IEEE TRANSACTIONS ON INDUSTRY APPLICATIONS, VOL. 36, NO.

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DC Ripple Current Reduction on a Single-Phase PWM Voltage-Source Rectifier

Toshihisa Shimizu, Member, IEEE, Yasuhiro Jin, and Gunji Kimura, Member, IEEE
AbstractA novel topology of single-phase pulsewidth modulation (PWM) voltage-source rectifier capable of achieving not only a sinusoidal input current, but also a zero-ripple output current, is presented. The rectifier consists of a conventional single-phase PWM voltage-source rectifier, a pair of additional switches, and an inductor. Hence, the proposed rectifier requires neither a large dc capacitor nor a passive LC resonant circuit. The input current control is achieved by the conventional PWM current control technique. However, dc ripple current reduction control is difficult because one of the switching legs in the dc ripple current reduction circuit is shared with the PWM rectifier circuit. Two control methods, referred to here as the dc C inductor method and the ac inductor method, are proposed for dc ripple reduction, and the characteristics of these control methods are discussed. These control methods are implemented using a microprocessor, and the effectiveness of the circuit is confirmed experimentally. This rectifier has useful applications in uninterruptible power systems and dc power supplies, especially for cases in which the batteries are connected in parallel to the dc line. Index TermsBattery, pulsewidth modulation rectifier, ripple current.

(a)

I. INTRODUCTION HE generation of harmonics and their subsequent propagation into power lines is increasingly a topic of concern for power companies. In order to reduce harmonics on power lines, unity power factor pulsewidth modulatin (PWM) rectifiers are applied to acdc power conversion. However, the single-phase PWM rectifiers have serious defects, such as a low-frequency ripple current that is contained in the dc output current. The reduction of low-frequency ripple current usually requires a considerably large dc capacitor or a passive resonant circuit to be connected to the dc line, as shown in Fig. 1. However, these components tend to increase both the product volume and the cost. In particular, if the batteries are connected to the dc output, most of the dc ripple current flows into the battery, even if previous circuits are used. This occurs because the impedance of the battery is very low compared to that of previous circuits. The low-frequency ripple current results in battery heating, and the temperature rises, thus shortening the lifetime of the battery.
Paper IPCSD 00024, presented at the 1999 Industry Applications Society Annual Meeting, Phoenix, AZ, October 37, and approved for publication in the IEEE TRANSACTIONS ON INDUSTRY APPLICATIONS by the Industrial Power Converter Committee of the IEEE Industry Applications Society. Manuscript submitted for review June 15, 1999 and released for publication May 4, 2000. T. Shimizu and G. Kimura are with the Department of Electrical Engineering, Tokyo Metropolitan University, Tokyo 192-0397, Japan (e-mail: shimizu@eei.metro-u.ac.jp; kimura@eei.metro-u.ac.jp). Y. Jin was with the Department of Electrical Engineering, Tokyo Metropolitan University, Tokyo 192-0397, Japan. He is now with Toshiba Corporation, Tokyo 183-0043, Japan (e-mail: yasuhiro.jin@toshiba.co.jp). Publisher Item Identifier S 0093-9994(00)07605-2.

(b) Fig. 1. Conventional PWM rectifier. (a) Large chemical capacitor method. (b) Series resonant circuit method.

The present paper introduces a novel topology of single-phase PWM voltage-source rectifier and control methods that can achieve not only the sinusoidal input current, but also the zero-ripple output current. The basic concept behind the reduction of the ripple current on this circuit topology involves converting the ripple energy into the magnetic energy in the inductor. Another approach is to store the ripple energy in capacitors [1], [2], [4]. Generally speaking, the magnetic permeability of the magnetic core for an inductor is much larger than the dielectric constant of the films for a capacitor. Thus, storing the energy into the inductor is realized effectively. Especially when the power of the system is large, as is the case with superconducting magnetic energy storage (SMES). Therefore, an examination of methods that can be used to apply the magnetic energy storage element for ripple current reduction in the single-phase PWM rectifier would be useful. In order to prevent an increase in the number of switching devices on the PWM rectifier, the switching devices added to the PWM rectifier for the purpose of reducing the ripple current is limited to one pair of switching legs. As a result, various restrictions apply to ripple reduction and inductor current control. In the present paper, two control methods, the dc inductor method

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Fig. 2. Circuit configuration of the proposed PWM rectifier. TABLE I CIRCUIT PARAMETERS

Fig. 3.

