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Cascaded bidirectional dc–ac converters are commonly used in uninterruptible power supply applications and battery chargers for electric vehicles. Power conversion units for such applications employ a large electrolytic capacitor at high-voltage dc bus, which not only reduces the lifetime but also adds to the weight of the converter. In this paper, a novel bidirectional dual active bridge cascaded three-phase converter (DABCC) with six-pulse dc link is proposed. Also, a new closed-loop control scheme to implement the six-pulse modulation (SPM) technique in DABCC is proposed. The advantages of the proposed control scheme in DABCC are that the electrolytic capacitor is eliminated and is replaced with a low-value film capacitor resulting in increased reliability, compactness, and reduced cost. SPM technique also increases the dc bus utilization and decreases the inverter average switching frequency to 33% when compared with the conventional sine pulse-width modulation (SPWM). Harmonic components introduced in the pole voltages of the SPM-modulated DABCC due to inverter dead time are analyzed, and a resonant controller is designed to mitigate them. Also, root mean square current stress for high-voltage dc-link capacitor is studied, and it is shown that the capacitor requirement for SPM modulation is lower than the conventional SPWM. To validate the proposed control scheme, an 800-W proof-of-concept laboratory hardware prototype is fabricated and experimental results are demonstrated. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

In this paper, a robust voltage control is designed for a floating interleaved boost converter with high voltage gain. The proposed controller has an inner loop based on super-twisting sliding mode algorithm, which has continuous control signal and the sliding surface is defined for the inductor current. The reference current value is generated by active disturbance rejection control (ADRC) algorithm in the outer loop, based on the output voltage error. The stability of the sliding mode inner loop and the ADRC outer loop are proven using Lyapunov stability theorem and Routh–Hurwitz criteria, respectively. The robustness of the proposed controller is analyzed in depth, and validated by the simulations and experimental results obtained with a 100 W prototype converter. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Paralleling power converters is a common practice in industries to enhance total power rating, reliability, and availability of the system. In case of fault occurring in systems with parallel converters, the faulty power converter can be isolated and the system can still be operated at reduced power level. In this paper, a grid-connected power converter consisting of two parallel H-bridge converters with low ground leakage current is considered. Two contingency configurations, that are also of low ground leakage current, are proposed to enhance the availability of the system. This is done by reconfiguring the power circuit to a single H-bridge in the case of failure in one of the bridges. The power converter is experimentally tested with the proposed configurations for experimental validation. The results show that the second configuration has better performance in terms of power loss and current total harmonic distortion when operating at lower power level. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper proposes a novel automatic mode transition control strategy for multiple inverters to operate in grid-connected and standalone modes. When grid is available, these inverters feed power the grid by operating in current control mode. Upon grid failure, all inverters automatically shift to droop control mode for achieving proportional power sharing and shift back to current control mode when the grid becomes available. The synthesis of dual structure control algorithms of various inverters is achieved using novel state machines. These state machines are designed to facilitate smooth mode transition of the inverters. In this way, the control signals for mode transition are generated by state machines specific to each inverter. Unlike existing control methods, the proposed method neither requires communication-based supervisory control of inverters nor it requires dedicated storage facility for achieving smooth mode transition. The proposed control strategy is tested on a simulation model as well as an experimental prototype multi-inverter system. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

This paper proposes a new nine-level inverter for medium- and high-power applications. The proposed topology comprises of a three-level (3L) active neutral-point-clamped (ANPC) inverter connected in series with a floating capacitor (FC) fed H-bridge. Besides, two additional switches operating at line frequency are appended across the dc link of the 3L ANPC structure. Compared with conventional hybrid cascaded inverters, the primary advantage of this addition is doubling of the resulting root mean square output voltage. This amelioration is achieved while preserving the standard 3L ANPC and H-bridge structures with minimum topological modification. A simple logic-gate-based voltage balancing scheme is developed to regulate the FC voltage. The proposed voltage balancing method is independent of load power factor, inverter modulation index, and can balance the voltage across FC instantaneously. The step-by-step formulation of logical expressions for the generation of gating pulses is deliberated in detail and can be generalized for any $n$-level inverter. Further, simulation results as well as the experimental measurements obtained from the laboratory prototype are presented to validate the effectiveness and practicability of the proposed configuration. Finally, the notable merits of the proposed inverter over the prior art topologies is established through a comprehensive comparative study. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

This paper proposes a control method to balance capacitor voltages in a four-switch single-stage two-phase-switched-reluctance motor drive with integrated power factor correction during startup and at low speeds. Initial alignment process is incorporated for switched-reluctance machine before startup. However, the phase currents are unbalanced during that time. This will cause overvoltage on dc capacitors in split-ac configuration leadings to their failure. This problem also exists when the motor speed is very low, as observed in the startup process of compressors. Based on a unified model, an effective control method is proposed to eliminate the voltage difference between the capacitors. This method does not require any additional circuits or components. It also does not affect the performance during normal mode of operation. Experiments are performed to verify the feasibility of the control method. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

