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

• Journal of Microbiology and Biotechnology
• /
• v.11 no.5
• /
• pp.863-869
• /
• 2001

A systematic study of microbial fuel cells comprised of alkalophilic Bacillus sp. B-31 has been carried out under various operating conditions. A significant amount of electricity was generated when redox mediators were used. Among the phenothiazine-type redox dyes tested, azure A was found to be the most effective both in maintaining a high cell voltage and for the long-term operation. The maximum efficiency was and for the long-term operation. The maximum efficiency was obtained at ca. $50^{\circ}C$ giving an open circuit voltage of 0.7V. A small change in temperature did not significantly affect the cell performance, but a rapid decrease in performance was observed below $20^{\circ}C$ and above $70^{\circ}C$. It was noticeable that fuel cell efficiency and discharge pattern depended strongly on the carbon source used in the initial culture medium. Regardless of the initial carbon sources, only glucose and trehalose were utilized as substrates. Galactose, however, was not substantially utilized except when galactose was used in the initial medium. Glucose, in particular, showed $87\%$ coulombic efficiency, which was the highest value ever reported, when Bacillus sp. was cultured in a maltose-containing medium. This study demonstrates that highly efficient microbial fuel cells can be constructed with alkalophilic microorganisms by fine-tuning the operating conditions and by carefully selecting carbon sources in the initial culture medium.

• Journal of the Korea Institute of Information and Communication Engineering
• /
• v.6 no.5
• /
• pp.731-738
• /
• 2002

In this paper, we analyzed a medium voltage power line characteristics considering the skin effect for high speed data transmission. Medium power-line characteristics impedance was obtained by the S-parameter method which is used in high frequency band. Power line channel characteristics was measured using it designed coupler, it is a wide band coupler between medium powe-line and measurement system. Attenuation characteristics along the frequency was decreased linearly when skin effect was considered but attenuation characteristics along the frequency was decreased linearly when skin effect was not considered. Impedance was showed lower and lower in proportional to frequency, and variation was decreased in proportional to frequency.

• Journal of Electrical Engineering and Technology
• /
• v.9 no.4
• /
• pp.1296-1308
• /
• 2014

This paper presents a new zero voltage switching (ZVS) converter for medium power and high input voltage applications. Three three-level pulse-width modulation (PWM) circuits with the same power switches are adopted to clamp the voltage stress of MOSFETs at $V_{in}/2$ and to achieve load current sharing. Thus, the current stresses and power ratings of transformers and power semiconductors at the secondary side are reduced. The resonant inductance and resonant capacitance are resonant at the transition interval such that active switches are turned on at ZVS within a wide range of input voltage and load condition. The series-connected transformers are adopted in each three-level circuit. Each transformer can work as an inductor to smooth the output current or a transformer to achieve the electric isolation and power transfer. Thus, no output inductor is needed at the secondary side. Three center-tapped rectifiers connected in parallel are used at the secondary side to achieve load current sharing. Compared with the conventional parallel three-level converters, the proposed converter has less switch counts. Finally, experiments based on a 1.44kW prototype are provided to verify the operation principle of proposed converter.

• Journal of computational fluids engineering
• /
• v.19 no.3
• /
• pp.24-28
• /
• 2014

With ever rising concerns about saving of fossil fuel resource, there have been an increasing demand for use of energy more efficiently. The electric motor driven inverters can be a great help to improve energy efficiency. They are also used to control the motor speed to the actual need. Therefore the use of them can lead to reduce energy consumption. In particular, the medium voltage(MV) drive systems used for pumps, fans, steel rolling mills and tractions have widespread applications in the industry. They cover power ratings from 0.4MW to 40MW at the MV level of 2.3kV to 13.8kV. The majority of the installed MV drive systems however, are in the 1MW to 4MW range with voltage rating from 3.3kV to 6.6kV. But they are required to reduce size and weight like other power electronic equipments. In this paper, we studied on the 3.3kV(105A) compact rack type inverter system for improving the cooling efficiency. At first, we confirmed the tendency of temperature with computational simulation using ANSYS ICEPAK and actual experimental tests. And then we researched thermal performance improvement designs in order to reduce temperature of the transformer for the safe operation. It can reduce temperature of transformer that using pipe type flow guide in the system. As a result, we found out more efficient solution by thermal-fluid analysis.

