Control of motor drives fed by PFC circuits without DC-link electrolytic capacitors

This paper presents a control method for variable-speed motor drives that do not use a DC-link electrolytic capacitor. The proposed circuit consists of a power factor correction converter for boosting the DC-link voltage, an inverter for driving the motor, and a small DC-link film capacitor. By employing a small DC-link capacitor, the proposed circuit that is small, and a low cost and weight are achieved. However, because the DC-link voltage varies periodically, the control of the circuit is more difficult than that of the conventional method. Using the proposed control method, an inverter can be controlled reliably even when the capacitance of the DC-link capacitor is very small. Experiments are performed using a 1.5-kW inverter with a 20-μF DC-link capacitor, and the experimental results are analyzed thoroughly.