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In this article, a method to estimate the temperature of an NdFeB magnet in an interior permanent magnet synchronous motor (IPMSM) has been developed in medium and high speed operating conditions. Fundamental reactive energy is newly brought out and directly used in the developed method to estimate the magnet temperature accurately, which results in higher sensitivity with respect to the magnet temperature variation compared to the conventional methods. It is because the variation of the reactive energy caused by the magnet temperature includes variations of inductances in addition to that of the magnet flux linkage. In the proposed method, a stator resistance error effect caused by a stator temperature is inherently removed without any additional temperature sensor on stator winding. Moreover, the proposed method is robust to an inverter nonlinearity effect and ac resistance effect. As a result, the proposed method can estimate the magnet temperature accurately in real time, even in load variation, regardless of the stator temperature variation. The magnet temperature estimation error has been less than 3.7 °C in the online estimation for 10 000 s under wide speed and torque variations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article proposes a compensation method for position estimation error under high-frequency signal-injection sensorless control (SISC), especially for heavily saturated interior permanent-magnet synchronous motors (IPMSMs). In the proposed method, the current reference is tilted so that the controller sees more desirable side of the inductance of IPMSM under control. With the proposed method, the position error can be fully compensated and the torque under SISC is limited not by the inductance characteristics of motor but current limit of the inverter and motor itself. Simulations and experiments are performed to verify the proposed method. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this article, the torque ripple of an induction motor due to dc injection for the stator resistance estimation is analyzed. In the analysis, the fundamental component of rotor flux is used for rotor flux orientation to avoid the perturbation issue in synchronous reference speed. On the synchronous reference frame, flux and torque fluctuation due to injected dc and arbitrary second harmonic current is calculated. Furthermore, the current reference that nullifies the fundamental frequency torque ripple in the whole operating condition is proposed. An integral-based average filter is applied to extract dc signals in phase voltage and current. Simulations and experiments are carried out to verify the performance of the proposed methods. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A hybrid modular multilevel converter (MMC) consists of both half-bridge submodule (HBSM) and full-bridge submodule (FBSM) in each arm. It has several advantages over other MMC topologies, such as low system loss, reduced cost of the system, but still maintains fault ride-through capability against a solid dc-side fault. However, the hybrid MMC may have a difficulty of submodule (SM) voltage balancing under variation of its dc-bus voltage. Since the voltage unbalance of SMs results in SM capacitor overvoltage and low reliability of the system, the voltage of SMs, which can be also represented as energy of SMs, should be balanced at all time. In this paper, to extend the narrow adjustable range of dc-bus voltage due to the voltage/energy unbalance, new feedback and feedforward energy balancing controllers with revised sorting algorithm are proposed. The feedback control ensures the zero steady-state error, while the feedforward control provides fast dynamic response in the energy balancing control. By applying the proposed control scheme, the hybrid MMC can keep the voltage balance between HBSMs and FBSMs in wider range of dc-bus voltage. The full-scale computer simulation results and down-scale experimental results demonstrate the validity of the proposed control scheme. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper describes a dc-link voltage control method of a single-phase back-to-back cascaded H-bridge inverter (SBCI) for a medium-voltage motor drive system. The main advantage of the SBCI topology over the conventional regenerative cascaded H-bridge topology with a three-phase active front-end (AFE) is a simple system structure, which is composed of an input transformer, a power cell, a current sensor, etc. However, the challenging points of the SBCI are larger voltage ripple in the dc-link capacitor and imbalance of dc-link voltages of each phase. The asymmetric dc-link voltage of each power cells could cause unstable operation such as over-modulation due to the lack of the dc-link voltage of a particular phase and result in over-voltage or under-voltage faults. In this paper, the control strategy of the dc-link voltage for the SBCI that uses the negative-sequence voltage of the converter is described. The proposed control method is verified with a computer simulation whose target is a 6.6-kV–1.25-MW medium-voltage drive system. Also, through the experimental setup with the prototype SBCI whose power rating is 16.2 kVA, the dc-link voltage of each AFE has been controlled within a 0.5% error of its reference value at the full load. