• Proceedings of the KIPE Conference
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• 2018.11a
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• pp.86-88
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• 2018

The three level(3L) neutral point clamped (NPC) voltage source converter (VSC) topology is widely used for grid interface in high power wind energy due to its superior performance as compared to the two level(2L) VS. However, one of the major drawbacks of this topology is the unequal dispersion of loss and therefore the junction temperature among the power devices. The 3L ANPC topology derived from the NPC topology was proposed to resolve this drawback of unequal loss profile of 3L NPC. The 3L ANPC can work under various switching strategies. In this paper a comparative study of the various switching strategies of 3L ANPC using the recently developed 10kV IGCTs which has the capability to raise the current and voltage rating of the wind turbines is carried out. The comparison is performed using ABB make 10kV IGCT 5SHY17L9000 and PLECs simulations.

• The Transactions of the Korean Institute of Power Electronics
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• v.24 no.6
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• pp.419-427
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• 2019

Several multilevel converter topologies have been proposed and compared. The three-level (3L) neutral-point-clamped (NPC) topology is promising and widely accepted. However, this topology suffers from uneven loss distribution among switches due to its fixed switching strategy. The 3L active NPC (ANPC) topology, which exhibits improved loss distribution profile, was proposed to address this disadvantage. The 3L T-NPC topology, a hybrid configuration of 2L and 3L NPC topologies, was introduced to address not only the loss distribution problem but also the reduction in the number of switches. In the present research, the application of these three topologies in PMSG-based medium-voltage wind turbines was investigated. The power devices considered were 10 kV IGCTs. Performance was evaluated in terms of a power loss of 10 kV IGCT for each NPC topology, which is a crucial indicator of thermal behavior, reliability, cost, and lifetime of any converter. The comparison was performed using ABB make 10 kV IGCT 5SHY17L9000 and the simulation tool PLECS.