• Journal of Power Electronics
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• v.14 no.1
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• pp.194-201
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• 2014

To increase the capacity of secondary cells, an appropriate serial composition of the battery modules is essential. The unbalance that may occur due to the series connection in such a serial composition is the main cause for declines in the efficiency and performance of batteries. Various studies have been conducted on the use of a passive or active topology to eliminate the unbalance from the series circuit of battery modules. Most topologies consist of a complex structure in which the Battery Management System (BMS) detects the voltage of each module and establishes the voltage balancing in the independent electrical power converters installed on each module by comparing the module voltage. This study proposes a new magnetic flux sharing type DC/DC converter topology in order to remove voltage unbalances from batteries. The proposed topology is characterized by a design in which all of the DC/DC convertor outputs connected to the modules converge into a single transformer. In this structure, by taking a form in which all of the battery balancing type converters share magnetic flux through a single harmonic wave transformer, all of the converter voltages automatically converge to the same voltage. This paper attempts to analyze the dynamic properties of the proposed circuit by using a Programmable Synthesizer Interface Module (PSIM), which is useful for power electronics analysis, while also attempting to demonstrate the validity of the proposed circuit through experimental results.

• Journal of Electrical Engineering and Technology
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• v.13 no.1
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• pp.240-249
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• 2018

Individual DC voltage balance problem is an inherent issue for cascaded H-bridge (CHB) based converter. When the CHB-based static synchronous compensator (STATCOM) is operating at zero current mode, the software-based individual DC voltage balancing control techniques may not work because of the infinitesimal output current. However, the different power losses of each cell would lead to the individual DC voltages unbalance. The uneven power losses on the local supplied cell-controllers (including the control circuit and drive circuit) would especially cause the divergence of individual DC voltages, due to their characteristic as constant power loads. To solve this problem, this paper proposes an adaptive voltage balancing module which is designed in the cell-controller board with small size and low cost circuits. It is controlled to make the power loss of the cell a constant resistance load, thus the DC voltages are balanced in zero current mode. Field test in a 10kV STATCOM confirms the performance of the proposed method.

• Journal of Power Electronics
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• v.15 no.3
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• pp.660-669
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• 2015

This paper presents a control scheme with a focus on the combination of phase disposition pulse width modulation (PDPWM) and DC capacitor voltage control for a chopper-cell based modular multilevel converter (MMC) for the purpose of eliminating the time-consuming voltage sorting algorithm and complex voltage balancing regulators. In this paper, the convergence of the DC capacitor voltages within one arm is realized by charging the minimum voltage module and discharging the maximum voltage module during each switching cycle with the assistances of MAX/MIN capacitor voltage detection and PDPWM signals exchanging. The process of voltage balancing control introduces no extra switching commutation, which is helpful in reducing power loss and improving system efficiency. Additionally, the proposed control scheme also possess the merit of a simple executing procedure in application. Simulation and experimental results indicates that the MMC circuit together with the proposed method functions very well in balancing the DC capacitor voltage and improving system efficiency even under transient states.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Industry Convergence
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• v.25 no.3
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• pp.451-459
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• 2022

Recently, in accordance with the demand for a large capacity of a secondary battery according to an increase in the demand for energy storage devices, a modular series battery configuration is essential. Accordingly, various cell balancing techniques have been proposed to prevent high efficiency and performance degradation of the battery. In this paper, propose a battery voltage balancing topology consisting of a flyback DC/DC converter type of a SIMO (Single-Input-Multiple Output) two-switch configuration for a series battery configuration. The proposed topology shows a structure in which a DC/DC converter connected to each module and a battery cell share one transformer. The topology cell balancing operation is a principle in which the voltage balancing converter of the battery converges to the same value through a transformer that shares a magnetic flux with the cells constituting the module through a single high-frequency transformer. In this paper, the dynamic characteristics analysis of the proposed circuit using PSIM was based and it was verified through experiments on one module.

• Journal of Sensor Science and Technology
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• v.21 no.5
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• pp.379-384
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• 2012

This paper presents the power source of wireless sensor node (WSN) using supercapacitors and a solar cell. Supercapacitors have high lifetime cycling compared to that of batteries. Supercapacitors are connected in series to achieve higher voltage and a voltage balancing circuit is required to ensure that no individual cell goes overvoltage. We employ an active balancing circuit that draws minimal current by using transistors. A diode is connected in series with each supercapacitor. A new balancing circuit that equalize the cells-voltage reduces energy consumption of supercapacitors. Voltage of operating WSN is applied 2.2-3.3V by DC/DC converter and supercapacitor voltage 2.2-5.1V. Maximum operating time of wireless sensor node is about 16 hours in full charging.