Typical waveforms of the proposed PWM rectifier.

and the ac inductor method, are proposed for storing magnetic energy into an inductor [3], [5]. For each method, the control block diagrams are derived and the ripple reducing characteristics are discussed. For the ac inductor method, a novel control technique is proposed, whereby that the voltage and current signals are expressed in complex form and the control signals are calculated on a rotational frame that is synchronized to input voltage. In the present paper, the ac inductor method is proven to reduce the ripple current more effectively than the dc inductor method.
Fig. 4. Gate signal and switching sequence on the PWM rectifier.

II. MAIN CIRCUIT CONFIGURATION Fig. 2 shows the configuration of the main circuit of the proposed PWM rectifier and Table I shows the circuit parameters. The conventional portion of the PWM rectifier consists of the -phase leg switches , -phase leg switches , , and input ac filter circuit . a dc capacitor , which are referred to The additional leg switches here as -phase leg switches, are connected to two terminals is conon the dc output line, and the additional inductor nected between the junction of the -phase leg switches and the junction of the -phase leg switches. The capacitance of the is small because this capacitor is used only to dc capacitor filter the high-frequency switching ripple current. IGBT modules (600 V/30 A, Fuji Electric) are used as the switching devices, . III. OPERATION PRINCIPLES For PWM both in the rectifier portion and the ripple current reduction portion, a triangular modulation signal having a frequency of 15 kHz is commonly used. In addition, the switching frequency of switches is comparatively higher than the ac input frequency. A. Operation on the PWM Rectifier Portion The switches on the -phase and -phase legs are used for the PWM rectifier operation, and the parameters of the main circuit components are selected in order to provide fast response time so that the input ac current can be controlled sinusoidally. Typical waveforms of -phase control signal , -phase con, input voltage trol signal , triangular modulation signal , and input -phase current are shown in Fig. 3. Here, and are defined as (1) (2) is the effective value of input voltage, is the where effective value of -phase input current, is the phase angle, and is the input power factor angle. , and Fig. 4 shows the detailed waveforms of during one switching cycle. The turn-on signal of is genand , and the turn-on erated based on the comparison of is generated based on the comparison of and signal of . Hence, the on duty ratio of and the on duty ratio of are defined as shown in Fig. 4. The sum of and

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(a)

(b)

(c) Fig. 5. Switching stages of the PWM rectifier (

v >

0). (a) Stage 1. (b) Sage 2. (c) Stage 3.

Fig. 6. Gate signal and operation modes.

is always equal to 1, , because and are con. trolled so as to satisfy the following relationship: , there exist When the input voltage is positive, three topological stages over one switching cycle, as shown in over one switching Fig. 5(a)(c). The average input voltage cycle is given by (3)

Substituting (4)(6), and (2) into (7),

can be obtained by (8)

and, hence, the pure dc current constituent are given by constituent

and ripple current

(9) is the modulation factor, and is the dc output where voltage. , the modulation factor From (1) and (3) and and the duty ratios can be obtained as (4) (5) (6) is the peak value of the modulation factor . where over one switching The average dc output current cycle is given by (7) (10) and on the condition that The typical waveforms of are also shown in Fig. 3. Only the condition of is considered in the following discussion, because a desirable PWM rectifier should achieve high-power-factor operation. B. Operation on the Ripple-Reducing Portion , both -phase In order to reduce the dc ripple current and -phase switches are used. Similar to the rectifier portion, of is defined. There exist four kinds of the on duty ratio , , , switching sequences, , and three switching stages over one switching and cycle in each switching sequence, as shown in Fig. 6. The topo-

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(a)

(b)

(c) Fig. 7. Switching stages in the ripple-reducing portion (

(d)

i > 0). (a) Stage P1. (b) Stage P2, discharging mode. (c) Stage P3. (d) Stage P4, charging mode.

