Resonances in a high-power active-front-end rectifier system

This paper presents the application of high-power three-level active-front-end rectifiers to regenerate energy in a downhill conveyor system. The selective harmonic elimination method is used to eliminate harmonics 11 and 13, working with very low switching frequency, where six-pulse harmonic orders 6k/spl plusmn/1 are eliminated by the delta-wye connection of the transformer. In this way, the input current at the mains is highly sinusoidal with small harmonics starting at frequencies of order 23 and 25. Resonances have been detected, originated mainly by the capacitances of feeding cables and noneliminated harmonics, which produce high-voltage distortion. Theoretical and field measurements present the problem and the solution by using a specially designed high-pass power filter.     

Cascaded Multilevel Inverter With Regeneration Capability and Reduced Number of Switches

Multilevel converters are a very interesting alternative for medium and high power drives. One of the more flexible topologies of this type is the cascaded multicell converter. This paper proposes the use of a single-phase reduced cell suitable for cascaded multilevel converters. This cell uses a reduced single-phase active rectifier at the input and an H-bridge inverter at the output side. This topology presents a very good performance, effectively controlling the waveform of the input current and of the output voltage and allowing operation in the motoring and regenerative mode. The results presented in this paper confirm that this medium voltage inverter effectively eliminates low frequency input current harmonics at the primary side of the transformer and operates without problems in regenerative mode.     

Kinetics of lymphocyte division in blood cultures studied with the BrdU-Giemsa technique

Normal human lymphocytes were cultured for 72 h with different doses of BrdU. The analysis of metaphases processed with the BrdU-Giemsa method shows that in leukocyte cultures 3 different lymphocyte populations coexist which are able to perform 1, 2 or 3 rounds of replication in vitro. Moreover, it was concluded that 5 mug/ml is the minimal dose of BrdU inducing good differentiation in the areas of sister chromatid exchanges.     

High-voltage multilevel converter with regeneration capability

This paper presents a multilevel converter with regeneration capability. The converter uses several power cells connected in series, each working with reduced voltage and with an active front end at the line side. This paper presents the following: (1) the control method of each cell; (2) the use of phase-shifting techniques to reduce the current and voltage distortion; and (3) criteria to select the connection of the cells. The converter generates almost sinusoidal currents at the load and at the input and works with very high power factor.     

Large current rectifiers: State of the art and future trends

This paper presents the different technologies used in the generation of large controlled currents, in the kiloamperes range. After a brief review of processes requiring large currents, the paper discusses the working principles of thyristor phase-controlled rectifiers commonly used in these applications. Chopper-rectifiers using high-current insulated gate bipolar transistors are introduced as an alternative being considered in recent projects. The pulsewidth-modulated current-source rectifier, currently used in medium-voltage motor drives, is also analyzed as a future alternative for rectification in industrial processes. In addition, this paper presents the most important requirements and specifications to be considered in the applications of these high-power units. A system comparison is developed between thyristor and chopper-rectifiers in terms of quality of control, harmonics, power factor, losses, and efficiency.     

Validation of antibiotics in catfish by on-line solid phase extraction coupled to liquid chromatography tandem mass spectrometry

For the first time automated on-line solid phase extraction coupled to liquid chromatography tandem mass spectrometry was developed for the simultaneous determination of 13 antibiotics (sulfonamides and tetracyclines) in catfish. The method proposed was validated according to Commission Decision 2002/657/EC, showing good linearity between 2 and 350 μg kg⁻¹, high recovery (80–99%) and reproducibility (13–20%) values, lower detection limits than 0.1 μg kg⁻¹, and quantification limits under 2.4 μg kg⁻¹ (between 39 and 84 times lower than the MRL fixed by the EU). Moreover, the proposed method was also used to determine sulfonamides and tetracyclines in 16 out of 107 samples, all previously analysed by microbiological screening that gave positive results. Five out of 13 antibiotics were found, having tetracycline the higher occurrence (10 samples); in all cases the concentrations were lower than the MRL established.     

Regenerative medium-voltage AC drive based on a multicell arrangement with reduced energy storage requirements

Multicell power circuit topologies have proved to be an effective alternative to medium-voltage ac drives. The main advantage is the improved power quality at both the ac system and the motor sides. However, several drawbacks are present in these configurations, such as a lack of sustained regenerative operating mode, uncontrolled input reactive power, and a large second current harmonic that is injected by the load into the dc link of each cell, which leads to a bulky electrolytic capacitor. This paper proposes to replace the input diode-based front-end rectifier with an active front-end rectifier in all cells of the topology and a novel control strategy in order to overcome the aforementioned drawbacks. In fact, the active front-end rectifier allows the topology to regenerate and the control strategy handles the reactive input power and reduces the large second current harmonic from the dc-link capacitor, thus reducing its size. These features are achieved without any penalties in the quality of both the ac input current and the motor voltage waveforms. Experimental results confirm the theoretical considerations.     

PWM regenerative rectifiers: state of the art

New regulations impose more stringent limits on current harmonics injected by power converters that are achieved with pulsewidth-modulated (PWM) rectifiers. In addition, several applications demand the capability of power regeneration to the power supply. This work presents the state of the art in the field of regenerative rectifiers with reduced input harmonics and improved power factor. Regenerative rectifiers are able to deliver energy back from the dc side to the ac power supply. Topologies for single- and three-phase power supplies are considered with their corresponding control strategies. Special attention is given to the application of voltage- and current-source PWM rectifiers in different processes with a power range from a few kilowatts up to several megawatts. This paper shows that PWM regenerative rectifiers are a highly developed and mature technology with a wide industrial acceptance.     

Multicarrier PWM With DC-Link Ripple Feedforward Compensation for Multilevel Inverters

Like most power converter topologies, multilevel inverters are controlled with modulation techniques that are conceptually based on nonlinear waveform synthesis assuming constant dc-link voltages. However, real applications have load and supply dependent dc-links that usually present important low frequency ripple, which is also modulated and transmitted to the load, generating undesirable low frequency voltage and current distortion. This paper introduces a simple but effective dc-link ripple feedforward strategy into traditional carrier-based modulation techniques. The dc-link ripples are measured and used to modify the carriers or the reference directly in the modulation stage. Simulation and experimental results show the accuracy of the proposed method, eliminating low order harmonics in the load current.