See discussions, stats, and author profiles for this publication at: https://www.researchgate.

net/publication/317072162

A compensation winding structure for balanced three-phase coupled inductor

Conference Paper · March 2017

DOI: 10.1109/APEC.2017.7930798

CITATIONS READS
10 1,370

2 authors:

Le Yang Shuo Wang

University of Florida University of Florida
16 PUBLICATIONS 249 CITATIONS 245 PUBLICATIONS 6,881 CITATIONS

SEE PROFILE SEE PROFILE

All content following this page was uploaded by Le Yang on 04 March 2020.

The user has requested enhancement of the downloaded file.

 A Compensation Winding Structure for Balanced
Three-phase Coupled Inductor
Le Yang, Shuo Wang
Department of ECE, University of Florida
Gainesville, FL, USA
Abstract—Inductors and transformers are widely used in
three-phase power conversion systems. Integrated or coupled
structure is often adopted to reduce the size of the bulky
magnetic components. However, these structures could bring the
unbalance problem in three-phase power system or motor drive
system, and this unbalance issue will impact the system’s
performance. In order to get a balanced performance in three-
phase system, special structure of three-limb E cores or separated
cores should be applied in inductor design. This paper proposes a
balanced three-phase coupled inductor which can be used with
any E cores by applying additional compensation windings to the
three phases. Then, a design guideline for balanced three-phase
coupled inductor is suggested based on core geometry. Moreover,
this coupled structure improves the phase inductance with
coupling effects resulting in a reduction of the total inductor’s
volume compared with separated inductors. A finite element
analysis (FEA) simulation and experiment results verify the
proposed structure. A prototype of proposed inductor is built
and shows a much better balanced performance compared with
conventional design.
Keywords- Coupled Inductor, Three-phase Power System,
Magnetic Cores, Inductor Design
I. INTRODUCTION
Inductors play an important role in filter construction in
three phase system. Usually, inductors are bulky and are
designed to suppress the harmonics and reduce the current
ripple in the power conversion system, so a good design can
not only reduce the size, but also improve the system’ s
performance. In most cases, separated toroidal cores are
usually adopted in inductor design, since the inductor design
with toroidal core is simple and has a wide core selection
range. However, a more compact structure, three-phase
coupled inductor, has a better utilization of the core and
coupling effects will largely increase the line inductance, which
can reduce the total inductor size compared with separated
toroidal core inductors. However, these coupled inductor or
three-phase transformer could induce voltage or current
balance issues in a three-phase system.
Three-phase voltage or current is unbalanced which means
that the magnitude for each phase has large differences or the
phase degree is not in 120-degree relationship. Definitions of
voltage unbalance are introduced and discussed in [1-3].
Unbalance voltage or current will bring negative influence to
the system. In a three-phase power system, such as a grid-tied
inverter system, the unbalanced voltage could induce
978-1-5090-5366-7/17/$31.00 ©2017 IEEE
unbalanced currents into the system. The zero sequence of the
unbalanced current may cause heating problems on the main
transformer as well as making the main transformer saturated
under unbalanced condition. Furthermore, the unbalanced
condition impacts the stability of the three-phase system, since
the protection responds to the emergency better when the
system is balanced [4]. In British Grid Code, especially in high
voltage system, the voltage unbalance is limited within 2%. In
adjustable speed motor drive system (ASD), the AC motors are
also main victims to the voltage unbalance in the three-phase
system. The unbalanced current in the system will flow through
the stator windings of the AC motors and lead to a heating
problem. Researches show that a 5% of voltage unbalance will
cause a 50% temperature rise and a 7% of voltage unbalance
can cause as large as 98% temperature rise in motor windings.
Also the losses of the stator and rotor windings increase and
motor’s performance is degraded with the voltage unbalance in
the system. In [5, 6], it claims that 1% voltage unbalance can
make the motor protection circuit to trip, and 2% of voltage
unbalance may burn the fuse in one phase of a three-phase
system.
Conventional three-phase coupled inductor usually need to
introduce three airgaps with same cross-section area in high
permeability E cores in order to get same magnetic reluctance
in three phases. However, this design limits the selection range
for magnetic cores and increases the copper loss caused by
fringing effect. Some new coupled structures are mentioned in
[7-9]. These magnetic structures demand a special
manufacturing process which can lead to a high cost.
In this paper, existing topologies or structures for three-
phase coupled inductor are discussion in Section II. Also, the
balance condition of a three-phase coupled inductor is also
illustrated in this section. Then, a new balanced three-phase
coupled structure is introduced in Section III, and is proved that
proposed structure can be applied with any E cores. The
