Power factor improvement of PWM matrix converter using intermediate voltage

The authors previously proposed a new control strategy for a matrix power converter, which made it possible to generate the output voltage of 0.866 times the supply voltage and to eliminate voltage and current spikes inevitable in conventional switching operations (1989). The switches in the phase with the lowest command were controlled to connect the output terminal to the lowest supply voltage. The switches in another two phases were switched between the highest voltage and the lowest voltage of the three phase power supply and PWM controlled by output voltage command. Here, the authors extend the control strategy to use the intermediate supply voltage and improve the input current waveforms and the power factor. The new control scheme is examined and confirmed by experiments.<>