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As demands for energy savings have increased in recent years, inverters

are being used in a wider range of applications. Demands for lower cost, smaller size and higher
efficiency will continue to further expand the range of inverter applications. However, as a trend
towards eco-friendly products increases, some sort of measure is necessary to suppress the
harmonics contained in the inverter input current.

A matrix converter is capable of converting an input voltage directly into

an arbitrary AC voltage, instead of converting that voltage into a DC voltage as inverters. This
matrix converter has higher efficiency, smaller size, longer lifespan and fewer input current
harmonics than inverters and has high potential for realizing the above mentioned demands.

A three phase AC ± DC ± AC sparse matrix converter (SMC) having no

energy storage elements in the DC link and employing only 15 IGBTs as opposed to 18 IGBTs
of a functionally equivalent conventional AC-AC matrix converter (CMC) is proposed. The
realization effort could be further reduced to only 9 IGBTs (Ultra Sparse Matrix Converter,
USMC) in case the phase displacement of the fundamentals of voltage and current at the input
and at the output is limited to °
The dependency of the voltage and current transfer ratios of
the systems on the operating parameters is analyzed and a space vector modulation scheme is
described in combination with a zero current commutation procedure.
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The inverter is a well known device that converts an input AC voltage into
a DC voltage by a rectifier, and then controls the semiconductor switch of a PWM inverter to
convert the DC voltage into the desired AC voltage. A voltage smoothing capacitor is required
in the DC link circuit, and an electrolytic capacitor is typically used for this purpose.

The Sparse Matrix Converter is an AC/AC converter which offers a

reduced number of components, a low complexity modulation scheme, and low realization
effort. Invented in 2001 by Prof Johann W Kolar, sparse matrix converters avoid multi step
commutation procedure of the conventional matrix converter, improving system reliability in
industrial operations. Its principle applications are in highly compact integrated AC drives.

The matrix converter arranges semiconductor switches into a matrix

configuration and controls them to convert an input AC voltage directly into the desired AC
voltage. Since the input AC voltage is not converted to a DC voltage, there is no need for an
energy storage device such as an electrolytic capacitor. Bi directional switches are needed as the
semiconductor switches, since an AC voltage is impressed on it.

Fuji Electric is developing a matrix converter capable of converting an

input voltage directly into an arbitrary AC voltage, instead of converting that voltage into a DC
voltage as inverters. This matrix converter has higher efficiency, smaller size, longer lifespan
and fewer input current harmonics than inverters and has high potential for realizing the above
mentioned demands.
 Fig. 1 Inverter and matrix converter

As can be seen in Fig. 1 (a), the inverter require charge-up circuit to

suppress the inrush current that flows to the electrolytic capacitor connected to the DC link
circuit. If a diode rectifier is used as the rectifier, a large amount of input current harmonics will
be generated and therefore, a DC reactor (DCL) is inserted to reduce the current harmonics in the
input current. In a conventional inverter, it is necessary to connect a braking unit to the DC link
circuit in order to dissipate the regenerated power from the motor. A PWM rectifier was often
used to reduce the input current harmonics and to realize motor regeneration. The matrix
converter, on the other hand, is able to realize motor regeneration with almost no input current
harmonics. In other words, a single converter unit is able to provide performance equivalent to
that of a PWM rectifier and an inverter. Additionally, the charge-up circuit is unnecessary since
the large electrolytic capacitor is not needed for the matrix converter. As a result, smaller size
and longer lifespan can be achieved. In Fig. 2, a matrix converter system is compared to a
conventional system that uses a PWM rectifier and an inverter. The conventional system needs a
filter capacitor, a filter reactor and a boost-up reactor in addition to a main unit. The matrix
converter system, however, only needs a main unit and a filter reactor. Therefore, the
configuration becomes simple and a panel size of the system can be reduced by half or more. In
addition, since the matrix converter uses one-stage AC-AC direct conversion, a low loss system
can be realized, achieving at least 1/3 lower loss than in the conventional system.

Fig. 2 Comparison of matrix converter with the conventional system

 
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The matrix converter consists of 9 bi-directional switches that allow any

output phase to b connected to any input phase. The circuit scheme is shown in Fig. 3.

Fig. 3 Circuit scheme of a three phase to three phase matrix converter

a, b, c are at the input terminals. A, B, C are at the output terminals.

The input terminals of the converter are connected to a three phase voltage
fed system, usually the grid, while the output terminal are connected to a three phase current fed
system, like an induction motor might be. The capacitive filter on the voltage fed side and the
inductive filter on the current fed side represented in the scheme of Fig. 3 are intrinsically
necessary. Their size is inversely proportional to the matrix converter switching frequency.
 It is worth noting that due to its inherent bi-directionality and symmetry a
dual connection might be also feasible for the matrix converter, i.e. a current fed system at the
input and a voltage fed system at the output.

