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This paper presents a novel control strategy to significantly reduce the high-frequency transformer loss in a modular solid-state transformer (SST) based converter system. The modular SST design is based on an ac–dc power-electronic building block comprised of an H-bridge at the ac input and a bidirectional soft-switching isolated dc–dc converter with a medium-voltage insulated high-frequency transformer. The ac terminals of input H-bridges are connected in series and directly coupled to the medium-voltage ac line, while the output dc terminals are all connected in parallel at a low voltage. The key innovation described in this paper, without sacrificing the output performance, is the control scheme that reduces core and winding losses associated with the dc–dc resonant stage by turning off the selected dc–dc converters in synchronism with the line voltage. The prototype for the test described in this paper is based on a modular SST where each module is rated at 50 kVA, with a 200 kHz transformer using 1.7 kV silicon carbide discrete mosfets, but the described control concepts are more broadly applicable to similar topologies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper proposes a novel open-winding brushless doubly-fed reluctance generator (OW-BDFRG) with dual two-level converters in order to reduce the converter rating and switching frequency for large-scale wind turbine applications. The new converter topology is equivalent to a three-level converter directly connected to the control winding of typical BDFRG. The OW-BDFRG system with this topology structure requires lower converter rating and switching frequency, and has a more flexible control mode, better operation performance, and fault redundancy capability. For the OW-BDFRG, this paper also proposes a new control scheme combining direct power control (DPC) with sliding mode variable structure (SMVS) control to implement the power tracking. The voltage-vector switching table of DPC is redesigned according to the error signals of active and reactive powers of the power winding, as well as the sector location of control winding flux. The active and reactive powers of the OW-BDFRG can be directly decoupled and independently controlled by properly selecting the switching voltage vectors. The novelty of this paper lies in an OW-BDFRG topology driven by dual two-level converters to improve the system characteristics, and the use of SMVS control to improve the DPC accuracy and robustness to parameter variations. Finally, the effectiveness of the proposed system is verified through simulation and experimental studies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper proposes an input voltage sensorless control algorithm for three-phase active boost rectifiers. Using this approach, the input ac-phase voltages can be accurately estimated from the fluctuations of other measured state variables and preceding switching state information from converter dynamics. Furthermore, the proposed control strategy reduces the input current harmonics of an ac–dc three-phase boost power factor correction (PFC) converter by injecting an additional common-mode duty ratio term to the feedback controllers’ outputs. This additional duty compensation term cancels the unwanted input harmonics, caused by the floating potential between ac source neutral and dc link negative, without requiring any access to the neutral point. A 6-kW (continuous power)/10-kW (peak power) three-phase boost PFC prototype using SiC-based semiconductor switching devices is designed and developed to validate the proposed control algorithm. The experimental results show that an input power factor of 0.999 with a conversion efficiency of 98.3%, total harmonic distortion as low as 4%, and a tightly regulated dc-link voltage with 1% ripple can be achieved. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

In the rapidly growing field of electrified transportation technology, hybrid electric and electric vehicle (HEV/EV) manufacturers have been placing increasing demands on the designers to improve the efficiency and reduce the costs of vehicle components to sustain a niche in the EV market. To understand the significance and challenges in an efficient and economical drivetrain design, this paper presents a part of an ongoing project that aims at developing a comprehensive study on dc/ac drive motor technology in EV applications. In this paper, a new three-level three-phase matrix converter topology, along with two conventional frequently used three-level three-phase dc/ac converter topologies, namely, diode-clamped and H-bridge converters, are implemented. Furthermore, comprehensive analysis and comparative studies are conducted to examine the performance and efficiency of these converter topologies according to EV design criteria. In addition, experimental investigations are carried out on the aforementioned converter configurations to help EV designers choose the most suitable converter topology. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Active magnetic bearing is a core technology for high-speed rotational machines. Power electronics converter as the active magnetic bearing drive is the actuation unit and its topology highly impacts the performance of the bearing system. This paper introduces the progress of topology of active magnetic bearing drive. The initial topology of an H-bridge does not sufficiently utilize the power electronics devices. The topology with half-bridge and shared phase-leg has been proposed as the fundamental topology. In this paper, two approaches of novel magnetic bearing drive topology modification have been developed on the basis of the fundamental topology. In the first approach, central phase-leg for multiaxis magnetic bearing drive can be further shared and the power electronic devices can be globally optimized in the whole system. Further, a topology with current in the reverse direction can reduce the central phase-leg current rating and power losses. In the second approach, fault-tolerant magnetic bearing drive topology has been developed on the basis of the fundamental topology, too. It can ride-through the open-circuit fault of power electronics switch-in operation and keep levitation for the magnetic bearing. The series work of novel topologies can improve the performance of an active magnetic bearing system in application. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper develops a simplified phasor model for predicting harmonics present at the point of common coupling between a voltage-source power converter and the utility network. It employs the frequency coupling matrix (FCM) modeling technique. The FCM is experimentally determined without requiring access to converter internal details, such as control and output filter parameters, which are generally not available for converters used in distributed generation systems. Experimental measurements are conducted on a commercially available two-stage, three phase, grid-tied photovoltaic inverter to assess the accuracy of experimentally determined FCMs to predict the harmonic behavior of grid-connected converters. This paper considers two grid conditions for the experimental analysis: 1) when the grid is stiff and contains only background voltage harmonics and 2) when the grid contains harmonic grid impedances as well as background voltage harmonics. In all cases, a close match between the results predicted by the FCM approach and experimental measurements is achieved, thus demonstrating the practical viability of using experimentally determined FCM models for harmonic predictions. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

