High-Performance One-Quadrant DC Drive for Pumping Applications Using Ultra-Sparse Matrix Rectifier

Traditional low-cost DC drives, such as Buck converter-fed DC drives, do not take into consideration the power quality requirements regarding the total harmonic distortion (THD) and the input power factor (PF). This paper proposes a high-performance one-quadrant DC drive based on the ultra-sparse matrix rectifier (USMR). The scheme is suitable for single-quadrant applications such as DC pumping systems. The proposed system leverages the advantages of the USMR, such as the accomplishment of the IEEE standards requirements related to harmonic limits and distortions of the AC currents and operation at (or near) unity PF. Two pulse width modulation (PWM) techniques were investigated: the hysteresis current controller with a tolerance band and the triangular carrier-based PWM modulator. The system was studied under different operating conditions. The obtained results demonstrate the high performance of the USMR system with both types of PWM techniques. A comparative study with the one-quadrant Buck converter-based DC drive was conducted. The USMR-based DC drive outperforms the conventional scheme in power quality issues. The quantitative assessment proves the validity and suitability of the USMR for developing high-performance DC drives for single-quadrant applications.