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Generally, single-stage buck–boost inverters consist of distinct circuits operating individually in buck/boost or positive/negative modes, the latter definitely leading to crossover distortion in the output current. This paper proposes a switching strategy that changes the bimodal operation of a single-stage buck–boost topology to a single-mode inverter. This is due to the consequent voltage gain that ensures that the output voltage polarity, apart from its magnitude, is an exclusive function of the duty ratio. Operational principle and salient hardware design are explained with the help of equivalent circuits. Details about the dynamic model are presented, based on which controller design is carried out for both stand-alone and grid-connected operation. Experimental results obtained from a 300-W, 110-V laboratory prototype are presented to validate the performance of the proposed switching strategy. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

LCL filters feature low inductance; thus, the injected grid current from an LCL -filtered voltage-source inverter can be easily distorted by grid-voltage harmonics. This problem is especially tough for the control system with inverter-side current feedback (ICF), since the grid-current harmonics can freely flow into the filter capacitor. In this case, because of the loss of harmonic information, traditional harmonic controllers fail to mitigate the grid-current distortion. Although this problem may be avoided using the grid-voltage feedforward scheme, the required differentiators may cause the noise amplification. In light of the above issue, this paper develops a simple method for the ICF control system to mitigate the grid-current harmonics without extra sensors. In the proposed method, resonant harmonic controllers and an additional compensation loop are adopted at the same time. The potential instability introduced by the compensation loop can be avoided through a special design of the compensation position. Finally, the effectiveness of the proposed method for harmonic rejection is verified by detailed experimental results. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

In this paper, a novel optimized switching repetitive control (OSRC) scheme is developed and applied to a constant-voltage constant-frequency pulse width modulation inverter to enhance the stability and tracking performance with low sampling frequency. In OSRC, a switching integral phase lead compensator is applied to enlarge the stability margin, which is impaired by the phase lag of the inverter system. With the optimized switching strategy, the stable region can be much wider, which means that a larger robust filter $Q$ can be applied to reduce the tracking error. The stability analysis and optimized design procedure are also given. Comparative experiments in different load situations are performed to demonstrate the validity of the proposed scheme. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

