Numerous approaches have been proposed in order to resolve the problems of current harmonics in electrical distribution systems. The rapid development of power semiconductors along with the revolutionary advances on microprocessors consolidated the motor drives industry and with it a massive proliferation of non-linear loads. It was thought that these very same technological advances would trigger an explosive development of harmonic solutions based on power electronics. Moreover, the introduction of the instantaneous active and reactive power theory or the so-called p, q theory which simplifies and gives more robustness to the control strategies of active filters reinforced this idea. Three decades have passed since the first IGBT was introduced in early 1980s, and active harmonic solutions are not the first choice to solve harmonic pollution in electrical distribution systems, mainly due to the high cost and the perception of low reliability. Given this scenario, in this work two main approaches are explored. First, the combination of an asymmetric 18-pulse rectifier with a reduced KVA active harmonic filter to improve the performance under abnormal utility conditions. Second, an interleaved active harmonic filter using multiple inverters connected in parallel at the ac and dc size, which will allow for higher power ratings and power density increase. The performance issues of the asymmetric 18-pulse rectifier under unbalanced voltage and pre-existing harmonic components are analyzed, as well as the current distortion improvement, achieved when an active power filter is introduced. On the other hand, the high frequency harmonic cancellation when interleaved inverters are used, the circulation of zero-sequence current and the impact of interleaving on dc bus capacitor are analyzed. Finally, some methods to mitigate the low frequency circulating currents based on eliminating the zero-sequence component, and the introduction of common mode inductors to reduce the high frequency circulating current are studied. Without a doubt the search for new cost-effective topologies able to reach broader power levels and voltage ranges will continue emerging giving more alternatives to users. Moreover, extensive research on wide band gap devices such as Silicon Carbide (SiC) and Gallium Nitride (GaN), with which it is possible to reach higher voltage breakdown and at least an order-of-magnitude lower switching losses, makes the future more promising for active solutions.

No description available.

No description available.

Power system harmonics and interharmonics are power quality concerns that have received a great deal of attention in recent years. These phenomena can have several adverse effects on power system operation. The main harmonic and interharmonic sources are devices based on power electronics. An emerging class of harmonic sources is comprised of power electronic-based home appliances. These appliances are dispersed throughout the low-voltage distribution system, and their collective impact can result in unacceptable levels of voltage distortion. The characterization of home appliances based on their harmonic currents is an important step toward understanding the impact of these devices. This thesis presents an evaluation of the relative severity of the harmonic currents from these devices, and the impact of the disparity of the harmonic current phase angles. Typically, the voltage supplied to each harmonic source is already distorted. This distortion causes a change of the harmonic current magnitudes (traditionally referred to as the attenuation effect). Common harmonic analysis methods cannot take this variation into account because they use a typical harmonic current source model specified by a supply voltage having little or no distortion. This thesis characterizes the harmonic attenuation effect of power electronic-based appliances. One of the findings is that harmonic amplification, rather than attenuation, can occur under credible voltage conditions. This finding had not been made previously. In order to include the harmonic attenuation/amplification in appliance modeling, a measurement-based harmonic modeling technique is proposed. One of the most economic and effective ways to mitigate harmonics in power systems is through the use of harmonic shunt passive filters. These filters can be of many topologies. Selecting these topologies is a task that, today, depends on the experience and judgment of the filter designer. An investigation is carried out on the common filter topologies, and the most cost-effective topologies for mitigating harmonics are identified. As many of the larger harmonic loads also generate interharmonics, interharmonics have become prevalent in today’s medium-voltage distribution system. Mitigation cannot be carried out until the interharmonic-source location is known. A method for interharmonic source determination is proposed and then verified through simulation and field measurement studies.

