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Procedia Engineering 129 (2015) 420 – 426

International Conference on Industrial Engineering

Assessment of harmful health effects of AC rectifier converters

harmonic components
Kuznetsov K.B., Zakirova A.R. *
Technospheric Safety Department (Research and Education Center), Ural State University of Railway Transport, Ekaterinburg, Russian
Federation.

Abstract

The article examines the main sources of EMF harmful effects affecting the electrical personnel. Harmonic composition of the
rectified voltage at traction substations is analyzed. The article presents rectified voltage timing diagrams. Canonical and
harmonic components of rectified voltage at the output of 6-pulse rectifier are shown. The article shows that a rectifier converter
is a source of AC harmonic components and has a variety of electric and magnetic forces, the harmful effects of which on the
staff have not yet been studied. It is shown that particularly in the railway transport traction networks during the use of 6-pulse
VP (Kubler circuit), the operating voltages and the electric traction currents result in the creation of electric field forces caused by
harmonic components, which in some cases significantly exceed the maximum permissible forces regulated in foreign practice.
© 2015 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Ltd.
© 2015 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Ltd. This is an open access article under the CC BY-NC-ND license
Peer-review under responsibility of the organizing committee of the International Conference on Industrial Engineering (ICIE-
([Link]
2015).
Peer-review under responsibility of the organizing committee of the International Conference on Industrial Engineering (ICIE-2015)

Keywords: electromagnetic field, magnetic field, traction substations.

1. Introduction

Generation and consumption of electrical energy involves its conversion in order to transmit electricity over a
distance, as well as change of the current type, frequency of AC consumed and other parameters for a variety of
purposes [1].

* Corresponding author. Tel.: +7-922-189-77-19.

E-mail address: AZakirova@[Link]

1877-7058 © 2015 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Ltd. This is an open access article under the CC BY-NC-ND license
([Link]
Peer-review under responsibility of the organizing committee of the International Conference on Industrial Engineering (ICIE-2015)
doi:10.1016/[Link].2015.12.143
 K.B. Kuznetsov and A.R. Zakirova / Procedia Engineering 129 (2015) 420 – 426 421

Power supply systems (PSS) of energy-intensive DC consumers in ferrous and non-ferrous metal industries
(aluminum, zinc, magnesium, iron and steel production), electrode and chemical industries, urban and mainline
electric transport are built using high-power rectifiers. The quality of electrical energy at the output of rectifiers and
efficiency of its conversion into DC power or other types of energy is determined by high harmonic spectrum of
rectified voltage [2].
Typically, high harmonic spectrum of AC rectifier converter may be different, as it depends not only on the
asymmetry and sinusoid laity of supply network current, but also on rectifier schemes, efficiency of smoothing
devices and other technical features of the converter.
Electrical personnel involved in maintenance of the above power supply systems may be exposed to harmful
effects of electric and magnetic fields of various kinds of current and frequency [3-6] for a long time.
Operating conditions of traction substation (TS) converters in electrical transport are very specific [7].

2. Experimental

2.1 Theoretical procedure

In accordance with the European standard EN 50163, adopted on 06.03.1995, the nominal voltage of the contact
network on electric stock pantograph is 3.0 kV, maximum stable operating voltage is 3.6 kV and in terms of
acceptable insulation standards (unstable) - 3.9 kV. The maximum voltage deviation on traction substation bus at
nominal supply network voltage may reach 550 V, i.e., 14.3%, or within 3.85 ÷ 3.3 kV. At power system supply
voltage tolerances (GOST 13109-67) of ± 5%, the upper level of 3.85 kV can reach up to 4.04 kW, and the lower
level of 3.3 kW – 3.135 kW. Thus, the possible (normalized) maximum deviations of substation bus voltages are in
the range from 3.135 to 4.04 kW (18.6%) [8].
The 6-pulse converters (m = 3, q = 6) with zero rectification circuit (Kuebler scheme) and bridge circuit
(Larionov scheme) are currently used on traction substations, as well as serial and parallel 12-pulse converters (m =
3, q = 12) [9]. Rectifiers with a larger number of pulsations may be used.

Fig. 1. 6-pulse bridge circuit.

422 K.B. Kuznetsov and A.R. Zakirova / Procedia Engineering 129 (2015) 420 – 426

A rectifier built according to the scheme shown in Fig,1 consists of a three-phase two-winding converter
transformer, with wye- or delta-connection secondary winding, and two groups of diodes (UD).
In three-phase bridge rectifier circuit the load current passes through valves and valve side winding of two phases,
and with commutations - three phases. Anode and cathode group valves are involved in operation, including valve
groups VD2, VD 4, VD 6 and VD 1, VD 3, VD 5 respectively.
We assume that voltage in power supply network, and, hence in the secondary winding of converter transformer
is sinusoidal.
The rectified voltage is generated as the sum of phase voltages (Fig. 2).

Fig. 2. Timing diagrams of voltages u2, rectified voltage ud, diode arm uv, load currents id, i2, i1 and diode arm iv.
 K.B. Kuznetsov and A.R. Zakirova / Procedia Engineering 129 (2015) 420 – 426 423

The voltage curve at the rectifier output is pulsating. The instantaneous value of the rectified voltage is the sum of
the constant component Ud and a variable component consisting of an infinite number of harmonics [10]:

f
Um U d  ¦ U do sin n4In (1)
n 1

where Ud - constant component; Udo – voltage amplitude of n-th harmonic; n – rectified voltage harmonics order;
ijn – initial phase of n-harmonic.

