632
3, MARCH 2009
Analysis and Implementation of a Hybrid
High-Power-Factor Three-Phase
Unidirectional Rectifier
Ricardo Luiz Alves and Ivo Barbi, Senior Member, IEEE
Abstract—This paper describes the conception and analysis of a
unidirectional hybrid three-phase rectifier suitable for medium-
and high-power applications. The rectifier is composed of a
single-switch diode bridge boost-type rectifier in parallel with a
pulsewidth modulation (PWM) three-phase unidirectional boost
rectifier. The objective is to obtain a structure capable of provid-
ing sinusoidal input currents with low harmonic distortion and
dc output voltage regulation. The diode rectifier operates at low
frequency and has a higher output power rating. Therefore, the
PWM unidirectional rectifier is designed to operate with a small
power rating and at a high switching frequency. The total har-
monic distortion of the proposed structure varies between 0% and
32%, depending only on the amount of power processed by the
PWM three-phase unidirectional rectifier. The rectifier topology
conception, principle of operation, control scheme, and simulation
and experimental results of a 20-kW laboratory prototype are also
presented in this paper.
Index Terms—High-power application, hybrid rectifier, power
factor improvement, pulsewidth modulation (PWM) unidirectional
rectifier.
I. INTRODUCTION
RADITIONALLY, three-phase ac-to-dc high power con-
T version is performed by diode or phase-controlled recti-
fiers. Due to the commutation of these structures at the zero
crossing of the current, they are also called “line-commutated”
rectifiers.
These rectifiers are robust and present low cost, but draw
nonsinusoidal currents or reactive power from the source, which
deteriorate the power quality. To compensate for the harmonic
distortion generated by the standard diode rectifiers, passive
linear filters or power factor correction structures can be em-
ployed [1]–[3].
The multipulse three-phase rectifiers achieve harmonic can-
celation by introducing phase shift by means of special three-
phase transformers [4], [5]. Moreover, the simplicity and reli-
Manuscript received February 28, 2008; revised June 29, 2008 and October
6, 2008. First published February 18, 2009; current version published April
8, 2009. This work was supported in part by the National Council for Scien-
tific and Technological Development (CNPq). Recommended for publication
by Associate Editor J. H. R. Enslin.
R. L. Alves is with the Power Electronics Institute (INEP), Federal University
of Santa Catarina, Florianópolis SC 88040-970, Brazil, and also with the Fed-
eral Centre of Technological Education (CEFET-SC), Florianópolis 88020-301,
Brazil (e-mail: ricardoalves@cefetsc.edu.br).
I. Barbi is with the Power Electronics Institute (INEP), Electrical Engineering
Department, Federal University of Santa Catarina, Florianópolis SC 88040-970,
Brazil (e-mail: ivobarbi@inep.ufsc.br).
Color versions of one or more of the figures in this paper are available online
at http://ieeexplore.ieee.org.
Digital Object Identifier 10.1109/TPEL.2008.2010219
0885-8993/$25.00 © 2009 IEEE
IEEE TRANSACTIONS ON POWER ELECTRONICS, VOL. 24, NO.
ability of the diode rectifiers are preserved. However, they are
heavy, bulky, and expensive.
Three-phase pulsewidth modulation (PWM) rectifiers are
widely employed in low- and medium-power drive applications
where the requirements established by international standards
should be satisfied [6]–[8]. These structures are the most promis-
ing rectifiers from a power quality viewpoint [1] since they can
present low harmonic distortion and unity power factor.
Recent trends in high-power rectifiers have introduced a
new class of three-phase rectifiers, the hybrid rectifiers [2],
[13]–[15]. The term “hybrid rectifier” denotes the series and/or
parallel connection of a line-commutated rectifier and a self-
commutated converter [2]. The line-commutated rectifier oper-
ates at low frequency and has a higher output power rating. The
active rectifier is designed to operate with a small power rating
and at a high switching frequency.
The number of publications in the literature shows that rec-
tifier research is concentrating on self-commutated and hybrid
rectifiers. The great challenge is to obtain a rectifier that is as ro-
bust, light in weight, simple, and cheap as the passive rectifiers
and presents the efficient reduction of input current harmonic
content of PWM rectifiers. This research field has great potential
for future applications.
II. PROPOSED HYBRID RECTIFIER
The parallel connection of a three-phase diode bridge rectifier
and a unidirectional three-phase PWM rectifier is the basis for
the proposed hybrid converter, which is depicted in the diagram
of Fig. 1.
The total output power of the hybrid converter is processed
largely by the uncontrolled rectifier operating at low frequency
while the PWM controlled rectifier, operating at high frequency,
only processes about 45% of the power. By doing so, the overall
efficiency of the system will increase.
A. Single-Switch Three-Phase Boost Rectifier
The single-switch three-phase boost rectifier, presented in
Fig. 2, is the basis for the proposed hybrid converter. It presents
a relatively high power factor and is characterized, in gen-
eral, by a very high utilization of the power components [2],
[10]–[13]. However, despite its simplicity and robustness, the
current waveforms of this topology do not comply with the
IEEE 519 and IEC61000-3-4 standards. The single-switch boost
rectifier imposes a rectangular shape to the input current wave-
forms. The current control loop can only control the amplitude
ALVES AND BARBI: ANALYSIS AND IMPLEMENTATION OF A HYBRID HIGH-POWER-FACTOR THREE-PHASE UNIDIRECTIONAL RECTIFIER 633

