A PASSIVE INPUT CURRENT WAVESHAPING METHOD FOR
THREE-PHASE DIODE RECTIFIERS
A.R. hasad* P.D. Ziogas**
* MPB Technologies Inc. ** Dept. of Electrical Engineering
1725 North Service Road Concordia University
Trans-Canada Highway 1455 De Maisonneuve Blvd. W.
Dorval, Quebec Montreal, Quebec
Canada H9P 1J1 Canada H3G 1M8
Tel.: 514-683-1490 Tel.: 514-848-3091
In this paper a passive waveshaping method for a three-
phase diode rectifier (Fig. 1) is presented. It is shown that
application of the proposed passive method yields significantly
higher input power factor, lower input current distortion factor,
lower input rms current and a lower total volt-ampere (VA) rat-
ing of the reactive components than the conventional three-
phase diode rectifier (Fig. 2). Relevant input and output
current waveforms, component ratings, and power factor
values are derived. Different modes of operation are investi-
gated as a means of improving performance. Finally predicted
results are verified experimentally on a laboratory prototype
unit.
I Introduction
For medium to high power applications, rectification of ac
utility power has been dominated by three-phase diode
rectifiers with an LC output filter shown in Fig. 2. This
approach has the advantage of being easy to design, easy to
implement and service, and typically more reliable than any
other method. By maintaining a constant current, I , through
the inductor Li a high overall input power factor (0.45) can be
obtained. However, in order to maintain the current Io con-
stant, a very large filter inductor, L i , is required. Moreover,
harmonic analysis of such an input current waveform ( I . Fig.
3 ) clearly shows the presence of large fifth and sevena’har-
monic components which can be unacceptable in many operat-
ing environments. Strict harmonic standards to be imposed by
the utilities and the size of the filter inductor, L i , makes this
scheme unattractive especially for aerospace, communications,
and high voltage DC transmission applications. Consequently,
some form of harmonic filtering is necessary to remove or
attenuate these (fifth and seventh) harmonic components from
the input current, I , , and to improve the harmonic component
of the overall input power factor. Improving the input power
factor by connecting a capacitor at the input terminals has
some disadvantages including:
(i) low efficiency because of the large rms values of the
rectifier input current;
(ii) input ac voltage distortion because of the rectifier’s
high peak currents.
This paper addresses the analysis and design of a three-
phase diode rectifier which uses a tuned L-C parallel tank to
eliminate specific ac line current harmonics (Fig. 1). As a
result the diode rectifier draws high quality input current
waveforms from the ac source and exhibits neither of the
above mentioned disadvantages. Moreover, the proposed
diode rectifier system maintains not only high displacement but
also high harmonic input power factor values while reducing
319
S.Manias***
*** Dept. OfElectrical Engineering
National Tech. Univ. of Athens
42,28 October street
Athens 10682
the total reactive volt-ampere (VA) component ratings as com-
pared to the conventional diode rectifier system (Fig. 2).
2. Conventional Diode Rectifier
The conventional diode rectifier system consists of a
three-phase ac source, a diode rectifier, and an LC filter.
Moreover, in a three-phase rectifier circuit each diode (Fig. 2)
has a maximum conduction period of 120°. Under n o d
operating conditions only two diodes will be conducting at any
time. One is from the D ~ D, ~ and
, D~ group and the other is
from the D4, D ~ and
, D group. Based upon the instant at which
the steady-state rectiier output current, I , goes to zero, the
rectifier system shown in Fig. 2 has the fo%owing three possi-
ble modes of operation:
(i) Discontinuous Mode I : The bridge rectifier operates
in the discontinuous mode I if the steady state output
current I is discontinuous and goes to zero before
A0
at =-.
3
(ii) Discontinuous mode I1 : The bridge rectifier
operates in the discontinuous mode I1 if the steady
state output current lo is discontinuous and goes to
K
zero at W t > -.
3
(iii) Continuous mode (iii) : In this case the bridge
rectifier steady state current lo never goes to zero.
Moreover the rectifier operating mode depends upon value of
the filter inductance, Li, and the DC bus voltage, V L .
2.1 Rectifier Analysis
In this section the rectifier is analyzed under steady-state
conditions. The derived expressions are subsequently used to
obtain the necessary information for rectifier design. The con-
verter is analyzed under the following assumptions:
(i) the fonvard drop and reverse leakage currents of the
diodes are negligible;
(ii) the filter components are ideal;
(iii) the three-phase ac source is ideal;
(iv) the filter capacitor (CO)is assumed to be sufficiently
large so that the output load voltage, V L , is a ripple-
free constant dc voltage;
(v) The load is modeled as a variable resistance since
the effect of high frequency ripple is negligible as
per assumption (iv).
 A C
SOURCE I 360 HZ
TUNED
1- R E -

