A carrier phase control suitable for conducted EMI noise reduction in a multiple‐converter system

The conducted EMI noise flowing from power converters to an AC utility line is regulated by international commissions such as the International Electrotechnical Commission (IEC). Adherence to the IEC regulations requires that EMI filters should be used in power electronics equipment. This paper proposes a method for analyzing conducted EMI noise in multiple power converters connected to the same power line. In this method, the phase difference between subharmonic modulated carrier signals at each power converter is taken into account. The phase difference among the power converters determines the EMI noise level in a multiple converter system, as is evident from the analysis of the waveform of the common mode current. In addition, EMI noise suppression using carrier phase control is proposed. In order to reduce the size of the EMI filter effectively, the phase difference θ should be set to 360/nN°, where n is a high‐order harmonic component near 150 kHz and N is the number of power converters. Therefore, the conducted EMI noise can be reduced effectively with the help of the proposed phase control. © 2013 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Electr Eng Jpn, 183(3): 56–66, 2013; Published online in Wiley Online Library (wileyonlinelibrary.com). DOI 10.1002/eej.21305