Carrier-based Pulse Width Modulation Strategy Research Articles

A Double Modulation Wave CBPWM Strategy Providing Neutral-Point Voltage Oscillation Elimination and CMV Reduction for Three-Level NPC Inverters

This paper proposes a double modulation wave carrier-based pulse width modulation (CBPWM) strategy for the three-level neutral-point-clamped (NPC) inverter. This modulation strategy not only overcomes one of the main problems of the NPC inverter, which is the low-frequency voltage oscillation on the neutral point, but also reduces the common-mode voltage (CMV) generated by the inverter. Through the rigorous theoretical derivation, the unified duty cycles of each phase are derived, and the double modulation waves can be easily obtained according to different optimization objectives. However, in the previous double wave CBPWM work, the modulation strategy could not reduce the CMV, whose amplitude is still the same as that of the conventional CBPWM strategy. By rearranging the switching sequence, the vectors corresponding to the large CMV amplitude have been eliminated, and the amplitude of CMV can be reduced by half. Considering the occurrence of neutral-point voltage perturbations, a voltage controller is adopted to recover from the imbalance. Finally, the performance of the proposed modulation technique is verified by the experimental results.

A Carrier-Based PWM Scheme for Neutral Point Voltage Balancing in Three-Level Inverter Extending to Full Power Factor Range

This paper proposes a unique carrier-based pulse width modulation strategy for a three-level neutral-point-clamped inverter that works satisfactorily and with uniform convergence time over the full power factor (PF) range of the load variation. It has excellent control over capacitor voltages and mitigates low-frequency oscillations in the neutral point for the full PF range. First, an investigation is made to see how the load currents get modulated to generate compensating neutral current causing charging and discharging of dc-link capacitors. It is observed that when an additional modulating voltage signal that is in phase with the corresponding phase current is added in each phase, a neutral current is produced in the right direction which can be used to compensate for any prior unbalance in capacitor voltages. It is demonstrated that the performance of this scheme is insensitive to the load PF variation (full range from zero to unity). It performs satisfactorily throughout the entire linear modulation range and eliminates any undesirable low-frequency harmonic component in the compensating neutral current. The effectiveness of the proposed scheme is verified through simulation and experimental results by varying load PF as well as modulation index with both passive and motor loads.

Low Switch Count Nine-Level Inverter Topology for Open-End Induction Motor Drives

This paper presents a nine-level inverter topology for an open-end induction motor drive requiring only eight switches per phase, using two three-level inverters with two isolated dc links in a 3:1 ratio. A space-vector-based formulation is used to determine pole voltages such that both inverters supply power to the load over the full modulation range, eliminating the possibility of dc bus overcharging. Proper selection of switching states ensures that all floating capacitor voltages are kept tightly balanced. A digital state machine is used to select sequences of switching states in order to eliminate deadtime-induced pole voltage transients, further improving the output-voltage quality. A level-shifted carrier-based pulse width modulation scheme is used. The steady-state and transient performance of this topology were verified and the experimental results are included.

Vector-controlled Permanent Magnet Synchronous Motor Using Indirect Matrix Converter

In this paper, the vector-controlled Permanent Magnet Synchronous Motor (PMSM) fed by Indirect Matrix Converter (IMC) is analyzed, designed, and simulated by using the IMC with Carrier Based Pulse Width Modulation (CBPWM). The CBPWM strategy is based on Space Vector Pulse Width Modulation (SVPWM) analysis, it is used to enhance the input current waveform, reduce the complexity of switching signals generation, and to solve the commutation problem. The traditional PMSM drive system is simulated for comparison with proposed drive system. The proposed drive system is compared to the traditional drive system using the Total Harmonic Distortion (THD). The comparison results show that the proposed drive system outperform the traditional drive system by THD different of 1/30 of input current and 1/1.5 of stator current, with high input power factor.

Simple carrier‐based pulse‐width modulation scheme for three‐phase four‐wire neutral‐point‐clamped inverters with neutral‐point balancing

Neutral-point-clamped (NPC) three-level inverters can drive a combination of single- and three-phase loads or non-linear in a three-phase four-wire distribution system. However, an intrinsic problem with NPC three-level inverters is the fluctuation in the neutral-point (NP) voltage. In this study, a dynamic model of the NP voltage in a three-phase four-wire system will be analysed and developed. On the basis of this model, a simple carrier-based pulse-width modulation scheme for NP balancing is proposed. The proposed scheme decouples the NP voltage balancing from the necessity to control phase voltages, and controls the NP voltage without introducing zero-sequence voltage, thus the scheme can be applied to a general NPC voltage source inverter. The effectiveness of the proposed modulation scheme is verified by both simulation and experimental results. Finally, these results are compared with those reported in the literature.

