58 Asian Journal of Control, Vol. 1, No. 1, pp.

58-65, March 1999

MODELING OF A THREE-PHASE STEP UP/DOWN
AC/DC CONVERTER
Jeng-Yue Chen, Ching-Tsai Pan and Yi-Shuo Huang
ABSTRACT
In this paper, analytic duty cycle control laws for a three-phase step up/
down converter containing seven active switches are first derived to achieve a
clean sinusoidal input current, adjustable power factor, bidirectional power
flow capability and clean output DC voltage. Then a DC model and a small
signal model are derived by means of coordinate transformation, perturbation
and linearization. Finally, some simulation results are also presented to verify
the validity of the theoretical results.
KeyWords: Modeling, three-phase, AC/DC- converter.
I. INTRODUCTION
Recent AC/DC converter researches have focused
on providing a good input power factor and low line
current distortion in order to satisfy different harmonic
standards, along with a possible regeneration capability
[1-8]. However, most of the existing results are related
to boost type converters. There are very few papers on
three-phase step up/down converters. Basically, some
buckboost type three-phase AC/DC converters [e.g., 6,7]
have been proposed. However, the disadvantages of
pulsating input and output currents still exist. Hence,
recently, Pan and Shieh [9] proposed new space vector
control strategies for a three-phase step up/down AC/DC
converter in order to overcome the above disadvantages.
They proposed an equivalent duty cycle for the general-
ized zero voltage space vector such that control of the AC
and DC parts of the converter circuit can be integrated in
order to achieve the ideal characteristics. In other words,
the input current can be made purely sinusoidal with a
unity power factor, and the output can be stepped up/
down with a clean DC voltage. However, the hardware
circuit is implemented by using an EPROM without a
dynamic model. Since the six active switches normally
operate randomly so as to reduce the resulting error, it is
very difficult to find an analytic dynamic model. However,
based by the equivalent DC duty cycle for the generalized
zero voltage space vector presented in [9], it is conjec-
tured that it may be possible to derive the close form duty
cycles of the active switches as in three-phase boost
AC/DC converters [5]. It turns out that the answer is
positive if the unidirectional diode in [9] is replaced with a
bidirectional active switch.
The remaining contents of this paper may be
outlined as follows. In Section II, open-loop closed
form duty cycle control laws for the seven active switches
are first derived by using the familiar state averaging
technique. Then the small signal model of the proposed
converter is derived in Section III by means of perturbation
and linearization after coordinate transformation. Also,
some numerical results are presented in Section IV for the
purpose of verification. Finally, some conclusions are
made in the last section.
II. DERIVATION OF THE CLOSED FORM
DUTY CYCLE CONTROL LAWS
Figure 1 shows the proposed three-phase step up/
down AC/DC converter, where S
1
, S
2
, , S
7
are the active
switches and R
1
is the ESR of L
1
. Unlike the six switches
in three-phase boost AC/DC converters, where the upper
Manuscript received March 2, 1999; Accepted April 14, 1999.
The authors are with the Dept. of Electrical Engineering,
National TsingHua University, Hsinchu 300, Taiwan. Fig. 1. Power circuit of the proposed step up/down AC/DC converter.
J.-Y. Chen, et al.: Modeling of A Three-Phase Step Up/Down AC/DC Converter 59
and the lower switches of each bridge arm are not
allowed to be shorted, the first six active switches in Fig. 1
can be operated independently. Based on the equivalent
DC duty cycle presented in [9], Fig. 2 shows the concep-
tual gating signals of the seven switches for one switching
period T
s
. From Fig. 2, one can see that during each
switching period, there is one perod of time, namely
d
0
T
s
, when all six active switches of the bridge are closed
such that v
C1
in Fig. 1 can be discharged in order to supply
an output and enable the DC stage to work as a Cuk
converter. The purpose in turning on six switches, which
corresponds to applying the V
77
space voltage vector in
[9], is to minimize the conduction loss. Also, to retain the
function of the Cuk converter, S
7
should operate in a
complementary manner during the remainder of the
switching period, namely (1 d
0
)T
s
, when all six switches
of the bridge function basically as a boost type converter
[5] in order to charge C
1
.
Assume that the switching frequency is much higher
than the AC line frequency. Then, one can use the state
space averaging technique [10] to get the following aver-
aged equation:

di
a
dt
di
b
dt
di
c
dt
di
L2
dt
dv
C1
dt
dv
o
dt
=
R
1
L
1
0 0 0
d
1
L
1
0
0
R
1
L
1
0 0
d
2
L
1
0
0 0
R
1
L
1
0
d
3
L
1
0
0 0 0 0
1 d
7
L
2
1
L
2
d
1
C
1
d
2
C
1
d
3
C
1
(1 d
7
)
C
1
0 0
0 0 0
1
C
0
0
1
RC
0
i
a
i
b
i
c
i
L2
v
C1
v
0