A conventional Flyback converter's controller is based on the primary side of the coupled inductor–requiring isolated coupling for both the output voltage measurement and for any synchronous rectification gate signal. A novel communication approach is proposed here, whereby the need for such signal coupling is eliminated by moving the controller to the secondary side and communicating back to the primary switch through the coupled inductor itself. This simultaneously allows direct access to the output voltage, reduced component count, synchronous rectification, and soft primary switch turn-on without optoisolator propagation delay or additional magnetic coupling. This paper presents a novel drain–source voltage sensing method that provides reliable turn-on signals for the primary switch along with the principles of the secondary-side control. Concept feasibility is proven using a 65 W demonstrator with a simple constant-on-time control scheme. The benefits, limitations, and suggested improvements are presented. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

This paper presents a single-stage solar photovoltaic (SPV) system utilizing an adaptive control scheme. The SPV system includes SPV array, voltage source converter (VSC), ripple filter, nonlinear loads, and a distribution network. The proposed SPV system feeds the active power to the distribution system, provides an effective use of SPV array and mitigation of load harmonics currents. The SPV system with an incremental conductance based control scheme is used for obtaining the maximum power from the SPV array and an adaptive control scheme to control the switching pulses of the VSC. In addition, it utilizes a SPV feed-forward loop to improve the dynamic response and reduces the burden on the proportional-integral controller by regulating dc bus voltage. Test results are presented to validate the control, design, and response of SPV system with various states. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

This paper investigates the utilization of two different six-leg configurations of single-phase to three-phase converters. One of the topologies is transformerless and the other is transformer based. The studied converters allow feeding the load voltage with sinusoidal voltages with constant amplitude and frequency, and to operate with sinusoidal grid current with high power factor. The system model and pulse-width modulation techniques for one of the topologies are given. Control strategies for both topologies are provided. The studied topologies are compared with the conventional in terms of dc-link specification, voltages harmonic distortions, semiconductor losses, and other characteristics. Simulation and experimental results are provided to illustrate the operation of the systems. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

