Adjustable speed drive for residential applications

This paper describes a demonstration of an adjustable speed drive suitable for use in residential applications such as compressors and fans in heat pumps, air conditioners, and refrigerators. The adjustable speed drive uses only a four-diode rectifier and a six-transistor six-diode inverter and does not require a source-frequency filter inductor or capacitor. Motor speed is adjusted with source-frequency phase control eliminating the switching loss and electromagnetic interference caused by the more commonly used high-frequency pulse-width modulation. Low source-current distortion and high power factor are obtained at a full-load operating point which is found using a parametric analysis.