Full binary combination schema for floating voltage source multilevel inverters

This paper presents schema of operation for floating voltage source multilevel inverters. The primary advantage of the proposed schema is that the number of voltage levels (and thus power quality) can be increased for a given number of semiconductor devices when compared to the conventional "flying capacitor" topology. However, the new schema requires fixed floating sources instead of capacitors and therefore is more suitable for battery power applications such as electric vehicles, flexible AC transmission systems and submarine propulsion. Alternatively transformer/rectifier circuits may be used to supply the floating sources in a similar way to cascaded H-bridge inverters. Computer simulation results are presented for 4-level, 8-level, and 16-level inverter topologies. A 4-level laboratory test verifies the proposed method.     

A Predictive Control With Flying Capacitor Balancing of a Multicell Active Power Filter

Unlike traditional inverters, multicell inverters have the following advantages: lower switching frequency, high number of output levels, and less voltage constraints on the insulated-gate bipolar transistors. Significant performances are provided with this structure which is constituted with flying capacitors. This paper deals with a predictive and direct control applied to the multicell inverter for an original application of this converter: a three-phase active filter. To take advantage of the capabilities of the multicell converter in terms of redundant control states, a voltage control method of flying capacitor is added, based on the use of a switching table. Flying capacitor voltages are kept on a fixed interval, and precise voltage sensors are not necessary. The association of predictive control and voltage balancing increases considerably the bandwidth of the active filter.      

Extended operation of flying capacitor multilevel inverters

Recent research in flying capacitor multilevel inverters (FCMIs) has shown that the number of voltage levels can be extended by changing the ratio of the capacitor voltages. For the three-cell FCMI, four levels of operation are expected if the traditional ratio of the capacitor voltages is 1:2:3. However, by altering the ratio, the inverter can operate as a five-, six-, seven-, or eight-level inverter. According to previous research, the eight-level case is referred to as maximally distended (or full binary combination schema) since it utilizes all possible transistor switching states. However, this case does not have enough per-phase redundancy to ensure capacitor voltage balancing under all modes of operation. In this paper, redundancy involving all phases is used along with per-phase redundancy to improve capacitor voltage balancing. It is shown that the four- and five-level cases are suitable for motor drive operation and can maintain capacitor voltage balance under a wide range of power factors and modulation indices. The six-, seven-, and eight-level cases are suitable for reactive power transfer in applications such as static var compensation. Simulation and laboratory measurements verify the proposed joint-phase redundancy control.     

A unique fault-tolerant design for flying capacitor multilevel inverter

This paper presents a unique design for flying capacitor type multilevel inverters with fault-tolerant features. When a single-switch fault per phase occurs, the new design can still provide the same number of converting levels by shorting the fault power semiconductors and reconfiguring the gate controls. The most attractive point of the proposed design is that it can undertake the single-switch fault per phase without sacrificing power converting quality. Future more, if multiple faults occur in different phases and each phase have only one fault switch, the proposed design can still conditionally provide consistent voltage converting levels. This paper will also discuss the capacitor balancing approach under fault-conditions, which is an essential part of controlling flying capacitor type multilevel inverters. Suggested fault diagnosing methods are also discussed in this paper. Computer simulation and lab results validate the proposed controls.     

Research of the equivalent relationship between the space vector and the triangular carrier-based PWM modulation strategies in the flying capacitor multilevel inverters

ABSTRACT

The equivalent relationship between the carrier-based modulation (CBPWM) and the space vector modulation (SVPWM) based on the flying capacitor multilevel inverters has not been analysed systematically. Due to the redundancies of the flying capacitor multilevel inverters, this paper firstly focuses on the switching sequence and the working ratio of each switching state and then proposes a novel method of decomposing modulation wave. This method can distribute the ratio of redundancies arbitrarily to satisfy the requirements of the output. Taking three- and five-level inverters as examples, by injecting a zero-sequence voltage into the CBPWM modulation wave and then decomposing the new modulation wave, we can get the same sequence of SVPWM modulation. This method takes the advantages of using simple CBPWM to realise the complex output of SVPWM, such as double- and quadruple-frequency output. At last, we deduce the equivalent relationship between the SVPWM and CBPWM in n-level with an arbitrary number of segments. Experimental results verify the correctness of the equivalent relationship.     

