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This paper presents a comparative study on different microfabricated inductors (microtransformers), which are suitable for high-frequency power application. The main topic of this study is comparing and analyzing the effect of some factors such as material type, number of turns, and coil form on microinductor performance considering a fixed chip size, fixed magnetic core size, and core form. Two different microtransformer designs with different magnetic core materials are considered in this work. The core materials used in this work are NiFe45/55 and CoFe45/55. Also, two types of device packages are developed, namely, Quad Flat No-Lead and FR4 embedded packages. For device testing, different high-frequency switching regulators available on the market are used. This study shows the influence of different parameters on the performance of a certain high-frequency application. In this paper, we discuss the influence of the design, magnetic material, and package type on thermal performance and the efficiency of the power application. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper presents integrated inductors with Co-Zr-Ta-B (CZTB) thin films on flexible organic substrates for MHz–GHz applications. This paper demonstrated the fabrication and characterization of magnetic thin-film inductors on flexible organic substrates, such as polyimide and Ajinomoto build-up film thin films. These films have thicknesses of only tens of micrometer and thus are very flexible compared to the same inductor structures fabricated on rigid substrates, such as quartz. The magnetic films on flexible substrates were observed to maintain similar magnetic properties compared with those on Si substrate, but with greater coercivity likely due to the increased roughness of the substrate surface. The fabricated thin-film inductors on organic substrates with inductance $L$ , measured by RF characteristics, have shown significantly increased inductance compared to air-core inductors (without magnetic core materials). This paper also demonstrated a high frequency response, clearly over GHz, consistent with the CZTB type of materials. The frequency response, as well as inductance and Q values, remains similar even after many iterations of bending to a large degree, indicating the robustness of the inductor on flexible organic substrates, as well as that of the magnetic thin films. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Wireless power transfer (WPT) systems working at several megahertz (MHz) are widely considered as a promising solution for a mid-range transfer of a medium amount of power. The soft-switching-based Class E power amplifier (PA) and rectifier are known to be suitable for high-frequency applications, which may potentially improve the performance of the MHz WPT systems. Meanwhile, the efficiency and output power of the Class E PA are sensitive to its loading condition, particularly when there is variation in the relative position of the coupling coils, namely a changed mutual inductance between the coils. Thus the purpose of this paper is to propose and discuss circuit and design improvements that maintain a high efficiency and output power of the MHz WPT systems over a wide range of mutual inductance, when the Class E PA and the Class E rectifier are employed. Besides, the suppression of the harmonic contents, i.e., the electromagnetic interference problem, is also considered in the circuit design. Both the simulation and experimental results show that the newly added and optimally designed $\pi $ matching network obviously improves the drops of the efficiency and output power of the Class E PA and the overall WPT system when the mutual inductance varies. The reduction of the total harmonic distortion in the input voltage of the coupling coils is also significant, from the original 52.9% to 9.6%. The circuit and design improvements discussed in this paper could serve as a general and practical solution for building high-performance MHz WPT systems. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Dynamic wireless charging (DWC) is one of the most promising and economical power supply solutions for electric vehicles (EVs), which can address range anxiety and downsize the volume of onboard batteries. To solve the null power phenomenon and transfer power pulsation phenomenon in DWC scheme, this paper proposes a new magnetic coupler array to implement continuous charging and reduce the output power variation. The transmitters are placed with a proper interval to eliminate the adjacent coupling and enlarge the coil array’s effective length. ANSYS Maxwell is utilized to demonstrate the finite element analysis (FEA) of the DWC system. A larger receiver coil is designed to significantly mitigate power pulsation and increase the magnetic coupling as the receiver moves along the array. With the well-designed receiver coil, the output power pulsation is $\pm$ 1.52 $\%$. For the high-power capacity scenario, a multilevel connected DC-DC converter is designed on the receiver side to regulate the transfer power. Besides, a passivity-based control (PBC) is developed for the receiving DC-DC converter based on the Euler-Lagrange (EL) model, and a current sharing compensator is employed to balance each phase inductor current. Finally, a 500- $\text{W}$ prototype is constructed, and experimental results are represented to validate the proposed optimized coil array and the proposed PBC method. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper, novel neutral reactor structures are proposed to mitigate the secondary arc current (SAC) in non-conventional Multi-circuit Multi-voltage Transmission lines (MCMVTLs). The parameters of the reactors in the structure are optimized using the Non-dominated Sorting Genetic Algorithm II (NSGA-II). The optimization algorithm, coded in Python, regulates the multiple runs of an Electromagnetic Transients (EMT) simulation program to minimize the secondary arc current. The optimization trials are run in parallel on a 64 core computer to minimize the solution time. A detailed arc model was tested on the EMT program (PSCAD). Using this model and optimized parameters in the proposed neutral reactor schemes, the SAC is indeed extinguished in acceptable times. The SAC and TRV for neutral reactors with optimized parameters are up-to 68 and 77%, respectively, lower than the ones with parameters calculated by the conventional approach which ignores inter-circuit coupling. Meanwhile, the extinction times are up-to 46% faster. As a result, single-phase auto-reclosing in MCMVTLs is viable. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Summary: High‐frequency characteristics of passive components are crucial to the electromagnetic compatibility (EMC) of an electronic system, and modeling of passive components is of significance for EMC analysis. However, challenges remain in the modeling of passive components with multiple resonant frequencies. In this paper, a method for establishing equivalent models of multi‐resonant frequency passive components, including capacitors, inductors, and resistors, is proposed. Firstly, high‐frequency equivalent circuit topologies of the multi‐resonant frequency passive components, which are simple, easy to understand, and can be applied to the modeling of passive components with various impedance characteristics, are developed. Secondly, a calculation method of equivalent circuit parameters based on least squares and particle swarm optimization (PSO) is presented, which is not sensitive to the initial value, only needs the estimated range of the equivalent circuit parameters, and very suitable for getting the parameters of equivalent circuit models accurately and efficiently. Finally, to validate the method, some SPICE models of single components are established, and a PCB‐level EMC analysis is implemented. The comparisons of the simulated and experimental results show the validity and accuracy of the method. The method is very useful for future components modeling when doing EMC design or other high‐frequency designs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In High Voltage Direct Current (HVDC) grids, system parameter and/or topology changes following HVDC grid protection actions affect system dynamics and in combination with the existence of line inductors in series with HVDC circuit breakers (DCCB), pose a challenge to designing converter controls that satisfy desired performance and stability requirements. To date, several methods have been proposed for evaluating the influence of the line inductors on system stability; however, tuning of the MMC controls considering system parameter and/or topology changes following HVDC grid protection actions haven’t been studied in detail. This paper presents a systematic tuning procedure for a robust operation of MMCs in any HVDC grid configuration. The proposed method analyzes the impact of variations in HVDC grid system parameters and control bandwidths (BWs) using small-signal based stability analysis and Singular Value Decomposition (SVD)-based performance analysis methods. In addition, it considers the impact of line outages associated with HVDC grid protection actions in order to select optimal control gains that fulfill performance and stability requirements of the HVDC grid for given HVDC Circuit Breakers (DCCBs) line inductor values. To illustrate the proposed methodology, a detailed step-by-step stability analysis in a 4-terminal HVDC grid test system is presented. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Hybrid energy systems with small modular reactors (SMRs)—a fast-emerging nuclear power plant technology—and renewables hold significant promise for the development of clean energy systems. This paper proposes a simulation model of SMR-based hybrid energy system for electricity and district heating (DH) with a detailed dynamic model of the reactor and a quasi-static model of the DH system in Siemens PTI PSS/E and PSS/Sincal. A multi-timescale approach, separating the load following and frequency regulation operation, is proposed to assess the flexible operation in the presence of highly intermittent renewable energy sources (RESs). A portion of a modified IEEE 30-bus system network is used as a test system for an isolated community to simulate the proposed hybrid energy system, and comparative results demonstrate the potential benefits of the DH system, thermal energy storage, and electrical energy storage to the SMR’s flexible operation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