Fig. 1: Three-phase ac-dc diode rectifier with proposed passive filter topology

RC SOURCE

Fig. 2: Three-phase ac-dc diode rectifier with conventional passive filter topology

Moreover, the input three-phase ac rms phase voltage, E, is 1.0
pu and the rated output power is 1.0 pu.
The diode-rectifier waveforms (Figs. 3-5) in the steady
state condition are determined by using a digital computer
simulation package (SPICE). Depending upon the value of Li
the rectifier operates in one of the modes described in the pre-
vious section. However a large filter inductor ( L i ) is r e q u i d
in the continuous conduction mode to yield a high input power
factor. The input power factor of the diode rectifier is C d C U -
lated from the following expression.

320
(a)
2 rJ [) ,J - - - - - -+-- - ----.---
---- +. _..__
-+ _______ t
..
..
..
.+
..
..
..
+.
..
..
..
+.
..
. ...

i.......+......+.......+......-c......+......+......+ .......t......1
"5 2101s 21- 214M 216.5 21es 2- 2228s 2248s 2 m n

TIME TIME
rect'tiCr
Lld\e!llme run 06/24/90 11.27;21
80A .......+......-+ .......+......-+.
......+......+......~ ~ ~ ~
1 ~4 0 A~ -run: -
u-~L*,/llm -
05/24/90 ~ 11:27:21
~ . 8
'hreC-phasC rcct'fisr Temcrnturc: 27.0
. . . 7
I i. a I

40A!

OA f I
I
I - (
I
'
'
, '
I

~ D; i-q-;
- 4 y
;
;
/, ,:,

,
.%
. '.
I
I
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
'
. . . . .

i u t , ut, "l,

a ~ d t e . ~ i i m pun
e 06/24/90 11: 27: 21 Three-phsse rectifier lemerature: 27.0

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Conventional diode rectifier (Fig. 2) simulated

Fig. 3:
waveforms in discontinuous mode I.
(a) Input ac phase voltages.
(b) Input ac line voltages.
(c) Input current ( I k )and its spectrum.
(d) Rectifier output current ( I , ) and its spectrum.

is the phase angle between the input voltage E , and

$1
current I, 1.
Moreover, the Input current distortion factor is given by
Input Current Distortion Factor = -4 -
FREQUENCY
r
1.
la .1
= ,/x2
vn=5
Power Factor = (1)
Using (1) the variation of the input power factor with Li
to deliver 1.0 pu output power is shown in Fig. 6. Evidently,
the maximum input power factor lies in the continuous conduc-
tion mode. The variation of the dc bus voltage with Li for a
where 1.0 pu output power is also shown in Fig. 6. Thus from Fig. 6
Ih,,,is the amplitude of the nfh harmonic component of the value of Li which delivers 1.0 pu output power at max-
current Ih . imum input power factor is found to be 0.8 pu.

