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This paper proposes a capacitor voltage regulation method for the dual converter with a floating bridge for aerospace applications. This topology has previously been reported, but with a constrained voltage utilization factor due to the need for capacitor voltage regulations. In this paper, the effect of switching states on the voltage variation of capacitor is quantitatively modeled and an enhanced space vector modulation scheme with current feedback is proposed to achieve an active control of the floating capacitor voltages. This proposed method also allows further exploitation and utilization of converter voltage. The relationship between the allowed modulation index of dual converter and load power factor is obtained and expressed using a fitted polynomial equation. The advantages of the proposed method include boosted voltage utilization and superior performance in term of capacitor voltage balance. These advantages have been proven through simulation and experimental results on RL loads as well as with an open-end winding induction motor. The proposed modulation scheme can boost the converter voltage utilization by at least 10% while achieving full four-level operation. More importantly, the higher available voltage allows extending the constant torque region of the motor, the further beginning of field weakening operation could be postponed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A trinary multilevel converter uses a few heterogeneous H-bridge submodules (SMs) to synthesize an output voltage with multiple levels. Two major limitations of this converter are that it needs multiple dc sources and it cannot operate under pulsewidth modulation (PWM). This paper addresses these limitations by adding a low-voltage H-bridge SM to this converter and proposing a new switching algorithm. The resulting PWM-based asymmetric cascaded H-bridge converter uses only one dc source and synthesizes a high-quality output voltage. This improved converter can be a potential choice for real and reactive power support in power system applications. This paper also proposes methods for stability analysis and design of this converter. Experimental case studies evaluate the performance of the proposed converter for both standalone and grid-connected modes of operation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The paper deals with some new results on the averaging theory approach for the analysis of feedback controlled pulsewidth modulation power electronic converters. It develops some considerations regarding the averaging approximation of time-variant differential systems proving an analytical relationship between the accuracy with which the solution of the averaged model converges to the solution of the original time-variant model (i.e., the switched model) and the switching frequency of the converters. This relation is valid both for stable and unstable systems. Moreover, this paper confirms, as corollary, that under suitable conditions (verified during the standard operations of the power electronic converters) the averaged model uniformly converges to the switched model. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper proposes a family of soft-switching bidirectional converters. In many applications, the bidirectional converters operate over a wide range of duty cycle and load variations. In the proposed converters, in order to extend the zero-voltage switching operation range, two supplemental voltage sources utilizing passive components are implemented in the auxiliary circuit. By using this method, the soft-switching features are ensured for an extensive range of the converter duty cycles. This is achieved independent of the output power value or the converter operation mode, and so, soft switching is ensured within the entire converter operating region. In these converters, all semiconductors components are soft switched, and the auxiliary circuit does not contribute to the complexity of the control circuit. Also, no extra voltage stress exists on the main switches and the voltage stress on the auxiliary switches is lower than the main switches voltage stress. In this paper, the proposed bidirectional buck/boost converter is analyzed and to confirm the feasibility of the proposed method, experimental results of a 150-W prototype converter are presented. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

A single-phase common-mode transformerless grid-connected photovoltaic (PV) converter, which is based on the integration of two stages, is proposed in this paper. Transformer elimination in grid-connected PV systems has many advantages. It not only reduces cost, size, and weight but also increases the complete system efficiency. Since there is no galvanic isolation between grid and PV array, a leakage current may appear due to the PV parasitic capacitance to the ground, if this is not taken into account in the converter design. This paper presents a dc/dc boost converter integrated with a full-bridge inverter. The integration of these two stages reduces the ground leakage current. The neutral line of the grid is directly connected to the negative terminal of the PV array, eliminating any possibility of leakage current in this terminal. The principle of operation of the transformerless converter is analyzed, and a 200-W topology is experimentally tested. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Sudden start of an IM load and frequent change of nonlinear load in a standalone distributed generation system (DGS) cause the dip in ac voltage and frequency. Moreover, these loads distort DGS currents. Therefore, in this paper, an improved-reweighted zero-attracting quaternion-valued least mean square (I-RZA-LMS)-algorithm-based voltage source converter (VSG) control is proposed for voltage and frequency regulation, and power quality improvement in DGS. Moreover, the control algorithm of dc–dc bidirectional converter (BDC) is used for dc link voltage regulation and MPPT of the solar photovoltaic array at IM starting and nonlinear loading. In this DGS, the I-RZA-LMS-based control algorithm estimates the active and reactive component currents of distorted load currents for effective harmonics mitigation, reactive power compensation, and point of common coupling voltages regulation. The proposed control algorithm rejects the dc-offset component from load currents and gives the fundamental load component. The dc link voltage of VSC is regulated using BDC with a solar feedforward term, which is used to enhance the capability of dc link voltage control under solar power variation, IM starting, and unbalanced loading. The effectiveness of the proposed DGS is validated through the simulation as well as experimental results obtained on a developed prototype of DGS. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper, eight ultrahigh-voltage gain dc–dc converters are proposed. These sets of converters are derived by the association of boost cells, coupled inductor, voltage multiplier, switched capacitors, and LC filter cells. The nonpulsating input and output converters are evaluated in terms of: principle of operation, voltage gain, voltage and current stress, estimated power losses, and efficiency. Following full analysis prototypes built in the laboratory show experimental results verifying the theoretical analysis. