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This paper deals with a new family of high boost voltage inverters that improve upon the conventional trans-Z-source and trans-quasi-Z-source inverters. The improved trans-Z-source inverter provides continuous input current and a higher boost voltage inversion capability. In addition, the improved inverter can suppress resonant current at startup, which might destroy the device. In comparison to the conventional trans-Z-source/-trans-quasi-Z-source inverters, for the same transformer turn ratio and input and output voltages, the improved inverter has a higher modulation index with reduced voltage stress on the dc link, lower current stress flow on the transformer windings and diode, and lower input current ripple. In order to produce the same input and output voltage with the same modulation index, the improved inverter uses a lower transformer turn ratio compared to the conventional inverters. Thus, the size and weight of the transformer in the improved inverter can be reduced. This paper presents the operating principles, analysis and simulation results, and compares them with those of the conventional trans-Z-source/-quasi-Z-source inverters. To verify the performance of the improved converter, a laboratory prototype was constructed based on a TMS320F2812 digital signal processor with 100 V dc input and 115 Vrms output voltage. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Indirect matrix converter (IMC) is an alternative for ac/ac energy conversion, usually operated with a voltage stepped-down gain of only 0.866. For applications like distribution generation where voltage-boost functionality is required, the traditional style of operating the IMC is therefore not appropriate. Like most power converters, the operation of the IMC can surely be reversed to produce a boosted gain, but so far its relevant control principles have not been discussed. These challenges are now addressed in this paper with distributed generation suggested as a potential application. Simulation and experimental results for validating various performance aspects of the proposed control schemes can be found in a later section of this paper. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Multilevel inverters are receiving more attentions nowadays as one of preferred solutions for medium- and high-power applications. As one of the most popular hybrid multilevel inverter topologies, the five-level active-neutral-point-clamped inverter (5L-ANPC) combines the features of the conventional flying-capacitor type and neutral-point-clamped (NPC) type inverter and was commercially used for industrial applications. In order to further decrease the number of active switches, this paper proposes a seven-switch 5L-ANPC (7S-5L-ANPC) topology, which employs only seven active switches and two discrete diodes. The analysis has shown a lower current rating can be selected for the seventh switch under high power factor condition, which is verified by simulation results. The modulation strategy for 7S-5L-ANPC inverter is discussed. A 1 kVA single-phase experimental prototype is built to verify the validity and flexibility of the proposed topology and modulation method. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

