Control Strategy for Single-Phase Open-Circuit Operation of a Modular Solid-State Transformer

Abstract

The solid-state transformer (SST) has the ability to operate with only two input phases, which can be called single-phase open-circuit (SPO) operation. With this ability, the SST can maintain operation under permanent single-phase-to-ground faults, where the fault phase must be isolated, providing a better power supply sustainability than that of the conventional low-frequency transformer. In the absence of research on the SPO operation of an SST, this paper presents a study of it. The influence of SPO operation on the grid and the SST itself is analyzed. Under the SPO state, the SST will inject the negative-sequence current to the grid; meanwhile, the maximum load power will decline; thus, the optimized power factor under the SPO state is unity. The maximum power of △-SST is higher than that of the Y-SST under the SPO state owing to the △ connection. A control strategy for the SST medium-voltage cascaded H-bridge stage is proposed. SPO current control can be achieved by controlling the positive-sequence current. A proper negative-sequence voltage can be injected to synchronize the cluster voltages to obtain a lower current total harmonic distortion and smaller dc voltage ripple. In the △-SST, a proper zero-sequence current can be injected to fully use the power rating of the double-cluster branch.