windings a.c-d.c convertor

windings, the waveform i a shown by the full line in Fig. 3 is given. i r = -/2 I e r cos (kfl - 0) = - J2pld cos (k0 - 0) The current waveform i a is expressed by the equation
0 < 9 < 2TT/3

(1)

*a = Jd + ^ ( k e - P)} = I d {l - J2p cos (kfl - 0)} U = 0

) f

2TT/3 < 9 < it

Being symmetrical for the intervals 0 ^ 9 < n and IT $ 9 < 2TT, the following Fourier coefficients can be obtained as for current iQ:
n n

4 , f 1 . nw n?r = IH sin cos d 7 Ln T 3 3 P ( 1 . /n + k \ / n +k _\ = \ sin ( v) cos n01 </2|n + k V 3 / \ 3 /

- ^ i _ J _ sint^!!.*)
J2 / n + k \ 3

sinful**-p)
\ 3 /

= i I d ri s i n iEi cos a
7 T Lk 3

p \n = \ c o s J2l3

, 4 T fl . 9 k7T bi, = Irf sin-' a K IT | _ k 3

. l 2k7r /2k7T cos + sin 2k 3 \ 3

Fig. 2 Applications of new method for any type of convertor a Application for convertors whose transformer has starconnected d.c. windings or similar windings b Application for delta- or star-connected windings It might appear as though the injected currents flow into the d.c. circuit, but this is impossible because of the very high inductance of the d.c. reactor. Theoretical analysis on etc. windings 2.2 In the case where a certain current is injected in the d.c. windings of a convertor, the variation of each harmonic component of a current waveform will be analysed theoretically. For the purpose of simplifying the theoretical analysis, it is assumed that the elements of a rectifier are diodes, firing angle and overlapping angle are neglected, and line-smoothing reactors are infinitely large. The broken line in Fig. 3 shows the general current waveform I d on the d.c. windings of a convertor transformer of a 3-phase fullwave convertor under the above assumption. Assuming that the harmonic current i_ which is signified by eqn. 1 is injected to the d.c.

_P_ jl S in0 + A Sin 2k! s l n f e /2 / 3 2k 3 \ 3 n=k Calculated results of the above equation are shown in Fig. 4 for k = 3, 5, 7 and 9, and p is changed with 0 = 0. It is obvious that the harmonic components higher than k are reduced very much with changing p when k = 3 and 9. When k = 3(2m 1), m = 1, 2, 3 , . . . , the above equation is rearranged: J2n2 \ m 4 T . n?r ( \(. a n = I d sin \[ 1 p cos 0 cos n 7 a T 3 n\ n2-k2 7 3. /2k p sin 0 sin b n = - I d sin 3 \ 7T 3 n2 - k 2 (l L (1 In J2n 2 p cos n\ I sinnn /3 . 2 2 n -k / 3 J2k n2 - k 2

x p sin B cos 3 2 >/2 ak = o The general term of the current-harmonic components is obtained in the following form from eqn. 4: i = - Ia sin n 7 H T 2 p l d cos 0

sin H [ I (1
3 Ln\
-I.Fig. 3 Current waveform for d.c. winding of convertor transformer 858 , + 72k

^n2_
n2-k2

\ s.n j /
V } \

,\j
6/f

. . p sin 0 cos

K)l]

i k = pl d sin i p - k (e + =k 3 I \ 6 PROC. IEE, Vol. 119, No. 7, JULY 1972

The following series expresses the current waveform i a on the d.c. windings of a convertor transformer which is shown by the full line in Fig. 3:
(6)

It is evident that the current harmonic components are reduced with some values of p and /3 from Fig. 5. More simplification of eqns. 5 can help to understand the effect of the harmonic reduction. Eqns. 5 can be rewritten in the following form for the condition in which /3 = 0: 1 L J2n2 \ 4 T . n 7 . mi 7 p I d sin sin in = 1 n n \ n2 - k2 / 7 a 7 2 3 x sin < n

n=i

Calculated results of eqn. 5, when k = 3, and p and /3 are changed, are shown in Fig. 5 as for 5th- and 7th-harmonic components.

