Badin 2011
Badin 2011
Badin 2011
9, SEPTEMBER 2011
Abstract—This paper proposes an isolated three-phase rectifier medium- and high-power applications; therefore, low-frequency
power-factor correction using two single-phase buckpreregulators isolation is used. Moreover, isolated rectifiers have been widely
in continuous conduction mode. The use of the Scott transformer empolyed in the electrochemical and petrochemical industries,
renders a simple and robust rectifier to operate with unity power
factor. With only two active switches, the rectifier is able to gener- and subway applications [5]–[7].
ate symmetrical currents in the line and a regulated voltage out- Many studies employ a three-phase rectifier with single-phase
put without any necessary synchronous switches. The proposed PFC modules [8], [9]. In [8], a three-phase switch-mode recti-
control technique with sinusoidal pulse width modulation uses a fier employing three single-phase boost PFC circuits with direct
feedforward of the output inductor current and only one voltage output coupling is presented. Basically, this topology uses three
control regulates the output. Complete simulation results under
closed-loop operation are given and a 12-kW prototype has been power switches although it has a high component count and
implemented in the laboratory, which demonstrated to operate is not isolated. In [9], a three-phase PFC scheme is proposed
successfully with excellent performance, and thus can feasibly be using two single-phase PFC modules. The two-phase system
implemented in higher power applications. is produced by means of a 0.14-pu-rated autotransformer con-
Index Terms—AC–DC converters, buck rectifier, power supplies, nected to the three-phase input. However, this topology is also
power-factor correction (PFC) converters, sinusoidal pulse width not isolated. When a regulated output voltage is not required, a
modulated (SPWM), three-phase rectifier. number of methods have been proposed to lower the harmon-
ics generated by diode rectifier-type utility interfaces [10]–[16].
I. INTRODUCTION One approach is to use a conventional 12-pulse converter that
requires two six-pulse converters connected through isolation
HREE-PHASE switch-mode power supplies employing
T a diode-rectifier-type utility interface are widely used in
telecommunications, data processing, and other industrial sys-
transformers.
The first three-phase boost rectifier based on the Scott trans-
former was proposed in [17] and its practical aspects were ana-
tems. Those converters connected to the mains have the potential lyzed in [18]. Another boost rectifier with different output con-
of injecting current harmonics that may cause voltage distortion. nections is proposed and studied in [5], [19]–[21]. In principle,
These harmonics can be significantly reduced if the input power the Scott transformer provides galvanic isolation and sine and
factor is corrected by shaping the input current in each of the cosine secondary voltage waveforms for the high-power factor
three phases so that it is sinusoidal and in phase with the phase rectifiers, resulting in a perfectly regulated dc output voltage.
voltage. Due to this fact, switch-mode rectifiers for power-factor In [5], a unity power factor three-phase boost rectifier with a
correction (PFC) have gained considerable attention. Further ad- split dc bus based on the Scott transformer was proposed (see
vantages for the use of PFC rectifiers are their adaptability to Fig. 1). This rectifier has a split dc bus and the voltages across
different line voltages and the fact that they preregulate the dc the switches are Vo /2. The control method employed to manage
output voltage, which may be supplying a dc–dc converter. the currents of the two boost inductors, LT and LM , is an in-
In many cases, bidirectional rectifier topologies are not nec- stantaneous average current control. Each rectifier presents an
essary and unidirectional topologies offer some advantages, in- independent current loop with an individual reference current,
cluding a decrease in the number of power switches, natural generating sinusoidal secondary currents in phase with their
protection for dc bus short circuit, and less processing of en- respective secondary voltages.
ergy for active switches [1]–[4]. Furthermore, in addition to In this paper, an isolated three-phase buck rectifier based on
unity power factor, safety and robustness are also important for the Scott transformer is presented, substantiated by a detailed
discussion involving theoretical considerations, and finally a
Manuscript received October 7, 2010; revised January 7, 2011 and Febru-
prototype is designed to prove the proposed performance. The
ary 23, 2011; accepted March 1, 2011. Date of current version September 16, proposed topology is depicted in Fig. 2. This application uses
2011.Recommended for publication by Associate Editor J. Liu. two single-phase buck rectifiers in continuous conduction mode
A. A. Badin is with the Technologic Federal University of Paraná, Florianop-
olis, SC 88040-970, Brazil (e-mail: [email protected]).
with output connected in parallel. Furthermore, this topology
I. Barbi is with the Federal University of Santa Catarina, Power Electronics offers some advantages over previous studies involving buck
Institute, Florianopolis, SC 88070-400, Brazil (e-mail: [email protected]). rectifier, such as a regulated output voltage and only one LC
Color versions of one or more of the figures in this paper are available online
at http://ieeexplore.ieee.org.
output filter, absence of inrush current, and protection against
Digital Object Identifier 10.1109/TPEL.2011.2125801 short circuit.