coupling effect of this proposed inductor is then discussed, and
shows an increase in line inductance in each phase. A design
guideline considering window filling factor, saturation flux
density and expected inductance, is proposed based on the E
core’s geometry. In Section IV, a finite element analysis (FEA)
of this new structure is built. Simulation results show that
inductance matrix is balanced in a good degree and the total
volume of this structure is reduced compared with separated
cores. A prototype of the proposed inductor is built and
measured. Measurement results show a much better balanced
three-phase inductance (both in magnitude and phase)
868
compared with a conventional design in a wide frequency
range. Simulations with the measured inductance matrix show
the unbalance factors of proposed inductor is greatly reduced
compared with conventional design.
II. CONVENTIAONAL THREE-PHASE COUPLED INDUCTOR
AND BALANCE CONDITION
A. Conventional and Existing Three-phase Coupled Inductor
Na Nb Nc Na Nb
Fig. 1. Conventional EE and EI cores for three-phase coupled inductor
E cores are widely used in inductor design and filter
construction. The magnetic material of these cores range from
low relative permeability (e.g., iron power) to high relative
permeability (e.g., ferrite). Usually, E cores and toroidal cores
are alternative in single (separated) inductor design. Compared
with toroidal cores, E cores are easier for winding and also in
certain cases, E cores can be used in a three-phase coupled
inductor.
Mostly, the three-phase coupled inductor is based on EI or
EE shaped core (Fig. 1) which has the same cross section area
of each limb. The equivalent magnetic circuit of the is shown
in Fig.2.
Rc Rc
Rl Rl Rl
Rg Rg Rg
Naia Nbib Ncic
Rc Rc
Fig. 2. Equivalent magnetic circuit of E cores
In the above circuit, Naia, Nbib and Ncic are the MMF of the
magnetic circuit; Rg is the magnetic reluctance of the air gap; Rl
is the reluctance of the core’s leg, and Rc is the reluctance
between two legs. Three-phase currents are balanced.
When the number of turns in three phases are same, in
order to achieve a balanced structure of the core, Rg should be
big enough to ignore the influence of Rc, which means that
either the air gap length is large or the relative permeability of
the core should be much larger than the air’s permeability.
Thus, three-limbs’ reluctance is dominated by air gap’s
reluctance. That is, two conditions should be satisfied when
build a balanced three-phase inductor with E cores: 1. The
cross-section area for each limb is same; 2. The relative
permeability of the core is large.
However, by investigating the catalogs from the magnetic
core companies, such as Magnetics and Micrometals, the E
cores with same cross section area of each leg are rare and
selecting range for large permeability cores are limited. Several
literatures also propose other symmetrical structure to get a
three-phase balanced reluctance in the coupled inductor. In
[10], a 6 U-cores three-phase coupled inductor (Fig.3) is
introduced, and in order to get a good coupling performance,
the relative permeability of the core should be much larger than
air’s permeability. Also, the core selection is limited by the
shape of this structure. With the assumption that the flux in
outer U cores only circulates in outer cores and inner flux
circulates in inner core, the mutual inductance between each
Nc phase is equal. However, the permeability of the cores should
be carefully selected in order to have a same inductance in each
phase. Other structures like [7, 9], although they can achieve a
good symmetrical structure in reluctance, they are difficult for
manufacturing and are costly.
In general, three-phase coupled inductors are not widely
assembled in three-phase power system mainly because:
1). Three-phase impedance is hard to balance in coupled
inductor.
2). The core selection range is limited and high
permeability material is required.
3). Symmetrical structure cores are costly in manufacturing.
μr>> μ0
airgaps with same cross-
section area and length
Fig. 3. A 6 U-core structure for three-phase coupled inductor
B. Balance Conditions for Three-phase Coupled Inductor
Basically, above structures focus on constructing a
balanced magnetic circuit by rearranging the reluctance of the
core. Based on the Faraday’s law, it is obvious that the
inductance is a function of magnetic reluctance and MMF (or
number of turns) if the three-phase current is determined. It
means that besides from constructing a new topology which
has a symmetrical structure in three-phase magnetic reluctance,
the inductance can also be balanced with different winding
structures.
L = f ( R, N ) (1)
In Fig.4, Laa, Lbb and Lcc are self-inductance for each phase.
Lab, Lbc and Lac are mutual-inductance between two phases. Eq.
(2) shows the relation of inductor’s voltage and current.
From the definition of symmetrical impedance, the balance
condition for three-phase inductance matrix are:
1.Three-phase self-inductance are same;
2. Mutual inductance are same.
869
 +
VLa
− (b) and (c) show the conditions when three-phase self-
Laa
ia inductance are same, while the mutual-inductance are different.
VLb
Lab
+ Lbb
− In (a), A phase angle difference between new inductance vector
ib Lac
VLc
Lb and original self-inductance Lbb will bring unbalance to the
Lbc