Products produced by a Swedish company are requested to be investigated regarding their harmonic and inter-harmonic currents injected into the public supply system to comply with the Swedish standard SS-EN IEC 61000-3-2, Electromagnetic compatibility (EMC).    On behalf of Systemair Sweden AB, this bachelor thesis aims firstly to investigate if their product, PAFEC 4225 WH (Air Curtain), complies with standard SS-EN IEC 61000-3-2, and if not, what measures should be taken; and secondly to develop a low-cost instrument for the measurement of harmonics and inter-harmonics according to standard IEC 61000-4-7 related to the requirements on equipment used in standard SS-EN IEC 61000-3-2. To this purpose, the standards have been looked into thoroughly, the preconditions for measurements have been studied in detail, and external meetings with a consultant at Delta Development Technology AB have been performed. Measurements of the harmonic spectrum generated by PAFEC 4225 WH have been performed first at Systemair Sweden AB’s Technical center in Skinnskatteberg, and later at Delta Development in Västerås. After this, a low-cost instrument was developed, including hardware and software design and implementation. The hardware implementation consists of a circuit board designed using EasyEDA (an online PCB Design Tool), a NI myDAQ (a data acquisition device made by National Instruments), and an enclosure designed with Solidworks and made with a 3D-printer. The software implementation was conducted using LabVIEW – a graphical programming language.  A few measurements were performed using instruments complying IEC 61000-4-7 at Delta Development, and later with the low-cost instrument. Different line chokes were measured. The results showed that a 15 mH line choke connected in series with each motor would make the PAFEC 4225 WH comply with SS-EN IEC 61000-3-2. The results from the low-cost instrument did not match Delta Developments results regarding harmonic and inter-harmonic content. The difference could be caused by unfinished algorithm, different measurements conditions, and missing anti-aliasing-filter.          For the future work it is recommended that Systemair Sweden AB can either develop the low-cost instrument or buy an existing instrument that complies with IEC 61000-4-7, to enable to do measurements that comply with SS-EN IEC 61000-3-2. One does also need to investigate the grid during low activity or consider buying a signal generator for the purpose of fulfilling the preconditions to enable measurements. It is also recommended that further measurements are performed with the proposed line choke installed to check for any change in performance of the product.

