Adjustable AC power supply equipment for air-conditioner system

Abstract: In an adjustable a.c. power supply for an air-­ conditioner system, comprising a first frequency converter 9A for driving a compressor motor 6A of a first air-conditioner 7A, a second frequency converter 9B for driving a compressor motor 6B of a second air-­ conditioner 7B, and a common a.c. power supply 2 for delivering an a.c. power to the both frequency converters, a rectifier 3B included in at least one frequency converter 9B is constructed as a controllable rectifier and the rectifier 3B included in the second frequency converter 9B is subjected to phase-control so that a synthetic higher harmonic current of the two frequency converters when viewed from the a.c. power supply is reduced. By conducting a phase-control of the rectifiers in a manner that, e.g., one rectifier 3A has a phase-control angle of zero degrees and the other rectifier 3B has a phase-control angle of 30 degrees, a load current from the a.c. power supply 2 is permitted to have a waveform closer to a sine wave, i.e., a waveform in which higher harmonic components are further reduced.

Description: This invention relates to adjustable a.c. power supply equipment for an air-conditioner system including frequency converters each comprised of a three-phase rectifier and an inverter. Frequency converters each comprised of a three-phase rectifier and an inverter have been widely used also for an adjustable speed drive control for an air-conditioner system with the development of semiconductor elements and microcomputers, resulting in the ability to readily carry out fine control. On the other hand, however, when fine control is carried out by such equipment, there occur many higher harmonic voltage or current components, resulting in the circumstance where such higher harmonic voltages or currents exert a bad influence on other equipment. Thus, a measure for reducing such higher harmonic voltages or currents has been required. The management standard of such higher harmonic problems of this kind is uncertain because there is difficulty in examining the cause. In addition, the scope of the responsibility of electric power companies and customers is not clearly defined. Thus, various problems have been actualized. Patent Specification CH-A-0522319 discloses adjustable a.c. power supply equipment comprising two controllable rectifiers, each delivering a load current to a motor, a common a.c. power supply, and means for carrying out phase-control of the rectifiers in order to reduce higher harmonic currents. Typical frequency converters are composed of a three-phase rectifier consisting of diodes, a smoothing capacitor, and a three-phase inverter. An input current of such frequency converters has a waveform shifted from a normal sine wave, i.e. a waveform including higher harmonics, particularly the fifth higher harmonic component. For the purpose of reducing higher harmonic components included in a load current flowing in the case where such frequency converters are used, e.g., in power supply equipment for an air-conditioner system installed in a building, there has been proposed a system in which two transformers of different connections, e.g. a transformer of delta-delta connection and a transformer of delta-star connection, are used to provide two sets of a.c. voltages having a phase difference of 30 degrees to connect frequency converters to their output sides, respectively. In the case of this system, which can be called a phase difference transformer system, input currents to individual frequency converters have distorted waveforms including the above-described higher harmonics, respectively. However, a current obtained by synthesizing both input currents, i.e. a load current when viewed from the power supply, has a waveform closer to a sine wave as a result of compensatory summation of respective distortions, i.e., a waveform including harmonic components. The above-described phase difference transformer system known as the measure for reducing higher harmonics has the merit that entirely the same configuration is used for both frequency converters, but has the drawback that two sets of transformers for rectifier are required, resulting in an increased cost. Also, with the above mentioned phase difference transformer system, current control is always carried out with the result that one of the frequency converters always operates below maximum ability and the system may not be able to satisfy an operation command from a user. The present invention seeks to provide adjustable a.c. power supply equipment which overcomes these drawbacks. In accordance with one aspect of the invention, there is provided adjustable a.c. power supply equipment including two rectifiers each delivering a load current to a motor from a common a.c. power supply and means for carrying out phase control of the rectifiers in order to reduce higher harmonic currents, characterised in that the equipment is for an air-conditioner system and comprises: a first frequency converter comprised of a three-phase non-controllable rectifier and a first inverter to deliver a load current to a first compressor motor