For power conversion systems interfaced to four-wire supplies, four-leg converters have become a standard solution. A four-leg converter allows good compensation of zero-sequence harmonics and full utilisation of the dc-link voltage. These are very important features when unbalanced and/or nonlinear loads are connected to the system. This paper proposes a three-dimensional space vector modulation (SVM) algorithm and provides a comprehensive analysis of the algorithm implemented on a three-level, four-leg neutral-point-clamped converter. The algorithm allows a simple definition of the different switching patterns and enables balancing of the dc-link capacitor voltages using the redundancies of the converter states. A resonant controller is selected as the control strategy to validate the proposed SVM algorithm in a 6 kW experimental rig. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Switching sequences of multilevel inverters have to be properly chosen based on the desired control criteria such as dc-link voltage regulation, common mode voltage reduction, and other application dependent criteria. Control of a converter to satisfy a desired criterion is challenging, especially in high voltage level converters. This paper proposes a simple control method for multilevel inverters with high modularity such as flying capacitor multilevel inverters, H-bridge multilevel inverters, and modular multilevel inverters. It is shown that the method considerably simplifies generation of the switching sequences and fulfills the desired criteria with a reasonable computational cost. The proposed method is computationally efficient in the sense that its implementation for high voltage level inverters requires the same effort as required for a multilevel inverter with a low number of cells. Other prominent advantages of the proposed control method, compared to earlier methods, include its applicability for multiphase multilevel converters and converters with asymmetrical structure and/or unevenly distributed dc voltages, independence from the level number and structure of the converter, and not requiring a lookup table. These advantages make the proposed scheme well suited for high cell-number converters, mainly utilized in FACTS, HVDC, and power quality applications. Simulation and experimental results are presented which verify the performance of the proposed method. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The five-phase coupled-inductor inverter is a newly proposed option for three-level five-phase inverter drives. This paper comprehensively analyzes the inverter including the coupled-inductor current, current stress on the dc-link capacitors, and a comparison of these performance aspects using three pulse width modulation (PWM) strategies. Mathematical derivations of the inverter currents and the associated current stress reveal that the current stress is not only influenced by the choice of modulation strategy, as in the neutral-point-clamped topology, but also by the value of coupled inductance; furthermore, the choice of the modulation strategy impacts the core loss of the coupled inductors. Three carrier-based PWM methods are considered: sinusoidal PWM (SPWM), and two methods with the common-mode voltage reduction (referred to as CMVR1 and CMVR2) for the five-phase coupled-inductor inverter. CMVR2 is shown to be the best solution if common-mode voltage reduction is required. The analysis demonstrates that SPWM performs better with respect to current stress and inverter losses, therefore is the preferable modulating strategy for the five-phase coupled-inductor inverter if common-mode voltage reduction is not required. The analysis is verified by simulations and experiments. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper, a control method based on the derivative of power is introduced for single-stage single-phase grid-connected cascaded H-bridge (CHB) photovoltaic inverters. The proposed scheme uses solar arrays derivative of power with respect to current to track maximum power point of each array individually. Using this method along with hybrid modulation technique allows utilization of CHB cells up to their full potential. The control system has a simple structure, and is inherently able to stabilize the system under heavy mismatching conditions where the modulation index goes higher than unity. The effectiveness of the proposed technique is verified by simulation and experimental results. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The reduced capability of multilevel converters with more than one intermediate node to balance the dc-link capacitors voltage, as well as the lack of standard modulation methods to improve their balancing performance, makes these converter topologies unattractive for real power applications. This is especially true when the load demands active power. One of these topologies is the five-level multipoint clamped (5L-MPC) converter. The back-to-back (B2B) configuration of two 5L-MPC converters and the use of a space vector modulation (SVM) that exploits the voltage balancing capability of the redundant switching vectors extend the operation conditions range in which a proper voltage balance can be achieved. However, if practical modulation restrictions are considered (limitation of voltage steps, dead times, switching losses, etc.), the voltage balance cannot be achieved for all operation conditions. In this paper, an SVM which takes into account practical restrictions is proposed. In order to guarantee the voltage balance at any operation condition, the grid-side rectifier exchanges reactive power with the grid-side LCL filter. Thus, the voltage balance of the dc-link is guaranteed while a unity grid-side power factor is achieved. The proposed modulation scheme and the voltage balancing strategy are experimentally validated in a 6.6 kV 1.5 MW 5L-MPC B2B converter. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper, a novel cascaded seven-level inverter topology with a single input source integrating switched-capacitor techniques is presented. Compared with the traditional cascade multilevel inverter, the proposed topology replaces all the separate dc sources with capacitors, leaving only one H-bridge cell with a real dc voltage source and only adds two charging switches. The capacitor charging circuit contains only power switches, so that the capacitor charging time is independent of the load. The capacitor voltage can be controlled at a desired level without complex voltage control algorithm and only use the most common carrier phase-shifted sinusoidal pulse width modulation strategy. The operation principle and the charging–discharging characteristic analysis are discussed in detail. A 1-kW experimental prototype is built and tested to verify the feasibility and effectiveness of the proposed topology. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper presents a harmonic elimination technique based on a three-level dodecagonal space vector structure for open-end winding induction motor (IM) drives with a single-dc supply. Advantages of dodecagonal space vector switching and multilevel inverters are achieved with a single-dc supply. A dc supply-fed three-level flying capacitor (FC) inverter feeds active power to one end of the IM winding terminals and H-bridge connected capacitors eliminate fifth- and seventh-order harmonics from the other end. A pulsewidth modulation (PWM) technique is developed to switch the three-level dodecagonal space vectors and simultaneously control the H-bridge capacitors at 0.1445V\text{dc}. The fifth- and seventh-order harmonics are eliminated for the full modulation range of the three-level FC inverter, including the extreme 6-step operation. An increase in the linear modulation range has been achieved, resulting in improved dc bus utilization. Harmonic elimination is achieved by increasing switching frequency of the low-voltage capacitor connected H-bridge inverter; thus, switching frequency for the high-voltage dc supply-fed FC inverter is not increased. Using the proposed scheme, the instantaneous phase voltage never exceeds \frac23V\text{dc} (maximum phase voltage applied for hexagonal space vector structure) for which the machine windings are rated. Additionally, the proposed inverter has also been shown to operate for field oriented control of the open-end winding IM drive. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper describes novel single-phase solutions with increased inverter voltage levels derived by means of a nonstandard inverter configuration and impedance source networks. Operation principles based on special modulation techniques are presented. Detailed component design guidelines along with simulation and experimental verification are also provided. Possible application fields are discussed, as well as advantages and disadvantages. Finally, future studies are addressed for the new solutions. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Yushan et al., and Siwakoti et al., proposed that “the ZSVM4 resulted in the lower current ripples when compared to ZSVM2.” However, some different opinions were presented in this paper. With the space vector modulations (SVMs) strategy, the ZSVM4 results in the lower current ripples when compared to ZSVM2 in parts angle intervals. While in other intervals, the conclusion will be opposite. The maximum current ripple of ZSVM2 is lower than that of ZSVM4. Both simulations and experimental results have verified these theoretical findings. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Multilevel converters have become an interesting alternative for medium- and high-voltage drives over the last decade. Among the existing alternatives, multicell structures offer advantages due to their modularity and scalability. This paper presents experimental results of a recently introduced multilevel topology. The converter is based on the mixture of the two most popular multicell topologies, namely, flying capacitor and cascaded multicell inverter. The new cell provides a high number of output levels, a low number of components, high modularity, and low losses. The results presented in this paper confirm that this new medium-voltage inverter topology is able to reach high-quality output voltages, allowing further advances in modulation techniques and other issues. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper, two modulation strategies called Mod-1 and Mod-2 are compared for a three-level diode neutral-point-clamped (NPC) inverter synchronous reluctance machine (SynRM) drive. These modulation strategies do not operate at a fixed switching frequency. A new modulation strategy which operates at a fixed switching frequency is proposed called Mod-3. The SynRM suffers from a poor power factor which makes it harder to archive capacitor voltage balancing for a three-level NPC inverter. These modulation strategies are of the nearest three vector (NTV) family. Mod-1 and Mod-3 choose certain vector states to achieve capacitor voltage balancing, whereas Mod-2 strategy makes use of the inverter vector state’s dwell time. The parameters of interest are the torque ripple, the neutral point (NP) voltage ripple, the inverter efficiency, and the $d$-axis current ripple. Though lower torque ripple and better power quality are registered on Mod-2 strategy. Mod-1 strategy has 14% improvement in inverter efficiency at lower modulation index ($m_i = 0.4$). Mod-2 strategy has 11% more NP voltage ripple at a modulation index of 0.4. One of the disadvantages of Mod-1 strategy is the varying switching frequency. Mod-3 scheme produced higher inverter efficiency, better balancing of the capacitor voltages, and guaranteed fixed inverter switching frequency. The disadvantage with Mod-3 strategy is that it generated higher torque ripple, $d$-axis current ripple, and current total harmonic distortion when compared to Mod-1 and Mod-2 at the same load conditions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper studies the coupling between the capacitor voltage control loops of diode-clamped (or functionally equivalent) multilevel multileg (multiphase) dc–ac converters. From a complete model of the plant revealing the coupling, a simple approach consisting in multiplying the vector of control commands by a constant matrix is proposed to decouple the control problem and achieve a better controller performance. Simulation and experimental results are presented to prove the superior performance of the proposed decoupled control. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Eliminating the leakage current is one of the most important issues for transformerless three-phase photovoltaic (PV) systems. In this paper, the leakage current elimination of a three-phase four-leg PV inverter is investigated. With the common-mode loop model established, the generation mechanism of the leakage current is clearly identified. Different typical carrier-based modulation methods and their corresponding common-mode voltages are discussed. A new modulation strategy with Boolean logic function is proposed to achieve the constant common-mode voltage for the leakage current reduction. Finally, the different modulation methods are implemented and tested on the TMS320F28335 DSP +XC3S400 FPGA digital control platform. The experimental results verify the effectiveness of the proposed solution. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