ic
+ Lcc
− system. In this condition, both phase and magnitude unbalance
could appear. And Fig. 6 (d) shows the condition when mutual-
inductance are equal but three-phase self-inductance are not
Fig. 4. Coupled inductor in a three-phase power system
same. Take phase B as an example, the new inductance vector
still in phase with the self-inductance. However, since the self-
VLa   Laa − Lba − Lca  ia  inductance in three-phase are not same, it will cause unbalance
V  =  − L   (2)
 Lb   ab Lbb − Lcb  ib  in magnitude of the three-phase inductance.
VLc   − Lac − Lbc Lcc   ic 

Laa = Lbb = Lcc & Lab = Lba = Lac = Lca = Lbc = Lcb (3)

According to the symmetrical components theory and

phasor analysis, the coupled inductor can be seen as three-
phase symmetrical impedance only if above both conditions are
met. With conventional E cores (the central limb has different
cross-section area with outer limbs), the simplified equivalent
magnetic circuit is shown in Fig.5, where R0 represents the (a) (b)
total reluctance of the central leg, R1 represents the total
reluctance of the outer leg. R1 usually is not equal to R0. By
applying superposition theorem and Faraday’s law to each
MMF source, the self-inductance and mutual-inductance can be
expressed in (4-8).

R1 R0 R1

N a ia Nbib N c ic (c) (d)

Fig. 6. Inductance phasor diagram in unbalanced conditons

Fig. 5. Simplified magnetic circuit for conventional E core inductor
III. BALANCED THREE-PHASE COUPLED INDUCTOR WITH
Na2 Nc2 (4) COMPENSATION WINDINGS
Laa = Lcc = =
R1 + R0 / / R1 R1 + R0 / / R1
A. Proposed Structure with Compensation Windings
Lbb =
Nb 2 (5)
R0 + R1 / 2 Based on the analysis of the asymmetrical structure of the E
cores, two compensation windings are added in the outer legs
N a Nb (6) to reorganize the flux distribution in each limb. Fig.7 (a) shows
Lba =
R0 + R1 / 2 the winding structure. For phase A, ia goes from a1 to a2, and
then flows in series winding Na’ at c3 and out at c4. For phase
Lca =
Na Nc R0 (7) C, ic goes from c1 to c2, and then flows in series winding Nc’ at
R1 + R0 / / R1 R1 + R0 a3 and out at a4. Winding Nb has no changes.