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Differential power processing (DPP) is a promising architecture to solve the issue caused by mismatches among photovoltaic (PV) submodules. To eliminate the mismatch power losses, this paper presents an optimized PV-to-bus DPP system with submodule-level individual maximum power point tracking (MPPT) and module-level minimum-power tracking (MPT) simultaneous implementation according to the built mathematical model of the power processed by DPP converters with respect to the string current. Furthermore, a flexible time-sharing algorithm is adopted to reduce the number of MPPT units. Compared with other solutions, such as PV optimizer, the proposed scheme can reduce the effects of mismatches to the minimum regardless of mismatch conditions. The system cost is reduced since only one adaptive MPPT controller is required. Besides, the system efficiency is improved due to the true MPPT implementation and MPT control. Both simulation and experimental tests are provided to validate the effectiveness of the proposed scheme. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The algorithm complexity of model predictive control (MPC) for cascaded H-bridge (CHB) static synchronous compensators (STATCOMs) was optimized to a polynomial level in previous studies. However, implementing MPC with conventional approaches still suffers from long execution time, where a low cost digital signal processor (DSP) is used to execute optimization algorithms and a small-sized field-programmable gate array (FPGA) is used to extend gate signals and sampling functions. This paper presents a parallel implementation approach to reduce the execution time of MPC, where the FPGA is configured to be used for accelerating the high-complexity sorting tasks. By running the DSP and FPGA in parallel, the algorithm execution time is only determined by the DSP, and the resource consumption is only determined by the FPGA. To minimize the resource consumption and requirement in FPGA, a parallel comparison-based sorter with multiple comparison and accumulators is proposed. The proposed implementation method can reduce the time and space complexity of the MPC from the polynomial level to a linear level without additional hardware cost, which means the MPC for medium-voltage CHB STATCOMs (e.g., 20 stages) can be implemented online with existing control platforms. Experimental results for various CHB STATCOMs are presented to validate the proposed configuration and algorithm. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

For an LLC converter, it is difficult to realize the wide output range with conventional pulse frequency modulation control because of the limited operating frequency. This paper proposes a new hybrid control method. The proposed strategy combines the burst-mode control and phase-shift control methods for the LLC converter. The burst-mode control can regulate the output voltage from zero to its maximum value, and the phase-shift control can reduce the increased resonant current during burst-on time. By using this method, the wide output voltage range is realized with the low resonant current during burst-on time and zero-voltage switch (ZVS) for all switches. The reliability and efficiency of the converter can be improved accordingly. The burst duty ratio is regulated by the reference output voltage, and the phase-shift angle is derived when realizing ZVS for lagging-leg switches. Moreover, the resonant parameters and the maximum phase-shift angle are optimized under the constraints of current stress and ZVS condition. This method is easy to be implemented in a low-cost microcontroller because high-frequency real-time calculations are not necessary. A 1.5-kW prototype is built to verify the feasibility and validity of the proposed control method. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper presents a new highly integrable hybrid step-down converter that merges switched-inductor and switched-capacitor operations and significantly reduces onboard loss by using the input cable's parasitic inductance as its main inductor. This converter has the inductor placed at the input with a smaller voltage swing, leading to possible use of a smaller inductor and low-voltage rating switches that generally translate to reduced conduction losses. Analyses of converter operation and losses to reveal its original characteristics and design guidelines are presented to facilitate the components optimization. The converter architecture is verified by a proof-of-concept 15-W inductor-less lithium-ion battery charger prototype that uses a 1-m USB 3.0 cable as inductor. The converter, switched at 2 MHz from a 5-V input, experimentally achieves 89.7% peak efficiency and 6% higher efficiency at full load than a Buck converter counterpart. This high efficiency and zero onboard inductor yield a relative 45.7% onboard loss reduction at full load, promising excellent integration feasibility and superior system thermal management. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Cascaded multicell converter (CMC) is one of the effective solutions for medium-voltage high-power drives. The inability to regenerate power back to the source is one of the limitations of this converter. The regeneration capability is obtained by using a pulsewidth-modulated active rectifier instead of a conventional three-phase passive rectifier in each cell. However, due to their two-level voltage operation at the input side, an inductor is required for each cell to filter out the switching frequency components from the input current. This paper proposes a new configuration of regenerative CMC based on coupled inductor to achieve multilevel voltage at the transformer secondary terminals. This allows us to operate the rectifier devices at reduced switching frequency. The coupled inductor reduces the total harmonic distortion (THD) of the transformer secondary current and thus the transformer size. The size of the filter inductor and the transformer ratings are compared. The operating principle and the detailed analysis are presented. A technique to bypass a faulty module is proposed. The working of the converter is verified through simulation and experimental studies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper, a high-efficiency isolated bidirectional interleaved converter (IBIC) is proposed for high step-up and high step-down conversion systems. Two inductors are used in the low-voltage side to reduce the current ripple. The IBIC incorporates an ideal transformer to achieve energy transformation and galvanic isolation; the voltage-doubler circuit in the high-voltage side not only improves the voltage gain but also minimizes the voltage stress of power switches. Clamp capacitors achieve active clamping, and the energy stored in the leakage inductance is recycled. Moreover, some switches are operated with soft-switching and slightly reduced switching losses. The prototype circuit, with low-side voltage $V_{L}$ of 48 V, high-side voltage $V_{H}$ of 380 V, and rated power of 1.5 kW, is implemented to demonstrate the functionality of the proposed IBIC. The peak efficiency levels of the proposed converter in the high step-up and high step-down stages are 95.3 and 95.8%, respectively. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Two-stage isolated battery-driven grid interface (IBDGI) with front-end three-phase dual active bridge (DAB) dc–dc converter is promising to be applied in the residential battery energy storage system for supporting photovoltaic (PV) integration, load shifting, and backup power purposes. However, the second harmonic current (SHC) caused by the pulsating power of the downstream single-phase inverter will increase the battery's degradation and the component stress of the front-end converter. In this paper, a reduction method is proposed for the IBDGI with three-phase DAB converter using a load current feedforward control. The proposed idea is to incorporate virtual impedance to the output impedance of the front-end converter. The easy-to-be-implemented method does not need to modify the original voltage closed-loop controller but suppress SHC while keeping good dynamic performance. As the first step, the small-signal model of the three-phase DAB converter is provided. The parameter sensitivity analysis is proposed to demonstrate that the SHC can be well-suppressed within $\pm \text{20}\%$ parameter error of the feedforward control. Finally, a 1 kW experiment setup is built to verify the performance of the proposed SHC reduction method. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In single-phase grid-connected converters, unexpected perturbations and variations of system parameters can deteriorate the performance of grid current and dc-link voltage control and even jeopardize the stability and operation of loads. In this paper, a robust control strategy for the single-phase grid-connected converter operating under multiple system perturbations is proposed. An adaptive quasi-proportional-resonant (AQ-PR) controller for the grid current is adopted in combination with an equivalent inductance identification algorithm, which assures that the parameters of the AQ-PR controller can be online calibrated to attain accurate current regulation under ac-side inductance uncertainties. A super-twisting sliding mode (ST-SM) controller for the dc-link voltage is proposed to enhance system behavior under both internal and external disturbances. The convergence of the controller is ensured by utilizing Lyapunov theory. Experimental prototype and rigorous tests are presented to validate the feasibility and robustness of the proposed approach under various perturbations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

High penetration of renewable energies through fast-response power converters results in a considerable displacement of conventional synchronous generators and losing of system inertia for frequency control. Modular multilevel converters (MMCs) can be employed serving as an interface between the large-scale renewable generation and power grids. In a microgrid with high shares of renewables integrating through MMCs, submodule (SM) capacitors can be used as energy storage to provide a degree of synthetic inertia for system frequency support. This paper quantitatively exploits the MMC synthetic inertia in a microgrid with flexible renewable penetration levels. An MMC inertia coefficient concept is proposed. It is mainly affected by the penetration ratio, the SM capacitance, and the modulation index of an MMC, with the system operation constraints. According to the analysis, a substantial portion of system inertia can be provided by properly designed MMCs. Detailed MMC frequency control loops are presented. The capacitor average voltage is proportionally linked to the frequency deviation, in order to flexibly adjust the capacitor energy during frequency events. The MMC output active power is deliberately and simultaneously regulated according to the capacitor energy change rate. By controlling the MMC capacitor voltage, dc side power, and output active power, an amount of energy can be released or absorbed by SM capacitors to improve the system frequency response during the frequency event transients, while the renewable generation is scarcely influenced. The proposed concept is experimentally verified and the results show that, with proper system parameters and control loops, the line frequency deviation and the rate of change of frequency can be significantly reduced. Good agreements of the system frequency characteristics have been achieved between the theoretical calculation and experimental results. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper presents the design and experimental validation of disturbance observer (DO)-based control for grid-tied photovoltaic (PV) inverters fed by a dc–dc boost converter considering unbalanced grid voltages. The control scheme uses multiples controllers that are developed based on employing DO technique along with a feedback-linearizing (FBL) control. The main controller is designed to regulate the active and reactive powers injected into the grid via controlling the grid-tied inverter. Under unbalanced grid voltages, the active and reactive power is composed of a dc component as well as an ac component that oscillates at twice the grid frequency. Therefore, the unknown perturbation, representing the mismatch between the nominal and actual system, can be treated as a sum of a constant offset and a sinusoidal disturbance. To ensure accurate control of the active/reactive power, a DO is designed to estimate the unknown perturbation, which is then canceled by a FBL control. By considering the control input limitation in the observer synthesis, an antiwindup compensator arises naturally in the control law, which attenuates the effect of the windup phenomenon during control saturation. Moreover, a simplified representation of the DO is proposed to facilitate real-time implementation. The proposed approach for the power control can be used in both balanced and unbalanced systems since it can reject constant and sinusoidal disturbances. Experimental tests were performed to investigate the ability of the proposed control scheme to achieve good transient and steady-state performances. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Multilevel converters have gained popularity in both medium voltage and low voltage applications. To find out the connections between various multilevel voltage-source converter topologies and to reveal how to obtain new topologies, this paper has presented four methods to derive multilevel converter topologies. Many existing topologies as well as new topologies can be derived with the methods presented in this paper. The fundamental characteristics of the multilevel converters which determine their usability such as dc-link neutral point voltage balancing and flying capacitor voltage control are also investigated in this paper with a mathematical model and an example. It is expected that more new topologies will be invented based on the work in this paper for emerging applications. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In a conventional finite control set model predictive control (FCS-MPC) formulation, active and reactive power control loops rely on the predictive controller, whereas the dc-bus voltage is usually governed by a PI-based control loop. This originates from fact that the dynamic equations for describing the predictions of these variables are heavily coupled. In this paper, a cascade-free FCS-MPC for single-phase grid-connected power converters is presented. The proposed control algorithm is formulated in terms of established dynamic references design, which was originally proposed to directly govern active and reactive power, and dc-voltage in three-phase power converters. In this paper, the dynamic reference design concept is extended to control single-phase grid-connected power converters. The proposed control algorithm does not use instantaneous ac-power calculations; instead, it directly formulates the optimal control problem on the grid-current in the original stationary reference frame. The experimental results obtained with a single-phase grid-connected neutral point clamped (NPC) converter confirm a successful design, where system constraints, e.g., maximum power and weighted switching frequency, are easily taken into account. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

