IEEE TRASSACTIONS ON MAGNETICS
3 SEPTEMBER, 1966
anderenFallewird die Schaltdrossel XD, nocheinmal
kurzzeitig gesattigt, und es fliesst ein Ausgleichstrom von
dem Kondensator C3 auf den Kondensator C1.
I n Fig. 6(d)istder zeitliche Verlauf derThyristor-
spannung uT1dargestellt, die durch die Betriebsgleich-
spannung U , und die Spannungen an den Kapazit,aten
bestimmt wird. DieserDarstellungist zu entnehmen,
dass den Thyristoren
nach jeder Stromfuhrung eine
Schonzeit T , gewahrt wird, die etwas grijsser ist als die
halbePeriodendauerderSchwingung a m Ausgang des
Wechselrichters.
Es ist zu erwarten, dass nach diesem Prinzip der Fre-
quenzvervielfachung mit den heute verfugbaren Thyris-
toren Schwingkreiswechselrichtmerfuretwa 25 kHz mit
einer Ausgangsleistung bis 100 kW gebaut werden konnen.
BEI VARIABLER SPANNUNG
BETRIEBSVERELALTEN
Wegen der konstanten Spannungszeitflache der Schalt-
drossel andert sich in den beschriebenen Schaltungen die
Ummagnetisierungszeit T , unddamitder zeitliche Ab-
stand zwischen den einzelnen Stromhalbwellen annahernd
proportionalzumKehrwertderBetriebsgleichspannung
U,. Die Folgefrequenz nimmtdahermitder Betriebs-
gleichspannung zu und erreicht, ihren Nennwert nur bei
der Nennspannung. Dieses Verhalten ist bei der Anwen-
dung der Wechselrichter zur induktiven Erwarmung kein
Nachteil. Es bewirkt lediglich, dass sich die Leistung der
A New Type Single-phase to Three-phase Converter
I<. HISANO, H. KOBAYASHI,
Abstract-The authors have developed a new type single-phase to
3-phase electric power converter, voltano converter. With simple
construction it produces fairly well-balanced 3-phase output power
from a single-phasepower source a t high efficiency. The construction
and the characteristics of the voltano converter are presented; the
characteristics show that the efficiency is more than 90 percent for a
2kVA voltano converter. The operating mechanism of the converter
is explained, presenting a vector calculator, which gives, not only
various circuit quantities in steady-state operation, but also an in-
tuitive understanding of the operating mechanism.
Xanuscript received April 1, 1966. This paper was presented a t
the 1966 INTERMAG Conference, Stuttgart, Germany, April 20-22.
The work reported here was supported by the Yawata Iron and
Steel Company, Ltd., Tokyo, Japan.
K. Hisano is with the Yawata Iron and Steel Co., Ltd., Tokyo,
Japan.
H. Kobayashi is with the Departmentof Applied Physics, Waseda
University, Tokyo, Japan.
T. Kobayashi is with the Departmentof Engineering and Spplied
Science, Yale University, New Haven, Conn.
643
VOL. MAG-2, KO.
Wechselrichter nicht wie ublich quadrat.isch mitder
Betriebsspannung andert.
Sol1 die Folgefrequenz konstant bleiben, wenn die
BetriebsspannungzurEinstellungderWechselrichter-
leistung verandert wird, dann konnen die Schaltdrosseln
durch Transduktoren ersetzt werden. Diese erlauberl eine
von der Betriebsspannung weitgehend unabhangigeRege-
lung der Folgefrequenz.
SCHLUSS
Grundsatzlichbesteht die Moglichkeit, an Stelle der
sattigbaren Drosselnauch im Lastschwingkreis Thyri-
storen als Schalter einzusetzen. Die sattigbaren Drosseln
habenjedochden Vorteil, dassihreAnwendung fur
hohere Frequenzen nichtin denl Masse durch Grenzdaten
eingeschrhkt wird, wie das bei den Thyristoren durch die
Freiwerdezeit, die maximal zulassigen Einschaltverluste
und die maximal zulassige Anstiegsgeschwindigkeitder
positiven SperrspannungderFall k t . Ausserdem haben
die sattigbaren Drosseln wegen der kurzen Ummagneti-
sierungszeit eine kleinere Baugrosse als die fur die gleiche
Schaltleistung erforderliche Thyristoranordnung.
LITERATUR
[I] R. Thompson, High-frequency silicon-controlled-rectifier ai-
nusoidalinverter, Proc. IEE (London), B. 110, s. 647-652,
April 1963.
[2] B. D. Bedford and R. G. Hoft, Principles of Inverter Circuits.
New York: Wiley, 1964.
AND T. KOBAYASHI
INTRODUCTIO~-
A T THE 1965 INTERMAG Conference, the VOLTAN,
a new type voltage regulator was presented.l It has
remarkable characteristics, one of which is to produce
balanced 3-phase electricpower from a single-phase power
source. I n thisapplication,however, 1) theoutput ca-
pacity decreases to about 2 / 3 of that in the 3-phase to 3-
phase operation, 2) the phase sequence of the output is
indeterminate, and 3) the efficiency is not high enough (no
greater than 80 percent for a 2kVA VOLTAN).
Latelytheauthorshave developed a new apparatus
called tbe VOLTANO COKVERTER, which overcomes thesede-
fects at the sacrifice of constancy of the output voltage.
Withgreatly simplified construction, it producesmore
output power than the same size VOLTAN.
644 IEEE TRANSACTIONS ONMAGNE'TICS SEPTEMBER

