PERFORMANCE EVALUATION OF MATRIX CONVERTER FED INDUCTION MOTOR DRIVE

Abstract

In recent the progress of power device technology and development of large power integrated circuits have sparked renewed interest in direct ac-ac conversion. Although cycloconverters are well established as a means of direct ac-ac conversion, naturally commutated cycloconverters has serious problems as regard to output frequency range, input power factor and distortion of input and output waveform. Many of these problems can be overcome by a forced commutated cycloconverter comprising bilateral power switches, but more number of pulses is needed to achieve waveform quality with unrestricted output frequency resulting in more cost. Matrix converter is a three-pulse forced commutated cycloconverter. Matrix converter is an array of controlled semiconductor switches that connects directly the three-phase source to any of the three-phase load without using any DC link or large energy storage elements, and therefore it is called "all-silicon solution". This converter has several attractive features such as: sinusoidal input and output currents, operation with unity power factor for any load, regeneration capability. There are various control strategies used for Matrix converter, some modulation strategies for the matrix converter are reviewed. Simulation models of these control strategies are developed in MATLAB Simulink. This thesis concerns the matrix converter as an alternative power converter for induction motor drives and presents performance evaluation of Matrix Converter fed Induction Motor drive using Field-Oriented Control (FOC) and Direct Torque control (DTC) schemes. It is concluded that the matrix converter will be a powerful alternative to the existing drives in the future.