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AC Drives

Straight Talk About PWM

AC Drive Harmonic
Problems and Solutions
AC Drives

Abstract
Though much has been written about harmonics and related issues with respect to
AC drives, many drives users still seek clear answers to some basic questions. The
purpose of this paper is to provide some basic information regarding AC drives and
harmonics with a simplified explanation of harmonics and power factor, showing
how both can affect a distribution system. This paper will attempt to dispel some
of the myths as well as point out legitimate concerns, provide some viable
solutions, and show their pros and cons.

Drive Basics
Before we can have a meaningful discussion on harmonics with respect to AC
drives, first it is necessary to have a good understanding of the basic workings of
a modern PWM AC drive, specifically how it draws power from the utility line.
Figure 1 is a schematic diagram of a typical “voltage source” AC drive power
structure.

A modern AC drive power structure consists of three basic stages. It is ironic that
while most DC drives run on AC, most AC drives run on DC. This is because the
inverter section shown in the “IGBT Inverter Bridge” in Figure 1 requires a stable
DC source to operate. Therefore, the first stage of the drive must convert three-
phase AC to DC. The first stage is known as the converter section.

Figure 1 – Typical AC Drive Power Structure

 AC Drives

In an AC drive, the converter stage consists of a three-phase, full wave diode

bridge, though SCRs (Silicon Controlled Rectifiers) are sometimes used in place of
diodes. If this stage were isolated from the rest of the power structure, we would
see a DC voltage with a 360-Hertz ripple at the DC bus connection when three-
phase power is applied to the input (see Figure 2).

Figure 2 – Unfiltered Three-Phase Rectified Voltage.

A filter is required to smooth out the ripple on the DC bus in order to run the IGBT
inverter. Therefore, a second or “filter” stage is required. Primarily, this consists of
a large “Capacitor Filter” shown in Figure 1. Often an inductor or “DC Link Choke”,
shown in Figure 1, may be added. The choke, when used, helps buffer the
capacitor bank from the AC line and serves to reduce harmonics. An explanation is
discussed on the following pages.

The third stage, “IGBT Inverter Bridge” shown in Figure 1, is the inverter section.
This section uses high-speed transistors as switches to apply a “Pulse Width
Modulated” (PWM) waveform to the motor. Taking advantage of the fact that a
motor is basically a large inductor, and that current does not change very fast in
an inductor, the DC bus voltage can be applied in pulses of varying width in order
to achieve current in the motor that approximates a sine wave.

For the most part, it is the rectifier and the filter that have an affect on the power
line. Let’s use a single-phase model to show how the converter and filter work to
change AC into DC. Shown in Figure 3a is a single-phase representation of a diode
rectifier circuit with a filter capacitor and load resistor across the DC bus.
AC Drives

Figure 3a – Single-Phase Converter and Filter.

Upon application of AC power the capacitor will charge up to the peak of the
applied line voltage through the Diode Bridge. Each diode works electrically the
way a check valve works in a fluid. It allows current to flow in one direction. For
the four diodes in the single-phase bridge, two are conducting at a time (one plus
and one minus) while the other two are blocking. When the polarity of the AC input
changes, the conducting and blocking diode pairs also change.

When a load is applied to the DC bus, the capacitor will begin to discharge. With
the passing of the next input line cycle, the capacitor only draws current through
the diodes and from the line when the line voltage is greater than the DC bus
voltage. This is the only time a given diode is forward biased. This only occurs at
or near the peak of the applied sine wave resulting in a pulse of current that
occurs every input cycle around the +/- peak of the sine wave. As load is applied
to the DC bus, the capacitor bank discharges and the DC voltage level drops. A
lower DC voltage level means that the peak of the applied sine wave is higher than
the capacitor voltage for a longer duration. Thus the width of the pulse of current
is determined in part by the load on the DC bus. Refer to Figure 3b.

Figure 3b shows input line voltage Vac, Filtered DC bus voltage Vo and the
pulsating Input Current I. Note that the unfiltered Vo trace would be before the
filter capacitor is added to the circuit.
 AC Drives

Filtered

Unfiltered

Figure 3b – Single-Phase Converter Measurements

The aforementioned characteristics hold true for the three-phase model with the
difference being 6 diodes and 6 pulses per cycle rather than two pulses per cycle
as shown in the single-phase model. For an AC drive, the load is the Inverter
section. One can see by looking at Figure 2 that if we have a three-phase diode
bridge converter we get 6 of these voltage pulses for one complete three phase
line cycle. It is the pulsating input current shown in Figure 4 that gives us the term
“nonlinear load” since the current does not flow in proportion to the applied
voltage.

