• The Transactions of the Korean Institute of Power Electronics
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• v.19 no.3
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• pp.257-265
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• 2014

This paper proposes a simple compensation method for switches of the unclamped voltage in the three-level NPC inverter. Voltages of inner-switches can be unclamped in the three-level NPC (neutral point clamped) inverter. It can cause the problem of the switch fault accident. By adding a capacitor, switches of the unclamped voltage can be clamped. Through the analysis of the circuit, the reason behind switches being unclamped was verified which leads to the solution method that designs a compensation capacitor. The proposed method was validated through the simulation and experimental results.

• Journal of Electrical Engineering and Technology
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• v.9 no.2
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• pp.489-500
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• 2014

This paper presents a simple modified unipolar carrier-based pulsewidth modulation (CB-PWM) strategy for the three-level neutral-point-clamped (NPC) voltage source inverter (VSI). Analytical expressions for the relationship between modulation reference signals and output voltages are derived. The proposed modulation technique for the three-level NPC VSI includes the maximum and minimum of the three-phase sinusoidal reference voltages with zero-sequence voltage injection concept. The proposed modified CB-PWM strategy incorporates a novel method that requires only of one triangular carrier wave for generate the gating pulses in three-level NPC VSI. It has the advantages of being simplifying the algorithm with no need of complex two/multi-carrier pulsewidth modulation or space vector modulation (SVM) and it's also simple to implement. The possibility of the proposed CB-PWM technique has been verified though computer simulation and experimental results.

• Journal of Power Electronics
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• v.18 no.2
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• pp.445-455
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• 2018

A novel algorithm is proposed to regulate the neutral point potential in neutral point clamped three-level inverters. Oscillations of the neutral point potential and an unbalanced dc-link voltage cause distortions of the output voltage. Large capacitors, which make the application costly and bulky, are needed to eliminate oscillations. Thus, the algorithm proposed in this paper utilizes the finite-control-set model predictive control and the multistage medium vector to solve these issues. The proposed strategy consists of a two-step prediction and a cost function to evaluate the selected multistage medium vector. Unlike the virtual vector method, the multistage medium vector is a mixture of the virtual vector and the original vector. In addition, its amplitude is variable. The neutral point current generated by it can be used to adjust the neutral point potential. When compared with the virtual vector method, the multistage medium vector contributes to decreasing the regulation time when the modulation index is high. The vectors are rearranged to cope with the variable switching frequency of the model predictive control. Simulation and experimental results verify the validity of the proposed strategy.

• Proceedings of the KIPE Conference
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• 2004.07b
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• pp.630-634
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• 2004

A new three phase three-level Pulse Width Modulation (PWM) Switched Voltage Source (SVS) inverter with zero neutral point potential is proposed. The major advantage is that the peak value of the phase output voltage is twice as high as that of the conventional neutral-point-clamped (NPC) PWM inverter. Furthermore, three-level waveforms of the proposed inverter can be achieved without switch voltage unbalance problem. Since the average neutral point potential of the proposed inverter is zero, the common ground between input stage and output stage is possible. The proposed inverter is verified by experimental results based on a laboratory prototype.

• The Transactions of The Korean Institute of Electrical Engineers
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• v.57 no.7
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• pp.1200-1207
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• 2008

In this paper, a novel fault detection method is proposed when the neutral-point-clamped inverter has a open-circuit fault in the switching device. This proposed method is configured with simple circuit and is achieved by a simple algorithm using the inherent characteristic of the continuous Pulse Width Modulation. Also, this method has the fast fault detection ability and is much simpler to embody, in comparison with conventional fault detection methods. This ability to detect fault minimizes harmful effect which are such as DC-link voltage unbalance and overstress to other switching devices. Therefore, this proposed fault detection method can improve reliability of NPC inverter system. Experimental results are presented to verify the validity of proposed fault detection method.