Fig. 1. Practical circuit of single-phase to 3-phase converter.

Fig. 2. Construction o f the ,saturable reactor used in theexperiments. Fig. 3. Characteristics of the single-phase t o 3-phase converter.
Dry winding: 1.4 mm 320 turns. (a) Load characteristics. (b) Waveforms of output, voltage.

CONSTRUCTI~X OF THE VOLTANO CONVERTER

The construct,ionof the v o L r r A N o CONVERTER is shown in

Fig. 1, in which XR is a 3-phase saturable reactor whose
windings are wound on a 3-legged core, C is a capacitor in-
serted at the boosted side (4.2 times boosting). It is noted
that' thelinear reactors included in the voLwa are absent,
and only one capacitor acts as ferroresonant capacitance.
Figure 2 shows the dimensions of the 3-legged core,
which is made of interleaved lanlinat'ions of transformer- 41 42
grade silicon-iron weighirlg about 22 kg. The weight of
+ +
42 = 0

copper windings is about, 8.5 kg. (which corresponds to 1.5

kVA dry-type transformer). where C is thc capacity of the capacitor, +2, andarc

the flux values in each leg of the saturable-reactor core, N

CHARACTERISTICS O F THE \'OLTAPiO CONVERTER
is the number of turns of winding on each leg, and ul, a3,
Figure 3(a) shows the variation of output voltages when and u5 . . . . arc coefficients to approxirnate the mag-
aconstant. single-phase voltage (2OOV) is applied to the netization curve of t8he reactor. One can get steady-state
converter and thebalanced 3-phase load current is varied. solutions by introducing the following transformation:
Note broken scale on ordinatreaxis.
Figure 3(b) shows waveforms of the output voltage in
the c,ase of V,, = 200 volts andIrl = I,,= I,,= 4 amperes.
The efficiency obtained is moretha,n 90 percent. The
maximum temperature rise is about EiO'C, after a 6-hour
heat run. The apparatus testedis not designed specifically
for the converter; if it ~vercso, it could be used up to 6-
ampereloadcurrent (2l<VA), allowing the 15-percent where Q, and C$,are c,orljugat,e complex numbers, the
variation of output voltag: in each phase. moduli and the arguments of which represent thc amplitude
a,nd the phase angle of thc flux of positive sequence,
E X ~ L A X ~ ~ TOI F~ N
THE OPERATIKG l'fECHANIS;\I OF T H E
respectively; similarly the moduli and the arguments of
CONVEKTER conjugate complex numbers & and 4, represent the smp-
The circuit shown i n Fig. 1 is equivalent, to 16g. 4(a) in litude and thephase angle of the flux of negativc sequence,
its fundamental operation. Then the circuit, equal,ions are respect,ively. However, the nzathenlat,iaal analysis is
given by complicated and does not give a intuitive underst-anding of
1966 HISANO ET AL.: SINGLE-PHASE TO THREE-PHASE CONVERTERS