+
1
L
1
e
a
e
b
e
c
0
0
0

1
L
1
1
1
1
0
0
0
v
NO
. (1)
For simplicity, ESR of C
1
, C
o
and L
2
are neglected
in the above derivation. From Kirchhoffs current law,
i
a
+ i
b
+ i
c
= 0, and the upper half of equation (1), it is
straightforward to get

v
NO
=
1
3
(d
1
+ d
2
+ d
3
)v
C1
. (2)
As can be observed from Figs. 1 and 2, in order to
preserve the dc Cuk converter operation principle, the
full bridge is allowed to be short circuited with an equiva-
lent DC duty cycle, 1 d
7
. Thus, for convenience, one
can define the duty cycles as follows:
d
0
= 1 d
7
,

d
k
=
d
7
+ m
k
(t)
2
,

d
k + 3
=
d
7
m
k
(t)
2
, k = 1, 2, 3, (3)
where m
k
(t), k = 1, 2, 3 are the time varying part modula-
tion indices to be decided, and
0 m
k
(t) 1
d
0
+ d
k
+ d
k+3
= 1, k = 1, 2, 3. (4)
Then, by substituting equations (2) and (3) into (1),
one has the following form:

dX
dt
=
A
1
A
2
A
3
A
4
X + Bu , (5)
where Fig. 2. Conceptual gating signals of seven switches.
60 Asian Journal of Control, Vol. 1, No. 1, March 1999

X = [i
a
i
b
i
c
i
L2
v
C1
v
o
]
T
, A
1
= diag
R
1
L
1
R
1
L
1
R
1
L
1
,

A
2
=
0
m
1
2L
1
0
0
m
2
2L
1
0
0
m
3
2L
1
0
, A
3
=
0 0 0
m
1
2C
1
m
2
2C
1
m
3
2C
1
0 0 0
,

A
4
=
0
d
0
L
2
1
L
2
d
0
C
1
0 0
1
C
0
0
1
RC
0
, B =

1
L
1
0 0
0
1
L
1
0
0 0
1
L
1
0 0 0
0 0 0
0 0 0
,
U = [e
a
e
b
e
c
]
T
.
Next, assume that
e
a
= E
m
cos t , i
a
= I
m
cos(t )
e
b
= E
m
cos(t 120
0
), i
b
= I
m
cos(t 120
0
),
e
c
= E
m
cos(t + 120
0
), i
c
= I
m
cos(t + 120
0
), (6)
where a phase shift is included in the line currents for
the purpose of generality.
It follows from equations (5)-(6) and under steady
state conditions that one can obtain the following solution:

m
k
(t)
2
=
1
v
C1
[E
m
cos (t (k 1)120
0
)
R
1
I
m
cos (t (k 1)120
0
)
+ L
1
I
m
sin (t (k 1)120
0
)] , k = 1, 2, 3 .
(7)
Therefore, the desired closed form duty functions of
(3) can be obtained easily. Also, one can see that by using
the above algebraic approach, coordination among the
seven switches can be achieved automatically. Finally, it
may be worth mentioning that for a desired output voltage
the choice of d
0
, and hence d
7
, is not unique as will be shown
in later sections.
III. LOW FREQUENCY DC AND
AC MODELS
For simplicity, define the following space vectors
first :

e
s
=
2
3
(e
a
+ ae
b
+ a
2
e
c
) = E
m
e
jt
, (8)

i
s
=
2
3
(i
a
+ ai
b
+ a
2
i
c
) = I
m
e
j(t )
, (9)