A digital predictive current controller for a single-phase grid-side power electronics converter employed in photovoltaic (PV) systems is presented in this paper. A disturbance estimator is employed with the controller in order to minimize its sensitivity to any parameter variation, as well as to reject grid-side disturbances. The design of the controller and the estimator are carried out using the pole placement method. The performance of the developed current controller was tested and verified experimentally using a 5.4-kW grid-connected PV system. These experiments are carried out for different levels of power delivered to the grid under different variation in the system parameters. In addition, other controllers used for interconnected PV systems are also tested to highlight the advantages of the developed current controller. The testing results illustrate the capability of the developed current controller to provide accurate, fast, and robust responses with negligible sensitivity to parameters variations and disturbances on the grid side. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Single-phase pulse-width modulation (PWM) rectifier is commonly used in a high-speed railway electric traction system. Occurrence of unexpected failure in the sensors of the detection system may lead to feedback values deviation and system degradation, which can be extremely detrimental to the operation safety of the electric locomotive. This paper presents a fast and reliable fault diagnosis and fault resilient control strategy for catenary current and dc-link voltage sensor faults in the control system for an electric traction single-phase PWM rectifier. Sliding mode observers are designed to produce analytical redundancy. In order to avoid unobservable states and fluctuation introduced by discrete dynamics in observer design, a novel description for switching variables is presented in system modeling. Normalized residuals are generated using measured and observed values. The fault diagnosis unit proposed can detect and isolate three types of sensor faults online by comparing residuals with thresholds. System reconfiguration is realized by substituting the observed values for the information of faulty sensors. Simulation and experimental results are demonstrated to validate the effectiveness of the strategy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A novel hybrid five-level voltage-source converter for high-efficiency applications is investigated in this paper. Compared with traditional multilevel converters, this hybrid multilevel converter generates desired staircase voltage levels with a reduced number of power devices and isolated drivers at higher voltage levels. It has redundant switching state combinations in hybrid multilevel converter, which makes it easy to balance flying capacitor voltages and realize fault-tolerant operation. A voltage-balancing control strategy based on switching state redundancies is presented for the hybrid multilevel converter to generate desired levels and also keep voltage balance of flying capacitors at the same time. The performance of the hybrid multilevel converter under various operating conditions is investigated in MATLAB/Simulink. The effectiveness of the proposed hybrid multilevel converter is validated by experiment results. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper presents a new control strategy for a modified cascade multilevel inverter used in drivetrain operations. The proposed inverter is a three-phase bridge with its dc link fed by a dc source (battery), and each phase series-connected to an H-bridge fed with a floating dc source (ultracapacitor). To exploit the potentials of the inverter for enhanced drivetrain performance, a sophisticated yet efficient modulation method is proposed to optimize energy transfer between the dc sources and with the load (induction motor) during typical operations, and to minimize switching losses and harmonics distortion. Detailed analysis of the proposed control method is presented, which is supported by experimental verifications. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper proposes a multilevel shunt active power filter (SAPF) to deal with either harmonic current compensation or reactive power compensation. Such a device can reduce the harmonic distortion at the grid currents provided by nonlinear loads located in stiff systems. The proposed SAPF is based on three-phase bridge converters connected to cascaded single-phase transformers. The transformer arrangement permits the compensator to use a single dc-link unit, which simplifies the control strategy and the number of sensors. The multilevel waveforms are generated by using a suitable pulse-width modulation (PWM) strategy associated with the transformer turns ratio. Modularity and simple maintenance make the proposed SAPF an attractive solution compared with some conventional configurations. The model, the PWM technique, and the control strategy are presented, as well as studies considering harmonic distortion and semiconductor losses estimation. Simulation and experimental results are presented in order to validate theoretical approaches. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper depicts an accident that happened in 2010 in a Brazilian chemical plant. A combination of different events, installations, and commissioning errors coupled with equipment failures involving the primary substation resulted in catastrophic failure. A single-phase failure of a 138-kV disconnect switch, during closing, initiated events and phenomena that resulted in a complete plant shutdown. This paper will walk the reader through the events, forensics analysis, and power system analysis that allowed the authors to identify what happened, how it happened, and what to do to prevent it from happening again. This paper will show how the anatomy of the problem, involving equipment failure, single-phase arcing, switching transients, overvoltage, capacitive coupling, transferred surge voltages, ungrounded system, transient overvoltage due to an arcing ground fault on an ungrounded system, insulation coordination, flashover, and lack of adequate surge protection, all of which resulted in a catastrophic failure of an arc resistant switchgear and a potentially serious arc flash incident. The research followed some steps that will be commented on here as well as the lessons learned. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper presents a novel approach to achieve both tight dc voltage regulation and direct power factor control by applying general direct space vector modulation (G-SVM) of matrix converter theory to a three-phase ac–dc matrix rectifier. The reduced form of G-SVM and the derivation of the three-phase ac–dc matrix rectifier from a three-phase ac–ac matrix converter are described and theoretically justified. The proposed matrix converter features intrinsic buck conversion, tight output voltage regulation via modulation, inherent capability of four-quadrant operation, elimination of the bulky storage component on the dc bus, and sinusoidal input current. Moreover, the reduced G-SVM-controlled three-phase ac–dc matrix rectifier can achieve leading, lagging, or unity input power factor by simple and direct control of the input current displacement angle. This significantly benefits the potential application of the reduced G-SVM-controlled three-phase matrix rectifier to automotive, aircraft, ship, and other three-phase standby dc supplies. In these applications, the unity power factor control is indispensable when the dc load widely changes. Simulated and experimental verification for this strategy has been presented and discussed in this paper. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

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 discusses a new circuit configuration and a new control method for a single-phase ac–dc converter with power factor (P.F.) correction and a power pulsation decoupling function. The proposed converter can achieve low total harmonic distortion (THD) on the input current and the power pulsation decoupling function between the input and output sides, which allows low output voltage ripple even on a small output energy buffer at the same time using an active buffer. Therefore, the proposed converter does not require large smoothing capacitors or large smoothing inductors. The buffering energy is stored by a small capacitor, which controls the variation of the capacitor voltage through the active buffer. In this paper, the fundamental operations of the proposed converter are investigated experimentally. The experimental results reveal that the input current THD is 1.44%, the rate of the output voltage ripple is 6.33%, and the input P.F. is over 99%. In addition, a maximum efficiency of over 96% is obtained for a 750-W prototype converter. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Energy harvesting has become a popular source for low-power electronic systems such as wireless sensors and biomedical implants. Energy can be extracted from a number of ambient conditions such as vibration, solar, and thermal gradient. Just like renewable sources, the associated switching power converters can be controlled to harvest maximum power from these miniature systems. However, conventional schemes, such as a conventional maximum power point tracking (MPPT) controller for solar cells, are complex and cannot be utilized in low-power energy systems due to their cost and power requirements. In this paper, a novel optimum energy harvesting scheme is proposed, which controls the duty cycle of the converter to maximize the output power of the system. The control system employs only simple mixed-signal components and can be applied to low-power systems. The proposed scheme does not depend on the characteristics of a specific source and is applicable for different energy systems. In this paper, it is utilized to achieve optimized energy harvesting for two completely different fixed excitation systems, namely, a low-voltage vibration-based electromagnetic microgenerator and a miniature solar cell array. Both simulation and experimental results are provided to validate the proposed scheme. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

