Output Current Total Harmonic Distortion Research Articles

Development of Various Types of Independent Phase Based Pulsewidth Modulation Techniques for Three-Phase Voltage Source Inverters

Discontinuous pulse-width-modulation (DPWM) methods have been extensively used in the industrial area to reduce overall losses, which decreases the corresponding thermal stress on the power switches of converters. However, local thermal overload can arise due to different aging conditions of semiconductor devices or failure in the cooling system. This leads to reduced reliability of the converter system due to the low expected lifespan of the most aged switches or phase legs. In this paper, the modified DPWM strategies for independent control of per-phase switching loss are introduced to deal with this matter. The proposed per-phase DPWM techniques are generated by modifying the conventional three-phase DPWM methods for reducing the switching loss in a specific leg, whereas the output performance is not degraded. This paper reports on output performance, including output current total harmonic distortion (THD) and power loss of switching devices, analysis for the various modified DPWM strategies for independent control of per-phase switching loss, which is applicable in 2-level 3-phase voltage source inverters (2L3P VSIs). The results are compared to the corresponding continuous PWM technique to verify and analyze the effectiveness and accuracy of the modified DPWM strategies for independent control of per-phase switching loss.

Design a 25-level inverter topology with less switching devices fed by PV systems

<span lang="EN-US">Multilevel inverter (MLI) technology has lately emerged as one of the most popular solutions for high power and medium voltage energy management. MLIs have many benefits and require more switches for higher levels, which are considered disadvantaged. This could result in large size and extremely expensive cost for the MLI. So, in order to overcome this problem, a new MLI topology is proposed with reduced number of switches. A 25‐level inverter fed by isolated unequal photovoltaic panels as DC sources is chosen in this study. The structure of DC voltages is chosen as (1:1:5:5) Vdc. The proposed approach, which is created using twelve switches, is ideally suited for a high-power application. Multi-carrier with a sinusoidal PWM technique is programmed as a controller. According to the simulation findings, a single-phase system's output voltage and current total harmonic distortion (THD) values are 1.2% and 0.462%, respectively, while a three-phase system's values are 1.07% and 0.342%. These findings prove that the power circuit and investigation were successful.</span>

An improved active islanding detection method for grid-connected solar inverters with a wide range of load conditions and reactive power

Islanding occurs when a utility-interactive distributed generator (DG) is disconnected from the utility grid and continues to supply power to local loads. This condition has several consequences including damage to the equipment and personnel safety risks. Therefore, it is required by utility interconnection standards for the DG to stop energizing local loads in the case of islanding. In this paper, an active islanding detection method (IDM) based on injecting a disturbance into the phase-locked loop (PLL) of a grid-connected photovoltaic (PV) inverter and monitoring the harmonic components of the point of common coupling (PCC) is proposed. A modified Goertzel algorithm is utilized to detect the injected harmonic which is effective for a wide range of load conditions in terms of load quality factor, resonant frequency, and reactive power. The simulation results in MATLAB/Simulink show that the proposed technique is fast with minimum side effects on power quality features such as output current total harmonic distortion (THD). This method is implemented on a single phase 5 kW grid-tied PV inverter and is tested experimentally. The experimental results verify that the proposed technique is fast with zero non-detection zone (NDZ) which is effective for a variety of load conditions.

Determination of output current THD of multilevel inverter by ANN

In recent years, the use of multi-level inverters in power electronics applications has been increasing. The most important advantage of the multi-level inverter circuits compared to the classical two-level topology is that the output voltage is closer to the sinusoidal waveform, operating at a lower switching frequency and high efficiency. Also, low Total Harmonic Distortion (THD) current waveforms occur at the output of multi-level inverter circuits. In this study, a three-phase five-level cascaded inverter is designed by simulating it in MATLAB-Simulink. It is aimed to predict the THDi value of the load current of the inverter. By changing the parameters such as switching frequency, modulation index and load value in the designed multi-level inverter circuit, a dataset is produced for the THDi value of the load current by Fast Fourier Transform (FFT) analysis with MATLAB-Simulink. The generated dataset is used in the training and testing phase of the Artificial Neural Network (ANN) system, which is an artificial intelligence technique. Thus, the THDi value of the load current is estimated. In this way, estimating the parameter determines the inverter circuit with the least THDi before the experimental implementation. At the final estimation phase, the average percent error (APE) value of the current value for the test is obtained as 0.5177 % and 0.5718 %, respectively.

