• Journal of Power Electronics
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• 제19권5호
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• pp.1182-1192
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• 2019

In order to improve the conversion efficiency and mitigate the EMI problem of conventional hard-switching inverters, a new soft-switching DC-AC inverter with a compact structure and a low modulation complexity is proposed in this paper. In the proposed structure, resonant inductors are connected in series for the arm branches, and resonant capacitors are connected in parallel for the neutral point branches. With the help of resonant components, the proposed structure achieves zero-current switching on the arm branches and zero-voltage switching on the neutral point branches. When compared with state-of-art soft-switching topologies, the proposed topology does not need auxiliary switches. Moreover, the commutation algorithm to realize soft-switching can be easily implemented. In this paper, the principle of the resonant operation of the proposed soft-switching converter is presented and its performance is verified through simulation studies. The feasibility of the proposed inverter is evaluated experimentally with a 2.4-kW prototype.

• Journal of international Conference on Electrical Machines and Systems
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• 제1권4호
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• pp.448-456
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• 2012

This paper presents a multilevel inverter configuration which is designed by insertion of a bidirectional switch between capacitive voltage sources and a conventional H-bridge module. The modified inverter can produce a better sinusoidal waveform by increasing the number of output voltage levels. By serial connection of two modified H-bridge modules, it is possible to produce 9 output voltage levels including zero. There are 24 basic switching patterns with the 9 output voltage levels. Among the patterns, we select the 2 most efficient switching patterns to get a lower switching loss and minimum dv/dt stress. We then analyze characteristics of Total Harmonic Distortion (THD) of the output voltage with variation of input voltage by computer-aided simulations and experiments.

• Journal of Power Electronics
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• 제14권6호
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• pp.1130-1138
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• 2014

This study analyzes a ladder multilevel converter (double ladder topology) with the use of a new averaging modeling technique. This technique introduces an analytical method to compute for the switching losses and is used to conduct an in-depth analysis of the influence of the switching frequency and parasitic resistance of components on converter efficiency. The obtained results enable the selection of switches and switching frequency to minimize losses. Moreover, simulation results and experimental measurements validate the analytical calculations.

• Journal of international Conference on Electrical Machines and Systems
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• 제3권3호
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• pp.305-311
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• 2014

In this paper, a new switching pattern is presented for multilevel inverters. With changing off-angel of each switch, the on time interval of all switches will approximately be equal and then the lifetime of inverter will increase, also using this method can reduce electrical stress on switches in higher levels of inverter. Switching angels as for desired modulation index are calculated using genetic algorithm whereas selective harmonics are controlled within the allowable range. The computed angels are simulated in Matlab/Simulink for respective circuits to validate the results.

• Journal of Electrical Engineering and Technology
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• 제11권6호
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• pp.1674-1683
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• 2016

In this paper, a Finite Control Set Model Predictive Control (FCS-MPC) for a five level cascaded multilevel inverter (CMLI) with reduced switch topology is proposed. Five switches are used here instead of conventionally used eight switches. The main contribution of this paper is to make the MPC controller work for the reduced switch topology using only 19 voltage vectors in place of conventional 61 voltage vectors for a five level CMLI. This simplifies the execution of the MPC algorithm, paving a way for the significant reduction in the computational time. The controller makes use of the excellent ability of MPC to multitask, by adding one more objective which is to reduce the average switching frequency in addition to controlling the load current. This is especially important, since switching losses and therefore switching frequency is significant for high-power applications. The trade-off of this MPC is that the current is not as smooth as the 61 vector scheme, but well within the limits of IEEE standards. The results shown prove that this MPC works well in steady state and dynamic conditions too.

