A review of AC choppers

AC choppers are a family of ac-to-ac power converters that can be derived from the traditional dc-to-dc converters. Research activity in this kind of converter has recently increased in applications for power conditioning-such as voltage control in the distribution system and power flow control in the transmission system-as an alternative for the dc-link approach compensators based on voltage source converters. The control is simpler and the power rating of the devices is smaller for compensators with the same power rating; the main drawback is they cannot control the output-voltage frequency as the matrix converter. This paper presents a state-of-the-art review on the development of ac-choppers. The principle of operation is explained by using the six switches three-phase buck converter as an example. The main applications used in power conditioning and power flow control are introduced along with emerging topologies.