(a)

(b)

(c) Fig. 8. Switching stages in ripple-reducing portion (

(d)

i < 0). (a) Stage M1. (b) Stage M2, charging mode. (c) Stage M3. (d) Stage M4, discharging mode.
In contrast, the current flows from the dc output to on and , and charges the magnetic energy. Thus, stages these stages are referred to as charging mode. The switching condition on P2 is identical to that on M2, and the condition on P4 is identical to that on M4, the operation of charging or disbetween these switching charging the magnetic energy on conditions are exchanged. Taking these operations in to account,

logical stages of the ripple reducing portion over and are shown in Figs. 7(a)(d) and 8(a)(d), respectively. flowing through are freewheeling on The current , , , and . However, the current flows stages to the dc output on stages and , and disfrom charges the magnetic energy. Thus, these stages are referred to as discharging mode.

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the average current flowing form to the dc output during one switching cycle is expressed uniformly by (11) , and the discharging The charging mode means that . The total output current on the mode means that proposed PWM rectifier with ripple control is given by (12) , is selected when , Hence, the charging mode, and such as over the intervals in Fig. 3, and the discharging mode, , is selected , such as over the intervals , when , and in Fig. 3. Finally, by controlling , e.g., the amplitude of so as to cancel the ripple current (13) dc ripple current reduction is achieved. IV. CONTROL METHOD A. Ripple Current Reduction Control Based on the DC Inductor Method acts as the dc inIn this control method, the inductor is mainly ductor. The current flowing through the inductor the dc component, although some ripple current caused by the dc ripple current reduction control is present. is selected as , When the current direction of the operation sequences applicable for this control method are and in Fig. 6. The polarity of can in (11), but be determined only by the polarity of is limited by the amplitude of . Hence, the amplitude of is given by the minimum value of (14) , , during the discharging The maximum current of . Then, the minimum value of mode is obtained when required in order to cancel is evaluated from

Fig. 9. Minimum current inductor method.

and actual current

on

for the dc

a current equal to twice is required for , and inductance should be selected to be as large as possible in order to of . The control block diagram maintain a constant current on based on the dc inductor method is shown in Fig. 10. The upper portion represents the control circuit for PWM rectifier and the lower portion represents the control circuit for the ripple represent the trigger signals for reducing circuit, and and represent those for the ripple-rePWM rectifier and ducing circuit, respectively. For input current control on the PWM rectifier, the current reference signal, , is obtained by , and the output of the multiplying the input voltage signal, dc voltage regulator. The input current, , is obtained from the current detector. Since one of the inputs to the P-regulator, , is and the other is , the output of the P-regulator is obtained by is the control signal . The control signal by 1. The gate signals are obtained multiplying and and from the modulation with the control signals . the triangular carrier signal , is the For ripple-reducing control, the ripple current, . In order to maintain the dc cominput to the P-controller and the ponent on the inductor current, the inductor current are the inputs to the P-controller . The reference signal is obtained by summing up the outputs of control signal , , and , and the gate signals and are obtained from the modulation with the carrier signal. B. Ripple Current Reduction Control Based on the AC Inductor Method acts as an ac inductor, In this control method, the inductor and the frequency of the inductor current is equal to the ac input frequency of the PWM rectifier. The operation stages applicable in Fig. 7, and in for this control method are Fig. 8. on this method is also given The compensation current is determined both by by (11) and, hence, the polarity of and that of . Furthermore, the polarity of must occur the phases of the zero crossing of , and . Therefore, the current of , in the present study, is selected to be the ac current with a phase and as shown delay of so as to have a zero crossing at shown in in Fig. 3. The remaining zero crossing of

(15) In the same manner, the maximum current of during the charging mode is obtained when is evaluated from minimum value of , , . Then, the

(16) The calculated example of the required minimum current and the practical dc current ratio of ratio of necessary for canceling are shown in Fig. 9. It is noted that

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Fig. 10.

Control block diagram for the dc inductor method.

