A multilevel active front-end rectifier with current harmonic compensation capability

This paper presents a multilevel active front-end rectifier that can absorb current harmonics generated by nonlinear loads connected to the same power distribution bus. That is, the proposed active front-end converter can operate as an active power filter and simultaneously as a rectifier. The control scheme is simple and forces the power system line current to be sinusoidal and in phase with the respective phase to neutral voltage, and is designed for the application in multilevel rectifiers. The control scheme is described in terms of principles of operations, dynamic modeling, and design. Simulated results are tested for steady state and transient operating conditions on a 10 kVA laboratory prototype.