Lbc =
Nb Nc (8)
R0 + R1 / 2 ia ib ic
R1 R0 R1
a1 b1 c1

With the assumption that Na=Nb=Nc, the above two

conditions can be met only when R1=R0; this verifies the Na Nb Nc
N a ia N b ib N c ic
method that by constructing a symmetrical structure of a ia a2 ic c2

magnetic core, it is possible to get a balanced three-phase Nc ' ic a3

Na ' ia c3

inductance. However, an ideal symmetrical E core is rare in a4

ic b2
c4
ia N c ' ic N a ' ia
market, and other alternative solutions will largely narrow the
core selection range in inductor design process.
(a) (b)
A coupled inductor analysis concept is proposed in [11], in
which phasor is introduced to analyze the three-phase coupled Fig. 7. Winding strucuture of proposed inductor and its equivalent magnetic
inductor. In Fig.6, more specific phasor diagrams are drawn to circuit
illustrate the balance conditions in coupled inductor. Fig. 6 (a),

870
 In Fig.7 (b), the voltage sources represent the MMF for Lbb
each winding. R1 and R0 are the magnetic reluctance of outer Lca = Lcb
limb and central limb. In Fig.8 (a), with only one MMF, 0.5Lbb
because R0 is usually smaller than R1, ab is larger than ac. 0.5 Laa Laa
Lac = Lab
With an added MMF source Na’ia shown in Fig.8 (b), the flux
distribution in the core is changed with ab becoming smaller 0.5Lcc
and ac becoming larger. In addition, this added MMF can also Lba = Lbc

increase the self-inductance since it enlarges the aa in phase Lcc

A. if the added two MMFs are in the central limb, they will
make the self-inductance smaller. Fig. 9. Inductance phasor diagram in proposed inductor

In Fig.9, the phasor diagram shows the self-inductance

and mutual-inductance phasors in a three-phase balanced
R1 R0 R1 R1 R0 R1
coupled inductor. Suppose the three-phase currents are
balanced and have the same magnitude, the decoupled case of
N a ia N a ia N a ' ia three-phase inductor can be studied with inductance phasors
[11]. As it can be seen in Fig.9, the mutual-inductance which
φaa φab φac φaa φab φac
has the same magnitude in each phase
(Lab=Lba=Lac=Lca=Lbc=Lcb) generates the inductance phasors
(a) (b) (0.5Laa, 0.5Lbb, 0.5Lcc) which are in phase with the self-
inductance (Laa, Lbb, Lcc) in each phase. At the same time, the
Fig. 8. Equivalnet magnetic circuit and flux distribution in proposed inductor self-inductance in each phase is equal to each other
(Laa=Lbb=Lcc). Thus, with the coupling effect, the line
Thus the self-inductance and mutual-inductance with inductance is 1.5 times of the self-inductance and the phase
compensation windings and original windings can be expressed relation remains 120-degree difference.
as:
It should be noted that above conclusions are derived under
N 2 + N a '2 2Na Na ' R0 (9) the condition when no leakage inductance is in this E core
Laa = a +
R1 + R1 / / R0 R1 + R0 / / R1 R1 + R0 (permeability is very large). Considering the case when
mutual-inductance is smaller compared with leakage
Lbb =
Nb 2 (10) inductance, the accuracy of predicted total line inductance is
R0 + R1 / 2 degraded. However, the balance condition is still valid in low
permeability cores (see Section IV inductance matrix).
N c 2 + N c '2 2 Nc Nc ' R0 (11)
Lcc = +
R1 + R1 / / R0 R1 + R0 / / R1 R1 + R0 B. A Design Guideline for Balanced Three-phase Coupled
N a Nb − N a ' Nb (12) Inductor
Lab = Lba =
2 R0 + R1 The design can be accomplished by combining 4 limitation
equations and core geometry together.
N c Nb − N c ' Nb (13)
Lcb = Lbc =
2 R0 + R1 • Window filling factor.
N a N c + N a ' N c ' R0 N ' N + N a Nc ' (14) K uWA ≥ ( N a + N b + N a ') Aw (16)
Lac = Lca = + a c
R 1 + R0 / / R1 R0 + R1 R1 + R0 / / R1
In this equation, Aw means the cross-section area of the
By applying superposition theorem on magnetic circuit, the wire, and WA represents one of the window are of the E core.
balance conditions in Section A can be met only if: Ku is the window filling factor.
a 2 + 2a + 1 + 2ka (15) • Designed inductance.
N a = N c = aN a ' = aN c '; N b = Na '
k (a − 1)
a 2 + 2a + 1 + k + ka 2 (17)
Lself = N a '2
where k = R1
2
and a = 1 + 2k + 3k + 6k ( k 2 + 2k ) R0
R0 k −1
This equation is from Section A. The theoretical
With the winding relations mentioned above, the flux calculation of the inductance is based on the assumption that
distribution is rearranged in the asymmetrical E core. In a high no leakage flux goes out of the magnetic core. So the
permeability E core, where leakage inductance is quite small designed inductance may vary from actual inductance in low
compared with mutual-inductance, it can be derived that the permeability magnetic core design cases.
mutual-inductance is half of the self-inductance based on • Turn relations of balance condition in Section A
equation (9-15).
See expression (15).
• Maximum flux density

