Variable Switching Frequency PWM Strategy for High-Frequency Circulating Current Control in Paralleled Inverters With Coupled Inductors

Abstract

Determination of high-frequency circulating current is important for coupled inductor design of paralleled voltage source inverters (VSIs). A time-domain model describing the circulating current of coupled inductor within a switching period is presented in this article. Using this model, the peak or rms values of circulating current can be calculated for different pulsewidth modulation (PWM) methods. Both the conventional 180° interleaved PWM and zero-common-mode voltage PWM algorithms are studied here. Considering the saturation nature of the magnetic cores in determining the effective inductance of coupled inductors, the variable switching frequency PWM (VSFPWM) is proposed to better utilize the coupled inductor's saturation limit, which is determined by high-frequency circulating current peak value. With the proposed strategy, both switching losses and electromagnetic interference are improved with respect to the constant switching frequency PWM. Moreover, the detailed power losses analysis of paralleled VSIs has been presented and the dynamic performance of the proposed VSFPWM has been well investigated. Finally, the proposed method has been extended to the system with 2N paralleled inverters. Detailed simulation and experimental results are provided to validate the proposed method.