A voltage source PWM rectifier-inverter with feedforward control of instantaneous power

In general, diode rectifiers with electrolytic capacitors on the dc side have been used as dc power supplies for voltage source inverters. This type of rectifiers, however, causes many problems such as poor power factor and harmonics. Recently, voltage source PWM rectifier-inverters have been studied to provide the following advantages; (1) harmonic-free on both ac sides; (2) unity power factor on the input ac side; (3) power flow of either direction or power regeneration; (4) reduction of the dc capacitor. It is, however, difficult for a conventional one to regulate the capacitor voltage on transient states because of having only a voltage feed-back loop. This paper describes a voltage source PWM rectifier-inverter with feed-forward control of instantaneous power. Based on the pq theory, the instantaneous power which is calculated in the control circuit of the inverter is fed forward to the control circuit of the rectifier. The feed-forward control of instantaneous power makes a great contribution to sufficiently suppress voltage fluctuation of the dc capacitor on transient states. Transient characteristics are discussed and some interesting experimental results of a laboratory model are shown.     

基于自然坐标与功率前馈的三相电压型PWM变流器控制

针对三相电压型PWM变流器控制系统,提出一种自然坐标与负载功率前馈控制方法。根据p-q理论在自然坐标下的表征,引入瞬时有功电压和瞬时无功电压的概念。从而基于电网电压定向的矢量控制策略引入PWM变流器的自然坐标控制方法,省去了电网相位检测和坐标系变换,降低控制复杂度。针对PWM变流器矢量控制下直流侧负载(包括有源负载和无源负载)功率波动对直流侧电压产生较大冲击和波动问题,基于功率平衡和p-q理论推导了负载扰动点到三相交流电流指令的前馈通道增益矩阵,提高PWM变流器直流侧稳压控制的鲁棒性。RCP实验证明所提方法的正确性和可行性。     

Characteristics of a Controlled-Current PWM Rectifier?Inverter Link

Two controlled-current pulsewidth-modulated (PWM) converters have been integrated into rectifier-inverter links of variable-speed ac motor drives. The authors focus on developing a mathematical model of the rectifier-inverter link and presenting experimental justification of the model. The characteristics of the rectifier-inverter system and the constraints imposed by the voltage feedback loop and dc link voltage are discussed. The rectifier-inverter system is made to drive a ``selfcontrolled' synchronous motor, thus forming a system for which both the utility and the motor currents are near sinusoidal. The optimized power conversion capability of the motor is now matched by unity power factor operation on the rectifier side. Fast reversal from motoring to regenerative braking capability is demonstrated experimentally.     

A control method for improving ac input current waveform of current-type PWM rectifiers

Recently, PWM rectifiers which realize high-power factor and almost sinusoidal ac input current have been proposed and some of them have already been put into practice. In many cases the PWM rectifiers are of current type, that is, they have a smoothing reactor on the dc side. In such rectifiers, an LC filter has to be inserted on the ac side to reduce current harmonics due to the PWM operation. However, the LC filter may cause waveform distortion and transient oscillation of the ac side current. As a solution to this problem, a new control method is proposed introducing ac side current control by means of state feedback of the LC filter. In this case, both the dc output current and the ac input current controls should be achieved by the PWM operation of the rectifier. Furthermore, to obtain sufficient controllability regardless of the operating condition, the dc output and ac input current controls should be done independently. To meet these requirements, existing control methods for PWM rectifiers are not directly applicable. In this paper, a novel control circuit configuration and a method of generating a PWM pulse pattern suitable for the proposed control method are described in detail. From the viewpoint of stability, feedback coefficients and circuit parameters are investigated on the basis of root locus analysis. Some experimental results also are shown to confirm the effectiveness of the proposed control method and the validity of the analytical results. Improvement of the ac side current waveform and the stability of the transient response are demonstrated by these experimental results.     

三相电压型PWM整流器控制特性

基于三相电压型PWM整流器的工作原理,研究了PWM整流器的四象限运行的工作状态,并在此基础上提出PWM整流器网侧呈现受控电流源、且电流和功率因数均可控的特性,这使得整流器可以灵活地在各种工作状态间切换。针对PWM整流器网侧功率因数控制的要求,指出PWM整流器需工作在升压状态,且推导出其保持正常运行时直流电压与交流输入电源电压的比值应大于一个临界升压系数。提出了基于空间矢量算法的PWM整流器阶段电流控制策略:升压系数较大时采用单位功率因数控制模式,升压系数较小时则切换至滞后功率因数控制模式。设计并搭建了基于DSP数字化的三相电压源型PWM整流器的物理平台,实验波形验证了PWM整流器自身运行特性与其工作在临界升压系数时电流控制策略的切换控制的正确性。     

