• Journal of Power Electronics
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• v.10 no.1
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• pp.34-42
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• 2010

Reliability is an important issue in cascaded H-bridge converters (CHB converters) because they use a high number of power semiconductors. A faulty power cell in a CHB converter can potentially lead to expensive downtime and great losses on the consumer side. With a fault-tolerant control strategy, operation can continue with the undamaged cells; thus increasing the reliability of the system. In this paper, the operating principles and the control method for a CHB multilevel rectifier are introduced. The influence of various faults on the CHB converter is investigated. The method of fault diagnosis and the bypassing of failed cells are explained. A fault-tolerant protection strategy is proposed to achieve redundancy in the CHB rectifier. The redundant H-bridge concept helps to deal with device failures and to increase system reliability. Simulation results verify the performance of the proposed strategy.

• Journal of Power Electronics
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• v.17 no.5
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• pp.1317-1326
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• 2017

The cascaded H-bridge (CHB) multilevel converter is a promising topology for large-scale photovoltaic (PV) systems. The output voltage over-modulation derived by the inter-module active power imbalance is one of the key issues for CHB PV systems. This paper proposed a dynamic power distribution strategy to eliminate the over-modulation in a CHB PV system by suitably redistributing the reactive power among the inverter modules of the CHB PV system. The proposed strategy can effectively extend the operating region of the CHB PV system with a simple control algorithm and easy implementation. Simulation and experimental results carried out on a seven-level CHB grid-connected PV system are shown to validate the proposed strategy.

• Journal of Power Electronics
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• v.12 no.4
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• pp.578-586
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• 2012

In this paper a single-phase Cascaded H-Bridge (CHB) inverter for photovoltaic (PV) applications is presented. Based on the presented mathematical analysis, a novel controller is introduced which adjusts the inverter power factor (PF) and manipulates the distribution of the reactive power between the cells to enhance the operating range of the CHB inverter. The adopted control strategy enables tracking of the maximum power point (MPP) of distinct PV strings and allows independent control of the dc-link voltages. The proposed controller also enables the inverter to operate under heavily unbalanced PV conditions. The performance of the CHB inverter and the proposed controllers are evaluated in the PSCAD/EMTDC environment. A seven-level CHB-based grid connected laboratory prototype is also utilized to verify the system performance.

• Journal of Power Electronics
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• v.18 no.1
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• pp.56-69
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• 2018

In this paper, an improved Space Vector Modulation (SVM) based fault tolerant operation on a nine-level Cascaded H-Bridge (CHB) inverter with an additional backup circuit is proposed. Any type of fault in a power converter may result in a power interruption and productivity loss. Three different faults on H-bridge modules in all three phases based on the SVM approach are investigated with diagrams. Any fault in an inverter phase creates an unbalanced output voltage, which can lead to instability in the system. An additional auxiliary unit is connected in series to the three phase cascaded H-bridge circuit. With the help of this and the redundant switching states in SVM, the CHB inverter produces a balanced output with low harmonic distortion. This ensures high DC bus utilization under numerous fault conditions in three phases, which improves the system reliability. Simulation results are presented on three phase nine-level inverter with the automatic fault detection algorithm in the MATLAB/SIMULINK software tool, and experimental results are presented with DSP on five-level inverter to validate the practicality of the proposed SVM fault tolerance strategy on a CHB inverter with an auxiliary circuit.

• Journal of Power Electronics
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• v.14 no.5
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• pp.937-945
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• 2014

This paper presents an optimized space vector pulse-width modulation (OSVPWM) technique for a five-level cascaded H-bridge (CHB) inverter. The space vector diagram of the five-level CHB inverter is optimized by resolving it into inner and outer two-level space vector hexagons. Unlike conventional space vector topology, the proposed technique significantly reduces the involved computational time and efforts without compromising the performance of the five-level CHB inverter. A further optimized (FOSVPWM) technique is also presented in this paper, which significantly reduces the complexity and computational efforts. The developed techniques are verified through MATLAB/SIMULINK. Results are compared with sinusoidal pulse-width modulation (SPWM) to prove the validity of the proposed technique. The proposed simulation system is realized by using an XC3S400 field-programmable gate array from Xilinx, Inc. The experiment results are then presented for verification.

