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In an electric drive vehicle (EDV), the available voltage on a dc-link is limited, and so the inverter output voltage and, consequently, the line motor maximum speed are limited. The fundamental voltage of the inverter output is increased approximately 27% using a square wave (SW) switching pattern instead of a sine wave switching pattern. However, this pattern can only be used at high speeds, and at lower speeds a pulsewidth modulation (PWM) pattern should be used. In order to achieve proper control, the switching pattern should be changed seamlessly. In the present paper, a new PWM scheme for single-mode seamless control of Vernier motors is proposed. In the proposed scheme, the reference voltage is modified to change the switching pattern continuously so that the voltage changes smoothly from a high-frequency pattern to an SW and voltage discontinuity does not occur. Experimental results reveal that the inverter-switching pattern changes smoothly from a sinusoidal PWM pattern to an SW pattern, and so seamless control from the constant-torque region to the constant-power region, and vice versa, is achieved. Since the proposed scheme is a single-mode control, it is much simpler than current technologies, which are based on multimode controllers. Also the proposed method has a lower total harmonic disturbance (THD) as well as a lower harmonic distortion factor (HDF) compared to some existing methods. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

The comprehensive design and optimization, including the optimized modulation approach, detailed modeling, and reliable control algorithm, is presented in this paper to guarantee the stable operation of the post-fault three-phase pulsewidth modulation (PWM) rectifier. The effects of the space vector modulation approaches on the capacitor current are investigated. Based on the analytical results, the method introducing the smaller capacitor current is selected as the optimized modulation approach, which is of paramount importance to avoid the permanent failure of the dc-link capacitors. Then, with the optimized modulation approach, a control-oriented model for the post-fault PWM rectifiers is derived based on the $\alpha-\beta$ stationary frame, where the capacitor voltage oscillation and deviation are taken into account. The proposed model-based controllers do not require the phase-locked loop (PLL), and the elimination of the PLL means that the post-fault rectifiers can never lose synchronization with the grid. Furthermore, an equation of the required dc voltage for linear modulation is proposed, and using the proposed equation, a correct dc voltage is selected to reject the overmodulation. The experimental results validate the effectiveness of the proposed comprehensive design and optimization. Finally, a conclusion can be drawn from the experimental results—that the dc-link capacitor current and the linear modulation should be taken into account when selecting the dc voltage in the post-fault operation. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

In this paper, a single-stage solution for solar photovoltaic (PV) pumping system using a dual-inverter fed open-end winding induction motor drive is presented. The three-level dual-inverter requires a low PV bus voltage compared with its conventional three-level counterpart. This could avoid large string of PV modules and helps in reducing the voltage rating of the capacitors and semiconductor devices used in the system. This may further help in reduction of cost of the system. The proposed single-stage system is operated using an integrated control algorithm, which includes the maximum power point tracking (MPPT), the $V/f$ control, and the sample-averaged zero-sequence elimination (SAZE) pulsewidth modulation (PWM) technique. While the MPPT algorithm ensures the extraction of maximum power from the PV source, the $V/f$ control improves the motor pump performance. Furthermore, the zero-sequence current is avoided by the SAZE PWM algorithm. Thus, the integrated control algorithm improves the overall performance of the system. Furthermore, this paper also presents the details of system design and analysis of its dynamic behavior during transient environmental conditions. The performance of the system is verified using MATLAB simulation and hardware prototype. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

This paper suggests another candidate for a dc/dc converter in an electric vehicle onboard charger. Maintaining topological characteristics similar to those of conventional resonant converters, it is operated with a constant frequency PWM for charging control. Since the converter uses a secondary resonant tank, soft-switching and resonant operations can be separated. A practical design procedure is suggested to guarantee the normal operation, and the feasibility of the PWM SRT converter is verified with a 6.6-kW prototype charger designed by the procedure. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Commutations existing in a brushless dc motor (BLDCM) drive system not only aggravate the torque ripple and reduce the power factor but also cause the catastrophic failure of a sensorless drive based on the zero-crossing detection of back electromotive force when the commutation duration approaches or exceeds 30 electrical degrees. For a sensorless BLDCM drive system with a long commutation time, it is necessary to shorten the commutation time. In this paper, a technique making the commutation time significantly reduced by means of a novel inverter topology is presented. The proposed topology is based on the idea of supplying higher dc-link voltage for the freewheeling phase. First, the dc link of the backward freewheeling path is decoupled from that of the forward energy flow path. The superiority of dc-link decoupling for commutation control is analyzed. Then, in order to provide adjustable voltage higher than the dc source voltage for the dc link of the freewheeling path, a double-layer C-dump converter is proposed. Compared with the traditional unipolar C-dump converter, it not only upraises the potential of the positive rail but also lowers the potential of the negative rail. Finally, the proposed inverter topology is verified by simulation and experimental results. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