d
s
=
2
3
(m
1
+ am
2
+ a
2
m
3
) = d
m
e
j(t )
, (10)
where
a e
j
2
3 ,
[e
a
e
b
e
c
] = Re{[1 a
2
a]e
s
} ,
[i
a
i
b
i
c
] = Re{[1 a
2
a] i
s
} ,
[m
1
m
2
m
3
] = Re{[1 a
2
a]d
s
} .
Thus, application of the above notation to equation
(5) yields
di
s
dt
=
R
1
L
1
i
s

v
C1
2L
1
d
s
+
1
L
1
e
s
, (11)

di
L2
dt
=
d
0
L
2
v
C1

1
L
2
v
0
, (12)

dv
C1
dt
=
3
4C
1
Re[ i
s
d
s
*
]
d
0
C
1
i
L2
, (13)

dv
0
dt
=
1
C
0
i
L2

1
RC
0
v
0
, (14)
where * denotes the complex conjugation and i
a
+ i
b
+ i
c
=
0 has been applied to obtain the above equation.
Next, one can transform e
s
, i
s
, d
s
into the synchro-
nously rotating reference frame, i.e., define
i
s
(I
d
+ jI
q
)e
jt
,
d
s
(d
d
+ jd
q
)e
jt
,
where I
d
+ jI
q
and d
d
+ jd
q
are phasors in the new coordinate.
Then, one can obtain the following equation:

d
dt
I
d
I
1
i
L2
v
C1
v
0
=
R
1
L
1
0
d
d
2L
1
0

R
1
L
1
0
d
q
2L
1
0
0 0 0
d
0
L
2
1
L
2
3d
d
4C
1
3d
q
4C
1
d
0
C
1
0 0
0 0
1
C
0
0
1
RC
0
I
d
I
q
i
L2
v
C1
v
0
+
1
L
1
0
0
0
0
E
m
,
(15)
J.-Y. Chen, et al.: Modeling of A Three-Phase Step Up/Down AC/DC Converter 61
where
I
d
= I
m
cos, I
q
= I
m
sin,
d
d
= d
m
cos, d
q
= d
m
sin .
Finally, to obtain the DC and small signal models,
one can apply the following perturbations:
I
d
= I
d0
+ I
d
, I
q
= I
q0
+ I
q
,
v
C1
= V
C1
+ v
C1
, i
L2
= I
L2
+ i
L2
,
v
0
= V
0
+ v
0
, E
m
= E
m0
+ E
m
,
d
d
= D
d
+ d
d
, d
q
= D
q
+ d
q
,
d
0
=D
0
+ d
0
.
Application of the above equations to equation (15)
and neglect of higher order terms yield the following DC
and small signal models:

D
d
=
2
V
C1
(E
m
R
1
I
d
+ L
1
I
q
) , (16)

D
q
=
2
V
C1
( R
1
I
q
L
1
I
d
) , (17)

D
0
=
3(D
d
I
d
+ D
q
I
q
)
4I
L2
, (18)
V
0
= D
0
V
C1
, (19)

I
L2
=
V
0
R
, (20)

d
dt
I
d
I
q
i
L2
v
C1
v
0
=
R
1
L
1
0
D
d
2L
1
0

R
1
L
1
0
D
q
2L
1
0
0 0 0
D
0
L
2
1
L
2
3D
d
4C
1
3D
q
4C
1
D
0
C
1
0 0
0 0
1
C
0
0
1
RC
0
I
d
I
q
i
L2
v
C1
v
0

+
V
C1
2L
1
0 0
0
V
C1
2L
1
0
0 0
V
C1
L
2
3I
d0
4C
1
3I
q0
4C
1
I
L2
C
1
0 0 0
d
d
d
q
d
0

+
1
L
1
0 0 0 0
T
E
m
. (21)
From the above DC model, one can understand the
meaning of D
0
. Basically, it is not only related to V
o
and V
C1
,
but also dependent on the AC line currents, I
L2
and the duty
cycles of the first six active switches. In fact, from
equations (16) to (20), one can obtain the following results:

3
2
E
m
I
m
cos =
V
o
2
R
+
3
2
I
m
2
R
1
, (22)

D
d
=
2D
0
V
0
(E
m
R
1
I
d
+ L
1
I
q
) , (23)

