A Modified Valley-Fill for Harmonics Reduction in a Three-Phase Synchronous Generator with Six-Pulse Rectifier Load

A. Hiendro1, M. Anwari2 and M.I. Hamid3 Department of Electrical Engineering, Tanjungpura University 2 Electrical Engineering Department, Umm Al-Qura University, Saudi Arabia 3 Faculty of Electrical Engineering, Universiti Teknologi Malaysia, Malaysia
1

In this paper, a modified valley-fill technique is applied to improve non-sinusoidal output currents and voltages of a rectifier loaded synchronous generator. An electric circuit-based model for the synchronous generator is built and carried out into computer simulations along with the valley-fill and rectifier circuits in order to determine the valley-fill circuit components values. Simulation and experimental results for the current and voltage waveforms both before and after employing the valley-fill circuit are presented. It is shown that the proposed valley-fill circuit reduces significantly major harmonics of the synchronous generator output current and voltage, while the other higher order harmonics are eliminated completely. Besides that, the valley-fill circuit also smoothes the dc output of the rectifier. Key Words: rectifier, synchronous generator, total harmonic distortion, valley-fill.

1. Introduction A rectifier loaded synchronous generator has been studied for many years [1-4]. The system generally used is a three-phase synchronous generator with six-pulse rectifier load. All the studies either through simulation or experimental have shown that the rectifier load deforms the voltage and current waveforms at the generator terminals. The harmonics associated with the operation of the rectifier loaded synchronous generator are the main disadvantages. The harmonics may produce mechanical oscillations due to torque pulsation and heating effects. The pulsating torque will lead to damages while the heating effects will reduce the generator life. The valley-fill (VF) circuit, firstly introduced by Spangler in 1988 [5], has the most application in a single-phase rectifier as a power factor corrector [69]. In the proposed work, a modified valley-fill (MVF), extension of the conventional valley-fill, is developed and applied to reduce the harmonics in a three-phase system. A model compatible with the SPICE based program is built to estimate the MVF component values. Both computer simulation and experimental are carried out to show the performance of the MVF in reducing harmonics of the output voltage from the generator and the input current to the rectifier
_______________________ Correspondence: Ayong Hiendro, Department of Electrical Engineering, Tanjungpura University, Jalan Jendral Ahmad Yani, Pontianak 78124, Indonesia. email: ayongh2000@yahoo.com

2. Modified Valley-Fill Model The proposed MVF circuit as shown in Fig. 1 is inserted after the three-phase synchronous generator.

Fig. 1 MVF in three-phase circuit.

The scheme of the MVF circuit consists of capacitors (C), diodes (D) and resistors (R). Each component contributes in improving the voltage and current waveforms at the generator terminal. The effective value of the equivalent capacitance in Eq. (1), combined capacitance of C7, C8, C9 and C10, is changing throughout the input voltage period.

Ceff = (C7 / / C9 ) + (C8 / / C10 )

(1)

The effective capacitance has the largest value during the discharging period and prevents the output voltage from falling quickly and lengthens the conduction time of the diodes D1-D6. On the other hand, the effective capacitance has the smallest value during the charging period and makes the input current smaller. The diode D12 serves to provide a path for C8 and C9 charged in parallel and the diode D14 provides a

path for parallel charging C7 and C10. The capacitors C7 and C10 are charged in series with C8 and C9, and discharged through D11 and D15 in parallel. The diode D13 is inserted to prevent C7 and C10 from discharging through C8 and C9. The capacitors C1 to C6 assist to maintain the conduction time of the input current by providing a path for the input current to flow into the MVF circuit before the generator terminal voltage rises above the MVF circuit voltage and hence reduce the generator output current distortion. The resistors R4 and R5 are used to suppress current distortion by restraining and smoothing the peak diode charging current. Further, the resistors R1, R2 and R3 are inserted between the junctions of (D1-D6) and (C1-C6) will remove the charging spike at the cross-over points and enhance the quality of the input current to the rectifier.
3. Synchronous Generator Model

Cos ( a ) Cos ( a - 2 3 ) Cos ( a + 2 3 ) K ( a ) = 2 3 Sin( a ) Sin( a - 2 3 ) Sin( a + 2 3 ) (4) 1 1 1 2 2 2

results in the voltage equation in d, q, and 0-axis as

vq -rs v 0 d vo 0 = v fd 0 0 0 0 0 0 -rs 0 0 0 0 0 0 -rs 0 0 0 0 0 0 rfd 0 0 0 0 0 0 rkd 0 0 iq 0 id 0 io . 0 i fd 0 ikd rkq ikq

q d o 0 + + p fd 0 kd 0 0 kq d q

(5)

where,

q = ( Lls + Lmq + Llm )iq + d = ( Lls + Lmd + Llm )id +

Lskq ikq Lsfd i fd +

3 2

(6)
Lskd ikd

(7) (8) (9)

o = Lo io fd = ( Llfd + Lmfd )i fd + L fdkd ikd

kd = ( Llkd + Lmkd )ikd + L fdkd i fd + kq = ( Llkq + Lmkq )ikq +
Fig. 2 Three-phase synchronous generator model, a = t.
3 2 3 2

Lskd id
2

(10) (11)

Lskq iq +

Lsfd id

For a balanced, symmetrical and sinusoidal distributed stator winding (as seen in Fig. 2), the voltage equation for a three-phase synchronous generator is specified by v abc R s v = fdkdkq 0 0 i abc + R r i fdkdkq abc p fdkdkq (2)

An equivalent electrical circuit representation of Eqs. (5)-(11) is shown in Fig. 3. The current controlled voltage sources (CCVSs) are defined by
Vd 1 = Vq1 = Vq 2 =
3 2

Lskq ikq

(12) (13) (14) (15) (16)

Vd 2 = ( Lls + Llm + Lmq )iq

3 2

Lskd ikd Lsfd i fd

and the flux linkage is defined by

abc Ll = fdkdkq 0 0 i abc L s + Llr i fdkdkq LT sr L sr i abc (3) L r i fdkdkq

Vq 3 = ( Lls + Llm + Lmd )id and the mutual inductances are

M 1 = (3 / 2)1/ 2 Lskd

(17) (18)

Performing Parks transformation from abc to dq0 reference frame,

M 2 = (3 / 2) Lsfd
1/2

M 3 = (3 / 2)1/ 2 Lskq
M 4 = L fdkd

(19) (20)

Fig. 5 Output current waveforms with MVF, both experimental and computer simulation.