This paper proposes a new topology for an enhanced-boost Z-source inverter (ZSI) with combined two Z-impedance networks. By two Z-impedance networks and low shoot-through duty cycle, the proposed inverter produces high output voltage gain. In traditional ZSIs for high boosting voltage, a low modulation index is required; hence, under these conditions, the output voltage will have low quality with high total harmonic distortion. Compared with the conventional high-boost ZSI topologies, the proposed inverter uses shorter shoot-through duration and a larger modulation index to improve the output waveform quality. Comparison between the proposed topology and previously proposed schemes, in terms of inductor numbers, voltage and current stresses on elements, sizes of inductors and capacitors, efficiency, and switching device product (SDP) factors of diodes, is made, and the results verify the priority of the proposed topology. The operating principle of the proposed topology is analyzed in detail. Both simulation and experimental results verify the high performance of the proposed inverter. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Featuring modularity and high efficiency, a modular multilevel converter (MMC) has become a promising topology in high-voltage direct-current transmission systems. However, its distributed capacitors lead to a more complicated startup process than that of a two-level converter. To fully understand this issue, the charging loops of an MMC rectifier and an MMC inverter during an uncontrolled precharge period are analyzed in this paper, with special focus on the necessity of additional capacitor charging schemes. Moreover, a small-signal model of a capacitor charging loop is first derived according to the internal dynamics of the MMC inverter. Based on this model, a novel startup strategy incorporating an averaging capacitor voltage loop and a feedforward control is proposed, which is capable of an enhanced dynamic response and system stability without sacrificing voltage control precision. The design considerations of the control strategy are also given in detail. Simulation results from a back-to-back MMC system supplying passive loads and experimental results from a scaled-down MMC prototype are provided to support the theoretical analysis and the proposed control scheme. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

