General features of current-fed converters.

• NEEDS BULKY IRON-CORED DC LINK INDUCTANCE

• PROBLEMS OF COST, SIZE, WEIGHT AND LOSS
• NEEDS DEVICES WITH SYMMETRIC BLOCKING CAPABILITY
• LOAD IMPEDANCE DOES NOT AFFECT THE LOAD CURRENT WAVE
• FOR PWM OPERATION, ONE SIDE SHOULD BE
CAPACITIVE AND OTHER SIDE INDUCTIVE. FOR PHASE
CONTROL, BOTH SIDES CAN BE INDUCTIVE
• SLOW DYNAMIC RESPONSE
• CONVERTER SYSTEM IS INHERENTLY REGENERATIVE WITH 4-QUADRANT
DRIVE CAPABILITY
• INABILITY TO OPERATE AT NO-LOAD CONDITION
• PARALLEL CONVERTER OPERTION IS DIFFICULT
• MORE RUGGED AND RELIABLE OPERATION—NO SHOOT-
THROUGH PROBLEM
• SIMPLER FAULT PROTECTION
The PWM current-fed inverter requires a dc current source as indicated in the figure. The
current source can be generated from a variable dc voltage source (via a dc-dc converter
from dc voltage or phase-controlled rectifier from ac voltage) by feedback control of dc
current. The salient features of current-fed converters (inverters or rectifiers) are
summarized in this figure. The phase-controlled converters discussed in topic 3 also fall
in this class. The power devices that are reverse blocking, such as thyristors, GTOs,
IGCTs, or IGBTs, with a series blocking diode can be used. The other features will be
evident later.
General power circuit of current-fed converter systems.
Three-phase thyristor inverter with load commutation for passive R-L load.

Twelve-pulse rectifier-inverter system for load-commutated inverter (LCI) synchronous

motor drive.
A simplified block diagram of a 12-pulse converter system for high-power synchronous
motor drive is shown here. Increasing the number of pulses in a converter is an obvious
way to improve the current wave to be near sinusoidal and solve harmonics and machine
torque pulsation problems. A 12-pulse, phase-controlled thyristor converter using two 6-
pulse bridges in series and phase-shifting transformers was discussed in Figure 3.23. The
same circuit has been used as a rectifier and inverter in this figure. The machine with
counter emfs is equivalent to three-phase ac line, where load commutation has been
substituted for line commutation. A similar converter system is traditionally used in
HVDC intertie or transmission systems. In an intertie, the line side and load side have
dissimilar frequencies, such as 60 and 50 Hz, respectively. The power flow in the
converter system is bidirectional, thus permitting four-quadrant drive capability of the
machine. The current harmonics of both the line and load sides are 11th, 13th, 23rd, 25th,
etc. The higher harmonics with lower amplitudes reduce harmonic heating and torque
pulsation problems in the machine. However, at low speed, the fundamental frequency is
small; therefore, the torque pulsation effect can be considerable. With multipulsing, the
dc link inductor has to absorb less harmonic voltage and, therefore, its size becomes
small. It is evident that to justify the complexity of the converter system, the drive system
power rating should be quite high.
Summary of ac machine operation modes.

Mode 1: LOAD-COMMUTATED RECTIFIER (SYNCHRONOUS MACHINE

REGENERATION)
Mode 2: LOAD-COMMUTATED INVERTER (SYNCHRONOUS MACHINE
MOTORING)
Mode 3: SELF OR FORCE-COMMUTATED INVERTER
(INDUCTION MACHINE MOTORING)
Mode 4: SELF OR FORCE-COMMUTATED RECTIFIER
(INDUCTION MACHINE REGENERATION)
All the converter operation modes discussed previously have been summarized in this
figure. It is assumed that a synchronous machine always operates in an overexcita-tion
mode to give a leading power factor. Although machine operation is illustrated in each
mode, the load can be simple passive with inductance or capacitance. Since load-
commutated inverter operation is equivalent to line-commutated rectifier operation,
simple thyristors can be used in the inverter. Thyristors can also be used in modes 3 and
4, but more complex forced commutation is needed. Self-commutation with the help of a
GTO, IGCT, or IGBT (with series diode) is more preferable in modes 3 and 4. Different
types of current-fed converters with forced, load, and self-commutation will be discussed
in the remaining part of the topic.
Simply put, an LCI drive is a way to perform speed control (or low current soft starting)
on very large motors by using low cost but very rugged SCR technology instead of
transistors (or GTO thyristors). The problem with SCRs is that they cannot be gated off
(called "commutation"); you can remove the gate power, but they only stop conducting
when the current going though them crosses zero.

First a comparison to understand what an LCI is NOT. A PWM drive functions by

creating high speed pulses of DC in a pseudo AC format using transistors. A GTO (Gate
Turn Off) thyristor is similar to an SCR but requires a separate gate control signal to turn
off and was used for a time on CSI (Current Source Inverters) but required impedance
matching with the motor in order to function. CSI drives were the first technology to fall
by the wayside with the advent of cheap PWM (although they still have their place)

An LCI drive using SCRs does not need that extra forced turn-off and does not use PWM
to vary the frequency. It uses SCRs on the front-end to covert the incoming AC to
variable voltage DC, then uses multiple SCRs on the back end to fire into the motor at a
varying frequency, but relies upon the motor's rotation itself to make the current passing
through the SCRs to cross through zero and turn off (hence the term "Load
Commutated"). This is done through very complex firing schemes that require a
relatively high powered computer to accomplish. That's why you will not see LCI drives
on small motors; the cost is prohibitive and LCI drives cannot compete with PWM where
PWM is effective and reliable. But on very large synchronous motors the transistor
technology becomes a quantum leap more expensive and highly susceptible to damage,
so LCI drives start to make sense again.