In classical inverter control, load current (disturbance) decoupling control is often used to improve the control performance. Yet, in a recent state-space control structure for multiresonant controllers, the load current decoupling technique is less studied. Moreover, in the classical control, the load current decoupling only has one control degree of freedom. Therefore, in this paper, a load current decoupling control combed linear quadratic (LQ) regulation is investigated, the proposed control structure that manipulates α and β axes as a unified system is adopted to increase the control degree of freedom. The LQ control synthesizes the state feedback control law including gains of the resonant controllers. Two general criteria, namely H\infty norm and zero dynamic, are proposed as the design guideline for the load current decoupling control. The effectiveness and robustness of the proposed approach are validated through MATLAB/Simulink simulations and experiments with a 5-kVA testbed. The results prove that some favorable performances, for example, the fast recovering time, the small voltage drop, and the low total harmonic distortion, are achieved by the proposed approach compared to the classical dual-loop proportional-resonant (PR) control with load current decoupling and the optimal H\infty control. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper, a method is proposed to investigate the dc-link current and voltage ripple calculations in voltage source inverters by considering the reverse recovery of the antiparallel diodes. The impact of the diode reverse recovery transient on the dc-link current and voltage within the switching period is first analyzed. The analysis indicates that the current ripple rms value is affected by the value of inverter switching frequency, diode reverse recovery time, and current. However, the diode reverse recovery shows negligible impact on the dc-link voltage ripple calculation, since the difference between the voltage ripples calculated by the proposed and existing method is less than 1%. To evaluate the estimation accuracy of the dc-link current ripple rms value by the proposed method, the experiments are implemented and the comprehensive analysis is done under different operating conditions, including various power factors, modulation indexes, inverter output currents, and inverter switching frequencies. Experimental results show that the accuracy of dc-link rms current ripple calculation by the proposed method is in the range of $\pm$5% and increased by up to 7% compared with the existing method neglecting the antiparallel diode reverse recovery. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Aluminium electrolytic capacitors (AECs) are used in dc-link of single-phase grid connected solar photovoltaic (PV) inverters to suppress the dc-link voltage oscillation. With aging its capacitance decreases and equivalent series resistance (ESR) increases, which may lead to increase in voltage ripple, thereby reducing average power extracted from solar PV and/or damage the semiconductor switches due to overvoltage. Further, prolonged use of the aged capacitor could lead to the open circuit of the dc-link due to vaporization of the electrolyte. Therefore, to enhance the reliability of the system by predictive maintenance, it is necessary to monitor the health of AEC. A quasi-online method for condition monitoring of the AECs in solar inverters is proposed in this paper. This method is active during the night when there is no solar irradiance. In this case, the current of various odd harmonic frequencies are injected by the inverter and dc-link capacitor impedances at various frequencies are evaluated. Using these impedance values, least mean square algorithm is used to estimate the ESR and capacitance values. The magnitude of each injected harmonic current is kept within the limits prescribed by IEEE 929-2000 standard. The key advantage of the technique is that it combines the estimation of both ESR and capacitance to determine the health. Further, it does not require significant processing capability and is implemented in the existing digital processor/controller used for inverter control. Detailed simulation studies are carried out using MATLAB-Simulink. Proposed scheme is verified experimentally on a scaled down version of a grid connected solar inverter. Puncturing based technique is used for accelerated aging of the capacitor. Estimated values of ESR and C are in agreement to that measured from LCR meter. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper, a nonisolated dc−ac inverter topology, which enables a true single-stage direct conversion from a single dc input supply to multiple ac output power sources by using only one inductor in the power stage, is proposed. Compared with the conventional multiple-output parallel half-bridge or full-bridge inverters, the proposed single-stage single-inductor multiple-output (SIMO) inverter topology achieves a smaller number of inductors and power switches, high power density, scalability to multiple ac outputs, and independent power controllability for each ac output. A useful application of the proposed SIMO inverter is to drive an array of transmitting coils simultaneously for wireless power transfer applications. An experimental prototype has been developed to demonstrate the effectiveness of a single-inductor three-output boost-derived inverter without cross regulation. Experimental results show that precise and independent peak voltage regulation of each individual sinusoidal ac output is attainable with the proposed SIMO inverter. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Grid faults are one of the most severe perturbations in power systems. During these extreme disturbances, the reliability of the grid is compromised and the risk of a power outage is increased. To prevent this issue, distributed generation inverters can help the grid by supporting the grid voltages. Voltage support mainly depends on two constraints: the amount of injected current and the grid impedance. This paper proposes a voltage support control scheme that joins these two features. Hence, the control strategy injects the maximum rated current of the inverter. Thus, the inverter takes advantage of the distributed capacities and operates safely during voltage sags. Also, the controller selects the appropriate power references depending on the resistive–inductive grid impedance. Therefore, the grid can be better supported since the voltage at the point of common coupling is improved. Several voltage objectives, which cannot be achieved together, are developed and discussed in detail. These objectives are threefold: to maximize the positive sequence voltage; to minimize the negative sequence voltage; and to maximize the difference between positive and negative sequence voltages. A mathematical optimal solution is obtained for each objective function. This solution is characterized by a safe peak current injection, and by the optimization of the voltage profile in any type of grid connection. Therefore, the proposed control scheme includes advanced features for voltage support during voltage sags, which are applicable to different power facilities in different types of networks. Due to system limitations, a suboptimal solution is also considered, analyzed, and discussed for each of the optimization problems. Experimental results are presented to validate the theoretical solutions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper, a type of low-frequency integrated ac inductor without inductance coupling is proposed for differential rectifiers/inverters. The objective is to increase the power density of these converters by replacing their two bulky and low-frequency ac inductors with the proposed integrated ac inductor, which is much more compact. The principles of the proposed magnetic integration approach and the optimization procedures are explained in detail. An integrated inductor with 34.9% reduction in volume as compared to its discrete-inductor counterpart is designed and tested via simulations using the software Maxwell. Three integrated inductor prototypes with a core volume reduction of up to 30.9% are constructed in the laboratory and are applied to a buck differential rectifier for experimental verification. Their performance in terms of coupling effect, thermal temperature, power efficiency, and system switching frequency is examined. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Paralleled inverters with asynchronous carriers are increasingly emerging into renewable power plants and other power-electronic-based power systems. The sideband harmonics resulting from the pulse width modulation tend to be different from one inverter to another, which may trigger sideband harmonic resonances among the paralleled inverters. To address the sideband harmonic instability, the nonlinearity of the digital pulse width modulator is analyzed first in this paper based on the harmonic balance principle. It is revealed that the dynamic sideband components corresponding to a given small-signal perturbation can be far below the Nyquist frequency, and they may not be effectively attenuated by antialiasing filters. A multifrequency impedance model is then developed for the inverter, which characterizes the dynamic coupling between the perturbed frequency component and the sideband frequency component. The impact of asynchronous carriers on the sideband harmonic instability of paralleled inverters can, thus, be analyzed, and the frequency and phase sequence of the resulting oscillation components are predicted. Experimental results of two paralleled inverters confirm the effectiveness of the developed model and the stability analysis [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Shunt active power filter (SAPF) is the preeminent solution against nonlinear loads, current harmonics, and power quality problems. APF topologies for harmonic compensation use numerous high-power rating components and are therefore disadvantageous. Hybrid topologies combining low-power rating APF with passive filters are used to reduce the power rating of voltage source inverter (VSI). Hybrid APF topologies for high-power rating systems use a transformer with large numbers of passive components. In this paper, a novel four-switch two-leg VSI topology for a three-phase SAPF is proposed for reducing the system cost and size. The proposed topology comprises a two-arm bridge structure, four switches, coupling inductors, and sets of LC PFs. The third leg of the three-phase VSI is removed by eliminating the set of power switching devices, thereby directly connecting the phase with the negative terminals of the dc-link capacitor. The proposed topology enhances the harmonic compensation capability and provides complete reactive power compensation compared with conventional APF topologies. The new experimental prototype is tested in the laboratory to verify the results in terms of total harmonic distortion, balanced supply current, and harmonic compensation, following the IEEE-519 standard. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The paper proposes optimal driving conditions of two transmitters (TXs) in magnetic wireless power transfer, where the couplings from each TX to an RX are not identical. First, for the case of identical TX coil currents, a criterion for deactivating a specific TX element is proposed. Specifically, one TX element among the two TXs often has weaker coupling coefficient than the other TX element. It is found that the TX element with weaker coupling should be deactivated if its coupling coefficient is less than 0.414 times of the stronger coupling. Second, for the case of adjustable TX coil currents, the optimal current ratio between the two TX coils is proposed. It is found that the TX coil current ratio should be equal to the coupling coefficient ratio, e.g., the TX coil with twice coupling with an RX should carry twice current. The results are widely applicable regardless of absolute coupling strength and load condition because it turns out that the results only depend on the ratio of couplings. Finally, it is discussed that the required component values of an LCC inverter should be adjusted based on the current ratios and coupling between adjacent TXs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Microinverters for grid-connected photovoltaic (PV) power conversion systems often require voltage boost due to the low dc voltage of the PV panels. A high-frequency (HF) transformer-isolated differential-mode Ćuk inverter (DMCI) is an attractive topology due to its inherent voltage boost capability and high power density. One of the significant operational issue of the DMCI addressed in this paper is the presence of lower order harmonic distortion in the injected grid current. It is shown that lower order odd and even harmonic voltages are generated with this topology. This problem is accentuated due to the low damping offered by the grid to harmonic voltages. A systematic low-complexity control design is proposed to address this issue. It is shown experimentally that the DMCI operates stably with effective attenuation of the lower order harmonics using the proposed design. Practical operational issues of the DMCI with fast switching GaN field-effect transistor (FET) devices are analyzed and solutions are proposed. It is shown that there can be significant HF noise generation in the DMCI with a frequency range higher than the switching frequency. Practical solutions for resolving HF issues using a combination of circuit layout design and additional passive components are proposed and validated. All of the experimental results are demonstrated on a 500-W GaN-FET-based microinverter prototype. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Inductive power transfer (IPT) converters are resonant converters that attain optimal energy efficiencies for a certain load range. To achieve maximum efficiency, it is common to cascade the IPT converter with front-side and load-side dc/dc converters. The two dc/dc converters are normally controlled cooperatively for the requirements of output regulation and maximum efficiency tracking using a control technique based on perturbation and observation, which is inevitably slow in response. In this paper, a decoupled control technique is developed. The load-side dc/dc converter is solely responsible for output regulation, while the front-side converter is responsible for impedance-matching of the IPT converter by controlling its input-to-output voltage ratio. The controls are linear and therefore fast. DC and small-signal transfer functions are derived for designing the control parameters. The performances of fast regulation and high efficiency of the IPT converter system are verified using a prototype system. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper presents a variable structure control in natural frame for a three-phase gird-connected voltage-source inverter with LCL filter. The proposed control method is based on modifying the converter model in natural reference frame, preserving the low-frequency state-space variables dynamics. Using this model in a Kalman filter (KF), the system state-space variables are estimated allowing us to design three independent current sliding-mode controllers. The main closed-loop features of the proposed method are: first, robustness against grid inductance variations because the proposed model is independent of the grid inductance; second, the power losses are reduced since physical damping resistors are avoided; third, the control bandwidth can be increased due to the combination of a variable hysteresis comparator with the KF; and fourth, the grid-side current is directly controlled providing high robustness against harmonics in the grid. To complete the control scheme, a theoretical stability analysis is developed. Finally, selected experimental results validate the proposed control strategy and permit illustrating all its appealing features. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

