• The Transactions of the Korean Institute of Power Electronics
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• v.19 no.3
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• pp.290-296
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• 2014

This paper presents a design strategy for the control of the Z-source inverter (ZSI). For the Z-network capacitor voltage control, the average current model is derived to describe the dynamics of the voltage control and the controller outputs the average current command for the capacitor. Z-network inductor current reference is derived from the average current model of the Z-network capacitor. The inner current control loop outputs the average voltage command for the Z-network inductor and the shoot-through duty ratio of the ZSI is calculated from the output using the average voltage model of the Z-network inductor. The gain values of the current and voltage controllers are directly obtained by the Z-network parameters and desired bandwidth of each controller without a gain tuning process.

• Journal of Power Electronics
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• v.19 no.2
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• pp.529-539
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• 2019

The modular multilevel converter (MMC) has become a promising topology for high-voltage direct current (HVDC) transmission systems. To control a MMC system properly, the ac-side current, circulating current and submodule (SM) capacitor voltage are taken into consideration. This paper proposes a low-computation indirect model predictive control (IMPC) strategy that takes advantages of the conventional MPC and has no weighting factors. The cost function and duty cycle are introduced to minimize the tracking error of the ac-side current and to eliminate the circulating current. An optimized merge sort (OMS) algorithm is applied to keep the SM capacitor voltages balanced. The proposed IMPC strategy effectively reduces the controller complexity and computational burden. In this paper, a discrete-time mathematical model of a MMC system is developed and the duty ratio of switching state is designed. In addition, a simulation of an eleven-level MMC system based on MATLAB/Simulink and a five-level experimental setup are built to evaluate the feasibility and performance of the proposed low-computation IMPC strategy.

• Journal of Power Electronics
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• v.14 no.6
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• pp.1178-1188
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• 2014

This study proposes a finite-state model predictive controller to regulate the load current and balance the DC-link capacitor voltages of a four-leg neutral-point-clamped converter. The discrete-time model of the converter, DC-link, inductive filter, and load is used to predict the future behavior of the load currents and the DC-link capacitor voltages for all possible switching states. The switching state that minimizes the cost function is selected and directly applied to the converter. The cost function is defined to minimize the error between the predicted load currents and their references, as well as to balance the DC-link capacitor voltages. Moreover, the current regulation performance is improved by using a two-step prediction horizon. The feasibility of the proposed predictive control scheme for different references and loads is verified through real-time implementation on the basis of dSPACEDS1103.

• Journal of Electrical Engineering and Technology
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• v.10 no.4
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• pp.1635-1645
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• 2015

This study proposes high-performance voltage controller design that employs a capacitor current control model for single-phase stand-alone inverters. The single-phase stand-alone inverter is analyzed via modeling, which is then used to design the controller. A design methodology is proposed to maximize the bandwidth of the feedback controller. Subsequently, to compensate for the problems caused by the bandwidth limitations of the controller, an error transfer function that includes the feedback controller is derived, and the stability of the repetitive control scheme is evaluated using the error transfer function. The digital repetitive controller is then implemented. The simulation and experimental results show that the performance of the proposed controller is high in a 1.5 kW single-phase stand-alone inverter prototype.

• Journal of Power Electronics
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• v.18 no.6
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• pp.1659-1669
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• 2018

An improved circulating current suppression control method is proposed in this paper. In the proposed controller, an outer loop of the average capacitor voltage control model is used to balance the sub-module capacitor voltage. Meanwhile, an individual voltage balance controller and an arm voltage balance controller are also used. The DC and harmonic components of the circulating current are separated using a low pass filter. Therefore, a multiple quasi-proportional-resonant (multi-quasi-PR) controller is introduced in the inner loop to eliminate the circulating harmonic current, which mainly contains second-order harmonic but also contains other high-order harmonics. In addition, the parameters of the multi-quasi-PR controller are designed in the discrete domain and an analysis of the stability characteristic is given in this paper. In addition, a simulation model of a three-phase MMC system is built in order to confirm the correctness and superiority of the proposed controller. Finally, experiment results are presented and compared. These results illustrate that the improved control method has good performance in suppressing circulating harmonic current and in balancing the capacitor voltage.