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]

SiC devices are gaining acceptance in the motor drive industry. This paper compares the power loss and efficiency between two options that can be used with SiC-based variablefrequency drives (VFDs). In the first option, the SiC VFD is equipped with an output sine-wave filter with carrier frequency at 50 kHz. A $dv/dt$ filter is used for the second option with the carrier frequency reduced to 8 kHz. Both options are compared with a standard Si insulated-gate bipolar transistor (IGBT) VFD operating at a carrier frequency of 8 kHz with no output filter. The focus of this paper is to present different filtering options for SiC VFDs. The $dv/dt$ filter is designed to meet the same specification as that of the standard Si IGBT VFD with no output filter, so as to present a fair comparison between a standard Si IGBT VFD and the next-generation SiC VFD. Results using a 460-V 11-kW system show that the SiC VFD with an output sine-wave filter has a lower efficiency compared with SiC VFD with a $dv/dt$ filter. Influence of the various filtering options on leakage current in the motor drive system has also been studied, and the results are presented in this paper. [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]

The phasor-PWM-based current source inverter (CSI) is a boost inverter. The difference between conventional CSIs and the boost inverter is that the boost ratio (VLLrms/Vdc ) in the boost inverter can easily be above 3.0, whereas this ratio is around 1 in conventional CSIs. In order to realize the potential capabilities of the boost inverter and to assist its penetration into renewable energy systems, the boost inverter dynamic behaviors are studied in this paper. First, the large- and small-signal models as well as the dq-equivalent circuits of the boost inverter are presented. Then, the developed models are verified using circuit simulations and experiments on a laboratory-scale 2-kW 208/240- V_{\rm LLrms} V_{\rm dc}=65\ \hbox{V} $ boost inverter made of reverse-blocking IGBTs. Finally, the developed small-signal model is used to study the stability of the boost inverter through root locus of small signal poles (eigenvalues) as control inputs, and load parameters vary within the boost inverter's operating limits. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Inkjet printing on flexible paper and additive manufacturing technologies (AMT) are introduced for the sustainable ultra-low-cost fabrication of flexible radio frequency (RF)/microwave electronics and sensors. This paper covers examples of state-of-the-art integrated wireless sensor modules on paper or flexible polymers and shows numerous inkjet-printed passives, sensors, origami, and microfluidics topologies. It also demonstrates additively manufactured antennas that could potentially set the foundation for the truly convergent wireless sensor ad-hoc networks of the future with enhanced cognitive intelligence and “zero-power” operability through ambient energy harvesting and wireless power transfer. The paper also discusses the major challenges for the realization of inkjet-printed/3-D printed high-complexity flexible modules as well as future directions in the area of environmentally-friendly “Green”) RF electronics and “Smart-House” conformal sensors. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

A new auxiliary circuit for an ac–dc single-stage power-factor-corrected (SSPFC) full-bridge-type converter is proposed in this paper. The new auxiliary circuit is simple, handles low power, and is active only when the converter is operating under light load conditions. In this paper, the operation of an SSPFC converter is briefly reviewed and the main principle behind the auxiliary circuit is explained. The new auxiliary circuit is introduced, its operation is explained, and its feasibility in a multilevel SSPFC is confirmed with experimental results. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

This paper provides a theoretical and experimental discussion on ac-inductors design for a modular multilevel triple-star bridge-cells (TSBC) converter, or shortly a TSBC converter. This converter requires multiple ac inductors for controlling nine cluster currents. This paper proposes three three-legged, six-winding, “interzigzag” inductors for the TSBC converter. Since each leg of the individual inductor has two windings, the three inductors have 18 windings in total. The wire leads are zigzagged among the three inductors. This unique structure of the “interzigzag” windings leads to the following feature: Both three-phase supply and motor currents produce no magnetic flux in each of the nine legs. This feature makes each inductor smaller in size and lighter in weight. A specially-designed downscaled motor-drive system rated at 400 V and 15 kW is constructed and tested to confirm the validity of a design of the proposed inductors, as well as to verify transient motor-drive performance during four-quadrant operation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