In fact, with a nonlinear load, current may not flow at all for a major part of the
applied voltage cycle. In a three-phase system, the widest conduction time
possible would be 120 degrees (roughly +/- 60 degrees from the peak). Once we
go outside this 120 degrees conduction window, one of the other two phases will
have a higher peak voltage and current will flow from that phase.
AC Drives

VAN

IA
Figure 4 – Input Line to Neutral Voltage (VAN) and
Input Current (IA) on Phase A of a three-phase AC
drive.

VAN Figure 5 – 60 Hertz Input Line to Neutral Voltage

(VAN) and Input Current (IA) on Phase A of a linear
IA
load.

Harmonics Explained
Now that we understand how current is drawn from the AC line by a drive, let’s
try to define the term “harmonics”. Looking at the waveform in Figure 5 we can
see that each waveform is close to a perfect sine wave and the current is
proportional to voltage (although the current is lagging the voltage). This is a linear
load and contains no harmonics. A perfect sine wave by definition has no
harmonics but rather one fundamental component at one frequency. The
waveforms in Figure 5 are sine waves at one frequency, 60 Hertz. We saw that
nonlinear loads such as AC to DC rectifiers produce distorted waveforms.
Harmonics are present in waveforms that are not perfect sine waves due to
distortion from nonlinear loads. Around the 1830’s a French mathematician named
Fourier discovered that a distorted waveform can be represented as a series of
sine waves each an integer number multiple of the fundamental frequency and
each with a specific magnitude. For example, the 5th harmonic on a system with a
 AC Drives

60 Hertz fundamental waveform would have a frequency of 5 times 60 Hertz, or

300 Hertz. These higher order waveforms are called “harmonics”. The collective
sum of the fundamental and each harmonic is called a Fourier series. This series
can be viewed as a spectrum analysis where the fundamental frequency and each
harmonic component are displayed graphically in a bar chart format as shown in
Figure 6.

Figure 6 – Harmonic Spectrum Analysis.

To arrive at a total current, each component is added as a 90-degree vector. That

is to say the total current is the square root of the sum of the square of each
component.

Leaving the mathematical representations aside we can say something about the
harmonic content by simply looking at the wave shape. The more it looks like a
sine wave, the lower the harmonic content. If a waveform is a perfect square
wave, it will contain all of the odd number harmonics out to infinity. Even number
harmonics can be detected by a lack of symmetry about the X-axis. If the top and
bottom half of the waveform do not look like mirror images of each other, even
harmonics are present. Typically a drive will not cause even harmonics. The
sources of most even harmonics are arc furnaces, some florescent lights, welders
and any device that draws current in a seemingly random pattern. Another
noteworthy fact is that balanced three-phase rectifier type loads (such as an AC
drive) do not produce a third harmonic component. Nor do they produce any
harmonic component with 3 as a multiple (3rd, 9th, 15th, 21st, etc.). These are
known as triplen harmonics and are not present in most AC drives. If we look close
at figure 6 we can see no even harmonics or triplens. The 11th harmonic and higher
AC Drives

is a point where the magnitude diminishes to a very low level. What we are left
with is the 5th and 7th order. These are the “problem child” harmonics for AC
drives. If we can reduce these two harmonic components, we will have gone a long
way in meeting any harmonic specification for AC drives.

As we can see from the six-pulse waveform in Figure 7, we do not have a sine
wave or a square wave. It can be said that the input current contains some
harmonics.

Figure 7 – Typical input current for an AC drive under load.

Harmonic Problems
Now that we know harmonic currents flow in an AC drive with a 6-pulse front
end, let’s address what, if any, problems this may cause. Although noise coupling
into phone lines and other equipment is often sited, the main issue is the added
cost of the power distribution infrastructure. Power is only transferred through a
distribution line when current is in phase with voltage. This is the very reason for
concerns about input “power factor”. Displacement power factor in a motor
running across the line can be explained as the cosine of the phase angle between
the current and voltage as shown in Figure 5. Since a motor is an inductive load,
current lags voltage by about 30 to 40 degrees when loaded, making the power
factor about 0.75 to 0.8 as opposed to about 0.95 for many PWM AC drives. In
the case of a resistive load, the power factor would be 1 or “unity”. In such a case
all of the current flowing results in power being transferred. Poor power factor
(less than 1 or “unity”) means reactive current that does not contribute power is
flowing.
 AC Drives

Either harmonic or reactive current flowing through a system does not produce
power. The power infrastructure has to carry these currents causing heat loss due
to increased I2R drop in the wire and higher flux in transformer iron. Transformers
and distribution lines in some cases may need to be upsized to handle the burden of
this additional non-power producing current.

