A Novel Parallel Configured 48-Pulse Auto-Transformer Rectifier for Aviation Application

To satisfy the ever-growing stringent requirement on the power quality of on-board electric power system, a novel parallel configured 48-pulse rectifier, which is formed by two 24-pulse rectifiers connected in parallel through a tapped and coupled interphase reactors respectively, is proposed. Through the comprehensive harmonic analysis on the proposed rectifier, it is revealed that the 23rd and 25th harmonics generated by the two 24-pulse rectifiers are equal in magnitude while opposite in direction, which evidently enables the 48-pulse operation. To better understand the performances of the proposed rectifier, its input current, output voltage, kVA rating, and power losses of magnetic devices are analyzed in detail. Afterward, the validity of the theoretical analysis is verified by simulation and experiment. The results confirm that the proposed 48-pulse rectifier has superior harmonic reduction ability, high reliability, and high power density. More importantly, due to the parallel structure, it also features high fault-tolerant ability, which makes it very suitable for aviation or aerospace applications.