Fig. 3 is achieved by setting the zero crossing of at . For the above-described conditions, switching sequences and are used during the phases to , and and are used during the to . phases is also given by (14), and the The minimum value of is calculated as follows. detailed expression of : The circuit is operated on the charging . In order to satisfy the condition , mode at of is selected and the minthe switching sequence is evaluated using (16). imum value of : The circuit is operated on the dis. In order to satisfy the current charging mode at of , the switching sequence is selected and is evaluated using (15). the minimum value of : The circuit is operated on the charging . Then, the switching sequence is mode at selected. The maximum current of during this charging mode . Then, the minimum value of is obtained when is evaluated using (15). The polarity of is negative, . : The circuit is operated on the . Then, the switching sequence discharging mode at is selected. The maximum current of during . Then, the this discharging mode is obtained when is evaluated using (16). The polarity minimum value of is negative, . of The calculation example of the required minimum current and the practical ac current ratio of ratio of necessary for canceling are shown in Fig. 11. The current is a kind of ac current which has zero crossing at ratio , and , and is a sinusoidal current

Fig. 11. Minimum current inductor method.

and actual current

on

for the ac

which has zero crossing at and . The peak amplitudes and on this method are also approximately of half that on the dc inductor method. Thus, the operation loss on the circuit is decreased. and the reIn order to generate an adequate ac voltage sultant current , which is necessary for performing the ripplereducing operation, complex phasor diagram expressions for current and voltage, as shown in Fig. 12, are introduced. A complex voltage expression based on Eulers theorem is defined as (17)

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Fig. 12.

Phasor expression of voltage and current. (a)

In the present study, the actual instantaneous voltage is defined as (18) . where represents the rms value of Assuming that the waveforms of the voltage and current in this circuit are sinusoidal, the steady-state phasor expressions on and are expressed as shown in Fig. 13(a) and (b), respectively. In these figures, the voltage phasor inis represented by , hence, the current phasor duced to is represented by with the phase lag of flowing though from . The values of and are calculated as follows. The average voltage during one switching cycle induced to is given by

(b) Fig. 13. Phasor expression of the ac inductor method. (a) Phasor diagram in the case when the operating phase angle is =6. (b) Phasor diagram in the case when the operating phase angle is =4.

(19) denotes the modulation factor of where denotes the phase lead angle against , and phase, (20) As mentioned previously, is expressed as and so has a phase lag of from , (21) Substituting (20) and (21) into (11), the average current during one switching cycle is given by (22) In order to satisfy the ripple reducing condition that is exmust be pressed by (13), (23) Comparing (22) and (23), the following conditions are obtained: (24) (25) Substituting (26) into (25),
Fig. 14. Phasor diagram on the rotation frame.

whereas

is given by (26)

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Fig. 15.

Control block diagram for the ac inductor method.

Hence,

is given by

hence, the calculation of the ecuted easily from (28)

-phase control signal

is ex-

(30) is approximated to because the Note that, in (30), input ac filter on the PWM rectifier is usually designed to cause less voltage drop and phase rotation. for -phase control is then given by The control signal (31) Based on the previous discussion, the control block diagram for the ac inductor method is drawn as Fig. 15. The upper portion of the diagram shown in Fig. 15 is identical to that shown in Fig. 10, and the lower portion denotes the -phase control block for the ripple-reducing operation. The current control loop that includes a low-pass filter is used to reject the dc comfor and prevent the magnetic saturation of . ponent in V. EXPERIMENTAL RESULTS A 600-W reduced-scale prototype of the proposed PWM rectifier, shown in Fig. 2, was implemented and tested. The microprocessor-based controller (Pentium 200 MHz processor), using the control algorithms described in the previous section is used. The sampling cycle of this machine is about 100 s. The operation waveforms on the conventional PWM rectifier, without the ripple-reducing portion in Fig. 2, are shown in

is calculated easily from the operating condition Note that and , the circuit parameter , and . On the practical circuit, some residual ripple current, which is caused by a series resistor component on the inductor and the switching devices, will exist. In order to eliminate this ripple is defined current completely, an annexational phasor as shown in Fig. 13. The absolute value of this phasor is calculated as an instantaneous value from (29) is the controller gain, and is the ripple where is current reference. Furthermore, the phase angle of delay of so as to prevent the effect of selected as a on the condition of zero crossing of , as shown in Figs. 13(b) and 3. Since the calculation of control signals is performed by microcomputers, the calculation algorithms should be made simple in order to reduce calculation time. Here, the rotation frame, frame, which synchronizes to the -phase voltage, is defined as shown in Fig. 13(a). All of the phasers are drawn as the frame, as shown in Fig. 14 and, constant phasers on the

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Fig. 16.

Experimental waveforms of the conventional PWM rectifier.

Fig. 18. Experimental waveforms of the proposed rectifier with ac inductor method.