871
 In order to keep the magnetic core from saturation, the represent inductance factor, window area, central leg’ s
maximum flux density in the core should be considered. Since reluctance, and outer leg’s cross-section area. For other
the flux distribution and cross-section area are different coefficients,
between the central limb and outer limb in Fig. 10, the flux
density in each limb is calculated in expressions (19) and R1 1 + 2k + 3k 2 + 6k a 2 + 2a + 1 + 2ka .
k= ;a = ;b =
(20). The maximum flux density is determined by the largest R0 k −1 k (a − 1)
one.
(18) IV. SIMULATION AND EXPERIMENT VERIFICAITON
Bmax = max[ Bouter −leg , Bcentral −leg ]
ΦlegA ΦlegB
A. Simulaiton and Measurement of Inductance Matrix
a1
ia
b1
ib
c1
ic
Based on Section III, a FEA model (Fig.12 (a)) is built and
inductance matrix is obtained. With the same winding
Na Nb Nc structure, a prototype is assembled in Fig.12 (b). (E core model:
ia a2 ic c2 K8020E26 from Magnetics, relative permeability=26)
ic a3 ia c3

ic b2 ia
a4 c4

Fig. 10. Flux distribution in central and outer limbs

Winding A
Winding C
Φ legA (1 + k ) N a + N a ' N + (1 + k ) N c ' Winding B
BlegA = =( ia − N b ib − c ic )/(2 + k ) AlegA R0
AlegA k k
(19)
Winding C’

Φ legB Winding A’
BlegB = = ( − N a + N a ')ia + 2 N b ib − ( N c − N c ')ic /(2 + k ) AlegB R0
AlegB
(20)
In above expression, the three-phase currents have 120- (a) (b)
degree phase difference, and number of turns in each limb
Fig. 12. FEA simulation model (a) and experiment propotype (b)
meets the relation in Section A. In Fig.11 (a), blue curve is the
flux density in the outer limb, along with phase A current
The prototype’s inductance is measured with impedance
angles and designed self-inductance. It shows that in the same
analyzer. And the measurement set-up is shown in Fig.13,
E core, the larger designed inductance, the more likely the core
where (a) is for self-inductance measurement, (b) is for positive
is saturated. Also in Fig.11 (b), the flux density in outer leg is
coupling of winding A and B, (c) is for negative coupling of
in the same phase with phase A current, and the maximum flux
winding A and B. This set-up is also adopted to measure other
density appears when the phase current meets its maximum
phases’ couplings and self-inductance. The measured
value. Generally, in conventional E cores which has a larger
impedance results are shown in Fig. 14, 15 and 16.
cross-section area in central limb, the outer two limbs are more
likely to be saturated compared with central limb.

ia ib ic
a1 b1 c1
ia ib ic ia ib ic
a1 b1 c1 a1 b1 c1

Na Nb Nc

Na Nb Nc Na Nb Nc ia ic
a2 c2

ia a2 ic c2 ia a ic c2 Nc ' ic a3
Na ' ia c3
2

ic b2 ia
Nc ' ic a3 Na ' ia c3
Nc ' ic a3
Na ' ia c3
a4 c4
ic b2 ia ic b2 ia
a4 c4 a4 c4

(a) (b) (c)