With high penetration of distributed energy resources, fault management strategy is of great importance for the distribution network operation. The objective of this paper is to propose a current and voltage limiting strategy to enhance fault ride-through (FRT) capability of inverter-based islanded microgrids (MGs) in which the effects of inverter control system and inverter topology (four/three-wire) are considered. A three-phase voltage-sourced inverter with multi-loop control system implemented in synchronous, stationary, and natural reference frames is employed in this paper for both four- and three-wire configurations. The proposed strategy provides high voltage and current quality during overcurrent conditions, which is necessary for sensitive loads. Several time-domain simulation studies are conducted to investigate the FRT capability of the proposed strategy against both asymmetrical and symmetrical faults. Moreover, the proposed method is tested on the CIGRE benchmark MG to demonstrate the effectiveness of the proposed limiting strategy. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

This paper introduces a three-phase reversible transformer model for the study of low-frequency transients. The model topology is obtained from the direct application of the principle of duality by drawing basic circuit elements on top of the transformer frame. The model parameters are obtained from terminal and physical size measurements as well as the characteristics of the iron core. The implementation of the model is based on standard drag-and-drop circuit elements available in electric circuit simulation programs. The model is validated with inrush current and normal open circuit laboratory measurements. The main advantage of this model is that the parameters remain the same for the simulation of different operating conditions from all terminals. This is true for transients involving deep saturation, normal loading operation, or open circuit. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Based on the urgent needs for modularization and miniaturization of the inductive pulsed power supply system, this paper proposes the conceptual design and comparison of 100-kJ inductive storage power modules including four circuit topologies, three of which are proposed in our previous researches. The four circuit topologies are the STRETCH meat grinder, the XRAM with STRETCH meat grinder unit, the XRAM with strongly coupled inductors, and the XRAM with magnetic flux compression effect. The maximum load current of each constructed module is set to be 50 kA and its pulsewidth is at least 5 ms, which are the same as the main electrical properties of an existing 100-kJ capacitive module. A comparative study on energy density among the constructed inductive modules and the existing capacitive module is carried out in depth. Results show that the inductive modules, considering the volume of semiconductor switches and their control circuits, have higher energy density than that of the capacitive module. Among four constructed inductive modules, the XRAM with strongly coupled inductors module has the highest inductive energy density, and the XRAM with magnetic flux compression effect module has relatively better comprehensive performance. This paper offers the theoretical analysis foundation for investigating the inductive pulse power supply with higher energy. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

In this paper, we highlight the influence of geometrical uncertainties (winding pattern and wire diameter) on the $RLC$ parameters of wound magnetic components. To that end, the finite-element method is embedded in a Monte Carlo simulation in order to compute probability distributions of the parameters. An algorithm to randomly generate realistic winding configurations is also proposed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Dielectric barrier discharge (DBD) is the most efficient way used in industry for ozone generation. In the last decades, many papers were published on such DBD-based ozone generators. Several geometric configurations can be used to generate ozone. They can be classified into two types depending on the discharge form: volume DBD, which is the common one in ozone industry, and surface DBD. Many studies have been conducted to analyze the ozone generation efficiency of both reactors to get maximum ozone production with the lowest possible power consumption. The aim of this paper is to carry out an experimental analysis of a patent-pending new reactor, of hybrid configuration, in which occur simultaneously a volume and a surface DBD. The hybrid reactor comprises a ground stainless steel cylindrical electrode, within which is placed a glass tube separated by an interval of 1 mm in which the volume DBD occurs. A second mesh stainless steel electrode connected to the high voltage is placed inside the glass tube wherein the surface discharge occurs. The obtained results showed a clear superiority of the hybrid reactor compared with both volume and surface DBD in terms of the ozone concentration. The difference in the ozone concentration reaches up to 50% compared with the volume DBD and 30% compared with the surface DBD. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Although there is much active research on software-defined radios (SDRs) with receive (RX) or transmit (TX) functionality, little work has been done on SDR transceivers supporting frequency division duplex (FDD). In this paper, we present a new circuit concept in which a distributed TX circuit cancels the transmitted signal at a reverse RX port through destructive interference while adding signal constructively at a forward TX port. We pair the distributed transmitter with a receiver-tracking PA degeneration technique to suppress the injected noise from TX circuits in the RX band. The system does not require off-chip filters or circulators, but still achieves both SDR flexibility and both FDD and time division duplex function. Measurements from the transceiver implemented in 65-nm CMOS show a frequency tuning range of 0.3–1.6 GHz with TX–RX isolation >23 dB and transmitted power up to 19 dBm. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Tunable radio-frequency (RF) components are pivotal elements in frequency-agile and multifunctional systems. However, there is a technical barrier to achieve miniaturized fully electrically tunable RF components. This paper provides and demonstrates the efficacy of a first unique design methodology in developing fully electrically tunable RF components by integrating ferromagnetic [e.g., permalloy (Py)] and ferroelectric (e.g., lead zirconate titanate) thin-film patterns. Py thin film has been patterned in nanometer scale to improve its ferromagnetic resonance frequency for RF applications. Tunable inductors are developed with the utilization of different thicknesses of Py thin film, which show over 50% increment in inductance and over 4% in tunability with dc current. More tunability can be achieved with multiple layers of Py thin film and optimized thickness. A fully electrically tunable slow-wave RF transmission line with simultaneously variable inductance and capacitance density has been implemented and thoroughly investigated for the first time. The measured results show that a fixed phase shift of 90° can be achieved from 1.5 to 1.85 GHz continuously by applying external dc current from 0 to 200 mA and external dc voltage from 0 to 15 V, respectively. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper presents a thyristor controlled LC (TCLC) compensator for dynamic reactive power compensation in a smart grid system. Compared with the traditional static var compensators like a fixed capacitor-thyristor controlled reactor (FC-TCR) which generates low order harmonic currents, the proposed TCLC can significantly mitigate the injection of harmonic currents. In this paper, the design of the TCLC parameters is investigated with the considerations of its reactive power compensation range and harmonic currents rejection. And a control method based on the generalized instantaneous reactive power theory is proposed. Moreover, representative simulation and experimental results of the proposed three-phase three-wire TCLC are presented to show its effectiveness in dynamic reactive power compensation in comparison with the traditional FC-TCR and parallel combination of FC-TCR and passive power filter. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

The design distance of offshore wind power plants connected through HVAC transmission systems might be extended due to the introduction of mid-cable reactors for reactive power compensation purposes and the latest developments of AC cables for higher voltages. Therefore, the applicability limits between HVAC and HVDC systems must be revised. This paper analyzes the contribution that mid-cable reactive power compensation has on increasing the distance limits of HVAC transmission systems. A methodology is developed to determine an optimal design of such transmission systems. In this methodology, cost of power losses and reactors are minimized for multiple wind speed conditions. As a result, the optimal HVAC voltage level and the optimal number of reactors and their location are determined for different OWPP rated powers and distances. Also, the final transmission system is selected between HVAC and HVDC equivalent configurations based on total costs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A novel flexible LC-type wind speed sensor, as well as its readout circuit, is proposed in this paper. Two inductors are designed on both surface of the flexible substrate, connecting by a parallel plate capacitor. Hence, substrate bending induced by wind can change the total inductance, then shifting the resonant frequency of this LC-type speed sensor. The readout circuit is designed and realized on the PCB board. The LC-type sensor is tested in the wind tunnel and the readout circuit outputs the frequency spectrum. The experiments demonstrate that the resonant frequency increases with the wind speed up to 25m/s. The measured sensitivity is close to 39.8kHz/(m/s), 50.8kHz/(m/s) and 57.7kHz/(m/s) for the sensor with windward height of 30mm, 40mm and 50mm, respectively. Although large windward height can improve the sensitivity, it’s easy to saturate and the maximum detectable speed is reduced. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

