International Journal of Emerging Engineering Science and Technology

Volume 1 Issue 1-2015

COMPARISON OF THD FOR UNCONTROLLED

MULTI-PULSE CONVERTERS FOR R-LOADS
A.V.RAVI KUMAR 1 K.NAGALINGA CHARY 2
1
Assistant Professor, EEE Department, Lakireddy Bali Reddy College Of Engineering, A.P. India
2
Assistant Professor, EEE Department, Lakireddy Bali Reddy College Of Engineering, A.P. India.

Abstract:
Due to the nonlinear nature of various switching devices, such as diodes used in different power processors, causes
harmonic current injection into the ac mains, thereby disturbing the power quality (PQ) at the point of common
coupling (PCC). Multi-pulse methods involve multiple converters connected so that the harmonics generated by one
converter are cancelled by harmonics produced by other converters. By this means, certain harmonics related to
number of converters are eliminated from the power source. In multi-pulse converters, it is assumed that the DC link
uses a filter such that any ripple caused by the DC load does not significantly affect the DC current.
In this paper, the various multi-pulse configurations, mainly non-isolated were developed and simulated using
MATLAB/Simulink.

I. INTRODUCTION II.COMPONENTS OF HVDC TRANSMISSION

Using multi pulse converters, the PQ improvements in
3-phase ac–dc converters may be achieved. The multi-
pulse converters are simple, robust, rugged, and more
efficient. For applications where isolation is not
required, autotransformer-based configurations are used
and they are more economical due to reduced
magnitudes.
In this work, novel autotransformer-based multi-pulse
ac–dc converters have been proposed for effective
harmonic reduction. The reduced rating autotransformer
is used to produce five sets of three-phase voltages,
being fed to the diode-bridge rectifiers. The proposed
ac–dc converter leads to savings in space, weight, size,
and the overall cost of the power processing unit. This
ac–dc converter results in the elimination of up to the
29th harmonic in the supply current (the two lowest
order harmonics are 29th and 31st, which have very
small magnitude). Various experiments are conducted
on the developed prototype of the proposed converter
consisting of a reduced rating autotransformer and an
inter phase transformer. The experimental results
validate the simulation results for the multi-pulse ac–dc
converter. A set of tabulated results giving the
comparison of different PQ indices, such as THD and
crest factor (CF) of ac mains current, power factor (PF),
displacement factor (DPF), distortion factor (DF), THD
of supply voltage at PCC, and ripple factor (RF).
SYSTEM
A) The Converter Station:
The converter stations at each end are identical and can
be operated either as an inverter or rectifier based on
the control. Hence, each converter is equipped to
convert ac to DC and vice versa. One of the main
components of a converter substation is the diode
converter. The substation also essentially consists of
converter transformers. These transformers transform
the ac system voltage based on the DC voltage required
by the converter. The secondary or DC side of the
converter transformers is connected to the converter
bridges. The transformer is placed outside the diode
valve hall and the connection has to be made through
the hall wall.
This is accomplished in two ways:
· With phase isolated bus-bars where the bus
conductors are housed within insulated bus
ducts with oil or SF6 as the insulating
medium,
· With wall bushings and these require care to
avoid external or internal breakdown.
Filters are required on both ac and DC sides, because
the converters generate harmonics. The filters are tuned
based on the converter operation (6 or 12 pulse). DC
reactors are included in each pole of the converter
station. These reactors assist the DC filters in filtering
harmonics and mainly smooth the DC side current
ensuring continuous mode of operation. Surge arrestors
are provided across each valve in the converter bridge,
across each converter bridge and in the DC and ac
switches to protect the equipment from over-voltages.