A dual active bridge (DAB) converter promises high power density. The highest power transfer can be achieved by phase shift modulation inside the zero-voltage switching boundaries. This paper analyzes the transients of DAB commutation. Although commutation has been previously analyzed for DAB with the linear turn-off snubbers, in today's industries, the output capacitors of the switches are utilized as the snubberless approach. The presence of these time-variant capacitors leads to nonlinear equations. This paper applies a piecewise linear model for analyzing the commutation of the ac-link current into the switches. The study is inspired by practical experiments, and the results are experimentally verified. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

A hybrid switched-capacitor/interleaved boost converter able to provide a high voltage gain and to cancel the input current ripple at a preselected duty cycle was recently presented in the literature. This paper extends that work by proposing an optimized switching strategy for operating conditions at other values of duty cycle. The switching strategy effect on the converter's voltage gain and input current ripple is quantified and compared against the performance under the conventional switching strategy. The approach is validated in the laboratory through hardware prototyping. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

In this paper, a single-inductor dual-output (SIDO) dc–dc converter is proposed. The significant feature of the proposed converter is feeding a constant power load in low-voltage side (LVS) port, where even feeding a variable load at LVS does not have any cross regulation to high-voltage side port with the desired approximation. Magnificently, both merits are obtained in open-loop manner, which is an outstanding characteristic in comparison with that of the existed converters. In this paper, soft commutation and soft switching of switches and diodes are investigated along with the aforementioned main novelty. Moreover, detailed theoretical analyses of the proposed SIDO dc–dc converter in continuous conduction mode are presented besides the comparisons with some other structures. Finally, theoretical analyses are verified through a 1500 W experimental prototype results. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper, a series-capacitor-based interleaving buck power factor correction (PFC) converter is proposed, the intermediate energy storage capacitance of which is operated at discontinuous capacitor voltage mode (DCVM), and automatic power factor (PF) correction for this converter is obtained. Moreover, the voltage across the series capacitor of the proposed PFC converter is clamped at the input voltage, and thus peak voltage stress existed in the traditional DCVM buck PFC could be relieved. By effectively regulating the charge/discharge time for the series capacitor, ultrahigh step-down conversion ratio of the proposed converter is achieved, the conversion ratio of which is independent of the duty cycle and only related to the switching frequency and circuit parameters. Therefore, high PF can be obtained due to very narrow deadtime of the input current. Meanwhile, the proposed PFC converter can realize the soft turn-on of part power switch and soft turn-off of part power diodes. In addition, comparing with the traditional discontinuous inductor current mode PFC, the input current of the proposed PFC converter is continuous so that the peak value and root-mean-square value of input current can be reduced. The operational principle, performance analysis, and parameter design principle are given in this paper. The analysis results show that the PF and total harmonic distortion are also independent of the duty cycle. Finally, a 220-Vac input, 60 W/15 V output experimental prototype is built to verify the validity of the theoretical analysis. [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]