LC resonant wireless passive pressure sensor has been receiving increased attention nowadays. In this paper, an innovative LC-C resonant wireless passive pressure sensor based on dual capacitors was designed and manufactured to replace the traditional LC device. In addition to the inductor and capacitor structure required by the traditional LC device, this paper innovatively designs the fixed capacitor as the inter-layer interconnection structure. The key structural dimensions of the sensor were determined through the numerical analysis of the planar inductor theory and the electromechanical coupling simulation of the dual capacitors model in the previous stage, and the processing of the sensor was carried out through MEMS technology. The final test results showed that within the pressure range of 5kPa to 100kPa, the sensor’s average sensitivity was greater than 69.0 kHz/kPa, while the maximum linear fitting error was smaller than 4.18%. The temperature drift in atmospheric environment was 2.7kHz/°C, and the sensitivity temperature drift was 0.0062kHz/(kPa·°C). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

An electric potential appears at floating wires located within a strong electric field. This phenomenon can be used to supply small isolated communities situated close to Extra-High Voltage transmission lines. This non-conventional distributed generation system has been studied for the last years. However, to improve the power generation system the optimal position of the floating wires, number of wires used, bundle radius, and type of wires must be properly identified. This paper presents a mathematical model solved with genetic algorithm to design a collector system with optimized induced voltage and minimized project cost, identifying the optimal reactor used for voltage regulation. The algorithm was applied to design a collector system that can tap-off 100 kW from a 230 kV transmission line. The trade-off between objectives and the Pareto optimal solutions were evidenced via several simulations using the weighting sum approach. These results allowed to identify a final geometry according to a-posteriori designer preferences. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

For modular multilevel converter (MMC) based DC grids, current-limiting reactors (CLRs) are mainly employed to suppress the fault current and provide boundary effects to detect internal faults. Thus, most existing protection schemes are highly dependent on the larger CLRs to guarantee high selectivity. However, in existing MMC based HVDC projects, the size of CLRs is restrained by the cost, weight, and system stability under normal state. Thus, boundary protections may fail to detect high-resistance faults and pole-to-ground faults under weak boundary conditions. To overcome these shortcomings, this paper proposes a fast and selective DC fault detection scheme independent of boundary components. The propagation characteristics of line-mode backward traveling-waves (TW) are analyzed to identify external and internal faults. The polarities of zero-mode backward TWs are employed to select faulted poles. The directional overcurrent based pilot protection is adopted as a complementary criterion to detect remote faults. The proposed method can be applied in MMC-HVDC systems with small CLRs that cannot provide strong boundary conditions. Besides, the detection speed is fast (less than 1.5ms). Moreover, it is robust to fault resistance and immune to noise. Various simulation results in PSCAD/EMTDC verifies the effectiveness of the proposed scheme. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The paper examines the possibility to exploit the inductance of wound aluminum foil capacitors in order to realize an integrated component. Objective is the design and construction of an integrated inductor/capacitor to filter harmonic modulations as an alternative to the conventional passive filter, consisting of capacitor and inductor as discrete components with the prospect of reducing size, material and consequently costs. The principle functioning of the integrated component resulting from the position the supply terminals are placed on the aluminum foils is being demonstrated. An analysis of technical and geometric parameters leads through a calculation scheme to the design of such an integrated component. Finally, the construction of a manual winding machine enables the wrinkle free winding of the four foils on a central core to produce a pilot model operational at 400 V with multiple access terminals providing hence diverse experimentation possibilities. Most significant result is the measured current frequency characteristic of the pilot model revealing clearly its series resonant behavior with a quality factor close to ten, well