of a first air-conditioner, a second frequency converter comprised of a three-phase controllable rectifier and a second inverter to deliver a load current to a second compressor motor of a second air-conditioner, first and second means for controlling the first and second inverters, respectively, third means for controlling the controllable rectifier of the second frequency converter, and fourth means for controlling the controllable rectifier of the second frequency converter at a phase-control angle of zero degrees in a normal state, wherein when the fourth means receives a higher harmonic reduction command, the fourth means shifts the phase-control angle of the controllable rectifier so that a synthetic higher harmonic current of both the frequency converters as viewed from the a.c. power supply is reduced. Preferably, the power supply equipment further comprises fifth means for controlling a ratio V/f between an output voltage V and an output frequency f of each inverter so that the ratio is kept substantially constant in a normal state, wherein when the fifth means receives the higher harmonic reduction command, the fifth means steps up the output voltage V of the second inverter of the second frequency converter in accordance with a phase-control angle of the controllable rectifier of the second frequency converter. In accordance with a further aspect of the invention, there is provided adjustable a.c. power supply equipment including a plurality of rectifiers each delivering a load current to a motor from a common a.c. power supply and means for carrying out phase-control of the rectifiers in order to reduce higher harmonic currents, characterised in that the-equipment is for an air-conditioner system and comprises: a plurality of frequency converters each comprised of a three-phase controllable rectifier and an inverter to deliver load currents to compressor motors of individual air-conditions, respectively, control means for controlling the frequency converters, operating state detection means for detecting a detected result including the ON/OFF state of the whole of each frequency converter and for estimating a load current, means for estimating a total current of the frequency converters being operated in accordance with the detected result from the operating state detection means, and means responsive to a higher harmonic reduction command to classify the frequency converters being operated into two groups thereof so that a total current is substantially equally divided in half to thus control a first group of the controllable rectifiers and a second group of the controllable rectifiers so that there is a phase-control angle difference of substantially 30 degrees therebetween. The invention will now be more particularly described with reference to the accompanying drawings, wherein:- Figure 1 is a block diagram showing an embodiment of adjustable a.c. power supply equipment for an air-conditioner system according to this invention, Figure 2 is a connection diagram showing a circuit arrangement of a rectifier, Figure 3 is a circuit diagram showing an arrangement of a frequency converter where a capacitor input type inverter is connected to the output side of rectifier, Figure 4 is a circuit diagram showing an arrangement of a LC less type frequency converter where the output side of a rectifier is directly connected to the input side of the inverter, FIGS. 5a to 5c are graphs for explaining the output current waveforms of a non-controllable rectifier, respectively. FIGS. 6a to 6c are graphs for explaining the output current waveforms of the rectifier which has carried out a phase-control, respectively, FIGS. 7a to 7c are graphs for explaining the waveform of a current obtained by synthesizing an output current from a rectifier which carries out no phase-control and an output current from a rectifier which has carried out phase-control, respectively, FIG. 8 is a characteristic diagram showing an example of a command frequency and shared powers of respective systems in a multi air-conditioner system, FIG. 9 is a graph for explaining the relationship between an output frequency and an output voltage of the inverter, FIG. 10 is a flowchart for explaining a control mode of the equipment shown in FIG. 1, FIG. 11 is a characteristics- diagram showing the relationship between an operating frequency and a load current of the frequency converter in an air-conditioner using the capacity of the refrigerating cycle as a parameter, FIG. 12 is a block diagram showing an embodiment where this invention is applied to a multi air-conditioner system, and FIG. 13 is a flowchart for explaining a control mode of the embodiment shown in FIG. 12. FIG. 1 shows an embodiment of an adjustable a.c. power supply equipment for an air-conditioner system according to this invention. In the circuit shown in FIG 1, an a.c. power having a controlled a.c. voltage and a controlled frequency is delivered from a commercial three-phase a.c. power supply 2 to a first a.c. motor 6A through a first frequency converter 9A including a three-phase non-controllable rectifier 3A comprised of diodes and an inverter 5A comprised of power transistors. The