Harmonic current distortion can also introduce voltage distortion. Since a typical 6-
pulse nonlinear load draws current only near the peak of the sine wave, I2R voltage
drop or loading effect on transformers and power lines only occurs at the peak. A
combination of high source impedance and harmonic currents can cause a “flat
topping” effect on the line voltage. A source with high impedance is known as a
“soft” source because voltage is easily distorted, while a source with low
impedance is known as a “stiff” source. Figure 8 is a “soft” source (such as a
generator) with voltage flat topping. The distorted line voltage might then
introduce harmonic currents in other linear loads such as motors. Harmonic current
in a motor does not contribute to torque at the shaft, but does add heat and can
raise the operating temperature of a motor.

VAN
IA

Figure 8 – Voltage (VAN) flat topping on a “soft” source.

AC Drives

Figure 9 – Example of the PCC

While all of these potential issues are real, the

reality is they are normally not as serious as some
would like us to believe. The IEEE-519 document
has set limits on the level of “allowable harmonics”
and specified these limits at “the point of common
coupling” or PCC. The PCC is the point where the
customer meets the utility, and is usually the point
between the utility transformer and the customer’s
facility transformer as seen in figure 9. IEEE-519
defines limits at the PCC because the Power
Company pays for the infrastructure up to the PCC.
The user bares the cost of the distribution system
within their own facility and any over sizing that
may be required.

Harmonic distortion measurements are normally given in “total harmonic

distortion” or THD. THD defines the harmonic distortion in terms of the
fundamental current drawn by a load:

h=∞

å (M
h=2
h )2
THD % = × 100 %
M fundamental

Where Mh is the magnitude of either the voltage or current harmonic component

and Mfundamental is the magnitude of either the fundamental voltage or current. It is
important to note that THD uses the instantaneous fundamental current as the
denominator. Therefore, if a consumer’s plant is running at a small percentage of
their peak loading, the THD calculated may be very high. However, the current
distortion relative to the utility supply may actually be less than when they are
running at peak load.

Thus IEEE-519 uses a term called TDD (Total Demand Distortion) to express
current distortion in terms of the maximum fundamental current that the consumer
draws:

h=∞

å (I
h= 2
h )2
TDD % = × 100 %
I load
 AC Drives

Iload is the maximum fundamental current that the consumer draws and it could be
measured over a specified time period or estimated. Keep in mind that TDD is only
used to measure current distortion, not voltage distortion. Because TDD uses the
maximum fundamental current consumed as the denominator, TDD will most likely
be less than THD.

The limits IEEE-519 places on current distortion also depend on the ratio of
Isc/Iload where Isc is the short circuit current. Isc for a supply transformer can
usually be obtained from the utility. Isc can also be calculated knowing the supply
transformer impedance using the following formula:

KVA
Isc ≈
Zxfrm, pu × V sec ondary × 3

The ratio of Isc/Iload determines the “stiffness” of the supply. Therefore, the
“stiffer” the supply, the higher the ratio Isc/Iload will be, and the more current
TDD allowed.

In most cases it is much easier to meet IEEE-519 limits at the utility interface than
trying to meet it at every point in the facility. This is especially true where many
sources of harmonics exist within a facility. Unlike point source water pollution in
a stream or river system, when all of the point sources of current harmonics in a
given facility are added up, many of them cancel each other out. Natural phase
shifting and variations in source impedence produce different distortion
characteristics even on two or more identical nonlinear loads being loaded to the
same level. For example, we would most likely see three distinct harmonic
spectrum patterns from each identical 100 horsepower drive where the input
current to the three drives in the same facility were running at equal power levels.
Each could have a current THD level of 20%. Looking up stream before the three
branch circuits for each drive we would see a total current for each drive about
equal to the three drives’ RMS currents added together. However the THD in
current at the same point upstream might only be 7%. Be cautious of establishing
the “point of common coupling” at any point other than the utility interface. Doing
so may lead to the purchase of unnecessary equipment.

Furthermore, the displacement power factor that one might see with a drive might
be 0.95% as opposed to 0.75% power factor for the same motor across the line.
This frees up ampacity in the system. Some of this may be used up by the increase
in harmonics but in most cases the overall effect is a net benefit by using a drive.
Generally, sizing the transformer and power feed lines as if the motor were running
across the line is more than adequate to handle any harmonic currents from an AC
drive.
AC Drives

Solutions
One of the simplest solutions in reducing harmonics is to add a reactor at the line
input side or in the DC link. This reactor or inductor will not allow current to
change fast. It forces the capacitor bank to charge at a slower rate drawing
current over a longer period of time. The addition of this component can reduce
typical distortion levels from more than 80% to less than 20% THD depending on
source impedance. Figure 10 shows an AC drive without a DC link reactor or line
reactor and Figures 4 and 7 shows an AC drive with DC link reactors. Most drive
manufacturers include these reactors in larger drives. Making sure all large drives
(10 horsepower and above) have a reactor can go a long way toward reducing
harmonics in a given facility.

IA

VAN

Figure 10 – Input Line to Neutral Voltage (VAN) and Input Current (IA) on phase A
of a three-phase AC drive without a DC Link Choke or line reactor.

