IEEE TRANSACTIONS ON INDUSTRIAL ELECTRONICS, VOL. 46, NO.
5, OCTOBER 1999
Dual Current Control Scheme for PWM Converter
Under Unbalanced Input Voltage Conditions
Hong-seok Song, Student Member, IEEE, and Kwanghee Nam, Member, IEEE
Abstract— Voltage unbalance in a three-phase system causes
performance deterioration of a pulsewidth modulation (PWM)
converter by producing the 120-Hz voltage ripples in the dc
link and by increasing the reactive power. To eliminate the
dc-link voltage ripple and the dc component of the reactive
power, both positive- and negative-sequence currents should be
controlled simultaneously, according to the paper by Rioual et al.
We used two synchronous reference frames: a positive-sequence
current regulated by a proportional integral (PI) controller in
a positive synchronous reference frame (SRF), and a negative-
sequence current regulated by a PI controller in a negative SRF.
In the positive SRF, which rotates counterclockwise, the positive
sequence appears as dc, while the negative sequence appears as
120 Hz. In contrast, in the negative SRF, which rotates clockwise,
the negative sequence appears as dc, while the positive sequence
appears as 120 Hz. By deleting 120-Hz components using a
notch filter in each SRF, one can measure positive- and negative-
sequence currents separately, and use them for constructing two
feedback controllers. Since the negative-sequence current is also
controlled in its own SRF by a dc command, this approach yields
better performance without increasing the control gain. Note
that, since the controller is implemented by a software routine
in the digital signal processor chip, using two SRF’s does not
require additional hardware. We demonstrated the effectiveness
of the proposed control scheme by using computer simulation
and experiments.
Index Terms— Current control, dual control scheme, pulse-
width modulation power converters, rectifiers, symmetrical com-
ponents, synchronous frame control scheme, voltage unbalance.
I. INTRODUCTION
V OLTAGE unbalance in a three-phase system gives rise
to 120-Hz voltage ripples in the dc link and increases
the reactive power [1]. Enjeti and Choudhury [1] proposed
a feedforward control algorithm for the pulsewidth modula-
tion (PWM) converter with unbalanced input supply. Their
technique computes sequence component and PWM gating
signals as they counteract the generated abnormal harmonics.
Vincenti and Jin [5] derived an unbalanced transfer matrix
in terms of input phase voltages based on the input positive-
and negative-sequence components. Rioual et al. [6] derived
voltage equations for positive and negative sequences sepa-
rately, and obtained positive- and negative-sequence current
commands for a constant dc-link voltage and average-zero
reactive power. The average-zero reactive power implies that
the dc component of the reactive power is equal to zero, when
Manuscript received April 19, 1998; revised December 29, 1998. Abstract
published on the Internet June 18, 1999. This paper was supported in part by
ERC-ACI, Seoul National University.
The authors are with the Department of Electrical Engineering, Pohang
University of Science and Technology, Pohang 790-784, Korea (e-mail:
kwnam@postech.ac.kr).
Publisher Item Identifier S 0278-0046(99)07253-6.
0278–0046/99$10.00  1999 IEEE
953
the higher order ac components may not be zero. To achieve
such goals, the negative-sequence current should be controlled
along with the positive sequence. However, Rioual et al.
[6] did not implement a negative-sequence current controller.
Instead, they controlled both positive- and negative-sequence
currents in the positive synchronous reference frame (SRF).
To synthesize the current command in the positive SRF, they
transformed the negative-sequence command into one in the
positive SRF, and added it to the positive-sequence command.
Note that, since a negative-sequence current command appears
as 120-Hz ac in the positive SRF, the current controller
should track the 120-Hz ac command. The control bandwidth,
therefore, needs to be large enough to accommodate the 120-
Hz command. However, in a practical situation, there are
sampling effect, quantizing effect, one-step delay, and the limit
in the PWM frequency. Due to such physical limits, a high gain
may cause instability and, thus, the current bandwidth cannot
be easily extended. Although the bandwidth is larger than 120
Hz, a significant amount of the phase delay at 120 Hz results
in imperfect tracking.
In this paper, we used two synchronous reference frames,
measuring the positive sequence in the positive SRF by
eliminating the negative sequence with a 120-Hz notch filter.
In the same manner, we also measured the negative sequence
in the negative SRF. Separately measured currents are used for
two feedback proportional integral (PI) controllers, namely,
the dual current controller. One regulates only the positive-
sequence current in the positive SRF, and the other regulates
only the negative-sequence current in the negative SRF. This
approach allows the negative-sequence current to be controlled
completely in its own SRF as a dc signal. Thus, there is
no reason to increase the control gain at the risk of making
the system unstable. This implies that, under normal PWM
switching frequency, the complete dc voltage regulation and
average-zero reactive power can be achieved.
II. MATHEMATICAL DESCRIPTION OF THE PWM CONVERTER
UNDER THE UNBALANCE CONDITION
An unbalanced three-phase input voltage { },
without a zero sequence, can be represented as the orthogonal
sum of positive and negative sequences, such that
(1)
where
, and is the angular frequency.
Throughout this paper, it is assumed that Hz.
The first term, rotating counterclockwise, denotes the
954 IEEE TRANSACTIONS ON INDUSTRIAL ELECTRONICS, VOL. 46, NO. 5, OCTOBER 1999

