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

Cascaded Inverters for Grid-Connected Photovoltaic Systems

With the extraordinary market growth in grid-connected PV systems, there is increasing interests in grid-connected PV inverters. Focus has been placed on cheap, high-efficiency, and innovative inverter solutions, leading to a high diversity within the inverters and new system configurations. This dissertation chooses cascaded multilevel inverter topologies for grid-connected PV systems to reduce the cost and improve the efficiency. First, a single-phase cascaded H-bridge multilevel PV inverter is discussed. To maximize the solar energy extraction of each PV string, an individual maximum power point tracking (MPPT) control scheme is applied, which allows independent control of each dc-link voltage. A generalized nonactive power theory is applied to generate the reactive current reference. Within the inverter’s capability, the local consumption of reactive power is provided to realize power factor correction. Then, the modular cascaded H-bridge multilevel inverter is connected to a three-phase utility system and nine PV panels. Individual MPPT control is also applied to realize better utilization of PV modules. Also, mismatches between PV panels may introduce unbalanced power supplied to the three-phase grid-connected system. Thus, a modulation compensation scheme is applied to balance the three-phase grid current by injecting a zero sequence voltage. A modular cascaded multilevel inverter prototype has been built and tested in both the single-phase and three-phase PV system. Simulation and experimental results are presented to validate the proposed control schemes. The three-phase cascaded voltage source inverter (VSI), as another cascaded inverter topology, is also proposed for grid-connected PV applications. The equivalent model and average model of the three-phase cascaded VSI are established to realize the central control. In addition, the control scheme applied in the traditional three-phase two-level VSI is modified for this application. Simulation and experimental results are presented as well. The targets of reducing the cost and improving the overall efficiency of the PV inverters can be achieved by applying the cascaded PV inverters and the proposed control schemes

Improved DC-Link Voltage Regulation Strategy for Grid-Connected Converters

In this article, an improved dc-link voltage regulation strategy is proposed for grid-connected converters applied in dc microgrids. For the inner loop of the grid-connected converter, a voltage modulated direct power control is employed to obtain two second-order linear time-invariant systems, which guarantees that the closed-loop system is globally exponentially stable. For the outer loop, a sliding mode control strategy with a load current sensor is employed to maintain a constant dc-link voltage even in the presence of constant power loads at the dc-side, which adversely affect the system stability. Furthermore, an observer for the dc-link current is designed to remove the dc current sensor at the same time improving the reliability and decreasing the cost. From both simulation and experimental results obtained from a 15-kVA prototype setup, the proposed method is demonstrated to improve the transient performance of the system and has robustness properties to handle parameter mismatches compared with the input-output linearization method