Study of delta/polygon-connected transformer-based 36-pulse ac-dc converter for power quality improvement

Design of a delta/polygon-connected autotransformer based 36-pulse ac-dc converter is presented in this paper. The 36-pulse topology is obtained via two paralleled eighteen-pulse ac-dc converters each of them consisting of a nine-phase (nine-leg) diode bridge rectifier. For independent operation of paralleled diode-bridge rectifiers, two interphase transformers (IPT) is designed and implemented. A transformer is designed to supply the rectifier. The design procedure of magnetics is in a way such that makes it suitable for retrofit applications where a six-pulse diode bridge rectifier is being utilized. The proposed structure has been implemented and simulated using Matlab/Simulink software under different load conditions. Simulation results confirmed the significant improvement of the power quality indices (consistent with the IEEE-519 standard requirements) at the point of common coupling. Furthermore, near unity power factor is obtained for a wide range of DTCIMD operation. A comparison is made between 6-pulse and proposed converters from view point of power quality indices. Results show that input current total harmonic distortion (THD) is less than 4% for the proposed topology at variable loads.