THE UNIVERSITY OF NOTTINGHAM

Department of Electrical and Electronic Engineering

Guidance for preparing the Power Electronic Design Coursework

1. General considerations when preparing the coursework

This coursework capitalizes on the following taught topics during the Power Electronics
Design module: Power Quality Measures, Non-Ideal 3-phase Diode Rectifiers and Smoothing
Circuits by analysing the operation of a 3-phase diode rectifier primarily required to supply
smooth output voltage, whilst employing a capacitive or LC – smoothing circuit, in a variety
of load conditions (full & light load) and grid conditions: weak and strong grids (large/small
AC side inductance). This is perhaps the most common application for a circuit taught in this
module used in a wide range of applications therefore it is very likely that you will meet this
problem again in the future!
Objectives:

- To familiarize students with the use of CAD (computed aided design) tools in the
analysis of power electronic circuits as an alternative to analytical methods

- To enhance the understanding of the impact of power electronics on the power

quality of voltage available on the AC grid

- To enhance the understanding of the impact of dc-link voltage ripple has on the size
of the dc-link capacitor and AC side power quality

- To enhance the understanding of the role dc-link and ac side inductance has on the
dc-link voltage ripple and AC side power quality

Preparing the Report (worth 2.5 credits = 15 marks)

The report should be structured into two sections:

- Section 1 (=8marks), which has NO PAGE LIMIT, will contain the graphical results of
the waveforms for the circuit simulated, the tables and the calculations required to
find out certain parameters (i.e. THD or power factor on AC side). Consideration
should be made to aesthetics (i.e. plots should have a decent size, need to be
printed on a white background, curves, labels and numbers should be easily visible
etc.), proper captions to tables and figures, structuring such as which set of figures
and tables correspond to which sub-section/question in Section 2
- Section 2(=7 marks), which has a ONE PAGE LIMIT AND NEEDS TO BE PROPERLY
STRUCTRURED, which will contain the written conclusions to the comparative
analysis you are asked to perform (i.e. DC and AC side performance for the circuit
operating at full power vs. light load; DC and AC side performance for the circuit
operating with small vs. large DC-link capacitance; DC and AC side performance
for the circuit when DC-side inductance is moved into AC side; DC and AC side
performance for the circuit operating with large vs small DC-link inductance, DC
and AC side performance for the circuit operating with large vs small AC side
inductance; comparison of fitting the same added inductance on AC side
compared to DC side. It is essential that you refer to the relevant parameters and
the values (i.e. THD of 45%, voltage/current ripple of 15V/5A pk-pk) that you found
from simulation when making explaining your conclusions.
The reason to limit Section 2 is that it will facilitate easier marking for me (there will be 106
reports for me to assess!) and secondly, it should get you used to be concise and tackle
effectively the right technical issues.
Use of simulation software

The reason why I recommend PSIM is that based on my own experience and the people I
worked with (researchers, PhD students or even undergraduate students) I have always
received as feedback that is easy to start with. But it is NOT compulsory to use PSIM in
order to complete this assignment. Any other CAD package with similar capabilities to
simulate electronic/power electronic circuits such as PSPICE or Matlab/Simulink using
PowerSystem toolbox or even PLECS is allowed, as long as they can supply the results in
the required form (i.e. be able to display required waveform in time and frequency
domain{perform FFT – Fast Fourier Transforms}), you have the proper software licence to
run it and that you are able to use it without any assistance from my side. Please none that
I can only offer assistance with potential problems that a student faces using PSIM.

The instructions below apply to the PSIM version 6 – Demo version, which has the installer
provided on webct (screen below on how to log into webct).
In the “simulation models” folder, you will find the PSIM installer (zip file, needs unzipping
before running) and the folder containing the simulation model for doing the coursework.

Loading the model can be done via “File-Open” or once opened PSIM, just drag&drop the
file in the screen. To run it click on “Simulate-Run”. To change the parameters, click on the
required component and adjust the parameter in the required popup window. To change the
simulation parameters (start-stop-start display data, simulation step etc) click on the
“clock” like element top left side of the model.
The PSIM viewer should open automatically after simulation ended. To add more curves on
the same screen (see top screen below) click “Screen/Add-delete curves”. To add more
screens (see second and third screens below) click “Screen-Add Screen”

To get the signal from time domain into frequency domain click on the “FFT” button on the
top side of the screen. Before making use of this facility you need to make sure that:

- The waveform you are displaying has reached STEADY STATES (i.e. the average dc-
link current or voltage is not slowly continuing to raise as this will result in a small
very low frequency component to show up in the FFT. For example in the figure
above, the dc-link current keeps hitting 10A peak consistently throughout the 60-
100 ms time interval

- That on the screen, you have displayed a FULL number of cycles. In the figure avove
one can see that I am displaying 12 full dc-link current pulses (mid plot) and two full
cycles of the supply current (bottom plot).

The result of transferring into the frequency domain of the previous signals can be seen
below. Use the magnifier to zoom into the desired frequency range (i.e. 0-1kHz for
harmonics upto 20th order) Also, use the “telescope” button to be able to gather more
accurate readings of the harmonics of interest (below 50Hz harmonics are displayed).
This method may still not allow a very accurate reading of the harmonics. The best accuracy
is obtained by selecting the desired plot (see little red square in top-right side of the plot)
and then select “File – Save as” which results in a *.smv file to be created. If you cannot
select the desired plot, just erase the unecessary screens until only one screen with desired
waveform remains. The *.smv file can be easily opened with Notepad (see right side) which
reveals in second column the frequency and in third column the amplitude of the harmonic.