Fig. 17. Experimental waveforms of the proposed rectifier with dc inductor method.

Fig. 16. The input current waveform of is controlled to sinusoidal, and the power factor is also controlled to unity. However, , of which the amplitude is about 3 the ripple component, A(peak), is contained in the dc output current. Fig. 17 shows the operation waveforms on the proposed PWM rectifier under the control of the dc inductor method. The is controlled to sinusoidal, which is identical input current to that on the conventional PWM rectifier. The average value is 20 A, but a slight ripple of the current flowing through current caused by the charge and discharge action of the is present. The ripple current magnetic energy in

contained in the dc output current is reduced to 1 A(peak). Then, the ripple current is reduced to about 1/3 compared to that shown in Fig. 16. The performance of ripple reducing control is increased. However, is improved if the control gain on the stability of the ripple-reducing control is worsened. Fig. 18 shows the operation waveforms on the proposed PWM rectifier under the control of the ac inductor method. is also controlled to sinusoidal. The ripple The input current current, in this case, is reduced almost to zero, and the inductor is completely controlled to sinusoidal. Only a very current small amount of high-frequency ripple current remains, but it will not cause a load on circuit. Fig. 19 shows the operation waveforms when the instantain Fig. 18 is cut out on trial. The ripple neous control of is increased compared to that in Fig. 18, and the current are slightly distorted. Not only the calculated waveforms of phasor control, but also the instantaneous phasor control, are proven to effect the ripple-current reduction. Fig. 20 shows experimental results of ripple current with respect to output power for each control method. For the conventional PWM rectifier, ripple current increases in proportion to the input current. Low ripple current characteristics are achieved using both the dc inductor method and the ac inductor method, but the ac inductor method has better ripple-reducing characteristics. The ripple current for the dc inductor method is alis selected as most identical to that when the capacitance of 41 600 F. Hence, the dc ripple current on the proposed circuit is 1/416 of is smaller, even if the required capacitance for that on the conventional PWM rectifier.

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method, were proposed and the corresponding control block diagrams were derived. The proposed control methods are realized by using a microcomputer-based controller. The 600-W prototype PWM rectifier can be used to measure and evaluate not only the input current characteristics, but also the ripple-reducing characteristics. Like the conventional PWM rectifier, the proposed circuit conserves the input current characteristics, and reduces the ripple current on the dc output. Furthermore, the novel control method, referred to as the ac inductor method, can eliminate the ripple current completely. The proposed PWM rectifier is useful for uninterruptible power systems and dc power supplies, especially for cases in which the batteries are connected in parallel to the dc line. REFERENCES
[1] T. Shimizu, T. Fujita, G. Kimura, and J. Hirose, A unity power factor PWM rectifier with DC ripple compensation, Trans. Ind. Electron., vol. 44, pp. 447455, Aug. 1997. [2] F. F. Zapata, L. D. Salazar, and J. R. Espinoza, Analysis and design of a single-phase PWM current source rectifier with neutral leg, in Proc. IEEE IECON98, vol. 1, 1998, pp. 519524. [3] T. Shimizu, Y. Fujioka, and G. Kimura, DC ripple current reduction method on a single phase PWM voltage source converter, in Proc. PCCNagaoka97, vol. 1, 1997, pp. 237240. [4] T. Shimizu, T. Fujita, G. Kimura, and J. Hirose, Unity power factor PWM converter with DC ripple compensation, in Proc. IEEE IECON94, vol. 1, 1994, pp. 657662. [5] Y. Fujioka, T. Shimizu, and G. Kimura, DC ripple current reduction method on a single phase PWM voltage source converter (in Japanese), presented at the Technical Meeting on Semiconductor Power Conversion, Tokyo, Japan, Nov. 26, 1996, Paper SPC-96-118. [6] T. Kitano and M. Matsui, A single phase PWM converter which has an active filter function on both the input and the output (in in Japanese), in Rec. Nat. Conv. IEEJ, 1995, p. 77. [7] K. Xing, F. C. Lee, and D. Borojevic, Active compensation of the pulsating current in a distributed power system, in Proc. 1998 VPEC Seminar, 1998, pp. 93100. [8] M. F. Rahman and L. Zhong, A curret-forced reversible rectifier fed single-phase variable speed induction motor drive, in Proc. IEEE PESC96, vol. 1, 1996, pp. 114119. [9] H. Oishi, H. Okada, K. Ishizaka, and R. Itoh, Single-phase switch-mode rectifier employing voltage-reversal circuit switched with a fixed frequency, Proc. IEEElect. Power Applicat., vol. 144, no. 2, pp. 154160, 1995. [10] J. T. Boys and A. W. Green, Current-forced single-phase reversible rectifier, Proc. IEEElect. Power Applicat., pt. B, vol. 136, no. 5, pp. 205211, 1989. [11] P. N. Enjeti and A. Rahman, A new single-phase to three-phase converter with active input current shaping for low cost AC motor drives, IEEE Trans. Ind. Applicat., vol. 29, pp. 806813, July/Aug. 1993. [12] O. Stihi and O. Boon-Teck, A single-phase controlled-current PWM rectifier, IEEE Trans. Power Electron., vol. 3, pp. 435459, July 1988. [13] M. F. Rahman and L. Zhong, A new transformerless photovoltaic array to utility grid interconnection, in Proc. Int. Conf. Power Electronics and Drive Systems, vol. 1, 1997, pp. 139143. , A single/two-phase regenerative variable speed motor drive with [14] sinusoidal input current, in Conf. Rec. 30th IEEE-IAS Annu. Meeting, vol. 1, 1995, pp. 584590. [15] G. A. Covic, G. L. Peters, and J. T. Boys, An improved single phase to three phase converter for low cost AC motor drives, in Proc. Int. Conf. Power Electronics and Drive Systems, vol. 1, 1995, pp. 549554. [16] J. Sander-Larsen, K. Jespersen, M. R. Pedersen, F. Blaabjerg, and J. K. Pedersen, Control of a complete digital-based component-minimized single-phase to three-phase AC/DC/AC converter, in Proc. IEEE IECON98, vol. 2, 1998, pp. 618625.

