To improve the power quality of a multi-pulse rectifier, a zigzag 18-pulse uncontrolled rectifier with an auxiliary circuit at the DC side is proposed. When the grid-side currents are sinusoidal waves, the required DC side injection currents to be compensated can be obtained by analyzing the AC-DC side relationship of diode bridge rectifiers. Then the 6 compensation currents generated by an active auxiliary circuit are injected into the DC side to eliminate the grid-side harmonics of the rectifier. The simulation results verifying the correctness of the theoretical analysis show that the proposed rectifier can mitigate the harmonic content, as the total harmonic distortion of the grid-side current is about 1.45%. In addition, the single-phase inverter used in the active auxiliary circuit has the characters of simple circuit structure and easy controllability.

In this paper, a low kilo-volt-ampere rating zigzag connected autotransformer based 36-pulse rectifier system supplying vector controlled induction motor drives (VCIMD) is designed, modeled and simulated. Detailed design procedure and magnetic rating calculation of the proposed autotransformer and interphase reactor is studied. Moreover, the design process of the autotransformer is modified to make it suitable for retrofit applications. Simulation results confirm that the proposed 36-pulse rectifier system is able to suppress less than 35th harmonics in the utility line current. The influence of load variation and load character is also studied to demonstrate the performance and effectiveness of the proposed 36-pulse rectifiers. A set of power quality indices at AC mains and DC link are presented to compare the performance of 6-, 24- and 36-pulse AC-DC converters.

The aim of this paper is presentation and comparison of calculation methods of the inductance matrix of a 3-column multi-winding autotransformer. Main and leakage autotransformer inductance was obtained using finite elements method. Static calculations were made at the current supply for 2D and 3D models, and mono-harmonic calculations were made at the voltage supply. In the mono-harmonic calculations the eddy current losses were taken into account, this made it possible to study relationship between the autotransformer parameters and the frequency. Calculations were made using Ansys and the authors' own programs in Matlab.

The 15-winding and 3-column autotransformer supplying an 18-pulse rectifier circuit was developed. Presented methods can be used also for the autotransformers of other topologies supplying different kinds of converters. Presented methods make it possible to exactly calculate main and leakage inductances of the multi-winding autotransformer. The presented analysis of the eigenvalues and eigenvectors of the inductance matrix makes it possible to identify the influence nature of individual modes on the inductance matrix, and to compare the calculation results obtained using the presented methods. Frequency dependence of autotransformer parameters was shown. Also modes of the impedance matrix of the multi-winding autotransformer was investigated, this made it possible to identify the influence nature of individual modes on the inductance matrix. Using presented methods one can exactly calculate main and leakage inductances of the autotransformer. Thanks to this, one can design in optimal way autotransformers for supplying, for example, rectifier circuits, THD coefficients. The results of the measurements and simulations were also shortly presented at the end of the article.