This paper proposes a new topology named the active-switched-capacitor/switched-inductor quasi-Z -source inverter (ASC/SL-qZSI), which is based on a traditional qZSI topology. Compared to other qZSI-based topologies under the same operating conditions, the proposed ASC/SL-qZSI provides higher boost ability, requires fewer passive components such as inductors and capacitors, and achieves lower voltage stress across the switching devices of the main inverter. Another advantage of the topology is its expandability. If a higher boosting rate is required, additional cells can easily be cascaded at the impedance network by adding one inductor and three diodes. Both the simulation studies and the experimental results obtained from a prototype built in the laboratory validate proper operation and performance of the proposed ASC/SL-qZSI. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The differential-mode Ćuk inverter (DMCI) is a single-stage inverter with low device count. It offers advantages over other topologies because of compactness, higher power density, and reduced cost. It is a promising topological configuration for renewable-/alternative-energy applications with isolated as well as nonisolated structures. The continuous modulation scheme (CMS), which was introduced originally for this inverter, activates all the modules of the DMCI. The new discontinuous modulation scheme (DMS) deactivates one module in each half line-cycle leading to discontinuous operation of modules. This paper outlines the DMS and a mechanism to realize it. The experimental open-loop and closed-loop results of the DMCI using CMS and DMS are provided along with a comparison of their performances. It is shown that, the DMS reduces the circulating power and hence mitigates the losses. The voltage ratings of the devices also are reduced with the DMS. In contrast, the CMS has wider linearity in its normalized dc-voltage gain and yields reduced harmonic distortion of the output voltage. For DMS, to achieve comparable linearity in normalized dc-voltage gain and distortion, harmonic compensation under closed-loop control is a pathway that has been demonstrated. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Although inverters with high number of levels offer many merits, their utilization is hindered mainly by their complicated control. Overcoming this barrier gives them the opportunity to find more practical applications. This paper presents an effective closed-loop space-vector-based modulation algorithm to control flying capacitor multilevel inverters with linearly distributed flying capacitor voltages. This modulation technique drastically reduces the computational load. Besides, it is able to balance capacitor voltages more simply and effectively than other methods presented so far. It does not require any stored information from memory or a lookup table. Therefore, it permits online computation of the switching sequence. Moreover, due to the closed-loop structure of this method, the effect of system nonlinearity and capacitor voltage deregulation on performance of the modulation is reduced. Other advantages of the proposed algorithm are: low number of instructions, level-independent number of instructions, and simple extendibility to an arbitrary number of levels without considerable modification. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper proposes an active front-end solution to balance the dc-link capacitor voltage of the five-level diode-clamped inverter. Capacitor voltage balancing is performed by a three-level boost converter connected to the two inner capacitors of a five-level diode-clamped inverter and additional balancing circuits at the other two outer capacitors. The proposed configuration is tested through simulation and experiment for various load power factor conditions at a high modulation index. The result demonstrates the reliability of the proposed configuration to balance the dc-link capacitor voltage at the desired level. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

The voltage range of a renewable energy source, such as the photovoltaic cell, is influenced by the environment, light, temperature, and so on. The power conditioning system should adapt to the wide input voltage and have buck–boost ability. Based on the structure of the “ac/ac unit,” this paper presents a novel active buck–boost inverter (ABI) topology suitable for wide-range input, which can realize buck–boost conversion in a quasi-single-stage inverter. The ac/ac unit composed of active switches is utilized to perform voltage boost without introducing additional passive elements, which is in favor to the system power density and efficiency. Operational analysis in buck and boost modes are presented, and the modulation strategy applied in the ABI is also developed. Simulation and experimental results are presented to verify the operational principle and its modulation strategy. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

