Design of H-bridge multilevel active rectifier for traction systems

Abstract

This paper focuses on the design of a controller for a high-voltage high-power single-phase active rectifier, designed for, but not limited to, traction field applications. The rectifier should absorb current with low harmonic content to reduce the environmental electromagnetic pollution and to eliminate the disturbances to the on-board communication equipment. In addition, it should allow the elimination of the heavy and bulky transformer, reducing encumbrance and cost. A multilevel H-bridge single-phase configuration has been chosen and the design has been fully investigated with the help of theoretical analysis, simulations, and experiments.