With nine bi-directional switches, the matrix converter can theoretically

assume 512 (29) different switching states combinations. But not all of them can be usefully
employed. Regardless to the control method used, the choice of the matrix converter switching
states combinations (from now on simply matrix converter configurations) to be used must
comply with two basic rules. Taking into account that the converter is supplied by a voltage
source and usually feeds an inductive load, the input phases should never be short circuited and
the output currents should not be interrupted. From a practical point of view these rules imply
that one and only one bi-directional switch per output phase must be switched on at any instant.
By this constraint, in a three phase to three phase matrix converter, 27 are the permitted
switching combinations.



Since no energy storage components are present between the input and
output sides of the matrix converter, the output voltages have to be generated directly from the
input voltages. Each output voltage waveform is synthesized by sequential piecewise sampling
of the input voltage waveforms. The sampling rate has to be set much higher than both input and
output frequencies, and the duration of each sample is controlled in such a way that the average
value of the output waveform within each sample period tracks the desired output waveform. As
consequence of the input ± output direct connection, at any instant, the output voltages have to fit
within the enveloping curve of the input voltage system. Under this constraint, the maximum
output voltage the matrix converter can generate without entering the over modulation range is
equal to v312 of the maximum input voltage. This is an intrinsic limit of matrix converter and it
holds for any control law.
 Entering in the over modulation range, thus accepting a certain amount of
distortion in the output voltages and input currents, it is possible to reach higher voltage transfer
ratio.

In fig. 4 the output voltage waveform of a matrix converter is shown and

compared to the output waveform of a traditional voltage source inverter (VSI). The output
voltage of a VSI can assume only two discrete fixed potential values, those of the positive and
negative DC bus. In the case of the matrix converter, the output voltages can either input voltage
a, b or c and their value are not time invariant and the effect is a reduction of the switching
harmonics.

Fig. 4 Output voltage waveforms generated by a VSI and a matrix converter


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   Likewise to the output voltages, the input currents are directly generated
by the output currents, synthesized by sequential piecewise sampling of the output current
waveforms. If the switching frequency of the matrix converter is set to a value that is much
higher than the input and output frequency, the input currents drawn by the converter are
sinusoidal. Their harmonic spectrum consists only of the fundamental desired component plus a
harmonic content around the switching frequency.

In Fig. 5 the input current drawn by a matrix converter for a 2 kHz

switching frequency is shown. It can be noted that the amplitude of the switching harmonic
components is comparable to the fundamental amplitude. It is then obvious that an input filter is
needed in order to reduce the harmonic distortion of thee input line current to an acceptable
level. It follows that care should be taken in speaking about matrix converters as an ³all silicon´
solution for direct AC/AC power conversion, since some reactive components are needed.

Fig. 5 Matrix converter input current and harmonic spectrum. Switching frequency 2 kHz.
 The matrix converter performance in terms of input currents represent a
significant improvement with respect to the input currents drawn by a traditional VSI converters
with a diode bridge rectifier, whose harmonic spectrum shows a high content of low order
harmonics. By the light of the standards related to power quality and harmonic distortion of the
power supply this is a very attractive feature of matrix converter.

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   The input power factor control capability is another attractive feature of

matrix converters, which holds for most of the control algorithms proposed in literature. Despite
of this common capability, it is worth noting that a basic difference exists with respect to the load
displacement angle dependency.

Fig. 6 matrix converter input line-to-neutral voltage, instantaneous input current and its average value.
Switching frequency 2 kHz
 For instance, the algorithm proposed does not require the knowledge of
the load displacement angle in order to fully control the input power factor. On the contrary, the
algorithm does require the knowledge of thee load displacement angle whenever the reference
input power factor is different from unity. From an algorithm computational burden point of
view, this is a drawback, since it implies additional quite heavy calculations.
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The circuit configuration and operating principles of the matrix converter

have been known for some time, but there are many problems in achieving practical application.
The new technologies that solved these problems are introduced below.

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   Table 1 shows the bi-directional switches that are used in matrix

converter. An AC voltage is impressed on the bi-directional switches. Because conventional
semiconductor switch such as IGBTs do not have reverse blocking capability, diodes for reverse
blocking are needed as shown in Table 1 (a). The problem with this diode, however, was that it
increased on-state loss and decreased efficiency.

