Design of module level converters in photovoltaic power systems

The application of distributed maximum power point tracking (DMPPT) technology in solar photovoltaic (PV) systems is a hot topic in industry and academia. In the PV industry, grid integrated power systems are mainstream. The main objective for PV system design is to increase energy conversion efficiency and decrease the levelized cost of electricity of PV generators. This thesis firstly presents an extensive review of state-of-the-art PV technologies. With focus on grid integrated PV systems research, various aspects covered include PV materials, conventional full power processing DMPPT architectures, main MPPT techniques, and traditional partial power processing DMPPT architectures. The main restrictions to applying traditional DMPPT architectures in large power systems are discussed. A parallel connected partial power processing DMPPT architecture is proposed aiming to overcome existing restrictions. With flexible ‘plug-and-play’ functionality, the proposed architecture can be readily expanded to supply a downstream inverter stage or dc network. By adopting smaller module integrated converters, the proposed approach provides a possible efficiency improvement and cost reduction. The requirements for possible converter candidates and control strategies are analysed. One representative circuit scheme is presented as an example to verify the feasibility of the design. An electromagnetic transient model is built for different power scale PV systems to verify the DMPPT feasibility of the evaluated architecture in a large-scale PV power system. Voltage boosting ability is widely needed for converters in DMPPT applications. Impedance source converters (ISCs) are the main converter types with step-up ability. However, these converters have a general problem of low order distortion when applied in dc-ac applications. To solve this problem, a generic plug-in repetitive control strategy for a four-switch three-phase ISC type inverter configuration is developed. Simulation and experimental results confirm that this control strategy is suitable for many ISC converters.The application of distributed maximum power point tracking (DMPPT) technology in solar photovoltaic (PV) systems is a hot topic in industry and academia. In the PV industry, grid integrated power systems are mainstream. The main objective for PV system design is to increase energy conversion efficiency and decrease the levelized cost of electricity of PV generators. This thesis firstly presents an extensive review of state-of-the-art PV technologies. With focus on grid integrated PV systems research, various aspects covered include PV materials, conventional full power processing DMPPT architectures, main MPPT techniques, and traditional partial power processing DMPPT architectures. The main restrictions to applying traditional DMPPT architectures in large power systems are discussed. A parallel connected partial power processing DMPPT architecture is proposed aiming to overcome existing restrictions. With flexible ‘plug-and-play’ functionality, the proposed architecture can be readily expanded to supply a downstream inverter stage or dc network. By adopting smaller module integrated converters, the proposed approach provides a possible efficiency improvement and cost reduction. The requirements for possible converter candidates and control strategies are analysed. One representative circuit scheme is presented as an example to verify the feasibility of the design. An electromagnetic transient model is built for different power scale PV systems to verify the DMPPT feasibility of the evaluated architecture in a large-scale PV power system. Voltage boosting ability is widely needed for converters in DMPPT applications. Impedance source converters (ISCs) are the main converter types with step-up ability. However, these converters have a general problem of low order distortion when applied in dc-ac applications. To solve this problem, a generic plug-in repetitive control strategy for a four-switch three-phase ISC type inverter configuration is developed. Simulation and experimental results confirm that this control strategy is suitable for many ISC converters

Operation and control design of new Three-Phase inverters with reduced number of switches

DC/AC inverter topologies having reduced numbers of switches to reduce costs, total inverter size and switching losses have previously been proposed. In addition, these topologies reduce the likelihood of semiconductor switch damage, and have lower common-mode currents. This paper proposes new designs for inverters with reduced switch numbers. For three-phase systems, the proposed inverters use four switches instead of the six used in the traditional three-phase Voltage Source Inverter (VSI). Compared to the traditional Four-Switch Three-Phase (FSTP) inverter, the proposed FSTP inverters improve the voltage utilisation factor of the input dc supply, without the need for triplen injection. Sliding-mode control is used to demonstrate the dynamic response and robustness of the inverters. Also the paper presents new single-phase inverters with two switches instead of the four used in the traditional VSI. The capability of suppressing the 2nd order current harmonic from the input dc side is discussed. The basic structures of the proposed inverters and their operation, switch ratings, controller design with supporting mathematical equations, and MATLAB/SIMULINK results are presented. Practical results, based on laboratory prototype circuitry controlled using a Texas Instruments TMSF280335 DSP, are presented to demonstrate the design flexibility and operation of the proposed topologies

