Power Factor Correction to Mitigate Harmonic Distortion

Many direct current (DC) devices must receive their power from the alternating current (AC) grid. Rectifiers use diodes to create DC for these devices. Due to diodes' non-linear nature however, harmonics are created and these travel back into the grid. A significant presence of harmonics causes component heating and possible malfunction. A harmonic mitigation procedure is needed.With the correct usage of transistors, the current drawn by a rectifier can be manipulated to remove almost all harmonics. This process is called power factor correction (PFC), and formally acts to reduce the total harmonic distortion (THD) of the current. To investigate this, a three phase active rectifier was computer simulated and a controller was designed to provide switching signals for the transistors. Finally, the device was constructed in the laboratory to drive a DC motor, verifying its operating principle outside of the idealities of simulation.

Author

• Kochetkov, Gary

Language

• en

Date created

• 2014

Type of Work

• Master's Thesis

License

• All rights reserved

Rights statement

• In Copyright

GW Unit

• Electrical Engineering

Degree

• M.S.

Advisor

• Harrington, Robert
• Etemadi, Amirhossein

Committee Member(s)

• Sorger, Volker

Persistent URL

•  https://scholarspace.library.gwu.edu/etd/12579s31z