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An adaptive control of DPWM implementable in clamped-three-level inverters with two strings of photovoltaic (PV) panels in cascaded connection is proposed in this paper. The proposed modulation is developed based on the so-called circuit-level decoupling concept. It is able to provide balance line voltage even under unbalanced dc links. The unequal dc voltages appeared due to asymmetric maximum point of power trackings (MPPTs) are controlled by proper injection of zero-sequence voltage to the common mode voltage, while the total dc voltage is regulated based on the voltage commands generated by the MPPT of each string. Thus, both PV strings are able to be operated based on their MPPTs while there is almost no low-order harmonic distortion at the inverter output current. Compared with the previous methods, the high capability of the proposed method is evaluated by simulation study and experimental tests. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper investigates a multilevel inverter composed of series/parallel-connected H-bridges. The presented structure can be used for applications in which the use of semiconductor switches with low-voltage and low-current ratings is intended. A comprehensive system model, an overall control strategy to adjust the output voltage with constant magnitude and frequency, and a level-shifted PWM (LS-PWM) strategy based on a voltage vectors unidimensional analysis and a plane analysis are presented. The LS-PWM is capable of mitigating the low-frequency circulating current, thus generating multilevel voltage signals with low harmonic distortion, maximum number of levels, and low dv/dt. In addition, considering a wide range of values of voltages and currents and various power levels, the total converter losses are reduced compared with the conventional multilevel converters. Two multilevel conventional inverters with the same number of semiconductor switches are used for comparison. Simulation and experimental results demonstrate the feasibility of the studied converter. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

An optimal current control strategy for asymmetrical hybrid multilevel inverters (MLIs) is proposed in this paper enabling their use on motor drives, static synchronous compensators, and photovoltaic and wind generators, where a fast and precise current regulation is required. A key feature of these highly efficient converters is that an ac machine (motor or transformer) operates according to an open-end winding configuration, connected on one side to a main MLI and, on the other side, to an auxiliary two-level inverter (TLI). The first efficiently controls the main power stream operating at a low switching frequency, while the TLI acts as an active power filter, exploiting a conventional high-frequency two-level pulsewidth modulation (PWM) technique. The proposed control scheme optimally exploits the key features of the two inverters by suitably sharing the control task. In fact, a predictive current control is assigned to the MLI, which can be accomplished by low switching frequency operations, while the high switching frequency of the PWM-operated TLI is exploited to accomplish a fast and precise closed-loop current control, processing only a part of the power stream flowing through the system, thus producing low power losses. Simulations and experimental results confirm the consistency of the proposed approach. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In order to prevent the power switching devices (e.g., an insulated-gate bipolar transistor, IGBT) from shoot-through in voltage-source converters during a switching period, the dead time is added either in the hardware driver circuits of the IGBTs or implemented in software in pulse width modulation (PWM) schemes. Both solutions will contribute to a degradation of the injected current quality. As a consequence, the harmonics induced by the dead time (referred to as “dead-time harmonics” hereafter) have to be compensated in order to achieve a satisfactory current quality, as required by standards. In this paper, the emission mechanism of dead-time harmonics in single-phase PWM inverters is, thus, presented considering the modulation schemes in detail. More importantly, a repetitive controller has been adopted to eliminate the dead-time effect in single-phase grid-connected PWM converters. The repetitive controller has been plugged into a proportional-resonant-based fundamental-frequency current controller so as to mitigate the dead-time harmonics and also to maintain the control of the fundamental-frequency grid current in terms of dynamics. Simulations and experiments are provided, which confirm that the repetitive controller can effectively compensate the dead-time harmonics and other low-order distortions, and also, it is a simple method without hardware modifications. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A method for the seamless transition of three-phase inverters switched between grid-tied and stand-alone modes of operation is presented in this paper. In this method, only the inverter current and voltage sensors are utilized, and no control over the grid-side static transfer switch is needed. The presented method contains two strategies for grid-tied-to-stand-alone and stand-alone-to-grid-tied transitions. In the stand-alone-to-grid-tied transition strategy, a novel algorithm is presented for estimating the grid angle nearly instantaneously, which allows the three-phase inverter to respond very quickly if the grid and point-of-common-coupling voltages are out of phase. This fast response allows the inverter to effectively eliminate the transient overcurrent that would normally occur if it was connected to the grid without first being synchronized. The fast response also allows the inverter to return to normal operation very quickly after such an event. The strategy for the seamless transition from grid-tied to stand-alone mode is also presented. These strategies have been verified through experiments, and the results are presented in this paper. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

This paper proposes a novel modulation technique and a new balancing control strategy for a single-phase five-level flying-capacitor (FC)-based active-neutral-point-clamped (ANPC) converter. The proposed modulator can control the FC voltage to follow the requested reference value and simultaneously generate the required ac output voltage regardless of the values of the dc capacitor voltages of the converter. By implementing this method, smaller values of the dc-link capacitor and FC can be used even in applications that could experience ripple or transient in the capacitor voltage. In a single-phase five-level ANPC converter applications, where the capacitors can experience pulsation power and dc-link balancing issues, such as grid-connected photovoltaic system, the selection of the reference voltage value for the FC can play an important role to balance the average values of the dc-link capacitor voltage. The proposed new control strategy uses a new reference voltage for the FC to be applied by the new modulator to have an average balanced dc-link voltages as well as an ac output voltage with good power quality. Simulation studies and experimental results demonstrate the effectiveness of the proposed modulation technique and control strategy even with relatively small dc capacitors to produce high-quality output voltage and current waveforms while maintaining an average balanced dc-link voltages. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]