(7)

110 -

Fig. 4
Calculated results for d.c .winding when p is changed and j9 = 0 a k=3 ' c k = 7

k =9 b k=5 Harmonics: (i) fundamental; (ii) 3rd; (in) 5th; (iv) 7th; (v) 9th; (vi) 11th; (vii) 13th; (viii) 15th; (ix) 17th [Q = effective value of fundamental component with p = 0 ln = effective value of nth-harmonic component
PROC. IEE, Vol. 119, No. 7, JULY 1972 859

Fig. 6 shows the current waveform whose harmonic components are presented by the above equation. It is easily observed from the above equation that the harmonic component i n can be reduced to zero with a certain value of p, if the harmonic order of i n is larger than the harmonic order of the injecting current i r . The explanation mentioned above is for the current waveform on the d.c. windings of a convertor transformer. Nevertheless, similar results can be obtained fundamentally as for the current waveform on the a.c. windings because only phase

and amplitude are different between current waveforms on the a.c. and d.c. windings of a convertor transformer. From the above analysis, the new method of reducing harmonics can be found; i.e. the current harmonics on the a.c. side of an a.c.-d.c. conversion system can be eliminated by injecting the harmonic current whose harmonic order is 3(2m 1), m = 1, 2, 3 , . . . on the d.c. windings of a convertor transformer. Special attention should be paid to the fact that current injection causes generation of the current harmonics whose

30

20
x o

10

0-2

0-4 P a

0-6

0-8

10

02

0-4

06 P b

0-8

1-0

Fig. 5 Calculated results for d.c. winding when p and p are changed (k = 3) a 5th-harmonic component b 7th-harmonic component Io = effective value of fundamental component with p = 0

harmonic order is the same as the injecting current on the d.c. windings, as shown in Fig. 4. This may be regarded as the biggest defect of the new method. There are, however small such harmonics on the a.c. side. The waveform on the a.c. windings is, in fact, different from that on the d.c. windings shown in Fig. 6, and is very similar to a sinusoidal wave. The reason why no such harmonics occur, and for the difference, is that the above analysis has been done only for one phase of the d.c. windings and the mutual action between the three phases has been neglected. More details are given in the following Section. Approximate waveform on a.c. windings under an assumption Fig. 7 shows the currents on each winding of a convertor transformer for 2TT/3 < d < n; i.e. no current flows on phase a of the d.c. windings. In this case, the currents on each d.c. winding are given by the following forms, assuming that a 2. 3

Fig. 6 Analytical current waveforms for d.c. windings when k = 3 and 0 = 0

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Fig. 7 Currents on transformer windings for 2n/3 6 < tr PROC. IEE, Vol. 119, No. 7, JULY 1972

positive sign means the current flows from the neutral point to the end terminal of the windings: ia = in = -U + U

/ I

. n i t

nit

i n = L ( s i n n it a \ n 3
+=

cos 3
cos (

p f 1 1 sin /n + k \7 i 7 72 Ln + k \ 3 /

/n + k \ 3

it nB I

\ /

If the above currents are induced into the a.c. windings with no variation, it can easily be found that Kirchhoff's law is not satisfied at the neutral point of the a.c. windings. Therefore, it may be recognised that a certain current flows on phase A of the a.c. windings in spite of no current on phase a of the d.c. windings. This current will be calculated under an assumption that the currents on phases B and C are induced with no variation from phase b and c of the d.c. windings:
1

\ sin (

( . /n-k

n cos [

/n-k

n it + 8)

n-k|
-2 si
4
x

I 3
6 /
cos

/
\ 6

\ 3
'TT +

/
0

/ 1

. o n7r

27r/3 < 9 < it

(8)

Kirchhoff s law must be satisfied at the neutral point of the a.c. windings: U + i n + in = 0
(9)

. / n + k \ . / 5(n + k) _\ | o 2 sin it) sin i 'it /3 } \ 6 / \ 6 /

, + 1 \ . /n-k i sin I \ \ . /n-k it I sin ( , it +

n-k On substituting eqns. 8 into eqn. 9, the unknown current iA is given by the form iA = - 2 i r 27r/3 < 9< it (10)
kit

. /n-k sin 2

IT

. /5(n-k) , o s i n ^ it + B

cos The above equation means that the current 2i r flows on phase A for the time interval 27r/3 < 9 < it when there is no 2k7r /2k7r current on the corresponding phase of the d.c. windings. One cos should note that the above result is based on a certain assump2J2k 3 V 3 tion and does not give an exact conclusion for the currents kit 5k77 on each phase of the windings. About half the current of 2 s i n cos eqn. 10, in fact, was measured for phase A in experiments. The reason for half the current is saturation of the transformer current. This current may compensate the current kit which is being injected in the two phases b and c of the d.c. windings; in other words, the current iA is introduced from the other two phases b and c of the d.c. windings. The current iA for 2it/3 < 9 < it modifies the situation of zero current as 2 72k shown in Fig. 8. Thus the total current waveform becomes . k?r very similar to a sinusoidal wave for the reasons given sin n=k above; this is the reason why small kth harmonic component, which is the same component of the injecting current, is generated on the a.c. side if k = 3(2m 1). If k = 3(2m 1), m = 1, 2, 3 . . . , the above equation is rewritten as

