• Journal of Power Electronics
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• 제17권3호
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• pp.653-663
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• 2017

Multilevel active neutral-point-clamped (ANPC) converter combines the advantages of three-level ANPC converter and multilevel flying capacitor (FC) converter. However, multilevel ANPC converter often suffers from capacitor voltage balancing problems. In order to solve the capacitor voltage balancing problems for five-level ANPC converter, phase-shifted pulse width modulation (PS-PWM) is used, which generally provides natural voltage balancing ability. However, the natural voltage balancing ability depends on the load conditions and converter parameters. In order to eliminate voltage deviations under steady-state and dynamic conditions, the active voltage-balancing control (AVBC) methods of floating capacitors and dc-link capacitors based on PS-PWM are proposed. First, the neutral-point current is regulated to balance the neutral-point voltage by injecting zero-sequence voltage. After that, the duty cycles of the redundant switch combinations are adjusted to balance the floating-capacitor voltages by introducing moderating variables for each of the phases. Finally, the effectiveness of the proposed AVBC methods is verified by experimental results.

• Journal of Electrical Engineering and Technology
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• 제12권4호
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• pp.1471-1483
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• 2017

The low-frequency characteristics of four-switch three-phase (FSTP) inverter are investigated in this paper. Firstly, a general space vector pulse width modulation (SVPWM) directly involved the neutral point voltage of DC-link is proposed, where no sector identifications and trigonometric function calculations are needed. Subsequently, to suppress the DC offset in the neutral point voltage, the relationship between the neutral point voltage and the ${\beta}-axis$ component of the load current is derived, and then a new neutral point voltage control scheme is proposed where no low pass filter is adopted. Finally, the relationship between the load power factor and the maximum linear modulation index of the FSTP inverter is revealed. Since the operational region for the FSTP inverter in low frequency is reduced by the enlarged amplitude of the neutral point voltage, a linear modulation range enlargement scheme is proposed. A permanent magnet synchronous motor with preset rotary speed serves as the low-frequency load of the FSTP inverter. Experimental results verify that the new neutral point voltage control scheme is effective in the deviation suppression of the neutral point voltage, and the proposed scheme is able to provide a larger linear operational region in low frequency.

• 전력전자학회논문지
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• 제19권5호
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• pp.407-414
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• 2014

This study proposes a control design for the grid output current and for reducing the neutral-point voltage oscillation through the small-signal modeling of the three-phase grid connected with a three-level neutral-point-clamped (NPC) inverter with LCL filter. The three-level NPC inverter presents an inherent problem: the neutral-point voltage fluctuation caused by the neutral-point current flowing in or out from the neutral point. The small signal modeling consists of averaging, dq0 transformation, perturbing, and linearizing steps performed on a three-phase grid connected to a three-level NPC inverter with LCL filter. The proposed method controls both the grid output and neutral-point currents at every switching period and reduces the neutral-point voltage oscillation. The validity of the proposed method is verified through simulation and experiment.

• Journal of Power Electronics
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• 제15권1호
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• pp.106-115
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• 2015

This paper proposes a novel direct power control (DPC) strategy for neutral-point-clamped (NPC) three-level rectifiers, to directly control the active power, the reactive power and the neutral point potential of the rectifiers by referring to three pre-calculated vector influence tables and minimizing an objective function. In the three vector influence tables, the influences of different voltage vectors on the active power, the reactive power and the neutral-point potential are shown explicitly. A conceptual description and control algorithm of the proposed controller are presented in this paper. Then, numerical simulations and experiments are carried out to validate the proposed method. Both the simulation and experimental results show that good performances during both the steady-state and transient operating conditions are achieved. As a result, the proposed strategy has been proven to be effective for NPC three-level rectifiers.

• 전력전자학회:학술대회논문집
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• 전력전자학회 2016년도 전력전자학술대회 논문집
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• pp.151-152
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• 2016

This paper presents a neutral point deviation compensating control algorithm applied to a 3-level NPC converter under generalized unbalanced ac input conditions. The neutral point deviation is analyzed with a focus on the current flowing out of or into the neutral point of the dc-link in 3-level NPC converter. The model of neutral point deviation and neutral current are also constructed. The positive and negative sequence components of the pole voltages and ac input currents are employed to accurately explain the behavior of 3-level NPC converter and its impact on neutral point deviation. This paper includes the harmonic characteristic of neutral point current under various imbalance AC operating conditions.