High-boost dc-ac inverters are used in solar photovoltaic (PV), fuel cell, wind energy, and uninterruptible power supply systems. High step-up and step-down capabilities and shoot-through immunity are some of the desired properties of an inverter for a reliable, versatile, and low-distortion ac inversion. The recently developed Z-source inverter (ZSI) possesses these qualities. However, the realization of ZSI comes at a cost of higher passive component count as it needs two sets of passive filters. A switched boost inverter (SBI) has similar properties as ZSI, and it has one L\-C pair less compared to ZSI, but its gain is less than ZSI. This paper proposes the current-fed switched inverter (CFSI) which combines the high-gain property of ZSI and low passive component count of SBI. The proposed inverter uses only one L\-C filter and three switches apart from the inverter structure. The inverter topology is based on current-fed dc/dc topology. Steady-state analysis of the inverter is presented to establish the relation between the dc input and the ac output. A pulse width modulation (PWM) control strategy is devised for the proposed inverter. An experimental prototype is built to validate the proposed inverter circuit in both buck and boost modes of operation. A 353-V dc-link and a 127 V (rms) ac are obtained from a 35.3-V dc input to demonstrate the boost mode of operation. A 200-V dc-link and a 10.5-V (rms) ac are obtained from a 37.8-V dc input to verify the buck mode of operation of CFSI. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

This paper introduces a new dc-ac converter with the feature that it produces an instantaneous output voltage higher or lower than the input dc voltage without an intermediate power stage or transformers. This feature is provided by using one switching cell including two switches, two diodes, one inductor, and one capacitor on each inverter leg. Validating the theoretical analysis, a prototype was designed, built, and tested for an output rated power of 1 kW, a dc input voltage of 96Vdc, and output voltage of 110 Vrms. Furthermore, the fundamental output frequency was established at 60 Hz and the switching frequency at 20 kHz. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Induction heating systems are the technology of choice in many industrial, domestic, and medical applications due to its high performance. The core component of such systems is the power supply, which is usually composed of a rectifier stage and a resonant inverter. In order to simplify and further optimize the performance of the power supply, a class-E direct ac–ac converter featuring multicycle modulations is proposed in this paper. The proposed converter is composed of two switching devices that enable the direct ac–ac conversion. Single- and multicycle operation modes have been analytically described to prove the benefits, in terms of peak voltage reduction and output power control capabilities. A prototype featuring SiC junction-gate field-effect transistor devices, which perfectly fit these applications, has been designed and built to prove the feasibility of the proposed converter. The experimental results match the analytical results and validate the benefits of this converter. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

This paper presents a novel direct current-fed interleaved phase-modulated single-phase unfolding inverter for fuel-cell applications. Two active-clamped zero-voltage switching current-fed half-bridge isolated converters are interleaved in parallel input and series output configuration. Phase modulation is proposed to control these two converter cells, which generate a rectified sinusoidal pattern at the dc link. A simple H-bridge unfolding dc–ac inversion is used to produce single-phase sine voltage at line frequency switching using square-wave control. This not only simplifies the inversion stage in terms of modulation but also reduces the switching losses. Direct front-end current-fed based unfolding inverter is not reported in literature yet. Detailed analysis and design of the proposed direct current-fed single-phase unfolding inverter has been presented. Simulation waveforms using PSIM 9.0.4 are given to verify the presented analysis and design. Experimental results on a laboratory prototype rated at 200 W are demonstrated to support the investigation, to validate the accuracy of the proposed analysis and design, and to test the performance. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Cascaded multilevel (CM) converter is a series connection of several inverters that together generate multiple voltage levels with controllable frequency, phase, and amplitude. Its main advantages are high power, reliability, and power quality. However, it has considerable drawbacks such as high number of components, many isolated power sources, decreasing voltage quality with the modulation index, and regeneration in some series inverters at specific modulation indexes, even when the machine is motoring. The authors propose to improve any CM topology through two solutions: use optimal voltage asymmetries (ratios), higher than conventional ones; replace the voltage sources by floating capacitors balanced with a new control (PI controller) and/or a high-frequency link. This paper presents theoretical analysis and experimental results of CM converters with increased voltage-quality (levels), some of them keeping this high quality and avoiding regeneration in motor mode at any motor operation point, using the proposed voltage asymmetries and simplifying or eliminating some voltage sources. Experimental results show a reduction of components, an improved voltage quality, and a satisfactory behavior in stationary and dynamic operation. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

A new scheme for nine-level voltage space-vector generation for medium-voltage induction motor (IM) drives with open-end stator winding is presented in this paper. The proposed nine-level power converter topology consists of two conventional three-phase two-level voltage source inverters powered by isolated dc sources and six floating-capacitor-connected H-bridges. The H-bridge capacitor voltages are effectively maintained at the required asymmetrical levels by employing a space vector modulation (SVPWM) based control strategy. An interesting feature of this topology is its ability to function in five- or three-level mode, in the entire modulation range, at full-power rating, in the event of any failure in the H -bridges. This feature significantly improves the reliability of the proposed drive system. Each leg of the three-phase two-level inverters used in this topology switches only for a half cycle of the reference voltage waveform. Hence, the effective switching frequency is reduced by half, resulting in switching loss reduction in high-voltage devices. The transient as well as the steady-state performance of the proposed nine-level inverter-fed IM drive system is experimentally verified in the entire modulation range including the overmodulation region. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