A quasi-Z-source modular cascaded converter (qZS-MCC) is proposed for dc integration of high-power photovoltaic (PV) systems. The qZS-MCC comprises series-connected front-end isolated qZS half-bridge (HB) dc–dc converter submodules (SMs). With the front-end isolation, the qZS-MCC achieves high-voltage dc capability, while maintaining modularity and PV panel grounded. The post-stage qZS-HB handles the PV voltage and power flows, dc-link voltage balance, and output-series power integration. Whereas, the front-end isolation converters of all SMs perform a constant duty cycle, lowing the control complexity. There is no double-line-frequency power flowing through the dc-side PV panels, qZS inductors, and qZS capacitors in the qZS-MCC, so small qZS impedance is possible compared to the existing qZS cascaded multilevel inverter. The configuration, operating principle, power loss evaluation, and passive components design of the proposed system are investigated in this part of the paper. The system control, modeling, and corresponding verifications are stated in Part II of this paper. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

To interconnect low-voltage solar photovoltaics (PV) with dc system, a dc–dc boost converter is required. To minimize the switching frequency oscillations in solar PV voltage, aluminum electrolytic capacitors (AECs) are connected between solar PV and the converter. Operational life of AECs depends on electrical and environmental parameters and is less than that of solar PV panels. Equivalent series resistance (ESR) of AEC increases with life, thereby increasing the voltage ripple across PV terminals. This results in less power extraction from solar PV. This paper proposes a method for health monitoring of AEC using the parameters measured for maximum power point tracking (MPPT) (PV voltage and current). The proposed technique is applicable for both continuous conduction mode and discontinuous conduction mode of operation of the converter. Effect of temperature on ESR is incorporated for accurate determination of the health of capacitor. Key advantage is that no additional current or voltage sensor is required to implement this technique, thereby offering a low-cost solution. Further, the proposed technique does not require significant processing capabilities and is implemented in the same digital controller used for MPPT. Detailed simulation studies are carried out and results are included in this paper. A laboratory prototype of dc–dc boost converter is developed for experimentation. Results are in agreement with that obtained from simulation studies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper, a new structure for symmetric and cascade multilevel converter is presented. This structure requires the least power electronic components, gate driver circuits, power diode, and dc voltage source. The number of output levels is high. Reduction of the number of power electronic switches against voltage levels is an important factor in multilevel converters due to safety in switches, circuit size, cost, installation area, and complexity in control. To maximize the number of output level in the proposed optimized structure in order to attain different goals, such as reduction of stress on switches, the result of comparing the proposed structure and other structures present. The proposed method is robust against the switching faults in multilevel converter for dc source and the equipment. The simulation and experimental results presented in this paper show the performance of the proposed method. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The large number of semiconductors typically implemented in multilevel converters generates large stray inductances in their commutation loops. As a consequence, high-voltage overshoots appear in the semiconductors during commutation which may limit the operation of the converter. The paper analyzes these overvoltages in the five-level active neutral-point-clamped (5L­ANPC) converter, one of the most popular five level converters and employed by ABB in its ACS­2000 drive. Experimental results show overvoltages almost three times higher than those corresponding to a two-level converter. In order to overcome this problem, the paper presents a new 5L­ANPC with the same characteristics (number of semiconductors, output waveform, switching frequency, efficiency, etc.), but with smaller overvoltages. This is achieved by adding some small capacitors to the busbar that behave like lossless snubbers but with a much simpler implementation. The experimental results illustrate the working principle of these capacitors and demonstrate the reduction of the overvoltages. As a result, the new converter can reach a higher output current or speed-up the commutations reducing, therefore, the losses and increasing the efficiency compared with the previous 5L­ANPC. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper proposes a sliding-mode control (SMC)-based scheme for the variable-speed direct-driven wind energy conversion systems (WECS) equipped with a permanent magnet synchronous generator connected to the grid. In this paper, diode rectifier, boost converter, neutral point clamped inverter, and L filter are used as the interface between the wind turbine and grid. This topology has abundant features such as simplicity for low- and medium-power wind turbine applications. It is also less costly than back-to-back two-level converters in medium-power applications. The SMC approach demonstrates great performance in complicated nonlinear systems control such as WECS. The proposed control strategy modifies reaching law (RL) of the sliding mode technique to reduce chattering issue and to improve total harmonic distortion property compared to conventional RL SMC. The effectiveness of the proposed control strategy is explored by simulation study on a 4-kW wind turbine, and then verified by experimental tests for a 2-kW setup. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

AC cascaded system is one of the basic components of the power conversion system in the modern more-electric aircraft (MEA). However, the ac cascaded system suffers from an instability problem, i.e., even if each subsystem is stable individually, the formed cascaded system may become unstable. Most of the existing stabilization methods are a linear control method, which is based on a small signal model and can only ensure small signal stability near the operation point in theory. Therefore, these existing linear stabilization methods may be ineffective to fix large-signal stability issues. In this paper, a large signal stability constraining dichotomy solution (SCDS)-based model predictive control (MPC) is proposed to improve the stability of the ac cascaded system in the MEA by the Lyapunov criteria. This approach first theoretically presents how to add the system stability item to the MPC cost function in an analytic way instead of using the traditional “experience-based” weight method. Besides, the SCDS-MPC itself is also an improvement to the existing finite control set MPC. It can realize a constant switching frequency and achieve better steady-state/dynamic current control performance. Finally, a 1.5 kW ac cascaded system is fabricated in the laboratory to verify the proposed SCDS-MPC method. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The modular multilevel matrix converter (${{\text{M}}^{\text{3}}}{\text{C}}$) is an ac-to-ac converter topology suitable for the control of high-power variable-speed drives. The control of this converter is complex, particularly when the two ac system frequencies are similar or identical because large voltage oscillations can be produced in the floating capacitors within the ${{\text{M}}^{\text{3}}}{\text{C}}$. This paper proposes a new vector control system based on nested controllers to regulate the ${{\text{M}}^{\text{3}}}{\text{C}}$ over the full range of frequencies. The proposed control scheme is especially useful to mitigate or eliminate the oscillations that arise when the frequencies are similar. An extensive discussion of the model and control of the ${{\text{M}}^{\text{3}}}{\text{C}}$ is presented in this work. The effectiveness of the proposed vector control system is demonstrated through simulation studies and experimental validation tests conducted with a 27-cell-5kW ${{\text{M}}^{\text{3}}}{\text{C}}$ prototype. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Direct modulation principle is widely used in modular multilevel converters (MMCs) for its simplicity and natural stability. However, it results in strong active and reactive power coupling. This paper carefully analyzes and identifies four power coupling paths and two power influence factors with the direct modulation principle. Full power decoupling of the MMC can be realized by cutting off the derived coupling paths and compensating the influence factors. However, this will further deteriorate the already poor damping of the MMC and significantly increase dc-bus current fluctuations. To solve this problem, the sources resulting in poor damping are identified and then a new closed-loop dc-bus current controller is incorporated into the control system. Finally, the proposed power decoupling strategy with the newly designed current controller realizes completely decoupled power regulation, avoids overload operation, and obviously improves the dynamic performance of the MMC. Furthermore, it increases the stability of the MMC system under all possible operation conditions. The proposed control strategy is confirmed by experimental results. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Among multilevel converter topologies, the cascaded H-bridge (CHB) converter is one suitable solution for multiple applications, such as flexible ac transmission systems and motor drives. CHB presents a natural high modularity because it is formed by the serial connection of H-bridges. This paper deals with a CHB where the cells do not have the same aging because the maintenance during the years of operation forces to replace some damaged cells of the converter with new or repaired ones. A method based on clamping one power cell can be used to reduce the power losses of that cell reducing its temperature and increasing its lifetime. However, clamping one cell of the CHB introduces high harmonic distortion around twice the carrier frequency due to the CHB unbalanced operation when a conventional phase-shifted pulsewidth modulation (PWM) is applied. A deep harmonic distortion analysis of the CHB output voltage with thermal control based on clamping one cell is presented. Using this analysis, the harmonic distortion at twice the carrier frequency is eliminated applying a nonconventional phase-shifted PWM where the angles between the carriers of consecutive power cells are modified. Experimental results show how the thermal control applying the clamping of a power cell is achieved while the harmonic distortion around twice the carrier frequency is eliminated. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A nonisolated ultra-high step-down interleaved dc–dc converter with low voltage stress and common ground between the input and output ports is proposed in this paper. In order to extend the extremely narrow duty cycle, series capacitors and transformers are applied to the four-phase interleaved buck converter. In addition to extending the duty cycle, the series capacitors clamp the voltage stress across the switches and diodes, which results in using low voltage rating semiconductor components. Additionally, the main switches are turned on under a soft-switching condition. Hence, the conduction and switching losses are reduced and the overall efficiency of the designed converter is improved. Other important strengths of this topology are very low output current ripple due to interleaving and automatic uniform current sharing. The validity of theoretical analysis and converter operation is confirmed by the implementation of a 150 W prototype at 400 V input voltage and 12 V output voltage. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper, a modified asymmetric half-bridge (AHB) isolated converter is proposed, which does not have dc current offset in the transformer. The topology operates in the same way as the conventional half-bridge (HB), using asymmetric pulsewidth modulation with constant frequency. A voltage doubler rectifier is used in the output stage, which avoids the flow of the dc component current in the primary side of the transformer. In order to investigate the application of the proposed topology, a parallel-resonant (PR) version of the modified AHB was tested, which uses the parasitic elements of the transformer, such as the leakage inductance and the winding capacitance, to achieve zero voltage switching in the primary side switches over a wide load range. Theoretical and commutation analysis results are reported and design guidelines are presented herein. Experimental data were obtained from a parallel resonant 1-kW prototype, operating with a 50 kHz switching frequency, 400 V input voltage, and 400 V output voltage, to verify the theoretical study, and 97% efficiency was achieved. The proposed solution was also tested at high voltage, operating with a rated power of 1.8 kW, switching frequency of 50 kHz, input voltage of 400 V and series-connected output voltages, the maximum voltage being 8620 V. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper presents a novel model predictive control (MPC) for the T-type single-phase three-level inverters. The cumbersome procedure in tuning of weighting factors is eliminated so that the implementation of the proposed MPC becomes easy. The constant switching frequency is achieved during the control implementation in order to facilitate the filter design. In order to optimize the distribution of the output current harmonics, multiple voltage vectors are employed in each control cycle with their application times setting inversely proportion to the respective cost function. The redundant small voltage vectors are utilized to balance the neutral point voltage of the inverter by directly regulating the upper and lower dc-link capacitors voltages. Finally, the proposed MPC algorithm is experimentally evaluated and compared with other two unfixed switching frequency MPC algorithms in terms of the steady state, transient performance, and parameter sensitivity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper, a new multi-input multi-output (MIMO) dc–dc converter with high step-up capability is proposed for wide power ranges. Also, in order to increase each output voltage, diode–capacitor voltage multiplier (VM) stages are utilized in the proposed converter. The number of input stages, output stages, and VM stages are arbitrary and dependent on design conditions. At first, the general structure of proposed MIMO converter is presented. Then, in order to explain the converter operation, we walk through the design of a 1-kW four-input two-output example, including loss and efficiency calculations. We validate the design with a prototype that matches efficiency calculations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