321
 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
20A/ j

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .+

0.UIII 0.WI 1.m 1.Wl 2.0W 2.W1

i--U
-
3.MM 3.Y11 4.MII

FREQUENCY

Fig. 4: Conventional diode rectifier (Fig. 2) simulated

waveforms in discontinuous mode 11.
(a) Input current (I, ) and its spectrum.
(b) Rectifier output current (I,) and its spectrum.
2.2 Rectifier Output Filter 2.3 Component Ratings

At the maximum input power factor the value of Liwhich

delivers 1 . 0 pu output power is 0.8 pu. The amplitude of the From the aforementioned assumptions and the derived
sixth order voltage harmonic component across the rectifier analytical expressions the voltage and current rating values of
output filter capacitor (CO)is given by the various system components are found at maximum input
power factor (VL = 2 . 3 3 ~ and ~ ) when Li has a value of 0.8 pu.
Io .6
The average current (Id,o) through the rectifier diode under this
'L.6 =- (3) condition is given by
M O B
Moreover, the allowable output voltage ripple can be defined 1
by Id,o = - j I , ( ~ t ) d ~ t = 0.142 p u
100*vL.6(nns) cl
Ripple % = (4)
V L .o The rms current (Id,m) through the diode is given by
Substituting the above equation in (3) the value of the capaci- 1, ,rm
tor is --
Id,rm -
fi

~H
'O0*'0,6
CO =
fi*VLaO* 6* W* (Ripple %)
Id.rm -
- =0.243 p u (7)
4

322
 l0Ai

30Ai . . . . . ..........
I

20A ...............

10A ii
il . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
. . . . . . . . . . .

FREQUENCY

Fig. 5: Conventional diode rectifier (Fig. 2) simulated

waveforms in continuous mode.
(a) Input current ( I h ) and its spectrum.
(b) Rectifier output current ( I , ) and its spectrum.

The peak current (Idpcak)

through the diode is given by

Idpeak = 4 9 = 0.451 PU (8)

where the peak forward voltage of the diode is 2.449 pu and

the reverse blocking voltage of the diode is 2.449 pu
The rms value of the current through Li is 0.43 pu and the peak
value of the c m n t through Li is 0.451 pu. Moreover, the
volt-ampere (VA) ratings of the reactive components are
defined as follows: The dc inductor rating is
w
W L"A = Vq,,*I,@,ak) (9)
0
k and lobeak) are the peak values of the voltage
J Where, V,.
Contlnuom mode across Li &?)the current through Li . The capacitor rating is

i t I L T I N
~~
P . U .
and the total VA (TVA) is
Fig. 6: Variation of input power factor and dc bus voltage
(V,) withLi.

