Characteristics comparison of high‐frequency multilevel inverter connected with filter inverters

This paper presents a characteristics comparison of a high‐frequency multilevel inverter connected with small‐ capacity filter inverters. In general, PWM inverters require a low‐pass filter in order to reduce switching harmonics. However, in the high‐frequency systems such as class D power amplifiers, the cutoff frequency of the low‐pass filter must be set at high frequency. Thus, harmonic distortion of the output voltage is enlarged to a harmful level. Increasing the number of output voltage levels is effective in reducing the harmonic distortion of the output voltage and the low‐pass filter size. The proposed systems consist of a five‐level inverter and several cascade‐connected low‐voltage full bridge inverters without any external DC power sources for filtering the output voltage. The five‐level inverter generates a stepwise waveform with five‐level voltage, and the low‐voltage filter inverter superimposes harmonic components to compensate for the voltage waveform distortion. Therefore, the proposed system can reduce its total switching loss and can increase the number of the output voltage levels. In this paper, the effectiveness of the proposed systems is verified through several experiments. © 2007 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Electr Eng Jpn, 161(3): 58–65, 2007; Published online in Wiley InterScience ( www.interscience.wiley.com ). DOI 10.1002/eej.20373     

大容量多重化逆变器的输出电压谐波分析

针对目前缺乏对大容量多重化逆变器的输出电压谐波进行全面分析和比较的现状,根据多重化变压器的不同结构,将现有的典型多重化逆变器分为3类并从理论上推导出了它们的输出电压及谐波电压幅值表达式;给出了电压谐波畸变系数与重数和脉冲控制参数间的变化关系;对比分析了它们的电压谐波畸变率。理论和仿真分析结果的一致性表明由三电平逆变桥构成的多重化逆变器不仅能以较低的重数实现高压大容量输出,还可获得满意的电压谐波畸变率,且可有效减小变压器体积、重量和损耗,因而更适用于高压大容量电力电子装置。     

Novel current‐source multilevel inverter driven by single gate drive power supply

This paper proposes a novel current‐source multilevel inverter, which is based on a current‐source half‐bridge topology. Multilevel inverters are effective for reducing harmonic distortion in the output voltage and the output current. However, the multilevel inverters require many gate drive power supplies to drive switching devices. The gate drive circuits using a bootstrap circuit and a pulse transformer can reduce the number of the gate drive power supplies, but the pulse width of the output PWM waveform is limited. Furthermore, high‐speed power switching devices are indispensable to create a high‐frequency power converter, but various problems, such as high‐frequency noise, arise due to the high dv/dt rate, especially in high‐side switching devices. The proposed current‐source multilevel inverter is composed of a common emitter topology for all switching devices. Therefore, it is possible to operate it with a single power supply for the gate drive circuit, which allows stabilizing the potential level of all the drive circuits. In this paper, the effectiveness of the proposed circuit is verified through experimental results. © 2008 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Electr Eng Jpn, 166(2): 88–95, 2009; Published online in Wiley InterScience ( www.interscience.wiley.com ). DOI 10.1002/eej.20475     

PWM型动态无功补偿技术的研究

提出了一种新型的可连续调节的PWM型动态无功补偿技术,以较小的逆变容量实现了系统的动态无功补偿。该补偿装置主要包括PWM调压电路和电容器组两部分。PWM调压电路输出侧与补偿电感串联后直接并入电网,通过检测计算出电网电流中所含的基波无功电流分量,利用PWM脉宽调制技术控制PWM调压电路的开关占空比,使补偿器输出相应的无功电流,从而动态连续补偿电网无功。该装置不仅实现动态无功补偿,而且补偿的过程中动态响应速度快,向系统注入的谐波含量小。     