Fig. 3 Three-phase synchronous generator equivalent circuit.

4. Simulation and Experimental Results The three-phase synchronous generator parameters used in the simulations and experiments are: rated power = 3kVA, 220/380V, 50Hz, stator resistance rs = 13.8Ohm, d-axis inductance Lmq = 53.2mH, q-axis inductance Lmd = 31.9mH, rotor field inductance Lfd = 4.57H, stator self inductance Lls = 10mH and rotor field resistance Rfd = 45. The MVF parameters obtained from the simulations and then used in the experiments are: C1 = C2 = C3 = C4 = C5 = C6 = 1F; C7 = C10 = 232F, C8 = C9 = 116F, and R1 = R2 = R3 = R4 = R5 = 5.

Fig. 6 Output voltage waveforms without MVF, both experimental and computer simulation.

Fig. 4 Output current waveforms without MVF, both experimental and computer simulation.

The simulation and experimental results in Figs. 4-7 show very good agreement with each other. The current waveform (as seen in Fig. 4) is distorted by odd harmonics (n = 5, 7, 11, 13, 17, 19, 23 and 25) before applying the MVF. The third and other triplen harmonics are cancelled because of the nature of the three-phase system. The waveform is dominated by the fifth and seventh harmonics and the current total harmonic distortion (THD) is 22.35%. Introducing the MVF into the circuit eliminates all the 11th, 13th, 17th, 19th, 23rd and 25th-order current harmonics completely, while the fifth and seventh harmonic are reduced significantly. In this case, the current THD improves drastically from 22.35% to 2.40%. Figures 6 and 7 present the output voltage

waveforms before and after applying the MVF, respectively. The THD of the voltage generated by the synchronous generator is decreased from 10.66% to 5.24% after the MVF has been employed. The MVF cancels the 17th, 19th, 23rd and 25th-order harmonics in the voltage waveform, while the 5th, 7th, 11th and 13th harmonics are suppressed to lower levels.

5. Conclusion The computer simulation and experimental results confirm that the MVF can be applied to suppress harmonics in a six-pulse rectifier loaded synchronous generator. Both the THD of the input ac current to the rectifier and the output ac voltage from the synchronous generator are significantly decreased when the MVF is inserted to the circuit. Besides that, the MVF has proved its capability to smooth the output dc voltage of the rectifier. References
[1] P.K. Dash, R.W. Menzies, and R.M. Mathur, Digital simulation of rectifier loaded synchronous machine, Journal of Electric Power Components and Systems, Vol.1, pp.281-294, 1977. [2] W. J. Bonwick, Voltage Waveform Distortion in Synchronous Generators with Rectifier Loading, in IEE Proceedings, Vol.127, Pt. B, No.1, pp. 13-19, Jan. 1980. [3] M. Weiming, H. An, L.Dezhi, and Z. Gaifang, Stability of a Synchronous Generator with DiodeBridge Rectifier and Back-EMF Load, IEEE Trans. on Energy Conversion, Vol.15, pp.458-463, Dec. 2000. [4] Y. Qing, M. Weiming, W. Xusheng and S. Junzhong, Simulation Study on the Stability of Three-Phase Synchronous Generators with Simultaneous AC and Rectified DC Load, in Proceedings of the Fifth International Conference on Electrical Machines and Systems, ICEMS, Vol.1, pp.587-591, 2001. [5] K.K. Sum, "Improved Valley-Fill Passive Current Shaper," in Proceedings of International Power Conversion Intelligent Motion Conference, pp.43-50, Sep. 1997. [6] J. Spangler, B. Hussain, and A. K. Behera, Electronic Fluorescent Ballast Using Power Factor Correction Techniques for Loads Greater Than 300 Watts, in Proceedings of IEEE Applied Power Electronics Conference, pp.393-399, 1991. [7] M.H. Kheraluwala and S.A. EL-Hamamsy, Modified Valley Fill High Power Factor Electronic Ballast for Compact Fluorescent Lamps, in Proceedings of IEEE Power Electronics Specialists Conference 95, pp.10-14, 1995. [8] G. Chae, Y.S. Youn, and G.H. Cho, High Power Factor Correction Circuit using Valley ChargePumping Circuit for Low-Cost Electronic Ballasts, in Proceedings of IEEE Power Electronics Specialists Conference 98, pp.2003-2008, 1998. [9] D.D. Lu, Analysis of an AC-DC Valley-Fill Power Factor Corrector (VFPFC), ECTI Trans. on Electrical Engineering, Electronics and Communications, Vol.6, No.2, pp.23-28, Aug. 2007.

Fig. 7 Output voltage waveforms with MVF, both experimental and computer simulation.

Furthermore, the dc output voltage waveform of the rectifier is presented in Fig. 8. The MVF is capable to smooth the dc voltage output, besides reducing the THD of ac current and voltage input to the rectifier. In this case, the dc ripple is reduced from 13.79% to 5.27%

(a)

(b)
Fig. 8 DC output voltage waveforms from the rectifier, (a) without MVF, (b) with MVF.