This paper presents model predictive control of dual-mode Z-source inverters (ZSIs) with capability to operate in islanded and grid-connected mode. The transition from islanded to grid-connected mode and vice versa can cause significant deviation in voltage and current due to mismatch in phase, frequency, and amplitude of voltages. The proposed controller offers seamless transition between the two modes of operations. The main predictive controller objectives are direct decoupled power control in grid-connected mode and load voltage regulation in islanded mode. The proposed direct decoupled active and reactive power control in grid-connected mode enables the dual-mode ZSI to behave as a power conditioning unit for ancillary services such as reactive power compensation. The proposed controller features simplicity, seamless transition between modes of operations, fast dynamic response, and small tracking error under steady-state condition of controller objectives. The operation of the proposed system is verified experimentally. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Permanent magnet synchronous motor (PMSM) has the advantages of flexible structure, high power density, and low noise. It is promising to be developed into railway traction system. This application of the PMSM is limited by the low switching frequency of the high power traction inverter. Therefore, it is necessary to restrain the output current harmonics by using the optimized synchronous pulse width modulation (PWM) method. In this paper, the relationship between the load current of PMSM and the output voltage of the inverter using synchronous PWM is analyzed, and the expression of the current harmonics is deduced. Then, a new current harmonic evaluation index considering the saliency ratio and load angle constraints is proposed. Based on this, a novel current harmonic distortion minimization PWM (CHMPWM) algorithm for the PMSM is constructed. Compared with the two existing CHMPWM algorithms, the proposed optimized PWM has better harmonic performance at any modulation index and load angle. Furthermore, according to the results of the proposed CHMPWM, the influence of the load angle variation on optimal switching angle distribution is analyzed when pulse ratio is less than or equal to 11. Experimental results verify the feasibility and effectiveness of the proposed algorithm. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Several single-stage topologies have been introduced since kicking off the three-phase Z-source inverter (ZSI), and among these topologies, the quasi-ZSI (qZSI) is the most common one due to its simple structure and continuous input current. Furthermore, different modulation strategies, utilizing multiple reference signals, have been developed as well. However, prior art modulation methods have some demerits, such as the complexity of generating the gate signals, the increased number of switch commutations with continuous commutation at high current level during the entire fundamental cycle, and the multiple commutations at a time. Hence, this paper proposes two modified space vector modulation strategies, aimed at the reduction of the qZSI number of switch commutations at high current level for shorter periods during the fundamental cycle, i.e., reducing the switching loss, simplifying the generation of the gate signals by utilizing only three reference signals, and achieving a single-switch commutation at a time. These modulation strategies are analyzed and compared to the conventional ones, where a reduced-scale 1-kVA three-phase qZSI is designed and simulated using these different modulation strategies. Finally, the 1-kVA three-phase qZSI is implemented experimentally to validate the performance of the proposed modulation strategies and verify the reported analysis. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