Fig. 19. Experimental waveforms of the proposed rectifier with ac inductor method except instantaneous control.

Fig. 20. Experimental result of ripple current versus dc output power.

For a 600-W load, the conversion efficiency of the ac inductor method is 88%, whereas that of the dc inductor method is 80%. flowing through This is because the amplitude of the current for the ac inductor method is smaller and, hence, the resuland switching devices are lower. tant losses on From the previous discussion, the ac inductor method is shown to be a feasible method for the ripple-reducing control on the comprehensive characteristics. VI. CONCLUSIONS A novel single-phase PWM rectifier with dc ripple current reduction has been presented and its operations were formulated. Based on the operating formulas, ripple-reducing control methods, such as the dc inductor method and the ac inductor

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Toshihisa Shimizu (M93) was born in Tokyo, Japan, in 1955. He received the B.S., M.S., and Ph.D. degrees in electrical engineering from Tokyo Metropolitan University, Tokyo, Japan, in 1978, 1980, and 1991, respectively. He joined Fuji Electric Corporate Research and Development, Ltd. in 1980. Since 1994, he has been with the Department of Electrical Engineering, Tokyo Metropolitan University, as an Associate Professor. In 1998, he was a Visiting Professor at VPEC, Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University, Blacksburg, for four months. His research interests include power converters, high-frequency inverters, photovoltaic power generations, UPSs, EMI problems, etc. Dr. Shimizu received a Transactions Paper Award from the Institute of Electrical Engineers of Japan in 1999. He is a member of the Institute of Electrical Engineers of Japan and Japan Society of Power Electronics.

Gunji Kimura (M90) was born in Tokyo, Japan, in 1942. He received the B.S. and Dr. Eng. degrees in electrical engineering from Tokyo Metropolitan University, Tokyo, Japan, in 1966 and 1978, respectively. In 1966, he joined the Department of Electrical Engineering, Tokyo Metropolitan University, where he is currently a Professor. He has been engaged in the field of power electronics. Dr. Kimura is a member of the Institute of Electrical Engineers of Japan.

Yasuhiro Jin was born in Tokyo, Japan, in 1974. He received the B.S. and M.S. degrees from Tokyo Metropolitan University, Tokyo, Japan, in 1996 and 1998, respectively. In 1998, he joined Toshiba Corporation, Tokyo, Japan. His research interests are PWM rectifiers, PWM inverters, and their control methods.