一种新型斩波AC/DC/AC变换的单相DVR

针对输入侧采用不可控整流AC/DC/AC结构的单相动态电压恢复器(DVR)输入侧功率因数低,谐波含量高等问题,提出了一种基于PWM斩波变换器的动态电压恢复器来补偿负载两端电压的跌落。该新型拓扑结构采用PWM斩波控制节省了直流侧电容,简化了滤波器设计,使输入侧线路中谐波含量降低,同时达到单位功率因数;电压检测采用单相信号构造成两相信号,利用瞬时无功理论对信号进行检测与处理,实时性高;搭建MATLAB/Simulink仿真和系统实验平台,验证其合理性和可行性。     

Transient analysis of an advanced static var compensator using quad-series voltage-source PAM inverters

This paper deals with an advanced static Var compensator (ASVC) using quad-series voltage-source PAM inverters. The ASVC consists of four three-phase voltage-source inverters with a common dc capacitor and four three-phase transformers, each primary winding of which is connected in series with each other. Each inverter outputs a square-wave voltage, while the synthesized output voltage of the ASVC has a 24-step wave shape. This results not only in a great reduction of harmonic currents and dc voltage ripples but also in fewer switching and snubbing losses. In this paper, transient analysis is performed with the focus on the response of reactive power and the resonance between the dc capacitor and ac reactors. Experimental results obtained from a small-rated laboratory model of 10 kVA are also shown to verify analytical results based on the p-q transformation. The analytical results help in the design of system parameters such as the capacity of the dc capacitor and feedback gains.     

Investigation of harmonic currents and power factor on power rectifier circuits with nonequi-PWM and equi-PWM control (inductive load)

Lately, on the power rectifier circuit with semiconductor switching device, PWM control is generally employed for the purposes of reducing the harmonic currents on the dc side and improving the power factor of fundamental wave. In this case, the analysis of the current waveform becomes fairly complex. However, we express the PWM controlled voltage waveform by the step function, and can easily analyze the current waveform. We reported formerly some results of analysis about the waveform and harmonics of the current. In this paper, on the power rectifier circuit to which the nonequi-PWM and equi-PWM control are applied, we exactly calculate the harmonic currents on the dc and ac side, and the power factor by the use of the above analytical results. The characteristics of both control methods are compared on condition that each controlled factor of the load voltage is equal. These results are shown in the calculated charts. The following items can be seen from these charts on the power rectifier circuit: (1) The nonequi-PWM control can let the harmonic currents on the dc side decrease more than the equi-PWM control. But on the contrary, the harmonic currents on the ac side increase. Consequently, when the nonequi-PWM control is applied, the total power factor decreases by the increase of distortion factor of the current on the ac side. (2) The difference between the harmonic currents on the dc and ac side to both of the nonequi-PWM and equi-PWM control increases with the increase of controlled factor of the load voltage. © 1999 Scripta Technica, Electr Eng Jpn, 129(4): 117–125, 1999     

Single-phase line current compensator based on line current detection

We propose the three-phase active filter designed to control the ripple power based on instantaneous ac line power detection. We show that the proposed system has many excellent features such as simple construction, high accuracy, high efficiency, and so on. In this paper, we apply this control principle to single-phase power line compensators such as active filters and reactive power compensators. In this case, we must control the instantaneous current waveform instead of the ripple components of two-axis quantities of the three-phase current or power. The proposed system can be easily constructed and controlled by merely detecting the ac line side current and the dc side voltage of the PWM converter. The system combines many functions, such as a PWM converter, an active filter, a reactive power compensator, without any modifications. In this paper, we compare the proposed system with conventional systems and confirm the feasibility of the system by simulation and experimental results. © 1998 Scripta Technica, Electr Eng Jpn, 124(1): 65–73, 1998     

A suitable single-phase pulse width modulation current source inverter for utility interactive photovoltaic generation system

A suitable single-phase inverter for the utility interactive photovoltaic generation system is proposed. The single-phase Pulse Width Modulation (PWM) current source inverter has a novel circuit configuration in which an auxiliary branch is added to the normal single-phase bridge circuit. To reduce the size and weight of the dc reactor, a double frequency parallel resonance circuit (LC tank circuit) is inserted in the dc side of the inverter. As a result, the double frequency voltage appearing in the dc side of the inverter due to the pulsation of the single-phase instantaneous power is perfectly suppressed by the tank circuit. The constant dc current without pulsation is supplied from PV array to the inverter. The inverter provides a sinusoidal ac current for domestic loads and the utility line with unity power factor. The virtual maximum power of the PV array can be obtained without any feedback control. In the system, the PV array can play an important role as a current-limiter due to its V-I characteristics. Computed waveforms by simulation are shown. Excellent inverter equipment will be realized that is smaller in size and lighter in weight than is usual for a conventional inverter.     

