Welcome!!

Influence of Multi-Pulse Rectifier on Power

Quality in an Industrial Environment

Guided By, Presented By,

Aishwarya Siyam PS
Asst. Professor, Dept of EEE Y21MPE03
TIST TIST
 Contents
Objective
Introduction
Literature Survey
Theory
Structure
Working
Operational Analysis
Waveforms
Conclusion
 Objective
To understand the issue of Power Quality in an Indus-
trial Application due to use of Rectifiers.
To reduce the harmonics and to improve the Power
quality by use of Multi-pulse rectifiers
To Compare 6 Pulse and 12 pulse Rectifiers
 Introduction
Power Quality Problem is defined as any problem manifested in Voltage, Current or fre-
quency deviations that result in failure or malfunction of any equipment. Harmonics, volt-
age flicker, voltage sag/sell etc usually characterize the quality of Power. Today we are go-
ing to look closely into the harmonic distortion part of the topic, especially how to reduce
the same while using rectifiers.

In most Commercial HVAC applications, the HVAC Circuit components share the AC
Power Supply with other electronic equipment such as computers or telecommunication
networks

Any equipment which revolves around switching, rectification or speed control using drives
inherently generate harmonic distortion in the AC Power Line.

This poses as a concern since the cumulative harmonic distortion produced by all these
devices may reach levels that affect the operation of some sensitive equipment nearby or
even exceed regulatory limits.
 Introduction (cont..)
What is Harmonic Distortion?
Harmonic Distortion is considered to be a type of electrical pollution that can cause some
equipment to malfunction if it exceeds certain limits. Harmonic current is specified with a fre-
quency at multiples of the Base Frequency. For instance a 300 Hz current on a 60 Hz net-
work is the 5th harmonic. Systems with such a 300 Hz current will see a 300Hz distortion of
its voltage supply which could be detrimental to the other components in the system. In ac-
cordance with the International Electrotechnical Commission (iec) the level of harmonics is
described in a single parameter by the total harmonic distortion (thd), which is the sum of the
distortion at all frequencies, and expressed as a percentage of the total voltage or current at
the Base Frequency (60Hz or 50Hz).
 Introduction (cont..)
Negative Effects of Harmonics
The most significant negative effects of uncontrolled
harmonics are:
Cables overheating due to the extra current

Uncontrolled noise and torque oscillations in motors that could

lead to mechanical resonance and vibration

And communication equipment or instruments providing incorrect

readings due to signal interference
 Introduction (cont..)
How to reduce Harmonic distortion while using Rectifiers
In this presentation we compare the performance of multiple pulse rectifiers and their
role in reducing the THD.

I have taken a case study of Metro rail to better explain the concept and then I shall
move onto the Literature Survey

As we know we use multi pulse rectifiers for 3 phase power. however, they introduce
high magnitudes of
harmonic distortion, leading to the generator or the source having a low power factor.

In this presentation, we compare the distortion due to 6 pulse and 12 pulse rectifier
configuration and also the role of rectifier transformers in them
 Literature Survey
R. Fuentes and L. Ternicien, "Harmonics mitigation in high current
multipulse controlled transformer-rectifiers," 10th International
Conference on Harmonics and Quality of Power. Proceedings (Cat.
No.02EX630), Rio de Janeiro,

Advantages
The Voltage waveform do not Exhibit major distortions while the cur-
rent wave ship distorted majorly in the case of 6 pulse rectifier than in
12 pulse rectifier.
With the increase of the number of pulses, the amplitude of harmonics
upstream of the rectifier is decreasing.
Disadvantages
Additional Space and Cost of the 12 pulse Rectifier
 Literature Survey
Design and Comparison of the Performance of 12 Pulse Rectifiers for
Aerospace Applications by Fabio Corti, Abdelazeem Hassan Shehta,
Antonino Laudani and Ermanno Cardelli

Advantages
With the increase of the number of pulses, the amplitude of harmonics
upstream of the rectifier is decreasing.
Disadvantages
Additional Space and Cost of the 12 pulse Rectifier
 Theory
12 Pulse Rectifier

Example from Indian Metro Rail Projects

 Structure

We have a single primary and 2 secondary winding transformers as input.

We can call them rectifier transformers.

The Primary is delta and we have 2 secondaries- namely delta/star. Delta

star is provided to have necessary phase shift, or lets say we are convert-
ing 3 phase into 6 phase.

Each Three phase is connected to 2 sets of 3phase full wave rectifier. Hence since
each set produces 6 pulse each, we call it 12 pulse rectifier.

These 2 sets can either be connected in parallel and series depending on the appli-
cation. Theoretically we have less losses in Parallel than in Series.
 Working
Waveforms to Explain the Working
 Operational Analysis
The essence of multi pulse converters benefits is based on the relation

Hence a 6 pulse will generate odd harmonics 5th 7th 11th etc and 12 pulse will
generate odd harmonics 11th 13th 23th etc. It has to be noted that 5th and 7th
harmonics are absent in the system for 12 pulse

To obtain the amplitude of harmonic currents, we can use Fourier analysis and is demonstrated

as below

This also implies that the magnitude of each harmonic is proportional to the reciprocal of har-
 Operational Analysis
Total Harmonic Distortion of the Input current can be calculated as below

So we have standards which define the quality standards of Energy such as EN 50160 and CEI 61000. In this paper the author has described about how

2 transformers are feeding 2*6 Pulse diodes and have taken measurements from 2 locations, namely line feeding single trafo (A) and line feeding both

transformers (B). This way we get to compare the results of 6 and 12 pulse with a single unit.
 Waveforms

Analysing the harmonic spectrum of the current from the two recorded points it can be seen that the higher number of pulses corresponds to a lower am -

plitude of the current harmonics. Fig 8 and Fig 9 show that only the harmonics 2th has a constant value in both analysed points, while the other harmon -

ics like 3th, 4th, 5th, 6th, 7th, 11th, 12th , 14th exceeds the recommendations of the standard In Point A, while In Point B they have acceptable amplitude

values.

The same is observed for the THD since it decreases significantly and are within the limits as per standard for 12 pulse.
 Waveforms

The effects of the voltage and current distorted waveforms in the case of a 6 and 12 pulse rectifier can be seen in Fig 15 and Fig 16 . The voltage wave

forms do not exhibit major distortions while current wave shape is visibly distorted in the case of a 6 pulse rectifier but returns to a sinusoidal form in Point

B which corresponds to 12 pulse rectifier.

 Conclusion

With the increase in number of pulses, the amplitude of harmonics upstream of the rectifier is decreasing.

Only from the configuration of the transformer windings , with a 30 degree of voltage, it is possible to achieve a better quality of electricity in the case of

many pulses.
 References

Influence of Multi Pulse Rectifier on Power Quality in an Industrial Environment

Secheron Rectifier design for Bangalore Metro Rail Project

Design and Comparison of the Performance of 12 pulse Rectifier for Aerospace Applications
Thank you