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

Advanced control of grid-connected multilevel power electronic rectifiers

Multilevel power electronic converters have been gaining attention due to their ability to supply high amounts of power and to handle high voltage levels. In this dissertation, grid connected AC-DC rectifier application is investigated with different topologies and control scheme. At first, neutral point clamped (NPC) rectifier is employed to transfer power from the grid to the load. The NPC rectifier has two capacitors in order to build multilevel output voltage. However, it causes voltage unbalancing problem. Therefore, the new method has been proposed to regulate each capacitor voltage at the same voltage level. Experimental results show that it is effective to balance capacitor voltages of the NPC and it can improve total harmonic distortion (THD) of the grid current as a result. Furthermore, 7 voltage levels can be achieved by using hybrid multilevel rectifier which consists of an NPC and cascaded H-bridges (CHB). Because the hybrid multilevel rectifier has total 8 capacitors which are completely discharged at first, large inrush currents from the grid might cause hazards. Therefore, the paper develops a pre-charge routine for building it up to steady state operation in which unity power factor control (PFC) and load voltage control are achieved. Finally, multiple reference frame theory (MRF) is used to improve THD of the grid currents when the hybrid multilevel rectifier is connected with distorted grid voltage source. After calculating 5th harmonic of the grid current in real time, the voltage reference for the hybrid multilevel rectifier will be compensated in a feedback loop. Experimental results show validity in improving THD of the grid currents. --Abstract, page iv

Digital Control of Power Converters and Drives for Hybrid Traction and Wireless Charging

In the last years environmental issues and constant increase of fuel and energy cost have been incentivizing the development of low emission and high efficiency systems, either in traction field or in distributed generation systems from renewable energy sources. In the automotive industry, alternative solutions to the standard internal combustion engine (ICE) adopted in the conventional vehicles have been developed, i.e. fuel cell electric vehicles (FCEVs), hybrid electric vehicles (HEVs), plug-in hybrid electric vehicles (PHEV) or pure electric vehicles (EVs), also referred as battery powered electric vehicles (BEV). Both academic and industry researchers all over the world are still facing several technical development areas concerning HEV components, system topologies, power converters and control strategies. Efficiency, lifetime, stability and volume issues have moved the attention on a number of bidirectional conversion solutions, both for the energy transfer to/from the storage element and to/from the electric machine side. Moreover, along with the fast growing interest in EVs and PHEVs, wireless charging, as a new way of charging batteries, has drawn the attention of researchers, car manufacturers, and customers recently. Compared to conductive power transfer (usually plug-in), wireless power transfer (WPT) is more convenient, weather proof, and electric shock protected. However, there is still more research work needs to be done to optimize efficiency, cost, increase misalignment tolerance, and reduce size of the WPT chargers. The proposed dissertation describes the work from 2012 to 2014, during the PhD course at the Electric Drives Laboratory of the University of Udine and during my six months visiting scholarship at the University of Michigan in Dearborn. The topics studied are related to power conversion and digital control of converters and drives suitable for hybrid/electric traction, generation from renewable energy sources and wireless charging applications. From the theoretical point of view, multilevel and multiphase DC/AC and DC/DC converters are discussed here, focusing on design issues, optimization (especially from the efficiency point-of-view) and advantages. Some novel modulation algorithms for the neutral-point clamped three-level inverter are presented here as well as a new multiphase proposal for a three-level buck converter. In addition, a new active torque damping technique in order to reduce torque oscillations in internal combustion engines is proposed here. Mainly, two practical implementations are considered in this dissertation, i.e. an original two-stage bi-directional converter for mild hybrid traction and a wireless charger for electric vehicles fast charge