Effect of Surface Roughness on Elastohydrodynamic Lubrication Performance of Cylindrical Roller Bearing

In order to study the effect of surface roughness on the Elastohydrodynamic Lubrication (EHL) performance of cylindrical roller bearing, an EHL model of cylindrical roller bearing with three dimensional surface cosine roughness based on finite length line contact theory is established. The EHL performance of cylindrical roller bearing is calculated by the Finite Difference Method (FDM) program, with which the effects of surface cosine roughness amplitude, wavelength and texture angle on EHL performance of cylindrical roller bearing are analyzed. The numerical results show that the roughness amplitude, wavelength and texture angle have great influence on the EHL performance in the contact area. The increase of roughness amplitude and wavelength in a reasonable range is beneficial to the enhancement of EHL performance of the cylindrical roller bearing, and the transverse roughness is more favorable to enhance the bearing capacity and reduce the friction coefficient

The noncompact Schauder fixed point theorem in random normed modules

Random normed modules ($RN$ modules) are a random generalization of ordinary normed spaces, which are usually endowed with the two kinds of topologies -- the $(\varepsilon,\lambda)$-topology and the locally $L^0$-convex topology. The purpose of this paper is to give a noncompact generalization of the classical Schauder fixed point theorem for the development and financial applications of $RN$ modules. Motivated by the randomized version of the classical Bolzano-Weierstrauss theorem, we first introduce the two notions of a random sequentially compact set and a random sequentially continuous mapping under the $(\varepsilon,\lambda)$-topology and further establish their corresponding characterizations under the locally $L^0$-convex topology so that we can treat the fixed point problems under the two kinds of topologies in an unified way. Then we prove our desired Schauder fixed point theorem that in a $\sigma$-stable $RN$ module every continuous (under either topology) $\sigma$-stable mapping $T$ from a random sequentially compact closed $L^0$-convex subset $G$ to $G$ has a fixed point. The whole idea to prove the fixed point theorem is to find an approximate fixed point of $T$, but, since $G$ is not compact in general, realizing such an idea in the random setting forces us to construct the corresponding Schauder projection in a subtle way and carry out countably many decompositions for $T$ so that we can first obtain an approximate fixed point for each decomposition and eventually one for $T$ by the countable concatenation skill. Besides, the new fixed point theorem not only includes as a special case Bharucha-Reid and Mukherjea's famous random version of the classical Schauder fixed point theorem but also implies the corresponding Krasnoselskii fixed point theorem in $RN$ modules.Comment: 37 page

Three-phase AC-AC hexagonal chopper system with heterodyne modulation for power flow control enhancement

This paper proposes a three-phase AC chopper system for the interconnection of various distributed generation (DG) farms or main utilities to enhance the active and reactive power flow control. The absence of large energy storage component in direct AC-AC converter makes the system footprint small and reliable. As the interface for different AC sources, the presented converter can be configured as star or delta. However, delta connection is preferred as it can trap the potential zero-sequence current and reduce the current rating of the switching devices. In this way, the proposed converter resembles the hexagonal chopper, and it offers an inherent degree of freedom for output voltage phase-shifting. Considering the scalability in high voltage applications, a new version of the hexagonal chopper with half-bridge cell modular multilevel structure is developed. The modular multilevel AC hexagonal chopper (M2AHC) is operated in quasi-2-level mode to suppress the electro-magnetic interference (EMI) caused by high voltage switching. Quasi-2-level operation divides the voltage level transition into multi-steps, diminishing the voltage rising and falling rates (dv/dt) in high voltage condition. Then, heterodyne modulation is adopted for the presented chopper system, supplying a new degree of freedom to decouple the phase and amplitude regulation. Based on this idea, system control strategy is developed in synchronous reference frame (SRF). Simulations and experimentations have confirmed the validity of the proposed approaches