00

4 . rnt 1 L a n = T\A sin \ 11 n d it 3 I n l , + 3 72k

n2

p cos B) cos 7 3
3

n7T

_ .

k2

. _ . nit p sin H sin 8 nit - 3

nit \ 1

n
3 72k

n^ I

e
Fig. 8
Analytical current waveform for a.c. winding when k = 0 and 8 = 0 ajc = bjc = O

p sin B cos n= k

nit

The general term of the current harmonic components is obtained in the following form from eqns. 13:
x

Let us analyse the harmonic components on the a.c. windings. The current waveform iA on phase A is expressed by the form
0 < 9 < 2TT/3 27T/3 < 9 < it

4 , . n7r n ~ ~ M s i n "T~

. sin

n7r f"l A ~^~ I V

n2-k2 U =U + (11) -2ir

+
3v/2k

p cos pi sin
p sin 8 COS
n * k

On considering the symmetrical waveform for the intervals 0 < 9 < it and it < 9 < 2it, the following Fourier coefficients can be obtained as for iA. PROC.IEE, Vol. 119, No. 7, JULY 1972

ik = 0

n=k

The equation shows no kth harmonic on the a.c. windings.

861

3 3.1

PRACTICAL APPLICATIONS OF NEW METHOD Practical applications

The basic applications shown in Fig. 2 may not be put to practical use because of some additional circuits, as explained in Section 2.1. Therefore, a more practical application method is required. Fig. 9 shows the actual circuits which are reduced from the basic circuits shown in Fig. 2. Current sources are reduced to a single-phase source and no control circuit is required. Current flows from the source are automatically controlled by rectifier elements of a convertor and the single-phase current source behaves like a 3-phase source or three single-phase sources.

The arrangement of Fig. 9(iv) is the same as that proposed by Bird et al. 4 They have proposed harmonic reduction by 3rdharmonic current injection. Their method, however, can be applied only for a double-star convertor which has an interphase transformer or equivalent convertors to the doublestar convertor. Only the 3rd-harmonic current is used for their method because their theory depends on the behaviour of the magnetising current of the interphase transformer. The present method is more generalised than that of Bird et al, and is, in fact, remarkably different in the current waveform used as an injecting current and especially in its applicable range. In the arrangement of Fig. 9(iv), the injecting current flows back through the current source S, the neutral point Nx of transformer V, phase a, rectifier 1, rectifier 5, phase b' of transformer W, neutral point N2 and S when the rectifiers 1 and 5 operate.
3.2 Investigation of injected current

r^CBHIh

v v

The following investigation for the injected current will be obtained from Sections 2. 2 and 2. 3. It is easily recognised from Fig. 4 that the suitable harmonic order of the injected current is 3(2ml)th where m = 1,2, 3 , . . . Whenk = 3(2m1), harmonic components whose harmonic orders higher than k, i.e. that of the injecting current, can be eliminated. The harmonic components whose orders are lower than k increase as shown in Fig. 4d. When k * 3(2m 1), harmonic components higher than k can be reduced slightly, but 3nth-order harmonic components are generated. Thus the most suitable injected current, in practice, for the general purpose of reducing harmonic current components, is the 3rd-harmonic current. In the special case, for example, where harmonic components higher than the 9th order must be eliminated, the 9th-harmonic current is most profitable as the injected current. If only a particular harmonic component has to be suppressed, the injected current must be chosen in the manner described above. When k = 3(2m 1), the optimum values of amplitude p and phase /3 will be determined as follows. An effective value of the nth component on the d.c. windings is given, from eqn. 4 or 5, in the form

I'ne =
n2

(n2

"

k2)cos2

(15)

Fig. 9 Practical applications based on fundamental applications of Fig. 2 (i) 3-phase halfwave rectifier (ii) Diametrical rectifier (in) 3-phase bridge rectifier (iv) 6-phase double-star rectifier L = smoothing reactor or interphase reactor N = neutral point of d.c. windings S = injected current source C = cutoff circuit of direct current

The effective value I ' n e becomes a minimum for p = px and arbitrary 0: \

(V ) J6

L, /) 1 v n / n2
2 2

cos2 2 2 + (n 2 k )cos

0 (16)

at

(n - k )cos 0
J2{k2 + (n2 - k 2 ) c o s 2 0}

for arbitrary 0

I' n e is not negative. Therefore (I'ne^min m u s t t>e zero. Then eqns. 16 become

