In this paper, an alternative non-isolated DC-DC converter with a high voltage boosting capability is proposed. Two inductors are used and one of them has its flux linkage increases during its charging period to achieve a high step-up voltage gain. Among the three integrated capacitors, one portrays the partial characteristic of the switched-capacitor technique, while the other two are connected in series across the load. With the two switches controlled using the same duty cycle, the proposed topology demonstrates the merits of a higher and wider range of step-up voltage gain when compared with recent topologies. In addition, a reduction in loss is induced and a higher efficiency is ensured with all the voltage stresses constrained within the output voltage. Operation of the proposed converter is analyzed and validated through experimental results obtained with a prototype.

This paper presents the design and implementation of an improved cascaded multilevel inverter topology with asymmetric DC sources. This experimental inverter topology is a stand-alone system with simulations and experiments performed using resistance loads. The topology uses four asymmetric binary DC sources that are independent from each other and one H-bridge. The topology was simulated using PSIM software before an actual prototype circuit was tested. The proposed topology was shown to be very efficient. It was able to generate a smooth output waveform up to 31 levels with only eight switches. The obtained simulation and experimental results are almost identical. In a 1,200W ($48.3{\Omega}$) resistive load application, the THDv and efficiency of the topology were found to be 1.7% and 97%, respectively. In inductive load applications, the THDv values were 1.1% and 1.3% for an inductive load ($R=54{\Omega}$ dan L=146mH) and a 36W fluorescent lamp load with a capacitor connected at the dc bus.

In this paper, a detuning factor (DeFac) method is proposed to design the key parameters for optimizing the transfer power and efficiency of an Inductively Coupled Power Transfer (ICPT) system with primary-secondary side compensation. Depending on the robustness of the system, the DeFac method can guarantee the stability of the transfer power and efficiency of an ICPT system within a certain range of resistive-capacitive or resistive-inductive loads. A MATLAB-Simulink model of a ICPT system was built to assess the system's main evaluation criteria, namely its maximum power ratio (PR) and efficiency, in terms of different approaches. In addition, a magnetic field simulation model was built using Ansoft to specify the leakage flux and current density. Simulation results show that both the maximum PR and efficiency of the ICPT system can reach almost 70% despite the severe detuning imposed by the DeFac method. The system also exhibited low levels of leakage flux and a high current density. Experimental results confirmed the validity and feasibility of an ICPT system using DeFac-designed parameters.

A soft switching converter with wide voltage range operation is investigated in this paper. A series resonant converter is implemented to achieve a high circuit efficiency with soft switching characteristics on power switches and rectifier diodes. To improve the weakness of the narrow voltage range in LLC converters, an alternating current (ac) power switch is used on the primary side to select a half-bridge or full-bridge resonant circuit to implement 4:1 voltage range operation. On the secondary-side, another ac power switch is adopted to select a full-wave rectifier or voltage-doubler rectifier to achiever an additional 2:1 output voltage range. Therefore, the proposed resonant converter has the capacity for 8:1 (320V~40V) wide output voltage operation. A single-stage hybrid resonant converter is employed in the study circuit instead of a two-stage dc converter to achiever wide voltage range operation. As a result, the study converter has better converter efficiency. The theoretical analysis and circuit characteristics are verified by experiments with a prototype circuit.

The non-inverting buck-boost converter (NIBB) is a step-up and step-down DC-DC converter suitable for wide-input-voltage-range applications. However, when the input voltage is close to the output voltage, the NIBB needs to operate in the buck-boost mode, causing a significant efficiency reduction since all four switches operates in the PWM mode. Considering both the current stress limitation and the efficiency optimization, a novel design methodology for the optimal phase-shift modulation of a NIBB in the buck-boost mode is proposed in this paper. Since the four switches in the NIBB form two bridges, the shifted phase between the two bridges can serve as an extra degree of freedom for performance optimization. With general phase-shift modulation, the analytic current expressions for every duty ratio, shifted phase and input voltage are derived. Then with the two key factors in the NIBB, the converter efficiency and the switch current stress, taken into account, an objective function with constraints is derived. By optimizing the derived objective function over the full input voltage range, an offline design methodology for the optimal modulation scheme is proposed for efficiency optimization on the premise of current stress limitation. Finally, the designed optimal modulation scheme is implemented on a DSPs and the design methodology is verified with experimental results on a 300V-1.5kW NIBB prototype.