In this paper, a modified zero-voltage-switching pulsewidth-modulation inverter with a digital-signal-processor-based proportional–integral–derivative (PID)-like fuzzy controller (PIDFC) is implemented. The switches of the inverter can achieve a soft-switching feature that can largely reduce switching losses and improve the converting efficiency. In order for the online control of the proposed dc–ac inverter to be feasible, a fuzzy control is designed to be a PID-like fuzzy mechanism with the complexity significantly reduced. From the results, it is shown that the PIDFC can not only stabilize the output at 110 V rms but can also improve the performance when the system load has been changed from 600 to 100 $\Omega$. Comparing with a traditional PID controller, the responding speed can be improved by 75% in the simulation, and the speed can still be improved by 35% in the practice experiment. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper, three overmodulation techniques for the three-to-five-phase indirect matrix converter (IMC) are proposed. The first technique utilizes only the adjacent large vectors in the sector in which the reference output voltage vector lies. The second technique improves on that by continuously adapting vector elimination in the d_2-q_2 vector space based on the output voltage requirements. The third technique utilizes the ripple in the dc link to further reduce the modulation index of the inverter stage during overmodulation. All three techniques increase the voltage transfer ratio of the three-to-five-phase IMC from 0.788 to 0.923, but with the addition of harmonics generated by a vector in the d_2-q_2 vector space of the inverter stage. Simulation and experimental results from a prototype three-to-five-phase IMC validate the three proposed overmodulation techniques. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper proposes an indirect matrix converter (IMC) topology to supply a five-phase load directly from three-phase ac power sources without bulky electrolytic capacitors and explains its operating principle. Using the emerging topology, which combines the five-leg inverter into the rectifier stage of the conventional IMC, the three-to-five-phase IMC topology reduces the number of power switches and results in a simpler commutation compared with the conventional three-to-five-phase direct matrix converter. In addition, a simple approach to realize the carrier-based pulsewidth modulation (CBPWM) method for a three-to-five-phase IMC is presented, and the proposed CBPWM method is analyzed based on the space-vector approach. As a result, the IMC with the proposed CBPWM method can be more easily implemented compared with IMCs with the space-vector PWM method. A three-to-five-phase IMC control platform is realized by coordinating a TMS320F28335 DSP (Texas Instruments) with an EPM7128SLC84-15 field-programmable gate array (Altera). The simulation and experimental results are provided to verify the effectiveness of the CBPWM strategy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Carrier-based pulsewidth-modulation (CBPWM) techniques are popular due to their simplicity, and have been widely researched for various three-phase inverter configurations. In this paper, two CBPWM techniques are proposed to reduce the common-mode (CM) voltage generated by the five-phase inverter. The five-phase inverters have more flexibility in reducing the CM voltage than their three-phase counterparts because they have more phase legs, hence finer control over the star-point voltage of the load. Two methods are proposed for the conventional two-level five-phase inverter to reduce the CM voltage; one utilizing adjacent modulating waveforms and the other utilizing nonadjacent modulating waveforms. The coupled inductor inverter (CII) uses coupled inductors to generate multilevel outputs. As the volt-second balance must be maintained across each coupled inductor, direct application of the proposed methods on the CII inverter will result in overcurrents in the coupled inductors. Hence, the proposed methods are further improved to ensure the volt-second integral over each switching period is zero. Moreover, the two proposed methods are designed to reduce switching events and prevent unexpected states occurring during the switching transitions. The performance and the switching strategy of both methods are verified by both simulations and experiments on a prototype of five-phase CII. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A novel complementary phase disposition pulsewidth modulation method for the modular multilevel converter (MMC) with a limited number of submodules is proposed in this paper. Compared with the previous works, more practical issues have been considered, and the corresponding solutions have been provided. First, a new preset PWM signal mapping sequence and an improved virtual loop mapping (VLM) are used in the modulation. This method not only achieves a favorable capacitor voltage balance in the symmetry system but lowers the switching frequency of MMC's devices. Second, to further reduce the switching frequency, the unbalance margin of capacitor voltages is adopted to achieve the switching between the VLM and the selective VLM (SVLM). Moreover, the system robustness has been improved by considering the situation of symmetry losing, like cell fails; in these cases, the capacitor voltages of the upper and lower arms are balanced through the collaboration of the SVLM and the reconfigurable VLM. Finally, the effectiveness of the proposed method has been verified with simulation and experimental studies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper, a family of three-phase direct pulse-width modulated (PWM) ac–ac converters consisting of buck, boost, and buck–boost converters is proposed. The proposed converters have no commutation problem even if all of the switches are turned on or off simultaneously. They do not use lossy snubbers and do not sense the voltage polarity for commutation, and produce high-quality output voltage waveforms. The proposed converters allow the use of power MOSFETs and fast recovery freewheeling diodes independently. The use of power MOSFETs as active switches and freewheeling diodes with extremely fast recovery features lower the switching losses and enable us to reduce the volume of passive components by increasing switching frequency. The input (or output) filter inductor experiences twice of the converter switching frequency and thus can be designed with minimum size. To increase power density of the proposed converters, a three-phase three-limb coupled inductor is proposed. Three-phase coupled inductor integrates three separate coupled inductors of the proposed converters in one three-limb core. In comparison with separate coupled inductors, the three-phase coupled inductor has a smaller size with large current-handling capability. Experimental results obtained for the boost-type converter show the robustness of the proposed three-phase ac–ac converters. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper proposes a hybrid modulation strategy for asymmetrical cascaded multilevel converters operating under normal and faulty conditions on power cells. The proposed algorithm explores the advantages of both space vector (SV) and carrier-based modulation approaches. An SV is used for higher voltage cells to properly choose their voltage vectors in a way such as to avoid converter saturation, particularly under fault conditions. A generic algorithm to identify the domains of higher voltage vectors in which a reference lies, without the need for separation lines, is proposed. Then, to simplify the implementation of the algorithm, carrier-based modulation is employed for lower voltage cells, which switch with pulsewidth modulation. This suppresses the need for defining multiple switching sequences for different operational conditions, and it avoids converter saturation as much as possible, particularly under fault conditions on power cells. Simulation and experimental results for normal and faulty operational conditions are given, validating the theoretical analysis and demonstrating the good performance of the proposed hybrid modulation approach. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Vienna rectifier, which is a nongenerative-boost type rectifier, is used in many applications such as telecommunication systems and wind turbine systems. The Vienna rectifier has a special operating requirement. Many switching methods considering this requirement were proposed. These methods generally take into account the Vienna rectifier's operation with the unity power factor because the Vienna rectifier aims to provide the power to the load. However, as the applications for the Vienna rectifier are diversified, control requirements have been suggested, including the dc-link voltage balance control and the novel control under severely unbalanced grids. In this paper, we propose a carrier-based pulse-width modulation (CB-PWM) method for Vienna rectifier operation with a variable power factor. The proposed CB-PWM method adds the compensation voltage to the three-phase reference voltages, depending on the power factor, to maintain the sinusoidal input currents of the Vienna rectifier. The performance and effectiveness of the proposed CB-PWM method are verified by simulation and experiment. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper presents fuzzy-2 direct torque control (F2DTC) and proportional–integral direct torque control (PIDTC) of an induction motor drive (IMD) using bus-clamped space vector modulation (BCSVM). The PIDTC gives considerable flux and torque ripples with the poor dynamic performance of the IMD. To improve the dynamic performance of IMD, F2DTC is proposed. In F2DTC, proportional–integral controllers are replaced by fuzzy-2 controllers (F2Cs), where the BCSVM duty ratios are independent of the sampling period. The firing strength of the inverter with F2DTC is improved than the PIDTC. In addition, the F2C effectively deals with the huge ambiguous data using Mamdani and Centroid methods with simple IF and THEN rules. A prototype controller is developed in the laboratory, and the control signals for both PIDTC and F2DTC are generated by the DSPACE DS-1104 controller. The F2DTC provides fewer ripples in flux and torque and less current total harmonic distortion than the PIDTC. Moreover, F2DTC has fast dynamic performance of the IMD as compared with PIDTC. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