• The Transactions of the Korean Institute of Power Electronics
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• v.22 no.3
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• pp.256-262
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• 2017

This paper presents the control algorithm of a single-phase AC/DC/AC PWM converter for the linear compressor of a refrigerator. The AC/DC/AC converter consists of a full-bridge PWM converter for the control of the input power factor and a half-bridge PWM inverter for the control of the single-phase linear compressor. At the DC-link of this topology, two capacitors are connected in series. These DC-link voltages must be balanced for safe operation. Thus, a new control method of DC voltage balancing for the half-bridge PWM inverter is proposed. The balancing algorithm uses the Integral-Proportional controller and inserts the DC-offset current at the Proportional-Resonant current controller of the inverter to solve the DC-link unbalanced voltages between the two capacitors. The proposed algorithm can be easily implemented without much computation and additional hardware circuit. The usefulness of the proposed algorithm is verified through several experiments.

• Journal of Power Electronics
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• v.10 no.5
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• pp.572-578
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• 2010

This paper discusses a transformerless shunt static compensator (STATCOM) based on a modular multilevel converter (MMC). It introduces a new time-discrete appropriate current control algorithm and a phase-shifted carrier modulation strategy for fast compensation of the reactive power and harmonics, and also for the balancing of the three-phase source side currents. Analytical formulas are derived to demonstrate the accurate mechanism of the stored energy balancing inside the MMC. Various simulated waveforms verify that the MMC based STATCOM is capable of reactive power compensation, harmonic cancellation, and simultaneous load balancing, while controlling and balancing all of the DC mean voltages even during the transient states.

• Journal of Power Electronics
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• v.12 no.2
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• pp.344-356
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• 2012

In recent years, multilevel technology has become an effective and practical solution in the field of moderate and high voltage applications. This paper discusses an APF with a three-level NPC inverter. Obviously, the application of such converter to APFs is hindered by the problem of the voltage unbalance of DC capacitors, which leads to system instability. This paper comprehensively analyzes the theoretical limitations of the neutral-point voltage balancing problem for tracking different harmonic currents utilizing current switching functions from the space vector PWM (SVPWM) point of view. The fluctuation of the neutral point caused by the load currents of certain order harmonic frequency is reported and quantified. Furthermore, this paper presents a close-loop digital control algorithm of the DC voltage for this APF. A PI controller regulates the DC voltage in the outer-loop controller. In the current-loop controller, this paper proposes a simple neutral-point voltage control method. The neutral-point voltage imbalance is restrained by selecting small vectors that will move the neutral-point voltage in the direction opposite the direction of the unbalance. The experiment results illustrate that the performance of the proposed approach is satisfactory.

• Proceedings of the KIPE Conference
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• 1998.07a
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• pp.35-38
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• 1998

In this paper, we present a new SVPWM strategy for a 3-level inverter. This SVPWM method is easily implemented without switching table like SVPWM. In addition, with proposed method, we can also keep the voltage balancing of DC-link capacitors and guarantee minimum on/off time of the devices. The principle of the proposed SVPWM method is described in detail, and its implementation method is also proposed. The usefulness of the proposed SVPWM method is verified through the simulation using MATLAB/Simulink.

• The Transactions of the Korean Institute of Power Electronics
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• v.20 no.4
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• pp.321-329
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• 2015

The static synchronous compensator (STATCOM) of cascaded H-bridge configuration accompanying multiple separate DC sides is inherently subject to the problem of uneven DC voltages. These DC voltages in one leg can be controlled by adjusting the AC-side output voltage of each cell inverter, which is proportional to the active power. However, when the phase current is extremely small, large AC-side voltage is required to generate the active power to balance the cell voltages. In this study, an alternative zero-sequence current injection method is proposed, which facilitates effective cell balancing controllers at no load, and has no effect on the power grid because the injected zero sequence current only flows within the STATCOM delta circuit. The performance of the proposed method is verified through simulation and experiments.