323
 The VA rating of the filter inductor, Li, and the value of Value : 0.06 * 306.65 = 18.4 pF
the output filter capacitor (assuming 5-percent ripple) are cal-
culated using (9) and (5). The variation of total VA (TVA) of
the reactive components with respect to L . is shown in Fig. 7. 2.5 Experimental Results
From Fig. 7 the value of TVA required to deliver 1.0 pu output
power (P,)when Lihas a value of 0.8 is 0.513 pu.
To verify the predicted results, a 900 watt experimental
rectifier has been implemented with the following circuit
parameters:
. AC input rms phase voltage (Ebcrm,) = 115 Volts. = 1.0
PU
-
I
1 .1 .2 .3 . 4 . 5 .E .7 . E . S
-,
1
. Angular frequency of the ac source = 377 rad./sec. = 1.0
PU
A - f I N P.U. . Output power = 925 watts = 1.0 pu
Fig. 7: Variation of total VA with Li. . Filter inductor (Li) = 5 mH. = 0.132 pu
Experimental waveforms of the typical rectifier topology
2.4 Design Example shown in Fig. 8 are in good agreement with the simulated
results shown in Fig. 5. The input power factor is calculated as
follows:
To illustrate the significance and validity of the theoreti- . AC input rms current (I, (rm)) = 2.88 Amps. = 0.358 pu
cal results obtained in the previous sections, the following . Load dc voltage (V,) = 272 Volts. = 2.32 pu
design example is presented. The three-phase rectifier has the
following specifications . Load dc current ( I o ) = 3.4 Amps. = 0.422 pu
V , = 208 rms E 1 pu Volts. Using the above information the input power factor is given by
272* 3.4
P, = 5,000 W = 1 pu Watts. Power Factor = = 0.912 (12)
Output voltage (V,) ripple = 5 % 3* 115*2.88
From these values which is in good agreement with the simulated results shown in
5 ,000 Fig. 6.
1 pu Current = -= 24.04 Amps.
208 3. Proposed Passive Waveshaping Method
208
1 pu Impedance = -= 8.65 Ohms
24.04 As shown earlier the input current of a conventional
diode rectifier (Fig. 2) has fifth and seventh harmonic com-
8.65 ponents which are becoming increasingly difficult to tolerate.
1 pu Inductance = -= 23 mH Consequently, the proposed diode rectifier system (Fig. 1) con-
377 sists of an input parallel resonant tank whose inductor and
1 capacitor values are selected so that the input filter presents an
1 pu Capacitance = ~ = 306.65 pF infinite (theoretically) impedance to the sixth harmonic input
8.65*377 current component so that both the fifth and seventh harmonic
components are attenuated simultaneously. The resulting
1 pu Angular frequency = 2rcf = 377 rad./s advantages over the conventional diode rectifier (Fig. 2)
From Fig. 6 the value of the inductor, Li required to include:
deliver 1.0 pu output power is 0.8 pu which is equal to 18.4 (i) high input power factor;
mH. Using the pu values shown in section 2.3 the voltage and
current ratings of the rectifier diode and filter capacitor COare (ii) low input current distortion
as follows: (iii) high efficiencybecause of the low rms value of the
input current;
Rectifier Diode (iv) reduced reactive component sizes;
Average current, Id,o : 0.142 * 24.04 = 3.4377 Amps. (v) improved reliability against short circuit.
RMS current, Id,rm : 0.243 * 24.04 = 5.842 Amps.
3.1 Input Filter Analysis
Peak current, Idped:0.451 * 24.04 = 10.84 Amps.
Peak forward voltage : 6 * 4 * 208 = 509.5 Volts. The nfh harmonic component of the equivalent
impedance of the input parallel resonant filter is given by
DC Filter Inductor Li
xcm
Value of the inductor : 0.8 * 23 = 18.4 mH a,_*-
R M S current :0.43 * 24.04 = 10.337 Amps.
Peak current : 0.45 1 * 24.04 = 10.84 Amps.
=C-
DC Filter Capacitor CO j a L m-i-
n
Peak voltage : 2.33 * 208 = 484.64 Volts. where
360 Hz ripple current, Io.a: 0.027 * 24.04 = 0649 Amps.

324
 X,, is the impedance of the input resonant inductor (Lr,)
at the fundamental frequency.
Xc, is the impedance of the input resonant capacitor
(C,,) at the fundamental frequency.
From (13) the sixth harmonic impedance of the input resonant
filter becomes infinity (theoretically) when

or
1
L , = ___ (14)
A m p . : 2 A/Dlv. 3602cr,
50 \'/Dlv. where w is the angular frequency of the input ac source (Eh).
Based upon the instant at which the rectifier output current
goes to zero the rectifier system shown in Fig. 1 has three pos-
sible modes of operation:
(i) Discontinuous mode I : The bridge rectifier operates
in the discontinuous mode I if the steady state output
current (I,) is discontinuous and goes to zero before
A
wr = -.

t -
HERTZ
&
3
(ii) Discontinuous mode I1 : The bridge rectifier
operates in the discontinuous mode I1 if the steady
state output current I , is discontinuous and goes to
A
zero at Of > 7 .
(iii) Continuous mode III : The bridge rectifier operates
in the continuous mode if the steady state output
current (I, ) never falls to zero.
Depending upon the rectifier operating mode either two or
three diodes will be conducting at any given time. In the con-
tinuous mode the maximum conduction period of the diode is
more than 120,. Moreover the rectifier operating mode
depends upon value of the filter inductance (Lra)and the DC
bus voltage (V,).
3.2 Rectifier Analysis