comparable to values of conventional industrial filters indicating thus at this stage reasonable prospects for such an integrated component to operate as a filter in the grid absorbing harmonic modulations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper discusses an artificial neural inversion approach for non-destructive testing of the graphite moderator bricks that make up the cores of Advanced Gas-Cooled Reactors (AGR). The study employed fully connected feedforward neural networks consisting of four hidden layers and trained with backpropagation approach using Levenberg-Marquardt optimisation algorithm. The approach is based on multi-frequency (MF) eddy current (EC) measurements, and combinations of simulated and measured datasets from a laboratory sample and one of the operating reactor core, along with different regularisation parameters were used to train and test the networks. Various types of artificially generated errors were added to the data during training procedures, which in turn allowed for error tolerance and improved the generalisation of the ANNs to unseen test datasets. First, the ANN was tested using unseen simulated data, followed by the measurements collected from laboratory sample and one of the operating reactor core. The first test from the unseen simulated data showed mean profile error ranging between 1.30% and 8.20%, whereas the profiles estimated from reactor core measurements showed mean profile error ranging between 1.84% and 17.80% when compared with the resistivity measurements from trepanned graphite sample taken out of the reactor core. Further comparison of the network outputs against the profiles estimated using traditional iterative inversion algorithm indicates reasonable agreement between the two approaches with the exception of one case, but the solution time for the ANN was found to be over three orders of magnitude faster than the iterative inversion algorithm. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper presents an adaptive multi-loop control scheme for inverters interlinking dc voltage sources to single-phase, low-voltage ac grids. Control self-adaptation is particularly useful in the case of weak grids that, due to frequent physical modifications (e.g., network reconfigurations and disconnection of generators/loads) and intrinsic lack of inertia, present strongly time-variant characteristics. The solution presented in this paper is based on a high-performance converter controller with auto-tuning capabilities. It is shown that the applied auto-tuning method can significantly widen the stability region of the interlinking converter, covering a broad range of grid impedance values. In addition, within the stable region, the controller maintains the nominal performance. Experimental results are reported validating the proposed approach in realistic operating conditions, including grid voltage distortion and variations of amplitude and frequency. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper presents an interleaved boost converter with a bifold Dickson voltage multiplier suitable for interfacing low-voltage renewable energy sources to high-voltage distribution buses and other applications that require a high-voltage-gain conversion ratio. The proposed converter was constructed from two stages: an interleaved boost stage, which contains two inductors operated by two low-side active switches, and a voltage multiplier cell (VMC) stage, which mainly consists of diodes and capacitors to increase the overall voltage gain. The proposed converter offers a high-voltage-gain ratio with low voltage stress on the semiconductor switches as well as the passive components. This allows the selection of efficient and compact components. Moreover, the required inductance that ensures operation in the continuous conduction mode (CCM) is lower than the one in the conventional interleaved boost converter. The distinction of the proposed converter is that the inductors’ currents are equal, regardless of the number of VMCs. Equal sharing of interleaved boost-stage currents reduces the conduction loss in the active switches as well as the inductors and thus improves the overall efficiency, as the conduction power loss is a quadratic function. In this paper, the theory of operation and steady-state analysis of the proposed converter are illustrated and verified by simulation results. A $\text{200-W}$ hardware prototype was implemented to convert a $\text{20-V}$ input source to a $\text{400-V}$ dc load and validate both the theory and the simulation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In a dual active bridge (DAB) dc–dc converter, modulating the phase-shift ratios can suppress reactive power and increase the efficiency under non-unity voltage gain conditions. Derivation of the optimal phase-shift ratios to achieve the minimum reactive power is challenging because a DAB can operate in four different scenarios (forward/backward, buck/boost) and each scenario has five operating modes. This paper first introduces a transformation in which different DAB operating scenarios (forward/backward, buck/boost) can be equivalent