Analysis of 12-pulse Controlled Rectifier Performance and its

Impacts on Power System

Tun Lin Naing

ABSTRACT

Power electronics converters are widely used in power system such as motor drive
applications because of their low cost and higher reliability. Rectifiers are used whenever AC
to DC conversion is needed. 12-pulse controlled scheme is the basic topology of rectifier
mainly used in high voltage DC transmission system and many other applications. This type
of converter can operate reducing certain line current harmonics.
It is needed to understand the performance of this converter qualitatively and their
impacts on power system due to their harmonics. Therefore, it is necessary to predict the
harmonic levels of converter. By using 12-pulse rectifiers in AC to DC conversion, power
factor will improve and total harmonic distortion can be reduced compared with simple diode
and thyristor bridge rectifiers. In this paper, both input and output sides of 12-pulse rectifier
with highly inductive RL load is analyzed and MatLab SimuLink will be used to simulate all
necessary waveforms and to get required information.

Keywords: Thyristor controlled rectifier, Harmonics, Qualitative analysis, MatLab SimuLink

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1.0 INTRODUCTION TO 12-PULSE PULSE CONTROLLED RECTIFIER
A six-pulse
pulse bridge rectifier reduces the output ripple considerably as compared with that
of a three-pulse
pulse rectifier. In applications such as power transmission, a further reduction in
output ripple is achieved with a twelve-pulse
twel converter.

Figure 1. Twelve-pulse
pulse Connection Using two Series Connected Six-pulse
Six pulse Bridge

A twelve-pulse
pulse converter can be obtained by connecting two six pulse bridges in series or
parallel. One six-pulse
pulse bridge use star
star-star transformer and other use star-delta
delta transformer
resulting there can get 30 degree phase shift between output voltage waves.. The resultant
converter output voltage is the sum of the individual converter output voltages.

Figure 2. Winding
ng arrangement and Phasor Diagrams of Y-Y transformer

2
 The resultant output voltage is a twelve
twelve-pulse as each converter gives a six-pulse
pulse output.
A typical twelve-pulse
pulse converter connected in series of two six-pulse
six pulse bridges is shown in
Figure 1. For the sake of simplicity in analysis, source
source impedance is neglected and assumed
thyristors are ideal. A common solution for harmonic reduction is passive filters which are
turned to trap a particular harmonic frequency. However, harmonics also can be eliminated
using special configurations of conve
converters connected as shown in Figure 1. This type of
rectifier is called line commutated rectifier and can be used for high power applications.

Figure 3. Winding arrangement and Phasor Diagrams of Y-Δ

Y Δ transformer

According to Figure 2 and 3, line to liline

ne voltage of secondary star transformer is lead 30
degree
e to line to neutral voltage. Line
ine to line voltage of secondary delta transformer is in
phase with line to neutral voltage. Therefore, total output voltage waves of two transformers
are shifted 60degree each other. The output voltage magnitudes of two transformers must
same. Due to the series connection, the same output current will flow through the two
converters.

2.0 OUTPUT AND INPUT WAVEFORMS OF CONVERTER

The total output voltage of the converter is
VO  VO1  VO 2 (1)
The output current of the two converters is the same and pure DC due to large
inductance of the output side.

Figure 4. Current Division in Delta Secondary

Figure 4 shows the winding current magnitudes of delta connected transformer

secondary for the condition of line A and B are conducted. Let consider as Nsec/Npri = √3 for
star-delta transformer while Nsec/Npri = 1 for star-star transformer.

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Figure 5. Output Voltage and Input Current Waveforms for Upper Converter

Figure 6. Output Voltage and Input Current Waveforms for Lower Converter

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 Figure 7. Total Resultant Output Voltage Waveforms at   30 

Figure 8. Transformer’s Secondary Currents and Primary Line Current Waveforms

Average output voltage is the twice of each six-pulse bridge rectifier. Therefore,
6 3Vm
VO ( avg )  cos  (2)

Where Vm is the maximum line to neutral voltage.
V
I O ( avg )  O ( avg ) (3)
R
From Figure 4,
2
I  I O ( avg ) Lines A and B are both conducting
3
1
I   I O ( avg ) Only one of line A or B is conducting
3

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3.0 FOURIER SERIES OF INPUT CURRENT WAVEFORM
Fourier series of the input line current of the upper converter is
2 3 1 1 1
iA  I O ( avg ) (cos t  cos 5t  cos 7t  cos 11t  ... ) (4)
 5 7 11
Fourier series of the input line current of the lower converter is
2 3 1 1 1
iA  I O ( avg ) (cos t  cos 5t  cos 7t  cos 11t  ... ) (5)
 5 7 11

Total resultant AC line current is given by the sum of equation (4) and (5)
4 3 1 1 1
iA  I O ( avg ) (cos t  cos 5t  cos 7t  cos 11t  ...) (6)
 11 13 23

These Fourier series only contain the odd number of harmonics in order of 12k  1 . k is the
th th th th
odd number (i.e. 11 , 13 , 23 , 25 , …).

