Abdul Hamid Bhat
Tabish Nazir Mir
Electrical Engineering Department
Electrical Engineering Department
National Institute Of Technology
National Institute Of Technology
Srinagar, India
Srinagar, India
bhatdee@nitsri.net
mir.tabish.az@gmail.com

Abstract—This paper deals with the performance investigation all while maintaining a permissible Input Power Factor (IPF)
of a single-phase, unidirectional AC/DC Buck converter fed DC and Total Harmonic Distortion (THD ) of source current.
motor drive. A simulation model of a single-phase, For this purpose, a Buck-Converter model, which generates
unidirectional AC/DC Buck converter fed DC motor drive has voltages lower than the input voltage at its output is an
been developed, and the results have been compared with those obvious choice for speed control. Pulse Width Modulation
obtained in case of a conventional phase-controlled converter
(PWM) technique has been employed, wherein the width of
fed drive. The results show an inherent power quality
improvement in terms of reduced Total Harmonic Distortion pulses fed to the switch of buck-converter is varied to
(THD) of source current in a Buck-converter fed DC motor consequently vary the output voltage that is eventually fed to
drive over a phase-controlled converter fed drive, without the DC Motor, hence achieving speed control.
compromising on the range of speed control. Such an Improved
Power Quality Drive also exhibits Power Factor Correction
(PFC) properties to a large extent. The simulation results have
II. PHASE CONTROLLED CONVERTER BASED DRIVES
been further aided and confirmed by experimental results
AND ASSOCIATED LIMITATIONS.
obtained on a hardware prototype of an AC/DC buck- Conventionally for the speed control of D.C Motors,
converter fed DC motor drive. phase-controlled converters (semi-converter/full converter)
may be used. Although regeneration is possible in one of the
Keywords—Improved power quality converters (IPQCs), Total
topologies i.e in a full converter, but it is not possible in case
harmonic distortion (THD), Input Power Factor (IPF), and Pulse
width modulation (PWM).
of semi-converters. Besides, both topologies contribute to a
poor power quality as the firing angle of thyristors is
increased. Another associated problem with phase
I. INTRODUCTION controlled converter based drives is that a large amount of
DC motors with their limited yet indispensable reactive power is drawn from the supply whenever a phase-
applications in electric traction, vehicles, and other high controlled converter is connected across the source,
starting torque applications, call for the design of modern particularly at higher firing angles.
DC motor drives which not only provide a wide range of
speed control but also cater to the power quality constraints
[1]-[3] that a power system puts forth. However,
conventional phase controlled converters used for exercising
control over the speed of DC motors often introduce
harmonics in the source current besides imparting a poor
input power factor.

In order to overcome the limitations of phase controlled

converters in DC motor drives, Improved Power Quality
Converter (IPQC) [4]-[6] based modern DC motor drives are Fig. 1 A semi-converter based D.C Motor Drive.
proposed. These mostly employ an AC/DC rectification
stage followed by a DC to DC conversion stage for effective For a D.C motor driven by a semi-converter as shown in
voltage control. DC to DC converters [7] when connected Fig. 1, the Input Power Factor is given as,
across a rectified AC line, exhibit an inherent power factor
correction property. 2(1 + cos α )
IPF = (1)
The main motivation behind this work is to design a π (π − α )
prototype of IPQC that solves power quality problems
otherwise introduced by conventional converter based where Į is the firing angle at which the thyristors are
drives[8] besides providing a wide range of speed control, triggered.
1



       
 Equation (1) clearly states that the Input Power Factor to DC buck converter which enables control over output
of a semi-converter is a function of the firing angle of voltage of the converter, hence exercising control over speed
thyristors. This leads to poor power factor at low motor response of the DC motor. Like a semi-converter fed rive,
speeds (i.e for high values of Į).The same is true in case of Buck-converter fed drive is also a single-quadrant drive
full converters. enabling unidirectional flow of power.

Fig.2 shows a distorted source current, and its poor

harmonic spectrum in a semi-converter based drive. THD of
source current is 19.88%, much higher than permissible.

