A Family of Low-Voltage High-Current Rectifiers

Pekik Argo Dahono

Department of Electrical Engineering, Bandung Institute of Technology,
Jl. Ganesa No. 10, Bandung 40132, Indonesia.
Tel. 62-22-2503316 Fax 62-22-2508132
Email pekik@konversi.ee.itb.ac.id

Abstract – A new family of three-phase low-voltage high- 2 2

current rectifiers is proposed in this paper. The proposed
rectifiers do not need a complex input transformer beyond the
one that is needed by a conventional 6-pulse three-phase
rectifier. Analysis of the input and output ripples of the
proposed rectifiers are presented. Influences of the coupling
coefficient of the output filter inductor on the input and output
current ripples are investigated. Simulated and experimental
results are included to verify the proposed concept.
I. INTRODUCTION
A low-voltage high-current rectifier is commonly used in
electrochemical industries and cathodic protection power
supplies. At present, such rectifiers are usually implemented
by parallel connection of several rectifiers with the associated
complex input transformer[1-3].
In this paper, a new family of three-phase low-voltage
high-current rectifiers is presented. The schemes of the
proposed rectifiers are shown in Fig. 1. For comparison
purpose, the scheme of a conventional six-pulse three-phase
rectifier is also shown in Fig. 1. This figure shows that the
proposed rectifiers do not need a complex input transformer
beyond the one, which is needed by the conventional
rectifiers. Analysis of the input and output ripples of the
proposed rectifiers are presented. Analysis results show that
the mutual coupling coefficient of the output filter inductor
has a strong influence on the input and output ripples.
Simulated and experimental results are included to verify the
proposed concept.
Vo = Vs (1)
π
where Vs is the rms value of secondary phase-to-center-tap
voltage of transformer.
In the circuit of Fig. 1(b), the proposed rectifier can be
considered as six single-phase half-wave rectifiers that are
connected in parallel through a 6-phase output filter inductor.
Each single-phase rectifier is supplied by each phase of the
secondary winding of three-phase transformer that is
connected as a three-phase-to-six-phase converter. The total
output voltage of the rectifier can be considered as
superposition of the output voltage of six single-phase half-
wave rectifiers.
Fig. 2(b) shows the voltage waveforms of the rectifier in
Fig. 1(b). Once again, this figure shows that the output
voltage waveform of the proposed rectifier has the same
number of pulse as in the case of a conventional 6-pulse
three-phase rectifier. The average value of the output voltage
is
2
Vo = Vs (2)
π
Several performance indexes of the rectifiers can be
summarized as shown in Table 1. For comparison purpose,
the results for the conventional rectifier, which is shown in
Fig. 1(c), are also shown. This table shows that the proposed
rectifiers need smaller power diodes than the conventional
ones.

II. BASIC ANALYSIS III. OUTPUT RIPPLE ANALYSIS

In the circuit of Fig. 1(a), the proposed rectifier can be In this section, the output ripple analysis of the rectifier in
considered as three single-phase center-tap rectifiers that are Fig. 1(a) will be discussed in detail. Output ripple analysis for
connected in parallel through a three-phase output filter the rectifier in Fig. 1(b) can be done in similar way. For this
inductor. Each rectifier is supplied by one of three separately purpose, the system is assumed perfectly balanced, the source
center-tapped secondary windings of the transformer. and transformer leakage inductances are negligible, the
Because of the 120o phase differences among the transformer diodes are ideal, and the conduction is continue. Based on the
secondary voltages, the full-wave output voltage of each circuit in Fig. 1(a), the following expression can be obtained:
rectifier will be displaced 60o among the others. Theoretical
output voltages of the rectifier are shown in Fig. 2(a). This  v u   Rt RL R L   i u   Lt Mt M t   iu 
figure shows that the output voltage has a ripple at six times  =      
 vv   RL Rt R L   iv  +  M t Lt M t  p  iv  (3)
the fundamental input frequency as in the case of a
conventional 6-pulse three-phase rectifier. The average value v w   R L RL Rt  i w   M t Mt Lt  i w 
of the output voltage is
where

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 (a) (a)

(b) (b)

Fig. 2. Voltage waveforms of low-voltage high-current

rectifiers.

Lt = L + L L (4)
Rt = R + R L (5)
M t = M + LL (6)

R, L, and M are the resistance, self inductance, and mutual

inductance of the filter inductor, respectively. If the voltages
and currents are separated into the average and ripple
components, eqn. (3) can be written as
~
 vu + v~u   Rt RL RL   iu + iu 
 ~     ~
 vv + vv  =  RL Rt RL   iv + ~
iv  +
vw + vw   RL RL Rt  iw + iw 
~ 
 
~ (7)
 Lt M t M t   iu + iu 
   ~
(c)  M t Lt M t  p  iv + ~iv 
 M t M t Lt  iw + iw 
 
Fig. 1. Low-voltage high-current rectifiers.
where bar and tilde over the voltages and currents are
indicated the average and ripple components, respectively.
From eqn. (7), the expressions for average and ripple
components can be obtained as follows.