The operation of the current-injection circuit is explained as follows. As for a 3-phase bridge convertor shown in Fig 9(iii), when rectifiers 1 and 5 conduct, in which case the rectified current flows through phases a and b of the d.c. windings, the injected current i r flows back through the two closed circuits: the current source S, the neutral point of the d.c. windings N, phase a, rectifier 1, cutoff circuit Clt S; and S, N, phase b, rectifier 5, C2, S. When rectifier 5 stops conducting and rectifier 6 begins to conduct, the current which has flowed through the latter closed circuit begins to flow back through the closed circuit: S, N, phase c, rectifier 6, C2, S. Thus the injected current flows back automatically through each closed circuit in which the corresponding rectifiers conduct with no control circuit. It appears as though the injected current flows into the d.c. load circuit, but, the d.c. reactance being large, its inductance behaves for the alternating currents as a high impedance and there is no influence on the d.c. circuit from the injected current. The operations of Fig. 9(i) and (ii) are explained in the manner mentioned above.
862

(I'neWn = at fi =
(17) J2n2 on the d.c. windings. The above equations are on the d.c. windings of a convertor transformer. If we adopt the approximate calculation for the currents on the a.c. windings of the transformer in Section 2. 3, the following relationships are obtained:
P = dr
2

n2-k2

k 2 + (n2 - k 2 )cos 2 0 (n2 - k 2 )cos 0

cos*

at p.

3J2{k + (n 2 -k 2 )cos 2
(Ine)min = 0 at 0 = 0 p = n 2 -k 2

for arbitrary 0

on the a.c. windings

(18) PROC. IEE. Vol. 119, No. 7, JULY 1972

Eqns. 17 and 18 give the values of p and /3 with which the nth-harmonic component is reduced theoretically to zero. The nth harmonic may be reduced near to zero with the value of p between (n2 - k2)//2n2 and (n2 - k 2 )/3J2n 2 with /3 = 0, because eqns. 17 is for the d.c. windings and eqns. 18 is a very approximate value for the a. c. windings under the assumptions given in Section 2. 3. It is easily shown that the most desirable value of j3 is zero. Care must be taken that p is a function of the harmonic order, and it is difficult to determine theoretically the optimum value of p with which all the harmonic components are reduced to the desirable degree. It is observed from the calculated results of Fig. 4a that the suitable value of p is about 0*5.

2 kVA and 180 hz were adapted to behave as constant-current sources for the injected current. With the first, it is possible to control both the amplitude and frequency of the injected current and with the latter it is possible to control the amplitude of the current. Similar data were obtained using the stabilised power source and using the synchronous generator. The following results are for the stabilised power

15

4 EXPERIMENTAL RESULTS The new method of harmonic reduction has been applied for some kinds of convertors, and successful experimental data have been obtained.2'3 The data for a 3-phase bridge convertor and a double-star convertor, which are most important in practice, will be described in the following Sections. For the fundamental investigation, a single-phase stabilised power source of 330 VA, consisting of a power amplifier and an oscillator, and a 3-phase synchronous generator of

10

A
0-2

04

0-6

15

O O x

H1O

A
X
*

Da

0-2

JLa
0-6

Fig. 10 Current waveforms for 3-phase bridge rectifier for harmonic reduction by injection of 3rd-harmonic current (p = 0-53) a Current waveform on a.c. winding of convertor transformer b Current waveform on d.c. winding c Current waveform on d.c. load PROC. IEE, Vol. 119, No. 7, JULY 1972

Fig. 11 Measured results of harmonic components (overlapping angle 15) a On a.c.winding b On d.c. winding Io = effective value of fundamental component with p = 0 ln = effective value of nth-harmonic component A 3th-harmonic component O 5th 7th x 11th D 13th M17th
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source. The phase of the injected current was held at the optimum value for harmonic reduction, i.e. /3 = 0. The diode rectifiers were used as convertor elements and the convertor transformer is star-star connection with no phase difference between the primary and secondary windings, for easy comparison with the analytical results. The current waveform was observed using a camera, and spectra of a series of harmonic components were obtained for various values of p using a wave analyser. The commutating angle was about 15. 4.1 3-phase bridge rectifier by 3rd-harmonic current injection

CONCLUSIONS

A new method of harmonic reduction has been described, and experimental results have been given for its application to a 3-phase bridge convertor and to a double-star convertor. These experimental results agree with the theoretical analysis, and show that the new method is very effective in reducing harmonic components.
10-