Multilevel Multiphase Feedforward Space-Vector Modulation Technique

Multiphase converters have been applied to an increasing number of industrial applications in recent years. On the other hand, multilevel converters have become a mature technology mainly in medium- and high-power applications. One of the problems of multilevel converters is the dc voltage unbalance of the dc bus. Depending on the loading conditions and the number of levels of the converter, oscillations appear in the dc voltages of the dc link. This paper presents a feedforward modulation technique for multilevel multiphase converters that reduces the distortion under balanced or unbalanced dc conditions. The proposed modulation method can be applied to any multilevel-converter topology with any number of levels and phases. Experimental results are shown in order to validate the proposed feedforward modulation technique.Ministerio de Ciencia e Innovación DPI2009-07004Ministerio de Eduación y Ciencia TEC2007-6187

Voltage balancing in three-level neutral-point-clamped converters via Luenberger observer

This paper addresses the problems associated with the dc-link capacitor voltages of the three-level neutral-point-clamped power converter: the imbalance of the capacitor voltages as well as the presence of an ac-voltage low-frequency oscillation in the dc link of the converter. In order to cope with them, a mathematical analysis of the capacitor voltage difference dynamics, based on a direct average continuous model, is carried out, considering a singular perturbation approach. The analysis leads to a final expression where a sinusoidal disturbance appears explicitly. Consequently, the two problems can be handled together using the ordinary formulation of a problem of regulating the output of a system subject to sinusoidal disturbances, applying classical control theory to design the controller. In this way, the controller is designed including the disturbance estimate provided by a Luenberger observer to asymptotically cancel the disturbance, while keeping also balanced the capacitor voltages. Experiments for a synchronous three-level neutral-point-clamped converter prototype are carried out to evaluate the performance and usefulness of the converter working as a grid-connected inverter under the proposed control law.MICINN-FEDER DPI2009-09661Junta de Andalucía P07-TIC-0299

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

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

Modulation strategies for the neutral-point-clamped converter and control of a wind turbine system