In this paper, a pulsewidth modulation (PWM) plus secondary-side phase-shift (SSPS) controlled full-bridge three-port converter (FB-TPC) is proposed for a renewable power system, which is derived by integrating two interleaved buck/boost circuits (IBBC) and a SSPS full-bridge converter (FBC), to interface the energy source, energy storage element, and output load simultaneously. The two switching legs are shared by the IBBC and FBC, which improves the active devices sharing ratio and power density. With PWM plus SSPS control scheme, decoupled power control can be realized and the converter can achieve wide input voltage range power conversion. In addition, zero-voltage switching (ZVS) of both the primary and secondary switches are achieved in a wide range. Furthermore, the circulating current can be greatly eliminated, which helps to reduce conduction losses. Moreover, the voltage stresses on the secondary rectifier are effectively suppressed since the power switches and diodes are clamped to output voltage. The operation principles, output characteristics, ZVS performances, and control strategy are analyzed in detail. Experimental results of a 600-W prototype are provided to verify the effectiveness and the advantages of the proposed converter. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

In this paper, a class-D audio amplifier which combines the advantages of the phase-shifted carrier pulsewidth modulation (PWM) and the multiple-level carrier PWM is proposed with a dual-level dual-phase carrier (DLDPC) PWM. The proposed closed-loop amplifier includes a second-order integrator and a DLDPC triangular wave generator. Two sets of 180° out-of-phase triangular waves are used as carriers, and each set has its respective offset voltage level with nonoverlapping amplitude. By performing the double Fourier analysis, it can be found that the linearity can be enhanced and the distortion can be reduced with the proposed modulation. Experimental results show that the proposed fully differential DLDPC PWM class-D audio amplifier features a total harmonic distortion lower than 0.01% with an output voltage swing of $\pm$5 V. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

In this paper, a multilevel dodecagonal voltage space vector structure with nineteen concentric dodecagons is proposed for the first time. This space vector structure is achieved by cascading two sets of asymmetric three-level inverters with isolated H-bridges on either side of an open-end winding induction motor. The dodecagonal structure is made possible by proper selection of dc link voltages and switching states of the inverters. The proposed scheme retains all the advantages of multilevel topologies as well as the advantages of dodecagonal voltage space vector structure. In addition to that, a generic and simple method for calculation of pulsewidth modulation timings using only sampled reference values ( $v_\alpha$ and $v_\beta$) is proposed. This enables the scheme to be used for any closed-loop application such as vector control. In addition, a new method of switching technique is proposed, which ensures minimum switching while eliminating the fifth- and seventh-order harmonics and suppressing the eleventh and thirteenth harmonics, eliminating the need for bulky filters. The motor phase voltage is a 24-stepped waveform for the entire modulation range thereby reducing the number of switchings of the individual inverter modules. Experimental results for steady-state operation, transient operation, including start-up have been presented and the results of fast Fourier transform analysis is also presented for validating the proposed concept. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