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 Table 1. Performance indexes of low-voltage high-current rectifiers

Circuit Fig. 1(a) Fig. 1(b) Fig. 1(c )

Average output voltage 2 2V s / π 2V s / π 3 6V s / 2π
Average current of diode Io / 6 I o / 12 Io / 6
RMS current of diode Io / 3 2 Io / 6 2 Io / 2 3
VA of secondary πVo I o / 2 πVo I o / 2 πVo I o / 2
windings of transformer

 vu   Rt RL RL   iu  In the interval from t1 up to t2 of Fig. 2(a), the expressions for

 =   (8)
the ripple voltages are
 vv   R L Rt RL   iv 
vu = 2Vs sin [ω(t − t1 ) + ]− 2
~ 2
vw   RL RL Rt  iw  π
Vs (19)
3
π

v~v = − 2Vs sin [ω(t − t1 ) − π3 ]−

~ ~ 2 2
 v~u   Rt RL RL   iu   Lt Mt M t   iu 
π
Vs (20)
~  =  ~    ~ 
 vv   RL Rt RL   iv  +  M t Lt M t  p  iv  (9)
v w = − 2Vs sin [ω(t − t1 ) + π] −
~ ~ ~ 2 2
v~w   RL RL Rt   iw   M t Mt Lt   iw  π
Vs (21)

where where ω is the angular frequency of the source voltage. From

2 2 eqns. (19)-(21), the following is obtained.
vu = vv = vw = Vo = Vs (10)
v~u + v~v + v~w = 2 2Vs sin [ω(t − t1 ) + ]− 6
π π 2
Vs (22)
The ripple voltage drop, that is resistance times the ripple π 3

component of current, is usually small and can be neglected Based eqn. (22), eqn. (18) can be solved as
and, therefore, eqn. (9) can be simplified into − 2 2V s
~
~
io = {cos[ω(t − t1 )+ π3 ]+ 3πω (t − t1 )}+ K (23)
 v~u   Lt M t M t   iu  ω(Lt + 2 M t )
~    ~ 
 vv  =  M t Lt M t  p  ~iv  (11) where K is a constant to be determined. This constant can be
vw   M t M t Lt   iw 
~ determined based on the fact that the average value of the
  output current ripple over the interval from t1 to t2 is zero and
Based on eqn. (11), the ripple component of currents can be the result is
obtained as
3 2V s
K= (24)
~iu   L2t − M t2 M t2 − M t Lt M t2 − M t Lt   ∫ v~u dt  ω(Lt + 2 M t )
~  1  2   Eqn. (23) can be used to determine the peak-to-peak and rms
 iv  = Z  M t − M t Lt L2t − M t2 M t2 − M t Lt   ∫ v~v dt 
value of the output current ripple. Eqn. (23) shows that the
~  d 
L2t − M t2   ∫ v~w dt 
 M t − M t Lt M t2 − M t Lt
2
 iw  output current ripple is reduced if an output filter inductor
(12) that having positive coupling coefficient is used.
where
Z d = (Lt + 2 M t )(Lt − M t )
2
(13)
~ IV. INPUT CURRENT RIPPLE
v = v −V
u u o (14) Once again, only the input current ripple analysis of the
v~v = vv − Vo (15) rectifier in Fig. 1(a) is detailed. Analysis of the rectifier in
~ Fig. 1(b) can be done in similar way. From eqn. (12), the
vw = vw − Vo (16) current ripple of phase u can be obtained as:
The output current ripple is ~ Lt − M t ~
2 2
M t ( Lt − M t ) ~ ~
~ ~ ~ ~
io = iu + iv + iw (17) iu = ∫ v u dt − ∫ (v v + v w )dt (25)
Zd Zd
Combination of eqns. (12) and (17) results in If it is assumed that the output current ripple is very small
1
∫ (vu + vv + vw )dt
~ ~ ~ ~ and can be neglected (which is equivalent to assume that the
io = (18)
Lt + 2 M t load inductance is very large) then eqn. (25) can be
approximated as