一种新型串联混合型有源电力滤波器

提出一种新型可调电抗器的控制方式,其基本思路为:检测变压器一次侧的电压作为参考信号,采用一个电力电子逆变器跟踪该电压产生一个可调电压,并将该可调电压施加到变压器的二次侧,则变压器一次侧呈现为可调电抗器。将该可调电抗器应用到有源电力滤波器中,提出了一种新型串联混合型有源滤波器,可调电抗器串联在电力系统和谐波源之间时,检测变压器一次侧的谐波电压并采用电力电子逆变器产生一个谐波电压施加到变压器的二次侧,当施加到二次侧的谐波电压和一次侧的谐波电压满足一定关系时,则变压器一次侧对基波呈现变压器一次侧的短路阻抗,而对于谐波呈现为一个高阻抗,起到了隔离谐波的作用。该滤波器具有逆变器容量小、滤波效果好等优点。采用电压型谐波源和电流型谐波源的实验结果证明了该原理的有效性。     

Comparisons between a hybrid shunt active filter and a pure shunt active filter

This paper deals with the hybrid shunt active filter for harmonic compensation of a three‐phase diode rectifier in a 480‐V adjustable‐speed motor drive system. The hybrid filter is formed by a three‐phase LC filter tuned around the seventh harmonic frequency and a small‐rated three‐phase voltage‐source PWM inverter. The LC filter and PWM inverter are directly connected in series. As a result, the DC capacitor voltage of the PWM inverter in the hybrid filter is much lower than that of a conventional pure shunt active filter. This results in higher efficiency, less switching ripple, and less EMI emission. Computer simulation is carried out to compare the hybrid filter with the pure filter in terms of circuit configuration and filtering performance. Simulation results indicate that the hybrid filter is superior in effectiveness and viability to the pure filter. In addition, theoretical analysis based on vector loci confirms the validity of the simulation results. © 2005 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Electr Eng Jpn, 153(2): 61–70, 2005; Published online in Wiley InterScience ( www.interscience.wiley.com ). DOI 10.1002/eej.20145     

A new method of damping harmonic resonance at the DC link in a large‐capacity rectifier‐inverter system

This paper proposes a new method of damping harmonic resonance in the DC link of a large‐capacity rectifier‐inverter system, such as in rapid‐transit railways. A voltage‐source PWM converter is connected in series to the DC capacitor of the rectifier through a matching transformer, acting as a damping resistor to the DC capacitor current. No filters are needed to extract harmonic components from the DC capacitor current. This results in a quick response and highly stable damping. The relationship between the control gain of the PWM converter and the required rating is theoretically discussed. We show that the required rating is less than one‐thousandth of that previously proposed. In particular, regenerating the power consumed by the PWM converter is very important because of the large power in practical systems. Normally, an additional PWM inverter is connected to the DC bus of the PWM converter to regenerate the consumed power. The additional inverter regenerates the DC power to the AC source through a transformer. This method, however, makes the damping circuit complex, thus the proposed method for the DC‐link harmonic resonance is less practicable. In this paper, a simple and novel scheme that utilizes the DC‐link voltage of the rectifier as a DC source for the PWM converter is proposed. The excellent practicability of the proposed damping method with the novel regenerating scheme is confirmed using digital computer simulation. © 2003 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Electr Eng Jpn, 144(2): 53–62, 2003; Published online in Wiley InterScience ( www.interscience.wiley.com ). DOI 10.1002/eej.10172     

一种混合9电平电压源逆变器及其变频脉宽调制

介绍了一种应用于中高压变频调速装置的9电平输出电压源逆变器，逆变器的主电路由2种不同拓扑结构的逆变电路组成，分别使用不同参数的开关器件实现，可以综合利用阻断电压高的器件和开关速度快的器件的优点。分析了逆变器主电路的拓扑结构及特点，研究了主电路的开关模式后提出了一种基于载波调制的适合于任意电平数目混合逆变器的PWM(脉宽调制)算法，最后仿真研究了混合9电平逆变器在变速驱动场合中的应用，并验证了算法的有效性。对线电压的频谱分析表明，混合9电平逆变器有很好的输出波形，输出谐波含量少，在高频段输出线电压的总谐波畸变率小于5％，输出电压的dv／dt小，可用于驱动大容量的中高压异步电动机。     