The three-level boost power factor correction (PFC) converter has advantages of lower inductor current ripple and lower switch withstanding voltage compared with the boost PFC converter. Interleaved pulsewidth modulation had been used in the multiphase boost PFC converter. In the literature, interleaved current sensorless control (ICSC) for the multiphase boost PFC converters had been proposed. In this paper, the behavior of the three-level boost PFC converter is first analyzed. The results show that three-level converter has the same average equation as the interleaved boost PFC converter. Then, ICSC is modified for the three-level boost PFC converter with considering the voltage imbalance and the zero-crossing current distortion. The proposed modified ICSC (MICSC) is implemented in a field-programmable gate array board. Simulation results and experimental results are also provided to validate the proposed MICSC. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

A division–summation (D-\mathbf\Sigma) digital control for three-phase inverters to achieve active and reactive power injection has been presented. It can overcome the limitation of abc to dq frame transformation. However, the D-\mathbf\Sigma control requires four sets of control laws to cover four quadrant operations, namely, grid connection (power factor (PF) 1 $\sim\pm$0.866), rectification with PF correction, PF leading (0 \sim$ 0.866), and PF lagging (0 \sim$ −0.866). Moreover, the switching sequences for the four modes are also different from each other, increasing complexity of firmware programming. In this paper, improvement of the control law derivation and region selection for the (D), which can obtain the control law directly. Measured results from a 10-kVA 3 $\phi$ bidirectional inverter have been presented to confirm the improvement. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

This paper proposes a new modulation scheme for the three-level active neutral-point-clamped (ANPC) converter. This scheme yields new commutation loops for the three-level ANPC phase leg, which contain paralleled switching devices during commutation. The new commutation loops have better switching performance with smaller switching stress for some devices. There are also more evenly distributed loss and stress for each switching device on the phase leg. Moreover, the switching states of the new modulation scheme also reduce the conduction loss of the neutral current. In addition, the proposed modulation scheme needs less pulsewidth modulation (PWM) comparators per phase compared with the conventional scheme. The simple gate signal logic can be applied to any sinusoidal PWM or space vector modulation strategies. Double pulse tests for the new commutation loops show the improved switching characteristics under different load current cases. In addition, the quantitative analysis of the system loss breakdown and the phase leg loss distribution verifies the loss reduction and redistribution result. The proposed method is also applied on a 200-kW three-level ANPC converter for verification. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

In this paper, a generalized switching modification method is proposed to reduce the root-mean-square (rms) current flowing into a dc-link capacitor in a dc–dc–ac structure consisting of a boost converter and a three-phase inverter. To analyze the current flowing into the capacitor, we analyze the currents at the respective converter and inverter sides. Based on this analysis, we derive an analytical method to find the modification time between the converter and inverter pulsewidth modulation (PWM) carriers through a Fourier series and approximation to facilitate real-time implementation. Real-time implementation of the modification time calculated by the derived method is described. To verify the validity of the proposed method, experimental results are presented based on a 1-kVA dc–dc–ac prototype. The proposed method has a better capacitor rms current reduction performance than the conventional method in various inverter power factors and PWM strategies. Especially, it has an excellent performance in mid-power factor level (0.95–0.1). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper provides robust $\mathcal {H}_{\infty }$ state feedback controllers suitable for implementation in three-phase grid-connected converters. This control strategy is known to provide optimal rejection of disturbances, but usually leads to high control gains, that may be difficult to be implemented in practice. To mitigate this problem, a linear matrix inequality condition based on slack variables is proposed, which allows to impose bounds on the control gains in a less conservative way than conventional quadratic stability. The performance is proven to be superior to similar $\mathcal {H}_{\infty }$ state feedback controllers in the literature, providing an upper bound for the converter output admittance and experimental grid currents complying with the IEEE Standard 1547. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In domestic induction heating applications, the modulation technique applied to the inverter has a high influence on the acoustic noise emissions. These noise emissions must be avoided, since they may be audible and annoying to the final user. This paper analyzes the acoustic noise emissions that appear when a series half-bridge resonant inverter is operated with a phase-accumulator-based modulator. This modulation technique has the advantage of operating in the frequency domain, and it is compared with the classical pulsewidth modulator regarding the audible noise generated. The frequencies of the tones in the acoustic noise spectrum are theoretically calculated from the parameters of the phase-accumulator-based modulator. The spectral flatness measure is used to quantify the number of cases in which tones are generated by the modulation. Two techniques are applied to the phase-accumulator-based modulator, and their effect is tested. Theoretical results are experimentally verified. [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]