(c)
Fig: 5 . Vector diagrams of yoltage and current(a) ~ R Sto f ~ ~ ,
I,, apd I , f fLI, (b) VRst o I , + d locus of vector IRS.
I ~ , l . a ~ lthe
(c) VSTt'o IL*and thelocus of vectclr Isr.

(dl
has a certain value Vl(O>), IC iI,l +
mill be & and j , , will
Fig. 4. Circuit modifications of the converter. (a)Fundamental
circuit. (b)Circuit in whichsaturable reactori s transformed Y to A.
(c) Modified circuit, from (b). (d) Modified circuit from (e).
be Ox.
Similarly, Fig. 5 ( c ) shows that, when vTTS
has a cer-
tain value Vl'(OG'), I s T will be 0;'. The loci of the vectors
I,,and IsT in bothfigures may be drawn for various values
the operation, so the authors have developed a graphical of load resistance, for example, 120 percent, 100 percent,
meOhod as follows. 80 percent load, and so on. The loci of IC,iLl, and iLz are
The circuit shown in Fig. 4(a) can be transformed to fixed for a given device.
Fig. 4(b) by a star-delta transformation of the saturable The condition of steady-stateoperationis thatthe
reactor. This transformation does not, give any consider- current vectorf,, must equal the vector I,,, and the vector
ation to higher harmonics and, hence, it confines one to sum of vR, v,,
and must equal t'he vector V R T , the input
obtaining the fundamental-wave component only. Figure voltage.
4(b) can thenbe redrawn as Fig,4(c). SR3' and ~ 3 'can be To get t,he steady-statesolutions of vRs
and V S T ,
neglected since the impedance of the voltage source is t,he authors made a vector calculator as shown in Fig. 6.
negligible, giving the circuit of Fig. 4(d). Figure 6(c)shows the const'ruct'ion of the vector calculator,
I n Fig. 4(d)vRS and PsT represent the vectors of the which is made of two transparent plastic sheets I and I1
voltages across terminals R and S and terminals S and T , andatransparent plastic strip scale as shown in Figs.
respectively, and vzT t'he voltage across terminals R and 6(a),6(b),and6(d), respect,ively. On sheet I, curve 1
T , i.e., the supply voltage. j c , I,,, I,,, I,,, and I T 2 represent represents the relationbetween V R s and I C + I,,, and
t.he vect'ors of the currents flowing through C, SRI, SR2, curve 2 the locus of the vector IC iLzIrl.On sheet 11, + +
1'1, and TZ, respectively. I,, I, +
= ILl+ I,, and I,, = curve 3 represents the relation between vsT rL,,
and and
IL, + IT2. curve 4 the locus of the vector f L , +
i,. Note that here
Figure 5(a) shows vect'or diagrams of I?, I,,, and I , + the curve Ob' of Fig. ;(e) is reversed symmetrically about
I L l vs. TiRs. Vector diagrams of I R s and ISTare shown in the abcissa axis. A guiding slot is made along the ordi-
Figs. 5(b) and 5(c), respectively. I n both cases, load is as- nate axis of each sheet. On the strip scale there are five
sumed to be resistive. Figure 5(b) shows that, when p,, holes a, b, e, d, and e, the distance between hole a and any
646 IEEE TRANSACTIONS ON MAGNETICS SEI'TEMBER

