Device for protection of power factor correction in three phase power supply and control method thereof

An apparatus, to operate on three-phase electric power received from a three-phase power source, the apparatus comprising:

• a rectifier to rectify the three-phase power;
• a plurality of switching elements which perform a power factor correction (PFC) switching operation to correct a power factor of the rectifier;
• a detector to detect a waveform generated from the switching elements;
• and
• a controller which controls switching of the switching elements, and operable to change a sequential order in which the switching elements are operated from a first sequential order to a second sequential order based on the waveform detected by the detector
• wherein the switching elements are coupled to an output common potential terminal, and the detector is connected to the output common potential terminal of the switching elements, such that the current detector is used to detect an abnormal current loaded at the common potential terminal during the PFC switching operation,
• wherein the abnormal current is an overcurrent by which a current value loaded at the common potential terminal has a peak value higher than a reference value
• wherein the controller, if the abnormal current occurs, determines a presence of a mis-connection between the switching elements and three-phase transmission lines of the three-phase power source.

An apparatus to operate on three-phase electric power received from a three-phase power source, the apparatus comprising:

• a rectifier to rectify the three-phase power;
• a plurality of switching elements which perform a power factor correction (PFC) switching operation to correct a power factor of the rectifier;
• a detector to detect a waveform generated from the switching elements;
• a controller which controls switching of the switching elements, and operable to change a sequential order in which the switching elements are operated from a first sequential order to a second sequential order based on the waveform detected by the detector;
• and
• a storage unit to store data corresponding to a plurality of waveform patterns caused by a plurality of connection combinations between the switching elements and three-phase transmission lines of the three-phase power source, and
• the controller compares a waveform detected by the detector with the data corresponding to the plurality of waveform patterns stored in the storage unit, searches for a three-phase mis-connection pattern, and changes a PFC control signal applied to the switching element according to the searched mis-connection pattern.

A method comprising:

• rectifying a three-phase power source;
• performing a power factor correction (PFC) switching operation on a switching unit including a plurality of switching elements to correct a power factor of the rectified power source;
• detecting a waveform generated from the switching elements;
• and
• determining a presence or absence of a mis-connection between the switching elements and the three-phase power source according to the detected waveform, determining a mis-connection pattern corresponding to the detected pattern if the presence of the mis-connection is determined, and changing a sequential order in which the switching elements are operated according to the mis-connection pattern determination.

An apparatus comprising:

• a switching unit which performs a power factor correction (PFC) switching operation, the switching unit comprising a plurality of switching elements and an output common potential terminal;
• a current detector to detect a current waveform generated from the switching element, the current detector being connected to the output common potential terminal of the switching element, such that the current detector detects an abnormal current loaded at the common potential terminal during the PFC;
• a controller which controls switching of the switching elements;
• and
• a rectifier to rectify three-phase electric power received via three-phase transmission lines,
• wherein, when the abnormal current loaded at the common potential terminal is detected, the controller is operable to change a sequential order in which the switching elements are operated from a first sequential order to a second sequential order.

An apparatus to operate on three-phase electric power received from a three-phase power source, the apparatus comprising:

• a rectifier to rectify the three-phase power;
• a plurality of switching elements which perform a power factor correction (PFC) switching operation to correct a power factor of the rectifier;
• a detector to detect a waveform generated from the switching elements;
• and
• a controller which controls switching of the switching elements, and operable to change a sequential order in which the switching elements are operated from a first sequential order to a second sequential order based on the waveform detected by the detector,
• wherein, when the waveform detected by the detector is abnormal, the controller is operable to change the sequential order in which the switching elements are operated from the first sequential order to the second sequential order.

An apparatus to operate on three-phase electric power received from a three-phase power source, the apparatus comprising:

• a rectifier to rectify the three-phase power;
• a plurality of switching elements which perform a power factor correction (PFC) switching operation to correct a power factor of the rectifier;
• a detector to detect a waveform generated from the switching elements;
• and
• a controller which controls switching of the switching elements, and operable to change a sequential order in which the switching elements are operated from a first sequential order to a second sequential order based on the waveform detected by the detector,
• wherein the three-phase electric power is received via three-phase transmission lines, the rectifier includes three rectifier elements, each respective rectifier element to rectify electric power received via each respective one of the three-phase transmission lines, and each of the switching elements is coupled to each of the respective rectifier elements,
• wherein the controller determines a presence of a mis-connection between the switching elements and the three-phase transmission lines according to the detected waveform and changes the sequential order in which the switching elements are operated based on the mis-connection determination.