A symmetric carrier technique of CRPWM for voltage balance method of flying-capacitor multilevel inverter

This paper presents a simple carrier symmetric method for the voltage balance of flying capacitors in flying-capacitor multilevel inverters. The carrier-redistribution pulsewidth-modulation (CRPWM) method was reported as a solution for the voltage balance but it has a drawback at the transition of voltage level. To achieve the voltage balance of flying capacitors, the utilization of each carrier must be balanced during a half-cycle of the switching period such as phase-shifted PWM. However, the CRPWM method causes the fluctuation of flying-capacitor voltages because the balanced utilization of carriers is not achieved. Moreover, it does not consider that the load current change has an influence on flying-capacitor voltages by assuming that the current flows into the load. Therefore, the charging and discharging quantities of flying-capacitor voltages do not become zero during the switching period. To overcome the drawbacks of CRPWM, it is modified by the technique where carriers of each band are disposed of symmetrically at every fundamental period. Firstly, the CRPWM method is reviewed and the theory on voltage balance of flying capacitors is analyzed. The proposed method is introduced and is verified through simulation and experimental results.     

Natural Current Balancing of Multicell Current Source Converters

This paper explores the issue of balancing the intermediate inductor currents of a multilevel current source inverter (CSI). The paper begins by identifying that single-phase multicell CSIs and flying capacitor voltage source inverters (FCVSIs) form a topological dual pair. This allows the established understanding of the natural balance process of the FCVSI intermediate capacitor voltages to suggest that the intermediate inductor currents of the CSI should also settle to their target balance values when phase-shifted carrier (PSC) pulse width modulation (PWM) is used. This concept is confirmed by full switched simulations. Next, an analytic model is developed to explore the dynamic response and robustness of the balancing process, using a double Fourier series representation of the converter switching signals to linearise a nonlinear transient circuit model. The model is verified against simulations, and predicts that the resistance of the intermediate inductors can perturb the steady state balancing point. The model further predicts that the resistance of the inductance must be small compared to the load resistance to minimize this effect. Results obtained on a five-level experimental CSI precisely match the theoretical model and hence support these conclusions.     

Modified Phase-Shifted PWM Control for Flying Capacitor Multilevel Converters

The issue of voltage imbalance remains a challenge for the flying capacitor multilevel converter. The phase-shifted pulsewidth modulation (PS-PWM) method has a certain degree of self-balancing properties. However, the method alone is not sufficient to maintain balanced capacitor voltages in practical applications. The paper proposes a closed-loop modified PS-PWM control method by incorporating a novel balancing algorithm. The algorithm takes advantage of switching redundancies to adjust the switching times of selected switching states and thus maintaining the capacitor voltages balanced without adversely affecting the system's performance. Key techniques of the proposed control method, including selection of switching states, calculation of adjusting times for the selected states, and determination of new switching instants of the modified PS-PWM are described and analyzed. Simulation and experimental results are presented to confirm the feasibility of the proposed method     

A four-level inverter based drive with a passive front end

Multilevel inverters are suited for high power drive applications due to their increased voltage capability. Specifically, as compared to three level inverters, for a given DC bus voltage, a four-level inverter is able to synthesize better waveforms with reduced device ratings. In a medium voltage drive, a conventional diode bridge rectifier is a low cost multilevel solution if the DC bus voltages can be balanced from the inverter side alone. In this paper, operation of a four-level drive with a passive rectifier is investigated, and modulation constraints of the inverter, arising from the capacitor voltage balancing requirements are examined. Simulation and experimental results are presented to demonstrate the link voltage balancing strategy and the performance of the four-level drive     

DC voltage control strategy for a five-level converter

This paper describes a control method for a three-phase five-level diode-clamp pulse width modulation (PWM) converter considering DC-link capacitor voltage balancing problem. The proposed control circuit uses multiband hysteresis comparators (MHCs) to simplify the control of the main circuit. The DC-link capacitor voltage balancing problem is solved by changing the shape of the MHC. The proposed method can (1) overcome voltage imbalance at the DC-link capacitors; (2) achieve a unity power factor; (3) generate nearly sinusoidal input currents; and (4) regenerate electric power back to the power system. Simulation and experimental results demonstrate the validity of the proposed method     