Iron Loss Calculation of AC Filter Inductor for Three‐Phase PWM Inverters

In recent years, remarkable advancement of new power semiconductor devices, such as SiC and GaN, enables the increase of switching frequency of power converters, and hence the volume of passive components, such as ac filters and transformers, can be reduced. However, temperature rise caused by the inductor loss is increasing, and hence iron loss evaluation of the inductor is one of the most important issues to realize high power density converters. Conventionally, an improved generalized Steinmetz equation (iGSE) has proposed in order to calculate the iron loss under a pulse voltage magnetizing condition. However, accurate iron loss calculation of the ac filter inductor used in a PWM inverter cannot be realized. The authors have proposed two methods of iron loss evaluation of ac filter inductors. The first one is a loss map method which can calculate the iron loss without using a real PWM inverter. Another one is an ILA (Inductor Loss Analyzer) which can measure the iron loss in every switching period in a real PWM inverter. In this paper, comparisons of the iron loss between the ILA and the loss map method on both the single‐phase and three‐phase inverters are studied. It is found that iron loss of the ac filter inductor in the three‐phase PWM inverter which is calculated by the loss map method cause a large error on a specific condition. In order to prevent the calculation error, the authors proposed a revised loss map method and proved the effectiveness of the method.     

改进并联混合型有源滤波器在大功率非线性负载中的应用

提出了一种改进型并联混合型有源滤波器.针对非线性负载产生的主要谐波分量,将逆变器与无源滤波器电感并联设计,利用并联滤波电感的分流作用以降低逆变器电流容量、输出电压频率和开关频率,并在逆变器发生故障时滤波器仍能正常工作.针对单次谐波电流检测,应用了一种改进滑动窗算法.仿真和试验结果表明,该混合型有源滤波器不仅具有良好的滤波效果,而且能减少逆变器电流.     

光伏电站多逆变器并网系统输出谐波研究

针对多台逆变器并联在同一公共连接点接入电网引起的谐波问题进行了研究。建立了多逆变器光伏并网系统的单台和多台逆变器小信号等效模型。推导出逆变器、PWM开关谐波源和电网的等效阻抗传递函数,通过Bode图分析逆变器、PWM开关谐波源的等效输出阻抗幅频特性和相频特性。应用Matlab/Simulink对35 kV光伏电站多逆变器并网系统在不同工况下进行谐波分析。仿真结果表明:并网逆变器台数越多,PCC处电流谐波畸变率越大,但主要为低次谐波,高次谐波含量较少,验证了建立的小信号模型的有效性。     

A simple method for output voltage control of a three‐phase multilevel inverter considering DC voltage fluctuation

Multilevel inverter circuit generates the stair‐like voltage without using transformer and interphase reactor, and it is the circuit which realizes reduction in the harmonics and enlargement of the capacity. In addition, the application of PWM control improves the waveform, and reduces the switching component to the conventional half, and the filter capacity is reduced. In this paper, improvement on the voltage utilization factor and feedback control of output voltage are applied to multilevel inverter circuit. For the DC power supply with the intense fluctuation, it is necessary to construct inverter circuit which can supply stabilized AC voltage. One‐chip microcomputer with various functions is used for the control equipment of this circuit, and miniaturization and cost reduction of the control equipment are realized. Here, the control principle and experimental results of this equipment are mainly reported. © 2009 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Electr Eng Jpn, 170(3): 40–47, 2010; Published online in Wiley InterScience ( www.interscience.wiley.com ). DOI 10.1002/eej.20906     

基于Walsh变换的特定谐波消除脉宽调制技术在动态电压恢复器中的应用

基于Walsh变换的特定消谐PWM(selective harmonic elimination PWM,SHEPWM)方法把其对应的Fourier域内的超越非线性方程转化为线性代数方程,在合适的初始条件下,能得到基波幅值和开关角的分段线性关系,从而可实现在线调压和谐波抑制,特别适用于动态电压恢复器(dynamic voltage restorer,DVR)逆变器的控制。本文介绍了Walsh函数,分析了Walsh域SHE线性方程的建立和求解过程,提出了以质心PWM技术产生初始开关角分布模式的方法,有效提高了计算效率,并且针对SHEPWM脉冲的谐波分布特点,给出了逆变器的滤波器设计原则和方法。在200 kVA 级DVR上的实验结果表明,逆变器在整个电压范围内能有效抑制各次谐波并有良好的动态特性,证实了该方法的可行性和有效性。     

