• Journal of Power Electronics
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• v.16 no.1
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• pp.133-141
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• 2016

This paper focuses on the development of a Five-Level Flying-Capacitor Dual Buck Inverter (FLFCDBI) based on the main circuit of dual buck inverters. This topology has been described as not having any shoot-through problems, no body-diode reverse recovery problems and the half-cycle work mode found in the traditional Multi-Level Flying-Capacitor Inverter (MLFCI). It has been shown that the flying-capacitor voltages of this inverter can be regulated by the redundant state selection within one pole. The voltage balance of the flying-capacitors can be achieved by charging or discharging in the positive (negative) half cycles by choosing the proper logical algorithms. This system has a simple structure but demonstrates improved performance and reliability. The validity of this inverter is conformed through computer-aided simulation and experimental investigations.

• Proceedings of the KIPE Conference
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• 2005.07a
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• pp.298-301
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• 2005

The flying capacitor voltage control of the flying capacitor multi-level inverter (FCMLI) is very important for safe operation. The voltage unbalancing of flying capacitors caused serious problems in safety and reliability of system. In the FCMLI, balancing problem of the flying capacitor has its applications limited. The voltage unbalance is occurred by the difference of each capacitors charging and discharging time applied to FCMLI. This paper investigates and analyzes multi-carrier PWM methods to solve capacitor voltage balancing problem. The Phase-Shift PWM (PSPWM) method that is commonly used, The Modified Carrier-Redistribution PWM (MCRPWM) method and The Saw-Tooth-Rotation PWM (STRPWM) method are discussed and compared with respect to switching state, balancing voltage of capacitors and output waveform. These three PWM methods are analyzed by using a flying capacitor three-level inverter and provided result through simulation. Finally, the harmonics about the output voltages of their methods are compared using the harmonic distortion factor (HDF).

• The Transactions of the Korean Institute of Electrical Engineers B
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• v.52 no.12
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• pp.624-631
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• 2003

This paper presents a simple carrier symmetric method for the voltage balance of flying capacitors in FCMLI(flying capacitor multi-level inverter). To achieve the voltage balance of flying capacitors, the utilization of each carrier must be balanced during a half-cycle of the switching period such as PSPWM(Phase-Shifted PWM). However, the CRPWM(Carrier Redistribution PWM) method causes the fluctuation of flying capacitor voltages because the balanced utilization of carriers is not achieved. Moreover, it does not consider that the load current change has an influence on flying capacitor voltages by assuming that the current flows into the load. To overcome the drawbacks of CRPWM, it is modified by the technique that carriers of each band are disposed symmetrically at every fundamental period. Firstly, the CRPWM method is reviewed and the theory on voltage balance of flying capacitors is analyzed. The proposed method is introduced and is verified through the experiment result.

• Proceedings of the KIPE Conference
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• 2000.07a
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• pp.313-316
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• 2000

This paper proposes a new solution by carrier-based SVPWM method to solve the most serious problem of Flying Capacitor Multi-level Inverter that is unbalance of capacitor voltages The voltage unbalance is occurred by the difference of each capacitor's charging and discharging time applied to Flying Capacitor Multi-level Inverter. It controls the variation of capacitor voltages into the mean'0' during some period by means of new carriers using the leg voltage redundancy in the Inverter. The solution can be easily expanded to the multi-level. Also this method can make the switching loss and conduction loss of device equal by the use of leg voltage redundancy. First the unbalance of capacitor voltage is analyzed and the conventional theory of self-balance using phase-shifted carrier is reviewed. And then the new method that is suitable to the Flying Capacitor Inverter is explained. The simulation results would be shown to verify the proposed method

• The Transactions of the Korean Institute of Power Electronics
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• v.8 no.6
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• pp.469-477
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• 2003

This paper proposes a Carrier-Rotation (CR) PWM technique that is a new solution for the voltage unbalancing problem of flying capacitors in the Flying Capacitor Multi-level Inverter (FCMI). The proposed technique equalizes the utilization of phase leg voltage redundancies corresponding to the charging and the discharging state of individual flying capacitors during each switching period of all the switches. Therefore, the charging and the discharging quantity of flying capacitors are equal, which makes the average variation of flying capacitor voltages become zero and keeps their voltage stable during minimum specified period. It also has the reduced harmonic contents of output voltage and the same switch utilization since all the carrier signals are in phase and the switching frequency of each switch is identical. The proposed technique is analyzed precisely in flying capacitor 3-level inverter and then it has expanded to the FCMI (N-level, N>3). Experimental results on the laboratory prototype flying capacitor 3-level inverter confirm the validity of the proposed technique.