In this paper, aiming at high-voltage applications, transformer windings schemes of multiple-output two-transistor flyback converters are investigated, which are mainly based on the stray capacitances effect. First, based on a transformer model including equivalent stray capacitors, the operational principle of the converter is presented, and the main influence of its stay capacitors is determined. Second, the windings structures of the transformer are analyzed and designed based on the stray capacitances effect. Third, the windings arrangements of the transformer are analyzed and designed through a coupling analysis of the secondary windings and a stray capacitance analysis between the primary and secondary windings. Finally, the analysis and design conclusions are verified by experimental results obtained from a 60W laboratory prototype of a multiple-output two-transistor flyback converter.

In this paper, a capacitors energy strategy based Cascaded H-bridge Converter (CHBC) for steady DC link voltage is proposed, which allow the CHBC to work while DC power fails. The topology of the CHBC is analyzed to construct the proposed strategy. The capacitors energy strategy is deduced based on the principle that the DC link voltage should be steady, the switch state should be smooth and the switch frequency should be normal. Experiments based on a three-module prototype, including static experiment, start experiment and step change experiment, proves the correctness of the strategy. They also verified the excellent fault tolerance ability and good dynamic performance of the proposed strategy.

This paper presents a control method for reducing the current distortion in an indirect matrix converter (IMC) operating in boost mode under unbalanced input conditions. IMCs operating in boost mode are useful in distributed generation (DG) systems. They are connected with renewable energy systems (RESs) and the grid to transmit the power generated by the RES. However, under unbalanced voltage conditions of the RES, which is connected with the input stage of the IMC operating in boost mode, the input-output currents are distorted. In particular, the output current distortions cause a ripple of the power, which is transferred to the grid. This aggravates the reliability and stability of the DG system. Therefore, in this paper, a control method using positive/negative sequence voltages and currents is proposed for reducing the current distortion of both side in IMCs operating in boost mode. Simulation and experimental results have been presented to validate effectiveness of the proposed control method.

A current sharing controller is proposed in this paper for parallel-connected converters. The proposed controller is based on the calculation of the magnitudes of system current space vectors. Good current distribution between parallel converters is achieved with only one Proportional-Integral (PI) compensator. The proposed controller is analyzed and the circulating current impedance is derived for paralleled systems. The performance of the new control strategy is experimentally verified using two parallel connected converters employing Space Vector Pulse Width Modulation (SVPWM) feeding a passive RL load and a 2.2 kW three-phase induction motor load. The obtained test results show a reduction in the current imbalance ratio between the converters in the experimental setup from 53.9% to only 0.2% with the induction motor load.

Finite-control-set model predictive control (FCS-MPC) is a promising control scheme for two-level voltage-source inverters (TL-VSIs). However, two main issues arise in the classical FCS-MPC method: an exponentially-increasing computational time and a low steady-state performance. To solve these two issues, a novel FCS-MPC method has been proposed for n-phase TL-VSIs in this paper. The basic idea of the proposed method is to carry out the FCS-MPC scheme of TL-VSIs for one leg by one leg, like a "pipeline". Based on this idea, the calculations are reduced from exponential time to linear time and its current waveforms are improved by applying more switching states per sampling period. The cases of three-phase and five-phase TL-VSIs were tested to verify the effectiveness of proposed method.

Modular Multilevel Converter (MMC)-based HVDC power transmission using a real-time simulator is one of the key technologies in power electronics research. This paper introduces the design methodology of a physical MMC-HVDC control system based on a Field-Programmable Gate Array (FPGA), which has the advantage of high-speed parallel operation, and validates the accuracy of MMC-HVDC control when operated with a Real-Time Digital Simulator (RTDS). Finally, this paper compares and analyzes the characteristics of capacitor voltage balancing methods such as Nearest Level Control (NLC), NLC with a reduced switching frequency, and tolerance band modulation implemented on physical control system.