• Journal of Power Electronics
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• v.19 no.4
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• pp.944-955
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• 2019

In this paper, the three-level T-type neutral-point-clamped indirect matrix converter topology and the relative space vector modulation methods are introduced to improve the voltage transfer ratio and output voltage performance. The presented converter topology is based on combinations of cascaded-rectifier and three-level T-type neutral-point-clamp inverter. It can overcome the limitation of voltage transfer ratio of the conventional matrix converter and the high voltage rating of power switches of conventional matrix converter. Two SVPWM strategies for proposed converter are described in this paper to achieve the advantages features such as: sinusoidal input/output currents and three-level output voltage waveforms. Results from Psim 9.0 software simulation are provided to confirm the theoretical analysis. Hence, a laboratory prototype was implemented, and the experimental results are shown to validate the simulation results and to verify the effectiveness of the proposed topology and modulation strategies.

• Journal of Power Electronics
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• v.16 no.2
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• pp.455-463
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• 2016

This paper proposes a compensation method to improve the distorted space vectors when a 3-level Neutral Point Clamped (NPC) inverter has an unbalanced neutral point voltage. Since both the neutral point voltage of the DC link and the space vector of a 3-level NPC inverter are closely related depending on the output load connecting state, a distorted space vector can occur when the neutral point voltage of a 3-level NPC inverter is unbalanced. The proposed method can improve the distorted space vectors by adjusting the injection time of the small and medium vectors and by modulating the amplitude of the carrier waveforms. In this paper, the proposed method is verified by both simulation and experimental results based on a 3-level NPC inverter.

• Journal of Power Electronics
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• v.5 no.3
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• pp.224-232
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• 2005

A new three phase three-level Pulse Width Modulation (PWM) Switched Voltage Source (SVS) inverter with zero neutral point potential is proposed. It consists of three single-phase inverter modules. Each module is composed of a switched voltage source and inverter switches. The major advantage is that the peak value of the phase output voltage is twice as high as that of a conventional neutral-point-clamped (NPC) PWM inverter. Thus, the proposed inverter is suitable for applications with low voltage sources such as batteries, fuel cells, or solar cells. Furthermore, three-level waveforms of the proposed inverter can be achieved without the switch voltage imbalance problem. Since the average neutral point potential of the proposed inverter is zero, a common ground between the input stage and the output stage is possible. Therefore, it can be applied to a transformer-less Power Conditioning System (PCS). The proposed inverter is verified by a PSpice simulation and experimental results based on a laboratory prototype.

• The Transactions of the Korean Institute of Power Electronics
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• v.12 no.2
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• pp.115-122
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• 2007

In this paper, a novel fault detection method for fault tolerant control is proposed when the NPC inverter has a open failure in the switching device. The open fault of switching device is detected by checking the variation of a leg-voltage in the neutral-point-clamped inverter and the two phases control method is used for continuously balance the three phases voltage to the load. It can be achieve the fault tolerant control for improving the reliability of the NPC inverter by the fault detection and reconfiguration. This method has fast detection ability and a simple realization for fault detection, compared with a conventional method. Also, this fast detection ability improved the harmful effects such as DC-link voltage unbalance and overstress to other switching devices from a delay of fault detection. The proposed method has been verified by simulation and experiment.

• Proceedings of the KIPE Conference
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• 1998.11a
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• pp.33-37
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• 1998

For the high power variable speed applications, the DCTLI(diode clamped three-level inverter) have been widely used. This paper describes the analysis of the neutral point current of the DCTLI and the improved space vector-based PWM strategy considering the switching frequency of power devices, that minimizes the fluctuation of the neutral point current in spite of high modulation index region and low power factor. It contributes to decrease the capacitance of dc-link capacitor bank and to increase the neutral point voltage controllable region. Especially, even if second (or even) order harmonic is induced in load current (at this situation, is was investigated that the general control method can not suppress the neutral point voltage variation), this PWM can provide effective control method to suppress the neutral point voltage variation. Various simulation results by means of Matlab/Simulation are presented to verify the proposed PWM.