Unity-power-factor PWM converter with DC ripple compensation

The generation of harmonics and their subsequent propagation into power lines is a topic of increasing concern to power-supply authorities. To prevent obstacles in the power system, a unity-power-factor PWM converter will be applied at ac-dc power conversion plants. However, the PWM converter, especially at single-phase circuit, has some serious defects, including low-frequency ripple current that flows into the dc line and gives rise to a low-frequency ripple voltage that appears on the dc output. In usual cases, it is necessary to connect a very large capacitor or a passive L-C resonant circuit to the dc line for reduction of low-frequency ripple voltage. However, when batteries are connected to the dc output, most of the dc ripple current flows into the battery even if the above circuits are used, because the impedance of the battery is very low compared to that of the circuits. The low-frequency ripple current causes power loss on the battery and the temperature rises. It is well known that the life of a battery is deeply influenced by the temperature. The ripple current, therefore, should be reduced as low as possible. To accomplish reduction of the low-frequency ripple current, a novel topology for the PWM rectifier is presented in this paper. The main circuit is constituted by adding only a pair of switching devices to the conventional PWM converter circuit. With a simple control technique, the ripple energy on the dc line is converted into stored energy on the input ac capacitors through additional switches. The theoretical characteristics are obtained by using the state-space averaging method. The effect of ripple reduction is confirmed by experiments using a breadboard setup. © 1998 Scripta Technica, Electr Eng Jpn, 123(1): 51–62, 1998     

新型单相五电平电压源逆变器

为了改善传统多电平逆变器电路结构复杂的问题,利用较少的功率器件实现尽可能多的电平输出,提出一种新型单相五电平电压源逆变器。新型电路扑结是在传统的单相H桥型电压源逆变器的基础上,增加了两个单向功率开关,利用6个功率开关在交流侧就可以产生5个不同的电平输出。在分析电路拓扑工作原理和6种工作模式的基础上,给出了简单的PWM控制策略。实验结果验证了电路拓扑及其控制方法的有效性。     

A single-phase PWM current source type converter coupled with an ac chopper

A current source type converter can easily generate a sinusoidal current on the ac side by employing a PWM strategy. In the converter system for a single-phase supply, however, the dc current pulsates because the dc output voltage of the converter contains an ac component with twice the ac supply frequency. The dc current pulsations cause the ac current waveform to be distorted. Although the use of a dc reactor with large inductance reduces the dc current pulsations, the size and the weight of converter equipment including a dc reactor is large. Two-phase rectification using two full-bridge converters and a converter system with an ac chopper circuit has been proposed for elimination of the dc pulsations. In these converters, the number of switching devices comprising the circuit will unavoidably increase. To solve this problem, we propose a novel single-phase current source type converter coupled with an ac chopper circuit and the PWM method. In this circuit, two switching devices in the main bridge are used to form an ac chopper bridge with two added devices and a capacitor. This paper gives the experimental and theoretical waveforms and the steady-state characteristics. The results prove that a smooth dc current and a sinusoidal ac current are obtained, and that a great reduction of the dc inductance can be achieved by using the proposed converter. © 1998 Scripta Technica. Electr Eng Jpn, 123(3): 36–45, 1998     

A high-power-factor PWM rectifier without voltage sensors

Pulsewidth modulation (PWM) control techniques for rectifiers are widely used to improve the source current waveform and the input power factor. Recently, methods to reduce the number of detectors have been studied to simplify the system configuration and control of such rectifiers. It is known that a voltage detector on the ac side can be omitted, though a voltage detector on the dc side is needed for adjustment of the dc output of a PWM rectifier. In this paper, a method for controlling a single-phase rectifier without any voltage sensor is proposed. The ac-side voltage can be estimated from the input-reactor voltage when the ac side of the bridge is short-circuited. The reactor voltage is easily obtained by multiplying the inductance of the reactor by the derivative of the source current measured. The dc side voltage can be estimated by calculating the difference between the source voltage at the beginning of every switching period and the reactor voltage sampled and held in the previous bridge conduction mode. This paper describes the control scheme, its implementation, and the performance characteristics of the rectifier. The usefulness of the rectifier is confirmed by experiment. This method is applicable to various types of PWM rectifiers. © 1997 Scripta Technica, Inc. Electr Eng Jpn, 120(4): 90–96, 1997     