Fig. 13. Inductanace measurement set-up for three-phase coupled inductor

(a) (b) In order to make an impedance comparison, another

Fig. 11. Flux density distribution with inductance and phase current
Thus the design equation based on the core’s geometry is:
Ls Bmax Aw 2 b AL WA 2 (3a + 2ak + kb + k + 3)
≤
I max K u 2 ( a + b + 1) 2 (4k + 2k 2 ) R0 A1
where Ls, Bmax, Aw, Imax, Ku are self-inductance for a single
phase, wire cross-section area, the maximum flux density in the
limbs, the maximum current in the windings, and the window
area filling factor. On the right side of the equation, all the
parameters are related with core geometry. AL, WA, R0, and A1
prototype based on the same magnetic core is built. This three-
phase coupled inductor has only one winding in each phase,
and the self-inductance in each phase is same. In Fig.14, both
of the proposed inductor (a) and conventional inductor (b) have
(21) the same self-inductance in each phase.
In Fig.15 and 16, an impedance comparison in coupling
conditions is made. As it can be seen, proposed inductor has a
good impedance match between different two phases. However,
due to the asymmetrical of the structure, the compared inductor
fails to have the same impedance in coupling conditions.

872

(a)
Fig. 14. Self-inductance in proposed inductor (a) and compared inductor (b)
(a)
Fig. 15. Positive coupling in proposed inductor (a) and compared inductor (b)
(a)
Fig. 16. Negative coupling in proposed inductor (a) and compared inductor (b)
The inductance matrix based on FEA simulation in Fig.12
(a) is:
 42.86 −8.82 −11.11
L( μ H ) =  −8.82 43.44 −8.85 
 −11.11 −8.85 42.93 
The inductance matrix based on proposed prototype in
Fig.12 (b) is:
 44.66 −8.76 −9.67 
L( μ H ) =  −8.76 45.47 −8.85 
 −9.67 −8.85 45.03 
The inductance matrix based on compared prototype is:
 41.4 −9.07 −2.00 
L( μ H ) =  −9.07 42.8 −8.42 
 −2.00 −8.42 42.1 
The above matrices verify the balance conditions in
expression (3), and proposed inductor keeps a good impedance
equality in both self-inductance and coupling-inductance
conditions.
B. Voltage Unbalance Verificaiton with Simulations
Voltage unbalance in a three-phase system, means that
magnitude of phase or line voltage, or phase angles of phase or
line voltage, or both of them has difference with balanced
(b) condition. The impacts of the voltage unbalance in three-phase
power systems and motor drive systems are discussed in
Introduction part.
The definitions for the voltage unbalance are quite different
in various standards. The NEMA (National Equipment
Manufacturer’s Association) considers the voltage unbalance
as：
% LVUR =
max voltage deviation from the avg line voltage
× 100%
(25)
avg line voltage
In the above expression, the NEMA assumes that the
average voltage is always equal to rated value.
(b)
A similar definition of voltage unbalance is given by IEEE
Standard 112 (IEEE Standard Test Procedure for Poly-phase
Induction Motors and Generators), that:
% PVUR =
max voltage deviation from the avg phase voltage
× 100%
(26)
avg phase voltage
The phase voltage rather than line voltage is used to
calculate the unbalance factor in the system.
As it can be seen, both of these standards only mention the
magnitude of the unbalanced voltage in the three-phase system
without considering the phase diverse in a three-phase
unbalanced system. Since separated inductors are considered
applied in three-phase system, 120-degree phase difference is
(b) not largely influenced by uncoupled inductors. However, when
it comes to coupled inductor cases, it influences not only the
magnitude of the three-phase voltage, but also the phase
relations between three phases.
A definition of voltage unbalance based on negative and
positive sequences analysis is mentioned in numerous
references, such as BS EN 50160 [12], IEC 610003-13 [13]
(22) and IEC 61000-3-30 [14]. And it is defined as:
%VUF =
negative sequence voltage component
× 100%
(27)
positive sequence voltage component
Limitations for the voltage unbalance also vary in different
standards. Typically, in NEMA MG-1 1993, the maximum
value for voltage unbalance should be limited within 1%. And
(23) in IEEE Standard 112, the voltage unbalance shall not exceed
0.5%. In British Grid Code, the voltage unbalance is limited
within 2% in high voltage power systems.
In order to evaluate the voltage unbalance in three-phase
system with proposed inductor and conventional inductor, a
simulation (Fig.17) is conducted with a DC-AC inverter and
(24) coupled inductors measured in Section A. Since the measured
inductance is quite small in a practical three-phase system, a
873
per-unit value is adopted in the simulation. Balanced three-
phase AC source acts as three-phase grid voltage. In practical
applications, since line inductor has a much larger inductance
than grid impedance, the grid impedance can be ignored in the
simulations.
Fig. 17. Simulation set-up with porposed inductor and compared inductor
unbalance factors is much lower than NEMA standard, as well
as several times smaller than IEEE Standard 112.
As shown in expression (23) and (24), because the
magnetic core’s relative permeability is quite low (ur=26), the
self-inductance is much larger than the mutual-inductance. The
unbalance is not very significant since the total inductance is
dominated by self-inductance in each phase. However, when
the permeability becomes higher, the flux is more likely to
flow inside E core other than outside, thus the mutual-
inductance will be much larger and the inductance unbalance in
conventional design could be more obvious than low
permeability case. Still, even in low permeability cores, the
balance technique is valid, and theoretically, in high
permeability cores, the balance performance will become better.

