Multilevel Converters: An Enabling Technology for High-Power Applications

| Multilevel converters are considered today as the state-of-the-art power-conversion systems for high-power and power-quality demanding applications. This paper presents a tutorial on this technology, covering the operating principle and the different power circuit topologies, modulation methods, technical issues and industry applications. Special attention is given to established technology already found in industry with more in-depth and self-contained information, while recent advances and state-of-the-art contributions are addressed with useful references. This paper serves as an introduction to the subject for the not-familiarized reader, as well as an update or reference for academics and practicing engineers working in the field of industrial and power electronics.Ministerio de Ciencia y Tecnología DPI2001-3089Ministerio de Eduación y Ciencia d TEC2006-0386

High-performance motor drives

This article reviews the present state and trends in the development of key parts of controlled induction motor drive systems: converter topologies, modulation methods, as well as control and estimation techniques. Two- and multilevel voltage-source converters, current-source converters, and direct converters are described. The main part of all the produced electric energy is used to feed electric motors, and the conversion of electrical power into mechanical power involves motors ranges from less than 1 W up to several dozen megawatts

The Essential Role and the Continuous Evolution of Modulation Techniques for Voltage-Source Inverters in the Past, Present, and Future Power Electronics

The cost reduction of power-electronic devices, the increase in their reliability, efficiency, and power capability, and lower development times, together with more demanding application requirements, has driven the development of several new inverter topologies recently introduced in the industry, particularly medium-voltage converters. New more complex inverter topologies and new application fields come along with additional control challenges, such as voltage imbalances, power-quality issues, higher efficiency needs, and fault-tolerant operation, which necessarily requires the parallel development of modulation schemes. Therefore, recently, there have been significant advances in the field of modulation of dc/ac converters, which conceptually has been dominated during the last several decades almost exclusively by classic pulse-width modulation (PWM) methods. This paper aims to concentrate and discuss the latest developments on this exciting technology, to provide insight on where the state-of-the-art stands today, and analyze the trends and challenges driving its future

Source Grid Interface of Wind Energy Systems

Wind power is one of the most developed and rapidly growing renewable energy sources. Through extensive literature review this thesis synthesizes the existing knowledge of wind energy systems to offer useful information to developers of such systems. Any prototyping should be preceded by theoretical analysis and computer simulations, foundations for which are provided here. The thesis is devoted to an in-depth analysis of wind energy generators, system configurations, power converters, control schemes and dynamic and steady state performance of practical wind energy conversion systems (WECS). Attention is mainly focused on interfacing squirrel cage Induction generators (SCIG) and doubly-fed induction generators (DFIG) with the power network to capture optimal power, provide controllable active and reactive power and minimize network harmonics using the two-level converter, as a power electronic converter. Control of active and reactive power, frequency and voltage are indispensable for stability of the grid. This thesis focuses on two main control techniques, field oriented control (FOC) and direct torque control (DTC) for the SCIG. The dynamic model of induction generator is non-linear and hence for all types of control, the flux and the torque have to be decoupled for maintaining linearity between input and output for achieving high dynamic performance. FOC is used for decoupled control for rotor flux and electromagnetic torque . The stator current is decomposed into flux and torque producing components and they both are controlled independently. FOC uses three feedback control loops generate gating signals for the converter. DTC also achieves high dynamic performance by decoupling of rotor flux and electromagnetic torque without the intermediate current loops. DTC asks for the estimation of stator flux and torque and like FOC has 2 branches which have flux and torque comparators. The errors between the set and the estimated value are used to drive the inverters. The two methods are valid for both steady and transient state. Their validity is confirmed by simulating the systems on MATLAB/Simulink platform and comparing them the results obtained by hand calculations. Further DFIG’s are introduced. The dynamic model is developed using the machines equivalent circuit and is expressed in the stationary, rotor and the synchronous reference frames for evaluating the performance of the machine. The stator of the DFIG is directly interfaced to the grid and by controlling the rotor voltage by a two level back-to-back converter the grid synchronization and power control is maintained. The DTC and the direct power control (DPC) methods are used to control the rotor side (RSC) and the grid side converter (GSC). The RSC generates the 3-ph voltages of variable frequency in order to control the generator torque and the reactive power exchanged between the stator and the grid. The GSC exchanges active power with the grid injected by the RSC with a constant frequency. The steady and transient behavior of the machine is investigated through simulations