Fig. 1. Hybrid three-phase high-power-factor rectifier. The traditional single-switch three-phase boost rectifier and the three-phase boost unidirectional rectifier
connected in parallel.

Fig. 3. Unidirectional PWM three-phase rectifier.

Fig. 2. (a) Single-switch three-phase boost rectifier power stage. (b) Waveform
of the input voltage and current. (c) Harmonic content of the input current.
of these currents while maintaining the output voltage constant
under load variations.
To compose the hybrid rectifier, a small modification should
be made to the circuit presented in Fig. 2. This modification
consists of splitting the boost diode and boost inductor to avoid
inappropriate current paths in the system.
The design of these split inductors does not require any special
procedure.
In the laboratory prototype, the same procedure was em-
ployed to design the power inductors and power transformers
operating at 60 Hz.
B. PWM Unidirectional Rectifiers
Theoretically, any PWM three-phase rectifier can compose
the hybrid rectifier. A requirement of the system is that the
rectifier be unidirectional; therefore, the rectifier given in Fig. 3
is chosen. The advantage of this topology is that it presents a
reduced number of active switches [2], [4].
634 IEEE TRANSACTIONS ON POWER ELECTRONICS, VOL. 24, NO. 3, MARCH 2009

Fig. 4. Expected current waveforms of the hybrid rectifier. (a) Current wave-
form imposed by the single-switch boost rectifier. (b) Current waveform that
should be generated by the active rectifier. (c) Desired sinusoidal waveform.

Fig. 6. Relevant currents waveforms of the six-pulse diode bridge rectifier

cascaded with a boost converter.

Substituting (2) into (1) yields

 2 Ip

 i1 (t) = sin (ωt)

 3 Vp




 2 Ip
i2 (t) = sin (ωt − 120◦ ) (3)

 3 V p





 2 Ip
 i3 (t) = sin (ωt + 120◦ ) .
3 Vp
The input currents of the hybrid rectifier are obtained by
adding the input currents of the passive rectifier [ip1 (t), ip2 (t),
and ip3 (t)] and the input currents of the active rectifier [ia1 (t),
Fig. 5. Simplified hybrid rectifier power stage diagram.
ia2 (t), and ia3 (t)]. This addition results in


 i1 (t) = ia1 (t) + ip1 (t)
The main objective of the proposed hybrid rectifier is to obtain i2 (t) = ia2 (t) + ip2 (t) (4)
perfectly sinusoidal input currents and load sharing characteris- 

tics by employing the structures presented in Figs. 2 and 3. i3 (t) = ia3 (t) + ip3 (t).
The manner in which the currents of the individual convert- Substituting (3) into (4) yields
ers are combined to generate the resulting harmonic free input  2 Ip
current is presented in Fig. 4. 
 ia1 (t) = sin (ωt) − ip1 (t)

 3 Vp



 2 Ip
III. MATHEMATICAL ANALYSIS ia2 (t) = sin (ωt − 120◦ ) − ip2 (t) (5)

 3 V p


To perform the mathematical analysis from the input current’s 


 ia3 (t) = 2 I
sin (ωt + 120◦ ) − ip3 (t).
viewpoint, the output voltage is considered constant. Thus, the p

simplified circuit presented in Fig. 5 is adopted. The input volt- 3 Vp

ages and input currents are considered to be perfectly sinusoidal Similarly, at the output, the load current is composed of the
and are expressed as sum of currents iop and ioa given by
v (t) = V sin(ωt) i (t) = I sin(ωt) io (t) = ioa (t) + iop (t). (6)
 1 p 