Fig. 1. Structure of a voltage-source PWM converter with unbalanced input voltage Eabc .

positive sequence, and the second term, rotating Note that the high-order coefficients and
clockwise, denotes the negative sequence. The PWM converter are caused by the voltage unbalance. Real power is delivered
model is described in Fig. 1. The voltage equation in the to the dc link and determines the dc voltage level. Hence, if
stationary frame is given by varies with time for not being equal to zero,
then the dc-link voltage fluctuates, i.e., 120-Hz ripple appears.
(2) Therefore, to keep constant dc level, coefficients have
to be nullified. One also needs to nullify the dc component
where and of the reactive power to achieve the unity power factor in an
denote the converter pole voltage average sense.
and the line current, respectively. Expressing the power coefficients in the matrix form, we
Throughout this paper, it is assumed that the converter obtain
pole voltage is made by PWM, such that
, i.e., the converter pole voltage is generated by
converter switches such that it has a negative sequence, as
well as a positive sequence of angular frequency of . The
line current is also expressed as . (7)
Applying (1) to (2) and equating the terms of positive sequence
and the terms of negative sequence separately, we obtain the
two decomposed subsystems [2], [6]

Removing dc-link voltage ripple and achieving the average-

(3)
zero reactive power necessitates to make
. Therefore, the control objectives can be satisfied
(4) by choosing currents such that [6]
where and . Note that (3) and
(4) are the expressions in the positive and the negative SRF’s,
respectively.
With the unbalanced input voltage, apparent power is given
by . Thus,
from , we obtain the real power and the reactive
power , such that [6] (8)
(5)
(6)
where , and
where is assumed. With a current choice as (8), the coefficients
vanish, while reactive power high-order coef-
ficients remain. This implies that an alternating
reactive power exists, although the average reactive power
is equal to zero. However, the limited degrees of freedom
prevented any other way of nullifying all coefficients.
Equation (8) tells us that negative-sequence current
should flow if input voltage contains a negative sequence
. In other words, for unbalanced input voltage, the
SONG AND NAM: DUAL CURRENT CONTROL SCHEME FOR PWM CONVERTER 955

Fig. 2. Structure of the proposed dual controller.

control objectives are achieved by flowing negative-sequence TABLE I

currents. PARAMETERS USED FOR THE SIMULATION AND THE EXPERIMENT

III. DUAL CURRENT CONTROL SCHEME BASED

UPON POSITIVE AND NEGATIVE SRF’s
We used two current controllers, namely, the dual current
controller, for positive sequence and negative sequence sepa-
rately. The positive sequence was controlled in the positive
It is obvious from (10) and (11) that the positive sequence
SRF, while the negative sequence was controlled in the
appears as dc in the positive SRF, whereas the negative
negative SRF. The current commands appear as dc in their
sequence appears as 120 Hz ac. In the same way, the negative
frame, and there was no need to build a tracking controller for
sequence appears as dc in the negative SRF, whereas the
an ac signal. Thus, there was no strong reason to expand the
positive sequence appears as 120 Hz ac. Hence, by applying
bandwidth of the PI controller by increasing gains at the risk
a low-pass filter or a 120-Hz notch filter to the current in
of making system unstable.
the positive SRF, we were able to measure only the positive
sequence . We can obtain the negative sequence in the
A. Current Measurements same manner. It is known that a low-pass filter blocking 120
To implement the dual current controller, both currents were Hz causes instability problems, because such filter significantly
measured separately. The (measured) current is denoted in the limits control bandwidth. Thus, in the experiment, we used a
stationary frame by 120-Hz notch filter.