In this paper, the recently introduced model predictive pulse pattern control (\MP^3\C) strategy is adapted to the ACS 2000 medium-voltage (MV) drive of ABB. The drive system consists of a five-level active neutral-point-clamped (ANPC-5L) rectifier, an inverter, and an induction machine (IM). The inverter is fed with offline-computed optimized pulse patterns (OPPs) that produce minimum harmonic distortion in the stator windings of the ac machine. An optimal stator flux trajectory is calculated from these OPPs, and a trajectory controller tracks it in real time. In the proposed approach, trajectory tracking is based on model predictive control: a constrained optimal control problem is formulated and solved in real time in a computationally efficient manner. An event-based prediction horizon is employed in order to ensure fast tracking of the stator flux trajectory. The advantages of the proposed method are optimal steady-state behavior in terms of harmonic distortion and fast torque response. The method was tested on an MV ANPC-5L inverter coupled to a general-purpose 1.21-MW IM. Experimental results were obtained from this industrial setup, and they are presented in this paper to demonstrate the high performance of \MP^3\C. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Temporary voltage sags in the side of network supply voltage are the main cause of untimely stops of automated systems that use adjustable speed drives (ASDs). In this context, this paper presents an analysis of a new hybrid three-phase rectifier which was designed to correct the power factor and to promote voltage-sag ride-through capability to ASDs. In order to prove the effectiveness of the proposed solution, this paper shows experimental results for three case studies, evaluating the performance of the proposed hybrid rectifier under voltage-sag conditions. In all analyzed cases, it was proved that the proposed solution is efficient and can be very attractive for high-power applications. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

This paper presents a theoretical study with experimental validation of a circulating-current suppression method for parallel operation of three-phase voltage-source inverters (VSI), which may be suitable for modular parallel uninterruptible power supply systems or hybrid ac/dc microgrid applications. The basic concept of the proposed circulating-current suppression method is to modify the original current references by using the current difference among the parallel inverters. In the proposed approach, both cross circulating current and zero-sequence circulating current are considered, and are added into the conventional droop plus virtual impedance control. In the control architecture, the reference voltages of the inverters are generated by the primary control loop, which consists of a droop control and a virtual impedance. The secondary control is used to compensate the voltage drop on the virtual impedance. Furthermore, a circulating-current control loop is added to improve the average current-sharing performance among parallel VSIs. Experimental results are presented to show the effectiveness of the proposed control method to suppress both cross and zero-sequence circulating currents. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper proposes and investigates a new three-phase ac–dc–ac multilevel conversion system obtained from cascaded three-leg converters. Such configuration presents advantages in terms of reduced switch blocking voltages and consequently lower dc-link voltage rating. Operating principles, a pulse-width modulation (PWM) technique based on vector approach, and a control strategy are presented. The operation with different dc-link voltage values and a balancing method are discussed, and is supported by simulation and experimental results. The PWM technique is able to generate multilevel voltage waveforms, which permits reducing the switching frequency stress leading to reduced semiconductor losses. Simulation results are used to compare the proposed configuration with a conventional solution in terms of harmonic distortion and semiconductor losses. Experimental results demonstrate the feasibility of the studied converter, and were obtained by using a downscaled prototype with insulated gate bipolar transistors with dedicated drives and a digital signal processor with appropriated plug-in boards and sensors. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

In this paper, a novel space-vector pulse-width modulation (PWM) scheme for reducing the common-mode voltage (CMV) in the three-phase five-level active neutral-point clamped (5L-ANPC) inverter is proposed, where only the 55 selected voltage vectors among the entire 125 that produce low values of the CMV are utilized. This PWM scheme can significantly reduce the CMV without the increase of switching losses and total harmonic distortion of the output voltages. With the 55 selected voltage vectors, the inverter can still operate up to the maximum modulation index. In addition, the capacitor voltages are controlled by redundant switches of the 5L-ANPC inverters. It has been shown that the peak value of the CMV is decreased to one-twelfth of the dc-link voltage from the simulation and experimental results. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Single-inductor multiple-output (SIMO) switching dc–dc power converter architecture is a cost-effective alternative to multiple individual switching power converters solution in many power distribution system applications where multiple voltage rails are required at reduced cost. However, with multiple output voltage rails coupled to the same switching node, the SIMO power converters suffer from cross regulation between the multiple outputs, which complicates the closed-loop controller design of the SIMO converter and degrades regulation performance. In this paper, a power-multiplexed (PM) control scheme is proposed aiming to completely decouple the operations of multiple outputs from one another. The proposed PM control scheme results in eliminating the cross regulation among the multiple outputs while maintaining desired voltage regulation performance for each output under both steady-state and dynamic operations. Low-cost microcontroller or analog circuitries can be used to implement the proposed controller. Experimental proof of concept prototype results verify the feasibility and advantages of the proposed controller. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