100
Vs
Source Voltage/Source Current

50

Is

Fig. 3 An A.C/D.C buck converter fed D.C Motor

-50

-100
Now, the input single-phase voltage supply can be written
as:
0 200 400 600 800 1000 1200

Time
Vs = Vm sin(ωt ) (2)
(a)
Consequently, output of the bridge rectifier is given as:
THD= 19.88%
M a g (% o f F u n d a m e n ta l)

π
1
³V
12

Vd .c = m sin(ωt )d (ωt ) (3)

10
π 0
8

2Vm 2 2Vs
6

4 Vd .c = = (4)
2
π π
0
0 2 4 6 8 10 12 14 16 18 20 where, Vm is the peak input voltage, and Vs is the RMS
Harmonic order
value of the source voltage.
(b)
The rectified waveform is processed by the buck-converter,
Fig.2(a) Source Voltage and Source Current waveform.
whose output is governed by the equation:
(b) Harmonic spectrum of source current.
Vout = DV
. d .c (5)
Due to the power quality problems introduced in a power
system by the use of phase-controlled coverter based DC where, D is the duty ratio at which the switch is operated.
Motor drives, an alternative in the form of Improved Power
Quality Converters(IPQCs) is proposed. IPQC based drives Control pulses to the switch of buck converter are
maintain a desirable power quality without compromising on generated through the control logic circuit, which
the possible range of speed control. An AC/DC Buck- intrinsically compares a high frequency saw-tooth waveform
Derived Model [9]-[12] serves this purpose and is described with a variable control voltage as shown in Fig. 4.
in Section III.

III. SYSTEM MODELING AND DESCRIPTION

From a host of IPQC topologies [5], [12], [13], [14], [15],
[16], wide range of speed control along with desirable power
quality is achieved quite easily and efficiently through an
AC/DC Buck-converter as shown in Fig. 3. An AC/DC
bridge rectifier forms the first stage of the model, converting
input A.C into its rectified version. Followed by this, is a DC Fig. 4 PWM Pulse Generator

2
 As the control voltage is varied, the width of pulses at TABLE I. SIMULATION PARAMETERS AND SPECIFICATIONS
the output of control logic circuit also varies, hence varying S.No System Parameter Specification
the duty ratio as illustrated in Fig.5 (a) & (b). This
consequently varies the output voltage and speed of the 1. Source Voltage 100V (peak)
motor. 2. Source Frequency 50 Hz
3. Switching Frequency 2KHz

Source Voltage/Source Current

100

Vs
50

Is

(a)

-50

-100

0 100 200 300 400 500 600 700 800

Time
(a)
THD= 84.69%
M a g (% o f F u n d a m e n ta l)

(b)
1.5

Fig. 5 (a) PWM operation and control pulses at a low duty ratio.

(b) PWM operation and control pulses at a high duty ratio. 1

0.5

IV. SIMULATION RESULTS

0
Exhaustive simulation has been carried out in 0 2 4 6 8 10 12 14 16 18 20

Matlab/Simulink environment to analyze an AC/DC buck- Harmonic order

(b)
converter fed, unidirectional DC motor drive and the role of
such a drive in maintaining a desirable power quality of Fig.6 (a) Source Voltage and Source Current waveform (without Input
source current. Table I enlists the various System Parameters Filter)
maintained while performing simulations. (b)Harmonic spectrum of source current (without input filter)

As shown in Fig.6 (a), the source current in such a

converter is observed to be highly pulsed with a THD as With a small input filter in place, drastic improvement in
high as 84.69%.This is because of the PWM technique the harmonic spectrum of source current is observed. The
employed, wherein the switch of buck-converter is operated Filter parameters are specified in Table II. The source
at a very high frequency. This causes the THD of source current hence achieved is nearly a pure sinusoid as shown in
current to increase besides causing harmonics to be shifted Fig. 7 (a), with an improved harmonic spectrum and THD as
to the high frequency side. The harmonic spectrum of source low as 1.22% [Fig.7 (b)]. As seen in Fig. 7(a), the Input
current (without input filter) is shown in Fig.6 (b). Although Power Factor (IPF) is almost unity.
the use of PWM technique increases the THD of source
current, but since the harmonics are shifted to the high TABLE II. INPUT FILTER SIMULATION PARAMETERS
frequency side, filter requirements are highly reduced, and a
nearly sinusoidal source current is achievable with the use of S.No Filter Parameter Specification
a small-sized input filter, hence contributing to an overall
1. Inductance (L) 12.5 mH
improved power quality. Higher the frequency of operation
of the switch, more crowded would be the source current 2. Capacitance (C) 500 μF
pulses, which in turn would lead to a much simplified input
filter design.

3
 ratio of the converter can be varied to eventually vary the
100
Vs speed of the motor. Table III enlists the experimental
Source Voltage/Source Current

system parameters and their specifications.

