• Journal of Power Electronics
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• 제14권3호
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• pp.531-540
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• 2014

A novel carrier-based PWM (CBPWM) strategy of a three-level NPC converter is proposed in this paper. The novel strategy can eliminate the low-frequency neutral point (NP) voltage oscillation under the entire modulation index and full power factor. The basic principle of the novel strategy is introduced. The internal modulation wave relationship between the novel CBPWM strategy and traditional SPWM strategy is also studied. All 64 modulation wave solutions of the CBPWM strategy are derived. Furthermore, the proposed CBPWM strategy is compared with traditional SPWM strategy regarding the output phase voltage THD characteristics, DC voltage utilization ratio, and device switching losses. Comparison results show that the proposed strategy does not cause NP voltage oscillation. As a result, no low-frequency harmonics occur on output line-to-line voltage and phase current. The novel strategy also has higher DC voltage utilization ratio (15.47% higher than that of SPWM strategy), whereas it causes larger device switching losses (4/3 times of SPWM strategy). The effectiveness of the proposed modulation strategy is verified by simulation and experiment results.

• Journal of Power Electronics
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• 제16권1호
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• pp.173-181
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• 2016

In this paper, a new technique for harmonic optimization in cascaded H-bridge 7-level inverters is proposed. The suggested strategy is based on minimizing an objective function which simultaneously optimizes the converter utilization and Total Harmonic Distortion (THD). The Switch Utilization Ratio (SUR) is formulized for both the phase and line-line voltages of a 7-level inverter and is considered in the final objective functions. Based upon the SUR formula, utilization ratio enhancement will reduce the value of feeding DC links, which improves the efficiency and lifetime of the circuit components due to lower voltage stresses and losses. In order to achieve more effective solution in different modulation indices, it is assumed that the DC sources can be altered. Experimental validation is presented based on a three-phase 7-level inverter prototype.

• Journal of Power Electronics
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• 제16권6호
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• pp.2035-2044
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• 2016

In order to match the voltages between high voltage battery stacks and low voltage super-capacitors with a high conversion efficiency in hybrid energy sources electric vehicles (HESEVs), a high ratio bidirectional DC-DC converter with a synchronous rectification H-Bridge is proposed in this paper. The principles of high ratio step-down and step-up operations are analyzed. In terms of the bidirectional characteristic of the H-Bridge, the bidirectional synchronous rectification (SR) operation is presented without any extra hardware. Then the SR power switches can achieve zero voltage switching (ZVS) turn-on and turn-off during dead time, and the power conversion efficiency is improved compared to that of the diode rectification (DR) operation, as well as the utilization of power switches. Experimental results show that the proposed converter can operate bidirectionally in the wide ratio range of 3~10, when the low voltage continuously varies between 15V and 50V. The maximum efficiencies are 94.1% in the Buck mode, and 93.6% in the Boost mode. In addition, the corresponding largest efficiency variations between SR and DR operations are 4.8% and 3.4%. This converter is suitable for use as a power interface between the battery stacks and super-capacitors in HESEVs.

• Journal of Power Electronics
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• 제16권5호
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• pp.1629-1638
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• 2016

Differential power processing (DPP) systems are among the most effective architectures for photovoltaic (PV) power systems because they are highly efficient as a result of their distributed local maximum power point tracking ability, which allows the fractional processing of the total generated power. However, DPP systems require a high-efficiency, high step-up/down bidirectional converter with broad operating ranges and galvanic isolation. This study proposes a single, magnetic, high-efficiency, high step-up/down bidirectional DC-DC converter. The proposed converter is composed of a bidirectional flyback and a bidirectional isolated switched-capacitor cell, which are competitively cheap. The output terminals of the flyback converter and switched-capacitor cell are connected in series to obtain the voltage step-up. In the reverse power flow, the converter reciprocally operates with high efficiency across a broad operating range because it uses hard switching instead of soft switching. The proposed topology achieves a genuine on-off interleaved energy transfer at the transformer core and windings, thus providing an excellent utilization ratio. The dynamic characteristics of the converter are analyzed for the controller design. Finally, a 240 W hardware prototype is constructed to demonstrate the operation of the bidirectional converter under a current feedback control loop. To improve the efficiency of a PV system, the maximum power point tracking method is applied to the proposed converter.