Simple Discontinuous Pulse-Width Modulation Scheme for the Loss Reduction of a Dual Inverter Fed an Open-End Winding Induction Motor

Abstract

This paper presents a simple discontinuous pulse width modulation (DPWM) switching scheme to reduce the switching loss of a single DC-link dual two-level inverter fed an open-end winding (OW) induction motor (IM). The dual inverter system is attractive in many applications due to higher DC-link voltage utilization. Additionally, the OW motor has the potential fault-tolerant capability. However, the use of the dual inverter results in reduced system efficiency due to increased power losses in the inverter. Moreover, an OW motor inherently suffers from a zero-sequence current (ZSC) issue because the open neutral point of the stator windings provides the ZSC path. The ZSC causes negative effects in the system, such as an additional power loss and total harmonic distortion (THD). Thus, this work proposes an optimal DPWM scheme to reduce the inverter loss while suppressing the ZSC. Additionally, this work proposes a strategy to make the average power loss of each inverter equal. The performance of the proposed method is discussed in terms of switching power loss reduction and ZSC suppression. Simulation and experimental results are provided to verify the effectiveness of the proposed DPWM scheme.