This paper presents a novel insulated gate bipolar transistor (IGBT) behavioral model on the field programmable gate array (FPGA), which is suitable for the real-time simulation of fast transients in power electronics circuits. In this model, the static and dynamic behaviors of the IGBT switch are described and modeled separately. The static IGBT model is represented by the saturation region of output characteristic and is a part of the circuit network model. The dynamic IGBT model is combined with the static one to describe the fast switching transient behaviors by using the IGBT equivalent circuit model. The presented dynamic model in this paper does not involve any iterative solving algorithm and can be designed with highly pipelined structures on FPGA. Therefore, the IGBT switching transient waveforms can be generated precisely with a 5 ns resolution. The proposed model is tested with two cases—a four-phase floating interleaved boost converter and a three-phase five-level modular multilevel converter. The effectiveness and accuracy of the model are validated by comparing the real-time simulation results with offline simulation software. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper studies the high power density bidirectional dc–dc converter with interleaving, soft-switching, and near critical conduction mode (near-CRM) operation. Systematic design and control methods are proposed to enhance the effectiveness of passive currents balancing between multiple interleaved phases without using individual phase current feedbacks. This paper first analyzes the zero voltage turn-on operation, including the turn-off energy diversion by the added snubber capacitor and the turn-off resonance models. Second, the intrinsic inverse co-relation between the phase current deviation and the resulting effective duty cycles variation is quantitatively formulated and modeled as a closed-loop mechanism that balances the currents passively. Then, the design constraints of the system parameters including the snubber capacitance, dead time, and valley currents of the near-CRM mode are formulated to guarantee the effectiveness of counteracting the current unbalance. Finally, a variable switching frequency control is proposed to actively control the valley current and maintain the current balancing effectiveness throughout the operating range. An IGBT-based 20-kW three-phase interleaved prototype with the maximum efficiency of 99.1% is constructed to verify the proposed design and control methods. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper proposes a visible light communication (VLC) system consisting of a single-stage buck–boost power factor correction converter operating in the discontinuous conduction mode with dimming capability. Additionally, this paper proposes the on–off M-frequency shift keying modulation for the VLC system. This modulation allows for the transmission of more than a single bit for each switching period without affecting the dimming characteristics of the light-emitting diode luminaire. The design of the whole system is discussed in detail, including both transmitter and receiver modules. A 20-W laboratory prototype was built in order to verify the proposed modulation scheme. The experimental evaluation showed a good performance of the transmitter, which was able to perform simultaneously the desired functions, namely power factor correction, dimming, and data transmission. The receiver also achieved the desired performance with a low bit error rate (BER). The results showed that the proposed system was able to transfer data between emitter and receiver with a bit rate of 1.11 Mb/s at a frequency of up to 375 kHz over a distance of 10 m, and with a BER lower than $10^{-3}$ under the influence of external lighting sources with illuminance levels up to 500 lx. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper presents research results of voltage gain number control methods of a power electronic resonant zero-current switching dc–dc switched-capacitor (SC) voltage multiplier (SCVM) in a topology with fault tolerance capability (FSCVM). The converters operated under the basic switching patterns are constant-voltage-gain dc–dc series-parallel resonant SC converters. However, this paper presents a method for the output voltage regulation by a special switching strategy. A variable voltage gain is made possible by selecting the number of active switching cells, using an appropriate control method. This creates a set of voltage ratio ranges. In addition, the proposed topology and method of control enable a fault-tolerant operation of the FSCVM under various failures of the device. The paper presents an analysis of the concept, simulation results and an experimental verification in a three-cell FSCVM dc–dc resonant boost converter operating at a 200-watt charge. Issues regarding the selection of components related to the problem of inrush currents that can occur during the voltage ratio increase are also analyzed in this paper, and the design for low inrush currents is demonstrated. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper proposes a new developed switched-capacitor converter to achieve high-voltage pulses with adjustable voltage level and frequency. The proposed topology generates repetitive high-voltage pulses by using low-voltage power supply with reduced number of components, including power semiconductors and capacitor. Therefore, a converter based on switched-capacitor units with high voltage gain and high efficiency can be achieved. Operation principles and design steps of the converter as well as comparative study with conventional converters are described in this paper. Finally, simulation and experimental results of a two-stage structure of the proposed circuit validate the operation principles and features of this topology. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper presents a new six-level flying capacitor based (FC-based) multilevel converter with one dc source and the capability of operating in all power factors and modulation indexes. Multilevel converters with one dc voltage source are attractive in many applications as they do not need rather expensive and bulky multiwinding input transformer connection at the dc side. On the other hand, not all classic multilevel converters with one dc source can produce any desirable number of output voltage levels at all power factors and/or modulation indexes. In this paper, a hybrid structure is proposed in which six voltage levels can be realized at the ac terminals. The modulation technique and the control strategy for the FC voltage balancing are presented. To show the advantages of the proposed converter, different performance criteria, such as switch count and rating, the size of capacitors, switching frequency, and power losses, are compared with other existing six-level topologies. The results indicate that the proposed structure is superior to other six-level converters from different standpoints. Simulation results are used to further evaluate the performance of the proposed converter. A laboratory-type experimental setup is used to validate the theoretical results. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Induction motor drives operated with a low ratio of the switching frequency to the fundamental frequency (i.e., pulse number) are prone to have high magnitudes of low-order torque harmonics. This paper proposes a method to analytically evaluate the harmonic torque spectrum based on the pulsewidth-modulated voltage waveforms for low pulse number operation. The predicted torque harmonic spectra for different pulsewidth-modulated waveforms are validated through simulations and experiments. This paper also reports optimal switching angles to minimize the total rms value of torque harmonics of order 6, 12, 18 $,\dots,$ $6(N-1)$ , considering the number of switching angles per quarter ($N$) to be 4 and 5. Compared to sine triangle pulsewidth modulation and selective harmonic elimination pulsewidth modulation with the same pulse number, the proposed optimal switching angles significantly reduce the total rms value of all harmonic torques of order lower than $6N$. Extensive simulation and experimental results on a 3.7-kW induction motor drive are presented to demonstrate the superior performance of the proposed optimal pulsewidth modulation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper, a new nonisolated high step-down dc–dc converter with ultrahigh step-down conversion ratio is proposed. Advantages of the proposed converter are high step-down ratio, extended duty cycle, reduced switching losses by a converter operation under zero-voltage switching (ZVS) conditions, reduced reverse reco-very losses of diodes by achieved zero-current switching turn-off condition, and reduced voltage spikes by the inherent active-clamping structure of the converter. In this converter, series capacitors and coupled inductors have been used in power path to achieve the low voltage gain and extended duty cycle. By the inherent active-clamping structure of the proposed converter, the leakage inductance energy is totally recovered in the output; therefore, the high voltage spike across the semiconductor devices is suppressed. The switches of the proposed converter can operate under ZVS conditions, which cause reduced switching losses and improved efficiency. In this paper, the converter operating modes are discussed, and a prototype circuit is implemented. Experimental results are presented to verify the theoretical analysis. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper proposes data transmission method between primary and secondary of the flyback converter without additional communication circuit while simultaneously transferring power. In some application such as a battery charger, the data exchanges between the primary and secondary sides are necessary. In the conventional system, an additional line or wireless communication modules is used for data exchanges, thereby increasing the system and connector size. The proposed system, in comparison, does not use additional signal transceiver but instead exchanges data by simply alternating operation mode of the flyback converter, thus adding communication function while not increasing the volume of the terminal and overall system. The waveform of transformer voltage is used to count the number of resonant pulses, which is used for decoding and encoding the data packet. Bidirectional communication between primary and secondary sides is possible while power is transferred to the output using an appropriate communication protocol. This paper proposes data transmission method for both single output and the multioutput cases. Also, both half-duplex and full-duplex communication using the proposed method is explained. The experimental results are presented to verify the performance of the proposed communication method. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper, a new soft-switching bridgeless single-phase power factor correction (PFC) converter is presented and analyzed. Employing an auxiliary switch, the input current dead angle that is the main drawback of the existing buck-type PFCs is omitted, and thus, the power factor (PF) is improved, which is the main contribution of the paper. Proposed PFC converter operates under discontinuous conduction mode (DCM) and draws sinusoidal input current from power supply inherently. All switches and diodes are turnedonandoffunder soft switching, which leads to low switching losses and elimination of diode reverse recovery problems. Also, minimum numbers of semiconductor devices are in the power flow path that reduce the conduction losses. A 120-W laboratory prototype is implemented and experimental results verify the validity of theoretical analysis and show efficiency of 92.1%. In addition, total harmonic distortion (THD) of 3.3% is achieved and the input current harmonics complies with IEC61000-3-2 Class D requirements. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A high step-up dc–dc converter is proposed in this paper. The presented converter benefits from some advantages such as high voltage gain and continuous input current, which makes it suitable for the renewable energy applications. The presented converter is based on the SEPIC converter. However, the converter voltage gain is improved by employing a coupled inductor and two voltage multipliers. A passive clamp circuit is also added to the proposed converter that increases the voltage gain and reduces the voltage stress on the main switch. Thus, a switch with low $R_{{\text{DS(on)}}}$ will be needed that decreases the conduction loss. Besides, the voltage stress on the output diode in the proposed converter is reduced, which alleviates reverse recovery problem. The steady-state analysis of the proposed converter is discussed in this paper. The analysis is verified with experimental results under the output power of 245 W. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper proposes a new high-efficiency photovoltaic (PV) converter for grid connection through a high-leg delta transformer. The converter is composed of a symmetrically connected boost converter and three half-bridge inverters. One of the three half-bridge inverters is connected to the boost converter, and the others are directly connected to the PV terminals. As a result, this circuit configuration enables to reduce the power losses in both boost converter and inverters. This paper also proposes a new cooperative control method between the symmetrically connected boost converter and inverter. The control method can reduce the average switching frequency to 75% of that in a conventional one, resulting in a great reduction in the switching power loss. Experimental results confirm that the proposed circuit configuration makes it possible to improve its European efficiency from 91.6% to 94.5%. Moreover, system performance is evaluated on the assumption of maximum power point tracking operation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A 12-V motor drive system using an onboard battery is promising in vehicle applications, e.g., to rotate an air pump to adjust its air delivery to the burner, thereby providing autonomous exhaust temperature control for the conventional diesel engine vehicle. The 12-V/1-kW motor drive system proposed in this paper consists of a series-resonant LLC MOSFET full-bridge converter, which provides high-efficiency power transfer by implementing zero voltage switching and boosts the dc bus to $\sim$300 V, and an insulated-gate bipolar transistor inverter, which provides the high-side phase currents to a 1-kW/6000-r/min brushless dc motor (BLDC). This design secures the high efficiency, low cost, and low volume. Meanwhile, with the variable output voltage of this dc/dc converter, this paper realizes a commutation torque-ripple reduction method, which will minimize the mechanical vibration. Experimental results on this prototype system demonstrate that: 1) the LLC dc/dc part efficiency is 97.6% with 92% of the inverter efficiency; and 2) the motor commutation torque ripple is reduced close to zero. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