• Journal of Electrical Engineering and Technology
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• 제13권4호
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• pp.1528-1538
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• 2018

In this paper, configuration of $1-{\phi}$ seven-level boost DC-link cascade based reversing voltage multilevel inverter (BDCLCRV MLI) is proposed for uninterrupted power supply (UPS) applications. It consists of three level boost converter, level generation unit and full bridge circuit for polarity generation. When compared with conventional boost cascaded H-bridge MLI configurations, the proposed system results in reduction of DC sources, reduced power switches and gate drive requirements. Inverter switching is accomplished by providing appropriate switching angles that is generated by any optimization switching angle techniques. Here, round modulation control (RMC) method is taken as the optimization method and switching angles are derived and the same is compared with various switching angles methods i.e., equal-phase (EP) method, and half-equal-phase (HEP) method which results in improved quality of obtained AC power with lowest total harmonic distortion (THD). Reduction in DC sources and switch count makes the system more cost effective. A simulation and prototype model of $1-{\phi}$ seven-level BDCLCRV MLI system is developed and its performance is analyzed for various operating conditions.

• JSTS:Journal of Semiconductor Technology and Science
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• 제16권1호
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• pp.58-69
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• 2016

This paper describes the design and implementation of a new diode clamped multilevel inverter for variable frequency drive. The diode clamp multilevel inverter has been widely used for low power, high voltage applications due to its superior performance. However, it has some limitations such as increased number of switching devices and complex PWM control. In this paper, a new topology is proposed. New topology requires only (N-1) switching devices and (N-3) clamping diodes compared to existing topology. A modified APO-PWM control method is used to generate gate pulses for inverter. The proposed inverter topology is coupled with single phase induction motor and its performance is tested by MATLAB simulation. Finally, a prototype model has built and its performance is tested with single phase variable frequency drive.

• Journal of Electrical Engineering and Technology
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• 제10권1호
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• pp.261-270
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• 2015

In this paper, the Optimal Harmonic Stepped Waveform (OHSW) method is proposed in order to eliminate the selective harmonic orders available at the output of cascaded multilevel inverter (CMLI) fed by solar photovoltaic (SPV). This technique is used to solve the harmonic elimination equations based on stepped waveform analysis in order to obtain the optimal switching angles which in turn reduce the Total Harmonic Distortion (THD). The OHSW method considers the output voltage waveform as four equal symmetries in each half cycle. In the proposed method, a solar fed fifteen level cascaded multilevel is considered where the magnitude of six numbers of harmonic orders is reduced. A programmable pulse generator is developed to carry the switching angles directly to the semiconductor switches obtained as a result of OHSW analysis. Simulations are carried out in MATLAB/Simulink in which a separate model is developed for solar photovoltaic which serves as the input for cascaded multilevel inverter. A 3kWp solar plant with multilevel inverter system is implemented in hardware to show the effectiveness of the proposed system. Based on the observation the OHSW method provides the reduced THD thereby improving power quality in renewable energy applications.

• Journal of Power Electronics
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• 제16권2호
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• pp.498-511
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• 2016

This paper presents a single-phase five-level inverter controlled by two novel pulse width modulation (PWM) switching techniques. The proposed PWM techniques are designed based on minimum switching power loss and minimum total harmonic distortion (THD). In a single-phase five-level inverter employing six switches, the first proposed PWM technique requires four switches to operate at switching frequency and two other switches to operate at line frequency. The second proposed PWM technique requires only two switches to operate at switching frequency and the rest of the switches to operate at line frequency. Compared with conventional PWM techniques for single-phase five-level inverters, the proposed PWM techniques offer high efficiency and low harmonic components in the output voltage. The validity of the proposed PWM switching techniques in controlling single-phase five-level inverters to regulate load voltage is verified experimentally using a 100 V, 500 W laboratory prototype controlled by dspace 1103.

• Journal of Power Electronics
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• 제15권3호
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• pp.685-694
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• 2015

The power loss of the controllable switches in modular multilevel converter (MMC) HVDC transmission systems is an important factor, which can determine the design of the operating junction temperatures. Due to the dc current component, the approximate calculation tool provided by the manufacturer of the switches cannot be used for the losses of the switches in the MMC. Based on the enabled probabilities of each SM in an arm, the current analytical models of the switches can be determined. The average and RMS currents can be obtained from the corresponding current analytical model. Then, the conduction losses can be calculated, and the switching losses of the switches can be estimated according to the upper limit of the switching frequency. Finally, the thermal resistance model of the switches can be utilized, and the junction temperatures can be estimated. A comparison between the calculation and PSCAD simulation results shows that the proposed method is effective for estimating the junction temperatures of the switches in the MMC.