In this section the rectifier is analyzed under steady-state

conditions. The derived expressions are subsequently used to
obtain the necessary information for rectifier design. The con-
verter is analyzed under the same assumptions as outlined in
section 2.1. Moreover, the input three-phase ac rms phase vol-
tage, E, is 1.0 pu and the rated output power is 1.0 pu.
The diode rectifier waveforms (Figs. 9-1 1) in the steady

nm tI L state condition are determined by using a digital computer

simulation package (SPICE). Depending upon the value of Li
the rectifier operates in one of the modes described in the pre-
vious section.
Using (1) the variation of the input power factor with L,,
to deliver 1.0 pu output power is shown in Fig. 12(a). Evi-
UERTZ dently, the maximum input power factor lies in the continuous
conduction mode. The variation of the dc bus voltage with L,,
Fig. 8: Conventional diode rectifier experimental for a 1.0 pu output power is shown in Fig. 12(b). Thus from
waveforms.
Fig. 12 the value of Lr which delivers 1.0 pu output power at
Input ac phase voltage, input current ( I k )and maximum input power 'factor is found to be 0.4 pu.
its spectrum.
DC bus voltage (V,), rectifier output current 3.3 Rectifier Output Filter
(Io) and its spectrum.
At the maximum input power factor the value of L,,
required to deliver 1.0 pu output power is 0.4 pu. The rectifier
output filter capacitor (C,) value is obtained using (5).

325
 I
................................ i

.* @ 3" ; ....... . .................................

..................................
t
................................ i
.. . .i .. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

TIME F il E 3 U E:l CY
6 O A +.................-.................+.................+............... .
Fig. 9: diode rectifier (Fig. 1) simulated
waveforms in discontinuous mode I.
(a) Input ac phase voltages.
(b) Input ac line voltages.
(c) Rectifier input current ( I k )and its spectrum.
(d) Rectifier output current ( I o ) and its spectrum.
3.4 Component Ratings

From the aforementioned assumptions and derived analyt-

ical expressions the voltage and current rating values of the
various system components at maximum input power factor
~ ) L,, has a value of 0.4 pu are as follows.
(VL= 2 . 2 1 ~ when
-60
950 IWU 10%
....,
i:m The average current (Id,,) through the rectifier diode under this
TlME condition is given by
B
4 O* +
...
...
..t
...
...
.-t
...
...
.+.
...
...
.c-
...
...
.-.
...
...
-..
...
...
*.. .. 1
Id,o = - - J I k ( w t ) d ~ t = 0.151 pu
2z a

The rms current ( I d J m ) through the diode is given by

I, Jmr
Idjm = -
.Iz

The peak current (Idpeok)

through the diode is given by
(a)
60A :
:
FREQUEKCY
-
where the peak forward voltage of the diode is 2.211 pu and
the reverse blocking voltage of the diode is 2.21 1 pu
The rms value of the current through Lrp is 0.361 pu and the
peak value of the current through L IS 0.5 1 1 pu. The rms
value of the current through C, is 0.639 pu and its peak value
is 0.084 pu. Moreover, the ratings of the reactive com-
ponents are defined as

LVA = * n wL, (18)

~

- 2 0---A3--&--0 1 ~

95r 100- :o%l I in- n=l

TIME

326
 . . . . . . .

loom 110m
TIME
~-.---.------------------+-----------------------------------------+
40A;