A single-switch quadratic buck–boost converter with continuous input port current and continuous output port current is proposed in this paper. Compared with the traditional buck-boost converter, the proposed converter can obtain a wider range of the voltage conversion ratio with the same duty cycle. Moreover, the proposed converter can operate with continuous input port current and continuous output port current compared to the existing counterparts with inherently discontinuous input port current and discontinuous output port current. The operating principle and steady-state performance of the proposed converter under continuous inductor current mode is analyzed in detail. Then, the comparison between the proposed converter and the existing quadratic buck–boost converters has been conducted to demonstrate the unique features of the proposed one. Finally, experimental results from a prototype built in the lab are recorded to verify the effectiveness and validity of the proposed quadratic buck–boost converter. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

The simple boost control (SBC) method is usually used to control the shoot-through state in a single-phase single-stage quasi-switched boost inverter (qSBI). This paper proposes a new pulse-width modulation (PWM) control scheme to improve the modulation index for the qSBI. The advantages of the proposed method for the qSBI over the conventional SBC method are as follows: 1) the modulation index is larger; 2) the voltage stress on the capacitor, diodes, and switches is reduced significantly; 3) the high-frequency peak-to-peak inductor current and capacitor voltage ripples are smaller; 4) the shoot-through current is lower; and 5) the efficiency is higher. The operating principles and circuit analysis for the proposed PWM control scheme are shown. To verify the performance of the proposed PWM control method, a 400W prototype was built with a 110 V/50 Hz output voltage. The experimental results matched those of the theoretical analysis. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Stability analysis of power converters in ac networks is complex due to the nonlinear nature of the conversion systems. Whereas interactions of converters in dc networks can be studied by linearizing about the operating point, the extension of the same approach to ac systems poses serious challenges, especially for single-phase or unbalanced three-phase systems. A general method for stability analysis of power converters suitable for single-phase or unbalanced ac networks is presented in this paper, based on linear time periodic theory. A single-phase grid-connected inverter with phase-locked loop (PLL) is considered as case study. It is demonstrated that the stability boundaries can be precisely evaluated by the proposed method, despite the nonlinearity introduced by the PLL. Simulation and experimental results from a 10-kW laboratory prototype are provided to confirm the effectiveness of the proposed analysis. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Voltage-sensorless control has been investigated for voltage source inverters (VSIs) for many years due to the reduced system cost and potentially improved system reliability. The VSI-based resistive-active power filters (R-APFs) are now widely used to prevent the harmonic resonance in power distribution network, for which the voltage sensors are needed in order to obtain the current reference. In this paper, a grid-voltage-sensorless control strategy is proposed for the R-APF with series LC-filter. Unlike the traditional resistance emulation method, this proposed control method reshapes the output impedance of the R-APF at the harmonic frequencies, which is independent of the current reference. A fundamental grid-voltage estimation method is also proposed to control the dc-link voltage. The performance of the proposed control method is verified in both simulations and experiments. The results show good accuracy of the emulated resistance and functionality of the dc-link voltage control. With the proposed method, the cost of the R-APF can also be reduced with potentially improved system reliability. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Grid impedance and the output impedance of grid-connected inverter are important parameters for the operation of grid-connected systems, such as solar, wind, and other distributed-generation resource systems. The impedance mismatch between the grid and the interfacing circuit often generates harmonic resonances that lead to reduced power quality and even instability. Since the impedances usually vary over time as a function of many parameters, online measurements are required for stability assessment and adaptive control of the inverters. Several methods have been proposed for quick, accurate measurements of impedances, but the use of multiple-input multiple-output (MIMO) identification techniques have not been considered. Applying the MIMO techniques, different components of the inverter output impedance or grid impedance can be simultaneously measured during a single measurement cycle. Therefore, the operating conditions of the system can be kept constant during the measurements, and the overall measurement time is significantly reduced. This paper shows the use of orthogonal binary sequences to simultaneously measure the “d” and “q” components of grid-connected inverter output impedance and/or grid impedance. Experimental results based on a three-phase grid-connected inverter are presented and used to demonstrate the effectiveness of the proposed methods. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Multi-inverter systems have been widely used for grid-connected large-scale centralized photovoltaic (LSCPV) plants. However, the problem of how time delays affect the stability of digitally controlled grid-connected LSCPV plants with multi-inverter systems has not been investigated sufficiently. This paper models a grid-connected LSCPV system as a cascade system and conducts a systematic study of the relationship between the time delay and the stability of a grid-connected LSCPV system. The analysis intuitively reveals the influence of the time delay on the stability of the grid-connected LSCPV system. The impact of the time delay on the stability range of the number of grid-connected inverters in LSCPV plants is discussed for the first time, and the stability range for a specific time delay is obtained from the root locus. In addition, considering the damping performance is negatively affected by the time delay, an improved capacitor-current-feedback active damping method is proposed to reduce the effects of the delay on the damping region and the robustness against variations in the grid impedance. Simulations and experimental results are presented to validate the theoretical analysis and the effectiveness of the proposed delay compensation method. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Open-circuit (OC) fault diagnosis of voltage source inverters on trains still has two problems to be improved. First, it is usually forbidden to change the system structures of trains or to add any extra sensor. Therefore, diagnostic methods which need pulse width modulation control signals or extra output voltage sensors are no longer suitable for trains. Second, loads on the train vary in a wide range and have significant influence on output currents. In order to solve these problems and increase the maintenance efficiency, an online diagnostic method for single switch OC (SSOC) faults and double switches OC (DSOC) faults is proposed. Supposing that three phases are balanced, it is proved that the trajectory of two output currents is an ellipse in the Cartesian coordination, and each OC fault has a unique trajectory. SSOC faults and DSOC faults can be isolated by detecting abnormal slopes and directions of several consecutive points on the trajectory. The fastest diagnostic process takes less than half a period. Load variation has impact on the size and shape of the trajectory but does not affect the diagnostic method. Experimental tests are carried out on dSPACE platform. Results show the accuracy of the mathematical model and the effectiveness of the online diagnostic method proposed in this paper. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