Data Driven Model Predictive Control for Modular Multilevel Converters With Reduced Computational Complexity

Model predictive control (MPC) has become increasingly popular among researchers for modular multilevel converters (MMCs) due to its ability to incorporate multiobjective control and provide superior dynamic response. However, it is computationally challenging to implement it on MMCs when the number of submodules is increased. This paper proposes a finite control set (FCS) model predictive control (MPC) with reduced computational complexity for modular multilevel converters (MMCs). To accomplish this goal, a reduced order data-driven model is obtained using sparse identification of nonlinear systems (SINDy) by incorporating the input terms in the load current and circulating current dynamics. As a result, the need to use the arm voltages or the submodule capacitor voltages dynamic equations as in the case of a conventional FCS-MPC is eliminated. To improve the output current total harmonic distortion (THD) and reduce the effect of higher switching frequencies caused by the FCS-MPC, an updated cost function is proposed. The effectiveness of the proposed technique is validated by simulation and experimental results.

AC-DC Fuzzy Linear Active Disturbance Rejection Control Strategy of Front Stage of Bidirectional Converter Based on V2G

Aiming at the problems of output voltage fluctuation and current total harmonic distortion (THD) in the front stage totem-pole bridgeless PFC of two-stage V2G (Vehicle to Grid) vehicle-mounted bi-directional converter, a fuzzy linear active disturbance rejection control strategy for V2G front-stage AC-DC power conversion system is proposed. Firstly, the topological working mode of the totem-pole bridgeless PFC is analyzed, and the mathematical model is established. Combined with the system model and the linear active disturbance rejection theory, a double closed-loop controller is designed with the second-order linear active disturbance rejection control as the voltage outer loop and PI control as the current inner loop. The controller can realize self-adaptive tuning of the proportional gain coefficient of the active disturbance rejection controller through fuzzy reasoning and realize self-adaptive control. Simulation and experimental results show that this method can better solve the problems of slow system response and high total harmonic distortion rate of input current and effectively improve the system’s robustness.

Mitigation of power oscillations for energy harvesting capability improvement of grid-connected renewable energy systems

The increasing penetration of renewable energy sources in the power system raises several challenges from the power quality and output power fluctuations point of view. However, the output power oscillations and power quality problems caused by the low order harmonic oscillations at the second-order frequency of the utility grid on the dc-link capacitor are emerging as major issues for the efficient operation of power converters. In this manner, a novel method based on modification in the control algorithm to alleviate the output power oscillation and reduce the output current total harmonic distortion is proposed. The proposed control approach seems as a promising solution for the satisfactory grid operation of renewable energy sources regarding not requiring any additional circuit and increment in the capacity of the dc-link capacitor. Moreover, mitigation of oscillations enhances the active power reference tracking capability of the controller that enables the overall efficiency improvement of the system. The performed case studies reveal that the overall efficiency rate of the system is increased by 1.3%. On the other hand, the output current harmonic distortion is decreased below 3% even under low power operating conditions. Also, the complexity level of the control algorithm is quite low for real-time implementation.

Improved space vector modulation algorithm of 5-level three-phase z-source based cascaded inverter

The integration of a Z-source network with a 5-Level three-phase inverter based cascaded to provide voltage step-up function is proposed in this paper. The system is controlling by an improved space vector modulation (SVM) the implantation of algorithm and innovative virtual automated solutions can be considered, very fast and very simple. The main objective of the proposed system is to achieve an output voltage twice the applied input voltage, and to eliminate the largest amount of excess harmonic. This proposed model is characterized by the ease of boosting the output voltage twice the input voltage, depending on the characteristics of the Z-source network without the need for a DC-DC rectifier. Furthermore, the proposed algorithm for this system is characterized by improving the output voltage and eliminating a large number of harmonics while greatly simplifying the calculations compared to its conventional SVM. This makes the proposed system and its algorithm an interesting alternative to classical systems and algorithms. The simulation was processed using MATLAB/Simulink. The results obtained prove and verify the effectiveness of the proposed system. From the results, of the output current total harmonic distortion (THD), it was reduced to 1.05% which is very low compared to the other algorithms in the literature.