Supposing the three-phase loads after the coupled inductor

are balanced, and they have little influence on three-phase C. Volume Comparision
impedance. the three-phase current unbalance is measured and
With the similar total inductance and flux density
evaluated in the same manner of voltage unbalance mentioned
distribution (Fig.19 (a)), a comparison between coupled
above. In Fig.18, (a) and (b) is the three-phase current with
inductor and separated inductors indicates that coupled
proposed inductor and with conventional three-phase coupled
structure can reduce the total volume by 17% (Fig.19 (b) and
inductor. Since the unbalance factor is quite small, it is hard to
table. II). A proposed inductor is compared with three
tell the differences on the oscilloscope. The fundamental
separated toroidal inductors (three phases). With the same
current (60 Hz) information including magnitude and phase is
relative permeability, designed line inductance, and saturated
obtained by FFT. Table.I shows the comparison results of two
flux density, the number of turns in proposed inductor is much
different inductors.
less than the three separated inductors, and the mutual-
inductance increases the total line inductance by 30%. The size
of the copper windings as well as the copper loss are reduced in
the coils.

TABLE II. DESIGN COMPARISON

(a) (b) Compared Inductors
Proposed inductor Separated inductor
Fig. 18. Three-phase current in proposed indcutor system (a) and conventional permeability 60 60
coupled inductor system (b)
Inductance (mH) 0.54(self)+0.21(mutual) 0.74
Number of turns Na=Nc=46; Nb=36; N=93
TABLE I. CURRENT UNBALANCE COMPARISON OF TWO DIFFERENT Na’=Nc’=9
COUPLED INDUCTORS Designed Bmax (T) 0.7 0.7
Compared Inductors 3
Total volume (cm ) 144 175
Proposed inductor Compared inductor
Phase A(Ampere) 19.38∠168.6° 19.81∠170° As shown in Fig.19 (a), flux density distribution in
Phase B(Ampere) 19.43∠48.7° 19.41∠48.8°
proposed inductor is averagely smaller than toroidal core
except for two corners of the E core’s window. In Fig.19 (b),
Phase C(Ampere) 19.44∠-71.5° 19.24∠-69.6° the volume comparison shows that the proposed inductor has a
%PIUR 0.18% 1.65% smaller total size, and this difference could be large if assemble
space is considered in separated inductors. In addtion, the
%IUF 0.19% 1.7% window area is less occupied in proposed inductor, along with
the less number of turns, the proposed inductor has a better
heat dissipation in a high power system.
In the above table, %PIUR is the current unbalance factor
based on the definitions given by NEMA and IEEE Standard
112. %IUF is the current unbalance factor based on the “true
definition”. As shown in the table, with the conventional
design, the current unbalance factors are more likely to exceed
the limitations given by the two standards. However, with the
proposed inductor, the current unbalance factors could be 9
times smaller than the conventional case. And the value of the (a) (b)

