Adjustable Speed Drives and power quality: Challenges and cost-effective opportunities

© 2016 IEEE. This paper provides an overview and proposes cost-effective and efficient opportunities in improving power quality in Adjustable Speed Drive (ASD) systems. In particular, an Electronic Inductor (EI) technique has been used in single drives to overcome the existing challenges in conventional front-end rectifiers even at partial loading conditions. Moreover, the effectiveness of the EI technique along with a phase-shifted current control in terms of improved grid current quality in multi-drive configurations is addressed. Furthermore, a novel DC-link current modulation scheme for multi-drive systems is proposed. Experimental and simulation results verify the effectiveness of the theoretical analysis.