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B) Converter Transformer
The arrangement of the transformer windings depends
on the converter configuration. For example the 12-
pulse converter configuration can be obtained with any
of the following transformer arrangements:
· Six single-phase, two winding
· Three single-phase, three winding
· Two three-phase, two winding
Star or delta connections are chosen for different
configurations. The entire winding of the converter
transformer is fully insulated, since the potentials across
its connections are determined by the combination of
valves conducting at any particular instant. As a result,
the radial leakage fluxes at the end of the windings
increase. Because the converter transformer impedance
determines the fault current across each valve, the
converter transformer’s leakage reactance is larger than
that of the conventional one. A tap changer is most
critical in HVDC as it reduces the reactive power
requirement and the tap-change range varies from
scheme to scheme.
C) Converter
The role of power electronics in power systems has
become highly significant and had power electronics
not been developed, utility applications like HVDC and
flexible ac transmission systems (FACTs) would not be
possible at all. The increasing demand in the quality of
power systems necessitates further development of
power electronics, which in turn induces more research
in power electronics itself. The integration of
semiconductor devices into the power system has
brought improvement in the system level performance
in terms of better voltage control, stability, power
quality, reliability and efficiency.
Converters form the core of the substation and the
entire operation depends on the performance of the
converters. Hence, the choice of the semiconductor
power device used in the converter is vital and care
should be taken in designing the circuitry.
Diodes replaced the mercury arc valves and more
predictable performance, reduced maintenance and no
aging were realized. However, it was not available for
high blocking voltages and current ratings required for
HVDC applications. The solution was a series
connection of diodes and this series connection along
with the protective and triggering circuits known as a
diode-level.
Almost all the HVDC systems use line commutated
diode made from high purity, mono crystalline silicon.
For higher current ratings, the diodes are connected in
parallel and for higher voltage ratings diodes are
connected in series. Over the past few decades more
sophisticated technologies were developed and the
device ratings were pushed to higher limits. In the last
few years silicon carbide has emerged as a promising
material for improved semiconductor devices.
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Apart from voltage and current rating, the control of the
diode is important. Gate pulse generation is important
for it determines the working of the diode and accuracy
is a key factor as it may affect the performance of the
whole system. All diodes require a snubber circuit
connected in parallel to dampen the voltage overshoot
at turn off; this circuit also serves as a means to
linearize the voltage distribution along the series string.
Various types of circuits have been suggested in the
past; however, a simple RC connection has evolved as
the industry standard.
The major challenge is to find suitable components that
support the high voltage withstand capability of modern
diode and handle the power losses. A combination of
components would be an immediate solution to this, but
this leads to an increase in the number of components
and the diode valve would become more susceptible to
failure. So a resistor and a capacitor per diode is more
safe and efficient. To protect the diode from the high
inrush currents when the snubber circuits and external
stray capacitances are discharged at turn on, a nonlinear
reactor is connected in series with the diodes. The heat
losses generated in diodes, snubber resistors and
nonlinear reactors have a magnitude that requires
forced cooling. In order to avoid electrolytic corrosion
of metallic parts in the circuit, the cooling circuit is
designed such that the metallic components are made
independent of the leakage currents caused by high
voltage stress.
III. MULTI-PULSE CONVERTERS
A) Introduction
As it has been emphasized already, AC/DC converters
in various drive and other industrial applications are the
root cause for power quality problems. As the research
in high energy physics progresses and as the particle
accelerators find many applications in industrial and
medical areas, power supplies with integrated magnetic
featuring high input power quality and better
performance are increasing in demand. In non isolated
multi-pulse converters, the windings are interconnected
such that the KVA transmitted by the actual magnetic
coupling is only a portion of total KVA. The reduction
in KVA rating of the transformer and a new method to
improve the quality of AC input currents by introducing
taps on the inter phase reactor.
B) Multi-Pulse methods