The experimental circuit is shown in Fig. 9(iii), in which capacitors are used as the cutoff circuit for direct current and the a.c. windings have a star connection. Fig. 10 shows the photographs of the current waveforms on (a) the a.c. windings, (b) the d.c. windings of a convertor transformer and (c) the current at a d.c. load for harmonic reduction by the injection of the 3rd- harmonic current. Fig. l l a and b shows the values of harmonic reduction by changing p for each component on, respectively, the a.c. windings and the d.c. windings. In the Figures, the ordinates show the amount of each harmonic component divided by the fundamental component and the abscissas show the effective value of the injected current divided by the direct load current, i.e. p. The experimental waveform for the d.c. windings shown in Fig. 10b agrees well with Fig. 6, which is the theoretical waveform. The waveform for the a.c. windings in Fig. 10a is also similar to Fig. 8, which shows the analytical waveforms calculated using the same assumption, and Fig. 10a shows a very small 3rd-harmonic component in the current on the a.c. side. This agrees with the analysis in Section 2. 3. The optimum value of p is about 0#5. These experimental results are satisfactory, and can prove the effectiveness of the new method of harmonic reduction for a 3-phase bridge convertor. 4.2 Double-star rectifier using 9th-harmonic current injection

o
H c H 5

o o 9
#

t I 0-2 P b
X

8
J O-2 P a I
0-4 O

x I
0-4

Fig. 13 Measured results of harmonic components (overlapping angle ^15) a On a.c. winding b On d.c. winding Io = effective value of fundamental component with p 0 In = effective value of nth-harmonic component D 9th -harmonic component O 11th 13th x 17th The following conclusions may be obtained from the theoretical and experimental results: (a) The new harmonic reduction is applicable to any type of convertor. The arrangement of a circuit basically depends only on the type of convertor transformer. (b) Suitable harmonic orders k of an injected current are 3(2m 1) where m = 1, 2, 3, Current harmonics of orders higher than 3(2m 1) are reduced, but those of lower orders are increased. The optimum current will, in practice, be the 3rd-harmonic current. (c) The optimum phase angle (i of an injected current is zero, and the injected current divided by the direct load current (p) is about 0-3 to 0*5. (d) If p is fixed, to correspond to a certain harmonic component, that harmonic component can be reduced to zero. (e) As current sources for injection, a power amplifier is suitable for a low-power convertor and a synchronous generator is suitable for a high-power convertor. The problems remaining are the experimental investigation of grid-controlled convertors, the transient performance, and the economics of this method relative to filtering. 6 ACKNOWLEDGMENTS The author gratefully acknowledges his debt to Mr. Fujimura, with whose assistance the experimental investigations were accomplished, and to T. Machida, N.Ito and K. Murotani for their helpful discussions and advice. The author would like to thank J. Arrillaga and R. Wasley for helpful observations and a critical reading of the manuscript. The author also wishes to thank Prof.K.Tominaga for his continuing guidance and for providing the experimental facilities in the powerengineering laboratory at Doshisha University. 7 1 REFERENCES AMETANI, A., and TOMESTAGA, K.: 'Fourier analyses of current harmonics on a.c. system generated from a . c d.c. conversion system', Science & Eng. Rev. Doshisha Univ., 1971,12, pp. 1-43 AMETANI, A.: Japanese Patent Application 46-057215 AMETANI, A.: Japanese Patent Application 46-066801 BIRD, B. M., MARSH, J. F., and MCLELLAN, P. R.: Harmonic reduction in multiplex convertors by triplefrequency current injection', Proc.IEE, 116, (10), pp.1730-1734 PROC. IEE, Vol. 119, No. 7, JULY 1972

The experimental circuit is shown in Fig. 9(iv), and the star connection is used as an a.c. winding of a convertor transformer. Fig. 12 shows the current waveform for (a) the a.c. windings and (b) the d.c. windings, respectively. Fig. 13 shows the harmonic reduction by changing p for the a.c. windings and for the d.c. windings. It is obvious that the harmonic currents higher than the 9th are reduced more effectively for k = 9 than for k = 3. It is, however, a disadvantage that the harmonic components lower than the 9th increase wiih the injecting current. Therefore, the current injection of the 9th-harmonic component is suitable when it is necessary to eliminate current harmonics higher than the 9th.

Fig. 12 Current waveforms for double-star rectifier for harmonic reduction by injection of 9th-harmonic current On a.c. winding On d.c. winding
864

2 3 4