A New Transformer-Less Single-Phase Photovoltaic Inverter to Improve the Performance of Grid-Connected Solar Photovoltaic Systems

Photovoltaic (PV) energy systems have found diverse applications in fulfilling the increasing energy demand worldwide. Transformer-less PV inverters convert the DC energy from PV systems to AC energy and deliver it to the grid through a non-isolated connection. This paper proposes a new transformer-less grid-connected PV inverter. A closed-loop control scheme is presented for the proposed transformer-less inverter to connect it with the power grid. The proposed transformer-less inverter reduces extra leakage current and holds the common-mode voltage at a constant point. To eliminate extra leakage current, as well as achieve constant common-mode voltage, a midpoint clamping method is utilized to operate the inverter. The proposed transformer-less inverter is formed of seven insulated gate bipolar transistors (IGBTs) employing a unipolar sinusoidal pulse width modulation (SPWM) technique for switching purposes. An LCL filter is employed to reshape the two-level inverter output voltage and current to obtain closer sinusoidal waveforms. The output voltage and current total harmonic distortion (THD) of the proposed transformer-less inverter were found to be 1.25% and 0.94%, respectively, in the grid-connected mode. The leakage current elimination mechanism with the proposed transformer-less inverter is deeply analyzed in this paper. The performances of the proposed transformer-less inverter were evaluated with MATLAB/Simulink simulation and validated in a laboratory scale experiment.

Optimal Current Ripple PWM for Three-Level Inverter With Common Mode Voltage Reduction

Three-level inverter has been widely used in electric drives and renewable power generation system. However, the common mode voltage (CMV) and output current ripple reduction of three-level inverter should be carefully regulated for the appropriate operation. As these two targets are mutually interrelated, the conventional space vector modulation (SVM) scheme cannot cope with them decently. To overcome this drawback, this paper proposes a novel modified SVM scheme to realize CMV and current ripple reduction simultaneously. The generating mechanism of output current ripple is analyzed, and the relationship between current ripple and utilized vectors is quantitatively described. Based on the analyses, the proposed optimal current ripple and CMV reduction pulse width modulation (OCR-CMVRPWM) method adopts four voltage vectors (large, medium, small and zero vectors) to reduce root mean square (RMS) value of current ripple by allocating the sequence and dwell times of utilized vectors. Compared to the existing PWM methods, the proposed OCR-CMVRPWM scheme can reduce the peak of CMV to half of value using the conventional SVM, and obtain a significant reduction of output current total harmonic distortion (THD). The effectiveness of the proposed method is validated by both simulation and experimental results.

Overmodulation Strategy for Seven-Phase Induction Motors With Optimum Harmonic Voltage Injection Based on Sequential Optimization Scheme

Overmodulation (OVM) strategy is widely utilized to enhance the dc-link voltage utilization. For five-phase and six-phase drives, various OVM strategies have been developed to reduce the reference voltage vector in one harmonic subspace (HS) and improve the output current total harmonic distortion (THD) performance. However, the performance of generic OVM strategies can be further improved to deal with the optimization problem of multiple HSs. This article presents a universal sequential optimization scheme and takes a seven-phase induction motor as study example. First, the OVM region is predivided by the principle of fully utilizing available degrees of freedom and the concept of virtual voltage vectors. Then, optimizations are carried out according to the voltage distribution in different HSs, and design guidelines are provided for multiphase drives with more than one HS. Without complex computations, the proposed OVM strategy can easily determine the desired voltage vectors and the corresponding duty ratio, which not only achieves overall good THD performance but also favors for more intuitive implementation. Finally, simulation and experimental results implemented on a seven-phase drive platform validate the feasibility of the proposed OVM strategy.

Design of new structure of multilevel inverter based on modified absolute sinusoidal PWM technique

The advantage of multilevel inverters is to produce high output voltage values with distortion as minimum as possible. To reduce total harmonic distortion (THD) and get an output voltage with different step levels using less power electronics switching devices, 15-level inverter is designed in this paper. Single-phase 11-switches with zero-level (ZL) and none-zero-level (NZL) inverter based on modified absolute sinusoidal pulse width modulation (MASPWM) technique is designed, modelled and built by MATLAB/Simulink. Simulation results explained that, multilevel inverter with NZL gives distortion percent less than that with ZL voltage. The THD of the inverter output voltage and current of ZL are 4% and 1%, while with NZL is 3.6% and 0.84%, respectively. These results explain the effectiveness of the suggested power circuit and MASPWM controller to get the required voltage with low THD.

