An AC-to-AC converter based voltage regulator

This paper presents an AC voltage regulator based on a pulse width modulated AC-to-AC converter and a step-down transformer. The regulator is aimed at electrification of small rural communities and compensates for the voltage variations ranging from +10% to 40% of the nominal. The fast dynamics associated with a pulse width modulated converter is a significant benefit when compared to more conventional techniques, for instance the use of tap changing, transformers.