• Journal of Electrical Engineering and Technology
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• v.12 no.2
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• pp.738-750
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• 2017

In this paper, carrier-based pulse width modulation (CBPWM), space vector PWM (SVPWM) and reduced switching losses PWM (RSLPWM) for the three-level neutral point clamped (NPC) inverter are introduced. In the case of the neutral point (NP) potential (NPP) offset, an asymmetric disposition PWM (ASPDPWM) strategy is proposed, which can output PWM sequences correctly and suppress the lower order harmonics of the inverter effectively. An NPP balance strategy based on carrier based PWM (CBPWM) is analyzed. A hybrid modulation strategy combining RSLPWM and the NPP balance based on CBPWM is proposed, and hysteresis control is adopted to switch between the two modulation strategies. An experimental prototype of the three-level NPC inverter is built. The effectiveness of the hybrid modulation is verified with a resistance-inductance load and a permanent magnetic synchronous motor (PMSM) load, respectively. The experimental results show that reduced switching losses and an acceptable NPP can be effectively achieved in the hybrid modulation strategy.

• The Transactions of the Korean Institute of Power Electronics
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• v.12 no.2
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• pp.115-122
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• 2007

In this paper, a novel fault detection method for fault tolerant control is proposed when the NPC inverter has a open failure in the switching device. The open fault of switching device is detected by checking the variation of a leg-voltage in the neutral-point-clamped inverter and the two phases control method is used for continuously balance the three phases voltage to the load. It can be achieve the fault tolerant control for improving the reliability of the NPC inverter by the fault detection and reconfiguration. This method has fast detection ability and a simple realization for fault detection, compared with a conventional method. Also, this fast detection ability improved the harmful effects such as DC-link voltage unbalance and overstress to other switching devices from a delay of fault detection. The proposed method has been verified by simulation and experiment.

• The Transactions of The Korean Institute of Electrical Engineers
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• v.57 no.7
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• pp.1200-1207
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• 2008

In this paper, a novel fault detection method is proposed when the neutral-point-clamped inverter has a open-circuit fault in the switching device. This proposed method is configured with simple circuit and is achieved by a simple algorithm using the inherent characteristic of the continuous Pulse Width Modulation. Also, this method has the fast fault detection ability and is much simpler to embody, in comparison with conventional fault detection methods. This ability to detect fault minimizes harmful effect which are such as DC-link voltage unbalance and overstress to other switching devices. Therefore, this proposed fault detection method can improve reliability of NPC inverter system. Experimental results are presented to verify the validity of proposed fault detection method.

• Journal of Power Electronics
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• v.16 no.6
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• pp.2076-2084
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• 2016

In this paper, a novel scheme to eliminate common-mode voltage (CMV) is proposed for three-level neutral-point clamped (NPC) inverters. In the proposed scheme, a low-power full-bridge converter is utilized to produce compensatory voltage for CMV, which is injected into an NPC inverter through a single-phase four-winding transformer. With the proposed circuit, the power range for applications is not limited, and the maximum modulation index of the inverter is not reduced. These features are suitable for high-power medium-voltage machine drives. The effectiveness of the proposed method is verified by simulation and experimental results.

• Journal of Power Electronics
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• v.19 no.3
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• pp.702-713
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• 2019

Multilevel Inverters (MLIs) are widely used in medium voltage applications due to their various advantages. In addition, there are numerous types of MLIs for such applications. However, the diode-less 3-level (3L) T-type Neutral Point Clamped (NPC) MLI is the most advantageous due to its low conduction losses and high potential efficiency. The power circuit of a 3L T-type NPC is derived by the conventional two level inverter by a slight modification. In order to explore the MLI performance for various Pulse Width Modulation (PWM) schemes, this paper examines the operation of a 3L (five level line to line) T-type NPC MLI for various types of Multi-Carriers Pulse Width Modulation (MCPWM) schemes. These PWM schemes are compared in terms of their voltage profile, total harmonic distortion (THD) and conduction losses. In addition, a 3L T-type NPC MLI is also compared with the conventional NPC in terms of number of switches, clamping diodes, main diodes and capacitors. Moreover, the capacitor-balancing problem is also investigated using the Neutral Point Fluctuation (NPF) method with all of the MCPWM schemes. A 1kW 3L T-type NPC MLI is simulated in MATLAB/Simulink and implemented experimentally and its performance is tested with a 1HP induction motor. The results indicate that the 3L T-type NPC MLI has better performance than conventional NPC MLIs.

• Proceedings of the KIPE Conference
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• 2018.11a
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• pp.155-156
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• 2018

This paper presents a control method for grid-connected Active-NPC inverter systems. NPC (Neutral Point Clamped) is widely used in power conversion systems. NPC has a loss of switching elements and voltage imbalance. Active NPC has been proposed to overcome these drawbacks. ANPC changed the neutral diode to IGBT to reduce the switching loss. This paper modeled a grid-connected Acitve-NPC inverter systems and analyzed its performance. DSOGI PLL was used as a phase control method for precise control of grid link voltage. The proposed method is verified by PSIM simulation.

• 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.

• Proceedings of the KIPE Conference
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• 2001.10a
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• pp.369-373
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• 2001

Multilevel inverter has attracted great interest in high-voltage high-power field because of its less distorted output. In this paper, a direct torque control (DTC) technique based on a three-level neutral-point-clamped (NPC) inverter is presented. In order to solve the intrinsic neutral-point voltage-balancing problem and to obtain a high performance DTC, a special vector selection method is introduced and the concept of virtual vector is developed. By using the proposed PWM strategy, a MRAS speed sensor-less DTC drive can be achieved without sensing the neutral-point voltage, The strategy can be verified by simulation and experimental results.

• Proceedings of the KIPE Conference
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• 1998.07a
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• pp.63-69
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• 1998

A new current controlled PWM technique with NPC structure is proposed in this paper. A current controlled PWM technique with neutral-point-clamped pulse-width modulation inverter composed of main switching devices which operates as switch for PWM and auxiliary switching devices to clamp the output terminal potential to the neutral point potential is described. The proposed current controller has a first and second current band. The switching pattern will be made by the first current band. According to the second current band, the output state of the switching pattern is changed into positive and negative state. This inverter output contains less harmonic content and lower switching frequency than that of conventional current controlled PWM technique at the same current limit. Two inverters are compared analytically and the performance is investigated by the computer simulation.

• Proceedings of the KIPE Conference
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• 2004.07b
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• pp.630-634
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• 2004

A new three phase three-level Pulse Width Modulation (PWM) Switched Voltage Source (SVS) inverter with zero neutral point potential is proposed. The major advantage is that the peak value of the phase output voltage is twice as high as that of the conventional neutral-point-clamped (NPC) PWM inverter. Furthermore, three-level waveforms of the proposed inverter can be achieved without switch voltage unbalance problem. Since the average neutral point potential of the proposed inverter is zero, the common ground between input stage and output stage is possible. The proposed inverter is verified by experimental results based on a laboratory prototype.