When fast voltage control is used in a power factor control, the ripple of the dc link causes current harmonics. This paper proposes a method to reduce the harmonic content of a fast voltage loop in a power factor correction, which can both produce low distortion during steady-state operation and fast recovery from a load transient. The performance is achieved by using a Takagi–Sugeno-type nonlinear controller for dc-link voltage control. The proposed nonlinear control is compared with linear proportional–integral (PI) control, which is tuned to meet the standardized regulations for the harmonic content in a 3-kW single phase power supply. The results show that the presented nonlinear voltage controller can maintain the dynamic performance of the linear control with reduced current harmonics. It is also shown that the used nonlinear control method requires only marginally more complex control algorithm compared to commonly used linear PI control. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper presents a new reconfiguration module for asymmetrical multilevel inverters in which the capacitors are used as the dc links to create the levels for staircase waveforms. This configuration of the multilevel converter makes a reduction in dc sources. On the other hand, it is possible to generate 13 levels with lower dc sources. The proposed module of the multilevel inverter generates 13 levels with two unequal dc sources (2VDC and 1VDC). It also involves two chargeable capacitors and 14 semiconductor switches. The capacitors are self-charging without any extra circuit. The lower number of components makes it desirable to be used in wide range of applications. The module is schematized as two back-to-back T-type inverters and some other switches around it. Also, it can be connected as a cascade modular which leads to a modular topology with more voltage levels at higher voltages. The proposed module makes the inherent creation of the negative voltage levels without any additional circuit (such as H-bridge circuit). Nearest level control switching modulation scheme is applied to achieve high-quality sinusoidal output voltage. Simulations are executed in MATLAB/Simulink and a prototype is implemented in the power electronics laboratory in which the simulation and experimental results show a good performance. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The interleaved bidirectional buck–boost converter dual active half-bridge (IBBC-DAHB) dc–dc converter consists of two converters IBBC and DAHB and a coupled inductor. The IBBC-DAHB converter has significant features such as low ripple current at the low-voltage side, low current stress on the input inductors, voltage stress across the switches less than the high-voltage side, high voltage gain, and zero-voltage soft switching. The converter offers high efficiency using phase-shift modulation when it operates at a nominal design operating point. However, the efficiency decreases due to high circulating current, high current stress, and limited soft-switching range when the source and load voltages deviate from their nominal values. This paper employs both duty cycle and phase-shift modulation methods to improve the above mentioned shortcomings using voltage matching for the DAHB converter. The proposed converter is analyzed and a 500-W experimental prototype with 40–60 V input voltage and 400 V output voltage under 100 kHz switching frequency is implemented to verify the theoretical results. The maximum efficiency of 97.15% is achieved at 60 V and 400 W. A flat efficiency characteristic for the converter is derived by the proposed control method, where the efficiency at 20% of nominal load is 91% and much higher than the phase-shift control, which is 70.8%. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The digital control system of modular multilevel converters (MMCs) normally synchronizes with the switching actions. The switching frequency of an MMC is generally selected as low as possible from an efficiency point of view, which leads to an unavoidable and relatively long time delay in the control system. Such a time delay might deteriorate the MMC performance and even reduce the stability margin by introducing infinite uncertain eigenvalues into the system state functions. Without a proper time-delay model and quantitative system stability analyses, MMCs might suffer from uncertainties and unstable risks during their operations, especially when the switching frequency is low. This paper derives an MMC model considering the time delay in the digital control system. A Padé-based stability analysis method is then proposed, which consists of three steps: information integration and critical eigenvalue extraction, and trajectory visualization and critical angle (CA) calculation, and quantitative assessment and extreme value determination. By the proposed model and method, the critical eigenvalue can be effectively extracted. With the Hopf bifurcation, the time delay in the digital control system induces a pair critical conjugate eigenvalues into MMC systems, which is detected as an instability cause. The CA and the critical impact are defined to quantitatively assess the stability, while selecting the controller parameters and minimum switching frequency. The proposed method for the MMC stability assessment is experimentally verified. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper presents a generalized topology for multilevel converters based on flying capacitor multicell structure. The proposed topology consists of two modular high-frequency (HF) and low-frequency (LF) sections or cells. The HF cells consist of flying capacitors and semiconductor switches operating at carrier frequency. The LF cells consist of dc sources and semiconductor switches operating at line frequency and its multiples. The proposed topology can be implemented with arbitrary number HF and LF cells. An important advantage of the proposed topology is its reduced components when compared to other multilevel converter topologies in the same family. Another interesting feature is the relatively low blocking voltage requirement for HF switches, making it an attractive choice for high-power applications. A modulating algorithm is devised to generate the gating pulses for the HF and LF cells using phase-shifted carrier-based pulsewidth modulation. As a particular case, the operation of a 25-level topology is explained by the help of illustrating waveforms. A comprehensive comparative study is presented to illustrate the advantages of the proposed topology in terms of the number of components and other performance criteria. Various simulations are carried out to verify the operation of the proposed topology at different operating conditions. The theoretical analysis is experimentally verified using a scaled-down laboratory setup. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper, an input-series flyback converter with the coupled-inductor-based passive snubber is proposed, where the input-series converter is based on transformer integration, and the passive snubber is composed of inductors, capacitors, and diodes. The inductors of the snubber in various series modules are made on a common magnetic core, and the coupled-inductor scheme is adopted. With the help of the coupled inductor, active input voltage sharing of the input-series converter can also be achieved after the switches are turned off, and voltage sharing of the switch in each series module can be ensured, which overcome the shortcomings of the existing input-series flyback converter. Active voltage sharing processes caused by the coupled inductor are analyzed in detail. Furthermore, the design guideline of the passive snubber is discussed. Finally, the experimental study has been done on a 1500 Vdc/60 W laboratory-made prototype composed of three flyback series modules, and the feasibility of the proposed method and the theoretical analysis is verified by the experimental results. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper, an expandable single-input three-output high step-up dc–dc boost converter is proposed. The voltage conversion ratio of the output ports of the converter can be increased by inductor-diode-capacitor and diode-capacitor cells. The proposed converter can be applied in renewable energy conversion systems, such as in photovoltaic and fuel cells. Also, due to the three output ports of the converter, it can be utilized in portable devices which require high voltage conversions. The main advantage of the proposed converter is supplying loads with different voltages and current ranges due to the expandable structure of the converter. Besides, the proposed converter has the merit of achieving high voltage gains at high frequencies without preselecting wide duty cycles. Furthermore, the proposed converter is able to achieve higher voltage ranges without having any transformer or coupled inductors in its structure; consequently, the related drawbacks are avoided. The switching pattern of the converter is simple and both switches are on and off simultaneously. In this study, a single switching period of the proposed converter, the voltage conversion ratios of the output ports and the expanded form of the structure are analyzed theoretically. Finally, to verify the theoretical results, the experimental results for 40-V input/200-V, 100-V and 360-V outputs with total 600-W output power are extracted and compared with each other. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper presents a sinusoidal pulsewidth modulation (SPWM) based direct digital control with average-voltage model (AVM) and division–summation process for paralleled three-phase three-wire (3φ3W) grid-connected converters to reduce circulating currents. With the direct digital control, plant of each single-phase converter can be derived directly, and a controller is then designed to cover the variation effects of filter inductance and grid voltage. Based on SPWM and AVM over a switching cycle, each 3φ3W converter can be decomposed into three single-phase converters and each converter is controlled individually to track its sinusoidal reference current tightly, reducing circulating currents significantly. Equal current sharing is therefore also achieved. The control laws for achieving grid connection are derived in detail. In the design and implementation, the inductances corresponding to various inductor currents are measured offline and stored in the controller for scheduling loop gain cycle by cycle. Experimental and simulated results from a three-converter system confirm the analysis and discussion of the proposed control approaches. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Concerns over environmental impact and high infrastructure cost heavily influence the uptake of wind turbine technology. Recently, researchers have started to look into small wind turbines, which are much smaller in size and capacity. Small wind turbines have less environmental impact and low infrastructure cost. These small turbines have limited power generation capacity, requiring multiple turbines to be connected together to produce useful power. In order to capture power from multiple wind turbines, researchers have proposed numerous topologies in the literature. However, these traditional topologies were designed for high-power wind turbines and cannot be used to connect very small wind turbines since a significant amount of the generated power would be lost in driving the complex electronic circuits used in traditional topologies. In this paper, we present a multiple-input nonisolated dc–dc converter design that collects the output power from series-connected very small wind turbines. The proposed system was implemented in our smart energy laboratory and experimental results were gathered, showing a significant improvement over existing converters. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper presents a comprehensive and generalized analysis of the bidirectional dual active bridge (DAB) dc–dc converter using triple phase shift (TPS) control to enable closed-loop power regulation while minimizing current stress. The key new achievements are a generic analysis in terms of possible conversion ratios/converter voltage gains (i.e., Buck/Boost/Unity), per unit based equations regardless of DAB ratings, and a new simple closed-loop controller implementable in real time to meet desired power transfer regulation at minimum current stress. Per unit based analytical expressions are derived for converter ac rms current as well as power transferred. An offline particle swarm optimization (PSO) method is used to obtain an extensive set of TPS ratios for minimizing the rms current in the entire bidirectional power range of –1 to 1 per unit. The extensive set of results achieved from PSO presents a generic data pool, which is carefully analyzed to derive simple useful relations. Such relations enable a generic closed-loop controller design that can be implemented in real time avoiding the extensive computational capacity that iterative optimization techniques require. A detailed Simulink DAB switching model is used to validate the precision of the proposed closed-loop controller under various operating conditions. An experimental prototype also substantiates the results achieved. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A novel bidirectional dc–dc converter having high voltage gain capability with high efficiency is proposed in this paper for interfacing storage in a range of applications. The proposed converter steps up (boost) the voltage in one direction while stepping it down (buck) in the other direction of operation. An attractive feature of the proposed converter is the symmetry of its operating modes. It also has inherent soft-switching capability during turn on of the switches, enabling high switching frequency operation. This, coupled with the fact that the proposed converter uses only one coupled inductor for both boost and buck modes, leads to a compact system. A clamped capacitor network is used to recover the leakage energy. Circuit description, design, and loss calculations for both buck and boost modes are explained. The bidirectional converter is designed for a voltage gain of 10 and (1/10) in the boost and buck modes, respectively. A 500 W laboratory prototype of the proposed converter has been developed and tested under rated conditions. Even for a large voltage gain of 10, a peak efficiency in excess of 94% is achieved, which is not possible with conventional converters. All the results of this work are included. