Novel low harmonic rectifier using 12-pulse inductive current splitter/merger

In this paper a low harmonic rectifier for medium to high power applications is presented. The proposed novel magnetic device - the 12-pulse inductive current splitter/merger (ICSM) - is designed to replace a conventional 12-pulse transformer at a fraction of its weight and size in all applications where galvanic isolation is not required. The input current waveforms of the ICSM exhibit harmonic content well below the level typical for the conventional 12-pulse rectifiers, or below the level achieved using a non-inductive version of the current splitter/merger as recently proposed by the authors. The ICSM based rectifier can reduce the current THD to the values as low as 5%.