Conducted Emissions Suppression of Active Front End (AFE) Drive Based on Random Switching Frequency PWM

One of the major issues with pulsewidth modulation (PWM) is that considerable conducted emissions will be generated from power electronics converters. Random modulations are considered one of the viable solutions to reduce conducted electromagnetic interference (EMI) without adding bulky passive filtering components. Literature that investigates the application of such techniques in active front end (AFE) drives is limited. In this article, a novel random switching frequency PWM (RSF-PWM) is proposed for a grid-tied AFE drive to suppress conducted emissions. The statistical behavior of switching frequency is based on uniform distribution. Simulation and experiments are carried out on a 10-hp AFE drive. Results demonstrate that the proposed RSF-PWM can effectively reduce conducted EMI by approximately 20 dB within low-frequency range, compared with conventional constant switching frequency PWM.