A bidirectional three-phase dc–ac converter with embedded dc–dc converter for bidirectional storage interface is proposed in this paper. With the help of the embedded dc–dc converter, the voltage of the storage battery can vary in a wide range. To minimize the power rating and power losses of the embedded dc–dc converter, a simple carrier-based pulsewidth modulation (PWM) strategy with zero-sequence injection is proposed. By adopting the proposed PWM strategy, only a small ratio of total power needs to be processed by the embedded dc–dc converter, while most of the power is only processed by the three-phase dc–ac stage within a single conversion stage. As a result, quasi single-stage power conversion is achieved to improve the conversion efficiency of the overall dc–ac power system. Principles, characteristics, and implementations of the proposed three-phase dc–ac converter and its PWM strategy are analyzed in detail. The feasibility and effectiveness of the proposed solutions are verified with experimental results. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Model-predictive current control (MPCC) is a promising candidate for modular multilevel converter (MMC) control due to its advantages of direct modeling and fast dynamic response. The conventional MPCC, which obtains the optimal control input by evaluating a cost function for all the possible switching states, may make the MPCC impractical due to the exponentially increasing computation burden with the increasing number of submodules (SMs). On the other hand, the MPCC experiences high load current and circulating current tracking errors, since only one switching state is selected and applied during one control period. To address these issues, this paper proposes an MPCC with phase-shifted pulsewidth modulation (PS-PWM) for improving the steady-state control performance. The arm voltages are considered as a whole to implement the proposed MPCC. The optimal duty cycle is obtained based on the load and circulating current tracking error minimization and applied using the PS-PWM. As a result, the computation burden is unrelated to the number of SMs by avoiding the exhaustive evaluation process for all the possible switching states. A better steady-state performance with smaller tracking errors is achieved with the similar switching frequency, and the tedious tuning process of the weighting factor is eliminated. Experimental results are presented to demonstrate the effectiveness of the proposed MPCC. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper, an automotive onboard heater equalizer is proposed to heat low-temperature batteries and balance cell voltages without the requirement of external power supplies. The proposed integrated topology only needs one MOSFET for one cell, resulting in a compact size and low cost, which can be easily applied to electric vehicles. In particular, all MOSFETs are driven by one high-frequency pulsewidth modulation signal and the batteries can be heated internally by the ohmic and electrochemical losses and warmed externally by the switching and conduction losses of MOSFETs, leading to a high heating speed and efficiency. Further, a thermoelectric model for the internal and external combined heating is developed to provide guidance for the optimized design of the proposed heater. In addition, the proposed topology can realize passive balancing of series-connected battery strings at a higher switching frequency and a smaller duty cycle. Experimental results show that the proposed heater, by generating a periodic ramped discharge current with an rms value of 1.8 C at a switching frequency of 150 kHz, can heat the lithium-ion batteries from −20 to 0 °C within 1.9 min, consuming about 5% of the cell energy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Variable frequency asymmetrical pulsewidth modulation (VFAPWM) is widely used in wireless power transfer (WPT) systems to control the amount of power transferred. This control scheme is also adopted in Qi, one of the world's most well-known wireless charging standards. Conventionally, the analysis of WPT systems is based on first harmonic approximation, which only considers the fundamental harmonic signals. This could be inaccurate for variable frequency asymmetrical pulsewidth-modulated WPT systems because VFAPWM inherently produces multiple harmonics. In this paper, a new analytical technique, called multiple harmonics analysis (MHA), is developed to analyze series–series-compensated WPT systems. The MHA technique is a comprehensive design foundation and provides a set of closed-form solutions to predict quantities, such as zero-voltage switching (ZVS) and voltage gain. New phenomena in ZVS and voltage gain are discovered. The accuracy of MHA is also confirmed by both simulation and experimental measurements. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Discontinuous modulation applied to modular multilevel converters is an effective method for reducing the capacitor voltage ripples. In this paper, the discontinuous modulation is adapted and used in a motor drive application. For proper operation of the converter, a new energy controller is presented, which is suitable for operation with nonsinusoidal reference signals. Experimental results comparing the discontinuous modulation with other techniques operating at low motor speeds are shown. The results demonstrate the effectiveness of the discontinuous modulation on reducing capacitor voltage ripples and power losses. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper presents a modified modular multilevel converter with the three-terminal middle-cells inserted between arms and ac-side for medium voltage applications. It is intended to reduce the submodule capacitor voltage ripples by controlling the high-frequency powers flowing among arm branches for low-frequency output operations without common-mode voltage injected in ac-side. Due to the physical connection among the upper arm, the lower arm and ac-side, the middle-cell can be regarded as the excess degree of freedom to modify the dc-side and ac-side characteristics. Therefore, the common-mode voltage in ac-side can be eliminated by the inverse common-mode voltage produced by the middle-cell in ac-side. Moreover, owing to the unique structure of the middle-cell, the middle-cell capacitor voltage also results in a small ripple due to the high-frequency current flowing into it by proper control. The operation principle and control strategy of the middle-cell has been proposed in detail. Simulation and experimental results have verified the effectiveness of the proposed topology. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Photovoltaic cells require maximum power point tracking (MPPT) algorithms to ensure that the amount of power extracted is maximized. True seeking, direct duty cycle control MPPT algorithms are a simple and straightforward solution that can provide high tracking efficiency. In these algorithms the duty cycle is traditionally modified to reach a new steady state prior performing a new MPPT iteration. Therefore, the MPPT update period must be larger than the converter's settling time to reach a new steady state, which limits the dynamic tracking performance. This paper proposes a novel direct duty cycle control method that does not require the converter to achieve steady state in between MPPT updates. The proposed method benefits from the natural oscillations occurring in the converter to obtain extreme dynamic tracking improvements while maintaining simple implementation with no need of employing temperature or irradiance sensors. The scheme being introduced combines MPPT concepts with large-signal geometric control to achieve a reliable, high-performance solution very suitable for applications with rapidly changing irradiance, such as wearable technology and rooftop electric vehicle (EV). The theoretical analysis is supported by detailed mathematical procedures and validated by simulations and experimental results. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper, a new voltage balancing strategy based on improved carrier-phase-shifted pulsewidth modulation (CPS-PWM) scheme and fundamental frequency sorting algorithm (FFSA) is proposed. FFSA is a salient method which sorts the capacitor voltages at fundamental frequency and utilizes the different charging ability of driving signals to converge the capacitor voltages. Unfortunately, under the CPS-PWM scheme with high carrier frequency, 250 Hz or higher, FFSA cannot bring the capacitor voltage to the nominal value once the unbalance occurs, because there is a little difference remaining in the driving signal's charging ability. To avoid this disadvantage, an improved CPS-PWM scheme is proposed. In this scheme, driving signals with proper phase angle differences are selected to be dealt with logic and/or processing according to the sorting result of FFSA. With the logic processing, new driving signals with obviously different charging abilities are synthesized, which are assigned to the corresponding unbalanced submodules to achieve the balance of capacitor voltages. And several regions for logic processing are set up, where the proper phase angle difference is selected for each region in order to both guarantee the convergence speed and avoid the voltage oscillations. With the proposed scheme, FFSA can be adopted under CPS-PWM with high carrier frequency. Moreover, the merits of FFSA are inherited, such as the reduced computational burden and the elimination of arm current detection. Performance and effectiveness of the proposed strategy are validated by both simulations and experimental results. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Torque ripple caused by zero-sequence current (ZSC) and relatively high switching frequency severely worsens the operating performance of an open-winding permanent-magnet synchronous machine (OW-PMSM) system with common dc bus. In this paper, a novel q-axis current injection method based on the angle-shift-based voltage distribution is proposed for the OW-PMSM system with common dc bus. With the proposed method, torque ripple caused by ZSC can be counteracted by the torque component generated by the injected q-axis current. Meanwhile, the corresponding modulation range is analyzed to investigate the availability of the proposed method. Moreover, in order to reduce the switching frequency, zero vector (111) is no longer necessary to compensate the zero-sequence component and conventional space vector pulsewidth modulation (PWM) with zero vectors (000) and (111) can be simplified. The switching actions in one PWM period can be reduced from 12 to 8. The comparison of losses shows that this strategy can effectively improve the efficiency under both heavy load and high switching frequencies. Finally, the effectiveness of the proposed method is validated through an OW-PMSM experiment with common dc bus. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper, a novel integrated interleaved dual-mode time-sharing inverter (IIDMI) is proposed for grid-tied transformerless photovoltaic (PV) applications. While the dual-mode time-sharing conversion technique ensures minimum losses, the IIDMI also retains the advantages of interleaved topologies, such as low total harmonic distortion of the ac current with reduced filtering requirements, increased power density, and reduced current and thermal stresses of power devices. The leakage current problem, which is a main concern with the transformerless PV inverters, is solved by increasing the frequency of the main side band of the common-mode voltage above the resonance frequency of the common-mode impedance, while avoiding high switching losses. The current control, especially at transitions between the buck and the boost modes of operation, is highly improved by utilizing a fast-response deadbeat control scheme. The working principles of the IIDMI are explained in detail, and a 2.2-kW experimental prototype is implemented to confirm the theoretical achievements. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper, a new method is applied to predict the average value of the phase currents of a two-level voltage source converter. The method uses a suitable model of the converter, the modulation method, and the measurement. The samples given by the analog-to-digital converter (ADC) are used to predict the time progress of the currents in every switching cycle and then calculate its average. This allows removal of the delay introduced by filtering and avoids aliasing in the measurements. The average prediction is contrasted with the pulsewidth modulation (PWM) synchronous sampling method and the sigma-delta ADC with a moving average filter. Applied to a load observer, the method effectively reduces its estimation error. The findings are verified experimentally. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper presents a novel single-phase multicell converter for ac–dc power conversion, which is formed by a series connection of several full-bridge converter stages through passive components. The proposed topology employs a simple control scheme based on the carrier-based sinusoidal pulsewidth modulation technique. Detailed design procedure of the passive filter components are analyzed and discussed. An efficient optimization method based on a differential evolution algorithm is utilized to optimize the filter parameters. Considering the filter structure, active damping is introduced in the control scheme to improve the stability of the overall system, which is later verified by experiments. The systematic design approach of the controller parameter is also highlighted, focusing a specific set of goals. Experimental results for a 1-kW prototype are presented to further validate the concept. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper proposes a modified sensorless control technique for an interior permanent magnet synchronous motor over its full-speed range based on current derivative measurements and fundamental pulsewidth modulation excitation (FPE). The proposed method employs measurement of the current derivative at only one active-voltage vector at low speeds, and at one active-voltage vector and one zero-voltage vector at medium and high speeds during each pulsewidth modulation (PWM) cycle, in contrast to two active- and two zero-voltage vectors in the conventional FPE method. The theoretical analysis is developed based on the three-phase model of the machine. The rotor position and speed are estimated at PWM frequency. In addition, the selection voltage vectors for current derivative measurement as well as the pulse stretching scheme for extending and compensating the selected voltage vectors is proposed in order to improve the accuracy of the current derivative measurement and to minimize the current distortion. The experimental results show that the proposed method results in a considerable improvement of the estimation accuracy at low speeds, a significant reduction of current distortion compared to the conventional FPE method and a full-speed range operation from no load to full load. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper, a parallel structure fractional repetitive control (RC) scheme is proposed to improve the performance of pulsewidth-modulation (PWM) inverters in fractional cases where the sampling rate of the digital control system is not an integral multiple of the fundamental frequency. By introducing a correction factor, the new control scheme increases the control gains for all harmonics and locates poles accurately at targeted harmonic frequencies. As a result, the proposed control scheme achieves better tracking and rejection performance than conventional RC. Moreover, the parallel structure fractional repetitive controller requires less data memory. Dynamic response is also improved. The stability and convergence of this method are proved. Experimental results on a single-phase PWM inverter illustrate the advantages of this control scheme. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