The term multi-pulse method is not defined precisely.
In principle, it could be imagined to be simply more
than one pulse. However, by proper usage in the power
electronics industry, it has come to mean converters
operating in a three phase system providing more than
six pulse of DC per cycle. Multi-pulse methods involve
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multiple converters connected so that the harmonics
generated by one converter are cancelled by harmonics
produced by other converters. By this means, certain
harmonics related to number of converters are
eliminated from the power source. In multi-pulse
converters, it is assumed that the DC link uses a filter
such that any ripple caused by the DC load does not
significantly affect the DC current.
Multi-pulse systems result in two major
accomplishments namely,
Ø Reduction of ac input line current harmonics.
Ø Reduction of DC output voltage ripple.
Reduction of ac input line current harmonics is
important as regards the impact the converter has on the
power system. Multi-pulse methods are characterized
by the use of multiple converters or multiple
semiconductor devices with a common load. Phase
shifting transformers are an essential ingredient and
provide the mechanism for cancellation of harmonic
current pairs, e.g. the 5th and 7th harmonics or the 11th
and 13th so on. Thus for harmonic current reduction the
multi-pulse converters are fed from phase shifting
transformers. The phase shift has to be appropriate.
C) Zigzag Phase shifting transformers
The Zigzag Phase-Shifting Transformer implements a
three-phase transformer with a primary winding
connected in a zigzag configuration and a configurable
secondary winding. The model uses three single-phase,
three- winding transformers. The primary winding
connects the windings 1 and 2 of the single-phase
transformers in a zigzag configuration. The secondary
winding uses the windings 3 of the single phase
transformers and they can be connected in one of the
following ways: Y with accessible neutral Grounded Y
Delta, delta lagging Y by 30 degrees Delta, delta
leading Y by 30 degrees. If the secondary winding is
connected in Y, the secondary phase voltages are
leading or lagging the primary voltages by the phase
angle specified in the parameters of the block. If the
secondary winding is connected in delta, an additional
phase shift of +30 degrees is added to the phase angle.
If the secondary winding is connected in delta, a phase
shift of -30 degrees is added to the phase angle.
This chapter presented the intricacies of multi-pulse
converters and the advantages of using phase shifting
auto-transformers for providing phase-shifted supplies
to these converters
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IV. SIMULATION RESULTS
A) Six-pulse converter (un-controlled)
The six pulse Converter Bridge shown in Fig. As the
basic converter unit of HVDC transmission is used
equally well for rectification where electric power
flows from the a.c. side to the d.c side and inversion
where the power flow is from the d.c side to the a.c.
side. Diode valves operate as switches which turn on
and conduct current when fired on receiving a gate
pulse and are forward biased. A valve will conduct
current in one direction and once it conducts, will only
turn off when it is reverse biased and the current falls to
zero. This process is known as line commutation. An
important property of the valve is that once it's
conducting current falls to zero when it is reverse
biased and the gate pulse is removed, too rapid an
increase in the magnitude of the forward biased voltage
will cause to inadvertently turn on and conduct. The
design of the valve and converter bridge must ensure
such a condition is avoided for useful inverter
operation.
The characteristic a.c. side current harmonics
generated by 6 pulse converters are 6n +/- 1,
Characteristic d.c side voltage harmonics generated by
a 6 pulse converter are of the order 6n. a.c. side
harmonic filters may be switched with circuit breakers
or circuit switches to accommodate reactive power
requirement strategies since these filters generate
reactive power at fundamental frequency. d.c side
filters reduce harmonic current flow on d.c transmission
lines to minimize coupling and interference to adjacent
voice frequency communication circuits.
Figure 1: Uncontrolled Six-Pulse Converter
Where there is no d.c line such as in the back-to-back
configuration, d.c side filters may not be required. DC
reactors are usually included in each pole of a converter
station. They assist the d.c filters in filtering harmonic
currents and smooth the d.c side current so that a
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discontinuous current mode is not reached at low load
current operation.
effected to cancel out the 6-pulse harmonics on the AC
and DC side.
The model for twelve pulse non-isolated converter with
is created in SIMULINK as shown in Fig. The
connection diagram and simulation results are as shown
in fig which show a clear reduction in the harmonic
content of the input supply current as compared to a 6-
pulse isolated converter.