A novel prototype of auxiliary edge resonant bridge leg link snubber‐assisted soft‐switching sine‐wave PWM inverter

This paper proposes a new circuit topology of the three‐phase soft‐switching PWM inverter and PFC converter using IGBT power modules, which has the improved active auxiliary switch and edge resonant bridge leg‐commutation‐link soft‐switching snubber circuit with pulse current regenerative feedback loop as compared with the typical auxiliary resonant pole snubber discussed previously. This three‐phase soft‐switching PWM double converter is more suitable and acceptable for a large‐capacity uninterruptible power supply, PFC converter, utility‐interactive bidirectional converter, and so forth. In this paper, the soft‐switching operation and optimum circuit design of the novel type active auxiliary edge resonant bridge leg commutation link snubber treated here are described for high‐power applications. Both the main active power switches and the auxiliary active power switches achieve soft switching under the principles of ZVS or ZCS in this three‐phase inverter switching. This three‐phase soft‐switching commutation scheme can effectively minimize the switching surge‐related electromagnetic noise and the switching power losses of the power semiconductor devices; IGBTs and modules used here. This three‐phase inverter and rectifier coupled double converter system does not need any sensing circuit and its peripheral logic control circuits to detect the voltage or the current and does not require any unwanted chemical electrolytic capacitor to make the neutral point of the DC power supply voltage source. The performances of this power conditioner are proved on the basis of the experimental and simulation results. Because the power semiconductor switches (IGBT module packages) have a trade‐off relation in the switching fall time and tail current interval characteristics as well as the conductive saturation voltage characteristics, this three‐phase soft‐switching PWM double converter can improve actual efficiency in the output power ranges with a trench gate controlled MOS power semiconductor device which is much improved regarding low saturation voltage. The effectiveness of this is verified from a practical point of view. © 2006 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Electr Eng Jpn, 155(4): 64–76, 2006; Published online in Wiley InterScience ( www.interscience.wiley.com ). DOI 10.1002/eej.20207     

采用IGCT电压型三电平逆变器的高压变频调速器

摘要： 集成门极换向型晶闸管(IGCT)的优良性能使其适合于实现高-高方式的高压变频调速装置。文中提出了基于IGCT中点箝位电压型三电平逆变器的高压变频调速装置主电路，并给出了一台6 kV/1 800 kVA高压变频调速装置的实现。装置交流输入侧采用变压器隔离的24脉冲整流电路来保证输入侧功率因数大于0.96，中间直流环节直流电压为10 kV，逆变部分采用中点箝位(NPC)电压型三电平逆变器输出三相6 kV线电压，每只开关器件由2只4.5 kV IGCT器件串联构成。逆变器采用变频的特定谐波消除脉宽调制(SHE-PWM)，且输出侧采用LC滤波器来减小输出电压的谐波畸变率及dv/dt。装置采用IGCT作为电子开关进行输出过电流保护。装置实验表明，这种高压变频器具有很好的性能及可靠性。     

Carrier phase error detection method and synchronization control of parallel‐connected PWM inverters without signal line

In recent years, parallel operation of inverters is employed to increase reliability and capacity in an uninterruptible power supply (UPS) system. A phase error in PWM carrier‐signals of each inverter causes high‐frequency loop current between inverters. Therefore, the PWM carrier‐signal of each inverter should be adjusted in phase. This paper proposes a detection method of phase error in PWM carrier‐signal and its application to synchronization control for parallel‐connected inverters. A simple definite‐integral circuit achieves detection of the carrier phase error from high‐frequency loop current using no signal line between inverters. The detected carrier phase error is applied to synchronize the PWM carrier‐signal through a PI compensator, and then the high‐frequency loop current can be suppressed. Several experimental test results show the validity of the proposed detection method and synchronization control. © 2006 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Electr Eng Jpn, 157(1): 63– 71, 2006; Published online in Wiley InterScience ( http://www.interscience.wiley.com ). DOI 10.1002/eej.20143     

