• The Transactions of the Korean Institute of Power Electronics
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• v.24 no.2
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• pp.120-126
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• 2019

This study proposes a neutral voltage balance control scheme for stable fault-tolerant operation of an active neutral point clamped (ANPC) inverter using carrier-based pulse width modulation. The proposed scheme maintains the neutral voltage balance by reconfiguring the switching combination and modulating the reference output voltage in order to solve the degradation of the output characteristic in the fault tolerant operation due to the fault of the power semiconductor switch constituting the ANPC inverter. The feasibility of the proposed control scheme is confirmed by HIL experiment using RT-BOX.

• Journal of Power Electronics
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• v.14 no.6
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• pp.1189-1196
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• 2014

A modular multilevel-clamped composited multilevel converter ($M-MC^2$) is proposed. $M-MC^2$ enables topology reconfiguration, power device reuse, and composited clamping. An advanced five-level converter ($5L-M-MC^2$) is derived from the concept of $M-MC^2$. $5L-M-MC^2$ integrates dual three-level T-type modules and one three-level neutral point clamped module. This converter can also integrate dual three-level T-type modules and one passive diode module by utilizing the device reuse scheme. The operation principle and SPWM modulation are discussed to highlight converter performance. The proposed $M-MC^2$ is comprehensively compared with state-of-the-art five-level converters. Finally, simulations and experimental results are presented to validate the effectiveness of the main contributions of this study.

• Journal of Power Electronics
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• v.18 no.3
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• pp.702-713
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• 2018

Power loss reduction and total harmonic distortion(THD) minimization are two important goals of improving three-level inverters. In this paper, an optimized pulse width modulation (PWM) strategy that can reduce switching losses and balance the neutral point with an optional THD of three-level neutral-point-clamped inverters is proposed. An analysis of the two-level discontinuous PWM (DPWM) strategy indicates that the optimal goal of the proposed PWM strategy is to reduce switching losses to a minimum without increasing the THD compared to that of traditional SVPWMs. Thus, the analysis of the two-level DPWM strategy is introduced. Through the rational allocation of the zero vector, only two-phase switching devices are active in each sector, and their switching losses can be reduced by one-third compared with those of traditional PWM strategies. A detailed analysis of the impact of small vectors, which correspond to different zero vectors, on the neutral-point potential is conducted, and a hysteresis control method is proposed to balance the neutral point. This method is simple, does not judge the direction of midpoint currents, and can adjust the switching times of devices and the fluctuation of the neutral-point potential by changing the hysteresis loop width. Simulation and experimental results prove the effectiveness and feasibility of the proposed strategy.

• Journal of Power Electronics
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• v.18 no.1
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• pp.70-80
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• 2018

A novel strategy based on a zero common mode voltage pulse-width modulation (ZCMV-PWM) technique and zero-sequence circulating current (ZSCC) feedback control is proposed in this study to eliminate ZSCCs between three-level neutral point clamped (NPC) voltage source inverters, with common AC and DC buses, that are operating in parallel. First, an equivalent model of ZSCC in a three-phase three-level NPC inverter paralleled system is developed. Second, on the basis of the analysis of the excitation source of ZSCCs, i.e., the difference in common mode voltages (CMVs) between paralleled inverters, the ZCMV-PWM method is presented to reduce CMVs, and a simple electric circuit is adopted to control ZSCCs and neutral point potential. Finally, simulation and experiment are conducted to illustrate effectiveness of the proposed strategy. Results show that ZSCCs between paralleled inverters can be eliminated effectively under steady and dynamic states. Moreover, the proposed strategy exhibits the advantage of not requiring carrier synchronization. It can be utilized in inverters with different types of filter.

• Journal of Electrical Engineering and Technology
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• v.13 no.5
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• pp.1986-1995
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• 2018

In this paper, a novel neutral-point voltage balancing scheme for NPC three-level inverters using carrier-based sinusoidal pulse width modulation (SPWM) method is developed. The new modulation approach, based on the obtained expressions of zero sequence voltage in all six sectors, can significantly suppress the low-frequency voltage oscillation in the neutral point at high modulation index and achieve a fast voltage-balancing dynamic performance. The implementation of the proposed method is very simple. Another attractive feature is that the scheme can stably control any voltage difference between the two dc-link capacitors within a certain range without using any extra hardware. Furthermore, the presented scheme is also applicable to the single-phase NPC three-level inverter. It can maintain the neutral-point voltage balance at full modulation index and improve the voltage-balancing dynamic performance of the single-phase NPC three-level inverter. The performance of the proposed strategy and its benefits over other previous techniques are verified experimentally.

