• Journal of Power Electronics
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• 제16권6호
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• pp.2109-2118
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• 2016

Based on the space vector pulse width modulation (SVPWM) theory, this paper realizes an easier SVPWM strategy, which is equivalently implemented by CBSPWM with zero-sequence voltage injection. The traditional SVPWM strategy has no effect on controlling the neutral-point voltage balance. In order to solve the neutral-point voltage unbalance problem for neutral-point-clamped (NPC) three-level inverters, this paper proposes a neutral-point voltage balance controller. The proposed controller realizes controlling the neutral-point voltage balance by dynamically calculating the offset superimposed to the three-phase modulation waves of an equivalent SVPWM strategy. Compared with the traditional SVPWM strategy, the proposed neutral-point voltage balance controller has a strong ability to balance the neutral-point voltage, has good steady-state performance, improves the output waveforms quality and is easy for digital implementation. An experiment has been carried out on a NPC three-level inverter prototype based on a digital signal processor-complex programmable logic device (DSP-CPLD). The obtained experimental results verify the effectiveness of the proposed neutral-point voltage balance controller.

• Journal of Power Electronics
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• 제12권2호
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• pp.344-356
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• 2012

In recent years, multilevel technology has become an effective and practical solution in the field of moderate and high voltage applications. This paper discusses an APF with a three-level NPC inverter. Obviously, the application of such converter to APFs is hindered by the problem of the voltage unbalance of DC capacitors, which leads to system instability. This paper comprehensively analyzes the theoretical limitations of the neutral-point voltage balancing problem for tracking different harmonic currents utilizing current switching functions from the space vector PWM (SVPWM) point of view. The fluctuation of the neutral point caused by the load currents of certain order harmonic frequency is reported and quantified. Furthermore, this paper presents a close-loop digital control algorithm of the DC voltage for this APF. A PI controller regulates the DC voltage in the outer-loop controller. In the current-loop controller, this paper proposes a simple neutral-point voltage control method. The neutral-point voltage imbalance is restrained by selecting small vectors that will move the neutral-point voltage in the direction opposite the direction of the unbalance. The experiment results illustrate that the performance of the proposed approach is satisfactory.

• 전력전자학회논문지
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• 제19권5호
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• pp.407-414
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• 2014

This study proposes a control design for the grid output current and for reducing the neutral-point voltage oscillation through the small-signal modeling of the three-phase grid connected with a three-level neutral-point-clamped (NPC) inverter with LCL filter. The three-level NPC inverter presents an inherent problem: the neutral-point voltage fluctuation caused by the neutral-point current flowing in or out from the neutral point. The small signal modeling consists of averaging, dq0 transformation, perturbing, and linearizing steps performed on a three-phase grid connected to a three-level NPC inverter with LCL filter. The proposed method controls both the grid output and neutral-point currents at every switching period and reduces the neutral-point voltage oscillation. The validity of the proposed method is verified through simulation and experiment.

• 전력전자학회:학술대회논문집
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• 전력전자학회 2017년도 추계학술대회
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• pp.95-96
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• 2017

A three-level inverter is widely used thanks to its excellent performances, but the voltage may fluctuate at the neutral point of the split DC-Link. Neutral point voltage fluctuations cause inverter performance degradation and switching element damage, so the neutral point voltage control is essential. However, the neutral point control can be also limited by modulation index and power factor. This paper analyzes the limitation of the neutral point voltage control due to the limitation of zero-sequence voltage, and suggests a method to determine the region where the PWM has to be changed for a better neutral point control.

• Journal of Electrical Engineering and Technology
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• 제12권4호
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• pp.1471-1483
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• 2017

The low-frequency characteristics of four-switch three-phase (FSTP) inverter are investigated in this paper. Firstly, a general space vector pulse width modulation (SVPWM) directly involved the neutral point voltage of DC-link is proposed, where no sector identifications and trigonometric function calculations are needed. Subsequently, to suppress the DC offset in the neutral point voltage, the relationship between the neutral point voltage and the ${\beta}-axis$ component of the load current is derived, and then a new neutral point voltage control scheme is proposed where no low pass filter is adopted. Finally, the relationship between the load power factor and the maximum linear modulation index of the FSTP inverter is revealed. Since the operational region for the FSTP inverter in low frequency is reduced by the enlarged amplitude of the neutral point voltage, a linear modulation range enlargement scheme is proposed. A permanent magnet synchronous motor with preset rotary speed serves as the low-frequency load of the FSTP inverter. Experimental results verify that the new neutral point voltage control scheme is effective in the deviation suppression of the neutral point voltage, and the proposed scheme is able to provide a larger linear operational region in low frequency.

