An Optimized Zero-Sequence Voltage Injection Method for Eliminating Circulating Current and Reducing Common Mode Voltage of Parallel-Connected Three-Level Converters

Abstract

Parallel three-level inverters have attracted considerable attention due to the advantages to increase the power rating and the flexibility of power conversion systems. However, this type of configuration requires to suppress the zero-sequence circulating current (ZSCC) through either modulation or active control strategies, to avoid overloading problems of a single three-level inverter. For the operation of paralleled three-level T-type inverters, another requirement is to reduce the common mode voltage (CMV) associated with a pulsewidth modulation method. To better solve these problems simultaneously, an optimized zero-sequence voltage injection method is proposed to both reduce CMV and eliminate ZSCC for multiparallel-connected three-level inverters. A generalized CMV reduction strategy is developed, which can reduce the magnitude of CMV to one half of the value using the conventional space vector modulation. The highlight of the method is that ZSCC is eliminated by adding an optimal compensation value to the reference duty signals with lower CMV. This compensation value is calculated simply by ZSCC, duty cycles, and filter parameters. The better ZSCC suppression performance can be obtained in both steady and transient states with the proposed scheme, thus, improving the quality of currents.