• The Transactions of the Korean Institute of Power Electronics
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• v.7 no.1
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• pp.65-73
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• 2002

This paper proposes a new carrier-based PWM method to solve the most serious problem of flying capacitor multi-level inverter that is the unbalance of capacitor voltages. The voltage unbalance occurs due to the difference of each capacitor's charging and discharging time applied to Flying Capacitor Inverter. New solution controls the variation of capacitor voltages into the mean '0'during some period by means of new carriers using the leg voltage redundancy in the flying capacitor inverter. The solution can be easily expanded to the multi-level inverter. The leg voltage redundancy in the new method makes the switching loss of device equals to the conduction loss of device. This paper will examine the unbalance of capacitor voltage and the conventional theory of self-balance using Phase-shifted carrier. And then the new method that is suitable to the flying capacitor inverter will be explained.

• The Transactions of the Korean Institute of Power Electronics
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• v.25 no.6
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• pp.484-489
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• 2020

This study proposes a new soft-switching three-level flying capacitor converter with low filter inductance. The proposed converter can achieve zero voltage switching (ZVS) turn-on of all switches by using auxiliary components La and Ca. It can also reduce filter inductance because the applied voltage of the filter inductor is decreased by using the flying capacitor. Furthermore, filter inductance can be reduced because the operating frequency of the filter inductor is doubled by the phase shifting between switches S3 and S4. The operation principle, design of passive components for ZVS turn-on, interleaving effects, and comparison of different topologies are presented. The experimental waveforms of a 1 kW two-phase interleaved converter prototype are provided to verify the validity of the proposed converter.

• Proceedings of the KIPE Conference
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• 2003.07b
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• pp.606-610
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• 2003

This paper presents a simple carrier symmetric method for the voltage balance of flying capacitors in FCMLI(flying capacitor multi-level inverter). To achieve the voltage balance of flying capacitors, the utilization of each carrier must be balanced during a half-cycle of the switching period such as PSPWM(Phase-Shifted PWM). However, the CRPWM(Carrier Redistribution PWM) method causes the fluctuation of flying capacitor voltages because the balanced utilization of carriers is not achieved. Moreover, it does not consider that the load current change has an influence on flying capacitor voltages by assuming that the current flows Into the load. To overcome the drawbacks of CRPWM, it is modified by the technique that carriers of each band are disposed symmetrically at every fundamental period. Firstly, the CRPWN method is reviewed and the theory on voltage balance of flying capacitors is analyzed. The proposed method Is introduced and is verified through the experiment result.

• Proceedings of the KIPE Conference
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• 2003.07b
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• pp.630-634
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• 2003

This paper proposes a Carrier-Rotation PWM technique that is new solution for the voltage unbalancing problem of flying capacitors in the Flying Capacitor Multi-level Inverter (FCMI).The proposed PWM technique equalizes the utilization of phase leg voltage redundancies corresponding to the charging and the discharging state of flying capacitors during one switching period of all the switches. it also has the same switch utilization and the reduced harmonics of output voltage. Hence, it is more suitable for the FCMI compared with the conventional solutions. Experimental results on the laboratory prototype flying capacitor 3-level inverter confirm the validity of the proposed PWM technique.

• The Transactions of the Korean Institute of Power Electronics
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• v.23 no.5
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• pp.359-365
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• 2018

This study introduces a model predictive control method for controlling a cascaded flying capacitor multilevel rectifier used as an AC-DC rectifier of a solid-state transformer for DC distribution systems. The proposed method reduces the number of states that need to be considered in model predictive control by separately controlling input current, output DC link voltage, and flying capacitor voltage. Thus, calculation time is shortened to facilitate the level expansion of the cascaded flying capacitor multilevel rectifier. The selection of weighting factors did not present difficulties because the weighting factors in the cost function of the conventional model predictive control are not used. The effectiveness of the proposed method is verified through computer simulation using powersim and experiment.