1 p

v2 (t) = V · sin(ωt − 120 ) ◦

and i2 (t) = Ip sin(ωt − 120◦ ) By analyzing the passive rectifier current of phase 1, which
 
i3 (t) = Ip sin(ωt + 120◦ ).
v3 (t) = Vp sin(ωt + 120 ) ◦ is depicted in Fig. 6, the following expression (7) is obtained:
(1) Pop π
IL (t) = √ (7)
Vp 3 3
To simplify the analysis, the system is considered loss-free.
In this manner, the input active power Pin can be expressed as where IL (t) is the single-switch boost rectifier inductor current
and Pop is the active power processed by the passive rectifier.
3Vp Ip The power processed by each rectifier is related to the peak
Pin = = Po = Vo Io (2) value of its input currents. According to the concept of the hybrid
2
rectifier, the fact that the diode bridge rectifier processes the
where Vp is the peak of the input voltage, Ip is the peak of the greatest part of the output power is more interesting. Evidently,
input current, Po is the output power, Vo is the dc output voltage, to obtain sinusoidal input currents, an optimal power distribution
and Io is the dc output current. exists and should be discovered.
ALVES AND BARBI: ANALYSIS AND IMPLEMENTATION OF A HYBRID HIGH-POWER-FACTOR THREE-PHASE UNIDIRECTIONAL RECTIFIER 635

Fig. 7. Control scheme of the proposed hybrid rectifier.

Substituting (7) into (5) and analyzing the waveform of Fig. 6 IV. CONTROL STRATEGY
yields The control loop scheme of the hybrid rectifier is presented in

 2 Ip Pop π Fig. 7. Four current control loops and one voltage control loop

 sin(ωt) − √ , if 30◦ ≤ ωt ≤ 150◦
 3 Vp Vp 3 3 are used.
ia1 (t) =  ◦ The dc output voltage regulation is provided by the voltage

 2 Ip 0 ≤ ωt ≤ 30◦

 sin(ωt), if control loop. The signal obtained at the output of voltage con-
3 Vp 150◦ ≤ ωt ≤ 180◦ . troller is used to adjust the currents’ references in case the load
(8)
or input voltage changes.
Due to the unidirectional characteristic of the PWM recti-
The inductor current of the single-switch boost rectifier is
fier, the instantaneous input power should present only positive
sampled and compared to a constant reference. The error pro-
values.
duced by this comparison is applied to the boost current com-
Analyzing expression (8), the solution that satisfies this con-
pensator, and the PWM modulator generates the gate signal of
dition is presented as
√ the boost switch.
3 Currents ia1 (t), ia2 (t), and ia3 (t) are indirectly controlled by
Pop ≤ Po ≈ 0.522Po . (9) sensing the mains currents and comparing them with their re-
π
Therefore, the active rectifier’s power operation limit is given spective sinusoidal references. These reference signals must be
as synchronized with the mains voltages. A good practical solution
to obtain these signals is through synchronization transformers
Poa ≥ (1 − 0.522) Po ≈ 0.448Po (10) connected to the mains to obtain the voltage shape of each phase.
where Poa is the active power processed by the PWM rectifier. The errors produced by the comparisons between the sampled
Expressions (9) and (10) define the active power sharing be- signals and reference signals are applied to their respective com-
tween the two converters. If these relationships are not satisfied, pensators, and the PWM modulators generate the gate signals
the input currents will be distorted. of the active rectifier.
636 IEEE TRANSACTIONS ON POWER ELECTRONICS, VOL. 24, NO. 3, MARCH 2009

TABLE I
SPECIFICATIONS USED IN SIMULATION

Fig. 8. Input voltages and input currents (scaled up 4×) of the simulation.