In order to improve the conversion efficiency and mitigate the EMI problem of conventional hard-switching inverters, a new soft-switching DC-AC inverter with a compact structure and a low modulation complexity is proposed in this paper. In the proposed structure, resonant inductors are connected in series for the arm branches, and resonant capacitors are connected in parallel for the neutral point branches. With the help of resonant components, the proposed structure achieves zero-current switching on the arm branches and zero-voltage switching on the neutral point branches. When compared with state-of-art soft-switching topologies, the proposed topology does not need auxiliary switches. Moreover, the commutation algorithm to realize soft-switching can be easily implemented. In this paper, the principle of the resonant operation of the proposed soft-switching converter is presented and its performance is verified through simulation studies. The feasibility of the proposed inverter is evaluated experimentally with a 2.4-kW prototype.

A SMPMSM drive system is a typical nonlinear system with time-varying parameters and unmodeled dynamics. The speed outer loop and current inner loop control structures are coupled and coexist with various disturbances, which makes the speed control of SMPMSM drive systems challenging. First, an ultra-local model of a PMSM driving system is established online based on the algebraic estimation method of model-free control. Second, based on the backstepping control framework, model-free adaptive integral backstepping (MF-AIB) control is proposed. This scheme is applied to the permanent magnet synchronous motor (PMSM) drive system of an electric vehicle for the first time. The validity of the proposed control scheme is verified by system simulations and experimental results obtained from a SMPMSM drive system bench test.

Sensorless brushless DC (BLDC) motor drive systems are often subjected to inaccurate commutation signals and can produce high current peaks and conduction consumption. To achieve accurate commutation, a fast commutation shift regulation method for sensorless BLDC motor drive systems considering the influence of the inductance freewheeling process is presented to compensate inaccurate commutation signals. The regulation method is effective in both steady speed and variable speed operations. In the proposed method, the commutation error is gained from the line-voltage difference integral in a 60 electrical-degree conduction period and the outgoing phase current before commutation. In addition, the detection precision of the commutation error is improved due to the consideration of the freewheeling period. The commutation error is directly obtained, which avoids successive optimization and accelerates the convergence rate of the proposed method. Moreover, the commutation error features a positive or negative sign, which can be utilized as an indicator of advanced or delayed commutation. Finally, experiments are conducted to validate the effectiveness and feasibility of the proposed method. The results obtained show that the proposed method can accurately regulate commutation signals.

The Double-sided Linear Switched Reluctance Machine (DLSRM) suffers from complex eccentricities in practical operations. A novel sensorless control method for a DLSRM with eccentricities is developed in this paper. The influences of eccentricities on the machine inductance characteristics and the estimated positions in sensorless control systems are discussed. A new position index, which is independent of eccentricities, is proposed according to an analysis of a DLSRM equivalent magnetic circuit. On the basis of this position index, the starting and low-velocity operation of eccentric DLSRMs are achieved. Experimental results obtained in the laboratory validate the proposed method.

Hybrid rotor position estimation methods that integrate a fundamental model and high frequency (HF) signal injection are widely used for the wide speed-range sensorless control of interior permanent-magnet synchronous machines (IPMSMs). However, the direct transition of two different schemes may lead to system fluctuations or system instability since two estimated rotor positions based on two different schemes are always unequal due to the effects of parameter variations, system delays and inverter nonlinearities. In order to avoid these problems, a seamless transition strategy to define and construct a virtual q-axis inductance is proposed in this paper. With the proposed seamless transition strategy, an estimated rotor position based on a fundamental model is forced to track that based on HF signal injection before the transition by adjusting the constructed virtual q-axis inductance. Meanwhile, considering that the virtual q-axis inductance changes with rotor position estimation errors, a new observer with a two-phase phase-locked loop (TP-PLL) is developed to accurately obtain the virtual q-axis inductance online. Furthermore, IPMSM sensorless control with maximum torque per ampere (MTPA) operations can be tracked automatically by selecting the proper virtual q-axis inductance. Finally, experimental results obtained from an IPMSM demonstrate the feasibility of the proposed seamless transition strategy.