This paper presents a new linearizing digital converter (LDC) that accepts output from differential type sensors with third-order polynomial transfer characteristics and provides a linear digital output proportional to the measurand. The LDC is realized using a modified dual-slope converter. Detailed operation of the proposed LDC, design procedure, and analysis of the effect of various circuit parameters on performance of the LDC are presented in this paper. The proposed methodology of LDC is also extended for sensors with second-order polynomial characteristics. The functionality of the LDC has been verified with the help of simulation studies. A prototype LDC has been developed and interfaced with a novel reluctance-Hall effect-based angle sensor (having a third-order characteristic) and tested. Test results show that the output of the overall transducer is linear across a wide range of angles, and thus underline the efficacy of the proposed scheme for differential type sensors with third-order transfer characteristics. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

This paper presents an experimental efficiency comparison study between two different direct ac–ac converter topologies; a direct matrix converter and an indirect matrix converter. The evaluation is performed under variable load conditions using both discrete silicon isolated gate bipolar transistor and silicon carbide MOSFETs working at power levels up to 9 kW. Each loss measurement is carried out using two power analyzers; one placed at the input and one at the output of the converter under study. To facilitate this measurement, an output filter was necessary in addition to the normal input filter. Both converters are modulated using the same traditional symmetrical space vector approach and feature an identical input/output filter design. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

This paper presents a new and simple finite-control set model predictive control strategy to reduce the torque ripple in permanent-magnet synchronous machines (PMSMs). The method is based on minimizing a cost function that considers the flux linkage torque harmonics obtained from a discrete-time model of the machine. The power converter switching state that minimizes this cost function is selected and applied during a whole sampling period. Additionally, it is proposed to mitigate the other source of torque ripple, known as cogging-torque, using a feed-forward signal applied to the torque control loop. A hybrid method that uses the output information from an observer and look-up table is presented to obtain a good cogging-torque estimation and thus an accurate mitigation of this disturbance torque at low rotational speed. Experimental results demonstrate the good performance of the torque ripple compensation methods presented in this paper. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

This paper proposes a compact high-voltage pulse electron gun power supply (EGPS) consisted of interleaved capacitor-charging power supply (CCPS) with a series-resonant converter (SRC) to drive the electron tube. Requirement specifications are −40 kV, −7 A (280 kW), and continuous output lower than ±1% ripple stability lasted few seconds with <1 ms charging and discharging times. To meet the design specifications, eight stacks operate in parallel, and each stack has a 45° phase shift switching pulse width modulation (PWM) method. Each designed CCPS can supply −40-kV voltage and −0.9-A current. In addition, the proposed CCPS has the SRC to reduce the switching loss. The SRC is a famous topology, which presents main characteristics such as high-power density and efficiency. To prove the validity, this paper is confirmed by the simulation and experimental results of the fabricated −40-kV output CCPS with water load. Then, we implemented the fabricated EGPS to the electron tube. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

One of the main technical challenges associated with the modular multilevel converter (MMC) for any application is the optimal control of its states. Optimal control of the MMC requires determination of the following: 1) an accurate MMC model, 2) the MMC states to be controlled and their corresponding reference trajectories, and 3) an appropriate controller type/form and its parameters. The aforementioned tasks lead to the formulation of a multistate control optimization problem, which is tackled in this paper. This paper enhances the accuracy of the existing MMC state-space model by including the following: 1) a piecewise affine insulated-gate bipolar transistor/diode model and 2) the impact of dead time. This paper also proposes a simulation-based gradient-descent optimization algorithm (cosimulation) to optimize the controller gains, given the controller type/form and the reference state trajectory. The theoretical proofs of the gradients required in the optimization algorithm are also provided. The aforementioned optimization algorithm is applied to a variable-frequency MMC-based drive system. Experimental results on a scaled-down prototype and simulation results on a real-world application are provided to validate the accuracy of the proposed MMC model and to show the effectiveness of the proposed optimization algorithm. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper presents a novel finite-control-set model predictive control (FS-MPC) approach for grid-connected converters. The control performance of such converters may get largely affected by variations in the supply impedance, especially for systems with low short-circuit ratio values. A novel idea for estimating the supply impedance variation, and hence the grid voltage, using an algorithm embedded in the MPC is presented in this paper. The estimation approach is based on the difference in grid voltage magnitudes at two consecutive sampling instants, calculated on the basis of supply currents and converter voltages directly within the MPC algorithm, achieving a fast estimation and integration between the controller and the impedance estimator. The proposed method has been verified, using simulation and experiments, on a three-phase two-level converter. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