A boost-voltage motor driver with a charge pump (CP) circuit has higher efficiency than the conventional boost-voltage motor driver with a chopper circuit. This paper presents a variable-form carrier-based (VFCB) pulsewidth modulation (PWM) technique for the driver with the CP circuit. This technique has two triangular carriers and a variable-form carrier that is dependent on the voltage command signals. The technique is compared with the space vector modulation (SVM) technique in terms of the number of switching cycles, harmonics in the output voltage, linear modulation range, input power to the CP capacitor, processing time, and efficiency. The VFCB PWM technique is confirmed to operate the driver with the CP circuit at the same performance level as the SVM technique, with shortened processing time. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Model predictive direct power control (MPDPC) has been proposed as an effective alternative to conventional direct power control for pulsewidth-modulation (PWM) rectifiers. However, the sampling frequency of MPDPC still has to be high to achieve satisfactory performance. Furthermore, the grid currents of MPDPC would become highly distorted under unbalanced network conditions. To cope with the problems above, this paper proposes an improved MPDPC for PWM rectifiers, which is able to operate under both balanced and unbalanced grid voltages. By using a new definition of instantaneous reactive power in the predefined cost function, the proposed MPDPC can obtain sinusoidal grid currents and eliminate twice grid-frequency oscillation in both active power and the new reactive power. Neither complicated positive/negative-sequence extraction of grid voltage/current nor power compensation is required. Depending on the desired performance, two variants of the improved MPDPC are proposed and comparatively studied. At the same sampling frequency, the first approach achieves relatively low switching frequency, whereas the second approach obtains lower power ripples. Both simulation and experimental results are presented to confirm the effectiveness of the proposed methods. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Due to the higher attenuation of switching frequency current harmonics, the $LCL$ filter has been widely used in grid-connected inverters. To deal with the resonance of the $LCL$ filter, the capacitor current is usually fed back to damp the resonance actively. However, the computation and pulsewidth modulation (PWM) delays in the digital control system have a significant influence on the active damping method, resulting in poor system robustness. Meanwhile, these delays also reduce the control bandwidth greatly and thus impose a severe limitation on the low-frequency gains. In this paper, a real-time computation method with dual sampling mode is proposed to remove the computation delay from the inner active damping loop and the outer grid-current control loop simultaneously; thus, the system robustness and the control performance can be greatly improved. Moreover, the time duration between the sampling instant and the switching transition of the inverter bridge is extended by the proposed method, which effectively prevents the switching noise distorting the sampled signals. Therefore, the noise immunity of the inverter is also improved greatly. Experimental results from a 6-kW $LCL$-type single-phase grid-connected inverter confirm the theoretical expectations and the effectiveness of the proposed method. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