i R EQ U i i d C Y
FR E Q U E i l i Y
Fig. 10: Proposed diode rectifier (Fig. 1) simulated
waveforms in discontinuous mode 11.
(a) Rectifier input current (I,) and its spectrum.
(b) Rectifier output current (Io) and its spectrum.
Table I
The capacitor rating is Comparative Component Ratings of Three-phase Waveshaping
= Ic(rm~Vc,~rm) (19) Methods
and the total VA (TVA) is
Proposed
TVA = LVA + CVA (20) Conventional Method Passive Method
where ) is the rms value of the current through the capa- (Fig. 2) (F1g. 1)
citor and I is the rms voltage across the capacitor. The Inductor
VA rating o/tK)filter inductor (Lra) and the value of the out- 0.8 0.4
4ilLra 0.339
put filter capacitor (assuming 5-percent ripple) are calculated I . 0.345
(rm ) 0.476
using (19) and (5). The variation of TVA of the reactive com- 0.479
u1.1
ponents with Lla is shown in Fig. 13. From Fig. 13 the value of 0.1 0.04
I , .5 0.019
TVA required to deliver 1.0 pu output power (P,) when L, I. 0.07
has a value of 0.4 is 0.404 pu whereas in case of convention3 Rating 0.513 0.404
diode rectifier its value is 0.513 pu (Fig. 7). Evaluation of Figs. Rectifier
8 and 13 show that the proposed passive diode bridge rectifier Diode
(Fig. 1) requires a smaller total reactive VA to deliver 1.0 pu 0.142 0.15
power. Comparative component ratings in pu of the proposed 0.243 0.240
passive waveshaping method, for the standard diode bridge 0.45 1 0.482
rectifier are summarized in Table I.
Evaluation of Table I shows that the proposed passive Capacitor(Co) 0.06 0.086
rectifier yields a significant reduction in the fifth and seventh 0.027 0.08
l o ,b
input current harmonics and also maintains a higher input Power (PJlphase 1.o 1.oo
power factor, a lower input current distortion factor, a lower Power factor(1) 0.95 0.986
filter inductor value, a lower input rms current, and a lower Distortion factor(2) 0.1418 0.066
total VA rating of the reactive components than the conven-

327
 .s o p ; ..................+.................-.................+.................
smrj Tim
TIME
loom 10%

4 0 4 ........+.......+.......+........*.......-.......*........+.......
.
110n
ANA; -------_----------.----------------
95a
TIME
t 10n loom
-----------------A-----------------+
1
-

3 0 A ,........+.......+.......+........*.......-........+........+.......
I
f
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ' , .+

3041 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
j
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
i
i '
. . . . : . .
.
. . . i
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
t
A
FiliQUENCY
FREOUENCY
Fig. 11: Proposed diode rectifier (Fig. 1) simulated
waveforms in continuous mode.
(a) Rectifier input current (I,) and its spectrum.
(b) Rectifier output current ( I , ) and its spectrum.

+ .1 .2 .3 . 4 .5
L,,
.s
I N
.7
P.U.
.e .9 1
Y-m+f.;i.: .2 .3 . 4 .s .6 .7 .e .9 1
L,, I N P . 'd. Fig. 13: Variation of total VA with L,,
- . 5 -I Dlscontlnuous mode I tional diode rectifier. However, the proposed method also has
1 11 the disadvantage of increasing the average and peak currents
(b) I
&

LD1xonrlnuous mode of the diodes slightly.

~ 1 1, Conrlnuous mode
3.5 Design Example

> i l l
To illustrate the significance and validity of the theoreti-
cal results obtained in the previous sections, the following
design example is presented. The three-phase rectifier has the
following specifications
i
V , = 208 rms = 1 pu Volts.
Fig. 12: Variation of input power factor and dc bus voltage Pr = 5,000 W = 1 pu Watts.
(V,) withL,,.
Output voltage (V,) ripple = 5%
From these values
5,000
1 pu Current = 208 = 24.04 Amps.