Fig. i . Load characberistics, esperirnent,al and calurh.t,ed.

tively. Ordinarily this mill have been done by repeating

the procedure a few times. Then the voltage vectors pRs
and 7f, are given by the vectors S R and T3,respectively.
It is important to note that the repeat'ed procedure is the
graphicalapplication of the Itmeration Method, which is
comnlonly used in nonlinear mathematics.
This calculation is not sufficient to determinc whethcr
or not, the steady-state solutions are stable. I n pract'ice,
however, thc calculations agree fairly well wit'h the experi-
II mental results as shown in Fig. 7. This figure shows load
characteristics of the circuit of Fig. 4(c). For the circuit of
Fig. 4(aj or Fig.1, st,ar-connected saturable reactors can be
transformed to delta-connected sat]urable reactors, since
the 3-phase saturable react'or is made of a 3-legged core.
Fig. 6. Vector calculator. Thus, by t8hevector calculator, one ca,nget much informa-
tion about the convert'er, that is:
1) The value of each-phsse output vokage for various
one of the others corresponding to a certain value of V R T . load resjst'ances
All scales in the calculator are normalized. 2 ) The variation of each-phase output volt,age due to
It will be shown now how to achieve the steady-state the mriation of source voltage
solutions of PES and VTST by means of the calculator. 3 ) Thevariation of each-phase output,voltage when
First, sheets I and I1 are pivoted at t'heir coordinateorigins both load resistance and source voltage are changed
so t'hat they can rotate freely around origin X. Next, hole 4) Thevariation of each-phase output'voltage for
a of the strip scale is screwed to the slot of sheet I at a various power factors
point R and one of the other holes, say e, to the slot of 5) The variat'ion of converter cl1aract)eristics wit'h
sheet, I1 a t a point T , t,he length corresponding to various core material.
a given supplyvoltage VET.The following procedure is
From the aboveinformation one get useful results as
done bythe eye. Perpendicularsaredrawnfrom the
fol1o.il.s:
intersecting point, M of curves 2 and 4 to the ordinate
axes of sheets I and 11, the feet of the perpendiculars a) vEs increases slightly and T ,idecreases consider-
being H and H', respectively. Also perpendicularsare ably as the load becomes smaller
drawn from the ordinate axes at points R and T , t,he b)The voltagedrop of V s T for alight load canbe
points of intersection of the perpendicularswith curves reduced by connecting a smaller capacitancc t'han C in
1 and 3 being N and N', respect'ively. Finally, thepositions parallel to X&,
of R and T are adjusted so that K H and MH' may equal c) If the power fact,or of the load is lagging, it is wcll to
A and NTT, respectively. To do t,his, first the position of
% connect acapacitor in pa,rallel to each-phase saturable
R is adjusted so t'hat%x may equal K H . Next the position reactor to compensate for the lag of the power factor.
of T is adjusted so that F T may equal m, (which will Otherwise, tmhevolt,age variat'ion will be larger.
break the equality of N R and F H ) . Then returning to R,
tBheposition of R is corrected so that mayagainequal
Am, (which will break t,he equality of N'T and CONCLUSION
slightly). Turning to T , t,he position of 2' is corrected so The proposed VOLTANO C O N V E ~ T E I L has a very simple
that, T T may again equal a6lr'. This procedure will be cxmstrukion, composed of a 3-phase saturable reactor and
~

repeated until N R and hFT equal M H and M H ' , respec- a capacitor, and yet it can supply fairly well-bala.nced 3-
IEEE TRANSACTIONS ON MAGNETICS NO. VOL. MAG-2, 3 SEPTEMBER, 1966

phase output power. I t will bc put

to practical use widely ACKNOWLEDGMENT
where the requirement for balancing of output voltage is Theauthorsto express theirsincere gratitudeto K.
not so severe (for instance, no greater than 15 percent).Sugiyama for his helpwith the experiments and tal-
h graphical method of calculation has been presented. culations performed in this paper.
Not only does it makecalculations simple, butit also
makes the mechanism of oDeration clear. Moreover. REFERENCE
the