A generalized Undeland snubber for flying capacitor multilevel inverter and converter

This paper proposes a snubber circuit for a flying capacitor multilevel inverter and converter. It also explains the concept of constructing a snubber circuit for a multilevel inverter and converter. The proposed snubber circuit makes use of an Undeland snubber as a basic snubber unit, and thus can be regarded as a generalized Undeland snubber for a flying capacitor multilevel inverter and converter. It has such an advantage of Undeland snubber used in the two-level inverter. Compared with a conventional RLD/RCD snubber for multilevel inverter and converter, the proposed snubber keeps such good features as fewer number of components, reduction of voltage stress of main switching devices due to low overvoltage, and improved efficiency of system due to low snubber loss. In this paper, the proposed snubber is applied to a three-level flying capacitor inverter, and its features are in detail demonstrated by computer simulation and experimental result.     

Multilevel inverters: a survey of topologies, controls, and applications

Multilevel inverter technology has emerged recently as a very important alternative in the area of high-power medium-voltage energy control. This paper presents the most important topologies like diode-clamped inverter (neutral-point clamped), capacitor-clamped (flying capacitor), and cascaded multicell with separate DC sources. Emerging topologies like asymmetric hybrid cells and soft-switched multilevel inverters are also discussed. This paper also presents the most relevant control and modulation methods developed for this family of converters: multilevel sinusoidal pulsewidth modulation, multilevel selective harmonic elimination, and space-vector modulation. Special attention is dedicated to the latest and more relevant applications of these converters such as laminators, conveyor belts, and unified power-flow controllers. The need of an active front end at the input side for those inverters supplying regenerative loads is also discussed, and the circuit topology options are also presented. Finally, the peripherally developing areas such as high-voltage high-power devices and optical sensors and other opportunities for future development are addressed.     

Loss-Free Balancing Circuit for Series Connection of Electrolytic Capacitors Using an Auxiliary Switch-Mode Power Supply

Most of today's power converters such as three-phase variable-speed drives, uninterruptible power systems, welding converters, and telecom and server power supplies are based on voltage-source converters equipped with bulky dc-link electrolytic capacitors. To be able to handle full dc bus voltage, the dc bus capacitor is arranged as series-connected electrolytic capacitors rated at lower voltage. An electrolytic capacitor, however, is not an ideal capacitor. It has significant leakage current that strongly depends on the capacitor temperature, voltage, and ageing conditions. To compensate large dispersion of the leakage current and ensure acceptable sharing of the total dc bus voltage among the series-connected capacitors, a passive balancing circuit is often used. Drawbacks of the ordinary passive balancing circuit, such as size, significant losses, and standby consumption are discussed in this paper. An active loss-free balancing circuit, which utilizes an auxiliary switch-mode power supply (SMPS) to equalize the capacitor voltages, is proposed. The capacitors midpoint (MP) is connected to the SMPS via two devices; namely a current injection device and a compensation device. The current injection device injects current into the capacitors MP, while the compensation device sinks the difference between the capacitor leakage currents and the injected current. As a result, the capacitor voltages are controlled and maintained in the desired ratio. The proposed balancing technique is theoretically analyzed and experimentally verified on a laboratory setup. The results are presented and discussed.      

模块化多电平换流器电容电压的滑模观测器研究

模块化多电平换流器（modular multilevel converter,MMC）子模块电容电压的稳压控制是MMC的一个关键难题,在实际应用中,需要大量的电压传感器以获取各子模块电容电压。对此提出了一种电容电压滑模观测器（sliding mode observer,SMO）,根据MMC电路中的桥臂电流和开关信号观测出子模块电容电压,并结合电压闭环控制,实现电容电压的稳定,采用双曲正切函数tanh作该滑模观测器的切换函数,可削弱系统抖振。仿真和实验结果表明该滑模观测器可准确观测出电容电压。     

Diode-clamped multilevel converters: a practicable way to balance DC-link voltages

