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This paper describes the tuning process of the proportional-resonant controller, taking into account the significant computational delay from the digital control system. Different structures of the controller and related contradicting results are discussed. Particular attention is paid to the stability domain and its dependence on different parameters of the proportional-resonant controller. The main outcome of this paper consists in the tuning approach guidelines for selection of controller parameters in case of significant digital system delay. An optimal controller structure and start-up current optimization are proposed. All results are confirmed by simulation and experimental setup. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper presents the development of a Class-D full-bridge zero-voltage switching (ZVS) inverter, applicable to wireless power transfer (WPT) systems, operating at 13.56 MHz switching frequency with dynamic dead-time control (DDTC). Resonant-coupled WPT systems are being designed at ultrahigh switching frequencies to reduce the size of the wireless link and the passive components. Maintaining ZVS while controlling the output power delivered to a fixed or variable load is one of the major challenges of designing inverters at multi-MHz switching frequencies. DDTC is the approach deployed in this paper to sustain soft switching of a Class-D full-bridge inverter over the full range of output power while regulating the input dc bus voltage. Simulation results are presented to show that dynamically controlling the dead-time during input dc bus voltage variations reduces switch-node voltage overshoot, prevents large current spikes in the switching devices, and reduces associated high switching loss. Practical results obtained show that DDTC reduces switch-node voltage overshoot, increases the inverter efficiency, and reduces the steady-state temperature of the inverter during output power regulation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

First harmonic analysis (FHA) is arguably the most widely used analytical technique for wireless power transfer (WPT) circuits due to its simplicity. Although FHA can provide closed-form solutions, the existence of rectifier diode forward voltage drop and higher order harmonics, especially the second and third harmonics at variable duty cycle operation, can significantly deteriorate its accuracy. This paper presents an accurate and efficient method called enhanced multiple harmonic analysis (eMHA) for the optimal design and optimal control of WPT systems. The eMHA method considers the nature of nonlinear rectification networks under nonsinusoidal current and reexamines the concept of the equivalent load. As a result, the rectified WPT system is transformed into a series of linear systems with complex load impedances. The steady-state electric quantities can be then explicitly calculated. This enables eMHA to seamlessly work with numerical optimization algorithms to facilitate the automated design and optimization of WPT systems. An example of optimal design and optimal control of a 10 W WPT system is demonstrated. The results obtained by eMHA and FHA are also compared. A prototype of the designed circuit was constructed. The accuracy and effectiveness of eMHA are verified by experimental measurements. This paper is accompanied by a MATLAB-based analytical tool with a graphical user interface demonstrating the effects of circuit variables on electrical quantities and waveforms. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Collaborative control of power converters operating in microgrids with unbalanced single-phase loads is difficult to achieve, considering that the voltages and currents have positive-, negative-, and zero-sequence components. In this paper, a new control scheme for collaborative control of four-leg microgrids is proposed. The main advantage of the proposed methodology is simplicity, because the sharing of the powers produced by the positive-, negative-, and zero-sequence voltage and currents is simple to achieve using the easy to implement and well-known droop control algorithms, i.e., as those based on $P$ – $\omega$ and $Q$ – $v$ droop control. The proposed droop algorithms do not require high bandwidth communication channels and the application of virtual impedances, whose design usually demands extensive simulation work, is not required. Three secondary control systems are also analyzed, discussed, and implemented in this paper to regulate the frequency, voltage, and phase at the point of common coupling (PCC), to achieve a balanced 50-Hz three-phase voltage supply in the PCC during steady-state operation. For these secondary control systems, single-phase phase-locked loop based on quadrature signal generators are implemented. Small signal modeling and design are discussed in this paper. A microgrid prototype of $\approx$ 5 kW, implemented using two power converters of 3 kW (each), is used to experimentally validate the proposed algorithms. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

With the increasing of switching frequency in pulsewidth modulated motor system, common mode current (CMC) seriously affects the reliable operation of motor system and it has become a problem that cannot be ignored. This paper proposes a mathematical model of CMC and conducts detailed time–frequency characteristics analysis of CMC. The influence of several key parameters of motor system, such as distributed capacitance, dc bus voltage, and inverter switching frequency, on CMC characteristics has been analyzed in detail, and the corresponding variation rule of CMC oscillation amplitude and attenuation period/time has been summarized. The experimental results are presented to verify the correctness of theoretical analysis. The conclusions of this paper can lay theoretical foundation for the effective suppression of CMC in various practical applications. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper, a new modular and active snubber cell, easily applicable, and attractive for converters, especially have many switches proposed. This snubber cell is implemented on the single phase of a grid-connected three-phase T-type three-level inverter (T-3LI). In this new converter, the main switches turn-on under zero-voltage transition and turn-off under zero-voltage switching (ZVS). Also, auxiliary switches turn-on under zero-current switching and turn-off under ZVS. All snubber diodes operate under soft switching (SS). There are no additional current and voltage stresses on the main switches. During an SS operation, the switching energies are transferred to a dc voltage source. Then, these energies are processed to input with an independent dc–dc converter. Thus, all switching energies are recycled. In this paper, the principle operation and steady-state analysis of the modular and active snubber cell for a single-phase T-3LI are presented and experimental results, rated 1 kW and 100 kHz, are provided to verify theoretical analysis. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper improves the position sensorless drive by sensing actual machine phase voltages. A high-bandwidth phase voltage measurement is developed for pulsewidth modulation (PWM) voltage inverters. On the basis, the actual phase voltage is obtained based on the digital integration of PWM voltage using the capture modulator in existing drive microcontrollers (MCU's). Comparing to existing phase voltage measurement, no separated A/D converter and communication hardware are required because PWM pulses are directly measured using MCUs. However, for standard machines without neutral points, only line-to-line ac PWM voltages can be measured for the phase voltage reconstruction. Since the capture based on transistor-transistor logic (TTL) logics receives only digital signals, a preprocess circuit to convert ac PWM line voltages to equivalent digital signals is proposed. This paper clearly explains the voltage sensing hardware using MCU capture modulator. According to experimental results, a 150-MHz sampling rate for phase voltage measurement is achieved based on the proposed capture-based voltage measurement. Although the physical limitation of back electromotive force estimation still appears, the proposed phase voltage measurement substantially enhances the sensorless drive performance at low speed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The paper confirms that removing antiparallel silicon carbide (SiC) Schottky barrier diodes (SBDs) from SiC-based inverters offers positive effects without critical impact on inverter loss and electromagnetic interference (EMI) issues, moreover, the removal of SBDs reduces the inverter losses in many cases and noise emissions. This conclusion leads to the possibility to improve the power densities by removing SBDs. However, the removal of SBDs may cause some disadvantages such as an increase of the reverse conduction loss and influence of the body diode recovery phenomenon. Therefore, a comprehensive investigation of these advantages and disadvantages is necessary. In this paper, design criteria are proposed to clarify the conditions in which SiC-based inverters without SBDs have advantages over those with SBDs from the viewpoint of losses. On the other hand, to achieve the removal of SBDs, it is also necessary to confirm that removing SBDs does not cause severe EMI issues. The paper confirms that switching noises are reduced by the removal of SBDs; this is due to the larger damping effect of the SiC mosfets without SBDs than that of SiC mosfets with SBDs. The validity of the theoretical analyses and design criteria is confirmed with comprehensive experimental results. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The energy management will play an important role in the future smart grid by managing loads in an intelligent way. Energy management programs, realized via House Energy Management systems (HEMS) for smart cities, provide many benefits; consumers enjoy electricity price savings, and utility operates at reduced peak demand. This paper proposed an adaptive energy management system for islanded mode and grid-connected mode. In this paper, a hybrid system that includes distribution electric grid, photovoltaics, and batteries are employed as energy sources in the residential of the consumer in order to meet the demand. The proposed system permits coordinated operation of distributed energy resources to concede necessary active power and additional service whenever required. This paper uses home energy management system which switches between the distributed energy and the grid power sources. The home energy management system incorporates controllers for maximum power point tracking, battery charge and discharge and inverter for effective control between different sources depending upon load requirement and availability of sources at maximum powerpoint. Also, in this paper, the Maximum Power Point Tracking (MPPT) technique is applied to the photovoltaic station to extract the maximum power from hybrid power system during variation of the environmental conditions. The operation strategy of energy storage systems is proposed to solve the power changes from photovoltaics and houses loads fluctuations locally, instead of reflecting those disturbances to the utility grid. Furthermore, the energy storage systems energy management scheme will help to achieve the peak reduction of the houses daily electrical load demand. The simulation results have verified the effectiveness and feasibility of the introduced strategy and the capability of the proposed controller for a hybrid microgrid operating in different modes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper, many impedance-source inverters with coupled inductors have been investigated to obtain a high step-up boost ratio. However, the leakage inductors in these topologies induce great voltage spikes at the dc link, which will increase the voltage stress of switches. Thus, the power level of inverters is limited. Furthermore, the efficiency of the inverters can be degraded by the losses associated with leakage inductors. To address abovementioned issues, this paper proposes a family of low-spike high-efficiency Y-source inverters. The proposed inverters have the ability of eliminating voltage spikes at the dc link and recycling the leakage energy via the additional diode and capacitor. In order to show the excellent characteristics of the proposed topologies, this paper compares the performances of the proposed inverters and the improved-Y-source inverter in many aspects. Simulation and experimental results have verified the abilities of the proposed inverters. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A space vector modulation (SVM) technique of a dual-inverter system for an open-end winding motor drive is described in this paper, where one inverter has a battery power source and the other has an only capacitor across the dc bus. The SVM must be achieved to operate the motor with field-oriented control and simultaneously to control the capacitor voltage at a constant value by using redundant switching states of the dual-inverter system. The control of the capacitor voltage is carried out by selecting a charging or a discharging mode in each redundant switching state, taking the instantaneous motor power factor into account. In addition, it is also required to reduce the error voltage pulses, which are generated in output multilevel voltage waveforms during the dead time. The compensation method of the existing dead-time scheme and the improved SVM sequence to reduce the error voltage vectors are proposed in this paper. The proposed methods are examined through several experimental tests and are confirmed to generate superior output voltage waveforms from the viewpoint of the measured total harmonic distortion and dv/dt. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper presents a new series capacitor based frequency scan method to assess the subsynchronous resonance risk including induction generator effect (IGE) and subsynchronous control interaction (SSCI). Most existing frequency scan methods are generator based and calculate the impedance as viewed from the neural bus of the study generator. In this paper, the generator-based frequency scan method is discovered to be inadequate or inapplicable to deal with a cluster of inverter-based generation resources under some circumstances. The proposed method scans the impedance as viewed from the series capacitor to assess the IGE/SSCI risk. With nearby inverter-based generation resources modeled by their frequency-dependent impedances, the proposed method is capable of assessing the IGE/SSCI risk for a cluster of inverter-based generation resources. The electromagnetic transient simulation was conducted to validate the proposed method. The proposed method also successfully demonstrates the nonlinear impact of the number of in-service units on the SSCI performance for a cluster of inverter-based generators. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The main drawbacks of conventional direct torque control (DTC) drives are erratic switching frequency and high torque ripples. The multilevel inverter fed DTC drives are proved to be an alternative for eliminating these drawbacks. Apart from the commonly used three-level inverter fed drives, this paper presents an even-level inverter fed DTC drive. In this paper, a space vector modulated DTC algorithm for a four-level DTC drive is proposed and is implemented by feeding both ends of an open-end-winding induction motor with two-level inverters. The space vector modulation (SVM) algorithm uses a fractal based design for switching voltage vector generation and allied computations are performed in 60 degree co-ordinate system. Representation of vectors as integer values in 60 degree co-ordinate planes avoids fractional arithmetic, which simplifies the algorithmic computations. Detailed analyses of the drive performance under dissimilar operating modes are presented. The loading performance of the drive is experimentally verified on a 5-HP induction motor with a strain gauge type mechanical loading system. No-load experimental results were obtained from a laboratory model 2-HP induction motor drive operated in closed loop mode. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper presents an enhanced current controller for improving the performance of a class of single-phase grid-connected inverters operating in weak and distorted grid conditions. An inverter designed to operate at normal (strong or stiff and clean) grid conditions may not perform satisfactorily during weak and distorted grid conditions. One major reason is the interfering dynamics of the synchronization or phase-locked loop (PLL). This paper proposes an enhanced control structure for a popular class of single-phase inverters to address this problem. The proposed idea is to include the PLL state variables into the main inverter controller thereby minimizing the undesirable interactions of the PLL with the other components. A method for optimally designing the controller gains is also proposed. Compared to the conventional one, the proposed controller is shown to have a more robust performance over a substantially wider range of weak and distorted grid conditions. Extensive simulation and experimental results are presented to validate the proposed controls. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper presents a fault-tolerant operation for dual three-phase surface-mounted permanent magnet machines (SPMSMs) that were both electrically connected on three winding phases and mechanically connected on one shaft. The open-phase fault-tolerant operation is considered in dual three-phase SPMSMs drive thus combining motor drive of three-phase and single-phase. The proposed method controls the torque of each motor with different phases using a single inverter. In order to control these motors, the torque and current are distributed between the motors with the specific ratio. Methods for minimizing torque ripple and copper losses and maximizing the output torque of the three-phase motor are stated in this paper. Accordingly, a system with cost-effective and enhanced reliability is proposed without any configuration adjustment or auxiliary switching devices. The mathematical analysis and experiments are presented to verify the feasibility of the proposed method. After the fault, the resulting system is able to provide up to 75% of the rated torque, and up to 50% of the torque can be utilized without any torque ripple. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Capacitor-current-feedback active damping has been widely used in LCL-type grid-connected inverters. However, the damping performance is deteriorated due to the negative equivalent resistance resulted by the digital control delays, and thus the grid-connected inverter is apt to be unstable under the grid impedance variation. To address this issue, this paper proposes the capacitor-current proportional-integral (PI) positive feedback active damping method that can ensure a positive equivalent resistance almost within the Nyquist frequency, i.e., the full controllable frequency range. In theory, the proposed damping method can be implemented by feeding back the capacitor current through a PI function. However, the integral term will continuously accumulate the noise and dc bias arising from the feedback signal. To overcome this drawback, a more practical implementation solution is drawn in this paper. Furthermore, a straightforward design procedure is presented for the convenience of selecting the proper controller parameters. With the proposed damping method and its practical implementation, high inverter robustness against the grid impedance variation can be achieved. Experiments are performed on a 6-kW prototype and the experimental results are in well agreement with the theoretical expectations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper proposes a resonant switching cell model to analyze and design the single-ended resonant dc–dc converters. The single-ended zero-voltage switching (ZVS) converters such as the Class E converter are efficient for megahertz switching because they feature low turn-on and turn-off switching losses. Also, they use only a ground-referenced switch, allowing a simple gate drive circuit. In this paper, we investigate the single-ended resonant converter with the small input inductance, whereas the conventional Class E converter has a large input inductance. The main contribution of this paper is to propose the resonant switching cell as an analytic model that simplifies the analysis and the design of the resonant dc–dc converters. Furthermore, this paper presents the design method of the resonant switching cell model for minimizing the resonant current magnitude and conduction loss while the converter maintains ZVS property. The experimental results from a 10-MHz GaN-based prototype demonstrate the feasibility and effectiveness of the analysis and design based on the proposed resonant switching cell model. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In an open-end winding permanent magnet synchronous machines drive with single dc voltage source, zero-sequence current (ZSC) can lead to a high current stress of power modules and loss of motor. Therefore, some modulation strategies have been employed to alleviate ZSC by suppressing zero-sequence voltage (ZSV). However, ZSC still exists in the system because ZSV can also be generated by other nonlinear factors of inverter such as the dead time of system. In addition, zero-sequence back electromotive force in the zero-sequence path can also enlarge torque ripple and ZSC. In order to deal with above problems, first, this paper proposes a full-order adaptive zero-sequence observer to estimate future ZSC and ZSV, which are able to compensate one-step control delay. Second, to achieve the maximum voltage dc bus utilization, this paper proposes a novel deadbeat predictive current control (DPCC) scheme with alternate sub-hexagonal center pulsewidth modulation strategy to suppress ZSC and torque ripple simultaneously. Finally, this paper presents a comparative study of two types of methods, namely traditional DPCC scheme and the proposed DPCC scheme. Simulation and experimental results are demonstrated to verify the effectiveness of the proposed DPCC scheme. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Multilevel inverters (MLIs) are playing a pivotal role in the power sector with potential applications, such as interfacing renewable energy sources with the grid and several industrial drive applications. MLIs with a smaller number of switching devices are more promising due to their compact size, reduced cost, and higher efficiency compared with their traditional counterparts. This paper, therefore, presents a new three-phase seven-level inverter. This topology is a combination of two cascade-connected two-level voltage-source inverters (VSIs) and H-bridge cells with flying capacitors (FCs). This paper presents the operating principle and the balancing technique for the dc-link capacitors and FCs. The generation of various output voltage levels and the limitation of the sinusoidal pulsewidth modulation control for FC voltage balancing is also presented. The number of components in the proposed circuit configuration and their voltage ratings are considerably lower compared with the recently proposed topologies. The behavior of the proposed circuit configuration is first assessed with simulation studies and is then tested with a laboratory prototype. The simulation and experimental results validate the effectiveness of the proposed topology and the voltage balancing technique. