Improvement in Harmonic Reduction of a Zigzag Autoconnected Transformer Based 12-Pulse Diode Bridge Rectifier by Current Injection at DC Side

In this paper, to improve the harmonic reduction ability in the input line current of a 12-pulse diode bridge rectifier using zigzag autoconnected transformer with a dc side current injection technique is presented. Conventional 12-pulse rectifier does not meet the IEEE-519 standard and therefore current injection technique at dc side is used to shape the converter current to minimize the harmonic distortion in the input line current. The proposed converter configuration uses a zigzag autoconnected transformer with inherent ability to block zero-sequence components, which eliminates the requirement of a zero-sequence blocking transformer, and thereby reduces the overall rating of the converter. The current injection technique at dc side enables to alter the dc side currents, which further shapes the input line currents to near sinewave with total harmonic distortion of less than 1% and power factor close to unity. The proposed converter configuration is simulated and analyzed in MATLAB/Simulink. The effects of variation in the magnitude of injected current on the input line current harmonics in terms of power quality indices are analyzed. A prototype of the proposed converter configuration is developed, and experimental results are presented to validate the theoretical design, analysis, and simulation results.