A Novel Inductor for Stabilizing the DC Link of Adjustable Speed Drive

The DC-link filter which includes a magnetic inductor and a storage capacitor is one of the key parts of adjustable speed drives in the market. It significantly affects the stability, reliability, and power density of the motor-drive system. This paper proposes a novel, variable active inductor to improve the performance of DC links in terms of stability, reliability, size, and cost. In contrast to conventional DC-link magnetic inductors, the variable active inductor is made of power electronic circuits, including active switches, passive filters, and smart controllers, which no longer rely on magnetic material. The demonstration shows that the inductor can emulate the electrical characteristics of the magnetic inductor for filtering harmonics and stabilizing the DC link, meanwhile representing a smaller size, lighter weight, and lower cost compared with a conventional one. Furthermore, this paper proposes a variable inductance control method which is able to adaptively tune the inductance value with the operating conditions of the drive system. The DC link can be stabilized, and high performance can be maintained in both balanced and unbalanced grid voltage conditions. A case study of the proposed variable inductor in a motor drive with a three-phase diode-bridge rectifier as the front end is discussed. Experimental results are given to verify the functionality and effectiveness of the proposed variable inductor.