This paper presents an effective circuit configuration of a multilevel inverter that can increase the number of output voltage levels with a reduced number of circuit components. The proposed seven-level pulsewidth-modulation inverter consists of a single dc voltage source with a series of capacitors, diodes, active switches for synthesizing output voltage levels, and an H-bridge cell. After theoretical analysis, we carry out computer-aided simulations and experiments to verify the validity of the proposed approach. Here, we also introduce a modified switching strategy to solve the capacitor voltage unbalancing that occurs in series-connected capacitors. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

The open-winding configuration with a common dc bus provides a zero-sequence current loop which allows the zero-sequence current flowing. With the application in permanent magnet synchronous generator (PMSG) systems, the existing zero-sequence current is inevitably caused by the common mode voltage generated by pulsewidth modulation (PWM) techniques and the third back EMF by the inherent flux harmonic component. With the mathematical modeling analysis, the zero-sequence equivalent circuit based on the PMSG system is proposed. Meanwhile, a zero-sequence current suppression controller is designed. In this paper, a zero vector redistribution PWM technique is proposed. With this technique, the dwell times of zero vectors (000) and (111) for both converters are determined. Meanwhile, it gives the zero-sequence component overmodulation analysis. Both the control method and improved PWM technique are implemented in a 1-kW open-winding PMSG experimental setup, and the experimental results are discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