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The inherent second-harmonic ripple power in a cascaded H-bridge (CHB)-based motor drive system poses the demand of large capacitors in the dc link of each cell. In this paper, an active power decoupling method based on negative sequence current injection and its corresponding dual voltage closed-loop control are proposed to solve this problem without adding any extra components. The proposed dual voltage closed-loop control system consists of a conventional active power control loop and a frequency-adaptive ripple power control loop. The ripple power control loop aims at injecting a set of negative sequence decoupling currents into the front ends of the cells to remove the ripple powers with variable frequency. Higher steady-state accuracy and robustness are, therefore, achieved compared to the open-loop control. Moreover, to simplify the control system, the ripple power control loop can be integrated into the active power control loop without introducing a harmonic reference frame transformation. By adopting the proposed control, the dc capacitance can be reduced to less than 10% of the conventional case. The effectiveness and practicability of this method are verified by simulation and experimental results. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper, a novel converter with the minimum number of power switches is comparatively investigated with an asymmetric half bridge (AHB) converter by individually applying them to a six-phase switched reluctance motor (SRM). To begin with, topology, operation principle, and electrical equations are analyzed based on an SRM with double-phase excitation. Compared with AHB converter, the number of power switches is reduced to half and no additional devices are added. Besides, every switch is shared by two adjacent phases and works in turn. Steady-state, transient, and fault tolerance performances are discussed and compared by the means of simulations and experiments. The results validate that the novel converter is able to provide a higher output power, a less torque ripple, and a faster dynamic response, but the fault tolerance ability is inferior to the AHB converter. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

For a single-inductor dual-output (SIDO) dc–dc converter operating in continuous conduction mode (CCM), load variation of one output will affect the voltage of the other output, i.e., there exists cross regulation between its two outputs. To suppress the cross regulation of the SIDO dc–dc converter operating in CCM, a novel ripple based control technique, called capacitor current ripple (CCR) control technique, is proposed in this paper. The operation principle of the SIDO CCM buck converter and the proposed CCR control technique are presented. The small signal model of the CCR-controlled SIDO CCM buck converter is established by the state space averaging method. Bode plots based on small signal model show that the proposed CCR-controlled SIDO CCM buck converter significantly reduces cross regulation and improves the transient performance compared with the peak current mode controlled SIDO CCM buck converter. In addition, the effect of the variation of loads on the stability of the proposed CCR-controlled SIDO CCM buck converter is analyzed by eigenvalues analysis. Finally, experimental results are provided to verify the analysis results. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper presents a design methodology and its experimental validation for the input-admittance passivity compliance of LCL grid-connected converters. The designs of the LCL filter parameters and the discrete controller are addressed systematically, and suitable design guidelines are provided. The controller design is developed in the Z-domain, with capacitor-voltage-based active damping used as a degree of freedom to compensate for system delay effects. The role of resistive components in the circuit, which have inherent dissipative properties, is also discussed. As an outcome of the design, a passive input-admittance shaping is obtained. The theoretical development is further verified in a low-scale prototype supplied from a controllable grid simulator. For the sake of generality, different combinations of resonant to sampling frequency are tested. Experimental results fully prove the input-admittance passivity compliance. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The finite control set model predictive control (FCS-MPC) for power electronic converters provides high dynamic performance, based on the limited number of inputs and accurate model of the converter. By applying this algorithm to multilevel converters such as a cascaded-H-bridge-based static var compensator (CHB STATCOM), the dynamic performance is degraded, because the optimized input is achieved by searching among a large set of switching combinations and redundancies. This paper proposes an FCS-MPC algorithm, which benefits high dynamic performance for the CHB STATCOM, despite the large set of inputs. The proposed FCS-MPC replaces the time-consuming optimization algorithm by solving Diophantine equations over the large set of switching combinations. The desired switching combination and all its redundancies are determined in a minimum execution time. The proposed FCS-MPC performance is validated by applying to two configurations: 1) a 15-level CHB STATCOM with energy storage capability for a short-term active power smoothing and reactive power compensation of a 10 MW fixed speed wind farm at medium voltage; and 2) an experimental seven-level CHB STATCOM at low voltage. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper, a nonisolated high step-down converter is proposed. Energy transfer capacitor and built-in transformer are employed to achieve a very high step-down conversion ratio. Due to the interleaved technique, small values of output inductance can be used, leading to a fast transient response. Furthermore, the use of a coupled inductor reduces inductor current ripples, which implies lower losses. Two main switches and two synchronous rectifiers are used in the converter and all can achieve zero-voltage-switching. As no floating switches are employed, grounded gate drivers and boost strap drivers can be used, avoiding the use of complex isolated gate drivers. In addition, if the switches are shorted, the high input voltage does not appear at the output; thus, the load is protected. A 48 V/1 V 30 A prototype was built, and experimental results are provided to verify the performance of the converter. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The modular multilevel converter (MMC) has become the most promising converter topology for medium- and high-power applications. In this paper, a sliding mode control (SMC) based method is proposed for the MMC. Based on analysis of the system dynamics under the proposed control method, relations among control parameters and their validity conditions are obtained, which provide a guidance for systematic controller design. Compared with the conventional proportional-integral based method, the proposed SMC-based method provides comparable steady state performance and faster dynamic responses, without compromising the computational effort or requirement for precise system model. Simulation studies in the PSCAD/EMTDC software environment are carried out to validate the performance and effectiveness of the proposed control method in the context of an HVdc transmission system. A laboratory prototype is also developed to experimentally validate the proposed control method. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]