This paper proposes an input voltage sensorless control algorithm for three-phase active boost rectifiers. Using this approach, the input ac-phase voltages can be accurately estimated from the fluctuations of other measured state variables and preceding switching state information from converter dynamics. Furthermore, the proposed control strategy reduces the input current harmonics of an ac–dc three-phase boost power factor correction (PFC) converter by injecting an additional common-mode duty ratio term to the feedback controllers’ outputs. This additional duty compensation term cancels the unwanted input harmonics, caused by the floating potential between ac source neutral and dc link negative, without requiring any access to the neutral point. A 6-kW (continuous power)/10-kW (peak power) three-phase boost PFC prototype using SiC-based semiconductor switching devices is designed and developed to validate the proposed control algorithm. The experimental results show that an input power factor of 0.999 with a conversion efficiency of 98.3%, total harmonic distortion as low as 4%, and a tightly regulated dc-link voltage with 1% ripple can be achieved. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

In LLC-based onboard battery charging architectures used in plug-in electric vehicles (PEV), the dc link voltage can be actively regulated to follow the battery pack voltage so that the LLC converter can operate in proximity of resonant frequency and achieve high efficiencies over the wide range of battery pack voltage. However, conventional boost-type power factor correction (PFC) converters are unable to provide ultrawide dc link voltages since their output voltages should always be larger than their input voltages. This paper proposes a Silicon Carbide (SiC)-based onboard PEV charger using single-ended primary-inductor converter (SEPIC) PFC converter followed by an isolated LLC resonant converter. With the proposed charger architecture, the SEPIC PFC converter is able to provide an ultrawide range for dc link voltage, and consequently enhance the efficiency of the LLC stage by ensuring operation in proximity of resonant frequency. A 1-kW SiC-based prototype is designed to validate the proposed idea. The experimental result shows that the SEPIC PFC converter achieves unity power factor, 2.72% total harmonic distortion, and 95.3% peak conversion efficiency. The LLC converter achieves 97.1% peak efficiency and always demonstrates a very high efficiency across the ultrawide dc-link voltage range. The overall efficiency of the charger is 88.5% to 93.5% from 20% of the rated load to full load. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper identifies the characteristics of a current source inverter operating in discontinuous conduction mode, and proposes a new multiobjective pulse-width modulation (PWM) method to mitigate voltage boosting and harmonic distortion effects. The method takes into account load impedance effects. Controls are also developed to enable transition between the multiobjective PWM method and conventional PWM as the current source inverter operates in discontinuous and continuous modes of operation. The concept is verified experimentally on a 3 kW test bed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A multilevel boost power factor correction (PFC) rectifier is presented in this paper controlled by cascaded controller and multicarrier pulse width modulation technique. The presented topology has less active semiconductor switches compared to similar ones reducing the number of required gate drives that would shrink the manufactured box significantly. A simple controller has been implemented on the studied converter to generate a constant voltage at the output while generating a five-level voltage waveform at the input without connecting the load to the neutral point of the dc bus capacitors. Multicarrier pulse-width modulation technique has been used to produce switching pulses from control signal at a fixed switching frequency. Multilevel voltage waveform harmonics has been analyzed comprehensively which affects the harmonic contents of input current and the size of required filters directly. Full experimental results confirm the good dynamic performance of the proposed five-level PFC boost rectifier in delivering power from ac grid to the dc loads while correcting the power factor at the ac side as well as reducing the current harmonics remarkably. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Current sharing controller/functionality is commonly utilized for multiphase converters to achieve current balancing between converter phases. Conventional current sharing control schemes generally require sensing the current of each phase, leading to increased size and cost in addition to issues associated with current sensing inaccuracies. A sensorless current sharing control scheme is proposed in this paper that utilizes the difference between the input capacitor voltage ripple values to indicate the phases' current distribution status. The duty-cycle value of each phase is autotuned in a way to minimize the difference between the input capacitor voltage ripple values based on a single voltage sensing point, which results in equal current sharing with no need for current sensing. In addition, the input capacitor voltage ripple sensing does not need to be very accurate, and the sinusoidal frequency component of interest of the ripple is obtained by using a low-cost bandpass filter for improved ripple sensing resolution and noise immunity. Experimental results obtained from a digitally controlled two-phase synchronous buck converter prototype are presented to validate the feasibility of the proposed concept. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

