• Journal of Power Electronics
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• v.14 no.6
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• pp.1100-1108
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• 2014

Modular multilevel converters (MMCs) have emerged as the most promising topology for high and medium voltage applications for the coming years. However, one particular negative characteristic of MMCs is the existence of circulating current, which contains a dc component and a series of low-frequency even-order ac harmonics. If not suppressed, these ac harmonics will distort the arm currents, increase the power loses, and cause higher current stresses on the semiconductor devices. Repetitive control (RC) is well known due to its distinctive capabilities in tracking periodic signals and eliminating periodic errors. In this paper, a novel circulating current control scheme base on RC is proposed to effectively track the dc component and to restrain the low-frequency ac harmonics. The integrating function is inherently embedded in the RC controller. Therefore, the proposed circulating current control only parallels the RC controller with a proportional controller. Thus, conflicts between the RC controller and the traditional proportional integral (PI) controller can be avoided. The design methodologies of the RC controller and a stability analysis are also introduced. The validity of the proposed circulating current control approach has been verified by simulation and experimental results based on a three-phase MMC downscaled prototype.

• Journal of the Korean Institute of Illuminating and Electrical Installation Engineers
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• v.21 no.3
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• pp.56-61
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• 2007

In this paper, a circulating current reduction approach for the parallel operation of fuelcell systems with Z-source inverters is investigated. The carrier phase shifted SPWM(Sinusoidal Pulse Width Modulation) is used as a modulation method since it has an advantage in reducing output current harmonics. However, when this technique is applied to the parallel operation of Z-source inverters, it additionally produces circulating currents. A coupled circulating current reactor is used to reduce circulating current generated by the parallel operation of Z-source inverters and to reduce output current harmonics. The proposed circulating current reduction approach using coupled circulating current reactors is verified through simulation and experiment.

• The Transactions of the Korean Institute of Power Electronics
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• v.10 no.5
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• pp.443-449
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• 2005

In this paper, parallel operation systems with Z-source Inverters for the fuel cell systems are discussed. The carrier phase shifted SPWM(Sinusoidal Pulse Width Modulation) has an advantage in reducing harmonics of output current. However when this technique applies in parallel operation of Z-source inverters, it additionally produces circulating currents. The circulating current is analyzed and a method to prevent the circulating current is applied to the parallel operation systems of Z-source inverters. To maintain high performance with reduced circulating current in inverter output and low harmonic components in load current, circulating current reactors are used. The proposed approach is verified through simulation and experiment.

• The Transactions of the Korean Institute of Power Electronics
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• v.22 no.3
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• pp.263-269
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• 2017

This paper proposes a novel circulating current control method for an MMC-HVDC system based on Vector PI control. The method can suppress second-order harmonics of the circulating currents under balanced and unbalanced grid conditions. The proposed method is robust to grid frequency variation. The effectiveness of the proposed method is verified through frequency response and time domain simulation.

• 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.

• Journal of Power Electronics
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• v.16 no.6
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• pp.2119-2128
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• 2016

Due to detection and control errors, some high-frequency harmonics with voltage-source characteristics cause circulating currents in modular inverters. Moreover, the circulating currents are usually affected by the output filters (OF) of each module due to their filter and resonance properties. The interaction among the circulating currents in the modules increase the power loss and reduce system stability and control precision. Therefore, this paper reports the results of a study on the SPWM high-frequency harmonics circulating currents for a double-module VSI. In the paper, an analysis of the circulating-current circuits is briefly described. Next, a mathematic model of the single-module output voltage based on the carrier frequency of SPWM is built. On this basis, through mathematic modeling of high-frequency harmonic circulating currents, the formation mechanism and distribution characteristics of circular currents and their influences are studied in detail. Finally, the influences of the OF on the circulating currents are studied by mainly taking an LC-type filter as an example. A theoretical analysis and experimental results demonstrate some important characteristics. First, the carrier phase shifting of the SPWM for each module is the major cause of the SPWM harmonic circulating currents, and the circulating currents are in an odd distribution around n-times the carrier frequency $n{\omega}_s$, where n = 1, 2, 3, ${\ldots}$. Second, the harmonic circular currents do not flow into the parallel system. Third, the OF can effectively suppress the non-circulating part of the high-frequency harmonic currents but is ineffective for the circulation part, and actually reduces system stability.

• Journal of the Korean Institute of Electrical and Electronic Material Engineers
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• v.32 no.1
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• pp.1-5
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• 2019

The overhead contact line (OCL) is a key piece of equipment for transmitting electrical energy to the pantograph of rail cars. Recently, a 400 km/h OCL was applied to the Honam high-speed line, and its performance was examined by running HEMU-430X. For the study, we analyzed the current of catenary wire concurrently while running HEMU-430X in the Honam high-speed line. Specifically, this study recorded the currents for each speed during operation of the railway vehicle. The analysis of the frequency of line current showed generation of third-harmonics, 15th-harmonics, 17th-harmonics, and 19th-harmonics. The current of catenary wire is a basic technology assessment used to determine the electrical safety of electric railway systems, and it can be used as a technology for analyzing circulating currents generated in the current configuration, as well as for analyzing electric fatigue of the OCL components.

• Journal of Power Electronics
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• v.17 no.5
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• pp.1349-1362
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• 2017

In order to further improve the harmonic suppression capability of conventional 12-pulse rectifiers, this paper proposes a low harmonic 12-pulse rectifier using an Active Inter-Phase Reactor (AIPR). Through a detailed analysis of the relationship between the input current, output current and circulating current of the DC side, the mechanism where the AC grid side current harmonics can be suppressed by the DC side circulating current is revealed. On this basis, an interleaved APFC controlled by a DSP is designed and used as an AIPR along with an interphase reactor. A simulation is carried out with MATLAB/Simulink and an experiment is performed on a 9-kVA prototype. The obtained results verify the feasibility and validity of the proposed approach. Compared with a traditional 12-pulse rectifier, the THD can be reduced to 1/5 of the original value, and the capacity of the AIPR is only 2% of the load power. Thus, it is suitable for high-power applications.

• Journal of Power Electronics
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• v.19 no.4
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• pp.922-933
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• 2019

The arm inductance (AI) of a modular multilevel converter (MMC) affects both the fault and circulating current magnitudes. In addition, it has an impact on the inverter efficiency and harmonic content. In this study, the AI of a three-phase MMC is optimized in a novel way in terms of DC voltage utilization, harmonics and efficiency. This MMC has 10 submodules (SM) per arm and the power circuit topology of the SM is a half-bridge. The optimum AI is adopted and verified in an MMC that has 100 SMs per arm. Then the phase shift (PS) and phase disposition (PD) pulse width modulation (PWM) methods are investigated for better DC voltage utilization, efficiency and harmonics. It is found that similar performances are obtained for both modulation techniques in terms of DC voltage utilization. However, the total harmonic distortion (THD) of the PS-PWM is found to be 0.02%, which is slightly lower than the THD of the PD-PWM at 0.16%. In efficiency calculations, the switching and conduction losses for all of the semiconductor are considered separately and the minimum efficiency of the 100-SM based MMC is found to be 99.62% for the PS-PWM and 99.64% for the PD-PWM with the optimal value of the AI. Simulation results are verified with an experimental prototype of a 6-SM based MMC.