Pulse Width Modulation Control Strategy Research Articles

Enhancing power conversion efficiency in five-level multilevel inverters using reduced switch topology

This paper presents extensive research on improving the power conversion efficiency of five-level multilevel inverters (MLIs) by utilizing a reduced switch topology. MLIs have received an abundance of focus because of their ability to generate high-quality output waveforms and have better harmonic outcomes than traditional two-level inverters. The high number of switches in MLIs, on the other hand, can result in increased power losses and lower overall efficiency. In this paper, a novel reduced switch topology for five-level MLIs, which is having five switches is proposed with the aim of minimizing power losses while preserving superior performance due to lesser number of switches. To achieve efficient power conversion, the proposed topology employs advanced pulse width modulation control strategies and optimized switching patterns. The simulation results show that the minimized switch topology improves the power conversion efficiency of the five-level MLI, resulting in lower losses and better overall system performance. The total harmonic distortion (THD) value of the output current has been reduced to 7.12% and the efficiency has been achieved to 96.92%. The findings of this investigation help to advance MLI technology, allowing for more efficient and reliable power conversion in a variety of applications such as renewable energy systems, electric vehicles, and industrial drives.

Real-time of a two-level three-phase inverter controlled by PWM and full wave techniques

Sustainability in power generation is readily available and must be able to adapt to a variety of energy needs or integrate seamlessly into alternative distribution networks. This research aims to bridge the gap between continuous energy production and efficient energy utilization by advancing the understanding and application of three-phase dual-level voltage inverters. This study focuses on two main objectives: firstly, to develop a comprehensive model and secondly, to validate the functionality of a three-phase two-level voltage inverter. The control strategy employed for this inverter involves the full-wave method and pulse-width modulation (PWM). The results obtained from the hardware implementation of these control methods show impressive levels of success, closely matching the expected performance of the three-phase inverter. This success underlines the robustness and effectiveness of both full-wave and PWM control strategies. To further underline their practical applicability, experimental validation of PWM and Full Wave control methods is demonstrated in a controlled research laboratory environment.

Modelling and characteristics analysis of an electro-hydraulic proportional valve with a discrete pilot stage for underwater hydraulic manipulators

As the harshness of the underwater operating environment and complexity of underwater tasks gradually increase, underwater hydraulic manipulators with high reliability and precision attract more research attention. To improve the reliability and dynamic performance of the traditional electro-hydraulic proportional valve (EHPV) used in the underwater hydraulic manipulator, an improved electro-hydraulic proportional valve with a discrete pilot stage (DEHPV) is proposed. In the pilot stage, two 2-position 3-way normally open high speed switching valves (HSVs) are used, and the initial oil spring stiffness in the control chamber is large enough to maintain the dynamic performance of the DEHPV. First, the working principle and configuration of the DEHPV are both given, and the coupled electric-magnetic-mechanical-fluid model of the DEHPV is presented. Moreover, a dual-valve hybrid pulse width modulation (DVHPWM) control strategy is proposed to improve the position tracking accuracy of the DEHPV. Furthermore, a co-simulation model of the DEHPV considering the multi-field coupling law is established to study the dynamic characteristics. Extensive experiments are carried out to verify the effectiveness of the proposed structure as well as its good dynamic performance and control accuracy.

Design and analysis of single-phase five-level inverter based on integrated energy system

New energy power generation, mainly photovoltaic power generation and wind power generation, is one of the key research topics today. It is found that the grid-connected phase of power transmission is very important in the transmission process after power generation through these two ways. This paper introduces in detail the various stages of power transmission under the background of integrated energy system, mainly photovoltaic power generation and wind power generation as the research object. This paper presents a new grid-connected symmetrical cascade half-bridge multilevel inverter (SCHB) under the background of comprehensive energy and presents a Pulse Width Modulation (PWM) control scheme which can make the inverter output stable multilevel voltage. By this scheme, the voltage of the shunt capacitor is basically unchanged and the multistage voltage output of SCHB inverter is guaranteed. The advantages of the designed inverter are that the whole inverter can be powered by a single power supply and a single inductance, and the number of voltage levels can be controlled because of the use of a small amount of reactive power components. This paper describes the topological results of the inverter and the PWM control scheme of stable output multistage voltage.