Table 1 Bi-directional switches

 In order to solve this problem, Fuji Electric is developing a new IGBT
having reverse blocking capability (RB-IGBT). Under a reverse bias, the conventional IGBT
generates a large leakage current because its depletion region extends to the dicing surface at the
chip side, where severe strain exists after the mechanical dicing process. In the newly developed
RB-IGBT, a deep isolation region is formed in the dicing area to prevent expansion of the side
surface of the depletion region and to ensure the reverse blocking capability. Recent advance in
IGBT manufacturing technology have enabled the realization of the device. The RB-IGBT has
the same basic structure as the conventional IGBT, and thus their characteristics are also similar.
Moreover, the reverse recovery characteristics are also similar. .Moreover, the reverse recovery
characteristic of the RB-IGBT is approximately the same as that of the conventional diode.

Fig. 7 Comparison of the matrix converter losses

Fig. 7 compares the loss of matrix converters with each of bi-directional

switches shown in table 1(a) and 1 (b). By using the RB-IGBT, the on state loss of a series
connected diode is eliminated and although the switching loss remains nearly the same, on state
loss can be reduced by approximately 30%.
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Fig. 8 shows the commutation and protection circuit of the matrix

converter. Commutation is the process wherein the current flowing to a switch Sa for example, is
transferred by turning on a switch Sb and turning off a switch Sa so as to transfer that current to
switch Sb. The switch must be controlled, so that there is no short circuit and the load current is
not interrupted. If the load current is interrupted, a large surge voltage is impressed upon the
semiconductor switch and the switch is damaged.

Therefore, similar to conventional PWM inverter, dead time is provided to

prevent a short circuit condition and surge voltage generated during this dead time interval is
absorbed by a protection circuit. As a result, loss increases and the protection circuit grow in
size, as it requires a large electrolytic capacitor to absorb energy. This reduced advantage of the
matrix converter.

Fig. 8 Commutation and protection circuit

 The commutation problem is solved by controlling the two RB-IGBTs that
compose a bi-directional switch independently. In other words, by keeping a reverse biased
switch constantly in its on state, the device is made to behave the same as the freewheeling diode
in the conventional PWM inverter, and the load current is not interrupted. The forward biased
switch is turned on and off with dead time and controlled similar to a conventional PWM
inverter to prevent a short circuit condition. For example, in Fig. 8, if VRS > 0, San and Sbp are
reverse biased and therefore are always turned on, while Sap and Sbn are turned on and off with
dead time. As a result, while short circuit conditions are being prevented, interruption of the
load current is also prevented and the current is commutated safely. In addition, a protection
circuit is necessary to protect the device from over current and/or overvoltage. An electrolytic
capacitor is generally used in the protection circuit to absorb energy stored in the load. However,
using the electrolytic capacitor for the protection circuit reduces the advantage of the matrix
converter. To overcome the problem, a new protection circuit is developed. The new protection
circuit dissipates the load energy quickly without absorbing the energy to the capacitor. As a
result, the electrolytic capacitor is not necessary.

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With the matrix converter, simultaneous control of the output voltage and
input current is possible, but simultaneous and independent control is not easy to implement.
The control method becomes complicated because switching one bi-directional switch in order to
output a certain voltage causes the change of the input current condition. The higher speed,
higher performance and lower cost of control devices in recent years, however, have made it
possible to realize even complicated control with ease. In the conventional control method for a
matrix converter, the pulse pattern for each bi-directional switch is calculated directly from the
condition for obtaining the desired AC output voltage and the condition in which the input
current becomes a sinusoidal wave. The control method is unique to the matrix converter and is
capable of outputting various pulse patterns. However, since the pulse pattern is calculated
directly, it is difficult to control the input current and the output voltage independently.
 Fig. 9 Control method for the matrix converter

Then, a new control method was developed, and is shown in Fig. 9. This
method is based on the virtual indirect control of a virtual PWM rectifier and a virtual PWM
inverter. The matrix converter pulse pattern is obtained by synthesizing the pulse patterns of the
virtual PWM inverter and the virtual PWM rectifier. This method enables the input current and
output voltage to be controlled independently. In addition, since this control method can be
implemented as a direct extension of the control of the conventional PWM inverter, techniques
developed in the past can be applied largely without change. The virtual indirect method
controls the input current and output voltage, and as shown in Fig. 10, assumes a virtual
converter comprised of a virtual PWM rectifier and a virtual PM inverter.
 Fig. 10 Principle of virtual indirect control method

The virtual indirect control method is based upon the principle that states,
³In a three phase power converter, if the final input and output connections relations are made
equal, then the input and output waveforms will not depend on circuit topologies.´ In Fig. 10,
for example, if there exist intervals during which the virtual rectifier turns on Srp and Stu, and the
virtual PWM inverter turns on switches Sup, Svp and Swn, then the input and output connection
relations will be such that R-phase is connected to U-phase and V-phase, and T-phase is
connected to W-phase. Consequently, the matrix converter similarly turns on switches Sru, Srv
and Stw'. As a result, R-phase is connected to U-phase and V-phase, and T-phase is
connected to W-phase, and the operation of the matrix converter becomes same as that
of the conventional PWM system.
 Fig. 11 Input and output waveform s

Fig. 11 shows waveforms of the matrix converter with the virtual

indirect control method. The load is an induction motor. Unity power factor of the
input is observed, and good sinusoidal waveforms were obtained for both the input
and output currents.