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In a common dc-link dual-fed open-end winding permanent magnet synchronous motor (OEW-PMSM) topology, it is well known how the additional flow of a zero-sequence current (ZSC) is permitted. The low zero-sequence impedance characteristic of high-speed machines leads to high-intensity and high-frequency ripple of the ZSC. Therefore, there is a necessity to eliminate the zero-sequence-voltage (ZSV) produced by the two voltage source converters that feed the machine. Furthermore, the non-sinusoidal back electromagnetic force (back EMF) causes the circulation of a third harmonic ZSC. An OEW-PMSM high-speed starter-generator fed by a dual-inverter with a single dc-link is considered. Part I of this paper proposes a modulation for the considered topology able to eliminate instantaneously the ZSV produced. In this paper, a detailed analysis of the deadtime (DT) effect on the ZSV has been carried out and a novel hysteresis control for the ZSC using the DT as a control action is presented. The DT produces a ZSV distortion on the zero-axis that can be used to control the third harmonic ZSC flowing due to the non-sinusoidal machine back EMF. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper, a new family of impedance source inverters is presented. It employs high-frequency electrical isolation between the inverter bridge switches and the load along with voltage clamping across the dc-link voltage. Conventional Z-source inverters (ZSIs) employs an impedance network that consists of inductors and capacitors. It has unique features that realize both step-up/step-down functions and eliminates the need of dead/overlap times. This paper extends this novel concept by using electrical isolation in impedance source inverters. High-frequency isolation has many advantages in terms of immunity and reliability; when applied with impedance source inverters this makes ZSIs a preferable choice for industrial applications. In photo-voltaic systems, the addition of the high-frequency transformer provides safety by avoiding the injection of dc circulating current into the grid, without the need of an external bulky line frequency transformer. The gain of the proposed inverter design can be accurately selected by choosing the turns ratio of the high frequency transformer (HFT) or by adjusting the shoot-through duty cycle (STDC) to the inverter. This allows for greater freedom especially when utilizing a higher modulation index, with the STDC allowing dynamic gain adjusts to be done speedily during operation of the inverter. Additionally, a dc-rail voltage clamping technique for the proposed class of isolated ZSIs is also discussed. This technique provides benefits not only in improving the output voltage quality, but also in reducing voltage stress of the active and passive components by minimizing the voltage spikes across the switching devices. In this paper, several high-frequency isolated ZSIs are presented, and an example isolated improved ΓZSI design is shown and discussed in detail. Simulations are provided for the proposed class of isolated inverters to verify their working. Further experimental investigation has been done for which results for the isolated improved ΓZSI are reported. These empirical results have largely confirmed the expected benefits that were determined through simulation and accurate model-based testing. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper proposes a current control of dual three-phase permanent magnet synchronous machine (PMSM) based on five-leg inverter. The five-leg inverter can be utilized to drive dual three-phase PMSM with full torque at slow speed when the conventional dual three-phase voltage source inverter (VSI) has a faulty inverter leg. Usually, the common leg in the five-leg inverter may have severe current stress. By dedicated selection of which two phases as a pair to share the common leg, its current rating is approximately half of current rating of other legs. Meanwhile, the five-leg inverter can fully fulfill the vector space decomposition control for dual three-phase PMSM, which has the same dynamical performance as the conventional dual three-phase VSI. However, due to the asymmetry of five-leg inverter non-linearity, the currents of dual three-phase PMSM are unbalanced. To mitigate this issue, the five-leg inverter non-linearity compensation is also introduced and investigated in this paper, whose effectiveness is verified by comparative experiments on a prototype dual three-phase PMSM. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper, an overload and short-circuit protection method is proposed for voltage source inverter-based uninterruptible power supply (UPS) system. In order to achieve high reliability and availability of the UPS, short circuit and overload protection scheme are necessary. When overload or short circuit happens, using the proposed control method, the amplitude of the output current can be limited to a constant value, which can be set by the customer to avoid the destruction of the power converter, and to obtain a faster recovery performance as well. The detailed principle of the proposed protection method is discussed in this paper. It mainly contains three parts in the control diagram for current limit, first is the anti-windup in the voltage and current controllers, then the feedforward of the capacitor voltage to the current control loop, the last is the fast reset of the resonant part of the current controller when overcurrent happens. The procedure of developing the control method is also presented in the paper. Experimental results on a commercial UPS system are presented to verify the effectiveness of the control method. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper presents a novel seven-level inverter topology for medium-voltage high-power applications. It consists of eight active switches and two inner flying capacitor (FC) units forming a similar structure as in a conventional active neutral-point-clamped (ANPC) inverter. This unique arrangement reduces the number of active and passive components. A simple modulation technique reduces cost and complexity in the control system design without compromising reactive power capability. In addition, compared to major conventional seven-level inverter topologies, such as the neutral point clamped, FC, cascaded H-bridge, and ANPC topologies, the new topology reduces the dc-link voltage requirement by 50%. This recued dc-link voltage makes the new topology appealing for various industrial applications. Experimental results from a 2.2-kVA prototype are presented to support the theoretical analysis presented in this paper. The prototype demonstrates a conversion efficiency of around 97.2% ± 1% for a wide load range. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The benefits of employing multilevel pulsewidth-modulated (PWM) waveforms for diagnostic purposes compared to sinusoidal- and square-shaped voltages are presented in this paper. Examples on how the high voltage circuits are designed to enable these studies, as well as results, are discussed. To demonstrate the approach, it is investigated what influence the choice of PWM levels has on the partial discharge (PD) characteristics for two similar wire specimens insulated by different materials. Here, to resemble a motor winding, two different twisted pair test objects insulated by either pure polyamide-imid (PAI) material or with added conductive Cr2O3 material were exposed to voltages with ultrashort rise times. The test objects were fed from either two-, three-, five-, or seven-level inverter waveforms of similar shape as in actual applications. To compare the performances, measurements of the PD characteristics were conducted. Specifically, the total number of PDs, as well as their average maximum amplitude per cycle, was obtained together with the phase-resolved PD pattern for each case. The experimental results presented in this paper show that the total peak and summed PD magnitude (exposure) drop considerably more for the Cr2O3 insulation compared to PAI when applying a five-level or higher level inverter. This reduction is more significant for the insulation with added Cr2O3 material and the usage of higher inverter levels reveals this. As more information can be obtained using higher inverter levels, the evaluation of new material constitutions is preferably done utilizing at least a three-level inverter or higher. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper presents an adaptive multi-loop control scheme for inverters interlinking dc voltage sources to single-phase, low-voltage ac grids. Control self-adaptation is particularly useful in the case of weak grids that, due to frequent physical modifications (e.g., network reconfigurations and disconnection of generators/loads) and intrinsic lack of inertia, present strongly time-variant characteristics. The solution presented in this paper is based on a high-performance converter controller with auto-tuning capabilities. It is shown that the applied auto-tuning method can significantly widen the stability region of the interlinking converter, covering a broad range of grid impedance values. In addition, within the stable region, the controller maintains the nominal performance. Experimental results are reported validating the proposed approach in realistic operating conditions, including grid voltage distortion and variations of amplitude and frequency. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A novel pulsewidth modulation (PWM) scheme for the decoupled and coordinated control of two parallel connected split-phase induction machines is discussed in this paper for the first time. Both the motors are operated from a single six-phase voltage source inverter which acts as a power source, and two switched capacitor-fed auxiliary inverters to limit the flow of nontorque producing currents in each motor. Both the motors can be operated at its full rated power with low switching frequency, and decoupled control for full power range can be achieved with the proposed topology. This is possible because the individual machines do not carry the load/harmonic currents of other machine (unlike the conventional series or parallel connected systems). The converters can be modulated using sine-triangle PWM or space vector pulsewidth modulation (SVPWM). Furthermore, two different schemes of SVPWM techniques are proposed and compared in this paper. Exhaustive experimental results for all the modulation schemes are provided for steady state and transient operating conditions including start-up to validate the proposed topology and modulation schemes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Multilevel inverters (MLIs) are being used in wide range of power electronic applications. These converters have attracted a lot of attention during recent years and exist in different topologies with similar basic concepts. This paper presents five main submodules (SMs) to be used as the basic structures of MLIs. The paper reviews the common MLI topologies from the structural point of view. The topologies are divided into the different SMs to show conventional MLI configurations and future topologies that can be created from the main SMs. A comparative study between different topologies is performed in detail. The MLIs are categorized and investigated with from different perspectives such as the number of components, the ability to create inherent negative voltage, working in regeneration mode and using single dc source. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper provides an experimental discussion on a real-time real-power emulator that plays an important role in achieving a total test of medium-voltage, high-power, high-speed induction motor drives. The use of the emulator brings cost and time savings to the test. The test bench including the emulator is characterized by connecting two modular multilevel double-star chopper-cell (DSCC) converters connected in a front-to-front way. This paper designs, builds, and tests a 400- ${\rm V}_{\rm dc}$ , 10-kW downscaled test bench. It mainly consists of the following two identical DSCC converters: 1) one DSCC converter is used as an inverter under test; and 2) the other as a real-time real-power high-fidelity emulator. Experimental waveforms confirm that the emulator can reproduce electrical and mechanical operating performance of the three-phase 200-V, 10-kW, four-pole, 9000-r/min induction motor loaded with a centrifugal compressor. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The staircase modulation strategy is the best choice for asymmetric cascaded H-bridge multilevel inverter (ACMI) because it makes the output voltage to present a high number of levels and makes one of the ACMI modules to operate at low frequency. However, the staircase modulation is usually employed without giving its deserved attention. This paper presents a clear understanding of the staircase modulation strategy and its applications in both isolated and grid-connected ACMI.  The main novelty of this paper is the obtaining of the switching function for each module. The principle of operation is carefully described, also indicating how to command the ACMI transistors. The output voltage of the two superior modules is evaluated for different values of iterations. Special attention is given to the power distribution among the ACMI modules when the staircase modulation is applied. It is demonstrated on how the power is processed in each module considering an ACMI with three modules. The analysis is presented showing the staircase modulation within a closed-loop control strategy for isolated and grid-connected modes of operation, showing that the content of this paper is valid for both modes. Experimental results clarify and show the efficacy of the content presented in this paper. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

To improve power density and motor performance, new bearingless motor topologies combine torque and magnetic suspension coils into a single winding. Of these topologies, the parallel dual-purpose no-voltage winding is advantageous from the bearingless drive perspective because it requires the least amount of hardware. However, this topology can result in undesirable current controller performance from cross-coupling effects between the suspension and torque operation. This paper investigates these cross-coupling effects using rotating reference frame theory to derive relevant system disturbance transfer functions. The nature of this coupling is explained in relation to the machine and control parameters (inductances, resistances, controller gains) to provide insights for bearingless machine and control designers. The paper proposes and simulates different compensation techniques to minimize or eliminate the cross-coupling. It is shown that with careful machine design or with proper feedback control compensation, the motor controller can be implemented as a conventional motor drive, without knowledge of the magnetic suspension system. Finally, experimental validation is provided via two prototype machines. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Emulation of an electric machine allows the testing of a drive inverter and controller of an electric drive system, prior to the manufacture of a machine prototype. This paper presents the emulation of a variable flux machine (VFM). The VFM emulator system proposed in this paper uses a detailed look-up table-based machine model for the purpose of emulation. This allows the emulator to mimic all machine magnetic and geometric behaviors such as saturation and torque ripple. In addition, the machine emulator proposed in this paper uses high-performance high-bandwidth linear amplifiers as power amplifiers. This enables a high bandwidth; leading to a high accuracy machine emulation. A detailed control description for the proposed machine emulator system and a machine model look-up table data verification against a prototype machine is initially presented. Experimental results are then presented to validate the utility of the proposed VFM emulator system to emulate various machine transient behaviors at different magnetization levels. Experimental results obtained from the emulator are subsequently compared against the experimental results obtained from a prototype VFM drive to verify the emulation accuracy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