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 1 waveform is the same as the conventional 6-pulse three-phase
∫ (2v u − v v − v w )dt
~
iu = (26) rectifier.
3Ll
At present, a power supply for cathodic protection systems
where Ll = L-M. This current ripple will be circulated among with the scheme as shown in Fig. 5 is under construction. The
the phases of the filter inductor. Based on the voltage output rated values of the system are designed at 5Vdc and
waveforms in Fig. 2(a), the above integration can be solved 500 Adc. The dc chopper is switched at 5 kHz and the switch
and the result is
{ }
is implemented by using an IGBT. The IGBT inverter is
iu = − I r 2 cos[ω(t − to )] + 3 sin [ω(t − to )] − 2 for to ≤ t ≤ t1
~
operated as a six-step three-phase inverter with a fundamental
= − I r cos[
 1 ) + π
3
] for t1 ≤ t ≤ t 2 frequency of 5 kHz. By using this high-frequency inverter,

{ ]+ 2}
the required transformer will be small. Because the inverter is
= − I r 2cos[ω(t − t 2 ) + 2π
3 ]− 3 sin [ω(t − t 2 ) + 2π
3 operated as a six-step inverter, the output voltage of the
for t 2 ≤ t ≤ t3 rectifiers will be similar to the output voltage of a three-phase
(27) chopper under 2/3 duty cycle. In reference [4], it was shown
that at duty cycle equal to 2/3, the output current ripple will
where
theoretically be zero. Thus, the system in Fig. 5 will produce
2V s a very small output current ripple. Fig. 6 shows the simulated
Ir = (29)
3ωLl results of the system in Fig. 5. In this simulation, a positive
The fundamental frequency of the above current ripple is coupled inductor that having 0.5 mH self-inductance and 0.4
twice the input voltage frequency. This circulating current mH mutual- inductance was used. The output filter
will be minimum if a filter inductor that having negative capacitance is 100 µF. The load was a series connection of
coupling coefficient is used. 0.01 Ω resistance and 0.1-mH inductance. Simulated result
The primary winding current of the transformer consists of a shows that the output current ripple is very small as expected.
current component due to the dc load current plus the current
due to the above current ripple. The expressions for the
primary winding current can be written as
 Io ~
+ ω for 0 ≤ ωt ≤ π
N s  3 iu ( t )
iab =  (30)
N p − I o − ~
iu (ωt − π) for π ≤ ωt ≤ 2π
 3
where Np and Ns are the number of turns of the primary and
secondary windings of the transformer, respectively. Eqn.
(30) can be used to determine the ripple content of the
transformer currents and the input line currents of the
rectifier.

V. EXPERIMENTAL RESULTS
In order to verify the proposed concept, small experimental
systems with the schemes as shown in Fig. 1(a) was
Fig. 3. Waveforms of total output current (upper) and output
constructed. In the circuit of Fig. 1(a), the input line-to-line
of one of single-phase rectifiers (lower). [5 A/div]
voltage is rated at 380V, 50 Hz. The transformer is designed
in such a way so that a dc voltage of about 20 Vdc is resulted
under rated condition. The maximum output current is 20 A.
In this experiment, the rated current of the diode is 8 A. The
coupled output filter inductor is constructed by using a zig-
zag transformer rated at 50V and 5 A and, therefore, the
coupling coefficient is negative. The load that was used in
this experiment is a series connection of a variable resistance
and an 8-mH inductor.
Fig. 3 shows the waveforms of the load current and one of
the single-phase rectifiers current. This figure shows that the
current in one of single-phase rectifier is equal to the load
current divided by three. Fig. 4 shows the input voltage and
Fig. 4. Input current waveforms of rectifier.
current waveforms. This figure shows that the input current

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 Fig. 5. A power supply for cathodic protection system.

Fig. 6. Simulated results of output current (upper) and voltage (lower).

VI. CONCLUSION REFERENCES

A new family of low-voltage high-current rectifiers has been
presented and compared to the conventional ones. Analysis
of the input and output current ripples that is useful in the
filter design is also presented. Experimental results have been
presented to verify the validity of the proposed rectifiers.
ACKNOWLEDGMENT
This research is funded by the Ministry of Research and
Technology of Indonesia under the RUT-V project. The
author wishes to thank Mr. T. Desmana and Mr. T.
Handoyo for their assistance during the preparation of
this paper and experiments.
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Converter, IEEE Trans. Ind. Appl., Vol. 11, May/June
1975, pp. 263-266.
[2] G. Seguier, Power Electronic Converters – AC-DC
Conversion, North Oxford Academic, London, 1986.
[3] G. Olivier, G. E. April, E. Ngandui, and C. Guimaraes,
Novel Transformer Connection to Improve Current
Sharing in High-Current Rectifiers, IEEE Trans. Ind.
Appl., Vol. 31, Jan./Feb. 1995, pp. 127-133.
[4] P. A. Dahono, S. Riyadi, A. Mudawari, and Y. Haroen,
Output Ripple Analysis of Multiphase DC-DC Converters,
Proc. IEEE 1999 Int. Conf. Power Electronics and Drive
Systems, Hong Kong, pp. 626-631.

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