Analysis of Harmonic Injection to the Modulation of Multi-Level Diode Clamped Converter in a Normal and Over Modulation Mode

This paper explores the analysis of third and ninth harmonic injection to the modulation of a multilevel diode clamped converter (DCC) at a varying modulation index. The spectral distributions of the various multi-level waveforms obtained under normal modulation index of 0.8 and over modulation index of 1.15 were presented in this work. The contribution of this paper is rooted in the introduction of ninth harmonic component to higher-levels of diode clamped converters with reference to the existing third order harmonic injected modulation with detailed Simulink models of 3rd, 5th and 9th voltage levels. The analysis and results obtained from this work shows appreciable reduction in the magnitudes of harmonic distortion values thus ensuring optimum and efficient devices performance.Keywords: harmonic injected modulation, spectral analysis, pulse width modulation, diode clamped converter, modulatio

Voltage balancing strategy for a five-level flying capacitor converter using phase disposition PWM with sawtooth-shaped arriers

The flying capacitor (FC) multilevel converter has attracted a great deal of interest in the recent years because of its easier extension to a higher number of levels (n>;3), as compared to its counterpart, the diode-clamped converter (DCC). The main focus of this paper is to develop a voltage balancing scheme of FCs for a five-level FC converter based on phase disposition pulse-width modulation (PD-PWM). Since there are multiple states that produce the same output voltage at the leg of the converter, such a redundancy is used to regulate the FC voltages at their desired levels. The selection of the optimal states is performed by minimizing a cost function. A drawback observed when using standard symmetrical triangular carriers for the PD-PWM, is the additional switching events that are produced due to transitions within the same voltage level. Nevertheless, this fact can be avoided by using sawtooth carrier waveforms instead. Simulation results verify the robustness of the proposed voltage balancing scheme against static and dynamic load conditions. Moreover, using sawtooth carriers a significant reduction of the switching frequency is achieved as compared to the use of standard triangle carriers while maintaining the FC voltage balanced.Peer ReviewedPostprint (author’s final draft

Evaluation of a dual-T-type converter supplying an open-end winding induction machine

The multilevel inverter is a promising technology compared to two-level inverters in the applications of ac-drives and smart-grid applications. In this paper, a dual-T-type three-level inverters is used to drive an open-end winding induction machine. The Space-Vector Pulse-Width Modulation is selected as a good-performing control strategy to control the dual-inverter. Furthermore, an optimized method is used to select the proper switching state for the new configuration to decrease the converter losses. A comparison between the proposed configuration and the conventional diode clamped converter is made. The proposed drive system is designed and modelled by using Matlab/Simulink. It is shown that the converter can give the same hexagon, wave forms and harmonic spectrum of the five level converter. An optimized switching state selection is used to reduce the converter losses. The advantages and drawbacks of the dual-T-type configuration are discussed. In addition, the harmonic analysis and the loss calculations of the dual-T-type converter are provided and compared to the T-type three-level converter and the conventional five-level diode-clamped-converter

Voltage Balance for Five-Level DCC Based on Mixed-Integer Linear Programming

In power converters, the modulation stage commands the switching devices to drive the converter outputs to the voltage required by the inner controllers in order to achieve their objectives. However, in multilevel converters, the modulation may be in charge of an ad ditional goal since it also has to tackle with the capacitor voltage balancing issue. This paper formulates the modulation of multilevel three-phase power converters, specifically a five-level diode-clamped converter (DCC), as a mixed-integer linear optimization prob lem. In this paper, it is shown that the presented optimization problem can deal with the capacitor voltage balance at the same time that the number of commutations is minimized. The problem is solved offline and its solution is stored in a lookup table to be used during normal operation. Then, an online procedure to obtain the levels that modulate each phase from the lookup table is given. Comparisons with model predictive control, space-vector based algorithms and other modulation approaches are presented in simulations. Several experimental results are presented showing the feasibility of this approach with changes in the operating conditions

Performance Comparison of Five-Level Active Neutral Point Converter Based on Phase Disposition-PWM and Alternate Phase Opposition Disposition-PWM

The work in this paper presents the performance analysis of the reduced component count converter which is the 5-Level Active Neutral Point Converter (5LANPC). This 5-level converter has been configured by stacking the traditional 3-Level Neutral Point Converter with the Flying Capacitor converter. Two types of control algorithms were considered and compared to explore the performance of the 5LANPC. The first algorithm was based on the Phase-Disposition-Pulse Width Modulation (PD-PWM), while the second one was based on the Alternate Phase Opposition Disposition-Pulse Width Modulation (APOD-PWM). These algorithms are used to determine the required voltage level and according to the required level the state of the switches is selected through a simplified voltage balance algorithm. This voltage balance algorithm deals with the redundant switching states to maintain the voltages of the 5LANPC capacitors at a specified level. The comparison between these two modulation strategies was performed by simulation based on MATLAB/Simulink package. Simulation results showed compelling outcomes involving the two techniques concerning the voltage and current characteristics, as well as the equilibrium in the capacitor voltages. By comparing the simulation results, it was found that the performance of the system is relatively better using the PD-PWM strategy

Asymptotic rejection of sinusoidal disturbances based voltage balance control in back-to-back power converters

This paper addresses the imbalance problem of the dc-link capacitor voltages in the three-level diode-clamped back-to-back power converter. In order to cope with it, a mathematical analysis of the capacitor voltage difference dynamics, based on a continuous model of the converter, is first carried out. It leads to an approximated model which contains explicitly several sinusoidal functions of time. In view of this result, the voltage imbalance phenomenon can be addressed as an output regulation problem, considering the sinusoidal functions as exogenous disturbances. Thus, a novel approach to deal with the mentioned problem in the back- to-back converter is presented. Then, the particular features of the disturbances are used to design several controllers. They all follow an asymptotic disturbance rejection approach. In this way, the estimations of the disturbances are used to apply a control law that cancels them while regulating the capacitor voltage balance as well. Finally, the performance of the proposed control laws is evaluated, presenting the simulation results obtained when the different controllers are implemented.MICINN-FEDER DPI2009-0966

Voltage balancing scheme for the multilevel flying capacitor converter using phase-shifted PWM

In flying capacitor (FC) converters, phase-shifted pulse-width modulation (PS-PWM) provides natural voltage balancing. However, for a practical application, 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 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 (P) controller. The crossed effect between FC currents and duty cycles is considered and is used for FC voltage balancing. The Simulation results verify that the proposed voltage balancing method is very robust to different operating conditions, such as load transients and non-linear loads.Postprint (author’s final draft

Voltage balancing method for a seven-level stacked multicell converter using minimum-switching transitions

This paper presents a voltage balancing method for stacked multicell converters based on phase disposition pulse-width modulation. This method is based on minimizing a cost function to determine the optimum redundant state for capacitor voltage balance for each particular voltage level. The robustness of the proposed voltage balancing method is verified against static and dynamic unbalanced load conditions. Furthermore, a significant reduction in the switching frequencies of the power devices is achieved by using sawtooth carriers instead of standard triangular carriers without affecting the voltage balancing capability.Peer ReviewedPostprint (published version

Hybrid modulation technique with dc-bus voltage control for multiphase NPC converters

The paper presents a novel Carrier-Based Pulse Width Modulation (CBPWM) technique for multiphase Neutral Point Clamped (NPC) 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 (CMI) or on the sole Multi-Step (MS) 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