In this paper, the results of a 2.88-MW solid-state long-pulse modulator, which has been designed for the new linear collider at the european spallation source in Lund, are summarized. The presented modulator generates an output voltage pulse of 115 kV with a pulselength of 3.5 ms. The main components of the modular system, which include a series–parallel resonance converter, a high-voltage high-frequency transformer, and an output rectifier, are discussed. The modulator design is verified by measurements performed with a full-scale prototype, which is operated under nominal load conditions. A detailed output voltage ripple evaluation is given, and in addition, the system design has been proven by a 7- and 2/3-h heat run test. All specifications are well within the given limits, and the maximum occurring temperatures in the transformer stay below 110 °C even under worst case assumptions. The system achieves a pulse efficiency (determined by the pulse shape) of 96.78%, an overall electrical system efficiency of 91.9%, and a combined pulse system efficiency of 89%. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper proposes a medium-frequency (MF) solid-state transformer (SST) based grid interface for high-power multipulse rectifiers. In the proposed approach, the low-frequency ac (grid) voltage is transformed to MF voltage via front-end converters. The three single-phase MF outputs from these converters are fed to the primary side of a three-phase, five-limb multiwinding isolation transformer (or alternately three one-phase transformers). The secondary side windings from the transformer are configured in a certain “zig-zag” arrangement, which are connected to the inputs of three-phase diode rectifier modules as in a typical multipulse system. The proposed topology can better than double the power density by reducing volume (or weight) of the required front-end isolation transformer while maintaining the same input current quality as a conventional low-frequency transformer based approach. Usage of an open-loop square wave pulse width modulation for the front-end converters makes this approach simple to implement. This paper explains the proposed concept taking an adjustable speed drive application's perspective using modeling, simulation, and experimental results from a scaled down laboratory prototype. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper presents a uniform control strategy for the bidirectional ac/dc interlinking converter (BIC) in hierarchical controlled hybrid microgrid. The uniform control strategy unifies different control structures for multifunctional BIC in terms of power management, ac and dc voltage support. With the unified control structure, various triggering mechanisms for BIC mode-switch are not compulsory in response to the relevant scenario changes in the power network. Therefore, the negative consequences, such as unsmooth transition and system collapse due to the inaccurate or slower mode switch, can be avoided. Moreover, the uniform control strategy is also applicable for the hierarchical controlled hybrid microgrid, whose control architecture is typically comprised of the centralized and decentralized levels. This enables the communication fault ride-through capability and the impact from the communication failures can thus be mitigated. To sum up the above two features, the proposed control strategy is able to provide a smooth operation for the BIC without control mode switch in the event of unintentional scenario changes in power or communication network. To verify the validity of the proposed uniform control strategy, the controller hardware-in-the-loop experimental results have been provided in this paper. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

This paper presents a single-stage nonisolated switched capacitor ac–dc converter for power-factor correction (PFC). This converter features reduced passive components, single switch, transformerless high voltage gain, and improves the power factor, reduces total harmonic distortion, and voltage stress across the switch. The peak current mode with a dynamic resonant perturbation scheme compensates the subharmonics that exist at zero crossing of the source current is implemented for PFC. In this paper, the principle of operation, large signal modeling of the circuit, and control method for the proposed PFC converter are provided. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

The three phases of brushless dc motor (BLDCM) are involved in energy conversion during the commutation interval. A novel commutation analysis method of the BLDCM based on coordinate transformation theory is proposed in this paper, though this coordinate transformation theory is popular in the control of three-phase sinusoidal motors, such as induction motors and permanent magnet synchronous motors. The method is intuitive and easy to understand compared with the method based on circuit solving. Combined with the voltage vector diagram of the inverter, commutation control to reduce commutation torque ripple under low speed (LS_RCTR) and high speed (HS_RCTR) is deduced. However, under a heavy load and high-speed condition, long commutation time may result in commutation failure if these commutation controls to RCTR is adopted. To avoid that, commutation time must be controlled. Then, commutation control to reduce commutation time under low-speed (LS_RCT) and high-speed (two cases, named HS_RCT1 and HS_RCT2) are proposed. The improved control of BLDCM presented in this paper can coordinate commutation torque ripple and commutation time in full speed range. Finally, the feasibility and effectiveness of these methods are verified by experiment. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

The nine-switch converter is a multiport converter having two three-phase terminals and a dc-link, just like a 12-switch back-to-back (BTB) converter, but with 25% reduction of active switch count. However, the reduction from 12-switch to 9-switch may not always be an efficient choice considering losses in the switches. Only the load–source combination for the ac–ac common frequency mode and the source–source combination for the ac–dc different frequency (ac–dc DF) mode have been reported, so far, to yield relatively lower loss for the nine-switch converter. This paper shows that the nine-switch converter can have relatively lower loss even with a load–source combination, instead of only source–source combination in its ac–dc DF mode—when the upper terminal is connected to a dc load and the lower terminal is connected to an ac source. Mathematical proof is presented with derivation of the particular operating parameters for which the nine-switch converter will have comparatively lower losses. The analysis is validated with simulation and experimental results of a 1-kW system. Finally, the benchmark of the application criteria of the nine-switch converter for having lower conduction loss than the BTB converter is updated in this paper. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