A i
+ +
-
B
i
+ -
- C

a2 Universal Bridge
A
b2
c2
B
a3
Series RLC Branch
b3
C

Figure 2: Waveforms of input current, output voltage,

c3

+
v Scope

output current
-
A
+

-
C

Universal Bridge1

Continuous

pow ergui

Figure 5: Uncontrolled twelve pulse converter

Figure 3: THD for input current

Figure 6: Output waveform of input current, output

voltage, output current:

Figure 4: THD for output voltage

B) Twelve pulse multi-pulse converter (un-

controlled) :
Twelve pulse converters is a series connection of two
fully controlled six pulse converter bridges and requires
two 3 phase systems which are spaced apart from each
other by 30 electrical degrees. The phase difference
Figure 7: THD for input current

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International Journal of Emerging Engineering Science and Technology
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Figure 11:THD for input current

Figure 8: THD for output voltage

The purpose of this simulation was to get familiar with
simulation of multi-pulse converters. By making use of
delta star transformer, 30° phase shift is introduced and
correspondingly 5th and 7th harmonics are eliminated.
C) Eighteen pulse converter (un-controlled):
In this 18-pulse topology, the magnetic involved is
same as that of a 12 pulse converter. Therefore this
topology is comparatively a preferred one. The
simulated results are in close agreement with any result
obtained from an 18 pulse converters.
i
+
-

A+ a3 i
+
B+ -
C+ A
b3 +
A-
B-
B
C- c3
-
C

A+
B+
C+
a3
Figure 12: THD for output voltage
b3
A-
B-
A
C- c3 + +

B Scope
v

A+
B+
a3
C
-
-

D) Twenty-four pulse converter (un-controlled) :

The connection for 24-pulse converter and the
C+
b3
A-
B-
C- c3

corresponding connections are shown in fig. Two

A
+

-
C

twelve pulse converters phase shifted by 15 degrees

from each other, can provide a twenty four, obviously
Continuous

pow ergui
with much lower harmonics on ac and DC side. Its ac
Figure 9: Uncontrolled eighteen pulse converter output voltage would have 24n ± 1 order harmonics
i.e., 23rd, 25th, 47th , 49th harmonics with magnitudes
of 1/23rd , 1/25th , 1/47th ,1/49th ,…respectively, of the
phase shift.
One approach is to provide 15 degrees phase shift
windings on the two transformers of one of the two
twelve pulse converters. Another approach is to provide
phase shift windings for +7.5 degrees phase shift on the
two transformers of one twelve pulse converter and -7.5
on the two transformers of the other two twelve pulse
converters as shown in the fig. The latter is preferred
because it requires transformers of the same design and
leakage inductances. It is also necessary to shift the

Figure 10: Waveforms of input current,

output voltage, output current

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International Journal of Emerging Engineering Science and Technology
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i
+
- A+
a3
B+ A
+
C+
i
b3 B
A-
B- -
C
c3 +
C-

Current Measurement2

A+
+
a3
B+
A
+
C+
b3
A- B
v
B-
-
c3 C
C-

Voltage Measurement

A+
a3
B+
Series RLC Branch
C+
A
b3 +
A-
B- B
c3
C-
-
C

Scope

A
+
A+
a3 B
B+
C+ -
C
b3
A-
B-
c3
C-

Continuous

pow ergui

Figure 13: Uncontrolled twenty four pulse converter

Figure 16: THD for output voltage

E) Thirty pulse converter (un-controlled):

Figure 14: Output waveform of input current, output

voltage, output current

Figure 15:.THD for input current Figure 17: Uncontrolled thirty pulse converter

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International Journal of Emerging Engineering Science and Technology
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Figure 18: Output waveform of input current,
Output voltage, output current
Figure 19: THD for input current
Figure 20: THD for output voltage
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F) Comparison of THD for Uncontrolled multi-pulse
converters for R Load:
NUMBER OF THD%
PULSES R-LOAD
6 30.82
12 15.18
18 1.77
24 1.86
36 0.26
48 0.22
V. CONCLUSIONS
The various multi-pulse configurations, mainly non-
isolated were simulated using the software
SIMULIN/MATLAB and the results have been
presented in this chapter. The effect of load variation on
different multi-pulse converters reveals that with RL,
load because of inductance there is smoothing effect on
current, therefore current THD decreases; whereas on
RC load, the effect of capacitor is to reduce voltage
ripple and gives a smooth DC output. The effect is
similar for different multi-pulse converters, i.e. it
increases current discontinuity and hence affecting the
harmonic spectrum adversely.
VI. FUTURE SCOPE
A back-to-back asynchronous tie comprised of VSC
employing PWM may well represent the ultimate
HVDC system. Besides controlling the through power
flow, it can supply reactive power and provide
independent dynamic voltage control at its two
terminals. The two converters can be paralleled to
double the reactive power capability supplied to one
side or the other. The back-to-back converters can be
used for black start or to supply a passive load. Higher
voltage designs can be used with transmission lines or
cables to form point-to-point or multi-terminal
transmission links. More sophisticated controls can be
used to provide additional network benefits.
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