874
 Fig. 19. FEA comparison between toriodal inductor and proposed inductor
V. CONCLUSIONS
A balanced three-phase coupled inductor is proposed in this
paper. By adding two compensation windings, the proposed
inductor can achieve a balanced impedance in three-phase
system in a wide frequency range. Compared with existing
three-phase coupled inductors, proposed technique can be
applied in any asymmetrical E cores, the core selection range is
largely expanded with the compensation winding structure.
Compared with conventional designs, the proposed inductor
current unbalance factor is 9 times smaller and due to the
coupling effects, the line inductance is boosted and total
volume is reduced.
REFERENCES
[1] P. P. a. M. Manyage, "Definitions of Voltage Unbalance," IEEE Power
Eng. Rev. Mag., vol. vol. 21, pp. pp. 50-51, May 2001.
[2] B. M.H.J, "Definitions of Voltage Unbalance," IEEE Power Eng. Rev.
Mag., vol. vol. 22, pp. pp. 49-50, Nov 2002.
[3] K. Jong-Gyeum, L. Eun-Woong, L. Dong-Ju, and L. Jong-Han,
"Comparison of voltage unbalance factor by line and phase voltage," in
2005 International Conference on Electrical Machines and Systems,
2005, pp. 1998-2001 Vol. 3.
[4] R. P. Broadwater, A. H. Khan, H. E. Shaalan, and R. E. Lee, "Time
varying load analysis to reduce distribution losses through
reconfiguration," IEEE Transactions on Power Delivery, vol. 8, pp. 294-
300, 1993.
875
View publication stats
[5] IEEE. Std. 1159-1995, "IEEE Recommended Practice for Monitoring
Power Quality."
[6] J. M. C. Rodriguez, G. A. Orcajo, C. H. R. Garcia, M. G. Melero, M. F.
Cabanas, and F. P. Gonzalez, "Analysis of the Effects Caused by
Structural Asymmetries in the Performance of Three-Limb Core Three-
Phase Inductive Filters," IEEE Transactions on Energy Conversion, vol.
22, pp. 600-607, 2007.
[7] N. Zhu, J. Kang, D. Xu, B. Wu, and Y. Xiao, "An Integrated AC Choke
Design for Common-Mode Current Suppression in Neutral-Connected
Power Converter Systems," IEEE Transactions on Power Electronics,
vol. 27, pp. 1228-1236, 2012.
[8] K. Nakamura, K. Honma, T. Ohinata, K. Arimatsu, T. Kojima, M.
Yamada, et al., "Development of Concentric-Winding Type Three-Phase
Variable Inductor," IEEE Transactions on Magnetics, vol. 51, pp. 1-4,
2015.
[9] Y. Liu, K. See, K. Tseng, R. Simanjorang, and J. S. Lai, "Magnetic
Integration of Three-Phase LCL filter with Delta-Yoke Composite
Core," IEEE Transactions on Power Electronics, vol. PP, pp. 1-1, 2016.
[10] Y. Jiao and F. C. Lee, "LCL Filter Design and Inductor Current Ripple
Analysis for a Three-Level NPC Grid Interface Converter," IEEE
Transactions on Power Electronics, vol. 30, pp. 4659-4668, 2015.
[11] W. Shuo, L. Fang, and F. C. Lee, "Characterization and Design of
Three-Phase EMI Noise Separators for Three-Phase Power Electronics
Systems," Power Electronics, IEEE Transactions on, vol. 26, pp. 2426-
2438, 2011.
[12] BS EN 50160, "Voltage characteristics of electricity supplied by public
distribution systems."
[13] IEC 61000-3-13, "Electromagnetic compatibility (EMC): Limits -
Assessment of emission limits for the connection of unbalanced
installations to MV, HV and EHV power systems."
[14] IEC 61000-4-30, "Electromagnetic compatibility (EMC): Testing and
measurement techniques - Power quality measurement methods."