The main contribution of this paper is the derivation rules summarized from existing high-performance inverters with H6-type configuration, which makes novel topologies possible. In addition, a novel high-efficiency single-phase transformerless photovoltaic inverter with hybrid modulation method is also proposed and evaluated as an example. Without input split capacitors, common-mode voltage and leakage current issues in a nonisolated system with H6-type configuration are eliminated, and the feature of a three-level output voltage in the inverter bridge's middle point helps inductors and power quality optimization. The detailed operation principles with hybrid modulation strategy combined with unipolar and bipolar pulsewidth modulation schemes are presented. Experimental results of a 2200VA prototype verify the proposed topology with hybrid modulation method. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

In this paper, a sensorless method for low- and zero-speed operations is proposed for a high-power medium-voltage pulsewidth-modulated current-source-converter-fed interior-permanent-magnet motor drive system. The proposed method is based on the injection of a high frequency (HF) pulsating sinusoidal signal in the estimated synchronous reference frame of the drive's field-oriented control (FOC) scheme. The conventional FOC control scheme, low switching frequency, dc-link inductor, and the inverter output three-phase filter capacitor of the medium-voltage high-power current-source drive present some challenges in the generation and design of the HF-injection signal. To overcome these challenges, the FOC scheme is modified by introducing a modulation index control with suitable dc-link current compensation to enhance the dynamic response of the injected signal and prevent any clamp in the injected signal. In addition, a multisampling-space-vector-modulation method is proposed to prevent the distortion in the HF signal due to a low switching frequency to injected signal ratio. A detailed study and analysis regarding the influence of low switching frequency, output filter capacitor, and magnetic saturation in the injection method is carried out to determine the visible HF range of the injected signal. It is found that, by using the proposed FOC scheme and multisampling modulation scheme and by the proper design of the HF signal, an accurate rotor flux angle can be estimated for sensorless zero-/low-speed operations. Experimental results are provided to verify the proposed control method. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

In this paper, a methodology for the power-optimal design of high-resolution low-bandwidth switched-capacitor \Delta\Sigma modulators ( \Delta\Sigma\Ms) is presented. The most power-efficient \Delta\Sigma architecture is identified among single-loop feedback and feedforward topologies with different loop orders N, oversampling ratios OSR, and quantizer resolutions B. Based on this study, an experimental prototype has been implemented in a 0.18- \mu\m CMOS process. It achieves a signal-to-noise ratio of 95 dB over a signal bandwidth fBW of 10 kHz. The prototype operates with a 1.28-MHz sampling rate and consumes 210 \mu\W from a 1.8-V supply. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

This paper presents a fuel cell (FC)–supercapacitor traction drive and its power control. The proposed solution allows increasing efficiency and performances of an FC-based powertrain by means of a dual cascaded voltage source inverter and a supercapacitor bank. An optimal control algorithm allows avoiding the fast transition of the FC output power under whatever operating condition. It is based on five operation modes, which are selected as a function of the actual traction power request. This way, both power peaks and slopes are controlled during vehicle accelerations. A supercapacitor charge stabilization strategy, which uses the same cascaded converter power circuit, is also proposed. Experimental implementation has been performed for validation. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