frequency converter 9A is of so called a LC-less type such that an input capacitor, etc. is not connected between the rectifier 3A and the inverter 5A. Furthermore, an a.c. power having a controlled a.c. voltage and a controlled frequency is delivered from the common a.c. power supply 2 to a second a.c. motor 6B through a second frequency converter 9B including a three-phase controllable rectifier comprised of thyristors, a smoothing circuit comprised of a series reactor 8B and a parallel capacitor 4B, and an inverter 5B comprised of power transistors. The first a.c. motor 6A is a compressor motor for driving a compressor CP of a first refrigerating cycle 7A. Similarly, the second a.c. motor 6B is a compressor motor for driving a compressor CP of a second refrigerating cycle 7B. Each of the refrigerating cycles comprises a compressor CP, a first heat exchanger HF, an expansion valve EV, and a second heat exchanger HS. These first and second refrigerating cycles are included in first and second air-conditioners, respectively. One of the two heat exchangers HF and HS is used as an indoor unit heat exchanger, and the other is used as an outdoor unit heat exchanger. The controllable rectifier 3B is subjected to firing-control by a converter control unit (CPU) through a thyristor driver 11. The inverters 5A and 5B are subjected to PWM (Pulse Width Modulation) control by the converter control unit 10 through transistor drivers 12A and 12B, respectively. The controllable rectifier 3B is operated by the converter control unit 10 at a phase-control angle of zero degrees in an ordinary state in the same manner as in the non-controllable rectifier. When a higher harmonic reduction command S is delivered to the converter control unit 10, however, the controllable rectifier 3B is operated at a phase-control angle α = 30°. Prior to the description of the operation of the equipment shown in FIG. 1, the aspect of the principle thereof will be first explained with reference to FIGS. 2 and 3. Attention is now drawn to a circuit for delivering a power from an a.c. power supply 2 to a load 16 through a non-controllable rectifier 3 comprised of diodes as a three-phase bridge rectifier circuit as shown in FIG. 2 wherein an equivalent resistor is taken as the load 16. Currents flowing in respective arms U, V, W, X, Y and Z, i.e., arm currents I U , I V , I W , I X , I Y and I Z in such a typical non-controllable rectifier circuit are as follows. Namely, as shown in FIG. 5a, currents flowing in individual arms have phase angle differences of 120 degrees and currents on the positive and negative sides of corresponding arms have phase angle differences of 60 degrees, respectively. As line currents I R , I S and I T on the a.c. side of the rectifier circuit 3, there flow nearly square-waved currents in the form repeating the flowing of a current on the positive side for a period of 120 degrees, flowing of no current for a period of 60 degrees, flowing of a current on the negative side for a period of 120 degrees, and flowing of no current for a period of 60 degrees, respectively. It is to be noted that a load current I L flowing in the load 16 is a synthetic current of arm currents Iu, Iv and Iw or arm currents Ix, Iy and Iz. On the contrary, as shown in FIG. 3, in the case where a load 6 is connected through a capacitor input type inverter including an input reactor 8A connected in series and an input capacitor 4A connected in parallel on the load side of the non-controllable rectifier 3, a line current, e.g., a R-phase line current I R , as shown in Fig. 5b, takes a waveform having two sinusoidal convex portions within a half cycle. In addition, a line current I R in the case of a so called LC-less inverter where an input reactor and an input capacitor are not connected between the rectifier 3 and the inverter 5 as shown in FIG. 4 has a waveform closer to a rectangular waveform including ripples corresponding to the PWM frequency of the inverter as shown in FIG. 5c. In the case where the rectifier is constructed as a controllable rectifier 3B as shown in FIG. 1, a sawtooth load current I L flows in accordance with a phase-control angle α of the controllable rectifier 3B (α ≒ 30° in the case illustrated) as shown in FIG. 6a. In accordance with this invention, the controllable rectifier is operated at a phase-control angle α = 0°. The fact of α = 0° is equivalent to the fact that the controllable rectifier is virtually constructed as a non-controllable rectifier comprised of diodes. As a result, a line current I R having a waveform shown in FIG. 6b flows. This waveform is the same as the waveform shown in FIG. 5b previously described. It is now assumed that the phase-control angle α of the controllable rectifier 3B is shifted so that it is equal to 30 degrees. The line current I R in this case becomes a line current shifted by a phase-control angle α = 30° as shown in FIG. 6c as compared to the case of α = 0° (FIG. 6b) On the premise that the capacitor input type inverter is used as a load, by making a reference to FIG. 7, attention is drawn to a line current I R0 synthesized by a line current I R1 flowing through the non-controllable