SUMMARY
The main contribution of this paper is the study of a new feeding system for direct current (DC) electric arc furnaces. This system includes pulse‐width modulation‐alternating current (PWM‐AC) choppers along with six‐pulse diode rectifier. In contrast with traditional power supplies such as 12‐pulse thyristor‐based rectifier and 12‐pulse diode rectifier–DC chopper‐based power supplies, the proposed configuration stands out because of the reduced number of rectifier units and output reactors. Furthermore, the proposed power supply system is free of any current/power‐sharing problems, and only one proportional‐integral controller is sufficient to control the DC arc current or its power. It is shown through analysis and simulation that in comparison with traditional feeding systems, the proposed topology can lead to smaller input filter size, total unbalance and harmonic distortion reduction, and power factor improvement. Copyright © 2012 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.