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Induction motor (IM) drives are employed in a wide range of industries due to low maintenance, improved efficiency and low emissions. Industrial installations of high-power IM drives rated up to 30 MW have been reported. The IM drives are also employed in ultra high-speed applications with shaft speeds as high as 500; 000 rpm. Certain applications of IM drives such as gas compressors demand high power at high speeds (e.g. 10 MW at 20; 000 rpm). In high-power voltage source inverter (VSI) fed induction motor drives, the semiconductor devices experience high switching energy losses during switching transitions. Hence, the switching frequency is kept low in such high-power drives. In high-speed drives, the maximum modulation frequency is quite high. Hence, at high speeds and/or high power levels, the ratio of switching frequency to fundamental frequency (i.e. pulse number, P ) of the motor drive is quite low. Induction motor drives, operating at low-pulse numbers, have significant low-order volt-age harmonics in the output. These low-order voltage harmonics are not filtered adequately by the motor inductance, leading to high total harmonic distortion (THD) in the line current as well as low-order harmonic torques. The low-order harmonic torques may lead to severe torsional vibrations which may eventually damage the motor shaft. This thesis addresses numerous issues related to low-pulse-number operation of VSI fed IM drives. In particular, optimal pulse width modulation (PWM) schemes for minimization of line current distortion and those for minimization of a set of low-order harmonic torques are proposed for two-level and three-level inverter fed IM drives. Analytical evaluation of current ripple and torque ripple is well established for the induction motor drives operating at high pulse numbers. However, certain important assumptions made in this regard are not valid when the pulse number is low. An analytical method is proposed here for evaluation of current ripple and torque ripple in low-pulse-number induction motor drives. The current and torque harmonic spectra can also be predicted using the proposed method. The analytical predictions of the proposed method are validated through simulations and experimental results on a 3:7-kW induction motor drive, operated at low pulse numbers. The waveform symmetries, namely, half-wave symmetry (HWS), quarter-wave symmetry (QWS) and three-phase symmetry (TPS), are usually maintained in induction motor drives, operating at low switching frequencies. Lack of HWS is well known to introduce even harmonics in the line current. Impact of three-phase symmetry on line current and torque harmonic spectra is analyzed in this thesis. When the TPS is preserved, there are no triplen frequency components in the line current and also no harmonic torques other than those of order 6, 12, 18 etc. While TPS ensures that the triplen harmonics in the three-phase pole voltages are in phase, these triplen frequency harmonics form balanced sets of three-phase voltages when TPS is not preserved. Hence, triplen frequency currents flow through the stator windings. These result in torque harmonics of order 2, 4, 6, 8, 10 etc., and not just integral multiples of 6. These findings are well supported by simulation and experimental results. One can see that two types of pole voltage waveforms are possible, when all waveform symmetries (i.e. HWS, TPS and QWS) are preserved in a two-level inverter, These are termed as type-A and type-B waveforms here. Also, QWS could be relaxed, while maintain-ing HWS and TPS, leading to yet another type of pole voltage waveform. Optimal switching angles to minimize line current THD are reported for all three types of pole voltage wave-forms. Theoretical and experimental results on a 3:7-kW IM drive show that optimal type-A PWM and optimal type-B PWM are better than each other in different ranges of modulation at any given low pulse number. In terms of current THD, the optimal PWM without QWS is found to be close to the better one between optimal type-A and optimal type-B at any modulation index for a given P . A combined optimal PWM to minimize THD is proposed, which utilizes the superior one between optimal type-A and optimal type-B at any given modulation index and pulse number. The performance of combined optimal PWM is shown to be better than those of synchronous sine-triangle (ST) PWM and selective harmonic elimination (SHE) PWM through simulations and experiments over a wide range of speed. A frequency domain (FD) based and another synchronous reference frame (SRF) based optimal PWM techniques are proposed to minimize low-order harmonic torques. The objective here is to minimize the combined value of low-order harmonic torques of order 6, 12, 18, ..., 6(N 1), where N is the number of switching angles per quarter cycle. The FD based optimal PWM is independent of load and machine parameters while the SRF based method considers both load and machine parameters. The offline calculations are much simpler in case of FD based optimal PWM than in case of SRF based optimal PWM. The performance of the two schemes are comparable and are much superior to those of synchronous ST PWM and SHE PWM in terms of low-order harmonic torques as shown by the simulation and experimental results presented over a wide range of fundamental frequency, The proposed optimal PWM methods for two level-inverter fed motor drives to minimize the line current distortion and low-order torque harmonics, are extended to neutral point clamped (NPC) three-level inverter fed drive. The proposed optimal PWM methods for the NPC inverter are compared with ST PWM and SHE PWM, having the same number of switching angles per quarter. Simulation and experimental results on a 3:7-kW induction motor drive demonstrate the superior performance of proposed optimal PWM schemes over ST PWM and SHE PWM schemes. The di_erent optimal PWM schemes proposed for two-level and three-level inverter fed drives, having di_erent objective functions and constraints, are all analyzed from a space vector perspective. The three-phase PWM waveforms are seen as a sequence of voltage vector applied in each case. The space vector analysis leads to determination of optimal vector sequences, fast o_ine calculation of optimal switching angles and e_cient digital implementation of the proposed optimal PWM schemes. A hybrid PWM scheme is proposed for two-level inverter fed IM drive, having a maximum switching frequency of 250 Hz. The proposed hybrid PWM utilizes ST PWM at a _xed frequency of 250 Hz at low speeds. This method employs the optimal vector sequence to minimize the current THD at any speed in the medium and high speed ranges. The proposed method is shown to reduce both THD as well as machine losses signi_cantly, over a wide range of speed, compared to ST PWM Position sensorless vector control of IM drive also becomes challenging when the ratio of inverter switching frequency to maximum modulation frequency is low. An improved procedure to design current controllers, and a closed-loop ux estimator are reviewed. These are utilized to design and implement successfully a position sensorless vector controlled IM drive, modulated with asynchronous third harmonic injected (THI) PWM at a constant switching frequency of 500 Hz. Sensorless vector control is also implemented successfully, when the inverter is modulated with synchronized THI PWM and the maximum switching frequency is limited to 500 Hz.