• Proceedings of the KIPE Conference
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• 2013.07a
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• pp.45-46
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• 2013

멀티레벨 고압인버터 토폴로지 중 저압 Power Cell를 이용하여 고압을 출력하는 Cascaded 방식이 산업계에서는 널리 사용되고 이다. 최근 제품화된 Cascaded 방식은 크게 두 가지 형태로 구분할 수 있다. 저압 Power Cell에 단상 H-Bridge를 이용한 Cascaded H-Bridge 멀티레벨 인버터와 단상 NPC(Neutral Point Clamped) 토폴로지를 적용한 Cascaded NPC 멀티레벨 인버터이다. 이 중 Cascaded NPC 멀티레벨 인버터의 경우 적은 수의 셀을 사용하여 CHB와 동일한 출력 레벨을 생성할 수 있으며, NPC 방식의 고압 인버터 고유의 장점을 모두 구현할 수 있다. 반대로 CHB Type과 NPC type의 단점인 복잡한 구조의 Phase Shift Transformer와 DC_Link 중성점 전압이 변동하는 단점 또한 나타나게 된다. 본 논문에서는 Cascaded NPC 멀티레벨 인버터의 이러한 단점을 극복하기 위한 새로운 방식의 Phase Shift Transformer와 NPC Power Cell의 중성점 전압 변동을 줄일 수 있는 기법에 대해 설명하고 이 기법에 대한 타당성을 모의시험을 통해 검증하였다.

• Journal of Power Electronics
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• v.18 no.2
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• pp.522-532
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• 2018

The cascaded H Bridge (CHB) multilevel inverter (MLI) is popular among the classical MLI topologies due to its modularity and reliability. Although space vector modulation (SVM) is the most suitable modulation scheme for MLIs, it has not been used widely in industry due to the higher complexity involved in its implementation. In this paper, a simple and novel generalized SVM algorithm is proposed, which has both reduced time and space complexity. The proposed SVM involves the generalization of both the duty cycle calculation and switching sequence generation for any n-level inverter. In order to generate the gate pulses for an inverter, a generalized switch matrix (SM) for the CHB inverter is also introduced, which further simplifies the algorithm. The algorithm is tested and verified for three-phase, three-level and five-level CHB inverters in simulations and hardware implementation. A comparison of the proposed method with existing SVM schemes shows the superiority of the proposed scheme.

• Journal of Power Electronics
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• v.14 no.5
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• pp.946-956
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• 2014

Cascaded H-Bridge (CHB) converters can be directly connected to medium-voltage grids without using transformers and they possess the advantages of large capacity and low harmonics. They are significant tools for providing grid connections in large-capacity renewable energy systems. However, the reliability of a grid-connected CHB converter can be seriously influenced by the number of power switching devices that exist in the structure. This paper proposes a fault-tolerant control strategy based on double zero-sequence voltage injection and DC voltage optimization to improve the reliability of star-connected CHB converters after one or more power units have been bypassed. By injecting double zero-sequence voltages into each phase cluster, the DC voltages of the healthy units can be rapidly balanced after the faulty units are bypassed. In addition, optimizing the DC voltage increases the number of faulty units that can be tolerated and improves the reliability of the converter. Simulations and experimental results are shown for a seven-level three-phase CHB converter to validate the efficiency and feasibility of this strategy.

• The Transactions of the Korean Institute of Power Electronics
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• v.20 no.5
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• pp.448-455
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• 2015

A model predictive control (MPC) method without individual PWM has been recently researched to simplify and improve the control flexibility of a multilevel inverter. However, the input power of each H-bridge cell and the switching frequency of switching devices are unbalanced because of the use of a restricted switching state in the MPC method. This paper proposes a control method for balancing the switching patterns and cell power supplied from each isolated dc source of a cascaded H-bridge inverter. The supplied dc power from isolated dc sources of each H-bridge cells is balanced with the proposed cell balancing method. In addition, the switching frequency of each switching device of the CHB inverter becomes equal. A simulation and experimental results are presented with nine-level and five-level three-phase CHB inverter to validate the proposed balancing method.

• The Transactions of the Korean Institute of Power Electronics
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• v.26 no.1
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• pp.59-65
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• 2021

This study proposes a dead-time implementation method suitable for cell voltage control of a cascaded H-bridge (CHB) inverter. The PWM module of an existing microcontroller cannot generate a maximum voltage due to the dead-time effect when used as the cell controller of the CHB inverter. In the proposed method, the operation method of the PWM module was changed without using the dead time module included in the existing microcontroller, so that the cell output voltage can be increased to the maximum voltage without voltage discontinuity. During the maximum voltage generation period, the full turn-on state can be maintained without unnecessary switching. The validity of the proposed method is confirmed through an experiment.