• Proceedings of the KIPE Conference
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• 2008.06a
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• pp.385-387
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• 2008

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, in many literatures NP potential problem has been investigated and lots of solutions have also been proposed. However, in the case of NP potential variation was rarely published from the standpoint of reliability. In this paper, NP potential is analytically investigated both normal and fault conditions under carrier based PWM. Subsequently, relation between fault detection time and size of capacitor is analyzed. This information is explored by simulation results, which contribute to enhance the reliability of the NPC inverter system.

• Journal of Power Electronics
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• v.16 no.6
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• pp.2085-2098
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• 2016

Laminated busbars with a low stray inductance are widely used in NPC three-level inverters, even though some of them have poor performances in heat equilibrium and overvoltage suppression. Therefore, a theoretical method is in need to establish an accurate mathematical model of laminated busbars and to calculate the impedance and stray inductance of each commutation loop to improve the heat equilibrium and overvoltage suppression performance. Firstly, an equivalent circuit of a NPC three-level inverter laminated busbar was built with an analysis of the commutation processes. Secondly, on the basis of a 3D (three dimensional) cubical thermal model and mirror circulation theory, a supersymmetric mirror circulation 3D cubical thermal model was built. Based on this, the laminated busbar was decomposed in 3D space to calculate the equivalent resistance and stray inductance in each commutation loop. Finally, the model and analysis results were put into a busbar design, simulation and experiments, whose results demonstrate the accuracy and feasibility of the proposed method.

• Journal of Power Electronics
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• v.16 no.6
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• pp.2076-2084
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• 2016

In this paper, a novel scheme to eliminate common-mode voltage (CMV) is proposed for three-level neutral-point clamped (NPC) inverters. In the proposed scheme, a low-power full-bridge converter is utilized to produce compensatory voltage for CMV, which is injected into an NPC inverter through a single-phase four-winding transformer. With the proposed circuit, the power range for applications is not limited, and the maximum modulation index of the inverter is not reduced. These features are suitable for high-power medium-voltage machine drives. The effectiveness of the proposed method is verified by simulation and experimental results.

• The Transactions of the Korean Institute of Power Electronics
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• v.13 no.1
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• pp.9-14
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• 2008

Since they use the low switching frequency in multilevel inverter systems, they generate the high low frequency harmonic components. Generally, LC filter is used at the output terminal of inverter systems to solve this problem. But it causes a voltage drop at the output terminal by use of damping resistors, and causes the problem in which system efficiency decreases due to power loss of the damping resistor. In this paper, we proposed an output filter design method for NPC three-level inverter systems with low switching frequency. And we analyzed the efficiency of the proposed filter system, and the effectiveness of the proposed system is verified by simulation and experimental results.

• The Transactions of the Korean Institute of Power Electronics
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• v.14 no.4
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• pp.333-342
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• 2009

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, in many literatures NP potential problem has been investigated and lots of solutions have also been proposed. However, under fault and fault tolerant control, distinctive feature for NP potential variation problem was rarely published from the standpoint of reliability. In this paper, NP potential is analytically investigated both normal and faulty conditions under carrier based PWM. Subsequently, relation between fault detection time and size of capacitor is analyzed. This information is explored by simulation and experiment results, which contribute to enhance the reliability of inverter system.

• The Transactions of the Korean Institute of Power Electronics
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• v.22 no.4
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• pp.369-372
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• 2017

This paper presents a control scheme for three-level NPC inverters using small DC-link capacitors. To reduce the inverter system volume, the film capacitor with small capacitance is a promising candidate for the DC-link. When small capacitors are applied in a three level inverter, however, the AC ripple component increases in the DC-link NPV (neutral point voltage). In addition, the three-phase input grid currents are distorted when the DC-link capacitors are fed by diode rectifier. In this paper, the additional circuit is applied to compensate for small capacitor systems defect, and the offset voltage injection method is presented for the stabilization in NPV. These two proposed processes evidently ensure the quality improvement of the input grid currents and output load currents. The feasibility of the proposed method is verified by experimental results.

• Proceedings of the KIPE Conference
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• 2001.10a
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• pp.369-373
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• 2001

Multilevel inverter has attracted great interest in high-voltage high-power field because of its less distorted output. In this paper, a direct torque control (DTC) technique based on a three-level neutral-point-clamped (NPC) inverter is presented. In order to solve the intrinsic neutral-point voltage-balancing problem and to obtain a high performance DTC, a special vector selection method is introduced and the concept of virtual vector is developed. By using the proposed PWM strategy, a MRAS speed sensor-less DTC drive can be achieved without sensing the neutral-point voltage, The strategy can be verified by simulation and experimental results.

• The Transactions of the Korean Institute of Power Electronics
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• v.27 no.4
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• pp.291-296
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• 2022

Capacitor is one of the reliability-critical components in power converters. The lifetime of the capacitor decreases as the operating temperature increases, and power losses caused by capacitor current are the main cause of the capacitor temperature increase. Therefore, various studies are being conducted to improve the lifetime of the capacitor by reducing the current of DC-link capacitors. In this study, pulse width modulation methods proposed for improving the lifetime of DC-link capacitors of the three-level NPC inverter are comparatively analyzed. The lifetime evaluation of the DC-link capacitor under different modulation methods is performed at component level first and then system level by considering all capacitors by applying Monte Carlo simulation. Furthermore, their effects on the efficiency and THD of the output current are also considered.

• 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.

• Journal of Electrical Engineering and Technology
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• v.6 no.5
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• pp.595-604
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• 2011

A three-phase three-level shunt active filter controlled by fuzzy logic current controller which can compensate current harmonics generated by nonlinear loads is presented. Three-level inverters and fuzzy controllers have been successfully employed in several power electronic applications these past years. To improve the conventional pwm controller performance, a new control scheme based on fuzzy current controller is adopted for three-level (NPC) shunt active filter. The scheme is designed to improve compensation capability of APF by adjusting the current error using a fuzzy rule. The inverter current reference signals required to compensate harmonic currents use the synchronous reference detection method. This technique is easy to implement and achieves good results. To maintain the dc voltage across capacitor constant and reduce inverter losses, a proportional integral voltage controller is used. The simulation of global system control and power circuits is performed using Matlab-Simulink and SimPowerSystem toolbox. The results obtained in transient and steady states under various operating conditions show the effectiveness of the proposed shunt active filter based on fuzzy current controller compared to the conventional scheme.