The converter topologies identified as diode-clamped multilevel (DCM) or, equivalently, as multipoint clamped (MPC), are rarely used in industrial applications, owing to some serious drawbacks involving mainly the stacked bank of capacitors that constitutes their multilevel DC link. The balance of the capacitor voltages is not possible in all operating conditions when the MPC converter possesses a passive front end. On the other hand, in AC/DC/AC power conversion, the back-to-back connection of a multilevel rectifier with a multilevel inverter allows the balance of the DC-link capacitor voltages and, at the same time, it offers the power-factor-correction capability at the mains AC input. An effective balancing strategy suitable for MPC conversion systems with any number of DC-link capacitors is presented here. The strategy has been carefully studied to optimize the converter efficiency. The simulation results related to a high-power conversion system (up to 10 MW) characterized by four intermediate DC-link capacitors are shown.     

Research on a novel capacitor clamped multilevel matrix converter

A new multilevel matrix converter that can be applied to medium or high voltage ac drives is presented to alleviate harmonic components in the output voltage. The proposed converter contains six flying capacitors to balance the voltage distribution of series connection bidirectional switch modules and provide middle voltage levels. Stable flying capacitors voltage must be maintained to facilitate the operation of the converter. When the converter is working, the voltage of flying capacitors can be controlled by swapping two switching modes with opposite charging current corresponding to each middle voltage levels. A simple output voltage vector synthesis method is described and utilized. The operation and commutation strategies are discussed. Simulations and experiments are carried out to validate the proposed converter. Comparisons are made between proposed converter and conventional matrix converter.     

A ZVS imbricated cell multilevel inverter with auxiliary resonant commutated poles

The imbricated-cell multilevel converter is well suited to high power applications. It allows the series connection of n switches with natural voltage sharing between these switches enabled through the connection of n-1 flying capacitors. This paper deals with the application of soft-switching on this topology; to date, only the hard-switching mode has been studied. The use of soft switching enables an increase of the switching frequency (resulting in the size reduction of the flying capacitors) without a decrease of the converter efficiency. Of the soft switching methods considered, the Auxiliary Resonant Commutated Pole (ARCP) technique was chosen due to the relative ease in which it can be incorporated into the converter topology. Furthermore, this technique offers numerous advantages: loss reduction, no added stress to the switches and compatibility with PWM control. The main properties of the ARCP multicell converter are the same as the hard-switched topology: an increase of the apparent output switching frequency and natural self-balancing of the flying-capacitor voltages. This paper presents the results of both simulations performed and measurements taken from an experimental set-up in order to study the viable system functioning. The introduction of soft-switching strongly complicates the theoretical study of the balancing mechanisms, however. As a result, the authors depend on simulations to validate the natural balancing effect during soft switching. Lastly, a general method of loss measurement is presented. Results show that the converter losses are reduced by at least 30%.     

Three-Level Inverter Scheme With Common Mode Voltage Elimination and DC Link Capacitor Voltage Balancing for an Open-End Winding Induction Motor Drive

A dc link capacitor voltage balancing scheme along with common mode voltage elimination is proposed for an induction motor drive, with open-end winding structure. The motor is fed from both the ends with three-level inverters generating a five level output voltage space phasor structure. If switching combinations, with zero common mode voltage in the pole voltage, are used, then the resultant voltage space vector combinations are equivalent to that of a three-level inverter. The proposed inverter vector locations exhibit greater multiplicity in the inverter switching combinations which is suitably exploited to arrive at a capacitor voltage balancing scheme. This allows the use of a single dc link power supply for the combined inverter structure. The simultaneous task of common mode voltage elimination with dc link capacitor voltage balancing, using only the switching state redundancies, is experimentally verified on a 1.5-kW induction motor drive     

多电平电压型变频器(上)

在大功率领域,中点钳位三电平和H桥级联中压变频器应用最广泛,本文在详细讨论它们优缺点的基础上给出其主要适用场合,并分别介绍了它们各自的改进方案。文中还介绍了三种较少应用的多电平变换器:有源中点钳位三电平逆变器;电容钳位四电平变频器和在相支路中接入耦合电抗的多电平变换器。