Development of a Three-to-Five-Phase Indirect Matrix Converter With Carrier-Based PWM Based on Space-Vector Modulation Analysis

This paper proposes an indirect matrix converter (IMC) topology to supply a five-phase load directly from three-phase ac power sources without bulky electrolytic capacitors and explains its operating principle. Using the emerging topology, which combines the five-leg inverter into the rectifier stage of the conventional IMC, the three-to-five-phase IMC topology reduces the number of power switches and results in a simpler commutation compared with the conventional three-to-five-phase direct matrix converter. In addition, a simple approach to realize the carrier-based pulsewidth modulation (CBPWM) method for a three-to-five-phase IMC is presented, and the proposed CBPWM method is analyzed based on the space-vector approach. As a result, the IMC with the proposed CBPWM method can be more easily implemented compared with IMCs with the space-vector PWM method. A three-to-five-phase IMC control platform is realized by coordinating a TMS320F28335 DSP (Texas Instruments) with an EPM7128SLC84-15 field-programmable gate array (Altera). The simulation and experimental results are provided to verify the effectiveness of the CBPWM strategy.

Modular Multilevel Converter With an Adaptive Observer of Capacitor Voltages

A modular multilevel converter (MMC) is an attractive solution for power conversion without transformers. The MMC consists of cascade connections of floating dc capacitors. In this paper, an adaptive observer design has been proposed to estimate the capacitor voltages from the measurement of arm currents. This work introduces the capacitance value of the cell capacitors as a parameter uncertainty for making the system performance robust with unknown constant parameters. It may be used for predictive control, condition monitoring for capacitors, and diagnosis check for capacitor health. In addition, a pulsewidth modulation (PWM) technique for MMC has been explored. The PWM technique is performed using a carrier-based level-shifted PWM strategy. It does not necessitate the calculation of duty cycles, and can be easily implemented in a DSP. By using the PWM technique, harmonics in the phase voltage is shifted to twice the switching frequency. Theoretical analysis is included in this paper for showing stability and convergence of the proposed observer. Analytical expressions are verified by simulation and experimental results.

Elimination of DC-Link Current Ripple for Modular Multilevel Converters With Capacitor Voltage-Balancing Pulse-Shifted Carrier PWM

The modular multilevel converter (MMC) is attractive for medium- and high-power applications because of its high modularity, availability, and power quality. In this paper, the current ripple on the dc link of the three-phase MMC derived from the phase-shifted carrier-based pulse-width modulation scheme is analyzed. A control strategy is proposed for the current ripple elimination. Through the regulation of the phase-shifted angles of the carrier waves in the three phases of the MMC, the current ripple on the dc link of the three-phase MMC can be effectively eliminated. Simulations and experimental studies of the MMC were conducted, and the results confirm the effectiveness of the proposed current ripple elimination control.

A Control Method for Voltage Balancing in Modular Multilevel Converters

The modular multilevel converter (MMC) is attractive for medium- or high-power applications because of the advantages of its high modularity, availability, and high power quality. The voltage balancing of the floating capacitors in the cascaded submodules of the MMC is a key issue. In this paper, a voltage-balancing control method is proposed. This method uses the phase-shifted carrier-based pulsewidth modulation scheme to control high-frequency current components for capacitor voltage balancing in the MMC without measuring the arm currents. Simulations and experimental studies of the MMC were conducted, and the results confirm the effectiveness of the proposed capacitor voltage-balancing control method.

A Carrier-Based PWM Strategy With Zero-Sequence Voltage Injection for a Three-Level Neutral-Point-Clamped Converter

Performance of a carrier-based pulsewidth modulation (CB-PWM) strategy can be improved by the inclusion of a zero-sequence voltage in the modulation-reference signal. This paper proposes a new CB-PWM strategy for a three-level neutral-point-clamped (NPC) converter, which is based on a zero-sequence voltage injection. By inclusion of the zero-sequence voltage, the sinusoidal-modulation reference is modified to 1) carry out the voltage-balancing task of the dc-link capacitors, with no additional control effort, 2) reduce the switching losses, and 3) reduce the low-frequency voltage oscillations of the neutral point. The proposed strategy is an alternative approach to the nearest three-vector (NTV) space-vector modulation (SVM) strategy and is obtained by the analysis of the NTV-SVM strategy and establishing a correlation between the NTV-SVM and the CB-PWM strategies. The salient features of the proposed scheme, as compared with the NTV-SVM strategy, are: 1) its reduced computational processing time which is attractive for digital implementation and 2) its reduced switching losses. Compared with the existing CB-PWM strategies, the proposed strategy offers 1) capability to balance the capacitor voltages and reduce the NP voltage oscillations and 2) reduced switching losses. Performance of the proposed CB-PWM strategy for a three-level NPC converter based on time-domain simulation studies in the MATLAB/SIMULINK environment is evaluated and also experimentally verified.