The conventional current-source inverter has two major problems: unidirectional power flow and voltage boost operation, which make it impossible to be used in many applications, such as hybrid electric vehicles and general-purpose variable-speed motor drives. Z-source inverters (ZSIs) can solve both problems. Quasi-ZSIs (qZSIs) were recently proposed as an important improvement to traditional ZSIs. Besides the advantages inherited from ZSIs, qZSIs also have several of their own merits. This paper presents a comprehensive study on the new features of current-fed qZSI, including the advantageous buck–boost function, improved reliability, reduced passive component ratings, and unique regeneration capability. The current-fed qZSIs are bidirectional with an additional diode, unlike the voltage-fed ZSI that needs a switch to achieve bidirectional power flow. A modified space vector pulse-width-modulation method is proposed, and the available operating regions for motoring and regeneration operation are analyzed in this paper. Since the current-fed qZSI has the same operation as the current-fed ZSI, many results of this paper are also applicable to the current-fed ZSI. A reverse-blocking insulated-gate bipolar-transistor-based current-fed qZSI prototype was developed in the laboratory. Simulation and experimental results are shown to verify the theoretical analysis. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Resistance emulation using one cycle control (OCC) has been used extensively in single-phase full-bridge boost rectifiers. This paper proposes a new control strategy called dual comparison OCC (DC-OCC), which eliminates the limitations of OCC. The advantages of the proposed control strategy is that it ensures the average current is equal to grid voltage scaled by emulated resistance, in each switching cycle. This eliminates issues such as dc offset due to the peak current comparison in OCC. It also ensures that there is no distortion in current when the converter is lightly loaded. It is analytically shown that the proposed DC-OCC does not have the light load instability concerns of conventional OCC. The proposed method is also shown to achieve unipolar pulse-width modulation without sensing the grid voltage resulting in lower effective switching frequency. The proposed control requires only one additional comparator and additional logical elements for implementation. Detailed simulation and experimental studies are carried to validate the proposed control and the high performance that can be obtained. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

This paper proposes three dynamic voltage restorer (DVR) topologies. Such configurations are able to compensate voltage sags/swells in three-phase four-wire (3P4W) systems under balanced and unbalanced conditions. The proposed systems use two independent dc links. Proposed configurations present advantages in terms of switch blocking voltages and consequently lower dc-link voltage rating. The complete control system, including the pulsewidth modulation (PWM) technique, is developed, and comparisons between the proposed configurations and a conventional one are performed. Simulation and experimental results are provided to validate the theoretical approach. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper proposes a new vector-based dead-time compensation method for three-level T-type converters. The origins and effects of the dead-time voltage errors are analyzed in detail for different switching commutations and load conditions. In order to eliminate the dead-time distortion in each phase, a dead-time error voltage vector is introduced to adjust the reference voltage vector depending on load current polarity. The proposed vector-based dead-time compensation scheme has several advantages. First, it can be applied to multilevel converters with any number of voltage levels using any modulation schemes. Second, the pulse loss issue which is common in conventional pulse-based compensation strategies can be eliminated. In addition, the pulse saturation can be mitigated by operating the converters in overmodulation regions. All of these advantages and effectiveness of the proposed vector-based dead-time compensation method are verified through both simulation and experimental studies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A digital dead-beat current controller for voltage source converters is presented in this paper. The control structure is specified in a digital hardware description language, synthesized, and deployed on a field-programmable gate array chip. By updating, with negligible computation delay, the duty cycle twice in a switching period, the reference current error is nulled in half a modulation period, so that the controller's small-signal bandwidth is maximized. In addition, due to a simple transient detection circuit, the large-signal response delay is reduced to a small fraction of the modulation period, which is determined by the chosen current signal oversampling rate. The controller can effectively support different voltage-source inverter applications, such as active filters, uninterruptible power supplies, microgrid distributed energy resource controllers, and dc–dc converter applications, including interface converters for renewable energy sources, laboratory battery chargers, and electronic welding machines. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Constant-volts-per-hertz induction motor drives and vector-controlled induction motor drives utilize pulsewidth modulation (PWM) to control the voltage applied on the motor. The method of PWM influences the pulsations in the torque developed by the motor. A space-vector-based approach to PWM facilitates special switching sequences involving the division of active state time. This paper proposes a space-vector-based hybrid PWM technique, which is a combination of the conventional and special switching sequences. The proposed hybrid PWM technique results in a lower peak-to-peak torque ripple than conventional space vector PWM (CSVPWM) at high speeds of an induction motor drive. Furthermore, the magnitude of the dominant torque harmonic due to the proposed hybrid PWM is significantly lower than that due to CSVPWM at high speeds of the drive. Experimental results from a 3.75-kW sensorless vector-controlled induction motor drive under various load conditions are presented to support analytical and simulation results. [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]