In this paper, a novel single-phase five-level inverter is proposed using coupled inductors. This inverter can output five-level voltage with only one dc source. No split of the dc voltage capacitor is needed, totally avoiding the voltage balancing problem in conventional multilevel inverters. The level of the output voltage is only half of the dc-link voltage in all conditions, leading to much reduced dv/dt . This inverter is based on the widely used three-arm power module and the voltage stresses on all the power switches are the same, making it very easy to construct. Operation mechanism of this inverter is analyzed and the possible switching patterns are investigated. Based on these analyses, a novel optimized modulation scheme is presented. With this modulation method, no dc components exist in the inductor currents, which is very helpful for minimization of the inductors. Simulation and experimental results show the validity of the proposed inverter together with the optimized modulation scheme. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper, a novel high voltage gain single-stage dc/ac converter is proposed for distributed energy resources. A flyback-type auxiliary circuit is integrated with an isolated Ćuk-derived voltage source inverter to achieve a much higher voltage gain. It is seen that through this integration, the capacitors of the flyback and the Ćuk circuits are paralleled for charging and in series for discharging automatically. Due to the capacitive voltage dividing, the dc-side switch voltage stress can be reduced and the losses can be reduced as well. Besides, the low influence of coupling coefficient of flyback-type auxiliary circuit on the inverter characteristic renders the proposed inverter design rather flexible and easy. Steady-state characteristics, performance analysis, simulation and experimental results are given to show the merits of the proposed integrated inverter. Finally, based on the same integration concept, a family of different topologies is also presented for reference. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Open-end winding three-phase variable speed drives with dual-inverter supply have been extensively investigated for various applications, including series hybrid powertrains and propulsion motors. The topology is simple to realize while offering a higher number of switching states without the need for capacitor voltage balancing algorithms, when compared to the standard multilevel converters. This paper extends the open-end winding concept to a five-phase drive. A relatively simple space-vector modulation (SVM) algorithm, based on the already well-understood five-phase two-level drive SVM method, is developed. The proposed modulation technique has the advantage of being straightforward to implement and, like its two-level counterpart, is able to generate output voltages with minimum low-order harmonic content. The method generates up to 17-level output phase voltage and, therefore, offers superior harmonic performance when compared to the two-level five-phase modulation. The developed scheme is verified via detailed simulations and experiments, using a five-phase induction machine operating under open-loop V/f control. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Compared with neutral-point-clamped (NPC) inverters, active NPC (ANPC) inverters enable a substantially increased output power and an improved performance at zero speed for high-power electrical drives. This paper analyzes the operation of three-level (3L) ANPC inverters under device failure conditions, and proposes the fault-tolerant strategies to enable continuous operating of the inverters and drive systems under single and multiple device open- and short-failure conditions. Therefore, the reliability and robustness of the electrical drives are greatly improved. Moreover, the proposed solution adds no additional components to standard 3L-ANPC inverters; thus, the cost for robust operation of drives is lower. Simulation and experiment results are provided for verification. Furthermore, a comprehensive comparison for the reliability function of 3L-ANPC and 3L-NPC inverters is presented. The results show that 3L-ANPC inverters have higher reliability than 3L-NPC inverters when a derating is allowed for the drive system under fault-tolerant operation. If a derated operation is not allowed, the two inverters have similar reliability for device open failure, while 3L-NPC inverters have higher reliability than 3L-ANPC inverters for device short failure. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A novel switched-capacitor inverter is proposed. The proposed inverter outputs larger voltage than the input voltage by switching the capacitors in series and in parallel. The maximum output voltage is determined by the number of the capacitors. The proposed inverter, which does not need any inductors, can be smaller than a conventional two-stage unit which consists of a boost converter and an inverter bridge. Its output harmonics are reduced compared to a conventional voltage source single phase full bridge inverter. In this paper, the circuit configuration, the theoretical operation, the simulation results with MATLAB/SIMULINK, and the experimental results are shown. The experimental results accorded with the theoretical calculation and the simulation results. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

This paper extends the impedance-source (Z-source) inverters concept to the transformer-based Z-source (trans-Z-source) inverters. The original Z-source inverter (ZSI) employs an impedance network of two inductors and two capacitors connected in a special arrangement to interface the dc source and the inverter bridge. It has buck and boost function that cannot be achieved by traditional voltage-source inverters and current-source inverters. In the proposed four trans-Z-source inverters, all the impedance networks consist of a transformer and one capacitor. While maintaining the main features of the previously presented Z-source network, the new networks exhibit some unique advantages, such as the increased voltage gain and reduced voltage stress in the voltage-fed trans-ZSIs and the expanded motoring operation range in the current-fed trans-ZSIs, when the turns ratio of the transformer windings is over 1. Simulation and experimental results of the voltage-fed and the current-fed trans-ZSIs are provided to verify the analysis. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A multilevel inverter topology for seven-level space vector generation is proposed in this paper. In this topology, the seven-level structure is realized using two conventional two-level inverters and six capacitor-fed H-bridge cells. It needs only two isolated dc-voltage sources of voltage rating Vdc/2 where Vdc is the dc voltage magnitude required by the conventional neutral point clamped (NPC) seven-level topology. The proposed topology is capable of maintaining the H-bridge capacitor voltages at the required level of Vdc/6 under all operating conditions, covering the entire linear modulation and overmodulation regions, by making use of the switching state redundancies. In the event of any switch failure in H-bridges, this inverter can operate in three-level mode, a feature that enhances the reliability of the drive system. The two-level inverters, which operate at a higher voltage level of Vdc /2, switch less compared to the H-bridges, which operate at a lower voltage level of Vdc/6, resulting in switching loss reduction. The experimental verification of the proposed topology is carried out for the entire modulation range, under steady state as well as transient conditions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A novel H-bridge multilevel pulsewidth modulation converter topology based on a series connection of a high-voltage diode-clamped inverter and a low-voltage conventional inverter is proposed in this paper. A dc link voltage arrangement for the new hybrid and asymmetric solution is presented to have a maximum number of output voltage levels by preserving the adjacent switching vectors between voltage levels. Hence, a 15-level hybrid converter can be attained with a minimum number of power components. A comparative study has been carried out to present high performance of the proposed configuration to approach a very low total harmonic distortion of voltage and current, which leads to the possible elimination of the output filter. Regarding the proposed configuration, a new cascade inverter is verified by cascading an asymmetrical diode-clamped inverter, in which 19 levels can be synthesized in output voltage with the same number of components. To balance the dc link capacitor voltages for the maximum output voltage resolution as well as synthesize asymmetrical dc link combination, a new multi-output boost converter is utilized at the dc link voltage of a seven-level H-bridge diode-clamped inverter. Simulation and hardware results based on different modulations are presented to confirm the validity of the proposed approach to achieve a high-quality output voltage. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