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper presents an online maximum torque per ampere (MTPA) control that considers both magnetic saturation and cross-magnetization effects of interior permanent-magnet synchronous machines (IPMSMs). For IPMSM drives, especially in torque-controlled applications, torque accuracy and high-efficiency operations are important issues. They can be dealt as a constrained optimization problem to satisfy both torque reference tracking and loss-minimizing operation. In this paper, nonlinear simultaneous equations are derived from Lagrange multiplier method, which could be solved by numerical algorithms. Among them, Levenberg–Marquardt algorithm (LMA) is employed to guarantee a robust calculation of optimal current references. It is optimized to alleviate calculation burden while maintaining the stability of the proposed algorithm. In addition, a torque reference limiter is implemented to satisfy a current limit in real time. The feasibility of the proposed method is verified under various operating conditions by simulation and experimental results. Through the proposed algorithms, accurate MTPA control is achieved under not only unsaturated but also highly saturated operating conditions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

State-space control could provide both high dynamic performance and sufficient stability margin to voltage source converters with LC filter. However, an inherent digital delay induced by a digital control system deteriorates performance and even induces instability. In this paper, a discrete-time voltage controller is proposed based on a discrete state-space model. First, a state feedback control with a reference feedforward path is designed in the discrete-time domain with consideration for the digital delay. Second, an output current decoupling path is augmented to minimize the effects of an output current disturbance. Controller gains are derived as the functions of system parameters and design specifications, which is based on a direct pole placement and pole-zero cancellation method in a rotating reference frame. Moreover, a parameter sensitivity and digital implementation are discussed to improve the performance and stability of the proposed controller. The effectiveness of the proposed controller is verified with various experimental results. It shows that a filter resonance is well damped out while maintaining wide voltage control bandwidth. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper, the theoretical analysis of the position estimation error in position-sensorless operation using pulsating square wave signal injection is presented. The purpose of this paper is to analyze the phenomenon that the position estimation performance varies depending on the injection frequency. Mathematical derivation supported by simulation and experimental results shows that, in no-load condition, the voltage distortion induces position estimation error with 3rd-order harmonics if the frequency of the injected square wave is the same to the switching frequency. While, if the frequency is a half of the switching frequency or heavier load condition in either injection frequency, the effect of nonideal characteristics of inverter disappears and there is no 3rd harmonics in the position estimation error. Therefore, only the effect of cross-coupling inductance is reflected in the estimation error. As the result, the position estimation error appears in the form of 6th-order harmonics due to the spatial harmonics of inductances, and the error is relatively small compared with the switching frequency injection case. The theoretical analysis was verified by simulation and experimental results. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper, a resonant damping circuit to suppress the switching ringing of full SiC mosfet is proposed. It reveals that the ringing phenomenon caused by parasitic impedances of switching circuit can be damped out using air core PCB transformer which has a properly designed secondary side circuit. The design method for PCB transformer and the secondary circuit are developed considering the physical dimension applied to the PCB transformer inserted between full SiC mosfet module and snubber capacitor. Experimental results using 1200 V–180 A full SiC mosfet module validate the design method and the performance of the proposed air core PCB circuit. Thanks to the damping circuit, the resonant component due to the switching ringing has been reduced to a half compared to that of system without damping circuit. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper, a comprehensive control scheme for a delta-connected cascaded H-bridge (CHB) converter-based static synchronous compensator (STATCOM) is presented, especially focusing on improving dynamic performance by novel feedforward control method. The method can conspicuously improve the dynamics of zero-sequence circulating current regulation of delta-connected CHB STATCOM especially under grid fault condition as well as load unbalance without excessive dc cell capacitor voltage fluctuation. The validity of the proposed method is demonstrated by mathematical proof. Finally, the full-scaled simulation results and the down-scaled experimental results verify that stable operation is guaranteed for both emulated grid and load unbalance conditions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper, it is described how the circulating current flows between inverters that have isolated dc link such as cascaded H-bridge (CHB) topology when they are operating in parallel. In this case, zero sequence circulating current, which normally flows through shared dc link, cannot flow between inverters in parallel. However, circulating current is provoked by asynchronous switching instant of devices, difference of dc-link voltages of parallel inverters, and unbalanced impedance. The circulating current should be suppressed by a sharing inductor that is inserted between inverters. Generally, all of the inverters should synthesize the same output voltage reference for load current control to minimize the size of this sharing reactor. However, this conventional method cannot guarantee diminishing circulating current in the transient state and even in the steady state. In this paper, in order to reduce sharing reactance, after deriving circulating current model from general case of n-parallel operation, circulating current control method is devised based on the model. This proposed algorithm is applied to active front end five-level-CHB inverter system for medium voltage drive. Simulation and experimental results are provided to verify the effectiveness of the proposed control scheme. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the square-wave voltage signal injection sensorless drive of the interior permanent-magnet synchronous machine, the injection voltage can be distorted by the inverter nonlinearity effects especially when the injection voltage is low. If that happens, a high-frequency (HF) current signal which contains the rotor position information could be also distorted, which directly leads to an error in the position estimation. This paper analyzes the effects of the inverter nonlinearity on injection voltage, on induced current ripple, and on the position estimation performance in sequence and proposes a voltage injection method to minimize the impact of the inverter nonlinearity by the regulation of the HF current ripple. By simulations and experiments, the performance of the proposed method has been verified. The experimental results show 19.7% reduction of position estimation error under 15% of rated voltage signal injection without increasing the current ripple at a certain operating condition. Moreover, the performance of position estimation is kept uniform regardless of the loading condition. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper proposes a new sensorless method for a synchronous machine with an inverter integrated rotor (SMIIR). The SMIIR is a newly developed machine based on the wound rotor synchronous machine (WRSM) but has no brushes and slip-rings. The conventional high-frequency signal injection sensorless methods are based on a physical magnetic saliency. Therefore, the conventional methods cannot be applied to the SMIIR since it has no adequate physical magnetic saliency. The proposed sensorless method suggests a virtual resistance saliency created by the rotor-side inverter, of which the saliency ratio and axes can be arbitrarily set. Based on this virtual saliency, the rotor position information can be included in the relationship between the high-frequency stator voltage and stator current independent of the machine parameters or operating conditions. Because the SMIIR inherently injects a high-frequency voltage for the power transfer, there is no need to inject additional voltage for the proposed high-frequency sensorless control. The initial $d$-axis detection algorithm using the rotor-side inverter without magnetic saturation is also proposed. The feasibility of the proposed sensorless method was verified by the experimental results of the prototype SMIIR. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Six-step operation has many advantages in permanent-magnet synchronous machine (PMSM) drives such as maximum power utilization and widened flux-weakening region. However, due to the maximum utilization of inverter output, saturation of current regulator makes it difficult to maintain instantaneous current control capability. Accordingly, in most of conventional research studies, the six-step operation has been implemented by voltage angle control without current regulation, whose dynamic performance is quite unsatisfactory. This paper proposes a control scheme for the six-step operation of PMSM with enhanced dynamic performance of current control. By collaborative operation of dynamic overmodulation, flux weakening, and a technique for enhanced dynamic performance, the six-step operation is realized without losing instantaneous current control capability. Simulations and experiments are carried out to verify the effectiveness of the proposed control scheme. The experimental results show 17% extension of the constant torque region and 27% enhancement of torque capability at three times of the base speed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

If a small dc-link capacitor is used in the dc link fed by a single-phase ac source, then the dc-link voltage severely fluctuates at twice of the source frequency. To handle this fluctuation, the concept of “average voltage constraint” is proposed in this study. On the basis of this concept, a flux-weakening scheme, generating the d-axis current reference (ids^{r}^{\ast}) for the interior permanent-magnet synchronous machine, is devised. The q-axis current reference (iqs^{r}^{\ast}) is modified for the unity power factor operation in the viewpoint of an ac source without an additional sensor. The proposed scheme has been applied to the inverter-driven 1-kW compressor of an air conditioner. From the experimental results, it has been verified that the compressor operates well at the required operating condition, regardless of the severe fluctuation of dc-link voltage, because of the reduced dc-link capacitance. The frequency spectrum of the ac source current reveals that the harmonics of the source current meet the regulation of IEC 61000-3-2 Class A and that the overall power factor is above 96% without any additional circuit, such as an input filter and a power factor correction circuit. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