An Analysis of the Frequency Tripler

T.HASUMI, M. TADOKORO, AXD H. KASAHARA

Abstract-This paper deals with an analysis of the fundamental connection, from the point of view of the circuit stability
circuit of a frequency tripler, constructed with saturable reactors. and the outputvoltage waveform, it is desirable to use the
In the analysis, the equation of the circuit is directly obtained by
using the approximate expression of the characteristics of the reactor
core of the ordinary transformer sheets as the reactors.
cores. The mechanism of the tripler is quantitatively analyzed by The magnetizingcharacteristics of theordinary non-
the solution and itscriterion. The resultsof the analysis are inexcel- oriented core can be sufficiently approximatedby the
lent agreement with the experiment. power series of 5th order.Therefore, the authors intro-
duce the nonlineardifferentialequat,ionsbyusing the
INTRODUCTION approximate equation. The mechanism of the frequency
tripler is analyzed by the solution and its criterion. Also,
W HEN a 3-phase voltage is applied to a load which
consists of nonlinearelementsconnectedin
the third harmonic wave appears on its neutral point. By
star,
the analysis can explain the phenomena occurring in a 3-
phase ferroresonance circuit.
Especially, the analysis, in which the characteristic of
making a zero-sequence circuit, the third harmonic power the conductance of the reactor is expressed by a power
can be obtained. If the nonlinearelementsarereactors series, gives good results.
with a saturable core, the jumping phenomenaof voltages
and currents occur in the zero-sequence circuit under cer- [a],[4]-[6
FUNDAMENTAL EQUATION [l], J
tain conditions, which depend mainly on the capacitor of
The schenlatic diagram inFig. 1 shows the fundamental
the circuit. To use this phenomenon as afrequency t,ripler,
circuit of the tripler. In the figure, terminal a, b, and c are
theauthors have attemptedtoformulate a differential
the primary side andconnect to the source of 3-phase.
equation byusing a certainapproximak expression for the
On the other hand, terminald and e are the secondary side
magnetizing characteristics of the reactor. The reactance
and supply the voltage of the triple frequency to a load.
and the conductance of the reactor have nonlinear charac-
C , L, and G are the capacitance, the inductance, and the
teristics, therefore it is necessary to fornlulat,e the differ-
conduct,anceof the circuit, respectively. From Fig. 1, the
entialequationunderconsideration of the nonlinearity.
following equations are obtained:
If the nonlinearity of the reactance is approximate as a
cubic equation, the equation of the circuit is reduced [3]. iu + + i c + nl[C(Ga + +
ib @b Gc)
Experiments show this equation qualitatively explains the
phenomenon, but is not sufficient to analyze that quanti-
tatively. That is, the cubic equation is not sufficient to
G((Pu + + +1 (Pb (PC) (qu f (Pb + (PC)] = 0 (l)

approximate the characteristics of the real cores. A power and

expression of higher order bhan the cubic is required to
apply the analysis to the design of the frequency tripler. io + n2 [Co(Gu + Go + Gc) + Go(& + + + @b (PC)

Whenafrequencytriplerisconstructedbythiscircuit 1
- ((0, + f
Lo
J 0 pa PC) = (2)
Manuscript received March 29, 1966. This paper was presented
at the 1966 INTERMAG Conference, Stuttgart, Germany, April where n is the number of turns of the inductor coil and p
20-22. is the magnetic flux in the core, and subscripts (0,b, c) dis-
TheauthorsarewithTokyo ElectricalEngineering College,
Tokyo, Japan. tinguish the phases.
647