The Rebirth of the Current Source Inverter: Advantages for Aerospace Motor Design

Vincenzo Madonna,Paolo Giangrande,Emilio Lorenzani,Giampaolo Buticchi,Giovanni Migliazza,Michael Galea

doi:10.1109/mie.2019.2936319

Abstract

It is well known and widely accepted that the voltage source inverter (VSI) now dominates the world of electrical drives. Its success is probably due to its simplicity, high efficiency, and the widespread availability of VSs. This popularity has, in turn, influenced the evolution of the semiconductor industry, which has focused in recent years on devices tailored for VSIs. Thus, products such as depletion devices (normally off) and those without reverse voltage blocking have been widely marketed and used.

Highlights

Document Version: Accepted Author manuscript, peer reviewed, unedited version. It is well-known and widely accepted that today the world of electrical drives is dominated by the Voltage Source Inverter (VSI)
Any high speed drive that is limited with a low voltage source, e.g. for transport applications, will be an ideal breeding ground for the generation of current source inverter (CSI) converters
A comparison in terms of electromagnetic performance among the three machines is presented in CSI version peaking over 97%

Summary

Introduction

It is well-known and widely accepted that today the world of electrical drives is dominated by the Voltage Source Inverter (VSI). The use of an additional device S7 (shown in red in Figure 5) with a suitable Space Vector Modulation (SVM) [8] can reduce conduction losses, the THD of output currents and the ground leakage current The latter is important for aerospace applications where reliability and fail-safe systems are essential requirements. Considering all this, it is very probable that customised designs can result in CSI systems that can fairly compete with VSIs. Once the differences in terms of efficiency due to the optimized devices and topology would allow to obtain very good result, its inherent voltage boost capability would make it ideal for high speed operations where only a relative low-voltage source is available. Summarizing the CSI excellent output voltage waveform implies lower stresses on the insulation systems of the converter itself and on the insulation systems of the EM, making it the definite winner of the competition

Background

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Discussion