• Journal of Power Electronics
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• 제19권1호
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• pp.119-133
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• 2019

Although the dual modulation wave method can solve the low-frequency neutral point potential (NPP) fluctuation problem for three-level neutral point clamped converters, it also increases the switching frequency and limits the zero-sequence voltage. That makes it harmful when dealing with the NPP drift problem if the converter suffers from a long dead time or asymmetric loads. By introducing two degrees of freedom (2-DOF), an NPP control based on a search optimization method can demonstrate its ability to cope with the above mentioned two types of NPP problems. However, the amount of calculations for obtaining an optimal 2-DOF is so large that the method cannot be applied to certain industrial applications with an inexpensive digital signal processor. In this paper, a novel optimal 2-DOF-based NPP control is proposed. The relationships between the NPP and the 2-DOF are analyzed and a method for directly determining the optimal 2-DOF is also discussed. Using a direct calculation method, the amount of calculations is significantly reduced. In addition, the proposed method is able to maintain the strongest control ability for the two types of NPP problems. Finally, some experimental results are given to confirm the validity and feasibility of the proposed method.

• Journal of Power Electronics
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• 제14권2호
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• pp.315-323
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• 2014

An optimized space vector pulse width modulation (SVPWM) method with common mode voltage elimination and neutral point potential balancing is proposed for an open-end winding induction motor. The motor is fed from both of the ends with two neutral point clamped (NPC) three-level inverters. In order to eliminate the common mode voltage of the motor ends and balance the neutral point potential of the DC link, only zero common mode voltage vectors are used and a balancing control factor is gained from calculation in the strategy. In order to improve the harmonic characteristics of the output voltages and currents, the balancing control factor is regulated properly and the theoretical analysis is provided. Simulation and experimental results show that by adopting the proposed method, the common mode voltage can be completely eliminated, the neutral point potential can be accurately balanced and the harmonic performance for the output voltages and currents can be effectively improved.

• Journal of Power Electronics
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• 제3권4호
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• pp.205-214
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• 2003

This paper proposes a simple control strategy based on the discontinuous PWM (DPWM) to balance the DC-link voltage of three-level neutral-point-clamped (NPC) inverter at low modulation index. It introduces new DPWM methods in multi-level inverter and one of them is used for balancing the DC-link voltage. The current flowing in the neutral point of the DC-link causes the fluctuation of the DC-link voltage of the NPC inverter. The proposed DPWM method changes the path and duration time of the neutral point current, which makes the overall fluctuation of the DC-link voltage zero during a sampling time of the reference voltage vector. Therefore, by using the proposed strategy, the voltage of the DC-link can be balanced fairly well and the voltage ripple of the DC-link is also reduced significantly. Moreover, comparing with conventional methods which have to perform the complicated calculation, the proposed strategy is very simple. The validity of the proposed DPWM method is verified by the experiment.

• 전기전자학회논문지
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• 제24권3호
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• pp.867-876
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• 2020

본 논문에서는 3레벨 인버터로 구동되는 IPMSM의 고주파 주입 센서리스 운전에서 중성점 전압 리플 저감을 제안한다. 고주파 전압 주입 기반의 센서리스 제어는 IPMSM의 저속 영역에서 일반적으로 사용하는 센서리스 제어 기법이다. 고주파 전압 주입을 이용한 IPMSM의 센서리스 제어 과정에서 중성점에서의 전압 리플이 증가하는 문제가 발생한다. 중성점에서의 큰 전압 리플은 출력 전류를 왜곡시킬 뿐만 아니라 직류단 커패시터의 수명을 단축시키므로 저감되어야 한다. 본 논문에서 제안하는 기법은 지령 전압에 적절한 값을 보상하여 중성점 전압 리플을 저감하며, 보상값은 지령 전압과 전류를 이용하여 간단히 계산한다. 제안하는 중성점 전압 리플 저감 기법의 타당성은 시뮬레이션을 통해 검증한다.

• Journal of Electrical Engineering and Technology
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• 제12권6호
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• pp.2227-2236
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• 2017

In order to solve the neutral-point voltage fluctuation problem of three-phase three-level T-type inverters (TPTLTIs), the unbalance characteristics of capacitor voltages under different switching states and the mechanism of neutral-point voltage fluctuation are revealed. Based on the mathematical model of a TPTLTI, a feed-forward voltage balancing control strategy of DC-link capacitor voltages error is proposed. The strategy generates a DC bias voltage using a capacitor voltage loop with a proportional integral (PI) controller. The proposed strategy can suppress the neutral-point voltage fluctuation effectively and improve the quality of output currents. The correctness of the theoretical analysis is verified through simulations. An experimental prototype of a TPTLTI based on Digital Signal Processor (DSP) is built. The feasibility and effectiveness of the proposed strategy is verified through experiment. The results from simulations and experiment match very well.