For power converters with inductive loads, a freewheeling path is needed for the current due to reactive power. The MOSFET synchronous rectification (SR) is widely used to reduce the conduction loss during the freewheeling period. Due to the wide band gap of silicon carbide (SiC), the intrinsic body diode of SiC MOSFET exhibits a high voltage drop. Hence, an antiparallel SiC Schottky diode is normally implemented to eliminate its conduction. However, the external SiC Schottky diode is not fully utilized as it only works during the dead time. In this paper, the hard-switching SR is investigated in an SiC three-phase inverter and compared with a conventional inverter using freewheeling diode (FWD). An improved power loss model for the two inverters has been developed. It is found that the inverter using SR has higher efficiency due to the smaller switching loss. A 7-kW prototype of SiC three-phase inverter is built, which achieves a peak efficiency of 98.8% ($\pm$ 0.15%) and 98.5% ($\pm$ 0.15%) at 40 kHz using SR and FWD, respectively. This paper confirms that the SiC MOSFET is an ideal candidate for the SR. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

In this paper, a new zero voltage zero current transition (ZVZCT) boost DC–DC converter using a coupled inductor is proposed. This topology provides the main switch ZVZCT for the turn-on and zero voltage switching (ZVS) for the turn-off. Moreover, the auxiliary switch turns on at zero current switching (ZCS) and turns off at ZVS. The main diode turns on with ZVT and turns off with ZCS, and other diodes also operate under soft-switching conditions. Besides, due to the coupling effect, the proposed converter improves efficiency additionally since resonant energy in the resonance tank could be transferred to the output, and the circulating current can be limited as well. The soft-switching can be realized in almost all the load rang. In this design, there always exist energy releasing circuits to conduct magnetic flux leakage currents, such that the surge currents are eliminated and switch current stress can be accordingly reduced. All the devices resonate in a unique direction within less than half of a resonance period, so power losses with respect to the resonance can be decreased. In this paper, the converter design and operation principles of the converter are given. It also has been verified by a 1-kW experimental prototype with switching frequency of 100 kHz, and the related experimental results are presented. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Back-to-back converters have been typically used to interconnect microgrids. For a back-to-back current-source converter, the dc-link current ripple is one of the important parameters. A large ripple will cause electromagnetic interference, undesirable high-frequency losses, and system instability. Conventionally, with a given switching frequency and rated voltage, the current ripple can be reduced by increasing the dc-link inductor, but it leads to bulky size, high cost, and slow dynamic response. To solve this problem, this paper reveals that the current ripple can be significantly reduced by adjusting the gate patterns of space vector modulation between the rectifier and the inverter in a back-to-back converter. The experimental results verify the effectiveness of the proposed method. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

This paper describes a systematic procedure using power flow graphs for generating all possible double-input single-output (DISO) dc/dc converters. To maximize the generality of applications, the input ports can possibly be connected with voltage source(s) or current source(s), and the output port can be connected with a voltage load or current load. The control methods are described in this paper. A DISO converter with two voltage sources and one voltage load is taken as an example to analyze a few key properties of practical relevance, including input voltage range, efficiency, power distribution, and switching stress. A popular application of DISO converters involves the use of a battery as storage element, and for this specific case, possible choices for the converters, the control method, and the attainable efficiency are discussed. Finally, experimental results are presented to verify the analytical results. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

This paper proposes a new isolated three-port bidirectional dc–dc converter for simultaneous power management of multiple energy sources. The proposed converter has the advantage of using the least number of switches and soft switching for the main switch, which is realized by using an inductor–capacitor–inductor ( $LCL$) -resonant circuit. The converter is capable of interfacing sources of different voltage–current characteristics with a load and/or a dc microgrid. The proposed converter is constructed for simultaneous power management of a photovoltaic (PV) panel, a rechargeable battery, and a load. Simulation and experimental results show that the proposed converter is capable of maximum power point tracking control for the PV panel, when there is solar radiation, and controlling the charge and discharge of the battery, when there is surplus energy and power deficiency with respect to the load, respectively. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

The realm of hardware-in-the-loop simulation resorts to field-programmable gate arrays to achieve time steps below 1 \mu\s . Such low time steps are of importance for the aerospace and automotive industries, where power converters have their switching frequencies in the 10- to 200-kHz range. This paper proposes a network tearing technique that allows subsets of switches to be treated independently, alleviates embedded memory requirements, and reduces the computational burden. An iterative algorithm is used to determine the state of naturally commutated switches, thus offering a realistic model of the power converter, independently of its operation mode or topology. A Gauss-Jordan processing unit is implemented to solve interface voltages/currents from the torn circuit. Custom floating-point operators are used to ensure good accuracy, high-frequency operation, and low computational latency. A neutral-point-clamped converter case study is presented to demonstrate the effectiveness of the method. Simulation results are validated against a reference model at a 750-ns time step and a 30-kHz sine pulsewidth modulation switching frequency. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Multilevel converters have been well studied for high-voltage high-power renewable energy applications. Owing to the multibranch structure, these converters can be operated under fault conditions in case of a loss of a branch or voltage cell. In this regard, this paper proposes a new active fault-tolerant space vector pulsewidth modulation strategy for single-phase faults in three-phase multilevel converters. The proposed modulation strategy treats the multilevel converter as a two-level converter by introducing an offset vector. A generalized approach is proposed to search for the offset vector and to adjust the modulation of the converter online under different fault operation conditions. Several short- and open-circuit faults have been demonstrated on a seven-level hybrid input-switched converter to prove the effectiveness of the proposed fault-tolerant scheme. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

