Design of a linearization model for three-phase PWM rectifiers for electrochemical machining

Electrochemical machining (ECM) is a processing method for metals that uses a DC power supply and flowing electrolyte. In some cases, discharge occurs during ECM when the gap between the electrode and workpiece, whose distance is rather small, is filled with hydrogen generated via electrolysis. We attempt to utilize a DC inductor placed between the DC supply and the ECM load in order to limit di/dt of the short or discharge current, which damages both the electrode and workpiece. When the output current surges, that is, when discharge occurs, the output voltage is suppressed by the DC inductance. In this paper, we propose a method for designing a PWM rectifier to reduce the discharge current, establish a linear approximation model for use in the PWM rectifier, describe a control method of the PWM rectifier, and demonstrate the efficacy of the model via simulations and experiments.