IV. STEADY-STATE ANALYSIS The equivalent circuit in Fig. 6 can be reduced to the circuit in
Fig. 7, whereas the inductor voltage is shown in
In the theoretical study involving the unity power factor iso-
lated three-phase rectifier, only the secondary circuitry was con- vL o (t) = vD α (t) + vD β (t) − vo (t). (9)
sidered. Hence, the secondary windings of the Scott transformer
are considered to be ideal ac power sources. Moreover, the full- Substituting (7) and (8) into (9), we obtain
bridge diode rectifiers were substituted by power sources that VL o (t) = Vp · Kv − vo (t). (10)
represent the rectified secondary voltages vα (t) and vβ (t). The
topology in Fig. 2 can be reduced to the circuit given in Fig. 6. The inductor voltage has no dc component and considering
The secondary voltages of the Scott transformer are sine and average voltage yields
cosine waveforms [5]. Therefore, the rectified voltages at the
vo (t) = Vo = Vp · Ki . (11)
inputs of the buck converters are
The high-frequency components of voltage were neglected by
vα (t) = Vp · | sin(ω · t)| (3)
considering only the instantaneous average values of the buck
vβ (t) = Vp · | cos(ω · t)|. (4) diode voltages. Even so, ideally, the high-frequency components
BADIN AND BARBI: UNITY POWER FACTOR ISOLATED THREE-PHASE RECTIFIER WITH TWO SINGLE-PHASE BUCK RECTIFIERS 2691
of the voltage would stay on the output filter, leaving the dc com-
ponent free to stay on the load, resulting in a constant voltage
output. This indicates that the inductor current feedfoward is not
necessary to obtain a unity power factor, considering a resistive
load and symmetrical network.
The complete schematic diagram with respective waveforms
is depicted in Fig 8. In this representation, the carriers are 180◦
phase shifted from each other.
A. Input LC Filter
The natural leakage inductance of the low-frequency trans-
former usually is very low, but this inductance is significant
at high-frequency filters. Taking advantage of that, the high-
frequency input filter uses the leakage inductance of the sec-
ondary winding. Insofar, the input filter is accomplished by
adding the capacitor Cf .
TABLE I
SYSTEM SPECIFICATIONS
Fig. 10. Normalized inductor current ripple with Kv = 0.5. (a) 180◦ phase
shifted. (b) Same phase carriers.
Fig. 12. Inductor current iL (t) with 180◦ shift phase between both carriers.
Fig. 15. Secondary voltage vβ (t) and current iβ (t).
Fig. 16. Secondary currents iα (t), iβ (t), and inductor current iL (t).
Fig. 19. Photograph of the Scott transformer. Fig. 20. Photograph of the laboratory prototype (dimensions are 300 mm ×
250 mm × 120 mm).
Fig. 22. Current iβ (t) and voltage vβ (t) (10 A/division, 200 V/division, and VIII. CONCLUSION
5 ms/division).
This paper introduces a novel unity power factor isolated
three-phase rectifier based on the Scott transformer and single-
phase buck rectifier in continuous conduction mode. A thorough
analysis is presented, corroborated by simulation studies and
the successful design of a system composed of two single-phase
buck rectifiers connected to a Scott transformer. This topology
has only two switches where each buck module is rated for
half of the output power. The resulting input line currents are
nearly sinusoidal in shape with low harmonic distortion and
unity power factor.
The proposed control strategy, which employs a feedfoward
of the output inductor current, allows using high inductor current
ripple without distortion input current. Moreover, a small induc-
tor can also be used, which reduces significantly size, weight,
and cost of the buck rectifier. A second feedfoward input volt-
age is proposed to distribute the total power between them when
the input voltage is unbalanced. And finally, a common voltage
Fig. 23. Secondary currents iα (t), iβ (t), and inductor current iL (t) control loop for both buck PFCs is employed to regulate the
(10 A/division and 4 ms/division).
output voltage.
A 12-kW laboratory prototype was successfully imple-
mented. The experimental results demonstrate the efficient per-
formance of the proposed system, where the power factor de-
pends on the relation between the output voltage average value
and the input voltage peak value. The low-pass LC input filters
were obtained with leakage inductances from the Scott trans-
former and it is not necessary to add inductors, only capacitors.
Moreover, the output filters are a simple LC filter for high-
frequency components.
The use of the Scott transformer provided low-frequency iso-
lation, which is desirable in some applications due to the ro-
bustness and safety it provides. In these cases, this rectifier is
certainly a promising option since it presents unity power factor
by using only two active switches and it uses a simple well-
known control strategy. Therefore, this proposed structure is
recommended for high-power installations.
Fig. 24. Line currents iA (t), iB (t), and iC (t) (20 A/division and 5 ms/division).
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Fig. 25 shows the tested efficiency of the three-phase rectifier
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Eur. Conf. Power Electronics Application, Spain, 1995. par, Brazil, in 1949. He received the B.S. and M.S.
[18] S. K. T. Miller, I. Barbi, “Practical aspects of the unity power factor degrees in electrical engineering from the Federal
isolated three-phase rectifier based on the Scott transformer,” presented at University of Santa Catarina, Florianópolis, Brazil,
the Proc. Appl. Power Electron. Conf.(APEC), Austin, TX, 2005. in 1973 and 1976, respectively, and the Dr. Ing. de-
[19] A. A. Badin and I. Barbi, “Unity power factor isolated three-phase rectifier gree from the Institute National Polytechnique de
with neutral point based on the Scott transformer,” IEEE 21st Annu. Appl. Toulouse, Toulouse, France, in 1979.
Power Electron. Conf. (APEC) Expo., Mar. 19–23, 2006, p. 7. He founded the Brazilian Power Electronics Soci-
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bus based on the Scott transformer,” in Proc. IEEE Power Electron. Spec. versity of Santa Catarina, where he is currently a
Conf.(PESC), Jun. 15–19, 2008, pp. 516–522. Professor.
[21] A. A. Badin and I. Barbi, “Simplified control technique for three-phase Prof. Barbi has been an Associate Editor in the power converters area of the
rectifier PFC based on the Scott transformer,” in Proc. IEEE Int. Symp. IEEE TRANSACTIONS ON INDUSTRIAL ELECTRONICS for five years.
Ind. Electron., Jul. 9–13,, 2006, vol. 2, pp. 931–936. He created the Brazilian Power Electronics Conference.