基于三相供电电压偏差选取直流电容参数研究

在电压型PWM AC/DC/AC变换中,直流侧储能滤波电容参数的选取是变换器稳定运行的关键因素之一。针对目前直流侧电容选取存在一定的不精确性,分析了AC/DC/AC变换电路稳态时直流电容充放电的原理,对变换器交直流侧电压的关系进行研究,建立了电容纹波电压与三相供电电压偏差之间的数学模型,提出了基于三相供电电压偏差选取直流侧电容参数的方法。分别对单相和三相不可控整流电路提供直流电源时直流侧电容C的合理选取给出了相应的分析和计算,并通过仿真和试验验证了直流储能滤波电容参数确定方法的有效性。     

Control Strategy of Active Power Filters Using Multiple Voltage-Source PWM Converters

The control strategy of active power filters using switching devices is proposed on the basis of the instantaneous reactive power theory. This aims at excellent compensation characteristics in transient states as well as steady states. The active power filter is developed, of which the power circuit consists of quadruple voltage-source PWM converters. As the result, interesting compensation characteristics were verified experimentally which could not be obtained by the active power filter based on the conventional reactive power theory.     

三相PWM电压型整流器无源控制算法的研究

本文对三相电压型PWM整流器的单位功率因数以及输出电压的控制问题进行了讨论，推导了在a-b-c与d-q坐标系下整流器的动力学EL(Euler-Lagrange)方程。文中给出了无源控制器的一般设计方法与系统控制的约束条件，针对三相电压型PWM整流器系统给出了改进型无源(Passivity-Based)控制策略的仿真实验结果。仿真实验表明：本文所述的无源控制策略对于三相电压型PWM整流器系统的单位功率因数与输出电压控制具有快速跟随、抗干扰性强、功率因数高等良好特性。     

Experimental Verification of a Front‐to‐Front (FTF) System Consisting of Two Modular Multilevel Cascade Converters Based on Double‐Star Chopper Cells

This paper presents an experimental discussion on modular multilevel cascade converters based on double‐star chopper cells (MMCC‐DSCC). Hereinafter, a single MMCC‐DSCC is referred to simply as a “DSCC”. A couple of DSCCs are used to form a front‐to‐front (FTF) system capable of dc voltage matching and galvanic isolation between two dc grids. The FTF system can be considered as a dc–ac–dc power conversion system including an ac‐link high‐power transformer. The higher the ac‐link frequency, the smaller and lighter are the ac‐link transformer and dc capacitors. When the so‐called “phase‐shifted‐carrier PWM” is applied to the DSCC, theoretical analysis and computer simulation have confirmed that a ratio of the carrier frequency with respect to the ac‐link frequency can be reduced to 5/2. This paper designs, constructs, and tests a 400‐Vdc 10‐kW downscaled FTF system with a carrier frequency of 450 Hz and an ac‐link frequency of 180 Hz, where their ratio is 5/2. Experimental waveforms obtained from the downscaled system are compared with simulated ones obtained from a software package, PSCAD/EMTDC, under the same operating and circuit conditions. They agree well each other not only under steady states but also under transient states.     

Implementation of active power filter with asymmetrical inverter legs for harmonic and reactive power compensation

An asymmetrical voltage source inverter is proposed to operate as an active power filter to eliminate harmonics and compensate reactive power drawn from the nonlinear loads such that a sinusoidal line current is drawn from the ac source. Two inverter legs are used in the adopted circuit configuration. One inverter leg is operated in the line frequency and the other leg is operated in the high switching frequency to track the compensated current command. In the proposed control scheme, a voltage compensator, a carrier-based current controller and a proportional integral-based dc link controller are used to achieve balanced capacitor voltages, to track line current and to obtain a constant dc bus voltage, respectively. Based on the pulse-width modulation (PWM) control scheme, a three-level voltage pattern is generated on the ac terminal of the inverter. Computer simulation and experimental results are provided to verify the effectiveness of the control scheme.     

Ripple compensation of a single-phase rectifier by two-quadrant chopper and auxiliary capacitor

The single-phase converter or rectifier always has a voltage ripple in the output dc voltage because the instantaneous power of the single-phase ac line varies on the double frequency of the line. To obtain a smooth dc voltage, an energy-storing element is necessary. The smoothing capacitor is used to reduce the ripple voltage in the dc output. Usually, it has much larger capacitance than that needed to absorb the ripple energy. This paper discusses the required capacitance to absorb the ripple energy, and represents a ripple-compensation circuit with a small auxiliary capacitor controlled by a 2-quadrant chopper connected in parallel to the smoothing capacitor. The appended capacitor works under large ripple voltage and efficiently absorbs the ripple energy. The ripple-compensation circuit works as an equivalent capacitor with a large capacitance.