Abstract
The advent of the integration of discrete passive components is a direct result of the
drive towards the minimisation of power electronic converters and filters. To this
end Integrated Power Passive Modules (IPPMs) have been utilised in the past. The
IPPMs discussed in this dissertation refer to structures consisting of dielectric layers
sandwiched between layers of conductive material. The use of these types of
structures in various applications has been well documented. However, the
applications have been single-phase in nature and the exact configuration of the
IPPMs has been largely dependent on the designers’ past experience with the
modules.
The development of a synthesis procedure to identify the required configuration for
any particular application would be of great benefit to designers. The foundation of
such a synthesis procedure was laid through an exhaustive search of all possible
configurations that can be realised with a three conductive layer IPPM. From this
exhaustive search a number of general trends, between the configurations and their
associated frequency response, were observed. Furthermore, a number of principles
underlying the functionality of the configurations were highlighted during the
course of the exhaustive search.
The validity of some of these results was experimentally investigated through the
design and implementation of an integrated EMI filter. The EMI filter considered in
this study differed from integrated EMI filters, previously reported on, through the
fact that the filter considered herein was to be implemented in a three-phase
application.
To this end a set of configurations that realise low pass filters were identified from
the results of the exhaustive search. The application of these configurations was
expanded from single-phase to three-phase by mapping the configurations onto a
building block component used to realise the three-phase application. Simulations
of these three-phase filters were used to analyse the filter performance. From this
analysis a subset of configurations were identified as displaying the best
performance characteristics. The configurations within this subset were further
analysed using the results of the exhaustive search. In so doing two configurations
were isolated for use in a practical realisation of the three-phase filters.
The physical design and construction of the integrated three-phase filters, as well as
the test bench, was considered. The performance of the filters was investigated
through comparative measurements of common mode and differential mode
currents, in the test bench, in the presence and absence of the filters. From this
investigation significant reduction in the conducted EMI noise was seen through the
introduction of the filters into the system.
Dr. I. W. Hofsajer