This paper presents a comparative investigation, design and development issues about six different single-stage topologies, applied as electronic ballasts, for electrodeless fluorescent lamps. The ballast is intended to feed a 100 W lamp at 250 kHz, with dimming feature. The proposed topologies use different converters for the power factor correction (PFC) stage: Buck-Boost, SEPIC, Zeta, Cúk, Flyback, and Boost. All of them operate in discontinuous conduction mode. A resonant half-bridge inverter is used as lamp power control (PC) stage. The integration of both stages (PFC and PC) is proposed in this paper. In this way, it is possible to reduce the number of active switches, as well as simplify the required driving and control circuitry. Experimental results demonstrate the feasibility of the proposed dimming technique that achieved around 56% lamp power dimming, from 100 W down to 44 W. The implemented topologies attained high average power factor (>0.98), and low line current average total harmonic distortion (<;15.3%). A comparison among all the proposed topologies in terms of power factor, harmonic distortion, efficiency and number of components is presented. Finally, a comparison between an integrated and a nonintegrated SEPIC half-bridge converter is also performed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper proposes a bidirectional three-phase direct ac–ac converter, with only capacitors and switches in its power circuit and with its operation based on the switched-capacitor principle. The converter presents fixed gain, it keeps the frequencies of the output and input voltages equal, and it operates in open loop with constant switching frequency and duty cycle. The main advantages of the proposed converter are the absence of magnetic elements in the power circuit, the higher efficiency, the higher power density, the higher specific power, the lower cost, and the fact that it can convert ac–ac voltages within a wide frequency range, including dc voltage. Therefore, it is suitable to replace the conventional three-phase autotransformer in industrial, commercial, and residential applications, and it can be designated as a magnetic-less three-phase solid-state autotransformer. The principle of operation, a qualitative and quantitative analysis, the design methodology, and a fabricated example are described in this paper. In order to verify the converter in the laboratory, a prototype with the following characteristics was designed and fabricated: 6 kW, 1.35 kW/kg, 380/110 V, and switching frequency of 100 kHz. The measured efficiency at rated power was 96.3%, and other relevant experimental results are reported herein. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Efficient power conversion technologies are strategic to the advancement of fuel cell vehicles (FCVs). This paper presents an overview of power conditioning system (PCS) architectures for an FCV propulsion system. Two new power conversion topologies to obtain variable ac from the fuel cell system are proposed. The switching of the power devices are based on the proposed hybrid modulation technique that minimizes the switching losses in the inverter. The proposed converters do not use the dc-link filter capacitors. Elimination of the dc-link capacitor not only reduces the size and volume but also helps in retaining the sine wave modulated information at the input of a three-phase inverter. Bidirectional converter topologies are proposed for interfacing low-voltage battery and fuel cell dc bus. Experimental results are presented for the proposed topologies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper, a passive ripple canceling circuit (PRCC) is proposed to eliminate the output power reduction effect of photovoltaic (PV) systems caused by the current ripple of the PV converters. Special features of the proposed PRCC include having low-cost simple modular structure and being independent of the duty ratio control of the main power circuit. Hence, it can be easily integrated to the main power circuit to achieve zero input current ripple, yielding less filter size, loss, and fast response. Meanwhile, the linear line maximum power point tracking (MPPT) control is also integrated with the proposed module integrated converter (MIC) to achieve instantaneous tracking response. Finally, a 90-W laboratory prototype is constructed to verify the effectiveness of the proposed principle. It is seen that the resulting peak-to-peak input current ripple is reduced to about 2% of the original dc converter input ripple. In other words, the input current ripple is almost zero. As a result, the harvested power of the proposed MIC can be increased by 7% as compared with that of the MIC without the proposed PRCC. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper, a method is proposed to eliminate the voltage ringing problem in a phase-modulated dc–ac converter, also known as a micro-inverter. The basic idea is to apply a time-critical two-stepped voltage waveform to the input of the converter bridge connected to the filter inductor. This method is implemented by a new topology that has one more switching leg added to the full bridge voltage fed converter. It produces a second voltage level and adds it to the first by using a transformer. The advantages of the proposed method are as follows. It almost eliminates the requirement of a voltage clamp, there is no circulating current in the freewheeling state, and the secondary side devices have less voltage and current stress compared to a conventional phase-modulated converter. The overall benefit is an improvement in converter efficiency even for a high-voltage conversion ratio application. The proposed topology operates with a secondary side modulation scheme that achieves zero-voltage switching of four devices on the primary side and either zero-voltage switching or zero-current switching of all the devices on the secondary side, over the entire line cycle of the ac output. Finally, the experimental results verify the proposed method. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]