An Advanced PWM Technique for MMC Inverter Based Grid-Connected Photovoltaic Systems

Recent developments in multilevel inverters have provided impetus for their applications in the medium voltage renewable energy generation processes. This paper proposes an advanced pulse width modulation technique for a modular multilevel cascaded (MMC) inverter based grid integrated solar photovoltaic (PV) system. It offers lower total harmonic distortion (THD) and power losses compared to the existing modulation techniques. This paper shows the design and performance evaluation of the proposed technique using a 3-phase 5-level MMC inverter-based grid connected PV system. The proposed PWM technique offers 12.49% (without filter) and 0.96% (with filter) output line voltage THDs. It also offers 4.64% output current THD, which complies with the IEEE-519 standard for grid integration. Besides THD reduction, it also reduces the switching and conduction power losses of the MMC inverter. Lower losses may help to keep device temperature low, which is essential for power converters used in superconducting magnetic energy storage (SMES) systems. The simulation is performed in MATLAB/Simulink and the proposed technique is experimentally validated with a laboratory test platform.

Design and Simulation of a Boost-Microinverter for Optimized Photovoltaic System Performancec

Renewable energy sources are the most important type of energy since they are clean and do not affect the environment. Solar energy is a kind of renewable energy that is more popular than other sources. Photovoltaic (PV) systems use solar energy as a source of electricity. The main parts of any PV system are: PV panel, DC-DC converter with maximum power point tracking and a DC-AC inverter with an adequate control. The Photovoltaic system for this study comprises a boost converter, a full-bridge inverter and an LCL filter. The boost converter is controlled using the Maximum power point Tracking (MPPT) algorithm, while the inverter is controlled through a Sinusoidal Pulse Width Modulator (SPWM).This paper provides a comparison performance between perturbation and observation [P&O] and particle swarm optimization [PSO] algorithms to get MPP for PV system. When the irradiance changes, the micro-inverter adapts under partial conditions. The micro-inverter is designed by MATLAB / Simulink/2020a software. The input maximum voltage from the PV is 80V direct current (DC) while alternating current [Ac] output voltage is 110 Vrms. The output voltage and current total harmonic distortion (THD) ratios are 2.58% and 2.76% respectively when the P&O algorithm is used , while that when using the PSO algorithm are 2.45% and 2.58%.The PV system efficiency achieved by using P&O, PSO are 95.7%, 96.8%.

Capacitor Voltage Balancing with Online Controller Performance-Based Tuning for a Switch-Sharing-Based Multilevel Inverter

Switch-sharing-based multilevel inverters offer great advantages in terms of efficiency improvement and output quality enhancement for low-power photovoltaic (PV) applications. However, the capacitor voltage balancing issue may critically deteriorate the output voltages, and thus could nullify the aforementioned benefits. Hence, this paper proposes a capacitor voltage balancing solution based on a buck-boost converter with performance-based tuning controllers to address the issue. The proposed controllers are designed based on the proportional-integral (PI) configuration equipped with an online tuning mechanism. The main purpose of the online tuning mechanism is to fine tune the proportional gain according to the DC input voltage, based on the measured output current total harmonic distortion (THD) performance of the inverter, while at the same time preventing the controller from reaching a state of saturation. By using the actual measurement of current THD performance, online tuning accuracy can be improved since no ideal condition is assumed, and thus, the associated error can be minimized. Simulation and experimental results reveal that the capacitor voltages can be balanced at high modulation indexes with improved current harmonic performance able to be be acquired at the inverter’s output.

A high‐gain IΓ‐source hybrid single‐phase multilevel inverter for photovoltaic application

Impedance-based step-up converters are widely developed for photovoltaic applications due to providing single-stage conversion, high-efficiency, low voltage and current stresses, and high boost-factor. An improved Γ-source (IΓ-source) single-phase hybrid multilevel inverter is proposed. This structure has a better voltage gain characteristic, high-efficiency, multilevel output voltage, low output current total harmonic distortion (THD), and continuous input current. It is extensible for attaining higher voltage levels. Furthermore, higher non-shoot-through modulation indexes are obtainable by this topology in comparison with previous works due to performing higher gains in lower shoot-through duty cycles. Also, the output harmonics are reduced because of applying lower shoot-through duty cycles. This article demonstrates the operating principle of this hybrid multilevel inverter in detail. Simulation and experimental results are exhibited to evaluate the performance of this converter. Results confirm the proposed IΓ-source hybrid multilevel inverter, its operating principle, and the modulation strategy.