• 전기의세계
• /
• v.68 no.1
• /
• pp.17-21
• /
• 2019

• Journal of Power Electronics
• /
• v.16 no.4
• /
• pp.1551-1564
• /
• 2016

The high penetration level of inverter-based distributed generation (DG) power plants is challenging the low-voltage ride-through requirements, especially under unbalanced voltage sags. Recently, a flexible injection of both positive- (PS) and negative-sequence (NS) reactive currents has been suggested for the next generation of grid codes. This can enhance the ancillary services for voltage support at the point of common coupling (PCC). In light of this, considering distant grid faults that occur in a mainly inductive grid, this paper proposes a complete voltage support control scheme for the interface inverters of medium or high-rated DG power plants. The first contribution is the development of a reactive current reference generator combining PS and NS, with a feature to increase the PS voltage and simultaneously decrease the NS voltage, to mitigate voltage imbalance. The second contribution is the design of a voltage support control loop with two flexible PCC voltage set points, which can ensure continuous operation within the limits required in grid codes. In addition, a current saturation strategy is also considered for deep voltage sags to avoid overcurrent protection. Finally, simulation and experimental results are presented to validate the effectiveness of the proposed control scheme.

• Journal of Power Electronics
• /
• v.19 no.1
• /
• pp.108-118
• /
• 2019

This paper proposes a DC-link voltage balance controller using the fourth-phase of a three-level neutral-point clamped (NPC) PWM converter with medium vector selection (MVS) PWM for common-mode voltage reduction. MVS PWM makes the voltage reference by synthesizing the voltage vectors that cannot generate common-mode voltage. This PWM method is effective for reducing the EMI noise emitted from converter systems. However, the DC-link voltage imbalance problem is caused by the use of limited voltage vectors. Therefore, in this paper, the effect of MVS PWM on the DC-link voltage of a three-level NPC converter is analyzed. Then a proportional-derivative (PD) controller for the DC-link voltage balance is designed from the DC-link modeling. In addition, feedforward compensation of the neutral point current is included in the proposed PD controller. The effectiveness of the proposed controller is verified by experimental results.

• Journal of Power Electronics
• /
• v.17 no.4
• /
• pp.1088-1096
• /
• 2017

Load variations on a distribution line result in voltage fluctuations at the point of common coupling (PCC). In order to keep the magnitude of the PCC voltage constant at its rated value and obtain zero voltage regulation (ZVR), a D-STATCOM is installed for voltage correction. Moreover, the ZVR mode of a D-STATCOM can also be used to balance the source current during unbalanced loading. For medium voltage and high power applications, a D-STATCOM is realized by the cascaded H-bridge topology. In the ZVR mode, the D-STATCOM may draw unbalanced current and in this process is required to handle different phase powers leading to deviations in the cluster voltages. Zero sequence voltage needs to be injected for ZVR mode, which creates circulating power among the phases of the D-STATCOM. The computed zero sequence voltage and the individual DC capacitor balancing controller help the DC cluster voltage follow the reference voltage. The effectiveness of the control scheme is verified by modeling the system in MATLAB/SIMULINK. The obtained simulations are further validated by the experimental results using a dSPACE DS1106 and five-level D-STATCOM experimental set up.

• Journal of Magnetics
• /
• v.21 no.1
• /
• pp.83-93
• /
• 2016

Due to their performances and inherent benefits, especially in medium-voltage and high-power applications, multilevel inverters have received an increasing attention in real world industrial applications. The present paper deals with a review of the main multilevel inverter topologies as well their most common derived and hybrid structures quoted in previous research works. It also encompasses an investigation on voltage harmonic elimination and THD estimation. For that reason, the paper summarizes the most relevant modulation techniques used so far to enhance the output voltage quality. Theoretical formulas evoked in the literature, for calculating the output voltage THD upper and lower bounds are reported and verified by adequate simulations.