rectifier 3A and a line current I R2 flowing through the controllable rectifier 3B operated at a predetermined phase-control angel α , e.g., α = 30°. In this instance, a line current having a waveform shown in FIG. 7a is provided as a line current I R1 flowing through the non-controllable rectifier 3A. Furthermore, a line current having a waveform shown in FIG. 7b is provided as a line current I R2 flowing through the controllable rectifier 3B. In addition, a line current having a waveform shown in FIG. 7c is provided as a current obtained by synthesizing the both line currents I R1 and I R2 , i.e. a R-phase line current I R0 when viewed from the a.c. power supply 2. It is seen from FIG. 7c that there is provided a current waveform closer to a sine wave, i.e., a current waveform having less higher harmonic components. In view of this, this invention employs a scheme such that where two sets of frequency converters 9A and 9B are connected to the a.c. power supply 2, and when not only the non-controllable rectifier 3A but also the controllable rectifier 3B are operated at a phase-control angle α = 0° in a normal state, and the controllable rectifier 3B is operated at a phase-control angle α = 30° when a higher harmonic reduction command S is input. This permits the higher harmonic current components when viewed from the a.c. power supply 2 side to be reduced to a great extent. In accordance with an example of experiment, the fifth higher harmonic component included by about 40% in the case where two sets of frequency converters each including a capacitor input type inverter as shown in FIG. 3 are operated so that the both rectifiers have a phase-control angle α = 0° (are in non-controlled state) could be reduced to less than 20% when viewed from the a.c. power supply 2 side by allowing the rectifier of one frequency converter to be of a controllable type to operate it at a phase-control angle α = 30°. Furthermore, the fifth higher harmonic component included by about 20% in the case of combining a LC less frequency converter as shown in FIG. 4 and a frequency converter having a capacitor input type inverter as shown in FIG. 3 to operate the both rectifiers at a phase-control angle α = 0° (are in a non-controlled state) could be reduced to less than 10% by allowing the latter rectifier to be of a controllable type to operate it at a phase-control angle α = 30°. It is assumed that, as indicated by the characteristic line 80 in FIG. 8, there is employed an approach to produce a command frequency f s corresponding to an air-conditioner load to exhibit an air-conditioning power P corresponding thereto. In the region A up to the point M where only one frequency converter is operated, only the first refrigerating cycle 7A is operated by the first frequency converter 9A. Furthermore, in the region from the point M to the point N where two frequency converters are operated, the both systems substantially equally share the load. In the figure, the B region is a region shared by the first frequency converter 9A and the C region is a region shared by the second frequency converter 9B. In this instance, an operation is conducted by a higher harmonic reduction command S or at a phase-control angle α = 30° even if there is no higher harmonic reduction command S. By carrying such an operation, a synthetic higher harmonic current in the case where two rectifiers are operated can be reduced in the previously described manner. It is to be noted that when there is employed, in the region A where a single frequency converter is operated, an approach to operate the rectifier 3B of the second frequency converter of the controllable type at a phase-control angle α = 0° in the state of absence of the higher harmonic reduction command S in place of the rectifier 3A of the first frequency converter of the non-controllable type, entirely the same operation and advantages as above can be attained. In addition, in an air-conditioner system including a plurality of outdoor units and a plurality of indoor units connected to the respective outdoor units as in an air-conditioner system for a building, frequency converters are installed for every outdoor unit. In such a case, if large differences do not exist between the capacities of the respective systems, as a whole, rectifiers of substantially one half of the frequency converters are operated at a phase-control angle α = 0° and rectifiers of the remaining frequency converters are operated at a phase-control angle α = 30°. Thus, the same operation and advantages as in the case of two sets of frequency converters can be provided. The ratio V/f between the output voltage V and the output frequency f of the inverter is controlled so that it becomes equal to a substantially constant value in compliance with the request from the motor side as indicated by the solid line 91 in FIG. 9. In the case of operating a controllable rectifier at a predetermined phase-control angle, e.g., 30°, a d.c. voltage is lowered depending upon that phase-control angle. For the purpose of compensating a value corresponding to a d.c. voltage drop, it is desirable to upwardly shift the line indicative of the ratio V/f so that the