Start-Up Current Control Method for Three-Phase PWM Rectifiers with a Low Initial DC-Link Voltage

When a PWM rectifier has a low DC-link voltage during startup, the output voltage vector cannot be high enough to regulate the input current. This lack of a PWM rectifier output voltage vector can cause an unregulated inrush current when the rectifier operation starts. This paper presents a PWM rectifier start-up current control algorithm for when it starts operation with a lower DC-link voltage than unloaded condition case. To avoid the unregulated inrush current caused by a lack of DC-link voltage, the proposed control scheme regulates the one phase current with one switch chopping and it generates the current command considering the uncontrolled current magnitude information, which is calculated in advance. Simulation and experiment results support the validity of the proposed method.