(9)
B. Dual Current Controllers
By multiplying by and , we obtain expressions In the positive SRF, the positive-sequence converter pole
in the positive and negative SRF’s, respectively voltages are determined by
(10)
(12)
(11) (13)
956 IEEE TRANSACTIONS ON INDUSTRIAL ELECTRONICS, VOL. 46, NO. 5, OCTOBER 1999

(a) (b) (c)

Fig. 3. Simulation results of the dc-link voltage, d–q axes current commands, current responses in the stationary frame, real power P , and reactive power
Q. (a) A conventional PI controller (b) The unbalance compensator [6]. (c) The proposed dual controller.

where denotes a PI controller. In the negative SRF, components is identical to that of obtain-
the negative-sequence converter pole voltages are ing the current components.
determined by
(14) C. Current Commands
(15) Since the current command is determined by the dc-
link voltage controller, the required power is obtained by
The terms are inserted to de- multiplying to the output of the voltage controller ,
couple – axes dynamics. The procedure of obtaining voltage i.e., . Hence, along with (8), the obtained current
SONG AND NAM: DUAL CURRENT CONTROL SCHEME FOR PWM CONVERTER 957

(a) (b) (c)

Fig. 4. Experimental results of the dc-link voltage, d–q axes current commands, current responses in the stationary frame, real power P , and reactive power
Q. (a) A conventional PI controller. (b) The unbalance compensator [6]. (c) The proposed dual controller.
958 IEEE TRANSACTIONS ON INDUSTRIAL ELECTRONICS, VOL. 46, NO. 5, OCTOBER 1999
Fig. 5. Step response of the proposed dual control scheme.
commands are
(16)
The positive and the negative sequences of input voltage
should be measured for (16).
D. Voltage Vector for Space-Vector PWM
The complete control block diagram, employing two sepa-
rate current regulators, is shown in Fig. 2. The converter pole
voltage must be synthesized in the stationary frame, so the
current controller outputs are transformed into the ones in the
stationary frame by multiplying and . The outputs
are then summed to yield a voltage vector for space-vector
PWM, i.e.,
(17)
E. Independence Between the Controllers
Positive and negative sequences are not separated in the
main circuit, although they are separated in the control al-
gorithm. In such a case, the potential problem might be a
dependence between the positive and the negative sequences.
The associated question is whether we can adjust the positive
or the negative sequence without affecting the other. Although
the answer may look obvious, we illustrate the sequence’s
independence through equations
(18)
where is the unit step function. Letting for
convenience, we ascertain that for
(19)
Hence, for sufficiently large , it follows that
(20)
(21)
The positive-sequence current depends only on the positive-
sequence voltages, while the negative-sequence current de-
pends only on the negative-sequence voltages [2], as seen in
(20) and (21).
Note that the control blocks in the shaded area of Fig. 2
are realized by the software routines programmed in the DSP
board. To implement the dual current controller, no extra
hardware addendum was required.
IV. SIMULATION AND EXPERIMENTAL RESULTS
To verify the feasibility of the proposed control scheme,
computer simulations were conducted with the experimental
parameters shown in Table I. In this simulation and exper-
iment, we used notch filters with 120-Hz notch frequency,
implemented by a software routine such that
. We set the
dc-link voltage command V and used a resistor
of 120 as a load. The control gains were chosen such that
the natural frequency was equal to 130 Hz for the current
controller and 10 Hz for the voltage controller in all the
simulations. Fig. 3 shows simulation results of the dc-link
voltage, the – axes current commands, current responses
SONG AND NAM: DUAL CURRENT CONTROL SCHEME FOR PWM CONVERTER
in the stationary frame, real and reactive power , and
line currents , when the unbalanced input voltage
is applied. Plots in Fig. 3(a) show the results of the
conventional controller. Plots in Fig. 3(b) show the results of
the unbalance compensator proposed by Rioual et al. [6]. Plots
in Fig. 3(c) show the results of the proposed dual controller.
By the conventional controller, we refer to a mean normal PI
controller that entirely ignores the effects of the input voltage
unbalance. With the control schemes, Fig. 3(a) and (b), the
effects of the unbalance, appearing as voltage ripple in , the constant dc-link voltage. The unity power factor also was
were not eliminated. In contrast, with the proposed dual current
controller, the dc-link voltage was completely regulated. Note
that the ripple in real power caused the ripple in . With
the conventional PI controller, there was a dc offset in the
reactive power , which meant that the average power factor
was not unity. As was mentioned in the previous section, the
high-order reactive coefficients did not disappear in
all the cases.
For experiments, the converter stack was constructed with
insulated gate bipolar transistors (IGBT’s) (1200 V, 150 A),
with the switching frequency selected to be 3 kHz. For the
PWM, the space voltage vector method was applied with