In the voltage-source-converter-based dc system, the short-circuit current increases rapidly due to neighborhood dc-link capacitance. The protection system using a high-speed fuse has been applied in the industry to protect before the current freewheeling that ruins a semiconductor device. For proper protection system design, the capacitor-discharge I2t must be analyzed and set higher than the melting I2t of the fuse by securing sufficient capacitance. However, due to the implicit characteristics of the I2t function, it is difficult to calculate the required capacitance directly considering unknown fault resistance. In this article, the normalized I2t map of capacitor-discharge is presented as a calculation reference. After calculating the base values, the normalized I2t value can be calculated easily from the map without complicated formula. Since it is expressed as a function of the damping factor (half of the normalized resistance) and normalized capacitor's voltage, it helps I2t design with the range of fault resistance and voltage drop simultaneously. The proposed normalization and its result were verified through the experimental tests under various fault resistance. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In a maritime dc power system, the rectified dc-bus voltage of a permanent magnet synchronous generator is generally regulated by the pulsewidth modulation (PWM) operation of an active ac/dc converter. This article proposes a dc bus voltage regulation strategy exploiting the six-step operation. Under the six-step operation, the switching loss of the converter can be significantly reduced, compared to the PWM operation. Moreover, due to the higher modulation index and the less flux-weakening current of the six-step operation, the conduction loss can also be reduced. By employing diode rectification mode at light load, the conduction loss induced by the non-negligible ripple current of the six-step operation could be minimized. This article implements a controller for the proposed dc bus voltage regulation strategy and verifies its validity with simulation and experimental setup. According to the simulation and the experimental test, the converter efficiency at the rated load is enhanced by 0.6% and 0.4%, and the converter loss is reduced by up to 70% and 19%, respectively. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A current source inverter (CSI) requires a capacitor filter for the commutation of switching device as well as for attenuating switching harmonics. Hence, the CSI-fed ac machine has a second-order system in the continuous time domain. This paper presents a design methodology for the closed-loop current controller of the CSI-fed ac machine drive system. A multiloop current controller design using a pole/zero cancellation method is employed with a transfer function matrix. To decouple the cross-coupling terms which cause mutual interferences between the d- and q-axes in the synchronous reference frame, two types of controller are proposed and implemented using different decoupling method. Additionally, active damping methods are incorporated to enhance the stability of the system. A stability analysis in discrete-time domain is investigated to verify the feasibility of the proposed closed-loop current controller. To evaluate the effectiveness of the proposed current controller, computer simulations and experimental tests were performed and the results are discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The rotor position of an interior permanent-magnet synchronous machine (IPMSM) can be estimated without a position sensor by signal injection sensorless control at standstill and/or in very low speed rotating condition. In the signal injection sensorless control, however, the fundamental control performance is limited by the frequency of the injected signal, and no negligible acoustic noise is generated. If the frequency of the injected voltage signal would increase to pulsewidth modulation (PWM) switching frequency and if the switching frequency is near or above audible range, the dynamics of the sensorless control can be improved, and the acoustic noise can be remarkably reduced or totally eliminated. This paper describes how to extract the rotor position information of IPMSM using the voltage signal injection whose frequency is the same as the PWM switching frequency. Compared to the conventional heterodyning process, the proposed method is simple to implement and appropriate for PWM switching frequency signal injection. The high-frequency voltage signal can be injected in the stationary reference frame or in the estimated rotor reference frame. In this paper, the 5- and 16-kHz signal injections are proposed, implemented, and compared. The experimental results confirm the effectiveness of the proposed method. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

This paper presents a nine-phase permanent-magnet synchronous motor (PMSM) drive system based on multiple three-phase voltage source inverters. The nine-phase PMSM was developed as a traction motor for an ultrahigh-speed elevator. The mathematical model of the motor was simplified through symmetry of the system. Using the simplified model, the drive system can be controlled by the well-known d-q control theory. The feasibility and validity of the drive system were experimentally demonstrated at the world's tallest elevator test tower. Moreover, an additional experiment was performed to ensure the fault-tolerance capability of the system. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

