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Three-level neutral-point-clamped (3L-NPC) voltage source inverters are widely used in many low- and medium-power applications. However, the 3L-NPC inverter has an inheritance issue of the neutral-point (NP) voltage unbalancing due to the deviation of dc-link capacitor voltages causing distortions for the output waveform quality. Generally, discontinuous pulsewidth modulation (DPWM) is used to diminish the stress on power transistors and prolong their lifespan, however; it is not capable of solving the issue of NP voltage unbalancing. Therefore, this article proposes a simple voltage balancing control based on DPWM with a hysteresis NP voltage band. The balancing control method is only activated once the capacitance voltage error exceeds the hysteresis band by generating a momentary offset on the opposite direction of the DPWM offset. In this way, both top and bottom capacitance voltages will converge within a predefined error band. Various hysteresis error bands are investigated by analyzing the power losses, total harmonic distortions, and common mode voltage. The advantages of this proposed method are its simplicity and ease of control while maintaining the features of DPWM. The effectiveness of the proposed method is validated using simulation and experimental results. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper proposes a simple and effective method to reduce torque ripples for the torque predictive control (TPC) of permanent-magnet synchronous motors (PMSMs). The conventional TPC analyzes the relationship among the electrical torque, stator flux, and stator voltage using the magnitude of the stator voltage vector of PMSMs to obtain the angle of the reference voltage vector and accurately control the torque. In addition, the stator-flux control uses the hysteresis method. However, the voltage vector that can be chosen in an inverter is limited because the conventional TPC fixes the magnitude of the reference voltage vector, and thus, a large torque ripple is generated in the low-speed region. The proposed TPC does not fix but varies the magnitude of the reference voltage vector using both the torque and flux error information. Therefore, it not only has the fast dynamic of a direct torque control but also can reduce effectively the torque ripple. The proposed method is proven by the simulation and experimental results, and the proposed algorithm provides an excellent steady-state response and fast dynamics. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The magnitude of hysteresis torque band has a considerable effect on the performance of two-level direct torque control (DTC) of induction machines. The conventional DTC fails at low speed due to the poor flux regulation. In this paper, two dynamic hysteresis torque band (DHTB) strategies for the conventional DTC are proposed to solve this problem by dynamically altering the amplitude of hysteresis torque band based on a flux error range. In this way, the simplicity of DTC algorithm is retained since it only requires a minor modification on its structure. The paper also presents further analysis on flux degradation, particularly the droop in between the flux sectors. In addition, the switching frequency effect of reverse voltage vectors for both DHTB schemes is investigated on the performance of the speed-sensorless DTC drive. The effectiveness of the proposed schemes is confirmed by simulation and experimental validation. Results show a significant enhancement in the flux regulation and dynamic torque response from zero motor speed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]