The preestablished load sharing of (9) is guaranteed by gains

k1 and k2 , which must be chosen to satisfy the following:
k2
0 ≤ α ≤ 0.552, where α= . (11)
k1
To obtain perfect sinusoidal currents, it is important that the
gains ratio of (11) be adjusted as close to 0.552 as possible, but
never greater than this value. If the ratio is greater than 0.552, the
imposed line currents will be distorted. The power processed by
the PWM rectifier increases as the value of α decreases. At the
limit α = 0, the PWM rectifier processes the total load power.
The proposed control scheme can be implemented by com-
mercial analog integrated circuits, such as the UC3854, or by
digital signal processors.
The presented results are obtained by using classical con-
trol methods, and the prototype was implemented employ-
Fig. 9. Simulation results. (a) Current at the input of the passive rectifier.
ing four commercial UC3854B integrated circuits. The control (b) Current at the input of the active rectifier. (c) Total current drawn from the
loops were designed in accordance with the datasheet design source.
procedures.

V. SIMULATION RESULTS
The specifications used in the simulation are presented in
Table I. At first, the operation mode selected was α = 0.55 and
sinusoidal input currents are obtained. In a second simulation,
α was chosen to be 0.68 to exemplify an operation mode where
the condition established by expression (11) is not satisfied.
The line voltages and the line currents for α = 0.55 are pre-
sented in Fig. 8. Power factor correction is achieved since the
line currents are sinusoidal with low total harmonic distortion
(THD) and do not present a displacement factor.
The mains current and the input currents of phase 1 of the
passive and active rectifiers are depicted in Fig. 9. The mains
current presents a sinusoidal shape, as expected. Note that the
power processed by the passive and active rectifiers (propor-
tional to the amplitudes of the passive rectifier’s and the active
rectifier’s input currents) is 55% and 45% of the total output
power, respectively.
The THD of the input currents is approximately 3.22%.
To verify the dynamic response of the system, a load variation
was performed and the results are presented in Fig. 10. Between
0 and 50 ms, the converter operates at half of the rated power.
After this interval, the converter operates at full-load for 50 ms.
At 100 ms, the converter operates at low load again.
The output voltage transient observed in the simulation is
presented in Fig. 11.
As previously demonstrated, values of α greater than 0.55
cause distortion in the input current. In Fig. 12, the distortion in
the line current of phase 1, which occurs when α = 0.68, can
be observed.
For the case presented in Fig. 12, the passive rectifier pro-
cesses about 75% of the rated power while the active rectifier
processes the remaining 25% of the output power (α was chosen
to be 0.68). The line currents do not meet the harmonic content
limit defined by standard IEC 61000-3-4.
ALVES AND BARBI: ANALYSIS AND IMPLEMENTATION OF A HYBRID HIGH-POWER-FACTOR THREE-PHASE UNIDIRECTIONAL RECTIFIER 637

Fig. 13. Picture of the prototype.

TABLE II
SPECIFICATIONS OF THE LABORATORY PROTOTYPE

Fig. 10. Load step response generated by simulation.

Fig. 11. Output voltage transient response to a load change.

The control circuit board was implemented using four com-

Fig. 12. Simulation results for the ratio of k 1 and k 2 equal to 0.68.
VI. EXPERIMENTAL RESULTS
A 20-kW laboratory prototype of the proposed structure, pre-
sented in Fig. 13, was built using the components presented in
Table II.
mercial analog integrated circuits, the UC3584B, that were con-
ceived for power factor correction applications.
The experimental results for the current generated by the
single-switch boost rectifier (Ch4), the current generated by
the PWM unidirectional rectifier (Ch3), and the line current
(Ch2) are presented in Fig. 14. These results was obtained for
α = 0.55. As expected, the mains currents present a sinusoidal
shape.
The transient response of the system can be observed in
Figs. 15 and 16, where the current waveforms and the output
voltage waveform are depicted, respectively.
The power quality analysis is presented in Table III. The
power factor is 0.989 at 20.7 kW and the THDi is 7.9%.
The harmonic analysis depicted in Fig. 17 compares the in-
dividual amplitudes of the current harmonics with standard IEC
61 000. Note that the 17th and 23rd harmonic components of
the current do not meet the standard. This can be attributed
to the fact that the line voltages are used as references for the
current control loop. The distortion present in the line voltages
generates an equivalent distortion in the currents. This prob-
lem can be solved by using external sinusoidal references with
638 IEEE TRANSACTIONS ON POWER ELECTRONICS, VOL. 24, NO. 3, MARCH 2009

TABLE III
POWER QUALITY ANALYSIS

Fig. 14. Experimental waveforms. (a) Single-switch boost rectifier current.

(b) Line current. (c) PWM unidirectional rectifier current.

Fig. 17. Harmonic analysis.