Zero-Voltage-Switching (ZVS) operation for a Wireless Power Transfer (WPT) system can be achieved by designing a ZVS controller. However, the performance of the controller in some industrial applications needs to be designed tightly. This paper introduces a ZVS controller design method for WPT systems. The parameters of the controller are designed according to the desired performance based on the closed loop dominant pole placement method. To describe the dynamic characteristics of the system ZVS angle, a nonlinear dynamic model is deduced and linearized using the small signal linearization method. By analyzing the zero-pole distribution, a low-order equivalent model that facilitates the controller design is obtained. The parameters of the controller are designed by calculating the time constant of the closed-loop dominant poles. A prototype of a WPT system with the designed controller and a five-stage multistage series variable capacitor (MSVC) is built and tested to verify the performance of the controller. The recorded response curves and waveforms show that the designed controller can maintain the ZVS angle at the reference angle with satisfactory control performance.

This paper presents a moth-flame optimization (MFO)-based maximum power point tracking (MPPT) method for photovoltaic (PV) systems. The MFO algorithm is a new optimization method that exhibits satisfactory performance in terms of exploration, exploitation, local optima avoidance, and convergence. Therefore, the MFO algorithm is quite suitable for solving multiple peaks of PV systems under partial shading conditions (PSCs). The proposed MFO-MPPT is compared with four MPPT algorithms, namely the perturb and observe (P&O)-MPPT, incremental conductance (INC)-MPPT, particle swarm optimization (PSO)-MPPT and whale optimization algorithm (WOA)-MPPT. Simulation and experiment results demonstrate that the proposed algorithm can extract the global maximum power point (MPP) with greater tracking speed and accuracy under various conditions.

PV system performance is dependent on different irradiations and temperature values in addition to the capability of the employed PV inverter / maximum power point tracker (MPPT) circuit or algorithm. Therefore, it would be appropriate to use a PV simulator capable of producing identical repeatable conditions regardless of the weather to evaluate the performance of inverter / MPPT circuits and algorithms. In accordance with this purpose, a photovoltaic (PV) array simulator is presented in this paper. The simulator is designed to generate current-voltage (I-V) and power-voltage (P-V) curves of a PV panel. Series connected cascaded modules constitute the basic part of the simulator. This feature also allows for the modeling of PV arrays since the number of modules can be increased and high voltage values can be reached with the simulator. In addition, the curves obtained at the simulator output become similar to the actual curves of sample PV panels with an increase in the number of modules. In order to show the validity of the proposed simulator, it was simulated for various situations such as panels under full irradiance and partial shading conditions. After completing simulations, experiments were realized to support the simulation study. Both simulation and experimental results show that the proposed simulator will be very useful for researchers to carry out PV studies under laboratory conditions.

A problem with virtual synchronous generator (VSG) systems is that they are difficult to operate stably with photovoltaic (PV) power as the DC side. With this problem in mind, a PV-VSG control strategy considering the dynamic characteristics of the DC side is proposed after an in-depth analysis of the dynamic characteristics of photovoltaic power with a parallel energy-storage capacitor. The proposed PV-VSG automatically introduces DC side voltage control for the VSG when the PV enters into an unstable working interval, which avoids the phenomenon where an inverter fails to work due to a DC voltage sag. The stability of the original VSG and the proposed PV-VSG were compared by a root locus analysis. It is found that the stability of the PV-VSG is more sensitive to the inertia coefficient J than the VSG, and that a serious power oscillation may occur. According to this, a new rotor model is designed to make the inertial coefficient automatically change to adapt to the operating state. Experimental results show that the PV-VSG control strategy can achieve stable operation and maximum power output when the PV output power is insufficient.

A DC-DC Non-Isolated Three-Port Cuk-Cuk (NI-TPCC) converter for interfacing renewable energy sources (RESs) such as Fuel Cell (FC) and Photovoltaic (PV) energy with a DC load is presented in this paper. It features single-stage power conversion from both of the input ports to the load port. The proposed NI-TPCC converter is designed based on the classical Cuk converter. The operational modes and power flow are analyzed in the continuous conduction mode (CCM), and the relationships among the port voltages are derived. Continuous currents in all three ports with less ripple enhance the performance of a fuel cell and its operating life. Furthermore, the output inductor is shared with both of the input ports, which reduces the number of active and passive components. The effectiveness of the designed NI-TPCC converter has been validated through simulation and experimental results.