value of the voltage V becomes larger with respect to the same frequency as indicated of the broken lines 92 in FIG. 9. The flowchart in the case of carrying out such a control is shown in FIG. 10. FIG. 10 shows a control mode of the frequency converter 9A (FIG. 1) comprised of the controllable rectifier 3A and the inverter 5A. Initially, the controllable rectifier 3B is set at a phase-control angle α = 0° to continue an operation by an operating command from the indoor unit side (steps S1, S2). As long as there is no higher harmonic reduction command S, the above-mentioned operation is continued (step S3 → step S1). When a higher harmonic reduction command S is input, the voltage V is allowed to have a characteristic such that it is shifted upwardly in correspondence with a d.c. voltage drop based on the control at a phase-control angle α = 30° in accordance with the broken lines 92 (FIG. 9) in order to compensate an output voltage of the inverter 5A by an input voltage drop thereof (step S4). In addition, the phase-control angle α of the controllable rectifier 3B is shifted to 30 degrees (step S5) to continue the operation thereof (step S6). This operating state is continued as long as there is a higher harmonic reduction command S, and is returned to the initial operating state based on the phase-control angle α = 0° when the higher harmonic reduction command S is lost (step S7 → step S1). While the controllable rectifier 3B is comprised of thyristors in the embodiment shown in FIG. 1, other controllable rectifier elements, e.g., transistors may be used in place of thyristors from a viewpoint of controllability. Similarly, rectifier elements constituting the invertors 5A and 5B may be altered to other switching elements except for the transistors, e.g., thyristors. Another embodiment will now be described. There are instances where a plurality of frequency converters are provided and capacities of respective systems are different. For example, a multi air-conditioner system installed in a building corresponds to one of the above-mentioned instances. Namely, in such a multi air-conditioner system, there are a large number of rooms subject to air-conditioning. In addition, areas of respective rooms are divergent and a large number of refrigerating cycles, i.e., compressor capacities provided every indoor units are different. In such a case, merely equalizing the number of rectifiers operated at a phase-control angle α = 0° and the number of rectifiers operated at a phase-control angle α = 30° cannot necessarily attain an expected object. A current flowing in a compressor motor connected, as a load, to a frequency converter comprised of a rectifier and an inverter, i.e., a current flowing in a rectifier varies depending upon the operating frequency F and also varies depending upon the capacity as shown in FIG. 11. In the figure, a characteristic where the operating frequency F is taken on the abscissa and a current is taken on the ordinate is conceptually illustrated using capacities 2U, 3U, 4U and 5U as respective parameters. In the case of the air-conditioner, when the operating frequency is thus determined, a load current of a frequency converter of that system is also determined. Accordingly, when the operating frequency is determined in accordance with an air-conditioning load of a system, a load current of a frequency converter of that system can be recognized. Since a substantially proportional correlative relationship exists between the load current and the higher harmonic current components included therein, the magnitude of any higher harmonic current component can be balanced by balancing the load current. FIG. 12 shows a further embodiment of this invention constructed in accordance with the above idea. Refrigerating cycle, outdoor unit controllers 21, 22, 23, 24, 25 .... 2N each including a CPU are provided, respectively. By these outdoor unit controllers, the ON/OFF states and the operating frequencies of frequency converters and refrigerating cycles to which the respective controllers belong are controlled. These outdoor unit controllers are controlled from control commands from corresponding indoor unit controllers (not shown), respectively. The ON/OFF states and the operating frequencies F of the outdoor unit controllers 21 to 2N are detected by operating state detection circuits 31, 32, 33 ... 3N, respectively. Detected results are taken into a common higher harmonic control unit 50 comprised of a CPU. The higher harmonic control unit 50 responds to detected results from the operating state detection circuits 31 to 3N and the higher harmonic reduction command S to produce, to outdoor controllers 21 to 2N through interfaces 41, 42, 43 ... 