Predictive Nearest-Level Control Algorithm for Modular Multilevel Converters With Reduced Harmonic Distortion

Owing to the low number of submodules (SMs) in modular multilevel converters (MMCs), especially in medium-voltage applications, the output current and voltage generated by conventional nearest-level control (NLC) methods contain evident distortions. Previously, various hybrid and level-increased NLC methods have been proposed to improve the output voltage quality, but such measures wither increased the complexity or did not regulate all the control objectives simultaneously. To further enhance the output performances of MMCs containing low numbers of SMs, an improved predictive NLC (I-PNLC) method combining NLC and model predictive control (MPC) is proposed, where the output and circulating currents are regulated with the corresponding predicted references, and the output voltage is controlled by the added voltage correction. The proposed I-PNLC not only reduces the output current and voltage total harmonic distortion (THD) considerably but also avoids additional complexity in the control system design. The results of simulations and an experiment are presented to verify the proposed approach, in addition to a comparison of the evaluations of conventional NLC methods.

Device-Level Loss Balancing Control for Modular Multilevel Converters

Modular multilevel converter (MMC) is a promising topology in medium/high-voltage applications for its merits, e.g., scalability, low output current total harmonic distortion, and high efficiency. But the reliability of MMCs is questionable due to more semiconductor devices used than other topologies. Another reliability problem of MMC is the significant uneven loss distribution between the top and bottom semiconductor devices within one submodule (SM) owing to the dc component in the arm currents. The stress difference caused by the uneven loss distribution between the top and bottom semiconductor modules will lead to the lifetime difference of the semiconductor devices, which shortens the lifetime of the whole MMC system. To extend the lifetime of MMCs without the modification of system hardware, this article proposes a device-level loss balancing control method. In this method, the accurate device loss models are established to feedback real-time device losses into the loss balancing controller. The controller (by regulating the SM capacitor voltages) adjusts the semiconductor conducting duty cycles to even the loss distribution without affecting the performance of the ac output and capacitor-voltage balancing. The effectiveness of the proposed control method is validated through experimental results.

Improvement of energy harvesting capability in grid-connected photovoltaic micro-inverters

ABSTRACTIn this paper, a multi-stage micro-inverter system depending on a dual neutral point clamped (D-NPC) inverter is developed for low power photovoltaic (PV) applications. The primary objectives of this study are determined as improving the performance of the proposed D-NPC inverter-based micro-inverter and its controller to ensure better system reliability and promote the overall efficiency. In comparison with conventional systems, the designed system provides many advantages: (1) utilization of lower rating switching components, (2) reduced switching frequency and voltage stress, (3) reduced the size of filter components, (4) higher efficiency, and (5) lower total harmonic distortion (THD). The weighted efficiency of the system is remarkably increased by the value of 2.15% compared to the conventional micro-inverter and reached 93.73%. Furthermore, the THD value of the output current is measured below 3% for the proposed system with the small size of passive filtering elements. Further, dynamic grid support and anti-islanding detection capabilities are provided through the utilized controller structure to fulfill grid codes. Consequently, obtained results demonstrate that the improved system can be a considerable candidate for photovoltaic micro-inverter applications in terms of weighted efficiency, output current THD, and reasonable cost.

A Symmetrical Multilevel Inverter Topology with Minimal Switch Count and Total Harmonic Distortion

A multilevel inverter (MLI) with reduced number of power devices, especially for the higher output levels, is presented in this paper. The generalized topology for ([Formula: see text]) level MLI is developed with symmetrical isolated dc sources and ([Formula: see text]) number of switches. A five-level MLI is developed with five power switches and then by adding each one additional switch two more levels are added in the output voltage waveform. With the help of lookup table, the working principle of the proposed five-level MLI topology is explained. Sinusoidal pulse width modulation–phase disposition control technique has been used to get a minimal total harmonic distortion (THD). The proposed MLI topology is simulated on the MATLAB platform. The laboratory prototype is developed for five-level MLI, and the experimental results obtained validate the simulation studies. The dSPACE 1104 is used for generating gate pulses in case of experimentation. The output voltage and current THDs obtained are 9.20% and 4.60%, respectively; the harmonics are mitigated more with five-level inverter. The proposed topology is compared with the cascaded H-bridge multilevel inverter.