Studying the interference consequences for switching AC/DC converters subjected to a grid polluted with Supraharmonic distortion

AC/DC converters, controlled by pulse width modulation (PWM) and used as power factor correction (PFC), is considered one of the main contributors to emissions in the range 2 kHz–150 kHz, recently known as the supraharmonic (SH) range. This study looks at the impact of SH grid distortion on the LF (<2 kHz) and HF (>2 kHz) emission of an AC/DC converter. The PFC boost converter is used as a particular case for validation of the results. It is observed that the AC/DC converters emit additional LF interharmonics and subharmonics when the grid voltage contains interharmonic components in the SH range. A mathematical analysis is provided to study and assess the interference between the SH in the background distortion and the AC/DC converters. Experimental studies are then performed for a PFC boost setup based on dSPACE MicroLabBox for the purposes of validating the mathematical analysis.