Fig. 15. Experimental waveforms to a load step. (a) Line current. (b) Single-
switch boost rectifier current. (c) PWM unidirectional rectifier current.

Fig. 18. THD versus ratio of k 1 and k 2 .

some gain adjustments in control loops. These modifications are

suggestions to future works.
The THDs obtained for deferment values for the ratio of k1
and k2 are presented in Fig. 18. As previously mentioned, if the
ratio is greater than 0.552, the THD will increase. On the other
hand, the power processed by the PWM rectifier increases as
the value of α decreases.
To investigate the semiconductor stress reduction, a 20-kW
three-phase unidirectional rectifier and a 20-kW hybrid recti-
fier with the same design parameters were implemented. The
current stress of each power semiconductor was measured and
Fig. 16. Experimental waveform to output voltage transient response.
compared to that of the hybrid rectifier in Table IV.
ALVES AND BARBI: ANALYSIS AND IMPLEMENTATION OF A HYBRID HIGH-POWER-FACTOR THREE-PHASE UNIDIRECTIONAL RECTIFIER
TABLE IV
CURRENT STRESS ANALYSIS
As can be observed, the increased component count of the
proposed hybrid rectifier does not greatly affect the volume,
since each semiconductor handles approximately 50% less cur-
rent. Therefore, semiconductors with better characteristics, e.g.,
diodes with minimum recovery time or insulated gate bipolar
transistors (IGBTs) with small storage time, can be used, which
will result in reduced losses and heatsink volume.
VII. CONCLUSION
A novel three-phase hybrid rectifier for high-power applica-
tions was proposed in this paper. The structure is composed of
a passive rectifier in parallel with an active rectifier. The fact
that each rectifier is responsible for processing approximately
50% of the output power improves the robustness of the power
converter and guarantees a high efficiency.
The adopted control strategy regulates the output voltage
and controls the input currents to achieve high power fac-
tor. The increase in the component count due to the use of
two rectifier topologies does not greatly affect the volume,
since the components are designed for the half of the output
power.
Experimental results obtained from 20 kW prototypes show
that the hybrid rectifier presents high power factor and dc volt-
age regulation. Moreover, the hybrid rectifier presents 50% less
current stress than the traditional three-phase rectifier operating
at the same power rating.
The advantage of this hybrid system is its capability of pro-
cessing high power levels due to the parallel connection of the
rectifiers. The increase in the efficiency is another expected
advantage.
639
The disadvantage of the system appears in the control scheme,
since an extra current sensor and an additional current control
loop in the single-switch boost rectifier are required.
Some simulation results show that the hybrid rectifier can also
operate with a two-phase power system; however, the power
factor is decreased.
New researches are in development focusing on other con-
trol and modulation strategies, e.g., modulation of the output
current of the single-switch rectifier with six times the mains
frequency [16], aiming to improve the power distribution be-
tween the single-switch rectifier and the unidirectional PWM
rectifier.
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640
Ricardo Luiz Alves was born in Florianópolis,
Brazil, in 1977. He received the B.S. and M.S. de-
grees in electrical engineering in 2000 and 2002,
respectively, from the Federal University of Santa
Catarina, Florianópolis, where he is currently work-
ing toward the Ph.D. degree in electrical engineering.
He is also with the Federal Centre of Technological
Education (CEFET-SC), Florianópolis. His current
research interests include high-frequency power con-
verter topologies, power factor correction techniques,
power supplies, digital control applied to power con-
verters, and soft-switching techniques.
Mr. Alves is a member of the Brazilian Power Electronics Society
(SOBRAEP).
IEEE TRANSACTIONS ON POWER ELECTRONICS, VOL. 24, NO. 3, MARCH 2009
Ivo Barbi (M’78–SM’90) was born in Gaspar, Brazil,
in 1949. He received the B.S. and M.S. degrees in
electrical engineering from the Federal University of
Santa Catarina, Florianópolis, Brazil, in 1973 and
1976, respectively, and the Dr.Ing. degree from the In-
stitut National Polytechnique de Toulouse, Toulouse,
France, in 1979.
He founded the Brazilian Power Electronics Soci-
ety and the Power Electronics Institute, Federal Uni-
versity of Santa Catarina, where he is currently a
Professor.
Prof. Barbi has been an Associate Editor in the power converters area of the
IEEE TRANSACTIONS ON INDUSTRIAL ELECTRONICS for five years. He created
the Brazilian Power Electronics Conference.