Els convertidors multinivell són topologies de convertidors d’electrònica de potència que poden generar tres o més nivells de voltatge en cadascuna de les fases de sortida. Com a resultat, els voltatges i corrents generats per aquestes topologies presenten una distorsió harmònica baixa. Hi ha diferents configuracions de convertidors multinivell, les quals es basen en connectar dispositius de potència o convertidors en sèrie. El resultat d’aquestes connexions permet obtenir voltatges alts, tant en la part de corrent continu com en la de corrent altern del convertidor. A més, cada dispositiu sols ha de suportar una fracció del voltatge total del bus de corrent continu. Per aquestes raons, els convertidors multinivell són generalment utilitzats en aplicacions d’alta potència. El convertidor de tres nivells amb connexió a punt neutre (neutral-point-clamped) és el més utilitzat. La recerca d’aquesta tesis doctoral està focalitzada en aquesta topologia de convertidor, i el principal objectiu és l’aportació de noves tècniques de modulació. Aquestes tenen en compte diferents aspectes: la velocitat computacional dels algorismes, l’equilibrat de les tensions dels condensadors del bus de contínua, les pèrdues de commutació i les oscil·lacions de baixa freqüència en el punt neutre del convertidor. Totes les estratègies de modulació proposades en aquesta tesis són modulacions d’amplada de polses basades en portadora. En la primera modulació que es presenta, s’injecta un senyal comú (seqüència zero) a totes les moduladores, que es basa en els patrons de la modulació vectorial que utilitza tres vectors dels més propers al de referència (nearest-three-vector modulation). S’estudien i es comparen els resultats d’aquesta modulació amb la seva homòloga, basada en perspectiva vectorial. Una segona proposta és l’anomenada modulació d’amplada de polses de doble senyal (double-signal pulse-width modulation). Aquesta modulació és capaç d’eliminar completament les oscil·lacions de voltatge en el punt neutre del convertidor. No obstant això, es produeix un increment de les pèrdues de commutació en els dispositius de potència i, a més, no hi ha un equilibrat natural de les tensions en els condensadors del bus. Una última estratègia de modulació, anomenada modulació híbrida (hybrid pulse-width modulation), es basa en la combinació de la modulació sinusoïdal (sinusoidal pulse-width modulation) i la de doble senyal. Aquesta presenta una solució de compromís entre reduir les pèrdues de commutació, en detriment d’un augment de l’amplitud de les oscil·lacions de voltatge en el punt neutre. Una segona part d’aquesta tesis es centra en les aplicacions a generació eòlica, ja que els convertidors multinivell estan començant a ser utilitzats en aquest camp. Això es produeix fonamentalment per l’augment continu de les dimensions de les turbines eòliques. En aquesta part de la recerca s’ha considerat la configuració de dos convertidors multinivell connectats a un mateix bus de contínua (back-to-back), tot i que els convertidors han estat estudiats independentment. Inicialment s’ha estudiat el convertidor que va connectat a la xarxa elèctrica i s’ha aplicat l’estratègia de control coneguda com a control orientat a tensió (voltage-oriented control). S’han utilitzat controladors estàndard (proporcional-integral), als quals s’ha afegit un control difús que supervisa i modifica els valors de les constants dels controladors. Aquest supervisor difús millora la dinàmica de la tensió del bus de contínua davant canvis de càrrega quan el convertidor treballa com a rectificador. Per una altra part, s’ha estudiat el control d’una turbina eòlica basada en un generador d’imants permanents. En aquest cas, s’ha aplicat l’estratègia de control coneguda com a control orientat a camp (field-oriented control). S’han avaluat i comparat els avantatges i inconvenients de diferents formes de sintonitzar els controladors.Multilevel converters are power electronic topologies that can generate three or more voltage levels in each output phase. As a result, the voltage and current waveforms generated have lower total harmonic distortion. Multilevel topologies are based on connecting power devices or converters in a series. Consequently, high voltages can be handled on the dc and ac sides of the converter, while each device stands only a fraction of the total dc-link voltage. For these reasons multilevel converters are generally applied to high-power applications. The three-level neutral-point-clamped converter is the most extensively used multilevel topology. This topology is the main focus of research in this dissertation. The main objective is to propose new modulation strategies that are able to meet a compromise solution while considering computational algorithm speed, voltage balance in the dc-link capacitors, switching losses and low frequency voltage oscillations at the neutral point. All the modulation strategies proposed here are based on carrier-based pulsewidth modulation. A new modulation strategy has been implemented using a proper zero-sequence signal injected into the modulation signals. The zero sequence is determined from a space-vector modulation standpoint, particularly the nearest-threevector modulation strategy. The proposed carrier-based technique is compared with its space-vector modulation counterpart. It shows some advantages, such as easier implementation and reduced switching events; however, it still produces oscillations in the neutral-point voltage for some operating conditions. A new modulation strategy able to completely remove such voltage oscillations is also presented. It is called double-signal pulse-width modulation. The main drawback of this strategy is that it increases the switching frequency of the power devices and has no natural capacitor voltage balance. Some balancing strategies are proposed in this dissertation for this specific modulation. Furthermore, a hybrid pulse-width modulation approach is presented which is able to combine sinusoidal pulse-width modulation with doublesignal pulse-width modulation; this represents a compromise solution between switching losses and neutral-point voltage oscillation amplitudes. The second part of this thesis is focused on wind generation applications. Multilevel converters are starting to be used in such a field nowadays, and are expected to be further applied in the near future as the sizes of wind turbines grow. Two back-toback-connected power converters are considered in this application, although they are analyzed independently. First of all, the control of the grid-connected converter is studied. A voltage-oriented control is used with standard proportional-integral controllers. The originality of the method is that a fuzzy supervisor is designed and included in the structure; the fuzzy supervisor is able to modify the proportionalintegral parameters online. It is shown how the control of the total dc-link voltage improves significantly under load changes when the converter is working as a rectifier. On the other hand, a control study is performed on the wind turbine side. The variable speed wind turbine is based on a permanent magnet synchronous generator. A field-oriented control strategy is applied. The controllers are evaluated and compared using different tuning strategies which highlight the advantages and drawbacks of each