The resulting line current of the 12-pulse rectifier is closer to a sinusoidal waveform as
shown in Figure 8. The instantaneous dc voltage is also smoother with this connection.
RMS value of line current is
0.5
42 3
I A( rms )    I O ( avg )
 (7)
 3 
From equation (6), RMS value of the fundamental components of the line current is
4 3
I A1( rms )  I O ( avg ) (8)
2

Displacement factor = cos  1 = cos 

I A1( rms )
Distortion factor = = 0.9886
I A( rms )

Therefore, power factor = 0.9886 cos  (9)

Total harmonic distortion of the input current is

I A2 ( rms )
THDIA   1 x 100 % = 15.22% (10)
I A21( rms )

4.0 SIMULATION OF 12-PULSE CONTROLLED RECTIFIER AND DISCUSSION

Simulation model of three-phase 12-pulse controlled rectifier is shown in figure (9). Model
parameters are shown in table 1.

Tabel 1. Parameters for 12-pulse Controlled Rectifiers

Parameter Name Value
Source Voltage 500kV
Transformer Rating 1200MVA
Transformer’s Secondary Voltage 200kV
Load Inductance 10H
Load Power 1000MW

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 Figure 9. Simulation Model of Three-phase Twelve-pulse Controlled Rectifier

Figure 10. Waveform of Input Line Current

Figure 11. Harmonic Spectrums of Input Line Current

The harmonics of the 12-pulse rectifier is analyzed using the FFT (Fast Fourier
Transform) analysis tool of MatLab. The simulation result of line current is shown in Figure 10
and harmonic spectrums are shown in Figure 11. The result of total harmonic distortion is
same as shown in equation (10). Firing angle can be controlled between 0 degree and 120
degree. Output voltage of the converter is maximum at firing angle 0 degree and minimum at
firing angle 120 degree.

Harmonic order of 6k  1 is present here for k = even and 6k+1 are positive sequence
th th th
harmonics and 6k-1 are negative sequence harmonics. The harmonic currents of 5 , 7 , 17 ,

7
 th
19 etc circulate between two converter transformers but not penetrate the AC network.
th th th th
Passive filters can be used to eliminate remaining 11 , 13 , 23 , 25 harmonics and the
size of filters will be reduced according to the higher harmonic frequency.

Figure 12. Typical Passive Filters for One Phase

Any orders of harmonics are not required for power system. The typical passive filter used to
cancel above harmonics in transformer input side is shown in Figure 12.

5.0 CONCLUSION
In this paper, the work was carried out on AC-DC twelve-pulse controlled converter and
its impacts on power system network. The simulation model 12-pulse ac dc converter is
developed and analyzed with MATLAB software. Harmonic analysis of ac dc converters was
investigated. The main issues of power quality are also mentioned. An important aspect of
this work is to lay foundation to carry further applied research in order to ideally improve the
national power system by increasing its reliability, and improving its efficiency and power
quality. The quality of the converter can be improve by using 24-pulse, 48 pulse controlled
rectifiers to reduce input line current harmonics more than this. Source impedances are
neglected in this paper and if they were considered, the procedure of mathematical analysis
will more difficult. Furthermore, the distortion of input voltage waveform can occur due to
overlap of thyristor currents. The design of input filter need Bode analysis.

6.0 REFERENCES
1. EP 3024, Power Electronics and Drives, B-Tech III Year Text Book.
2. Power Electronics Handbook, M. H. Rashid, Elsevier INC, 2011.
3. Thyristor DC Drives, P C Sen, John Wiley and Sons, New York, 1981.
4. Power Electronics, P C Sen, Tata McGraw Hill, 1987.
5. Power Electronics: Circuits, Devices, and Applications, M. H. Rashid, 1993.