to one another; then optimization of only one scenario (forward/buck) is required. Next, for the five modes in forward/buck scenario, based on a graphical method, this paper proves that each operating point of Modes 1, 2, and 5 can be mapped into that of Mode 3 with lower conduction losses, and only two modes require detailed analysis. The optimization process of these two modes are derived step-by-step. Global optimal phase-shift signals that minimize the reactive power under four different DAB operating scenarios (forward/backward, buck/boost) are presented. A simple table and control block diagram are presented for practical implementation of global reactive-power minimization control. Experimental comparison with other modulation schemes verifies the efficiency improvement of the proposed control method. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The fast dc line protection is one of the key techniques for the multi-terminal flexible dc grid whose main technical difficulty lies in quick and reliable fault identification. The traditional protection principles for the ac system are not suitable for the flexible dc grid, and those for the conventional dc transmission system can also not be applied directly. Therefore, the frequency-domain traveling-wave boundary characteristics after faults are analyzed first in this paper to find the critical condition for distinguishing the internal and external faults as well as the forward and backward faults. And then, a novel single-ended transient-voltage-based protection strategy for flexible dc grid was proposed, which mainly consists of the fault identification criterion and the direction criterion. The protection scheme used wavelet transform to extract transient voltage energy. In order to eliminate the influences of the wavelet transform boundary effect and converter blocking, the principle to select the proper data window was proposed. Compared with the existing traveling-wave-based dc protection, the proposed method has a higher reliability and stronger ability to endure high transition resistance, which was verified by lots of simulation cases based on the PSCAD/EMTDC. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper describes a study on the high-voltage compact solid-state pulsed-power modulator for parallel reactor operation. The current capacity of the pulsed modulator has been improved to drive multiple reactors in parallel. The pulse discharge switch uses the IXYK120N120C3 (1200 V/120 A) insulated-gate bipolar transistor for a high current output. The gate driver has been improved according to the characteristics of the replaced switch. The output specifications of the modified pulsed-power modulator are a maximum output voltage of 40 kV, a maximum output current of 300 A, a pulsewidth ranging from 1.5 to $5~\mu \text{s}$ , a maximum repetition rate of 3 kHz, and an average power of 13 kW. The modulator has the dimensions of $450 \times 475 \times 600$ mm3, a maximum peak power of 12 MW, and a maximum power density of 93 kW/L. A resistive load experiment and a plasma reactor parallel drive test were performed. Four parallel reactors were driven using one modulator. In addition, a 50% reduction in the concentration of toluene was obtained through the experiment of the toluene gas treatment using only parallel plasma reactors. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper, a current controller for a parallel operation of inverters is described. When inverters operate in parallel, it is a well-known fact that the inverter current is composed of the average current (AVC) and the zero-sequence circulating current (henceforth ZSCC), which inevitably flows between inverters under the parallel operation. Considering this, previous studies concentrated on reducing ZSCC. However, in this paper, it is found that the inverter current has another component, a differential current, in addition to the two components of AVC and ZSCC. Based on these three decomposed current components, three equivalent circuits are derived from n-paralleled inverters. To minimize the differential current and improve the regulation performance of the total output phase current, a decomposed current control scheme is proposed from equivalent circuit models. The proposed algorithm is applied to a system consisting of three paralleled two-level inverters with small shared inductance whose dc links are connected in common. Additionally, synchronous pulsewidth modulation is employed as the PWM method for each inverter. The proposed current controller is compared with two conventional current controllers, one where each inverter controls its own currents and the other where only AVC is controlled. Through experiments, it is shown that these conventional controllers have limitations and the proposed current controller overcomes these limitations. The effectiveness and feasibility of the proposed control scheme are verified through experimental results. Especially, both theoretical analysis and experiment results verify that the proposed method is robust with regard to parameter errors. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]