PERFORCE INVESTIGATIONS ON LOW VOLTAGE HIGH CURRENT RECTIFIER WITH LOW HARMONIC DISTORTION

Abstract

Low voltage high current rectifiers are required for many industrial applications. Traditionally, these rectifiers have been manufactured by using simple diode bridge rectifiers fed through auto-transformer and transformer combination where the auto-transformer controls the input voltage to the three phase uncontrolled rectifiers to obtain the required voltage level conversion. The disadvantage with such systems is that they are quite bulky. The power factor and the response of the system are also poor. In this dissertation, a switch mode type of low voltage high current rectifier is designed and fabricated. This rectifier is operated at high frequency to reduce the size and weight of the transformer. The mathematical model of the system is developed. Both the simulation and experimental results are presented and compared. The performance of the system is investigated and it is found that both response and input power factor are improved.