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Partial shading effects on series-connected solar cells (modules) motivate the development of distributed maximum power point tracking (DMPPT) technology. This study reviews three dominant DMPPT architectures with preference given to DMPPT tracker technology based on its modularity, gain flexibility and technical maturity for decades of development. Topologies suitable for DMPPT tracker application are investigated. A modified buck-boost converter with reduced input voltage ripple and flexible-gain range is adopted for DMPPT tracker application. At steady state, the topology can reduce the power oscillation at maximum power point and improve the tracking accuracy without increasing input filter capacitor. The flexibility in gain range makes it well-suited for many commercial solar energy harvest systems under rapidly varying temperature and illumination conditions. The simulation and experiment of a 15 W low-power prototype under small voltage scale confirm the feasibility of the proposed converter. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

For medium-voltage high-power drives fed by current-source converters (CSCs), a transformerless configuration has benefits in both cost and volume. Removing the isolation transformer necessitates a common-mode choke to undertake the major portion of the drive's common-mode voltage (CMV) stress, which would otherwise cause premature failure of the motor insulation system. On the other hand, as device switching frequency in high-power CSCs is normally limited to a few hundred hertz, improving harmonic performance via modulation has always been a challenge. Selective harmonic elimination (SHE) is a preferred modulation scheme in such a system owing to its ability to eliminate several unwanted low-order harmonic currents. Alternatively, conventional space vector modulation (SVM) provides continuous modulation index adjustment capability, but its output current contains low-order harmonics with high magnitudes that may arouse harmful resonances in the system. Aiming at reducing CMV and improving harmonic performance at the same time, this paper proposes a new SVM-based modulation strategy for high-power CSCs using synthesized reference trajectory on the hexagon in the αβ plane. Along with the proposed strategy, two methods of reference trajectory optimization (RTO) are investigated. By introducing a coefficient to the duty-cycle function for RTO, the first method can remove an extra low-order harmonic component, or minimize the weighted total harmonic distortion. The second method, with a different approach of RTO, eliminates the unwanted low-order harmonics by combining the proposed SVM with the SHE. The proposed concepts are verified by both simulation and experimental results. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper, a new voltage source converter for medium voltage applications is presented which can operate over a wide range of voltages (2.4-7.2 kV) without the need for connecting the power semiconductor in series. The operation of the proposed converter is studied and analyzed. In order to control the proposed converter, a space-vector modulation (SVM) strategy with redundant switching states has been proposed. SVM usually has redundant switching state anyways. What is the main point we are trying to get to? These redundant switching states help to control the output voltage and balance voltages of the flying capacitors in the proposed converter. The performance of the converter under different operating conditions is investigated in MATLAB/Simulink environment. The feasibility of the proposed converter is evaluated experimentally on a 5-kVA prototype. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper presents a generalized multilevel direct power control (ML-DPC) scheme for grid-connected multilevel power converters. The proposed method extends the original DPC operating principle by considering only the closest subset of two-level voltage vectors to the present switching state. The implementation of this principle requires the power derivatives for feedback, which can present numerical problems when applied experimentally, mainly due to high measurement noise sensitivity. Therefore, a derivative estimator is proposed based on the converter-grid model in the synchronous reference frame. In addition, a virtual flux observer is developed to achieve synchronization and improve robustness in the presence of grid voltage harmonics. The proposed method is applicable to any multilevel converter topology of any number of levels. In this paper, simulations and experimental results are presented for a seven-level cascaded H-bridge converter. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]