This paper introduces series work of common-mode (CM) voltage reduction for the paralleled inverters. The paralleled inverters’ phase-legs are connected through coupling inductors and the combined three-phase currents are provided to the load. Interleaving is an approach to reduce the CM voltage for the paralleled inverters but it cannot eliminate CM voltage. A novel pulse-width-modulation (PWM) method for paralleled inverters which can theoretically achieve zero CM voltage is developed. Considering the basic voltage vectors in each inverter, novel paralleled voltage vectors which have zero CM voltage are proposed to combine the reference voltage vector. The action time's distribution and voltage vectors’ sending sequence for each inverter are also introduced. The proposed PWM method can make sure the voltage of the two inverters are balanced in each switching cycle and limits the circulating current through small coupling inductors. Similar to interleaving space vector PWM, the proposed zero CM PWM also has the ability to reduce the output current ripple and electromagnetic interference (EMI). Simulation and experimental results are provided to show the advantage of paralleled inverters in CM voltage reduction and validate the proposed method has good performance to reduce CM current and CM EMI noise. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

A dual-buck inverter (DBI) possesses no shoot-through worries and can boost efficiency by using power mosfet s. The main drawback of a DBI is the use of more inductors than in a traditional full-bridge inverter. This greater number of inductors decreases the power density and increases system cost. In this paper, a modified cascaded full-bridge DBI is proposed. It retains all the advantages of the conventional cascaded full-bridge DBI, possesses no shoot-through issues, and can be operated with no pulse-width-modulation dead-times. It can be implemented with power mosfet without reverse recovery issues of a body diode to boost efficiency. The cascaded modules in the proposed inverter share current limiting inductors. Therefore, the number of inductors and inductor footprints, the complexity of the circuit layout, required inductance, and magnetic volume can all be decreased. To show the advantages of the proposed inverter, detailed theoretical analysis and experimental results are provided. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

This paper discusses the operation of a single-stage, isolated, high-frequency ac-link-based single-phase dc–ac converter, suitable for photovoltaic microinverter applications, controlled using phase modulation of the secondary-side cycloconverter devices. A detailed analysis is presented explaining the impact of prominent circuit nonidealities such as device capacitance and transformer leakage inductance on circuit behavior. The proposed extended-dead-time based modulation scheme helps in achieving zero-voltage-switching of the primary devices over the entire line cycle of the ac output and also offers the benefit of reduced transformer rms current due to absence of circulating current in the zero state. A flyback-based regenerative clamp circuit is used for mitigating voltage spikes on the secondary devices arising due to leakage inductance induced oscillations. A generic commutation strategy is also discussed, which makes operation with nonunity power factor loads also possible. Experimental results on a 260-W laboratory prototype under different load conditions are presented to illustrate the discussed principles and highlight the performance improvements. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

This paper proposes a proportional-integral (inertial) multiresonant (PIMR) type repetitive control (PIMR-type RC) scheme for a grid-tied inverter. The proposed control scheme is composed of a repetitive controller in parallel with a proportional gain for the purpose of replacing lots of parameters of the conventional proportional multiresonant controller, and therefore, only a few parameters need to be designed. The proportional gain not only improves the dynamic response, but also enables repetitive controller (RC) to accommodate a larger RC gain, and hence a faster convergence rate. Theoretical analysis and stability analysis of PIMR-type RC are given, and then a practical step-by-step design tutorial is also provided. The experimental results validate the feasibility and outstanding performance of the proposed control scheme. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Four-level nested neutral-point clamped (NNPC) inverters experience severe voltage balancing problems under low output-frequency conditions when the conventional four-level space vector modulation (4L-SVM) technique is applied, which limits their wider application. In order to get a complete control of the flying-capacitor voltages, and to alleviate the calculation burden of conventional 4L-SVM, a simplified but effective 4L-SVM technique along with the voltage balance control (VBC) function is proposed in this paper. For low modulation indexes, zero and small vectors are selectively utilized and distributed to force the average charging and discharging time of flying capacitors to be equal to each other during every switching period, so that voltage ripples are greatly reduced to be within an acceptable level under low output-frequency conditions. For high modulation indexes, the simplification of conventional 4L-SVM for NNPC inverters into two-level SVM is proposed to reduce the computation complexity. Principles of the proposed 4L-SVM and VBC are elaborated in detail. The steady-state, transient-state, and VBC performances are investigated and compared with the case where the conventional 4L-SVM is applied. Simulation results of a 5 MVA inverter system and experimental results of a scaled-down 5 kVA inverter system are presented to validate the proposed method. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