High-speed electrical drives normally require converters capable of high-frequency operation. For this reason, converters based on SiC mosfets have been spreading in this field. Nevertheless, the problems caused by the high dv/dt imposed by SiC mosfets, like the premature failure of the motor winding insulation and the electromagnetic interference generation, are drawing more and more attention of the experts of this sector. In fact, these issues can deeply affect the system reliability and, hence, can represent a limiting factor for all those applications where the continuity of operation is the highest priority. To avoid the use of SiC mosfets in the most sensitive applications, this paper presents a solution, which consists of a Si-insulated gate bipolar transistor (IGBT)-based inverter fed by a Si-IGBT-based dc/dc converter performing a suitable dc voltage regulation. Therefore, the aim of this paper is to prove that a stable operation of a high-speed drive can be guaranteed through the proposed converter configuration. To prove the effectiveness of the proposed solution, experimental results on a laboratory setup have been presented. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

One promising solution for future large wind turbine power conversion is to use medium-voltage power conversion systems for high efficiency and high power-density, e.g., by using a cascaded structure presented in this paper. However, a medium-frequency (MF) oscillation issue was observed while testing the experimental prototype of the above system. Given the complex multivariable coupling models of the multiwinding transformer and multiple inverters, conventional single-variable theories are not suitable. Therefore, this paper presents a new decoupling analysis method. Using a proposed linear transformation matrix, the output currents of multiple inverters can be transformed to a summation (grid) current and difference currents, where the former is the summation of inverter currents and the latter are the differences between currents of any two inverters. This transformation has enabled the use of single-variable theories, e.g., Bode diagram to analyze the summation current and difference current separately. It was found that the MF oscillation issue is caused by the equivalent impedance of the summation current being much larger than that of the difference current. Specifically, using small controller parameters cannot ensure the grid current quality and using large parameters may cause oscillation in the difference current. The proposed method can provide guidelines to design the parameters of current regulators and filters in multiple-inverter systems. Experimental results of a downscaled wind energy conversion system are presented to verify the proposed method. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper proposes an “isolated soft switching current fed LCC-T resonant dc–dc converter for PV/fuel cell applications.” This converter is able to achieve zero voltage switching for front-end inverter switches and zero-current switching for voltage doubler diodes. The majority of dc–dc converters have compact capacitive (C) filter in output, but high harmonic currents through transformer makes them bulky. The proposed converter attempts to improve harmonic content through a transformer under wide load and input variations as well as it can significantly reduce required turns ratio of transformer to achieve required output voltage. For the above reasons, the proposed converter can offer better footprints and therefore it can be a potential candidate for PV/fuel cell applications. This paper presents basic operating principal, detailed analysis, control, and design of the proposed converter with the help of an example. This converter operates in two modes, i.e., constant duty cycle mode and constant frequency mode, depending on load demand, and is explained through operating curves. Finally, experimental results are included for justifying the proposed theory. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Reduced switch active phase converters (APC) are cost-effective solutions for running three-phase loads from single-phase grids. This paper proposes a novel auxiliary-capacitor-based APC (AC-APC) for this application. The combination of the topological location of the auxiliary capacitor and the control of the AC-APC reduces current stress on the semiconductor devices. In this paper, a selection criterion for the optimal auxiliary capacitor value is formulated to reduce the device currents in such a way that the overall efficiency is enhanced. This paper presents a comparative analysis of converter volt-ampere (VA) rating and device power loss for conventional H-bridge active front-end and inverter-based topology, APC, and AC-APC. To evaluate the efficacy of the proposed AC-APC, an experimental study is conducted on the APC and the AC-APC feeding a 3-hp three-phase induction motor. At a full load of $\text{2.5}\,\text{kW}$ and $\text{0.8 } \text{power factor}$ , the measured maximum efficiency of the AC-APC is $2\%$ higher than that of the APC. Analytical evaluation of converter currents and device power loss are in close agreement with experimental observations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In islanded microgrids, voltage source inverters working in parallel are expected to provide regulation of the local frequency while granting active power sharing. This paper presents a local control approach at each inverter based on an event-driven operation of a parameter-varying filter. It ensures perfect active power sharing and controllable accuracy for frequency restoration without requiring the exchange of control data between inverters over the communication network. This paper includes stability analysis and design guidelines for the control parameters using a modeling approach that considers the interaction between inverters. Selected experimental results on a three-inverter laboratory microgrid corroborate the effectiveness of the proposed control scheme, and outlines its advantages with respect to previous similar schemes and the performance cost that implies not using communications. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Three-phase grid-connected inverter modeling depends on the equivalent resistance and inductance between the inverter and the grid. However, these parameters are not fixed during the operation of the inverter and vary with the operating conditions. In this paper, a new globally stable adaptive controller is proposed to estimate these values online and update the controller during its operation. A model reference adaptive system (MRAS) based on two fictitious quantities with no physical significance is utilized, namely $M = v \cdot i^*$ and $N = v^* \times i$ , where $v$ and $i$ are the steady-state values of voltage and current in synchronously rotating frame of reference. Detailed stability analysis of the proposed estimation technique has been presented using a Lyapunov energy function-based approach proving the global stability of the technique. Small-signal modeling and analysis of the proposed scheme has also been presented so as to understand the local dynamics of the system. The guidelines to select the parameter of the proposed MRAS system along with updating the controller are elaborated in this paper. Detailed simulation based on MATLAB/Simulink and PLECS, along with experimental studies through a Texas Instruments TMS320F28377S microcontroller, validates the feasibility of the proposed control architecture. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The supply-side current of an inverter-fed induction motor (IM) is easily accessible and less affected by noises than the motor stator current. This paper proposes a novel sensorless speed estimation method for an IM using the spectrum of the supply-side current. However, due to the influence of fundamental supply frequency, it is difficult to carry out the speed detection straight from the supply-side current signal. In this paper, an analytic model for characterizing the supply-side current of an inverter-fed IM using the modulation theory and the switching function concept is developed. Then, the Hilbert transform is applied to extract the speed harmonic component from the supply-side current. Finally, an interpolated Goertzel algorithm is put forward to enhance the estimation precision of IM speed. The performance of the proposed sensorless speed estimation method is proved by the speed estimation results obtained from hardware experiments of an IM fed by an inverter under different load conditions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In medium-voltage drives, multistep model predictive control (MPC) can lower the total harmonic distortion of the stator currents and thereby reduce losses and improve efficiency. However, from the point of view of implementation, there is still uncertainty as to whether transients have a major adverse effect on achieving this improved steady-state performance. The time-varying nature of machine drives, initialization of the optimization process, and limited computational resources are identified as key factors. This paper analyzes the link between these key factors in detail, thus a suitable reformulation and selective initialization approach is designed to enable the deterministic use of multistep finite-control-set MPC irrespective of the drive system conditions. Guidelines to select the prediction horizon, weighting factor, and minimum switching frequency considering the control platform limitations are presented. The significant impacts of transients on the design and experimental validation, covering several drive conditions, are evaluated in a scaled-down three-level induction machine drive switching at 350 Hz. This paper is accompanied by a video demonstrating the real-time implementation of multistep MPC. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper, a current controller for a parallel operation of inverters is described. When inverters operate in parallel, it is a well-known fact that the inverter current is composed of the average current (AVC) and the zero-sequence circulating current (henceforth ZSCC), which inevitably flows between inverters under the parallel operation. Considering this, previous studies concentrated on reducing ZSCC. However, in this paper, it is found that the inverter current has another component, a differential current, in addition to the two components of AVC and ZSCC. Based on these three decomposed current components, three equivalent circuits are derived from n-paralleled inverters. To minimize the differential current and improve the regulation performance of the total output phase current, a decomposed current control scheme is proposed from equivalent circuit models. The proposed algorithm is applied to a system consisting of three paralleled two-level inverters with small shared inductance whose dc links are connected in common. Additionally, synchronous pulsewidth modulation is employed as the PWM method for each inverter. The proposed current controller is compared with two conventional current controllers, one where each inverter controls its own currents and the other where only AVC is controlled. Through experiments, it is shown that these conventional controllers have limitations and the proposed current controller overcomes these limitations. The effectiveness and feasibility of the proposed control scheme are verified through experimental results. Especially, both theoretical analysis and experiment results verify that the proposed method is robust with regard to parameter errors. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In low-power applications of photovoltaic (PV) systems, the transformerless grid-connected inverters have been preferred to increase the efficiency and reduce the cost, size, and power losses when they are compared to the ones with the transformer. A transformerless single-phase inverter topology with a single dc-link capacitor for the grid-connected PV systems is proposed in this paper. The proposed inverter has been simulated by using a cooperation process of the MATLAB and SPICE package programs and it has been implemented for experimental verification. The proposed inverter reduces the high-frequency common-mode leakage current caused by parasitic capacitances of PV panels, whereas it is controlled with the unipolar sinusoidal pulsewidth modulation. Also, the results show that the common-mode voltage remains constant. The efficiency of the proposed inverter has been compared to that of the most common topologies having the dc-link decoupling during the zero voltage states. This paper is accompanied by a video file demonstrating the power loss distribution in the inverter. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Highlights • The applied control strategy does not depend on any tuning parameter. • The converter does not require any separate output filter. • The series transformer impedance is controlled indirectly by flux (voltage) injection to its secondary. • This system does not require any signal analysis tool for voltage disturbances extraction. • The "smart branch" can conduct the harmonics directionally. Abstract A novel "Smart Branch" is introduced in this paper which compensates for various power quality disturbances. This "Smart Branch" includes a series transformer which its impedance is controlled indirectly by voltage injection to its secondary. By using a finite control set-model predictive controller (FCS-MPC), the "Smart Branch" can be controlled adaptive, flexible and straightforward. The "Smart Branch" is installed at the PCC, where the load current and the PCC voltage can be measured locally without using a communication channel. The "Smart Branch" controller tracks pure sinusoidal waveforms as its references. Thus the "Smart Branch" hardly produces harmonics and therefore its output filter can be eliminated. The controller can be used for multi-objective optimization of power quality in power systems and especially in microgrids. A droop based method is developed for adjusting the objectives' weightings in the cost function of the MPC. In the last part of the paper, by using the extensive simulations and scenarios, the figure of merits of the "Smart Branch" is proved. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper proposes a modular on-road wireless power transfer system with interoperable power adjustment mechanism. The paper is anticipated to enhance the capability of on-road charging during the movement of automated guided vehicles (AGV), by which the traveling mileage is increased, while the battery volume is decreased. The system design includes an interoperable power adjustment technique based on the detected impedance, and the moving position of AGV can be, hence, comprehended so as to facilitate the adjustment of the output power from each transmission module in a more flexible way. Through the investigation of on-road charging efficiency, all of coil magnetic analysis, misalignment charging evaluation, system stress simulation, and resonant characteristics investigation are performed. Experimental results gained from software simulation and hardware realization are beneficial for AGV charging applications. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper proposes a new methodology for automated design of power electronic systems realized through the use of artificial intelligence. Existing approaches do not consider the system's reliability as a performance metric or are limited to reliability evaluation for a certain fixed set of design parameters. The method proposed in this paper establishes a functional relationship between design parameters and reliability metrics, and uses them as the basis for optimal design. The first step in this new framework is to create a nonparametric surrogate model of the power converter that can quickly map the variables characterizing the operating conditions (e.g., ambient temperature and irradiation) and design parameters (e.g., switching frequency and dc link voltage) into variables characterizing the thermal stress of a converter (e.g., mean temperature and temperature variation of its devices). This step can be carried out by training a dedicated artificial neural network (ANN) either on experimental or simulation data. The resulting network is named as $\text{ANN}_{1}$ and can be deployed as an accurate surrogate converter model. This model can then be used to quickly map the yearly mission profile into a thermal stress profile of any selected device for a large set of design parameter values. The resulting data is then used to train $\text{ANN}_{2}$ , which becomes an overall system representation that explicitly maps the design parameters into a yearly lifetime consumption. To verify the proposed methodology, $\text{ANN}_{2}$ is deployed in conjunction with the standard converter design tools on an exemplary grid-connected PV converter case study. This study showed how to find the optimal balance between the reliability and output filter size in the system with respect to several design constraints. This paper is also accompanied by a comprehensive dataset that was used for training the ANNs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

