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This paper presents bidirectional grid-connected modular multilevel converters (MMC) with direct digital control and division-summation processes to achieve power-injection and rectification functions. A direct digital control is developed to track current references, regulate dc-bus voltage and cell voltage, and balance the upper and lower dc-bus voltages. It can accommodate wide filter-inductance variation and take care of source voltage harmonics to achieve tight current tracking and low distortion output current. Based on the power-balance principle, the commands of arm currents can be determined directly. In this paper, the MMC configuration is introduced first, and then the control laws for current tracking and voltage regulation are derived in detail. Experimental and simulated results obtained from two 50 kW MMCs operated in power-injection and rectification modes have verified the analysis and discussion. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Soft magnetic powder cores with their high saturation flux density and low core loss are excellent alternatives for filter inductors in inverter-based applications. However, their nonlinear current-dependent inductance characteristics pose a challenge for control of grid-connected inverter with LCL filter. In this paper, the variable inductance conundrum is discussed and a modified direct digital control method based on a variable-structure inductance estimation model that takes into consideration wide nonlinear variation in both inverter- and grid-side inductances is proposed. The proposed method is shown to have better grid-voltage harmonic rejection and improved stability margins. However, investigation of stability which is conventionally based on nominal values of filter inductors cannot predict instabilities over the entire range of inductance variation. Hence, a parametric approach to conventional stability methods with a parameter space defined by variation in actual and estimated inductance is explored in this paper. The effect of line impedance on stability is also investigated with impedance-based stability criterion by considering line inductance as an additional dimension in the parameter space. A pattern in stability margins is observed due to inductance variation, with inductance at its minimum being most vulnerable to instability. Experimental results measured from a 5 kW single-phase grid-connected inverter with various LCL filters have verified the feasibility of the proposed control method. The experimental results also match the analytical results with reasonable accuracy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Current-fed bidirectional dc–dc converters have attracted much attention in battery energy storage system applications due to their zero-voltage-switching performances and greater degree of control freedom. However, high efficiency cannot be achieved for both light and heavy load ranges with the present modulation schemes for a current-fed bidirectional dc–dc converter, especially with low battery voltages. A new modulation scheme is proposed to improve the conversion efficiency over a wide load range and with variations in the battery voltage. The relationship between the duty cycle of the secondary full bridge and the phase-shift angle was investigated to lower the power losses with the wide load variations. Based on the operation mode analysis, the control loop with the proposed pulse wide modulation plus phase-shift modulation scheme was developed. Comparisons of the switch conduction loss and the core loss in the series inductor for the previous modulation schemes and the proposed modulation scheme were carried out. The results show that lower power losses occur with the proposed scheme. The experimental results verify the theoretical analysis and effectiveness of the proposed modulation scheme on loss reduction. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

This paper presents a three-phase back-to-back transformerless inverter for online uninterruptible power supply applications. The inverter consists of a three-phase three-wire input rectifier stage and a three-phase four-wire output inverter stage with their ground wires tied together. Both of the two stages are with sinusoidal pulse width modulation based division-summation (D-∑) digital control. The input stage controls the power flow between utility grid and dc link, regulates the dc-link voltage, and fulfills power factor correction. While the output stage tracks three-phase ac reference voltages. The proposed control laws derived based on the D-∑ digital approach take into account the effects of dc-link voltage fluctuation, grid-voltage distortion, and inductance variation due to different current levels. Thus, distortion of input current and output voltage, and filter inductor core size can be reduced significantly. Moreover, circulating current through their common ground can be suppressed effectively. Simulated and experimental results from a three-phase back-to-back transformerless inverter have confirmed the analysis and discussion of the proposed control approach. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Pulse-width-modulated (PWM) converters have been widely applied for power processing, and they are typically the stems of other types of converters, such as quasi-resonant, Z-source, and switched-inductor hybrid converters. Development of PWM converters has been spanning over a century, starting from the buck converter. The well-known PWM converters include buck, boost, buck–boost, Ćuk, single ended primary inductive converter (SEPIC), zeta, Z-source, quasi-Z source, etc. Many attempts have been proposed to develop these converters based mostly on canonical cell concepts and by introducing extra LC filters to the cells. This paper presents an enhancement to the layer and graft schemes by introducing the ideas of dc voltage/current offsetting, capacitor/inductor component splitting, diode grafting, and inverse operation of PWM converters. The PWM converters, which can be operated in continuous conduction mode (CCM) or discontinuous conduction mode (DCM), therefore can be synthesized systematically according to decoded transfer gains. Decoding and synthesizing PWM converters uniquely bridge transfer gains to converter topologies and provide readers a comprehensive understanding of PWM-converter evolution from the original converter, the buck converter. Additionally, in this paper, the Ćuk, SEPIC, and zeta converters all with the same transfer gain of $D/(1 - D)$ are proved to be equivalent to the buck–boost converter with an extra LC filter. For further illustrating the proposed approaches, various types of Z-source converters, switched-capacitor/switched-inductor hybrid converters, and a single-stage interleaved converter are reviewed, and new PWM converters are developed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A division–summation (D-\mathbf\Sigma) digital control for three-phase inverters to achieve active and reactive power injection has been presented. It can overcome the limitation of abc to dq frame transformation. However, the D-\mathbf\Sigma control requires four sets of control laws to cover four quadrant operations, namely, grid connection (power factor (PF) 1 $\sim\pm$0.866), rectification with PF correction, PF leading (0 \sim$ 0.866), and PF lagging (0 \sim$ −0.866). Moreover, the switching sequences for the four modes are also different from each other, increasing complexity of firmware programming. In this paper, improvement of the control law derivation and region selection for the (D), which can obtain the control law directly. Measured results from a 10-kVA 3 $\phi$ bidirectional inverter have been presented to confirm the improvement. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