4N, a command to the effect of α = 0° or α = 30° as phase-control angles α of rectifiers belonging thereto in a manner determined as described later, respectively. In that case, determination as to whether or not the phase-control angle α is equal to zero degrees or 30 degrees will be made as follows. As shown in FIG. 13, the higher harmonic control unit 50 first confirms whether or not there is a higher harmonic reduction command S (step S11). In the case of absence of that command, the current operating state is continued as it is. In contrast, in the case of presence of that command, the higher harmonic control unit 50 takes thereinto operating frequencies of respective inverters being operated in accordance with the detected results from the operating state detection circuits 31 to 3N (step S12) to estimate a total current of the inverters being operated on the basis of such a characteristic as illustrated in FIG. 11 (step S13). Then, the higher harmonic wave control unit 50 classifies all rectifiers of the systems being operated into a group of rectifiers operated at a phase-control angle α = 0° and a group of rectifiers operated at a phase-control angle α = 30° (step S14). Then, the higher harmonic control unit 50 transmits a higher harmonic reduction signal to outdoor unit controllers for controlling rectifiers classified so that they are operated at a phase-control angle α = 30° through interfaces belonging thereto (step S15). In this way, even in the case where a plurality of frequency converters having different capacities are provided, an operation under the state where higher harmonic components are included as little as possible can be continued. In this case, there may be employed a scheme in which substantially one half of all rectifiers are allowed to be of a non-controllable type, or when they are of a controllable type, their phase-control angles α are fixed to zero degrees, whereby rectifiers of the both types can be selected in accordance with a suitable combination thereof every time. In addition, there may be employed a scheme to allow all rectifiers to be of a controllable type to set the phase control angle α to zero or 30 degrees every time.

Claims: Adjustable a.c. power supply equipment including two rectifiers each delivering a load current to a motor from a common a.c. power supply and means for carrying out phase control of the rectifiers in order to reduce higher harmonic currents, characterised in that the equipment is for an air-conditioner system and comprises: a first frequency converter (9A) comprised of a three-phase non-controllable rectifier (3A) and a first inverter (5A) to deliver a load current to a first compressor motor (6A) of a first air-conditioner (7A), a second frequency converter (9B) comprised of a three-phase controllable rectifier (3B) and a second inverter (5B) to deliver a load current to a second compressor motor (6B) of a second air-conditioner (7B), first and second means (12A, 12B) for controlling the first and second inverters (5A, 5B), respectively, third means (11) for controlling the controllable rectifier of the second frequency converter, and fourth means (10) for controlling the controllable rectifier (3B) of the second frequency converter at a phase-control angle of zero degrees in a normal state, wherein when the fourth means receives a higher harmonic reduction command, the fourth means shifts the phase-control angle of the controllable rectifier (3B) so that a synthetic higher harmonic current of both the frequency converters as viewed from the a.c. power supply is reduced. Adjustable a.c. power supply equipment as set forth in Claim 1, which further comprises: fifth means (10) for controlling a ratio V/f between an output voltage V and an output frequency f of each inverter so that the ratio is kept substantially constant in a normal state, wherein when the fifth means receives the higher harmonic reduction command, the fifth means steps up the output voltage V of the second inverter of the second frequency converter in accordance with a phase-control angle of the controllable rectifier (3B) of the second frequency converter. Adjustable a.c. power supply equipment including a plurality of rectifiers each delivering a load current to a motor from a common a.c. power supply and means for carrying out phase-control of the rectifiers in order to reduce higher harmonic currents, characterised in that the equipment is for an air-conditioner system and comprises: a plurality of frequency converters each comprised of a three-phase controllable rectifier and an inverter to deliver load currents to compressor motors of individual air-conditions, respectively, control means for controlling the frequency converters, operating state detection means for detecting a detected result including the ON/OFF state of the whole of each frequency converter and for estimating a load current, means for estimating a total current of the frequency converters being operated in accordance with the detected result from the operating state detection means, and means responsive to a higher harmonic reduction command to classify the frequency converters being operated into two groups thereof so that a total current is substantially equally divided in half to thus control a first group of the controllable rectifiers and a second group of the controllable rectifiers so that there is a phase-control angle difference of substantially 30 degrees therebetween.

Inventors: KANAZAWA HIDETOSHI, KANAZAWA, HIDETOSHI
Applicants: TOSHIBA KK, KABUSHIKI KAISHA TOSHIBA
Application year: 1990
Main classification: H02M1
IPC codes: H02M7, F24F11, H02M1, H02M5