In this paper, an optimal allocation method of a hybrid active power filter in an active distribution network is designed based on the differential evolution algorithm to resolve the harmonic generation problem when a distributed generation system is connected to the grid. A distributed generation system model in the calculation of power flow is established. An improved back/forward sweep algorithm and a decoupling algorithm are proposed for fundamental power flow and harmonic power flow. On this basis, a multi-objective optimization allocation model of the location and capacity of a hybrid filter in an active distribution network is built, and an optimal allocation scheme of the hybrid active power filter based on the differential evolution algorithm is proposed. To verify the effect of the harmonic suppression of the designed scheme, simulation analysis in an IEEE-33 nodes model and an experimental analysis on a test platform of a microgrid are adopted.

This paper studies the harmonic characteristics of ship electric propulsion systems and their treatment methods. It also adopts effective measures to suppress and prevent ship power systems from affecting ship operation due to the serious damage caused by harmonics. Firstly, the harmonic characteristics of a ship electric propulsion system are reviewed and discussed. Secondly, aiming at problems such as resonant frequency and filter characteristics variations, resonance point migration, and unstable filtering performances in conventional passive filters, a method for fully tuning of a passive dynamic tunable filter (PDTF) is proposed to realize harmonic suppression. Thirdly, to address the problems of the uncontrollable inductance L of traditional air gap iron core reactors and the harmonics of power electronic impedance converters (PEICs), this paper proposes an electromagnetic coupling reactor with impedance transformation and harmonic suppression characteristics (ECRITHS), with the internal filter (IF) designed to suppress the harmonics generated by PEICs. The ECRITHS is characterized by both harmonic suppression and impedance change. Fourthly, the ECRITHS is investigated. This investigation includes the harmonic suppression characteristics and impedance transformation characteristics of the ECRITHS at the fundamental frequency, which shows the good performance of the ECRITHS. Simulation and experimental evaluations of the PDTF are carried out. Multiple PDTFs can be configured to realize multi-order simultaneous dynamic filtering, and can effectively eliminate the current harmonics of ship electric propulsion systems. This is done to reduce the total harmonic distortion (THD) of the supply currents to well below the 5% limit imposed by the IEEE-519 standard. The PDTF also can eliminate harmonic currents in different geographic places by using a low voltage distribution system. Finally, a detailed discussion is presented, with challenges and future implications discussed. The research results are intended to effectively eliminate the harmonics of ship electric power propulsion systems and to improve the power quality of ship power systems. This is of theoretical and practical significance for improving the power quality and power savings of ship power systems.

Aiming at the negative sequence and harmonic problems in the operation of railway static power conditioners, an optimization compensation strategy for negative sequence and harmonics is studied in this paper. First, the hybrid RPC topology and compensation principle are analyzed to obtain different compensation zone states and current capacities. Second, in order to optimize the RPC capacity configuration, the minimum RPC compensation capacity is calculated according to constraint conditions, and the optimal compensation coefficient and compensation angle are obtained. In addition, the voltage unbalance ${\varepsilon}_U$ and power factor requirements are satisfied. A PSO (Particle Swarm Optimization) algorithm is used to calculate the three indexes for minimum compensating energy. The proposed method can precisely calculate the optimal compensation capacity in real time. Finally, MATLAB simulations and an experimental platform verify the effectiveness and economics of the proposed algorithm.

Common mode (CM) chokes are a crucial part in EMI filters for mitigating the electromagnetic interference (EMI) of switched-mode power supplies (SMPS) and for meeting electromagnetic compatibility standards. However, the parasitic capacitances of a CM choke deteriorate its high frequency filtering performance, which results in increases in the design cycle and cost of EMI filters. Therefore, this paper introduces a negative capacitance generated by a negative impedance converter (NIC) to cancel the influence of equivalent parallel capacitance (EPC). In this paper, based on a CM choke equivalent circuit, the EPCs of CM choke windings are accurately calculated by measuring their impedance. The negative capacitance is designed quantitatively and the EPC cancellation mechanisms are analyzed. The impedance of the CM choke in parallel with negative capacitances is tested and compared with the original CM choke using an impedance analyzer. Moreover, a CL type CM filter is added to a fabricated NIC prototype, and the insertion loss of the prototype is measured to verify the cancellation effect. The prototype is applied to a power converter to test the CM conducted noise. Both small signal and EMI measurement results show that the proposed technique can effectively cancel the EPCs and improve the CM filter's high frequency filtering performance.