• The Transactions of the Korean Institute of Power Electronics
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• v.23 no.5
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• pp.359-365
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• 2018

This study introduces a model predictive control method for controlling a cascaded flying capacitor multilevel rectifier used as an AC-DC rectifier of a solid-state transformer for DC distribution systems. The proposed method reduces the number of states that need to be considered in model predictive control by separately controlling input current, output DC link voltage, and flying capacitor voltage. Thus, calculation time is shortened to facilitate the level expansion of the cascaded flying capacitor multilevel rectifier. The selection of weighting factors did not present difficulties because the weighting factors in the cost function of the conventional model predictive control are not used. The effectiveness of the proposed method is verified through computer simulation using powersim and experiment.

• Journal of Power Electronics
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• v.19 no.4
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• pp.869-880
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• 2019

Due to the inherent feedforward of load current, capacitor current (CC) control shows a fast transient response that makes it suitable for the power supplies used in various portable electronic devices. However, considering the effect of the outer voltage loop, the stable range of the duty-cycle is significantly diminished in CC controlled buck converters. To investigate the stability effect of the outer voltage loop on buck converters, a CC controlled buck converter with a proportion-integral (PI) compensator is taken as an example, and its second-order discrete-time model is established. Based on this model, the instability caused by the duty-cycle is discussed with consideration of the outer voltage loop. Then the dynamical effects of the feedback gain of the PI compensator and the equivalent series resistance (ESR) of the output capacitor on the CC controlled buck converter with a PI compensator are studied. Furthermore, the design-oriented closed-loop stability criterion is derived. Finally, PSIM simulations and experimental results are supplied to verify the theoretical analyses.

• Journal of Power Electronics
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• v.15 no.5
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• pp.1286-1294
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• 2015

Capacitor current feedback active damping is extensively used in grid-connected converters with an LCL filter. However, systems tends to become unstable when the digital control delay is taken into account, especially in low switching frequencies. This paper discusses this issue by deriving a discrete model with a digital control delay and by presenting the stable region of an active damping loop from high to low switching frequencies. In order to overcome the disadvantage of capacitor current feedback active damping, this paper proposes a modified approach using grid current and converter current for feedback. This can expand the stable region and provide sufficient active damping whether in high or low switching frequencies. By applying the modified approach, the active damping loop can be simplified from fourth-order into second-order, and the design of the grid current loop can be simplified. The modified approach can work well when the grid impedance varies. Both the active damping performance and the dynamic performance of the current loop are verified by simulations and experimental results.

• Journal of Power Electronics
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• v.18 no.6
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• pp.1683-1696
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• 2018

Under the conventional control strategy, the asymmetry of arm impedances may result in the poor operating performance of modular multilevel converters (MMCs). For example, fundamental frequency oscillation and double frequency components may occur in the dc and ac sides, respectively; and submodule (SM) capacitor voltages among the arms may not be balanced. This study presents an enhanced control strategy to deal with these problems. A mathematical model of an MMC with asymmetric arm impedance is first established. The causes for the above phenomena are analyzed on the basis of the model. Subsequently, an enhanced current control with five integrated proportional integral resonant regulators is designed to protect the ac and dc terminal behavior of converters from asymmetric arm impedances. Furthermore, an enhanced capacitor voltage control is designed to balance the capacitor voltage among the arms with high efficiency and to decouple the ac side control, dc side control, and capacitor voltage balance control among the arms. The accuracy of the theoretical analysis and the effectiveness of the proposed enhanced control strategy are verified through simulation and experimental results.

• IEIE Transactions on Smart Processing and Computing
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• v.5 no.1
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• pp.35-42
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• 2016

Developments in power electronics have enabled the widespread application of Pulse Width Modulation (PWM) inverters, notably for connecting renewable systems to the grid. This study demonstrates that a high-quality power can be achieved using a stand-alone inverter, whereby the comparison between the power quality of the stand-alone inverter with battery storage (off-grid) and the power quality of the utility network is presented. Multi-loop control techniques for a single phase stand-alone inverter are used. A capacitor current control is used to give active damping and enhance the transient and steady state inverter performance. A capacitor current control is cheaper than the inductor current control, where a small current sensing resistor is used. The output voltage control is used to improve the system performance and also control the output voltage. The inner control loop uses a proportional gain current controller and the outer loop is implemented using internal model control proportional-integral-derivative to ensure stability. The optimal controls are achieved by using the Sisotool tool in MATLAB/Simulink. The outcome of the control scheme of the numerical model of the stand-alone inverter has a smooth and good dynamic performance, but also a strong robustness to load variations. The numerical model of the stand-alone inverter and its power quality are presented, and the power quality is shown to meet the IEEE 519-2014. Furthermore, the power quality of the off-grid system is measured experimentally and compared with the grid power, showing power quality of off-grid system to be better than that of the utility network.