To develop an efficient variable speed compressor motor system

This research presents a proposed new method of improving the energy efficiency of a Variable Speed Drive (VSD) for induction motors. The principles of VSD are reviewed with emphasis on the efficiency and power losses associated with the operation of the variable speed compressor motor drive, particularly at low speed operation.The efficiency of induction motor when operated at rated speed and load torque is high. However at low load operation, application of the induction motor at rated flux will cause the iron losses to increase excessively, hence its efficiency will reduce dramatically. To improve this efficiency, it is essential to obtain the flux level that minimizes the total motor losses. This technique is known as an efficiency or energy optimization control method. In practice, typical of the compressor load does not require high dynamic response, therefore improvement of the efficiency optimization control that is proposed in this research is based on scalar control model.In this research, development of a new neural network controller for efficiency optimization control is proposed. The controller is designed to generate both voltage and frequency reference signals imultaneously. To achieve a robust controller from variation of motor parameters, a real-time or on-line learning algorithm based on a second order optimization Levenberg-Marquardt is employed. The simulation of the proposed controller for variable speed compressor is presented. The results obtained clearly show that the efficiency at low speed is significant increased. Besides that the speed of the motor can be maintained. Furthermore, the controller is also robust to the motor parameters variation. The simulation results are also verified by experiment

Multiphase induction motor drives - a technology status review

The area of multiphase variable-speed motor drives in general and multiphase induction motor drives in particular has experienced a substantial growth since the beginning of this century. Research has been conducted worldwide and numerous interesting developments have been reported in the literature. An attempt is made to provide a detailed overview of the current state-of-the-art in this area. The elaborated aspects include advantages of multiphase induction machines, modelling of multiphase induction machines, basic vector control and direct torque control schemes and PWM control of multiphase voltage source inverters. The authors also provide a detailed survey of the control strategies for five-phase and asymmetrical six-phase induction motor drives, as well as an overview of the approaches to the design of fault tolerant strategies for post-fault drive operation, and a discussion of multiphase multi-motor drives with single inverter supply. Experimental results, collected from various multiphase induction motor drive laboratory rigs, are also included to facilitate the understanding of the drive operatio

A TWELVE-PULSE LOAD COMMUTATED CONVERTER DRIVE SYSTEM WITH VSI FOR STARTING UP AND ACTIVE POWER FILTERING IN AN LNG APPLICATION

Variable Frequency Drives (VFDs) are an integral component of the industry in today’s age. VFDs provide a great range of control for electrical machines, and can be integrated in a variety of applications to meet the desired objectives of operation with improved reliability and efficiency. This thesis presents the Load-Commutated Converter (LCC) drive, which belongs to the Current Source Converter (CSC) based drive system family. Such drives are widely used in high power applications, due to power handling capabilities and the maturity of the drive system. The application under study is that of a helper/starter motor for a turbine compressor in a Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG) plant. Primarily, the thesis presents real-life scenarios of drive system operation such as constant/variable speed operation at constant/varying torque. The respective controllers for the LCC drive are presented alongside their results. In addition to simulating the drive system in this LNG application, current harmonic mitigation measures are presented in this study. The typical converter topology presented in this thesis is the 12-pulse type, however comparisons with different topologies (6, 18, and 24-pulse) have also been presented. Finally, a dual-purpose external Voltage Source Inverter (VSI) is used both as a starter and an Active Power Filter (APF), therefore addressing the issues of drive/load induced harmonics and LCC starting. As a conclusion, a controlled LCC drive model is simulated in SIMULINK to emulate the drive operation in actual plant conditions. The controlled drive is further studied for the presence of harmonics and their subsequent mitigation, by using passive as well as active power filters. The results obtained present the adequacy of the control system as well as the efficacy of the filters used for harmonics mitigation. Future work revolves around improving the efficiency of the APF, and the drive control system to be more robust and reliable. The system can further be investigated for enhancements as per operational requirements