• The Transactions of the Korean Institute of Power Electronics
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• v.19 no.2
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• pp.173-183
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• 2014

In this paper, an analysis of power losses for the three-level T-type and neutral-point clamped (NPC) PWM inverters is presented, in which the conduction and switching losses of semiconductor devices of the inverters are taken into account. In the inverter operation, the conduction loss depends on the modulation index (MI) and power factor (PF), whereas the switching loss depends on the switching frequency. Power losses for the T-type and NPC inverters are analyzed and calculated at the different operating points of MI, PF and the switching frequency, in which the four different models of semiconductor devices are adopted. In the case of lower MI, the NPC-type is more efficient than the T-type, and vice versa. The validity of the power loss analysis has been verified by the simulation results.

• The Transactions of the Korean Institute of Power Electronics
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• v.19 no.4
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• pp.376-382
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• 2014

This paper proposes the pulse width modulation (PWM) control strategy for low-speed operation in the three-level neutral-point-clamped (NPC) inverters based on the bootstrap gate drive circuit. As a purpose of the cost reduction, several papers have paid attention to the bootstrap circuit applied to the three-level NPC inverter. However, the bootstrap gate driver IC cannot generate the gate signal to the IGBT for low-speed operation, because the bootstrap capacitor voltage decreases under the threshold level. For low-speed operation, the dipolar and partial-dipolar modulations can be the effective solution. However, these modulations have drawbacks in terms of the switching loss and THD. Therefore, this paper proposes the PWM control strategy to operate the inverter at low-speed and to minimize the switching loss and harmonics. The experimental results are presented to verify the validity on the proposed method.

• Journal of the Korean Society for Railway
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• v.15 no.2
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• pp.129-134
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• 2012

In this paper, speed control of IPMSM drives for the next generation domestic high speed railway system using NPC 3-level inverters is presented. The NPC multilevel inverter is suitable for the high-voltage and high-power motor drive system because it has advantages in that the voltage rating of the power semiconductor devices and output current harmonics are reduced. For the speed control of IPMSM using NPC 3-level inverters, maximum torque control is applied in the constant torque region, and filed weakening control is applied in the constant power region. Simulation programs based on MATLAB/Simulink are developed. Finally the designed system is verified and their characteristics are analyzed by the simulation results.

• Journal of Power Electronics
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• v.19 no.3
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• pp.702-713
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• 2019

Multilevel Inverters (MLIs) are widely used in medium voltage applications due to their various advantages. In addition, there are numerous types of MLIs for such applications. However, the diode-less 3-level (3L) T-type Neutral Point Clamped (NPC) MLI is the most advantageous due to its low conduction losses and high potential efficiency. The power circuit of a 3L T-type NPC is derived by the conventional two level inverter by a slight modification. In order to explore the MLI performance for various Pulse Width Modulation (PWM) schemes, this paper examines the operation of a 3L (five level line to line) T-type NPC MLI for various types of Multi-Carriers Pulse Width Modulation (MCPWM) schemes. These PWM schemes are compared in terms of their voltage profile, total harmonic distortion (THD) and conduction losses. In addition, a 3L T-type NPC MLI is also compared with the conventional NPC in terms of number of switches, clamping diodes, main diodes and capacitors. Moreover, the capacitor-balancing problem is also investigated using the Neutral Point Fluctuation (NPF) method with all of the MCPWM schemes. A 1kW 3L T-type NPC MLI is simulated in MATLAB/Simulink and implemented experimentally and its performance is tested with a 1HP induction motor. The results indicate that the 3L T-type NPC MLI has better performance than conventional NPC MLIs.

• The Transactions of The Korean Institute of Electrical Engineers
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• v.66 no.5
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• pp.778-785
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• 2017

This paper presents a control method for reducing the distortion of the grid current at a grid-connected three-level neutral point clamped (NPC) inverter. The grid current is distorted from the 5th and 7th harmonic components in the stationary frame current also the 6th harmonic component in the synchronous frame current. In this paper, the 6th harmonic component on synchronous frame is controlled by using all-pass filters (APFs) and proportional integral (PI) controllers for distortion of the grid side. When transformed the 6th harmonic component is controlled, the 5th and 7th harmonic components are reduced. The validity of the proposed control method is verified by simulation and experiment results using a 25kW three-level NPC inverter.