This paper proposes a novel control scheme for the fast current control of permanent magnet synchronous machines. The proposed method mainly works in the transient state of current control without deteriorating steady-state characteristics. The proposed method is applicable in a wide range of speed: in the speed below the base speed and in the flux weakening region. Using the proposed method, the reference values of d-q currents are modified so that the currents follow the so-called “shortcut” trajectory in the d-q coordinate plane. The effectiveness of the proposed method is confirmed by computer simulations and experiments. The settling time is reduced by 55% compared with that of the conventional method. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper proposes an isolated universal-link ac–ac power converter suitable for grid connection. The proposed power converter can have multiple ports to connect various loads or electric energy sources, and the configuration can be arranged according to the situation. The proposed power converter does not need to employ the large interface inductor at input side and the huge electrolytic capacitor at dc link. Moreover, it utilizes high-frequency transformers for the galvanic isolation instead of bulky line-frequency transformers. These characteristics of the proposed power converter result in the reduction of the system volume and weight remarkably. The proposed power converter is the modular structure, and an H-bridge works as a basic module of the converter. By stacking the modules, the power converter can be adapted to the high-voltage grid and the various types of loads and/or sources. This paper addresses the structure of the proposed power converter and the fundamental principle of power flow. The operation of the proposed converter is verified by both computer simulations and experimental results with a laboratory-level prototype system. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A matrix converter interfaces with three-phase ac voltage source, which creates three different virtual dc-link voltages. In this paper, a new pulsewidth modulation (PWM) method for the matrix converter is proposed to generally use these three virtual dc-link voltages. By using the two higher line-to-line voltages as the virtual dc-link voltages, the proposed method can create the identical switching sequences to those created by the conventional space vector PWM (SVPWM) method. Moreover, the proposed method is able to select the appropriate virtual dc-link voltage, according to the PWM purpose and/or load condition. In this paper, the virtual dc-link voltages adjacent to the output voltage reference are introduced to reduce output-current switching ripples. The feasibility of the proposed PWM method was verified by a computer simulation and experimental results. The output voltage and current waveforms produced by using the proposed method can be equal or better than those created using the conventional SVPWM method. Moreover, a new switching sequence that reduces output-current switching ripple can be easily adopted within the proposed PWM method. The harmonic characteristics of output current created using the proposed method are markedly improved over those using the conventional PWM method. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Describes a voltage modulation technique named `unified pulsewidth modulation (PWM)' for high-performance voltage generation in a three-phase voltage-fed inverter. Overview of the unified voltage modulation; Various carrier-based PWM's by unified PWM strategy; Implementation of the proposed PWM scheme.

Presents information on an overmodualation technique for interior permanent magnet synchronous machine (IPMSM), with focus on the concept of torque control. Implementation of the technique to a inverter system; Characterization of the operation of the electrical drive system with a current controller; Difference between the machine terminal voltage and the machine-back electromotive force (EMF); Effects of current regulation performance on torque production.

In this paper, a novel filter structure to suppress circulating currents is proposed based on the sequence of pulsewidth modulation voltage harmonics for high-power interleaved motor-drive systems. The sideband harmonics can be divided into positive-, negative-, and zero-sequence components. Through 120° interleaving among three paralleled inverters, a majority of positive- and negative-sequence harmonics are phase shifted. By these phase shifts, the differential-mode circulating currents between the paralleled ac–dc converters can be suppressed with the proposed filters, which have an identical structure to the three-phase common-mode chokes. Such a structure highly benefits the design and manufacturability for high-power applications where a choice of magnetic-core shapes is limited. Compared to coupled inductors (CIs) with cyclic-cascade or monolithic configurations, the number of magnetic cores can be reduced by one-third. Peak flux-linkages of the proposed filters and the conventional CIs were compared to estimate the size reduction in case of flux-limited designs. Considering the whole modulation index range, which may be required in the motor-drive systems, the maximum flux-linkage can be reduced by 50%. Prototype filters are built and showed a 33% reduction in weight and size compared to the conventional CIs. The validity of the proposed filter is verified through the simulation and a small-scale experiment. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper, a method to estimate the temperature of a permanent magnet of a traction motor for automotive applications is derived by analyzing the high-frequency inductance of an interior permanent-magnet synchronous motor. The derived method exploits the high-frequency inductance as an indicator of the magnet temperature, and it does not require a temperature sensor not only on the rotor side but also on the stator side. Hence, the method is truly noninvasive. The proposed method has been verified in a small-scale experimental setup. The performance of the method has been evaluated at various torques, speeds, and magnet temperatures ranging from −24 to 82 °C. Through testing at various operating conditions, it has been confirmed that the maximum error is less than 2.9 °C even when the speed and torque vary. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Cascaded H-bridge (CHB) inverter is the most widely used topology for a medium-voltage drive system due to the high degree of modularity, easier implementation of medium output voltage, and the ability to continuous operation under the cell fault condition. Because each power cell of CHB should have isolated dc source, multiwinding input transformer and three-phase active front end (AFE) are generally used for regenerative applications. The whole system can be simplified by replacing the three-phase AFE with single-phase AFE. However, if the control strategy of normal operation is adopted under the cell fault condition, input power imbalance among three phases inevitably occurs. In that situation, not only faulty cells, but also some unscathed cells should be excluded with giving up the maximum capability of the system, not to deteriorate grid current. This paper proposes a control scheme against the cell fault condition of the single-phase AFE CHB. By applying the proposed control scheme to the system, dc-link voltage of each cell and grid current are well regulated without imbalance even under the cell fault conditions. Finally, it can minimize the number of undamaged cells which should be turned off and maximize the capability of the system under the cell fault condition. Simulation and experimental results are provided to verify the effectiveness of the proposed scheme. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This letter presents a modular multilevel converter (MMC) for bipolar medium-voltage direct-current (MVDC)) distribution systems. By employing a zigzag transformer as a grid interface transformer with a dedicated operation method, the operation of two dc poles of an MMC can be fully decoupled. Consequently, the MMC can provide full bipolar-operation capability. No additional component is required, and no penalty of increased power rating is imposed on the grid interface transformer. The scheme based on the proposed topology is competitive and cost-effective for emerging MVDC distribution systems. Feasibility of the proposed scheme is verified by both simulations and down-scale experiments. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper, the characteristics of ripple current of a multimegawatt drive system fed by a pulse-width modulation (PWM) inverter are investigated. Based on the investigation, a novel PWM scheme is devised to reduce the switching loss of the inverter under an identical amount of torque ripple of a motor. The proposed PWM is composed of two parts. The first is minimum torque ripple PWM (MTRPWM), which is optimized in terms of the minimum torque ripple in high modulation index (MI). The second determines the minimum switching frequency while holding the average torque ripple less than the allowable value under various operating conditions. It is termed reduced switching frequency PWM (RSFPWM). Consequently, by simply changing the PWM method from conventional fixed switching frequency continuous PWM to the proposed PWM, MTRPWM and RSFPWM, simulation results show that the switching loss of the inverter driving a 3.5 MW induction motor is reduced to 51.6% while keeping the torque ripple in the allowable boundary, where MI is 1.12. This approach is applied to small-scale experimental sets consisting of an interior permanent magnet synchronous machine (IPMSM) motor-generator set, and an induction machine MG set in an effort to verify the validity and feasibility of the proposed method. Based on these experimental results, the cost indexes of the IPMSM and the induction machine, as defined in this paper, decrease by up to 66% and 77%, respectively, when the proposed method is applied when MI is 1.12 compared with the outcome with the conventional PWM. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper addresses the inverter nonlinearity of a three-level T-type inverter. The main causes of the nonlinearity are pulse shaping, pulse skipping due to narrow pulses for the dead time, and voltage drop of the switching devices. Although the same causes have existed in two-level inverters, the pulse skipping phenomenon and results are quite different in the case of the three-level T-type inverter. The effects of pulse shaping and skipping have been investigated and discussed. In addition, the voltage drop of the switching devices has been considered in conjunction with the conduction path of the T-type inverter. Compensation methods based on the pulse width modulation (PWM) of T-type inverter to alleviate the inverter nonlinearity have been proposed from research results. The proposed methods could be easily implemented by adding appropriate offset voltages to the voltage references of the inverter in PWM. Furthermore, a neutral voltage balancing method of a three-level T-type inverter has been proposed in conjunction with the proposed PWM methods using offset voltage. Through extensive experimental tests, the fifth- and seventh-harmonic components of the current are conspicuously reduced along with the even harmonics. The neutral voltage of the inverter can be balanced effectively with the proposed offset voltage adjustments as well. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper introduces a new multilevel converter topology for a hybrid HVDC system comprising line-commutated converter (LCC) and voltage source converter (VSC). Among the existing modular multilevel converter (MMC) topologies for the hybrid HVDC, a mixed MMC structure with half-bridge submodules (HBSMs) and full-bridge submodules (FBSMs) has characteristics of reduced system cost, low operation loss, but still keeping capability to cope with dc short-circuit fault. However, it is very difficult for the conventional hybrid MMC structure to balance the submodule capacitor voltages under dc-bus voltage sliding since each MMC arm is a mixture of HBSMs and FBSMs. To solve the defect of the conventional hybrid MMC structure, an asymmetric mixed MMC, in which one arm is made of series-connected HBSMs and other arm is made of FBSMs, is devised. The proposed asymmetric MMC can regulate the dc-bus voltage freely without uncontrollable submodule capacitor voltages. The problems of the conventional MMC structure and the validity of asymmetric MMC are verified by both computer simulation and experimental results. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper presents a carrier-based pulsewidth modulation (PWM) method that reduces the common-mode voltage (CMV) of a three-level four-leg converter. Based on an analysis of space vector PWM (SVPWM) and sinusoidal-PWM switching patterns, the fourth-leg pole voltage of a three-phase converter, known as the “f pole voltage,” is manipulated to reduce the CMV. To synthesize the f pole voltage for the suppression of the CMV, positive and negative pole voltage references of the f leg are calculated. In addition, the offset voltage to prevent distortion of the a, b, and c phase voltages regarding the neutral point is deduced. The proposed PWM strategy can be easily implemented in the software of a DSP-based converter control. The three-level four-leg converter with the proposed PWM algorithm results in a remarkable reduction in the peak-to-peak value of the CMV. From the simulation and the experimental results, the peak-to-peak value of the CMV when using the proposed PWM method is 33% compared to that when using the SVPWM method, while the number of CMV transitions during the switching period in the proposed PWM method is only 25% of that when using the SVPWM method. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

This paper presents a complete design methodology for the sensorless vector control of permanent-magnet synchronous machine (PMSM) motor drives in fan-type applications. The proposed strategy is built over a linear asymptotic state observer used to estimate the PMSM back EMF and a novel tracking controller based on a phase-locked loop system, which, by synchronizing the estimated and actual d-q frames, estimates the rotor speed and position. This paper presents the complete derivation of all associated control loops, namely, state observer; tracking controller; d-q-axis current regulator; speed controller; an antisaturation control loop, which provides inherent operation in the flux-weakening region; and all corresponding antiwindup loops. Detailed design rules are provided for each of these loops, respectively verified through time-domain simulations, frequency-response analysis, and experimental results using a three-phase 7.5-kW PMSM motor drive, validating both the design methodology and the expected performance attained by the proposed control strategy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper, a synchronous motor with an inverter integrated rotor (SMIIR) is introduced, and its control scheme is proposed. This presents a new breed of synchronous motor in that it integrates an inverter inside the rotor. The basic operational principle and control strategies are discussed. Given these new strategies, the SMIIR can be considered as a synchronous motor which changes its field according to the harmonic voltage of the stator inverter. The feasibility of the proposed structure of the drive system and its operation principle are evaluated through experimental results. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper proposes a novel flux-weakening control algorithm of an interior permanent-magnet synchronous motor for "quasi" six-step operation. The proposed method is composed of feedforward and feedback paths. The feedforward path consists of 1-D lookup table, and the feedback is based on the difference between the reference voltage updated by current regulator and the output voltage limited by the overmodulation. Using this method, the flux-weakening and the antiwindup controls can be achieved simultaneously. In addition, the quasi-six-step operation can be obtained. That is, the available maximum output torque in the flux-weakening region is close to that in the six-step operation while the ability of the current control is maintained. The effectiveness of this method is proved by the experimental results. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The aim of this paper is to analyze the behavior of a sensorless control system based on a high-frequency signal injection combined with an inset permanent-magnet (PM) motor. The rotor position of a synchronous PM motor with anisotropic rotor can be detected by the control system which superimposes a high-frequency signal to the fundamental stator voltage. The corresponding high-frequency current is modulated by the rotor anisotropy and used to determine the rotor position. These techniques are effective at zero and at low motor speed. Both saturation and cross-coupling have a heavy influence on the correct rotor position detection. In order to highlight the effectiveness of the sensorless technique, the tests are carried out at various operating conditions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]