Novel Scheme to Improve Power Factor of Slip Energy Recovery Drive by Selective Harmonic Elimination

In this paper, the harmonic analysis of inverter voltage of a slip energy recovery drive (SERD) is carried out and proposes a novel approach to improve the supply side power factor of the overall drive system. The proposed model is a self-commutated SERD using IGBT inverter, and a modulation technique called selective harmonic elimination (SHE) is applied to improve the supply side power factor. The complete solutions for switching patterns to eliminate the fifth and seventh harmonics are developed using genetic algorithm. SHE method is simulated in semi-open-loop mode, and the power factor of the drive is compared with conventional line commutated thyristor inverter-based SERD. Simulations have been carried out in Matlab/Simulink environment to predetermine the performance of the drive, and results show a significant improvement in the input power factor of the drive.