This study is focused on integration and operation of a single-phase bidirectional inverter with two buck/boost maximum power point trackers (MPPTs) for dc-distribution applications. In a dc-distribution system, a bidirectional inverter is required to control the power flow between dc bus and ac grid, and to regulate the dc bus to a certain range of voltages. A droop regulation mechanism according to the inverter inductor current levels to reduce capacitor size, balance power flow, and accommodate load variation is proposed. Since the photovoltaic (PV) array voltage can vary from 0 to 600 V, especially with thin-film PV panels, the MPPT topology is formed with buck and boost converters to operate at the dc-bus voltage around 380 V, reducing the voltage stress of its followed inverter. Additionally, the controller can online check the input configuration of the two MPPTs, equally distribute the PV-array output current to the two MPPTs in parallel operation, and switch control laws to smooth out mode transition. A comparison between the conventional boost MPPT and the proposed buck/boost MPPT integrated with a PV inverter is also presented. Experimental results obtained from a 5-kW system have verified the discussion and feasibility. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper presents two-phase modulated digital control for a three-phase bidirectional inverter with wide inductance variation in dc distribution systems. The bidirectional inverter can fulfill both grid connection and rectification with power factor correction. With the proposed control, the inverter can track its sinusoidal reference currents, and it is allowed to have wide inductance variation, reducing core size significantly. The control laws based on space-vector pulsewidth modulation are first derived with either an accurate approach or an approximated one, and the gate signals were then derived based on two-phase modulation for lower switching loss and switching noise spectra. Determination of control parameters and stability analysis are also presented. In the design and implementation, the inductances corresponding to various inductor currents were measured and tabulated into a single-chip microcontroller for tuning loop gain cycle by cycle, ensuring system stability. Measured results from a 10 kVA 3φ bidirectional inverter have been presented to confirm the feasibility of the discussed control approaches. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper presents power loss comparison of single- and two-stage grid-connected photovoltaic (PV) systems based on the loss factors of double line-frequency voltage ripple (DLFVR), fast irradiance variation + DLFVR, fast dc load variation + DLFVR, limited operating voltage range + DLFVR, and overall loss factor combination. These loss factors will result in power deviation from the maximum power points. In this paper, both single-stage and two-stage grid-connected PV systems are considered. All of the effects on a two-stage system are insignificant due to an additional maximum power point tracker, but the tracker will reduce the system efficiency typically about 2.5%. The power loss caused by these loss factors in a single-stage grid-connected PV system is also around 2.5%; that is, a single-stage system has the merits of saving components and reducing cost, and does not penalize overall system efficiency under certain operating voltage ranges. Simulation results with the MATLAB software package and experimental results have confirmed the analysis. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

This paper presents design and implementation of a 5-kW single-phase bidirectional inverter with wide inductance variation. For dc-microgrid applications, the bidirectional inverter has to fulfill grid connection and rectification with power factor correction to regulate the dc bus to a certain range of voltages. In the inverter operation, inductor current can vary from 0 to 32 A in one line cycle. This will result in wide inductance variation, around seven times for an inductor constructed with a molybdenum permalloy powder core, and thus, high current ripple and fluctuation. In this paper, we take into account this variation while designing controller and selecting key components to ensure inverter normal operation. Additionally, to adopt a cost-effective microcontroller for the inverter, the sensitivities of the control to various parameters are investigated and presented in this paper. Experimental results measured from a 5-kW single-phase prototype have verified the feasibility of the designed inverter. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]