Harmonic reduction using a novel multipulse AC-DC converter

Purpose For direct torque controlled induction motor drives, an effective solution to eliminate harmonics is the use of multipulse alternating current (AC)-direct current (DC) converters. Many researchers have used different configurations based on 24- and 30-pulse rectifications for improved power quality. However, the total harmonic distortion (THD) of AC mains current with these topology is more than 4 per cent when operating at a light load. For mitigating the THD problems observed in the input currents, Abdollahi propose 40-, 72- and 88-pulse AC-DC converters, while the power quality enhancement was the main concern. It is known that by increasing the number of pulses further results in reduction in current harmonics, but this is accompanied by an increase in cost and complexity. In this context, the purpose of this paper is to design a new delta/hexagon transformer based 36-pulse AC-DC converter for harmonic reduction without increasing the cost and complexity. Design/methodology/approach The proposed converter consists of two paralleled 18-pulse AC-DC converters involving a nine-phase shifted uncontrolled diode bridges with an interphase transformer circuit. Findings In this paper, the proposed scheme is simulated by matrix laboratory (MATLAB)/SIMULINK considering different loading scenarios. The simulation results show that the proposed scheme improves the power quality indices and satisfies the The Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE)-519 requirements at the point of common coupling. Also, a laboratory prototype is implemented using the proposed design, and the experimental results confirm the simulation results under different loading conditions. Originality/value The proposed solution is a tradeoff among the pulse number, the transformer platform, the complexity of the scheme and the cost. The proposed scheme has an optimized configuration in this regard.