An open-end winding machine configuration and a suitable control strategy for medium-voltage ac motor drives applications are proposed in this paper in order to reduce the distortion of phase voltages in multilevel inverters (MLIs). Differently than standard open-end winding configurations, where two inverters provide active power to both sides of the stator winding, a main MLI supplies in this case the machine on one side, while an auxiliary two-level inverter acts as active power filter on the other side. A high efficiency step modulation manages the MLI, while the auxiliary unit is pulse width modulation (PWM) operated. As the phase current harmonic content is improved, the torque ripple is reduced and the drive efficiency is increased. By exploiting the proposed approach, the apparent switching frequency of the system is that typical of a PWM inverter, although the main unit is operated according to a voltage step modulation strategy. Simulation and experimental results confirm the consistency of the proposed methodology. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Flying capacitor photovoltaic (PV) inverters have been widely discussed in the literature. However, the relevant leakage current issues have not received much attention. In this paper, the modulation techniques for a transformerless three-phase flying capacitor PV inverter are investigated for the leakage current suppression. First, the theoretical analysis of the system common mode model and leakage current is presented. Second, three kinds of conventional carrier-based modulation techniques are evaluated, and results indicate that they fail to effectively suppress the leakage current. Third, a new carrier modulation and logic function is presented. It is able to maintain the constant common mode voltage, and consequently, the leakage current can be significantly reduced. Finally, the experimental tests are conducted on a transformerless three-phase flying capacitor PV inverter to verify the effectiveness of the proposed method. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

In this paper, the properties and operation of the virtual-space-vector pulse-width modulation (PWM) for a three-level neutral-point-clamped inverter with unbalanced dc-links are studied. By quantitatively analyzing the characteristics of the revised space-vector diagram (SVD) with unbalanced dc-links, the defined virtual SVD (VSVD) for the unbalanced case is theoretically proven identical to the VSVD of the conventional virtual-space-vector PWM (VSVPWM) strategy with balanced dc-links. The well-developed and fast-processing methods to calculate the durations of the nearest three virtual vectors for the conventional VSVPWM can be directly utilized. In addition, a control strategy to realize the asymmetric control of the dc-link voltages with VSVPWM is also studied, and this method can adjust the unbalancing degree with a high accuracy for any modulation indexes and load power factors. Simulated and experimental results are given to validate the effectiveness. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

This paper presents a model-based open-circuit fault diagnosis approach for single-phase three-level neutral-point-clamped (3LNPC) converters in electric railway application. The diagnosis algorithm, which only requires the signals existing in the control system, not only detects open-circuit faults but also identifies the faulty device among the transistors and clamping diodes. The mixed logical dynamic (MLD) model of the converter is built to estimate the grid current. The residual generated from the measured current subtracting the estimated one is analyzed under different open-circuit faults. According to the characteristics of the residual changing rate, the proposed approach allows fault localization. The proposed method is effective both in traction and regenerative braking operation and has fast diagnosis speed. Hardware-in-the-loop (HIL) experiments are carried out to verify the effectiveness of the proposed fault diagnosis algorithm. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

A main design constraint of the digitally controlled power electronics converters is the time delay of control systems, which may lead to the reduced control loop bandwidth and even unstable dynamics. Numerous time-delay compensation methods have been developed, of which the model-free schemes are independent to model accuracy whereas the model-based alternatives are sensitive to system modeling. This paper first presents a graphical illustration of four model-free delay compensation techniques, where their principles and performances are intuitively elaborated and compared by means of the impulse area equivalence method. An improved time-delay compensation approach is then proposed based on additional area insertion, which provides a wider frequency of phase compensation. Finally, the dynamic response of an LCL-filtered grid-connected inverter was tested with the studied delay compensation methods. Simulations and experimental test results validate the effectiveness of the graphical comparisons and the proposed approach. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

