Development and evaluation of control and power hardware for a line side PWM current source inverter

Using PWM current source inverters in drive systems shows some advantages over voltage source inverters such as reduction of losses in the machine due to the lower harmonic content in the machine currents and better EMI behaviour. The paper presents the theoretical and experimental design of a line side PWM current source inverter. The work includes a comparative study of different power semiconductors together with the gate drive circuits as well as the development of the control system maintaining the line side current waveform and the commanded dc-link current.