• Journal of Power Electronics
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• 제15권5호
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• pp.1207-1216
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• 2015

In order to suppress the low frequency oscillation of the neutral-point voltage for three-level inverters, this paper proposes a new discontinuous pulse width modulation (DPWM) control method. The conventional sinusoidal pulse width modulation (SPWM) control has no effect on balancing the neutral-point voltage. Based on the basic control principle of DPWM, the relationship between the reference space voltage vector and the neutral-point current is analyzed. The proposed method suppresses the low frequency oscillation of the neutral-point voltage by keeping the switches of a certain phase no switching in one carrier cycle. So the operating time of the positive and negative small vectors is equal. Comparing with the conventional SPWM control method, the proposed DPWM control method suppresses the low frequency oscillation of the neutral-point voltage, decreases the output waveform harmonics, and increases both the output waveform quality and the system efficiency. An experiment has been realized by a neutral-point clamped (NPC) three-level inverter prototype based on STM32F407-CPLD. The experimental results verify the correctness of the theoretical analysis and the effectiveness of the proposed DPWM method.

• 반도체디스플레이기술학회지
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• 제14권4호
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• pp.72-77
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• 2015

Three-level diode clamped multilevel inverter, generally known as neutral point clamped (NPC) inverter, has an inherent problem causing neutral point (NP) potential variation. Until now, the NP potential problem of variation has been investigated and lots of solutions have also been proposed. This paper presents a neutral point voltage control technology using the anti-windup PI controller and offset technology of PWM (Pulse Width Modulation) to control the variation of NPC 3-phase three-level inverter neutral point voltage. And the proposed algorithm is tested and verified using a PLL (Phase Locked Loop) in order to synchronize the phase voltage from the line voltage of grid. It significantly improves the voltage balancing under a solar fluctuation conditions of the inverter. Experimental results show the good performance and effectiveness of the proposed method.

• Journal of Power Electronics
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• 제17권3호
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• pp.653-663
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• 2017

Multilevel active neutral-point-clamped (ANPC) converter combines the advantages of three-level ANPC converter and multilevel flying capacitor (FC) converter. However, multilevel ANPC converter often suffers from capacitor voltage balancing problems. In order to solve the capacitor voltage balancing problems for five-level ANPC converter, phase-shifted pulse width modulation (PS-PWM) is used, which generally provides natural voltage balancing ability. However, the natural voltage balancing ability depends on the load conditions and converter parameters. In order to eliminate voltage deviations under steady-state and dynamic conditions, the active voltage-balancing control (AVBC) methods of floating capacitors and dc-link capacitors based on PS-PWM are proposed. First, the neutral-point current is regulated to balance the neutral-point voltage by injecting zero-sequence voltage. After that, the duty cycles of the redundant switch combinations are adjusted to balance the floating-capacitor voltages by introducing moderating variables for each of the phases. Finally, the effectiveness of the proposed AVBC methods is verified by experimental results.

• Journal of Power Electronics
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• 제3권4호
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• pp.205-214
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• 2003

This paper proposes a simple control strategy based on the discontinuous PWM (DPWM) to balance the DC-link voltage of three-level neutral-point-clamped (NPC) inverter at low modulation index. It introduces new DPWM methods in multi-level inverter and one of them is used for balancing the DC-link voltage. The current flowing in the neutral point of the DC-link causes the fluctuation of the DC-link voltage of the NPC inverter. The proposed DPWM method changes the path and duration time of the neutral point current, which makes the overall fluctuation of the DC-link voltage zero during a sampling time of the reference voltage vector. Therefore, by using the proposed strategy, the voltage of the DC-link can be balanced fairly well and the voltage ripple of the DC-link is also reduced significantly. Moreover, comparing with conventional methods which have to perform the complicated calculation, the proposed strategy is very simple. The validity of the proposed DPWM method is verified by the experiment.

• 반도체디스플레이기술학회지
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• 제17권3호
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• pp.90-94
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• 2018

In this paper, we applied a three-level T-type inverter with the one more voltage level than two-level inverter. However, the three-level T-type inverter has a systematic problem with voltage unbalances. So neutral point control is essential. Therefore, the voltage unbalance problem of the three - phase inverter was confirmed to be controlled within 5V using the neutral point control algorithm in charge and discharge mode. In addition, total harmonic distortion was reduced in three phases (u phase, v phase, w phase) when neutral point control was performed in charging mode and also in three phases (u phase, v phase, w phase) in discharge mode. In this paper suggests a neutral point control algorithm to solve the voltage unbalance of a three-level T-type inverter, and shows the improvement of the performance of the proposed algorithm through experiment.