the symmetrical pulses patterns, the control board was made
with the DSP processor TMS320C31, and the unbalanced
voltage source was made by a programmable ac power supply.
The power limit in the ac power supply prevented us from
increasing the dc-link voltage more than 150 V with the
resistive load . Fig. 4 shows the experimental
results: one, of a conventional PI controller in the positive
SRF, Fig. 4(a); two, of the unbalance compensator proposed
by Rioual et al. [6], Fig. 4(b); and three, of the proposed dual
controller, Fig. 4(c). The overall shapes are quite similar to
the simulation results. One can clearly see that the proposed
scheme completely regulated the real power and, thus, the
dc-link voltage. The parameters of experimental environments
were the same as those of the simulation.
The dc-link voltage was measured directly. However, the
currents and powers were displayed on the oscilloscope
through D/A ports—either the values read from the Hall sensor
at the symmetrical points or internally calculated quantities.
With the unbalance compensation scheme of Rioual et al.,
it was impossible to eliminate the dc-link voltage ripple, even
if we extended the control bandwidth by adjusting PI gains
so that it covered 120 Hz. We believe the cause of this to
be the phase lag at 120 Hz. However, with the dual current
controller, the commands were dc in both synchronous frames
and, as a result, dc-link voltage regulation and the average
reactive power control looked perfect.
Fig. 5 shows the responses to the step change in the dc-
link voltage command from 100 to 130 V. The upper trace
shows the response of the dc-link voltage, the middle trace
shows the command of the -axis positive-sequence current,
and the lower trace shows the corresponding response of the
-axis positive-sequence current. Note from Fig. 5 that the
notch filter for decoupling the feedback current works well in
transient state as well as steady state, and there was no erratic
behavior in the step responses.
959
V. CONCLUDING REMARKS
We have proposed the dual current control scheme that uses
the two SRF’s rotating at 60 Hz, but in different directions.
Since the positive and the negative sequences appear dc in
their own frames, each can be measured separately by using a
120-Hz notch filter. Although a single converter stack is used,
the currents of positive sequence and negative sequence are
controlled independently due to the superposition principle of
the linear system. The independent control strategy made it
possible to regulate the real power completely, thus achieving
achieved in an average sense. Since the proposed control
scheme is synthesized by a control software routine, it does
not require any additional hardware, yet it produces better
performance. We have demonstrated these performance results
with computer simulation and experiments.
REFERENCES
[1] P. N. Enjeti and S. A. Choudhury, “A new control strategy to improve
the performance of a PWM AC to DC converter under unbalanced
operating conditions,” IEEE Trans. Power Electron., vol. 8, pp. 493–500,
Oct. 1993.
[2] D. Beeman, Industrial Power System Handbook. New York: McGraw-
Hill, 1955.
[3] L. Moran, P. Ziogas, and G. Joos, “Design aspects of synchronous PWM
rectifier-inverter systems under unbalanced input voltage conditions,”
IEEE Trans. Ind. Applicat., vol. 28, pp. 1286–1293, Nov./Dec. 1992.
[4] O. Ojo and I. Bhat, “Influence of input supply voltage unbalances on the
performance of AC/DC buck rectifiers,” in Proc. IEEE PESC’94 1994,
pp. 777–784.
[5] D. Vincenti and H. Jin, “A three-phase regulated PWM rectifier with
on-line feedforward input unbalance correction,” IEEE Trans. Ind.
Electron., vol. 41, pp. 526–532, Oct. 1994.
[6] P. Rioual, H. Pouliquen, and J. Louis, “Regulation of a PWM rectifier in
the unbalanced network state using a generalized model,” IEEE Trans.
Power Electron., vol. 11, pp. 495–502, May 1996.
[7] S. Bhattacharya, P. Cheng, and D. M. Divan, “Hybrid solutions for
improving passive filter performance in high power application,” IEEE
Trans. Ind. Applicat., vol. 33, pp. 732–747, May/June 1997.
Hong-seok Song (S’96) was born in Seoul, Korea,
in 1973. He received the B.S. degree in electrical
engineering in 1996 from Sung Kyun Kwan Univer-
sity, Seoul, Korea, and the M.S. degree in electrical
engineering in 1998 from Pohang University of
Science and Technology, Pohang, Korea, where he
is currently working toward the Ph.D. degree.
His main interests are power converter/inverter
systems and UPS systems.
Kwanghee Nam (S’83–M’86) was born in Seoul,
Korea, in 1956. He received the B.S. and M.S.
degrees in chemical technology and control and
instrumentation engineering from Seoul National
University, Seoul, Korea, in 1980 and 1982, re-
spectively, and the M.A. and Ph.D. degrees in
mathematics and electrical engineering from the
University of Texas, Austin, in 1986.
He is currently a Professor in the Department
of Electrical Engineering, Pohang University of
Science and Technology, Pohang, Korea. His main
interests are ac motor control, high-power drives, power converters, UPS’s,
and nonlinear systems analysis.