328
 the simulated results shown in Fig. 11. The power factor of the
208 proposed rectifier is calculated as follows:
1 pu Impedance = -= 8.65 Ohms
24.04 . Input ac rms phase voltage (Eh(rm))= 115 Volts. = 1.0 pu
8.65 . Input ac r m s current (lia(rmr))
= 13.6 Amps. = 0.35 pu
1 pu Inductance = -= 23 mH . Load dc voltage (V,) = 248 Volts = 2.157 pu
377
. Load dc current (lo)= 16 Amps. = 0.476 pu
1
1 pu Capacitance = - = 306.65 pF Using the above information, the input power factor is given
8.65* 377 by
1 pu Angular frequency = 2xf = 377 rad./s VL *lo
PowerFactor = = 0.978 (21)
From Fig. 12 the value of the inductor, Lra required to 3*Eia (rmr ,*'io ( r m
deliver 1.0 pu output power is 0.4 pu which is equal to 9.2 mH.
Using the pu values shown in section 3.4 the voltage and which is in good agreement with the simulated results shown in
current ratings of the rectifier diode and filter capacitor COare Fig. 12(a).
as follows:
4. Conclusions
Rectifier Diode
In this paper an improved passive input current
Average current, Id,o : 0.151 * 24.04 = 3.63 Amps. waveshaping method suitable for three-phase diode rectifiers
RMS current, Id,rmr : 0.241 * 24.04 = 5.794 Amps. has been presented and analyzed. The analysis has shown that
Peak current, Idped: 0.482 * 24.04 = 11.587 Amps. the proposed waveshaping method (Fig. 1) has the advantages
of higher input power factor, lower input current distomon fac-
Peak forward voltage : 459.88 Volts. tor, lower input rms c m n t , and a lower total reactive com-
ponent VA rating than the conventional three-phase diode
Filter Inductor Lra rectifier (Fig. 2). Relevant input and output current waveforms,
Value of the inductor : 0.4 * 23 = 9.2 mH component ratings and power factor values have been derived.
Finally, key predicted results have been verified experimen-
RMS current : 0.36 * 24.04 = 8.678 Amps. tally on a 5 kVA laboratory prototype unit.
Peak current : 0.51 * 24.04 = 12.28 Amps.
References
Filter Capacitor Cra
Value of the capacitor : 0.046 * 306.65 = 14.196 pF A.W. Kelley and W.F. Yadusky, "Phase-controlled
rectifier line-current harmonics and power factor as a
RMS current : 0.059 * 24.04 = 1.418 Amps. function of firing angle and output filter inductance," in
Peak current : 0.084 * 24.04 = 2.02 Amps. Conf. Rec. 1990 EEE Applied Power Electronics
Conference and Exposition, pp. 588-597.
DC Filter Capacitor CO S.B. Dewan, "Optimum input and output filters for a
Peak voltage : 2.33 * 208 = 484.64 Volts. single-phase rectifier power supply," IEEE Trans. on Ind.
Appl., Vol.'IA-17, No. 3, May/June 1981, pp. 282-288.
360 Hz ripple current, $,a :0.08 * 24.04 = 1.9 Amps.
Value : 0.086 * 306.65 = 26.4 pF S.B. Dewan and A. Straughen, Power Semiconductor cir-
cuits. New York: Wiley, 1975.
Power Electronics Group, California Institute of Technol-
3.6 Experimental Results ogy, "Input current shaped AC-to-DC converters," Final
report prepared for NASA.
V.R. Stefanovic, "Power factor improvement with a
TO verify the predicted results an 4.5 kVA experimental modified phase-controlled converter," IEEE Trans. on Ind.
rectifier has been implemented with the following circuit Appl., Vol. IA-15, NO. 2, M m h / A p d 1979,pp. 193-201.
parameters:
A.R. Prasad, P.D. Ziogas and S. Manias, "A novel passive
. AC input rms voltage = 115 Volts. = 1.0 pu waveshaping method for single-phase diode. rectifiers," in
. Output power = 4588 Watts = 1.0pu Conf. Rec. 1990 E E E ECON.
. Resonant Inductor Lra = 3 mH. = 0.392 pu
. Angular frequency (a)of the ac input voltage = 377
rad./s = 1.O pu
Using (14) the value of the capacitor ( C r a )is given by
1
Cra = = 65.15 pF.
36* a2*Lra

Choosing a 65 pF ac capacitor, the experimental waveforms

are shown in Fig. 14. In particular evaluation of Fig. 14(a)
shows that the input current I . and its spectrum are in agree-
ment with the predicted per $it results shown in Table I and

3 29
 Tlme : 2 ms/Dlv.

i HERTZ

Tlme : 2 ms/Dlv.
Amp.: .50 V/DIv

--

+
1.
HERTZ

Fig. 14: Proposed diode rectifier (Fig. 1) experimental

waveforms.
(a) Input ac phase voltage, input current ( I h ) and
its spectrum.
(b) Resonant inductor current (fh) and the voltage
across the resonant capacitor (V,,).
(c) DC bus voltage (V,), rectifier output current
(f,) and its spectrum.

330