• Journal of Power Electronics
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• v.5 no.3
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• pp.224-232
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• 2005

A new three phase three-level Pulse Width Modulation (PWM) Switched Voltage Source (SVS) inverter with zero neutral point potential is proposed. It consists of three single-phase inverter modules. Each module is composed of a switched voltage source and inverter switches. The major advantage is that the peak value of the phase output voltage is twice as high as that of a conventional neutral-point-clamped (NPC) PWM inverter. Thus, the proposed inverter is suitable for applications with low voltage sources such as batteries, fuel cells, or solar cells. Furthermore, three-level waveforms of the proposed inverter can be achieved without the switch voltage imbalance problem. Since the average neutral point potential of the proposed inverter is zero, a common ground between the input stage and the output stage is possible. Therefore, it can be applied to a transformer-less Power Conditioning System (PCS). The proposed inverter is verified by a PSpice simulation and experimental results based on a laboratory prototype.

• The Transactions of the Korean Institute of Power Electronics
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• v.24 no.6
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• pp.459-462
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• 2019

This work presents methods for reducing overshoot voltages across the drain-source of silicon carbide (SiC) MOSFETs in grid-connected hybrid active neutral-point-clamped (ANPC) inverters. Compared with 3-level NPC-type inverter, the hybrid ANPC inverter can realize the high efficiency. However, SiC MOSFETs conduct its switching operation at high frequencies, which cause high overshoot voltages in such devices. These overshoot voltages should be reduced because they may damage switching devices and result in electromagnetic interference (EMI). Two major strategies are used to reduce the overshoot voltages, namely, adjusting the gate resistor and using a snubber capacitor. In this paper, advantages and disadvantages of these methods will be discussed. The effectiveness of these strategies is verified by experimental results.

• Journal of Electrical Engineering and Technology
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• v.12 no.5
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• pp.1872-1882
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• 2017

Medium voltage drive systems driven by high-power multi-level inverters operating at low switching frequency can reduce the switching losses of the power device and increase the output power. Employing subsection synchronous current harmonic minimum pulse width modulation (CHMPWM) technique can maintain the total harmonic distortion of current at a very low level. It can also reduce the losses of the system, improve the system control performance and increase the efficiency of DC-link voltage accordingly. This paper proposes a subsection synchronous CHMPWM approach of active neutral point clamped five-level (ANPC-5L) inverter under low switching frequency operation. The subsection synchronous scheme is obtained by theoretical calculation based on the allowed maximum switching frequency. The genetic algorithm (GA) is adopted to get the high-precision initial values. So the expected switching angles can be achieved with the help of sequential quadratic programming (SQP) algorithm. The selection principle of multiple sets of the switching angles is also presented. Finally, the validity of the theoretical analysis and the superiority of the CHMPWM are verified through both the simulation results and experimental results.

• Journal of Electrical Engineering and Technology
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• v.10 no.3
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• pp.1066-1074
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• 2015

This paper presents the reverse recovery characteristic according to the change of switching states when Si diode and SiC diode are used as clamp diode and proposes a method to minimize the switching loss containing the reverse recovery loss in the neutral-point-clamped inverter at low modulation index. The previous papers introduce many multiple circuits replacing Si diode with SiC diode to reduce the switching loss. In the neutral-point-clamped inverter, the switching loss can be also reduced by replacing device in the clamp diode. However, the switching loss in IGBT is large and the reduced switching loss cannot be still neglected. It is expected that the reverse recovery effect can be infrequent and the switching loss can be considerably reduced by the proposed method. Therefore, it is also possible to operate the inverter at the higher frequency with the better system efficiency and reduce the volume, weight and cost of filters and heatsink. The effectiveness of the proposed method is verified by numerical analysis and experiment results.

• 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.