The use of insulated-gate bipolar transistor (IGBT)-based power converters is increasing exponentially. This is due to high performance of these devices in terms of efficiency and switching speed. However, due to the switching action, high frequency electromagnetic interference (EMI) noises are generated. Design of a power converter with reduced EMI noise level is one of the primary objectives of this research. The first part of the work focuses on designing common-mode (CM) filters, which can be integrated with differential-mode (DM) filters for three-phase pulse-width modulation (PWM) rectifier-based motor drives. This work explores the filter design based on the CM equivalent circuit of the drive system. Guidelines are provided for selection of the filter components. Different variants of the filter topology are evaluated to establish the effectiveness of the proposed topology. Analytical results based on Bode plot of the transfer functions are presented, which suggest effective EMI reduction. Experimental results based on EMI measurement on the grid side and CM current measurement on the motor side are presented. These results validate the effectiveness of the filter. In the second part of the work, it is shown that inclusion of CM filters into DM filters results in resonance oscillations in the CM circuit. An active damping strategy is proposed to damp the oscillations in both line-to-line and line-to-ground ac voltages and currents. An approach based on pole placement by state feedback is used to actively damp both the DM and CM filter oscillations. Analytical expressions for state-feedback controller gains are derived for both continuous-and discrete-time models of the filter. Trade-off in selection of the active damping gain on the lower-order grid current harmonics is analysed using a weighted admittance function method. In the third part of the work, single-phase grid-connected power converters are considered. An integrated CM filter with DM LCL filter is proposed. The work explores the suitability of PWM methods for single-phase and parallel single-phase grid-connected power converters. It is found that bipolar PWM and unipolar PWM with 180◦interleaving angle are suitable for single-phase and parallel single-phase power converters, respectively. The proposed configuration along with the PWM methods reduces the CM voltage, CM current, and EMI noise level effectively. It is also shown that the suggested circuit is insensitive to nonidealities of the power converter such as dead-time mismatch, mismatch in converter-side inductors, unequal turn on and turn off of the switches, and propagation delays. In the fourth part of the work, the inter-phase inductor in parallel interleaved power converters is integrated with LCL filter boost inductor. Different variant designs are presented and compared with the proposed structure. It is shown that the proposed structure makes use of standard core geometries and consumes lesser core material as well as copper wire. Hence, it reduces the overall size and cost of the power converter. In the present work, a 10kVA three-phase back-to-back connected with input LCL filter and output dv/dt filter, a 5kVA single-phase grid-connected power converter with LCL filter, and a 7.5kVA parallel single-phase grid-connected power converter with LCL filter are fabricated in the laboratory to evaluate and validate the proposed methods. The experimental results validate the proposed methods that result in significant EMI performance improvement of grid-connected power converters.

IGBT based power converters acts as front end in the present day Adjustable Speed Drive (ASD). This offers many advantages and makes regenerative action possible. PWM rectifier operation produces electrically noisy DC bus on common mode basis. This results in higher ground current as compared to three phase diode bridge rectifier. Due to fast turn-ON and turn-OFF time of IGBT, the inverter output voltage dv/dt is high during switching transients and voltage waveform is rich in harmonics. As a result, in applications involving long cable the motor terminal voltage during the switching transient is as high as twice the applied voltage. This voltage stress reduces the life of insulation in motors. The high dv/dt output voltage applied at the motor terminal excites the parasitic capacitive coupling resulting in increased ground currents and causes Electric Discharge Machining (EDM) which reduces the life of motor bearings. The common mode voltage due to PWM rectifier and the inverter appear at the motor terminals exacerbating these problems. The common mode voltage due to PWM inverter with PWM rectifier is analyzed. An integrated approach for filter design is proposed wherein the adverse effects due to common mode voltage of both AFE converter and the inverter is addressed. The proposed topology addresses the problems of common mode voltage, common mode current and voltage doubling due to ASD. The design procedure for proposed filter topology is discussed with experimental results that validate the effectiveness of the filter. Inclusion of such higher order filter in the converter topology leads to problems such as resonance. Passive methods are investigated for damping the line resonance due to LCL filter and common mode resonance due to common mode filter. The need for active damping technique for resonance due to common mode filter is presented. State space based damping technique is proposed to effectively damp the resonance due to line filter and the common mode filter. Experimental results are presented that validate the effectiveness of active damping both on the line basis (differential mode) and line to ground basis (common mode) of the filter.