Let us consider the relationship between the voltages and currents of 6-pulse rectification circuit; when studying
electromagnetic processes in the rectifier circuit, let us assume the following:

x Inductance in the rectified current circuit ɏd = ’;

x Valve current switching is instantaneous, i.e. valve current switching angle is Ȗ = 0.

The calculated average rectified voltage when idle [10]:

U d 0 Kɫɯ ˜ Ⱥ˜U 2ɮ (2)

where Ʉɫɯ – circuit coefficient for a 6-pulse bridge 1,73; Ⱥ – rectification coefficient; U2ɮ – effective phase voltage.

m S
Ⱥ 2 ˜sin (3)
S m

where m – number of pulsations of the rectified voltage curve.

For a 6-pulse bridge A=1,352. According to [7], the average rectified voltage is:

1 2S /3 3 6 ˜U2ɮ
Ud 0 ³ Um ˜sin 4d 4 |2,34U 2ɮ (4)
S /3 S /3 S

where 4 = Zt .
During operation of the converter, the current passes from one converter arm to the other. This process is called
current switching, and switching time expressed in angular units is called switching angle Ȗ.
The switching process changes current and voltage curve shapes in the circuits, average value of the rectified
voltage, high harmonics of the rectified voltage and network current, as well as power factor and efficiency.
The value of the switching angle Ȗ depends on the converter circuit, its operation mode and inductive resistance
of the switching circuit.
Switching angle Ȗ is a function of load currents Idɧ=Id, per single converter and is determined by the formula,
deg.:

ª S Id º
J m arccos «1 2˜U ɤɡ ˜sin » (5)
¬ mI dɧ ¼

It follows from the equation that the use of complex bridge circuits with an increased number of rectified voltage
pulsations reduces the switching angle.
424 K.B. Kuznetsov and A.R. Zakirova / Procedia Engineering 129 (2015) 420 – 426

The effective value of harmonics voltage for a symmetrical supply voltage is determined by the formula, ȼ

Ud 0 2
U dk ˜kJ
(6)
3 k 2 1

2.2 Materials

The results of analysis of variable high harmonic voltages, using a 6-pulse rectifier without smoothing filters on
the traction substation are shown in Figure 3 [11].

Fig. 3. Canonical harmonic components of the rectified voltage at the output of 6-pulse rectifier.

It can be seen from Fig. 3 that amplitude of rectified voltage harmonics increases with the switching angle. The
presence of powerful single-phase loads leads to a phase voltage unbalance in three-phase voltage systems. The
effective voltage of harmonic components at asymmetric supply voltage [11] is defined by the formula

Ud 0 2 ª kº
U dk ˜«1 2 bɧ2 bɧ 1˜ª¬cos k ˜D ɧ º¼ 1 2 »˜kJ (7)
3 k 2 1 «¬ » ,
¼

where Ud0 – idle voltage of the rectifier (3300V); k – number of harmonic component of the rectified voltage;
bɧ – phase voltage unbalance factor of the supply line, determined by the ratio of the maximum phase voltage value
on the secondary winding of traction transformer to its minimum value (1 and 1,03).

The angle D ɧ , is a function of unbalance factor, deg,

2˜bɧ 1
D ɧ arctg (8)
3

where kȖ – coefficient, which depends on the switching angle, can be found [11] using the expression:

KJ 0,5˜  k ˜sin kJ cos kJ ˜cos J 1 2  k ˜cos kJ ˜sin J sin kJ ˜cos J 2 (9)

 K.B. Kuznetsov and A.R. Zakirova / Procedia Engineering 129 (2015) 420 – 426 425

Voltage of harmonic components of the rectified current at the rectifier output depending on the switching angle at
supply voltage unbalance bɧ =1,03 can be determined using the graph in Figure 4 [11].

Fig. 4. Harmonic components of the rectified voltage at the output of 6-pulse rectifier.

The results of calculation of variable voltages of high harmonic components, with a 6-pulse rectifier, without
smoothing filters on the traction substation are given in Table 1.

Table 1. High harmonic components of rectified voltage.

k fk,Hz Udk, ȼ at bɧ =1,03 , Ȗ=40 L, connection area ȿ, W/m Threshold limit ȿ
deg height, m (EC), ȼ/ɦ
2 100 54 1,8 30 5000
12 600 150 1,8 83 833
24 1200 60 1,8 33 0,61

Threshold limits of electric field (EF) intensity are regulated in the European Union. When comparing the EF
values obtained (Table. 1) with the EU thresholds, a 54-fold increase of the maximum EF intensity is observed (f =
1200 Hz, Ȗ = 40). There is a need to develop means of protection to reduce the duration of magnetic field exposure
[12-20].

3. Conclusion

Based on the above analysis, the following conclusions can be made:

A. Rectified EF voltage has a variety of electric and magnetic impacts, whose harmful effects on the staff have not
yet been studied.
B. It is shown that in railway transport traction networks, in particular, when using 6-pulse VP (Kubler circuit),
operating voltages and electric traction currents result in the creation of electric field forces caused by harmonic
components, which in some cases significantly exceed the maximum permissible forces regulated in foreign
practice.

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