Smart grid technologies are expected to increase system efficiency and reliability using advancement in automation, communication, computation, and optimization. Several control algorithms have been developed or enhanced for operation and control of smart distribution grid. In recent years, volt/var control (VVC) algorithms have been proposed for energy saving in distribution systems due to advancement provided by smart grid automation and control. VVC helps to lower distribution feeder voltage to decrease energy consumption. However, quantification of this impact is hard due to several external factors such as weather and end users' behavior. On the other hand, existing evaluation methods of VVC algorithms are either not suitable for long-term study or intrusive. This paper addresses these issues by proposing a new technique to estimate “distribution system demand without smart grid implementation” utilizing “data measured from system with smart grid implementation.” Interdependence of voltage and load is considered based on estimated load characteristic. Our key contribution is developing a method for quantifying the real-time energy saving of smart grid automation and control focused on VVC and implementing in an electric utility in eastern Washington, USA. The algorithm is developed using both commercial and open-source software. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper, the performance of a passive anti-islanding method is experimentally tested for three phase (3\phi) cogeneration systems. The tested method is based on determining the wavelet packet transform (WPT) high-frequency subbands present in the d– q-axis components of instantaneous 3\phi, when evaluated at the point of common coupling (PCC). This passive anti-islanding method is founded based on the nature of instantaneous 3\phi apparent powers that have components continuously exchanged between both sides of the PCC. An islanding condition can be considered as a transient disturbance that creates nonperiodic and nonstationary high frequency components in sd and sq. These frequency components can be parameterized by WPT high-frequency subbands, which can provide accurate detection of the islanding condition. The $d$– $q$ WPT-based anti-islanding method is tested for a $3\phi$ cogeneration system under various loading and power delivery conditions. Performance results reveal accurate, fast, and reliable detection and response to the islanding condition. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper proposes a novel 3 $\phi$ stand-alone solar photovoltaic (PV) system configuration that uses high-gain high-efficiency $(\approx\! 96\%)$ dc–dc converters both in the forward power stage and the bidirectional battery interface. The high-voltage-gain converters enable the use of low-voltage PV and battery sources. This results in minimization of partial shading and parasitic capacitance effects on the PV source. Series connection of a large number of battery modules is obviated, preventing the overcharging and deep discharging issues that reduce the battery life. In addition, the proposed configuration facilitates “required power tracking (RPT)” of the PV source as per the load requirements, eliminating the use of expensive and “difficult to manage” dump loads. High-performance inverter operation is achieved through $abc$ to $dq$ reference frame transformation, which helps in generating precise information about the load's active power component for RPT, regulation of ac output voltage, and minimization of control complexity. Inverter output voltage is regulated by controlling the modulation index of sinusoidal pulsewidth modulation, resulting in a stable and reliable system operation. The active power demand is controlled by regulating the dc link voltage. All the analytical, simulation, and experimental results of this work are presented. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Finite control set model predictive control (FCS-MPC) offers many advantages over more traditional control techniques, such as the ability to avoid cascaded control loops, easy inclusion of constraint, and fast transient response of the control system. This control scheme has been recently applied to several power conversion systems, such as two, three, or more level converters, matrix converters, etc. Unfortunately, because of the lack of the presence of a modulation strategy, this approach produces spread spectrum harmonics which are difficult to filter effectively. This may result in a degraded power quality when compared to more traditional control schemes. Furthermore, high switching frequencies may be needed, considering the limited number of switching states in the converter. This paper presents a novel multiobjective modulated predictive control strategy, which preserves the desired characteristics of FCS-MPC but produces superior waveform quality. The proposed method is validated by experimental tests on a seven-level cascaded H-bridge back-to-back converter and compared to a classic MPC scheme. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

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]

Photovoltaic (PV) systems have become a popular type of distributed generation units (DGUs) for small and medium levels of renewable energy generation. When grid connected, these DGUs are designed and operated to deliver electric power to their host grid through power electronic converters. The nonlinear and switched natures, along with the control actions, of these PECs can influence the voltage–current behaviors during faults in grid-connected PV systems. This paper experimentally investigates the voltage–current behaviors during faults occurring in grid-connected PV systems. Results of these investigation show that voltages and currents at the point-of-common-coupling (PCC) experience changes in their magnitudes and harmonic distortions due to faults occurring on both sides of PCC. These results can be incorporated in the improvement of the accuracy and reliability of protective devices used for grid-connected PV systems. [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]