In this paper, a new five-level inverter topology for open-end winding induction-motor (IM) drive is proposed. The open-end winding IM is fed from one end with a two-level inverter in series with a capacitor-fed H-bridge cell, while the other end is connected to a conventional two-level inverter. The combined inverter system produces voltage space-vector locations identical to that of a conventional five-level inverter. A total of 2744 space-vector combinations are distributed over 61 space-vector locations in the proposed scheme. With such a high number of switching state redundancies, it is possible to balance the H-bridge capacitor voltages under all operating conditions including overmodulation region. In addition to that, the proposed topology eliminates 18 clamping diodes having different voltage ratings compared with the neutral point clamped inverter. On the other hand, it requires only one capacitor bank per phase, whereas the flying-capacitor scheme for a five-level topology requires more than one capacitor bank per phase. The proposed inverter topology can be operated as a three-level inverter for full modulation range, in case of any switch failure in the capacitor-fed H-bridge cell. This will increase the reliability of the system. The proposed scheme is experimentally verified on a four-pole 5-hp IM drive. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

The Z-source inverter has gained popularity as a single-stage buck–boost inverter topology among many researchers. However, its boosting capability could be limited, and therefore, it may not be suitable for some applications requiring very high boost demand of cascading other dc–dc boost converters. This could lose the efficiency and demand more sensing for controlling the added new stages. This paper is proposing a new family of extended-boost quasi Z-source inverter (ZSI) to fill the research gap left in the development of ZSI. These new topologies can be operated with same modulation methods that were developed for original ZSI. Also, they have the same number of active switches as original ZSI preserving the single-stage nature of ZSI. Proposed topologies are analyzed in the steady state and their performances are validated using simulated results obtained in MATLAB/Simulink. Furthermore, they are experimentally validated with results obtained from a prototype developed in the laboratory. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

The output voltage quality of some of the single-phase multilevel inverters can be improved when their dc-link voltages are regulated asymmetrically. Symmetrical and asymmetrical multilevel diode-clamped inverters have the problem of dc-link capacitor voltage balancing, especially when power factor of the load is close to unity. In this paper, a new single-inductor multi-output dc/dc converter is proposed that can control the dc-link voltages of a single-phase diode-clamped inverter asymmetrically to achieve voltage quality enhancement. The circuit of the presented converter is explained and the main equations are developed. A control strategy is proposed and explained in details. To validate the versatility of the proposed combination of the suggested dc–dc converter and the asymmetrical four-level diode-clamped inverter (ADCI), simulations and experiments have been directed. It is concluded that the proposed combination of introduced multioutput dc–dc converter and single-phase ADCI is a good candidate for power conversion in residential photovoltaic (PV) utilization. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

This paper describes the design of a compact and highly repetitive pulsed power modulator based on semiconductor switches. Output specifications of the proposed modulator are as follows: variable output pulse voltage, 1-10 kV; width, 1-10 μs; pulse repetition rate (PRR), 1-50,000 pps; and average output power, 10 kW. The proposed solid-state pulsed power modulator has two main parts: an IGBT stack that hasa gate drive circuit for the pulse output with a variable pulse width and repetition rate, and a capacitor charger that has a controllable output voltage. To connect all the storage capacitors in a series for high voltage pulses, a simple and reliable IGBT stack structure was proposed based on the Marx generator. In addition, the gate driver circuit, which supplies power and signals to all the IGBTs simultaneously, was introduced. This providesa superior protection function against the arc and the short. To charge the storage capacitors, a novel 10 kW (10 kV, 1 A) high voltage capacitor charger with the combined advantageof a series-loaded resonant converter and a ZVS (zero-voltage-switching) full-bridge pulse width modulation (PWM) converter was proposed and designed especially for the solid-state pulsed power modulator. Theexperiment results verified that the proposed scheme and structure can be used effectively for a high voltage pulsed power modulator that requires variable voltage, repetition rate, and pulse width, depending on the process of the applications. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]