This paper introduces a new concept of common mode voltage cancellation for pulse width modulated motor drives, aiming at solving issues such as ground leakage current, common mode electromagnetic interference, and bearing current. The balanced inverter topology and dual-winding stator configuration are proposed as a practical realization. Implementation considerations on the influence of circuit asymmetry are also investigated. Finally, a gallium nitride HEMT based induction motor drive prototype is built and tested to evaluate the performance of the cancellation concept in a practical situation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The injected grid current of the voltage-controlled grid-connected inverter has serious distortion due to the low frequency harmonic components in the output voltage, which is resulted by the dead time of the drive signals of the power switches, and the distortion cannot be eliminated even when an output voltage closed loop is incorporated. This paper introduces a virtual series impedance to increase the output impedance of the grid-connected inverter only at the dominated lower harmonic frequencies; thus, the injected grid current quality can be improved and the dynamic performance of the grid-connected inverter is not deteriorated. Experimental results from a 6-kW single-phase grid-connected inverter confirm the effectiveness of the proposed method. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Lifetime of Photovoltaic (PV) inverters is affected by the installation sites related to different solar irradiance and ambient temperature profiles (also referred to as mission profiles). In fact, the installation site also affects the degradation rate of the PV panels and, thus, long-term energy production and reliability. Prior-art lifetime analysis in PV inverters has not yet investigated the impact of PV panel degradations. This paper, thus, evaluates the lifetime of PV inverters considering panel degradation rates and mission profiles. Evaluations have been carried out on PV systems installed in Denmark and Arizona. The results reveal that the PV panel degradation rate has a considerable impact on the PV inverter lifetime, especially in the hot climate (e.g., Arizona), where the panel degrades at a faster rate. In that case, the PV inverter lifetime prediction can be deviated by 54%, if the impact of PV panel degradations is not taken into account. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Load-commutated inverters (LCIs), combined with wound-field synchronous machines (WFSMs), can be an excellent solution for high power drives, but their present technology suffers from important drawbacks related to low power factor, large torque pulsations, and poor starting performance. This paper presents a new LCI design intended to overcome the mentioned limitations. An SCR-based forced-commutation circuit is added to the common inverter topology to obtain a five-level waveform for the stator current. This leads to significantly reduced current harmonics and torque pulsations, in addition to bringing benefits in terms of lower additional losses. As a further advantage, the proposed design allows for a significant power factor enhancement. Finally, it enables the WFSM to be started with a much smoother torque compared to the traditional pulsed operating mode of conventional LCI drives. Simulation studies are conducted on a high-power drive scheme to show the aforementioned improvements. Also, a reduced-scale laboratory prototype of a WFSM drive system is tested to verify the feasibility of the proposed converter. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper introduces a new module for asymmetrical multilevel inverters with a low number of components. The module is a square combination of two back-to-back T-type inverters and some other switches. A square T-type module produces 17 levels by 12 switches and 4 unequal dc sources (two 3VDC and two 1V DC). Also, it can be extended as a cascade connection in two strategies to achieve more levels. The module and its cascade connection are suitable for the applications in several dc sources systems such as photovoltaic farms, which lead to a modular topology with more voltage levels at higher voltages. Inherent creation of the negative voltage levels without any additional circuit (such as H-bridge circuit) is one of the main features of the proposed module. The low total harmonic distortion of the output voltage/current and low number of semiconductors are among the other advantages of the proposed module. A nearest level control method as a switching technique is used to produce high quality output voltage with lower harmonic contents. Simulations have been performed in MATLAB/Simulink and a prototype is implemented in the Power Electronics Laboratory; both the simulation and experimental results show a good performance. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper proposes an on-board methodology for monitoring the health of power converter modules in drive systems, using vector control heating and structure function to check for degradation. It puts forward a system that is used on-board to measure the cooling curve and derive the structure function during idle times for maintenance purposes. The structure function is a good tool for tracking the magnitude and location of degradation in power modules. The ability to keep regular track of the actual degradation level of the modules enables the adoption of preventive maintenance, reducing or even eliminating altogether the appearance of failures during operation, significantly improving the availability of the power devices. The novelty in this work is the complete system that is used to achieve degradation monitoring, combining the heating technique and the measurement without additional power components except the measurement circuit which can be integrated into the gate drive board and the challenges encountered. Experimental results obtained from this show that it is possible to implement an on-board health monitoring system in converters which measures the degradation on power modules. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

This paper presents a new power converter topology to suppress the torque ripple due to the phase current commutation of a brushless dc motor (BLDCM) drive system. A combination of a three-level diode clamped multilevel inverter (3-level DCMLI), a modified single-ended primary-inductor converter (SEPIC), and a dc-bus voltage selector circuit is employed in the proposed torque ripple suppression circuit. For efficient suppression of torque pulsation, the dc-bus voltage selector circuit is used to apply the regulated dc-bus voltage from the modified SEPIC during the commutation interval. In order to further mitigate the torque ripple pulsation, the 3-level DCMLI is used in the proposed circuit. Finally, simulation and experimental results show that the proposed topology is an attractive option to reduce the commutation torque ripple significantly at low- and high-speed applications. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

DC-link electrolytic capacitor critically affects the lifetime of the motor drive system. This paper proposes an inverter power control strategy based on dc-link voltage regulation for the electrolytic capacitor-less interior permanent magnet synchronous motor drive system. The dc-link electrolytic capacitor is replaced by a small film capacitor and the power factor correction circuit is also eliminated. Hence, the inverter power should be regulated effectively to achieve high input power factor and low grid current harmonics. The inverter power control loop based on proportional resonant (PR) controller is established to regulate the inverter power into sinusoidal wave. The PR controller can be designed to achieve a high gain at the desired frequency and the parameters are easy to design due to the simple structure. In addition, a power compensation method based on the dc-link voltage regulation is used to diminish the error of inverter power control, which does not depend on the precise calculation and is easy to realize. The effectiveness of the proposed method is demonstrated by the experimental results on an air conditioner. The input power factor can reach 0.992 and the harmonics of grid current are considerably lower than the requirement of EN61000-3-2 standard. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

In this paper, a dc to ac converter with the ability of voltage increasing is presented. This inverter is designed in a way that just one dc source is used. Also, by using power storage technique and with combining charged capacitors and dc source in series form, output voltage levels can be increased. This inverter is in a modular structure and has the ability of capacitor's voltage self-balancing. H-bridge inverter was not used at the end of the proposed converter and all elements tolerate a voltage stress equal to the amount of input dc source. This leads to remarkable decrease of total standing voltage and peak inverse voltage. Other advantage of the proposed inverter is its potentiality of performance in high-frequency applications. The modular form of the proposed inverter provides the potentiality of extension to higher voltage levels and eases the maintenance. Moreover, considering to the fact that the stress of all components of the suggested inverter is equal to the input source, the performance in high voltage is added to the characteristics of the proposed inverter. The nine-level structure of the proposed inverter is simulated and laboratory test is carried out for the verification of its performance. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