D
q
=
2D
0
V
o
( R
1
I
q
L
1
I
d
) . (24)
Equation (22) actually represents the principle of
conservation of power. From equations (23) and (24), one
can see that for a given output voltage V
o
, D
d
and D
q
can be
obtained by choosing a proper value of D
0
which satisfies
the following inequality:
1 D
0
> D
m
D
d
2
+ D
q
2
(25)
as can be seen from equation (3) in order to guarantee a
positive value duty cycle.
Similarly, from the state equation of (21), one can use
Laplace transform to get the desired transfer functions. For
example, the duty cycle control used to output transfer
functions take the following forms:

T
d
(s)
v
o
(s)
d
d
(s)
=
1

(
V
C1
2L
1
b
1
+
3I
do
4C
1
b
4
) ,

T
q
(s)
v
o
(s)
d
q
(s)
=
1

(
V
C1
2L
1
b
2
+
3I
qo
4C
1
b
4
) ,

T
0
(s)
v
o
(s)
d
0
(s)
=
1

(
V
C1
L
1
b
3
+
I
L2
C
1
b
4
) ,
where
= s
5
+ a
4
s
4
+ a
3
s
3
+ a
2
s
2
+ a
1
s + a
0
,

a
4
=
1
RC
0
+
2R
1
L
1
,

a
3
=
1
L
2
C
0
+
2R
1
RL
1
C
0
+
R
1
2
L
1
2
+
2
+
3(D
d
2
+ D
q
2
)
8L
1
C
1
+
D
0
2
L
2
C
1
,

a
2
=
2R
1
L
1
L
2
C
0
+
R
1
2
RC
0
L
1
2
+

2
RC
0
+
3(D
d
2
+ D
q
2
)
8RL
1
C
1
C
0

+
3R
1
(D
d
2
+ D
q
2
)
8L
1
2
C
1
+
D
0
2
RL
2
C
1
C
0
+
2R
1
2
D
0
2
L
1
L
2
C
1
,
62 Asian Journal of Control, Vol. 1, No. 1, March 1999

a
1
=
3(D
d
2
+ D
q
2
)
8L
1
L
2
C
1
C
0
+
3R
1
(D
d
2
+ D
q
2
)
8RL
1
2
C
1
C
0
+

2
L
2
C
0
+
R
1
2
L
1
2
L
2
C
0

+
2R
1
D
0
2
RL
1
L
2
C
1
C
0
+
R
1
2
D
0
2
L
1
2
L
2
C
1
+

2
D
0
2
L
2
C
1
,

a
0
=
3R
1
(D
d
2
+ D
q
2
)
8L
1
2
L
2
C
1
C
0
+
R
1
2
D
0
2
RL
1
2
L
2
C
1
C
0
+

2
D
0
2
RL
2
C
1
C
0
,

b
1
=
3D
0
D
d
4L
2
C
1
C
0
S +
3D
0
4L
2
C
1
C
0
(
D
d
R
1
L
1
3D
q
) ,

b
2
=
3D
0
D
1
4L
2
C
1
C
0
S +
3D
0
4L
2
C
1
C
0
(
D
q
R
1
L
1
+ 3D
d
) ,

b
3
=
1
C
0
S
3
+
2R
1
L
1
C
0
S
2
+ (
R
1
2
L
1
2
C
0
+
3(D
d
2
+ D
q
2
)
8L
1
C
1
C
0
+

2
C
0
)S

+
3R
1
(D
d
2
+ D
q
2
)
8L
1
2
C
1
C
0
,

b
4
=
D
0
L
2
C
0
S
2
+
2D
0
R
1
L
1
L
2
C
0
S +
D
0
L
2
C
0
(
R
1
2
L
1
2
+
2
) .
IV. SOME NUMERICAL RESULTS
To aid the readers understanding of the above theo-
retical results, some simulation results are given below.
The parameters of the converter in Fig. 1 are listed below
for reference:
L
1
= L
2
= 7.5 mH,
C
1
= C
o
= 820 F,
R
1
= 0.45,
output power
V
o
2
R
= 4 KW,
AC line frequency 60 Hz,
phase voltage amplitude

