Analysis of the Parallel-Bridge Rectifier System

A new rectifier connection scheme which eliminates line-to-line short circuits and tends to present a balanced load to three-phase power sources, such as synchronous machines with high commutating reactances, is presented. The scheme consists of using three full-wave bridges, one across each of the three isolated phase windings, with their outputs tied in parallel across the load. Resulting voltage and current waveforms have been studied in detail theoretically and verified experimentally for both resistive and inductive load conditions. Equations for voltages and currents and theoretical plots for voltages under different operating conditions are given. Comparison of these with oscillograms obtained from an experimental model shows very close agreement.