Industrial regenerative motor-drive systems

Regenerative motor-drive systems are nowadays widely applied in numerous industrial applications. This paper is centered on comparing the application of the two well-known and widely used types of regenerative front end converters. Namely, Fundamental Front End (FFE) rectifier, and Active Front End (AFE). The paper also introduces a new control topology for the temporary operation of the FFE converter. This topology enables to temporary boost the DC bus voltage and consequently provides an enhanced ride through operation for the FFE. As well be shown, this control topology can be considered as a “quasi-AFE” as it utilizes four switching states of conventional AFE without employing current controllers and with reduced switching losses. Theory, analysis, simulation, and experimental results are presented to prove and support the technical discussion subject of this paper.