Development of buck-type single-phase to three-phase power converter with active buffer

This paper proposes a novel single-phase to three-phase power converter that can reduce the capacitance value of the smoothing capacitor in the DC link part. In the case of the single-phase converter, a large smoothing capacitor is required to absorb a power ripple with a frequency twice that of the power supply. The proposed method involves the use of an indirect matrix converter with an active snubber to absorb the power ripple. Therefore, the proposed system does not require a reactor and large energy buffer, such as a smoothing capacitor. Moreover, a diode bridge can be used on the rectifier stage in the proposed circuit. In this paper, the basic operation and validity of the proposed method are confirmed by simulation and experiment result. Thus, it is confirmed that good waveforms for input and output currents can be obtained by the proposed method. © 2010 The Institute of Electrical Engineers of Japan.