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This article presents a maximum torque per ampere strategy for a five-phase synchronous reluctance drive. The approach is developed considering general machine parameters and is formalized as a constrained optimization problem. The optimal solution is found analytically by using Lagrange’s multipliers method and is based on the computation of the eigenvalues and eigenvectors of the inductance derivatives matrix. The proposed approach is evaluated both numerically and experimentally. It is also compared with other current references control strategies, effectively showing a reduction of the machine rms currents for the same developed torque. The same approach can also be extended to machines with a different number of phases. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article presents a novel carrier-based pulsewidth modulation technique for multiphase neutral point clamped converters. The technique is aimed to actively control the neutral point (NP) potential while supplying the desired set of line-to-line voltages to the load. Standard techniques are either based on the sole common mode voltage injection or on the sole multistep switching mode; contrarily, the proposed algorithm combines these two approaches to take advantage of their main benefits. The technique performs well for each number of phases, for each modulation index, and for each type of load. It can control in closed-loop the NP voltage to any desirable value with a reduced number of switching transitions. The proposed approach has been experimentally validated and compared with other carrier-based algorithms. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this article, a new pulsewidth modulation technique is proposed for the output voltage control and the dc-bus capacitors voltage balancing of a multipoint-clamped multilevel converter. The voltage equalization is achieved by allowing each converter's leg voltage to switch through multiple levels in a single modulation period (multistep operation). The approach is generalized with respect to the number of levels and phases and can be applied regardless of the converter operating conditions. Nevertheless, the multistep behavior generally leads to an increase of the average switching transitions rate. In the proposed method, this drawback is mitigated with an online adaptive selection of the number of switching levels. The algorithm is validated through an extensive hardware-in-the-loop testing and compared to other approaches. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article proposes a space-vector modeling formalism and a harmonic balance control strategy for the voltage equalization of a double-star modular multilevel converter employed as an active interface between a three-phase ac grid and an HVdc grid. The balancing procedure is based on the control of the power flow through the converter legs, with the aim to stabilize the energy stored in each switching module to the same value. By properly exploiting both the space-vector/zero-component and the common/differential mode decompositions, the proposed approach is able to highlight all the viable interactions between the system voltages and currents. The harmonic balance control is then formulated in its most general form in order to effectively increase the degrees of freedom available to the voltage equalization while guaranteeing the hardware constraints and functional requirements of the converter. The resulting control algorithm, based on a subset of the harmonic control variables, has been implemented on a controller board and experimentally validated on a 1.5-kW test bench. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]