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This paper proposes and evaluates an active voltage-balancing method for stacked multicell converters (SMCs) using phase-shifted pulse width modulation. The method is easy to implement and can be applied to SMCs with any number of levels. The proposed method balances the voltages of the capacitors by modifying the duty cycle of each switch of the SMC using a proportional controller. The direction of the output current and the crossed effect among the duty cycles of the switches is considered and used to improve capacitor voltage balance. The performance of the proposed voltage-balancing method is verified experimentally for different loads, such as linear and nonlinear loads, and under transient conditions. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

This letter proposes a new implementation of phase-disposition pulse-width modulation (PD-PWM) for multilevel flying capacitor (FC) converters using a single triangular carrier. The proposed implementation is much simpler than conventional PD-PWM techniques based on multiple trapezoidal-shaped carriers, generates the same results as far as natural capacitor voltage balance is concerned and offers better quality line-to-line voltages when compared to phase-shifted PWM. The proposed algorithm is based on reshaping the reference signal to fit within the range of a single carrier and assigning each crossing of the reference signal with the carrier to a particular pair of switches at any time. The proposed algorithm is suitable for digital implementation taking maximum benefit from the PWM units available in the processor. Simulation and experimental results are presented from the five-level FC converter to verify the proposed PD-PWM implementation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper proposes a voltage balancing method for stacked multicell converters (SMCs) based on phase-disposition pulse-width modulation (PD-PWM). In order to reduce the switching transitions of the power devices, only optimal transitions between consecutive voltage levels are used. Selection of the optimal transition sequence is performed by evaluating a cost function. Significant reductions in the switching transitions and power losses of the power devices are achieved as compared to the optimal-state voltage balancing method where nonoptimal transitions are allowed. Simulation and experimental results from a seven-level $3\times 2$ SMC verifies that the proposed PD-PWM voltage balancing method is robust under linear/nonlinear loads and transients. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper presents a voltage-balancing method for stacked multicell converters (SMCs) based on phase disposition pulsewidth modulation. A cost function is evaluated to select the optimum state from a pool of redundant possible ones at each voltage level. It is demonstrated that, if sawtooth carriers are used for modulation instead of standard triangular ones, significant reduction in the switching frequency and the associated power losses of the power devices can be achieved without affecting the voltage-balancing capability. Experimental results from a seven-level SMC laboratory prototype are provided to verify the proposed voltage-balancing method against linear and nonlinear loads, as well as under transient conditions. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

This paper proposes a voltage balancing method for flying capacitor multilevel converters based on phase-disposition pulse width modulation (PD-PWM) using optimal transitions between converter switching states. The optimal transitions between converter switching states are possible due to the converter states' redundancy and are decided with the continuous evaluation and minimization of a cost function. Simulation and experimental results verify the robustness of the proposed voltage balancing method against different load conditions. A significant reduction of the average switching frequency is achieved, when compared to the use of the optimal state voltage balancing method, where the optimal states are decided independently for each voltage level ignoring how transitions impact on the converter switching frequency. Moreover, the line-to-line output voltages are compared with the ones obtained with other modulation techniques in terms of total harmonic distortion values, and PD-PWM with the proposed voltage balancing method produces the best results. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Multilevel flying capacitor (FC) converters provide natural capacitor voltage balance under phase-shifted pulse width modulation (PS-PWM). However, natural balancing may not be robust enough to maintain the voltages at the reference values, especially under certain transient conditions. Furthermore, natural balancing dynamics depend on the load and it may be very slow in some practical applications. Therefore, a more robust balancing mechanism of maintaining the FC voltages at the desired values is required. This paper proposes a new closed-loop voltage-balancing method for the multilevel FC converters using PS-PWM. The proposed method balances the voltages of the FCs by modifying the duty cycle of each switch of the FC converter using a proportional controller. The crossed effect between FC currents and duty cycles is considered and is used for optimal FC voltage balancing. Simulation and experimental results verify that the proposed voltage-balancing method is very robust to different operating conditions, such as load transients, linear/nonlinear and unbalanced loads. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This letter reports a method for the initial charging of capacitors in grid-connected flying capacitor (FC) multilevel converters. A resistor is inserted between each phase of the FC converter and the grid. A voltage balancing algorithm is activated from the beginning of the process and the FC converter generates proper output voltages to achieve balanced charging of both the dc-bus capacitor and the FCs. The proposed initial charging method achieves low voltage and current stress on the power devices and the passive components. The method is simple to implement and can be applied to an FC with any number of levels. Experimental results demonstrate the effectiveness of the proposed method. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]