• Journal of Electrical Engineering and Technology
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• v.8 no.3
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• pp.544-558
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• 2013

This paper proposes a simplified and efficient control scheme for Unified Power Quality Conditioner (UPQC) based on three-level (NPC) inverter capable to mitigate source current harmonics and compensate all voltage disturbances perturbations such us, voltage sags, swells, unbalances and harmonics. The UPQC is designed by the integration of series and shunt active filters (AFs) sharing a common dc bus capacitor. The dc voltage is maintained constant using proportional integral voltage controller. The shunt and series AF are designed using a three-phase three-level (NPC) inverter. The synchronous reference frame (SRF) theory is used to get the reference signals for shunt and the power reactive theory (PQ) for a series APFs. The reference signals for the shunt and series APF are derived from the control algorithm and sensed signals are injected in tow controllers to generate switching signals for series and shunt APFs. The performance of proposed UPQC system is evaluated in terms of power factor correction and mitigation of voltage, current harmonics and all voltage disturbances compensation in three-phase, three-wire power system using MATLAB-Simulink software and SimPowerSystem Toolbox. The simulation results demonstrate that the proposed UPQC system can improve the power quality at the common connection point of the non-linear load.

• Journal of the Semiconductor & Display Technology
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• v.14 no.4
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• pp.72-77
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• 2015

Three-level diode clamped multilevel inverter, generally known as neutral point clamped (NPC) inverter, has an inherent problem causing neutral point (NP) potential variation. Until now, the NP potential problem of variation has been investigated and lots of solutions have also been proposed. This paper presents a neutral point voltage control technology using the anti-windup PI controller and offset technology of PWM (Pulse Width Modulation) to control the variation of NPC 3-phase three-level inverter neutral point voltage. And the proposed algorithm is tested and verified using a PLL (Phase Locked Loop) in order to synchronize the phase voltage from the line voltage of grid. It significantly improves the voltage balancing under a solar fluctuation conditions of the inverter. Experimental results show the good performance and effectiveness of the proposed method.

• The Transactions of the Korean Institute of Power Electronics
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• v.14 no.6
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• pp.472-480
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• 2009

This paper describes the overmodulative SVPWM technique and harmonics analyses of three phase NPC type three-level inverter to the modulation index. Three phase NPC type three-level inverter adopted SVPWM to extend the linear region to 0.907, moreover, the following voltage compensation using Fourier series was adopted in the region of overmodulation to make it work to six-step level. PD type of multi carrier method is used with the double Fourier series for the analysis of output power harmonics characteristic. Simulation was performed by PSIM, and the harmonics characteristics of 3-level inverter in each region are analyzed. The side band harmonics of carrier frequency are dominant in the linear region, but these harmonic components are decreased as the inveter goes to overmodulation region, and the harmonics due to the fundamental frequency is increased gradually at the same time. The harmonic analyses are verified through the simulation and experimental results under the same condition.

• Proceedings of the KIEE Conference
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• 1998.07f
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• pp.1963-1965
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• 1998

In this paper, a new simplified configuration for a multi-level PWM inverter is proposed. The proposed inverter consists of an auxiliary circuit with one switching device, and 3 phase full-bridge inverter. The proposed inverter, in spite of reduction of the switching devices, offers characteristics similar to the NPC(Neutral - point - clamped)- PWM inverter. Also, since the reduction of the switching devices, the control strategy is simplified. And switching loss is reduced. In addition to, it is possible that reliable DC level voltage than former multi-level inverter. And load power application is same to conventional NPC-PWM inverter. The performance of the system is verified by simulation. In this paper, show the simulation result of the single phase full bridge inverter application.

• Proceedings of the KIPE Conference
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• 2007.07a
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• pp.403-405
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• 2007

This paper presents the over-modulation strategy and indirect vector control drive of NPC type PWM inverter. NPC inverter has three level phase voltage output.It can perform in high voltage through assembling switching components. It has less harmonics and surge voltage stress at motor terminals than the 2 level inverter in same switching frequency through 3 level voltage. The conventional railway vehicle has used the vector control to MI=0.907 and the slip-frequency control from MI=0.907 to six-step mode. The slip-frequency control has bad motive power and slow torque control response. But vector control has good motive power and can instant torque control. In this paper, output voltage is controlled linearly from linear region to six-step mode by using over-modulation strategy. And NPC inverter is used.