With the increasing proliferation of variable speed drive, the demand for the more reliable drive is also on the rise. Despite the growing interest on more advanced motors like permanent magnet and flux switching motors, three-phase induction motors (3ph-IMs) are still the main workhorse in the industry and hence the fault-tolerant control of these motor drives remains an interesting and important topic. In this paper, a simple fault-tolerant field-oriented control technique for 3ph-IMs is presented. It is shown that by injecting zero-sequence compensation voltage in a feedforward manner, open-circuit faults can be effectively tolerated. Compared to the previous feedforward fault-tolerant control methods, the proposed approach does not require the knowledge of the magnetizing inductance, which is tricky to be obtained in induction motors. Furthermore, the unified feedforward approach allows the same control structure to be used for different fault-tolerant 3ph-IMs drive topologies, with minor modifications to the feedforward terms. In addition, the effect of inverter non-idealities on the performance of the proposed control method is also highlighted and addressed. The effectiveness of the proposed controller is verified using MATLAB simulation and further validated using experimental tests. This paper is accompanied by a video demonstrating the experimental results. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In modern power systems, the increasing penetration of renewables and power electronics, particularly inverter-based wind and solar power generation, is altering power system dynamics and bringing new stability concerns. One challenging issue that is attracting considerable attention is the wide range of power oscillations associated with multiple parallel grid-connected inverters. In such systems, the characteristics in terms of resonance and oscillation are significantly different from single-inverter systems. This paper investigates the mutual interaction and stability issues of multiple grid-interfacing inverters with LCL-filters in power-electronics-based power systems under various grid conditions. The investigation reveals that such interactions between power inverters and the grid may excite multiple resonances at various frequencies under certain grid conditions. The nodal admittance matrix concept, which was originally from power systems engineering, is adopted here. Moreover, this paper further develops an Interaction-Admittance model that can effectively describe these mutual interactions in terms of a physical network admittance. We apply our model to various scenarios such as stiff grid conditions and inductive grids with/without power factor correction capacitors. The results with the proposed framework demonstrate an intuitive interpretation of multi-inverter system resonance and instabilities. Finally, simulations and experiments on a lab-scale system are provided to verify the theoretical analysis. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper describes a dc-link voltage control method of a single-phase back-to-back cascaded H-bridge inverter (SBCI) for a medium-voltage motor drive system. The main advantage of the SBCI topology over the conventional regenerative cascaded H-bridge topology with a three-phase active front-end (AFE) is a simple system structure, which is composed of an input transformer, a power cell, a current sensor, etc. However, the challenging points of the SBCI are larger voltage ripple in the dc-link capacitor and imbalance of dc-link voltages of each phase. The asymmetric dc-link voltage of each power cells could cause unstable operation such as over-modulation due to the lack of the dc-link voltage of a particular phase and result in over-voltage or under-voltage faults. In this paper, the control strategy of the dc-link voltage for the SBCI that uses the negative-sequence voltage of the converter is described. The proposed control method is verified with a computer simulation whose target is a 6.6-kV–1.25-MW medium-voltage drive system. Also, through the experimental setup with the prototype SBCI whose power rating is 16.2 kVA, the dc-link voltage of each AFE has been controlled within a 0.5% error of its reference value at the full load. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The distributed Volt/Var control solution is a promising one for active distribution networks (ADNs), but a critical issue is how to improve the distributed algorithm's convergence with less communication burden. In this paper, we propose a bi-level consensus alternation direction multiplier method-based fully distributed Volt/Var optimization algorithm (B-FADMM) for ADNs by exploiting inverter-based rapid control devices. In the first level, the Volt/Var optimal solution of subpartitions is obtained in parallel, and the second level completes the variable increment of each partition to correct the search direction of the first level. In the algorithm, firstly, an adaptive matrix $\omega $ initialization strategy is proposed to adapt to the different magnitude of variables, which avoids non-convergence or slow convergence of the algorithm. Secondly, the null-space method is used in the second level of the algorithm to obtain the null-space basis matrix on the active constraint of the subpartition, which reduces the dimensions of the problem and the computational complexity. In addition, the conjugate gradient (CG) algorithm is used to update the dual multiplier of each partition only by exchanging coupling information among partitions, which protects information privacy. Experiments showed the proposed approach attains the same result as the centralized, the computational performance of the proposed method is far superior to some popular other distributed methods in terms of accuracy, computational efficiency, and scalability. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The complex voltage variation is an emerging issue caused by the large-scale distributed energy resources (DERs) integration and the forming prosumers. The prosumers with uncertain photovoltaic (PV) generation will serve as autonomous entities for distributed voltage regulation, which have interaction during the voltage regulation process and have not been fully researched. This paper proposed a stochastic game approach for distributed voltage regulation based on autonomous PV prosumers, where the interactive prosumers’ PV uncertainties are formulated as a dynamic process during the voltage regulation. An economic incentive-based voltage regulation model is built for autonomous prosumers, which takes the reactive power as strategies and considers the PV curtailment, reactive power compensations, and PV uncertainties. The Markov decision process is adopted, and the approach of changing discrete PV uncertainties to continuous probability distribution is proposed to solve the stochastic game model, while dealing with the “curse of dimensionality” issue arising from the PV uncertainties. Finally, the case study is conducted on the IEEE 33 and 118 node system with real data, and the simulation results demonstrate the effectiveness of the proposed voltage regulation method in terms of the nodal voltage, prosumers’ utility, PV uncertainties management, and scalability. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]