Fig. 12 Input power factor and THD vs. load torque

 Fig. 12 shows the input power factor and total harmonic distortion
(THD) of the input current versus load torque. The input power factor is more than
99% at 50% load torque or higher. THD of the input current is also less than 10% at
50% load torque or higher.

Fig. 13 Acceleration and deceleration characteristics

(100 r/min ĺ 1,200 r/min ĺ 100 r/min)

Fig. 14 Impact load torque characteristic

(0% ĺ 100% ĺ 0%)

 Figs 13 and 14 show waveform of the acceleration deceleration
characteristic and impact load torque characteristic, respectively, in the case of using
the vector control method for the induction motor control. The magnetizing current
remains constant even when the torque current changes and it can be verified that
vector control achieves good results, similar to those of the conventional motor
control. Moreover, during deceleration it can b seen that input current increases and
power is regenerated.
 

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The decade counter is one of the most important components in

the matrix converter configuration. The decade counter used here is CD4017. It has
sixteen pins. The switching signals are provided by the decade counter. The signals
to the decade counter are provided by the 555 IC used as an astable multivibrator.

The optical isolator is used to isolate the DC from the AC stage.

The switches used are TIP127 transistors. A 12V, 50Hz AC supply is converted to a
higher frequency by the switches.

 

 
 

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The circuit diagram of the matrix converter has 3 main functional

sections. The three functional sections are:

? Switching frequency source

? Decade Counter

? Switches 


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   The switching frequency source is the 555 timer IC. It provides

the switching frequency. The frequency range of the timer IC is from 50Hz to 3.5
kHz. The output from pin 3 of the 555 timer IC is fed to the counter IC.

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CD4017 is used as the decade counter. It is a 16 pin IC. It has 10

outputs and a carry. The output from the decade counter is configured to a 3 pin out
system and to the fourth output pin RESET is applied. Any three of the output pins
can be used for the output configuration required for the matrix converter. The pins 3,
2 and 4 have been used as the output in the circuit diagram. The pin number 7 is set as
the RESET.

Each of the three pins provides an output frequency with the time
period of fraction of a millisecond. This output frequency is fed to the switching
transistors via an optical isolator. IS4N35 is the optical isolator used. The optical
iso lator is used only to provide isolation between the input and the output sides.

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TIP 127 is used as switches. TIP 127 is a pnp configuration

transistor. The AC from the supply is fed directly to the switches. The switches turn
ON and OFF depending upon the output from the decade counter. Depending on the
ON and OFF condition of the switches, the AC current from the supply splits. This
split in the AC gives a high frequency characteristic to the output wave.
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? Sinusoidal i/p and o/p waves with min harmonics.

? Input power can be fully controlled.

? Loss is one third of that in conventional converters.

? Minimum energy storage requirements, no more bulky, limited energy storage capacitors
hence there is possibility of a more compact design

? Adjustable (including unity) power factor

? Bidirectional power flow

? High quality waveform

 
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? Higher complexity in modulation and analysis effort

? Requires more semiconductor devices

? Sensitive to disturbances of the i/p voltage system

 
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? Implementation as power supplies

? Realization of highly compact AC drives

? High potential in industrial, military, marine and avionics

? Employed in Wind Energy Conversion Systems(WECS)

 
 


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? Matrix converters can be seen as a future replacement concept for variable speed drives
technology

? Future applications in fields that now use PWM rectifiers and inverters.

 


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As proposed, the full functionality of a 3 phase AC-AC converter can be achieved by using a few
number of switches, and the absence of a dc link with high efficiency.
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[1]. J. W. Kolar, M. Baumann, F. Stogerer, F. Schafmeister, H. Ertl, ³Novel Three-Phase

AC-DC-AC Sparse Matrix Converter´.

[2]. L. Wei, T. A. Lipo, H. Chan, ³Matrix Converter Topologies with Reduced Number of
Switches´.

[3]. F. Schafmeister, ³Sparse and Indirect Matrix Converter´.

[4]. J. W. Kolar, F. Schafmeister, S. D. Round, and H. Ertl, ³Novel Three-Phase AC-AC

Sparse Matrix Converters´.

[5]. Wikipedia, National semiconductors, Toshiba power supplies)