Three-phase Active Tracking AC-AC Voltage Regulator based on Buck Converter with an Efficient Hybrid Control Technique

Abstract

This study proposes a switch-mode three-phase active tracking AC-AC voltage regulator based on the buck converter. The regulator topology incorporates a moderate number of components with less complexity and high efficiency. An efficient hybrid control technique, based on a closed-loop PID controller that is supported with a new designed feedforward controller, is proposed for the regulator control different to the similar studies in the literature. The hybrid control technique augments the response of active tracking of the reference output phase voltages to achieve an improved quality close to sine-wave output phase voltages for either the input AC phase voltages that are ideal pure sine-wave or include various harmonics. The regulator topology has a modular structure for independent control of each output phase. So, the regulator can help to achieve close to sine-wave output phase voltages to supply a balanced/unbalanced wye-connected three-phase load or independent single-phase loads. The presented three-phase regulator and the control technique are tested with simulation and experimental studies. The laboratory set-up of the regulator is designed for 2.2 kW output power, 0-300 Vp input phase voltages (50 Hz), and 0-200 Vp output phase voltages. The results demonstrated that the proposed switch-mode three-phase buck-type active tracking voltage regulator can provide the desired AC phase voltages with less than 5% THD (total harmonic distortion) and low harmonics for different operating conditions.