Efficiency evaluation of rectifier system for PMSG with highly efficient series reactive compensator

Permanent magnet synchronous generator (PMSG) is attractive as a power source for mobility due to its high power density and low maintenance needed. However, increase of the generator current results in the voltage drop due to the synchronous reactance. That means the generator capability including rated voltage cannot be sufficiently used in whole operating range without reactive power control. This paper proposes a new rectifier system which consists of a series reactive power compensator and a diode rectifier. The compensator consists of two semiconductor switches and a capacitor. The proposed rectifier system has reactive power controllability; therefore, the generator capability can be fully used. Small-scale experiments with a 1.5 kW PMSG were conducted. In addition, this paper reports the simulation results with a 25 kW PMSG as compared to an active rectifier.