• The Transactions of the Korean Institute of Power Electronics
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• v.15 no.5
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• pp.376-380
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• 2010

This paper presents a circuit configuration of multilevel inverter to increase the number of output voltage levels by using conventional 5-level inverters connected in series. Most of all it can maximize the number of output voltage levels by employing input voltage sources, which have the power of five. When it synthesizes the same number of output voltage levels, the proposed inverter can save the number of switching devices compared with the conventional cascaded H-bridge cell inverter. So it can reduce the size, cost, power consumption of the system. We implemented computer-aided simulation and experiments for a 25-level inverter employing two 5-level inverters.

• The Transactions of the Korean Institute of Power Electronics
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• v.20 no.4
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• pp.337-343
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• 2015

The multi-level inverters are highly efficient for high-power and medium-voltage AC driving applications, such as high-speed railway systems and renewable energy resources, because such inverters generate lower total harmonic distortion (THD) and electromagnetic interface (EMI). Lower switching stress occurs on switching devices compared with conventional two-level inverters. Depending on the multi-level inverter topology, the required components and number of switching devices are different, influencing the overall efficiency. Comparative studies of multi-level inverters based on loss analysis and output characteristic are necessary to apply multi-level inverters in high-power AC conversion systems. This paper proposes a theoretical loss analysis method based on piecewise linearization of characteristic curves of power semiconductor devices as well as loss analysis and output performance comparison of five-level neutral-point clamped, flying capacitor inverters, and high-level cascaded H-bridge multi-level inverters.

• Proceedings of the KIPE Conference
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• 2011.07a
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• pp.320-321
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• 2011

This paper proposes a practical design and development for CHBM inverter based on Power Electronics Building Blocks (PEBB). It is shown that the expansion and modularization characteristics of the CHBM inverter are improved since the individual inverter modules operate more independently, when using the PEBB concept. The proposed design and control methods are described in detail and the validity of the proposed system is verified experimentally in various industrial fields.

• Proceedings of the KIPE Conference
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• 2000.07a
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• pp.321-324
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• 2000

멀티-레벨 인버터 구조는 크게 세 가지가 있다 NPC 구조, 플라잉 커패시터 구조, 그리고 H-bridge 단위 인버터 셀을 종속적으로 연결한 cascaded 구조가 그것이다. 이중에서 cascaded 구조는 지금까지 홀수 레벨만 존재하는 것으로 알려졌다 본 논문에서는 이것을 짝수 레벨로 확장한 새로운 구조를 제안하고 홀수 짝수 레벨 모두에 적용이 가능한 새로온 PWM 기법을 제안하고자 한다. 제안한 기법은 컴퓨터 시뮬레이션 및 실험으로 그타당성을 입증하고자 한다.

• Journal of Power Electronics
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• v.17 no.1
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• pp.76-87
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• 2017

Finite-set predictive current control (FS-PCC) is advantageous for power converters due to its high dynamic performance and has received increasing interest in multilevel inverters. Among multilevel inverter topologies, the cascaded H-bridge (CHB) inverter is popular and mature in the industry. However, a main drawback of FS-PCC is its large computational burden, especially for the application of CHB inverters. In this paper, an FS-PCC method based on a deadbeat solution for three-phase zero-common-mode-voltage CHB inverters is proposed. In the proposed method, an inverse model of the load is utilized to calculate the reference voltage based on the reference current. In addition, a cost function is directly expressed in the terms of the voltage errors. An optimal control actuation is selected by minimizing the cost function. In the proposed method, only three instead of all of the control actuations are used for the calculations in one sampling period. This leads to a significant reduction in computations. The proposed method is tested on a three-phase 5-level CHB inverter. Simulation and experimental results show a very similar and comparable control performance from the proposed method compared with the traditional FS-PCC method which evaluates the cost function for all of the control actuations.

• The Transactions of the Korean Institute of Power Electronics
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• v.12 no.5
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• pp.424-431
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• 2007

This thesis proposed H-Bridge Multi-Level Inverter for Fluidized Bed Combustion Boiler Secondary Air Fan in 200MW thermal power plant. The adjustable speed drive systems improve the efficiency in lightly load condition and extend the life span of motor by limiting the over current at starting. H-Bridge Multi-level Inverter is composed of the several series low voltage power cell inverters, which have the independent isolated do link, in each phase. KEPRI(Korea Electric Power Research Institute) has successfully completed to develop, install, and commission H-Bridge Multi-level Inverter(6.6kV, 1MVA). This thesis gives a full detail about H-Bridge Multi-level Inverter, proposed boiler DCS(Distributed Control System) logic, and commissioning test result.

• Journal of Power Electronics
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• v.17 no.1
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• pp.56-66
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• 2017

Fast and accurate fault detection is the primary step and one of the most important tasks in fault tolerant converters. In this paper, a fast and simple method is proposed to detect and diagnosis the faulty cell in a cascaded H-bridge multilevel inverter under a short circuit fault. In this method, the reference voltage is calculated using switching control pulses and DC-Link voltages. The comparison result of the output voltage and the reference voltage is used in conjunction with active cell pulses to detect the faulty cell. To achieve this goal, the cell which is active when the Fault signal turns to "0" is detected as the faulty cell. Furthermore, consideration of generating the active cell pulses is completely described. Since the main advantage of this method is its simplicity, it can be easily implemented in a programmable digital device. Experimental results obtained with an 11-level inverter prototype confirm the effectiveness of the proposed fault detection technique. In addition, they show that the diagnosis method is unaffected by variations of the modulation index.

• Transactions on Electrical and Electronic Materials
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• v.18 no.4
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• pp.229-236
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• 2017

This paper deals with the design and implementation of an efficient topology for cascaded multilevel inverters with reduced part counts. In the proposed design, a well-established basic unit is first developed. The series extension of this unit results in the formation of the proposed multilevel inverter. The proposed design minimizes the number of power electronic components including insulated-gate bipolar transistors and gate driver circuits, which in turn cuts down the size of the inverter assembly and reduces the operating power losses. An explicit control strategy with enhanced device efficiency is also acquired. Thus, the part count reductions enhance not only the economical merits but also the technical features of the entire system. In order to accomplish the desired operational aspects, three algorithms are considered to determine the magnitudes of the dc voltage sources effectively. The proposed topology is compared with the conventional cascaded H-bridge multilevel inverter topology, to reflect the merits of the presented structure. In continue, both the analytical and experimental results of a cascaded 31-level structure are analyzed. The obtained results are discussed in depth, and the exemplary performance of the proposed structure is corroborated.

• Journal of Power Electronics
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• v.16 no.2
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• pp.490-497
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• 2016

The analysis of the switch status of each unit module of a cascaded multi-level inverter reveals that the working condition of the switch of a chopper arm causes unnecessary switching under the conventional unipolar sinusoidal pulse width modulation (SPWM). With an increase in the number of cascaded multilevel inverters, the superposition of unnecessary switching gradually occurs. In this work, we propose an improved SPWM strategy to reduce switching in cascaded multilevel inverters. Specifically, we analyze the switch state of the switch tube of a chopper arm of an H-bridge unit. The redundant switch is then removed, thereby reducing the switching frequency. Unlike the conventional unipolar SPWM technique, the improved SPWM method greatly reduces switching without altering the output quality of inverters. The conventional unipolar SPWM technique and the proposed method are applied to a five-level inverter. Simulation results show the superiority of the proposed strategy. Finally, a prototype is built in the laboratory. Experimental results verify the correctness of the proposed modulation 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.