220 2
3
volts,
power factor = 1.0.
The seven active switches are considered to be ideal
in the simulation process. The sawtooth wave frequency is
3 kHz. It may be worth mentioning that the duty ratio of d
0
is generated through comparison with a negative slope
sawtooth wave. Thus, the duty ratio of S
7
is obtained by
inverting the output again.
As for the duty ratios of S
1
, S
2
, , S
6
, each one is the
sum of two parts. The first part is obtained by comparing
m
k
(t) with a positive slope sawtooth wave. The second part
is the same as that obtained from d
0
.
Fig. 3 shows some results obtained using the con-
verter for V
o
= 500V, d
0
= 0.58, and P
o
= 4KW. In Fig. 3(a),
one can see the duty cycle controls. Figs. 3(b) and 3(c)
show the waveforms of the a-phase voltage and current as
well as the output voltage. Similarly, Fig. 4 shows the
corresponding step down case, where V
o
= 48V, d
0
= 0.11
(a)
(b )
(c)
Fig. 3. (a) Waveforms of the gating signals of all the switches under a step
up operation. (b) Waveforms of the phase voltage e
a
(t) and phase
current 5i
a
under a step up operation. (c) Waveforms of the output
voltage
o
(t) under a step up operation.
J.-Y. Chen, et al.: Modeling of A Three-Phase Step Up/Down AC/DC Converter 63
Finally, the duty cycle control used to output voltage
transfer functions for the step-up case are given as follows:

T
d
(s) =
1.332 10
9
(s 1431)(s + 60)

u
(s)
,

T
q
(s) =
5.022 10
11
(s 1431)

u
(s)
,

T
0
(s) =
1.402 10
8
(s 2.133)(s
2
+ 115.6s + 1.556 10
5
)

u
(s)
,
where

u
(s) = (s + 7.75) (s
2
+ 111.1 s + 1.488 10
5
)
(s
2
+ 20.73 s + 2.236 10
5
).
Similarly, the corresponding transfer functions for
the step-down case with V
o
= 48 V, D
0
= 0.11 and P
o
= 4 KW
are listed below:

T
d
(s) =
2.526 10
8
(s 1431)(s + 60)

d
(s)
,

T
q
(s) =
9.5243 10
10
(s 1431)

d
(s)
,

T
d
(s) =
7.0953 10
7
(s 7.038)(s
2
+ 101.4s + 1.84 10
5
)

