DC link current minimization for high power current source motor drives

In this paper, a loss reduction and DC link current minimization strategy for a high power current source inverter (CSI) fed drive is proposed. The proposed strategy consists of an inverter maximum modulation index control scheme and a flux optimization algorithm. Specifically, in the inverter modulation index control, the CSI modulation index is kept at the maximum value while the current source rectifier (CSR) is used to regulate a reduced variable DC link current and therefore to control the motor current magnitude. This control scheme can effectively reduce the dc link current and at the same time improve the line side and motor side harmonics. On the other hand, for the optimized flux control, the relationship between the rotor flux and the dc link current is first thoroughly investigated. Based on this analysis, the DC link current from the maximum inverter modulation index control can be further minimized by optimizing the rotor flux according to system variables such as the motor speed, the applied torque and the motor side capacitor size. With the proposed dc current minimization strategy, the drive current rating, semiconductor device losses and the drivepsilas DC link losses can be reduced. Both simulation and experimental results on a 4.16 kV 600 hp CSI fed drive system are obtained to verify the effectiveness of the proposed strategy.