Harmonic Filtering Performance of a Hybrid Active Filter for a Three-Phase 12-Pulse Diode Rectifier

This paper describes a hybrid active filter for harmonic-current compensation of a three-phase 12-pulse diode rectifier used as the front end of a medium-voltage motor drive system. This hybrid filter is characterized by the direct series connection of a simple LC filter and a small-rated active filter. This circuit configuration brings low cost, small size, and light weight to the hybrid filter. The authors design, construct, and test a three-phase experimental system rated at 400V and 15kW, which is a downscaled model of the medium-voltage motor drive system. In this experiment, the LC filter is tuned to the 11th harmonic frequency, and the active filter is based on a three-level diode-clamped PWM converter with a dc capacitor voltage as low as 28V. This hybrid filter is connected on either the first or fourth winding of a line-frequency transformer with a first Δ-winding voltage of 400V in the primary, and a second Δ-winding voltage of 220V, a third Y-winding voltage of 220V, and a fourth Δ-winding voltage of 400V in the secondary. Experimental results show that the hybrid filter performs satisfactory filtering in a range from the no-load to full-load conditions.