Total compensation of line-side switching harmonics in converter-fed AC locomotives

PWM controlled line-side power converters of modern AC traction locomotives inject harmonic currents into the feeding overhead line. This causes problems of electromagnetic interference. Passive or active filters are usually provided for a partial reduction of the line harmonics. A novel and superior approach employs a switched electronic compensator. It generates an exact replica of the harmonic current, feeding it to the high-voltage transformer to produce a harmonic counter MMF. The transformer main flux is then forced to be sinusoidal, and so is the induced voltage in the primary. The line current, being low-pass filtered by the transformer leakage inductance, assumes a pure sinusoidal waveform. The compensator operates in the low switching frequency range of the main power converters. Its installed power is only 1% of the traction power. Operation, control, and design considerations are described. Results from laboratory tests at full power level are presented.