50
Is
TABLE III. EXPERIMENTAL PARAMETERS AND SPECIFICATIONS
0 S.No Experimental Parameter Specification
1. Source Voltage 0-100V through Variac
-50
2. Source Frequency 50Hz
3. Switching Frequency 2KHz
4. Motor 230V, 1 HP, Separately
-100
Excited DC Motor
1200 1400 1600 1800 2000 2200 2400
5. Buck-Converter Switch Power MOSFET (IRF 740)
Time
6. Free-wheeling Diode (FRD) MUR1660CT
(a)
7. Rectifier Diodes IN4007
THD= 1.22%
M a g (% o f F u n d a m e n ta l)

1.6
Fig. 8(a) & (b) shows a highly pulsed source current, and
1.4
its harmonic spectrum respectively with a THD as high as
1.2 100%, as observed experimentally from the prototype of a
1 single-phase unidirectional AC/DC Buck-converter fed DC
0.8 motor drive. The experimental observations closely match
0.6 the simulation results obtained earlier. Fluke 43B Power
0.4
Quality Analyzer has been used for computing and
0.2
displaying the harmonic spectrum of source current.
0
0 2 4 6 8 10 12 14 16 18 20

Harmonic order
(b)
Fig. 7(a) Source Voltage and Source Current (with Input Filter)

(b)Harmonic Spectrum of source current (with input filter)

The use of PWM technique hence ensures that a small-

sized input filter will result in an improved power quality,
with THD well below the IEEE standard permissible limit of
5% [1].
It can therefore be inferred that a Buck-derived AC/DC
converter not only serves as an efficient DC Motor drive
providing a wide range of speed control, but it also (a)
overcomes the power quality problems introduced by
conventional phase-controlled converters, drawing a nearly
pure sinusoidal current from the source with very less
harmonic content. All this is achieved without the converter
drawing any significant amount of reactive power from the
source.

V. EXPERIMENTAL RESULTS

The simulation results (Section IV) have been further

aided by experimental results in proving the efficacy of a
Buck-derived DC Motor drive in maintaining a desired
power quality besides providing wide range of speed control. (b)
Fig. 8(a) Source Voltage and Source Current waveform (without input
A hardware prototype of the model has been developed; Filter).
with the switch of the buck-converter operating at a
frequency of about 2KHz. Using PWM technique the duty (b) Harmonic Spectrum of Source Current (without Input Filter)

4
 As is evident from Fig. 8(b), harmonics in the source power quality, IPF has also been improved. However, a fine
current have been shifted to the high frequency side, due to filter tuning will result in a nearly unity power factor.
the use of PWM technique. Also from Fig. 8(a), it is seen Substantial power quality improvement has been achieved
that the peaks of the source current pulses follow a while maintaining a wide range of speed control, almost at
sinusoidal pattern. With the use of a small LC filter, the par with the range of speed control attained for phase-
source current is made to follow this sinusoid, as shown in controlled converter based drives.
Fig. 9(a). Higher the frequency of operation of the switch in The speed response of a separately excited D.C motor
the buck converter, smaller will be the size of filter required for a given field excitation, when fed through an IPQC based
to achieve a sinusoidal current. The filter parameters used in drive as discussed above, is graphically expressed in Fig.10.
the hardware prototype are enlisted in Table IV.
900

TABLE IV. INPUT FILTER EXPERIMENTAL PARAMETERS

800

S.No Filter Parameter Specification

700

Speed in rpm , "N"

1. Inductance (L) 18.5 mH
600
2. Capacitance (C) 2200 μF
500

Experimental results show that the source current THD 400

decreases to 3.4% once a filter is placed on the input side

[Fig.9 (b)]. 300

200

100
0.1 0.2 0.3 0.4 0.5 0.6 0.7 0.8 0.9

Duty Ratio, "D"

Fig. 10 Duty ratio (D) Vs Speed of D.C Motor (N)

VI. CONCLUSION
A Single-phase, unidirectional AC/DC Buck-converter
fed DC Motor drive (IPQC based drive) has been developed,
and its performance has been compared to a conventional
phase controlled converter based DC Motor drive. In terms
of the range of speed control attainable, it is found that an
IPQC based drive enables a wide range of speed control, but
the most significant contribution of such a drive is that it
(a) eliminates to a large extent, the power quality problems
otherwise posed in a power system by the usage of
conventional phase-controlled converter based drives. Such
a DC Motor drive not only maintains a minimal demand of
reactive power from the system, but also aids in maintaining
the quality of power drawn from the supply.

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