In most cases, beyond the addition of a reactor, harmonic mitigation techniques

are not needed. If they are, many options exist including 12 or 18 pulse
converters, passive filters, active filters, and active front ends.

The 12 and 18 pulse solutions rely on two or three separate three-phase systems
each feeding a diode or SCR bridge. The DC output is then combined to feed the
capacitor in the DC bus. Each of the three-phase input sections is phase shifted
from the other by 60 degrees/n where n is the number of three-phase feeds. Thus
an 18-pulse system requiring three separate three-phase feeds would have a phase
shift of (60 degrees/3) 20 degrees. This type of system is effective if all of the
three-phase feeders have balanced voltage. It also requires one rectifier section for
each three-phase feed and a special transformer to produce the multiple secondary
phase shifted outputs.
 AC Drives

Figure 11a shows a typical 12-pulse front-end configuration.

Notice the transformer has two, 30-degree phase shifted
secondary outputs. As shown in Figure 7, each secondary
windings feeding its diode bridge and each has the typical 6-
pulse waveform. The primary current in the 12-pulse
transformer looks a bit different. The 12-pulse primary
current shown in Figure 11b is the algebraic sum of the two
secondary outputs. Since a 30-degree phase shift exists, the
peaks do not line up. The result is an input current that looks
a bit more sinusoidal and therefore has a lower harmonic
content. Figure 11c shows the 18-pulse solution. Notice the
improvement in the current shape over the 12-pulse input.
Figure 11a – 12-Pulse converter (parallel output type).

Figure 11b – Primary current for a 12-Pulse system. Figure 11c – Primary current for an 18-Pulse system.

A passive filter, as seen in Figure12, offers some help in reducing harmonics by

allowing current to flow primarily at the fundamental. They use energy storage
devices such as inductors and capacitors to draw current from the line at low
frequency (60 hertz) and deliver it to the drive in the required bursts or pulses
(harmonics).

Figure 12 – Passive Filter on AC drive.

AC Drives

Active filters can be very effective but are also somewhat expensive. They work
by using an active switch arrangement that looks very much like the inverter side
of a drive. Using current sensors this device adds the sine wave complement of the
current it measures to the line, making the current up stream from the drive look
sinusoidal.

An active front end, as shown in Figure 13, allows an

AC drive to take current from the line in what is very
close to a pure sine wave. Therefore, THD is very low.
The active front end also has other important benefits.
It is bi-directional and can be used to feed multiple
drives. In other words, this means that it can draw
current from the line and deliver current to the line
should the drive or drives need to handle regenerative
energy from an overhauling or decelerating motor.
Figure 13 – Active Front End Converter.
Figure 14a shows input line to neutral voltage
and input current for an active front end
converter in the motoring condition. Notice
IA current and voltage are in phase and both
current and voltage wave shapes look
VAN relatively sinusoidal. The result is excellent
power factor with low harmonic content.
Figure 14b shows the same waveforms with
the drive in a regenerative condition. The only
difference is that current and voltage are 180
degrees phase shifted. This means that the
power factor is –1 rather than 1. It is still
unity power factor with the minus sign
Figure 14a – Active front end motoring.
indicating current in flowing back to the line
since the system is regenerating.

VAN

IA

Figure 14b – Active front end regenerating.

 AC Drives

Conclusion
While it is true that in some cases AC drives can cause harmonic related problems,
it is important to recognize these instances are not the norm. Often what drives
add to the system in harmonics they make up for with improved input power
factor actually freeing up KVA in the power distribution system. This is especially
true when a link choke is included in the drive. Remember, IEEE-519 needs only to
be satisfied at the Point Of Common Coupling and not within a given facility. This
will help to eliminate the purchase of unnecessary equipment. When reducing
harmonics, passive filters and multi-pulsed solutions are among the lowest cost.
Active filters cost a bit more and do a better job. An active front end may be the
most expensive in terms of up front cost. Long term though, money saved by not
requiring dynamic braking equipment, and energy savings in regeneration of power
may make this the most economical solution if regeneration or “braking” are
required.
 Authors:
John T. Streicher, Sr. Drives Applications Specialist
Josh J. Olive, Drives Applications Specialist

Acknowledgements:
Thanks to Nick Guskov and Howard Murphy for assistance with the graphics and
other content of this paper.

References:
IEEE Recommended Practices for Harmonic Control in Electric Power Systems,
IEEE Std. 519-1992.

Roger C. Dugan, Mark F. MaGranaghan, H. Wayne Beaty, Electrical Power

Systems Quality. McGraw-Hill Inc. 1996

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Publication DRIVES-WP011A-EN-P – August, 2001

Copyright © 2001 Rockwell Automation. All rights reserved. Printed in USA.