In a rectifier, the hand over of load current between an incomming and outgoing diode does not occur instantanously. This is due to the inductance in the supply lines to the rectifier circuit. When the incoming device starts to conduct, the current rises from zero to the dc current value, at the same time, the current in the outgoing device, falls from the dc current value to zero. There is therefore a period, during which both incomming and outgoing devices are conducting. This is known as the commutation (or overlap) period. The larger the supply inductance L (or the commutation reactance Xc = 2*pi*f) , the longer the commutation period.
For a rectifier transformer the leakage reactance of the transformer will equal its commutation reactance. For a synchronous machine, the commutation reactance is approximately Xc = (Xd" + Xd')/2
A high commutation reactance "rounds off" the steps in the ac side current, reducing harmonic currents. This is at the expense of a poorer power factor, and also gives the rectifier a poorer regulation characteristic.
This is discussed in detail in chap 3 of Kimbark's book on High Voltage DC transmission.
Dr K S Smith
Mott-MacDonald, Power Systems Division
Glasgow, Scotland.