High-performance power switching devices [insulated-gate bipolar transistors (IGBTs)] realize high-performance power converters. Unfortunately, with a high switching speed of the IGBT-freewheel diode chopper cell, the circuit becomes intrinsic sources of high-level electromagnetic interference (EMI). Therefore, costly EMI filters or shielding is normally demanded on the load and supply sides. An S-shaped voltage transient with a high-order time derivative eliminates the discontinuity in the switching transient and can suppress high-frequency spectrum of EMI emissions. More importantly, it provides an improved tradeoff between EMI generation and switching time, therefore switching losses. This promising tradeoff can be explored further for better high-frequency EMI suppression by using the infinitely differentiable characteristics of Gaussian S-shaped transients. However, current gate drive schemes cannot achieve the S shaping. In this paper, active voltage control is applied and improved successfully to define IGBT switching dynamics with a smoothed Gaussian waveform. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

This paper presents a power factor correction (PFC)-based bridgeless Luo (BL-Luo) converter-fed brushless dc (BLDC) motor drive. A single voltage sensor is used for the speed control of the BLDC motor and PFC at ac mains. The voltage follower control is used for a BL-Luo converter operating in discontinuous inductor current mode. The speed of the BLDC motor is controlled by an approach of variable dc-link voltage, which allows a low-frequency switching of the voltage source inverter for the electronic commutation of the BLDC motor, thus offering reduced switching losses. The proposed BLDC motor drive is designed to operate over a wide range of speed control with an improved power quality at ac mains. The power quality indices thus obtained are under the recommended limits of IEC 61000-3-2. The performance of the proposed drive is validated with test results obtained on a developed prototype of the drive. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

This paper deals with the design, analysis, simulation, and development of a power-factor-correction (PFC) multiple-output switched-mode power supply (SMPS) using a bridgeless buck–boost converter at the front end. Single-phase ac supply is fed to a pair of back-to-back-connected buck–boost converters to eliminate the diode bridge rectifier, which results in reduction of conduction losses and power quality improvement at the front end. The operation of the bridgeless buck–boost converter in discontinuous conduction mode ensures inherent PFC operation and reduces complexity in control. The performance of the proposed multiple-output SMPS is evaluated under varying input voltages and loads by simulating this circuit in MATLAB/Simulink environment, and the results obtained through simulation are validated experimentally on a developed prototype. Both simulation and experimental results demonstrate the improved performance of the proposed SMPS. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Although the maximum collector–emitter voltage of a high-voltage insulated-gate bipolar transistor (HV-IGBT) reaches 3300 V or higher, it still cannot satisfy the requirements of some high-voltage high-power converters. Applying power semiconductor devices in series connection can effectively improve the voltage rating and power rating of a power electronic converter. The key issue of device series connection is voltage balancing in static switching state and dynamic switching state. In this paper, a three-level converter based on series-connected HV-IGBTs is presented, its voltage-balancing subcircuits are analyzed, and the parameter design method for the converter is proposed. During the design process, key performance indexes of the series connection circuit, such as the voltage-balancing effect, loss of the voltage-balancing circuit, switching loss, and switching time, are comprehensively considered. Moreover, component parameters of the three-level converter are calculated considering the influence of the voltage-balancing circuit. The proposed parameter design method is applied in the development of a three-level HV-IGBT (4500 V/600 A) series connection test platform with 10 000-V rated dc-link voltage. Experimental results verify the validity of the proposed method. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Currently, road vehicles are more equipped with permanent magnet synchronous motors. Particularly interesting are brushless dc (BLDC) motors, which, due to their inherently sensorless operation, are considered as viable candidates in large-scale production industries such as the automotive one. Within this trend, this paper deals with the synthesis and implementation of a novel direct torque control (DTC) strategy dedicated to the control of BLDC motor drives. Compared with the most recent and highly performed DTC strategy, the proposed one offers improved reliability due to the achievement of balanced switching frequencies of the inverter upper and lower insulated-gate bipolar transistors, on one hand, and the reduction in the average value of the motor common mode voltage, on the other hand. Furthermore, the torque ripple is significantly damped during sector-to-sector commutations using a three-level hysteresis torque controller. An experientially based comparative study of the most recent and highly performed DTC strategy from one side and the introduced one from the other side clearly highlights the potentialities exhibited by the latest one. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper presents a new nonisolated buck/boost-type multilevel dc–dc converter suitable for high-power and medium/high-voltage application. The main features of the proposed topology are as follows: low voltage across the semiconductors, low switching losses, and reduced volume of the output filter. The theoretical analysis is carried out for a five-level bidirectional structure of the proposed converter, operating in Buck mode. The proposed topology presents some capacitors, and their voltage must be balanced for proper operation of the converter. Thus, a capacitor voltage balancing active control using a feedforward technique is proposed and analyzed in detail. In order to validate the theoretical analysis, a prototype with 10 kW output power capability, 1.3 kV to 800 V input-to-output voltage, and 20 kHz of switching frequency was built and experimented. The results attest the advantages of the new dc–dc topology, as well as the new capacitor voltage control technique. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]