FEM based parametric analysis of AC line reactors

Single or three phase AC line reactors are used for harmonic elimination at the input stage of controlled or uncontrolled rectifiers. Design parameters of these reactors mainly related to current level, cost, size, losses, core structure etc. Although they carry nonlinear currents, they usually considered as carry linear currents in the first design stage. In case of nonlinear current, peak value of current is higher than linear condition. Consequently, saturation effect may occur on the core and harmonic elimination tasks cannot be achieved accurately. In this study, AC line reactor is designed and modeled by using single phase standard EI metric laminations to simplify the understanding of nonlinear effects. The parametric analysis of the reactors for linear and nonlinear conditions are carried out and compared. Inductance variation of reactor is analyzed according to current, number of turns and air-gap length parameters by parametric analysis. The reactor is modeled and simulated with the co-simulation of Maxwell and Simplorer. During the simulation, the nonlinear current waveform, which is the most important design parameter of an AC reactor, is also considered. Simulation results such as saturation, core losses and flux distributions are visualized and compared for both linear and nonlinear conditions.