d
(s)
,
where

d
(s) = (s + 2073) (s
2
+ 93.1 s + 2657)
(s
2
+ 106.6 s + 1.854 10
5
).
For convenient reference, Figs. 5 and 6 show the
Bode plots for the two cases, respectively.
From the above results, it is very interesting to see
that a right half plane zero also exists in the transfer
functions of the proposed AC/DC converter. This implies
that the converter dynamic has a time delay from the
control to the output.
V. CONCLUSIONS
In this paper, closed form duty cycle control laws for
the active switches of a three phase step up/down converter
were first derived by using the familiar state averaging
technique. These analytic duty cycle controls are very
useful for analysis and simulation, and for obtaining engi-
neering insight into the operation of switched circuits.
Application of the control laws to the proposed converter
can achieve a clean sinusoidal input current, controllable
power factor, adjustable DC voltage and bidirectional
power flow capability. Next, after a coordinate
transformation, a low frequency DC model and a small
(a)
(b)
(c)
Fig. 4. (a) Waveforms of the gating signals of all the switches under a step
down operation. (b) Waveforms of the phase voltage e
a
(t) and
phase current 5i
a
under a step down operation. (c) Waveforms of
the output voltage
o
(t) under a step down operation.
and P
o
= 4KW. One can see that application of the derived
open loop duty ratio control laws indeed works very well as
expected.
64 Asian Journal of Control, Vol. 1, No. 1, March 1999
(a)
(b)
(c)
Fig.5. (a) Bode plots of T
d
(s) under a step up operation. (b) Bode plots
of T
q
(s) under a step up operation. (c) Bode plots of T
0
(s) under
a step up operation.
Fig.6. (a) Bode plots of T
d
(s) under a step down operation. (b) Bode plots
of T
q
(s) under a step down operation. (c) Bode plots of T
0
(s) under
step down operation.
(a)
(b)
(c)
signal model are derived by using a small perturbation and
linearization process. Depending on the output variable
and input variable, of interest, one can apply Laplace
transform to obtain the desired transfer functions.
Finally, some numerical simulation results were pre-
sented to show the validity of the theoretical results. It is
J.-Y. Chen, et al.: Modeling of A Three-Phase Step Up/Down AC/DC Converter 65
interesting to see that a right plane zero also exists in the
duty cycle control to output transfer function.
REFERENCES
1. Pan, C.T. and T.C. Chen, Modeling and Design of a
Three-phase AC-to-DC Converter, J. Chinese Inst.
Electr. Eng., Vol. 1, No.1, pp. 1-11 (1994).
2. Mao, H., F.C. Lee, Y. Jiang and D. Borojevic, Review
of power factor correction techniques, Proc. 2nd Int.
Power Electron. Motion Contr. Conf., Hangzhou, China,
pp. 9-21 (1997).
3. Oishi, H., H. Okada, K. Ishizaka and R. Itoh, Single-
phase Step Up/down Rectifier with Improved Supply
Current Waveform, IEE Proc. Electr. Power Appl.,
Vol. 44, No. 1, pp. 6-12 (1997).
4. Shieh, J.J. and C.T. Pan, Rom-based Current Control-
ler for Three-phase Boost-type AC/DC Converter,
IEE Proc. Electr. Power Appl., Vol. 145, No. 6,
pp. 544-552 (1998).
5. Pan, Ching-Tsai and Jenn-Jong Shieh, A Family of
Closed-form Duty Control Laws for Three-phase Boost
AC/DC Converter, IEEE Trans. Ind. Electron., Vol.
45, No. 4, pp. 530-543 (1998).
6. Itoh, R. and K. Ishizaka, Three-phase Flyback AC/DC
Converter with Sinusoidal Supply Currents, IEE Proc.
Part B, Vol. 138, No 3, pp. 143-151, May (1991).
7. Pan, C.T. and T.C. Chen, Step Up/Down Three-phase
AC to DC Converter with Sinusoidal Input Currents
and Unity Power Factor, IEE Proc. Electr. Power
Appl., Vol. 141, No. 2, pp. 77-84 (1994).
8. Pan, C.T. and J.J. Shieh, A Single Stage Three-phase
Boostbuck AC/DC Converter Based on Generalized
Zero Voltage Space Vectors, accepted, IEEE Trans.
Power Electron., (1999).
9. Pan, Ching-Tsai and Jenn-Jong Shieh, New Space
Vector Control Strategies for Three-phase Step Up/
Down AC/DC Converters, accepted, IEEE Trans.
Ind. Electron., (1999).
10. Middlebrook, R.D. and S.M. Cuk, A General Unified
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Jeng-Yue Chen was born in Tainan,
Taiwan, Republic of China, in June
1963. He received the B.S. degree in
electrical engineering from the
Nat i onal Tai wan Inst i t ut e of
Technology, Taipei, Taiwan, in 1988,
and the M.S. degree from National
Tsing Hua University, Hsinchu,
Taiwan, in 1990. He is currently a Ph.D. student at the
National Tsing Hua University. His research interests are
in power electronics and motor control.
Ching-Tsai Pan was born in Taipei,
Taiwan, Republic of China, in Octo-
ber 1948. He received the B.S. degree
in electrical engineering from the na-
tional Cheng Kung University, Tainan,
Taiwan, in 1970, and the M.S. and Ph.
D. degrees from Texas Tech
University, Lubbock, in 1974 and
1976, respectively, all in electrical engineering. Since
1977, he has been with the Department of Electrical
Engineering, National Tsing Hua University, Hsinchu,
Taiwan. From 1986 to 1989 and from 1989 to 1992, he was
the Director of the University Computer Center and the
Computer Center of Ministry of Education, respectively.
From 1994 to 1997, he served as the chairman of the
Department of Electrical Engineering. He has been the
recipient of outstanding teaching award and outstanding
research award for several times. He is a member of IEEE,
ICE, IEE, ACS, ICS, Phi Tau Phi, Eta Kappa Nu, and Phi.
Kappa Phi. His research interests are in the areas of power
electronics, motor control and numerical analysis.
Yi-Shuo Huang was born in Hualien,
Taiwan, Republic of China, in March
1974. He received the B.S. degree in
electrical engineering from the
National Sun Yat-Sen University,
Kaohsiung, Taiwan, in 1996. He is
currently working toward the Ph.D.
degree at the National Tsing Hua
University. His research interests are in three-phase
AC-DC converters.