Comparison between a voltage sourced and a current sourced static frequency converter

In accordance with the proceeding technical development in the area of electronic power semiconductors the maximum off-state voltages and on-state currents have rapidly increased in the recent years. As a consequence semiconductor elements are not only used for the known purposes. A new challenge is to replace the standard motor-generator sets with static frequency converters based on power semiconductor elements can be employed to generate test voltages for high voltage testing facilities. This paper deals with two basic solutions for static frequency conversion voltage sourced and current sourced converters. Regarding design, realisation and results, a special focus is put on output voltage quality and the background noise for partial discharge (pd-) measurement.