This paper presents a sensorless flux adaption-direct torque control (FADTC) for a new flux-modulated permanent-magnet (FMPM) wheel motor, in which space-vector pulsewidth modulation (SVPWM) and a wide-speed sliding mode observer (SMO) are adopted. SVPWM-FADTC has several advantages over conventional hysteresis direct torque control, such as low torque/flux ripples in motor drive and reduced direct axis current when the motor is operated at a light or a sudden increased load. To achieve the sensorless control of SVPWM-FADTC system, a wide-speed SMO is proposed. Compared with conventional SMO, system chattering is improved, the low-pass filter and the phase compensation are eliminated, and the estimation accuracy of the rotor position at low speed is enhanced. Numerical simulations and experiments with a 2-kW FMPM wheel motor are carried out. The results verify the feasibility and effectiveness of the proposed sensorless SVPWM-FADTC method adopted by the FMPM wheel motor. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Three-phase multilevel (ML) inverters are used in many medium- and high-power applications such as motor drives and grid-connected systems. Despite the fact that numerous pulsewidth modulation (PWM) techniques for ML inverters have been developed, the impact of these modulation schemes on the peak-to-peak output current ripple amplitude has not been addressed yet. In this paper, analysis and comparison of current ripple for two-level (2L) and three-level (3L) voltage source inverters are given. Reference is made to optimal and popular modulation, so-called centered PWM, easily obtained by both carrier-based modulation (phase disposition, with proper common-mode voltage injection) and space vector modulation (nearest three vectors). It is shown that the peak-to-peak current ripple amplitude in 3L inverters can be determined on the basis of the ripple in 2L inverters, obtaining the same results as by directly analyzing the output voltage waveforms of the 3L inverters. This procedure can be readily extended to higher level numbers. The proposed analytical developments are verified by both numerical simulations and experimental tests. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

To generate numerous gating signals at a fast rate, industry controllers of modular multilevel converter (MMC) usually implement the pulse generation function in field-programmable gate array (FPGA) boards. Many methods of submodule (SM) capacitor voltage balance control (VBC) require knowing the gating signals and are therefore also implemented in the same FPGA. As the number of SMs in an MMC increases, both the latency and required resources for the implementation could become too large to meet the control requirements or fit into the FPGA. Conventional methods impose a limitation on the design of large MMC. This paper presents a pulse generation and VBC method that is optimized for FPGA implementation. With least comparison operation, this method produces the same valve voltage as other modulation methods, and it removes the need for a sorting operation in VBC, which is the main difficulty in FPGA implementation. The proposed method is implemented in the FPGA-based RT-LAB real-time simulator and tested in a hardware-in-the-loop setup. The performance of this method is validated in various tests. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Bulky electrolytic capacitors, which are often needed in dc systems to filter out voltage ripples, considerably reduce power density and system reliability. In this paper, a ripple eliminator, which is a bidirectional buck–boost converter terminated with an auxiliary capacitor, is adopted to replace bulky capacitors in dc systems. The voltage ripples on the terminals (i.e., the dc bus) can be transferred to the auxiliary capacitor, and the ripples on the auxiliary capacitor can vary in a wide range. Moreover, the average voltage of the auxiliary capacitor can be controlled either lower or higher than the dc-bus voltage, which offers a wide operational range for the ripple eliminator and also the possibility of further reducing the auxiliary capacitance. Hence, the total capacitance required can be much smaller than the originally needed. After proposing a control strategy to transfer the voltage ripples to the auxiliary capacitor, three control strategies are proposed to regulate the auxiliary-capacitor voltage to maintain proper operation. Intensive experimental results are presented to demonstrate the performance. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Today's variable-speed drives are usually operated close to their maximum tolerable conditions. The fast switching of modern power electronic devices leads to high stress of the winding insulation. As a result, an insulation breakdown may lead to sudden breakdown and high economic loss. To avoid unpredictable downtimes and enable repair on demand, monitoring of the insulation health state is getting more and more important. This paper proposes a method to monitor changes in the insulation health state by evaluating the machine high-frequency properties. The deterioration of the insulation condition is usually linked with a change of insulation capacity and thus also influences high-frequency properties. Initiating a voltage step excitation of the machine by the switching of the inverter, the high-frequency properties can be identified by measuring the resulting current response. This response is usually seen as current signal ringing and contains the machine high-frequency information. By applying signal processing tools, changes in the high-frequency information are extracted, and an insulation state indicator is derived. The applicability of the method is verified by measurements on two test machines (5.5 kW and 1.4 MW) having different power ratings as well as different insulation systems. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Many recent multilevel inverter papers end up with voltage total harmonic distortion (THD) values obtained from numerical voltage spectrum calculations (measurements). Motivated by IEEE Standard 519, a part of the multilevel research community uses a limited harmonic count to evaluate the multilevel voltage quality. First, this causes significant voltage THD underestimation, particularly for relatively high frequency PWM. Second, for a three-phase star-connected balanced load with an isolated neutral and phase symmetric modulation strategy, the calculated load line and phase voltage THD become different. However, simple considerations show that line and phase voltage THDs are essentially the same in this case. It may be difficult to judge about the multilevel voltage quality given a numerically calculated (measured) voltage THD value that may be subject to computation errors. Presented are simple smooth hyperbolic voltage THD upper and lower bound approximations for single- and three-phase inverters with nearest synchronous switching. They are valid for arbitrary modulation indices and uniformly distributed level counts and may practically serve as good reference values. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

A modular current sharing control scheme is proposed in this paper to attain good current distribution between equally rated parallel-connected converters. In this scheme, local information is used by each inverter to achieve the required current control with minimal information sharing between the converters. Unlike conventional current sharing control methods that use a stationary or rotating reference frame representation, the converter currents in the proposed controller are represented by the magnitude of the current space vector. As a result, each converter employs only one proportional–integral compensator to share the load current. The operation of the new current sharing control scheme is demonstrated using two different pulsewidth modulation (PWM) control strategies: conventional space-vector PWM and discontinuous PWM. A mathematical analysis of the proposed control scheme is presented, and the performance of the controller is experimentally verified using a 2.5-kVA test rig. The results show excellent current sharing characteristics with minimal communications between the parallel-connected converters. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]