In this paper, the stability of LC-type voltage source inverter is investigated, with the emphasis focused on the LC resonance. It has been found that the traditional capacitor-voltage inductor-current dual-loop control is unstable when the resonance frequency is higher than one-sixth of the sampling frequency. In addition, due to the coupling between current inner loop and voltage outer loop, it is difficult to design control parameters to ensure the system stability in traditional dual-loop control. In order to develop a systemic design principle, the capacitor-voltage control with inductor-current feedback active damping evolved from traditional dual-loop control is analyzed in detail. The mathematic model is established to reveal the reason of instability, and the stable regions are identified. Moreover, the optimal damping coefficient is also derived to enhance the system damping performance. Finally, the experimental results are provided to verify the effectiveness of the proposed method. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Z-source inverter provides a competitive single-stage dc–ac power conversion with the capability of both buck and boost voltage regulation. In order to maximize voltage gain and to increase efficiency, this paper proposes an improved pulse-width modulation (PWM) strategy. By adjusting the shoot-through duty ratio of one-phase leg, it regulates the average value of intermediate dc-link voltage, which is the same as the instantaneous maximum of three-phase line voltage in one switching time period (Ts) . And the other two-phase legs maintain the fixed switching states. Thus, the equivalent switching frequency of power devices in the inverter bridge is reduced to 1/ 3fs (fs is the frequency corresponding to Ts). The operating principles and closed-loop controller design are analyzed and verified by simulation and experiments. Compared with the existing PWM strategies, the improved PWM (IPWM) strategy demonstrates higher efficiency under full operation range of low voltage gain (1.27-2) application. However, with the IPWM strategy, the inductor current and capacitor voltage contain six-time-line-frequency ripples, which consequently require large size of the passive components when the output frequency is very low. Thus, it is also suitable for 400–800-Hz medium frequency aircraft and vessel power supply system due to a relatively high output line frequency. Furthermore, the idea of IPWM strategy can be extended to other kinds of three-phase impedance network-based inverters. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

This paper proposes a single-stage three-phase four-wire grid-connected photovoltaic (PV) system operating with a dual compensating strategy and feedforward control loop (FFCL). Besides injection of active power into the grid, the PV system operates as a unified power quality conditioner (UPQC), suppressing load harmonic currents and compensating reactive power. Furthermore, regulated, balanced, and harmonic-free output voltages are provided to the load. Since the PV-UPQC is based on a dual compensation strategy, the series converter operates as a sinusoidal current source, whereas the parallel converter operates as a sinusoidal voltage source. Thus, seamless transition can be achieved from the interconnected to the islanding operation modes, and vice versa, without load voltage transients. Moreover, to overcome problems associated with sudden solar irradiation changes, fast power balance involving the PV array and the grid is obtained, since the FFCL acts on the generation of the series inverter current references. As a result, the dynamic responses of both inverter currents and dc-bus voltage are improved. Detailed analysis involving the active power flow through the inverters is performed allowing proper understanding of the PV-UPQC operation. Experimental results are presented to evaluate both dynamic and static performances of the PV-UPQC tied to the electrical distribution system. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Enhancing power cycling capability of power semiconductor devices is highly demanded in order to increase the long-term reliability of multilevel inverters. Ageing of power switches and their cooling systems leads to their accelerated damage due to excess power losses and junction temperatures. Therefore, thermal stresses relief (TSR) is the most effective solution for lifetime extension of power semiconductor devices. This paper presents a new TSR carrier-based pulse width modulation (TSRPWM) strategy for extending the lifetime of semiconductor switches in single-phase multilevel inverters. The proposed strategy benefits the inherent redundancy among switching states in multilevel inverters to optimally relieve the thermally stressed device. The proposed algorithm maintains the inverter operation without increased stresses on healthy switches and without reduction of the output power ratings. In addition, the proposed algorithm preserves voltage balance of the dc-link capacitors. The proposed strategy is validated on a single-phase five-level T-type inverter system with considering different locations of thermal stresses detection. Experimental prototype of the selected case study is built to verify the results. Moreover, comparisons with the most featured strategies in literature are given in detail. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

This paper analyzes the use of the voltage distortions in pulse width modulation voltage-source inverters caused by the inverter switching for islanding detection purposes. The nonideal characteristics of the inverters, mainly due to the dead time needed to have safe commutations, produce fundamental frequency-dependent harmonics (−5th, 7th, …) in the output voltage. These harmonic order are, in principle, an unwanted effect, as they reduce the power quality. However, they can potentially be used for islanding detection purposes. The physical principles of the method would be the same as for high-frequency signal injection methods that have already been proposed, but without the need of injecting a high-frequency signal, behaving, therefore, as a passive islanding detection technique. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

High-efficiency and compact single-phase inverters are desirable in many applications such as solar energy harvesting and electric vehicle chargers. This paper presents a 2-kW, 60-Hz, 450-V \text{DC}-to-240-V \text{AC} power inverter, designed and tested subject to the specifications of the Google/IEEE Little Box Challenge. The inverter features a seven-level flying capacitor multilevel converter, with low-voltage GaN switches operating at 120 kHz. The inverter also includes an active buffer for twice-line-frequency power pulsation decoupling, which reduces the required capacitance by a factor of 8 compared to conventional passive decoupling capacitors, while maintaining an efficiency above 99%. The inverter prototype is a self-contained box that achieves a high power density of 216 W/in $^3$ and a peak overall efficiency of 97.6%, while meeting the constraints including input current ripple, load transient, thermal, and FCC Class B EMC specifications. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]