基于全局同步脉宽调制的电容高次谐波电流抑制方法

随着微电网中逆变器渗透率的不断提高,由电力电子器件产生的高次谐波对微电网设备造成了不利影响,其中,当多台逆变器并联运行时,其产生的高次谐波除了注入逆变器自身的交流滤波电容外,还会注入其他并联逆变器的交流滤波电容产生高次谐波电流随机叠加现象,影响电容寿命。提出一种基于全局同步脉宽调制技术的逆变器电容电流谐波抑制方法。首先,对多并联运行逆变器的电流谐波注入电容机理进行了分析,并提出了利用全局同步脉宽调制方法抑制电容高次谐波电流的基本原理和方法。其次,推导出适用于各种运行状态下电容电流谐波和脉宽调制波相位差之间的数学表达式。然后,根据逆变器类型选择适当的数学模型,对数学模型进行求解并获得脉宽调制最佳相位差。通过仿真分析对所提方法进行了验证。     

采用主从型逆变器结构的静态同步补偿器

针对6kV中压电网三相平衡负载的无功功率补偿，结合二极管箝位多电平逆变器和H桥级联多电平逆变器的特点，提出了一种能够直接并入电网的新型主从式逆变器结构：主逆变器采用二极管箝位三电平逆变器，从逆变器采用3个H桥(即全桥)逆变器。主逆变器和H桥逆变器采用级联的形式连接，构成一个五电平的混联逆变器。H桥逆变器负责产生一个方波电压，构成输出正弦电压的基本成分；主逆变器产生输出电压的补偿部分并负责消除低次谐波。最后通过仿真结果证明了所提出的这种主从型逆变器STATCOM结构在消除谐波方面的优越性。     

A Low‐Loss Medium‐Voltage Inverter Applying Series Connected General Purpose 1.2 kV Insulated Gate Bipolar Transistors with Accurate Voltage Balancing Techniques

This paper presents a medium‐voltage inverter applying series connected general‐purpose 1.2 kV insulated gate bipolar transistors (IGBTs) as a switching device to achieve low switching losses compared to inverters applying high‐voltage IGBTs with over 3 kV rating. Gate signal synchronization, which is essential to keep the balance of collector‐emitter voltages across the IGBTs, is achieved by magnetically coupling all gate lines using a simple two‐windings transformer. In order to obtain better voltage balancing, influence of stray capacitance distribution associated with an insulating substrate in a two‐in‐one IGBT module on the voltage sharing is investigated, and an optimized layout of heat sinks for the IGBT modules is proposed. To validate some performances concerning the device losses and the voltage sharing, a 170 kVA inverter based on three 1.2 kV IGBTs connected in series is built and evaluated. The experimental results are shown. Copyright © 2007 Institute of Electrical Engineers of Japan. Published by John Wiley & Sons, Inc.     

A low‐loss snubber for reducing motor terminal surge voltage

The development of an advanced Insulated Gate Bipolar Transistor (IGBT) has enabled high‐frequency switching operation and has improved the performance of PWM inverters for motor drive. However, the IGBT's high rate of dv/dt has adverse effects on motor insulation stress. In many motor drive applications, the inverter and motor are separated, requiring long motor feeds. The long cable contributes high‐frequency ringing at the motor terminal and results in high surge voltage which stresses the motor insulation. The inverter output filter and RDC snubber are the conventional method for reducing the surge voltage. In this paper, we propose a new low‐loss snubber to reduce the motor terminal surge voltage. The snubber consists of the series connection of chraging/discharging capacitor and the voltage‐clamped capacitor. At IGBT turn‐off, the snubber starts to operate when the IGBT voltage reaches the voltage‐clamped level. Since dv/dt is decreased by snubber operating, the peak level of the surge voltage can be reduced. Also the snubber operates at the IGBT voltage above the voltage‐clamped level, and the snubber loss is largely reduced compared with the RDC snubber. The proposed snubber enables reduction of the motor terminal surge voltage with low loss. © 2005 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Electr Eng Jpn, 150(4): 64–72, 2005; Published online in Wiley InterScience ( www.interscience.wiley.com ). DOI 10.1002/eej.10378