Comparisons of Space-Vector Modulation and Carrier-Based Modulation of Multilevel Inverter

This paper studies the relations of space-vector modulation (SVM) and carrier-based pulse-width modulation (PWM) for multilevel inverter. The PWMs' generation of SVM can be achieved by carrier-based PWM scheme, but the modulated wave of SVM is acquired by vectors' calculations and switching-states' selection. Based on different selection of redundant switching-states, there are many types of SVM modulated waves, some of which can function equivalently through proper selection of common-mode injections in the case of carrier-based PWM, the others have more freedoms in switching-states' selection than carrier-based PWM. Selection of more switching-states in SVM is propitious to optimize the output voltage, balance the dc power and so on. Then an improved PWM scheme is proposed based on the modulation waves of three-level SVM, which reserves the main advantages of SVM, and can be achieved easily. Finally, a five-level test circuit is built to verify this PWM scheme.

Current Regulation in Four-Leg Voltage-Source Converters

Three-phase four-leg voltage-source converters by virtue of the fourth leg connected to the neutral points of the wye-connected loads effectively handle the zero-sequence currents and voltages occasioned by connected load impedance imbalances and/or nonlinearity of loads. This paper develops a generalized carrier-based pulsewidth-modulation scheme for this converter which with a natural reference-frame control scheme that directly controls the actual load currents ensures current regulation irrespectively of the nature of the load. The proposed modulation and control schemes are effectively validated by computer simulation and experimental results for the converter operation in the linear and overmodulation regions.

Concise Modulation Strategies for Four-Leg Voltage Source Inverters

The continuous, discontinuous pulse-width modulation (PWM) schemes and a novel space vector modulation methodology are proposed in this paper for four-leg dc-ac inverters. Using a space vector definition that includes the zero sequence voltage component and partitioning the feasible sixteen modes into two separate sets - one set having zero sequence voltages with positive magnitudes and the other set with negative magnitudes - the novel space vector implementation technique is determined as also the discontinuous carrier based PWM scheme. For the continuous carrier based PWM scheme, the indeterminate defining output voltage equations expressed in terms of the existence functions of the switching devices are solved using an optimization technique. The modulation schemes determined are shown by experimental results to synthesis any desirable balanced or unbalanced three-phase voltage sets when operating in the linear modulation region.

Current-fed three-phase and voltage-fed three-phase active converters with optimum PWM pattern scheme and their performance evaluations

This paper describes a new approach to select the optimum sinewave pulsewidth modulation (PWM) patterns suitable for a large-capacity current-fed active PWM power converter and a practical design procedure to determine circuit constants of a low-pass filter connected to suppress higher line current harmonics flowing into the utility-grid AC power source. A feasible test is implemented by building a prototype 500 kW three-phase current-fed PWM power converter which is designed and controlled on the basis of the proposed considerations. It is verified from a practical point of view that these new conceptual considerations are more effective and acceptable to minimize higher harmonic current components flowing into the utility-grid AC power source. This experimental setup provides highly efficient steady-state characteristics of the current-fed three-phase PWM power converter under the operating condition of a unity power factor correction and sinewave line current shaping schemes. Furthermore, this unique optimum PWM pattern derived from the theoretical method proposed here is conveniently applicable to a voltage-fed three-phase PWM converter. It is verified that this optimum PWM pattern provides excellent switching performance with a lower switching frequency mode than the conventional carrier-based PWM scheme.

Novel multilevel inverter carrier-based PWM method

The advent of the transformerless multilevel inverter topology has brought forth various pulsewidth modulation (PWM) schemes as a means to control the switching of the active devices in each of the multiple voltage levels in the inverter. An analysis of how existing multilevel carrier-based PWM affects switch utilization for the different levels of a diode-clamped inverter is conducted. Two novel carrier-based multilevel PWM schemes are presented which help to optimize or balance the switch utilization in multilevel inverters. A 10 kW prototype six-level diode-clamped inverter has been built and controlled with the novel PWM strategies proposed in this paper to act as a voltage-source inverter for a motor drive.

Unified voltage modulation technique for real-time three-phase power conversion

In this paper, a new voltage modulation technique named "unified pulsewidth modulation (PWM)" is described for high-performance voltage generation in a three-phase voltage-fed inverter. By considering the operation of the inverter, a simple but useful concept named "effective time" can be established and, by fully employing this concept, a new voltage modulation technique is presented with a detailed explanation and actual test results. The results show that various carrier-based PWM schemes can be implemented with reduced computational burden and a seamless change from one modulation scheme to another is possible.