Capacitor‐voltage‐balancing control for isolated medium‐voltage AC‐DC modular matrix converter

AbstractThis paper presents a capacitor‐voltage‐balancing control scheme for an isolated medium‐voltage AC‐DC converter using level‐shifted pulse width modulation (PWM) control of a modular matrix converter (MMxC). The proposed isolated AC‐DC converter is composed of the primary MMxC with level‐shifted PWMcontrol, high‐frequency transformer, and secondary H‐bridge circuits. The high‐frequency transformer of the proposed circuit can be downsized because the level‐shifted PWM control scheme makes the rated frequency of the high‐frequency transformer equal to the switching‐frequency. The proposed capacitor‐voltage‐balancing control can compensate for the capacitor voltage imbalance of the MMxC using the positive‐sequence and negative‐sequence circulating‐currents with a power supply frequency and high‐frequency voltage. In the proposed control system, the three feedback control systems with DC control variables can be developed to compensate for the capacitor voltage imbalance. The effectiveness of the proposed capacitor‐voltage‐balancing control scheme and the control systems is verified by experiments using a 200 V, 5‐kW laboratory prototype.

Comparisons of Loss Reduction Techniques Based on Pulsewidth Modulation and Model Predictive Control for Three-Phase Voltage Source Inverters

Due to the lack of comparative studies between discontinuous pulse-width modulation and model predictive control methods for reducing switching losses in two-level three-phase voltage source inverter, a comparative analysis of a generalized discontinuous pulse-width modulation and two model predictive control approaches for reducing switching losses is studied in this paper. Both generalized discontinuous pulse-width modulation and two model predictive control approaches are described and conducted in the simulation and experiment. The output performance is obtained by these methods after conducting in various conditions, including switching frequency, output power, and load conditions. It is validated that the generalized discontinuous pulse-width modulation control scheme achieves a better control performance at steady-state, while two model predictive control schemes have better transient-state performance with a superior dynamic. Additionally, the generalized discontinuous pulse-width modulation approach achieves better reducing switching losses performance and has slightly higher efficiency than that of two model predictive control approaches.

An NPC‐type fault‐tolerant MLI with symmetrical and asymmetrical voltage modes

SummaryCurrent studies have been challenging in reducing the number of devices and ensuring fault tolerance features of the multilevel inverters (MLIs). This article proposes a new fault‐tolerant neutral point clamped (NPC)‐type MLI using two three‐level NPC legs, which can work in symmetric and asymmetric modes to generate nine and 17‐level output voltage, respectively. The proposed converter has less device count and low total blocking voltage (TBV); further, the converter has different redundant switching states for tolerating different categories of faults. This article also implements a modified pulse width modulation (PWM) control strategy to ensure the zero‐dc offset at the output when asymmetrical voltage levels appear with the occurrence of switch faults. A detailed operation of the proposed converter under symmetric and asymmetric modes is presented for healthy and different categories of faults. The converter's feasibility is verified by its current and voltage characteristics obtained from the MATLAB‐SIMULINK software and the experimental prototype. Further, the efficiency of the converter is verified with the PLECS software. Finally, a comparison with recently proposed topologies is performed to emphasize converter performance.

A Variable Switching Frequency Space Vector Pulse Width Modulation Control Strategy of Induction Motor Drive System With Torque Ripple Prediction

The constant switching frequency space vector pulse width modulation (CSFSVPWM) generates high-frequency harmonics with integer multiples of the switching frequency, making it fail to fully exploit the potential of pulse width modulation (PWM) technique. In this paper, a variable switching frequency space vector pulse width modulation technique with the function of torque ripple prediction is proposed for induction motor drive system, which could optimize the high-frequency harmonic current distribution and torque ripple. The mathematical correlation between inverter average voltage and instantaneous voltage under the space vector pulse width modulation (SVPWM) is first analyzed, followed by the analysis of current ripple in a switching cycle using the typical seven-segment SVPWM, thus the torque ripple of induction motor during this period can be predicted. The switching period is dynamically adjusted according to the magnitude of predicted torque ripple, and the average switching frequency is maintained to be the same with that of CSFSVPWM. The effectiveness of the proposed method in suppressing high-frequency current harmonics and torque ripple is fully verified by experimenting on a 2.2 kW induction motor drive system, and a comprehensive comparison with CSFSVPWM and random PWM modulation is implemented.

Experimental Investigation of Decoupled Discontinuous PWM Strategies in Open-End Winding Induction Motor Supplied by a Common DC-Link

Currently open-end winding induction motors fed by a dual inverter (OEWIM-DI) present an innovative approach to enhance the performance of modern electric drive systems; such as electrical vehicles and electric aircraft applications. However, the dual inverter topology requires a proper switching control strategy to enable the OEWIM drive to fully achieve its performance. This work aims to investigate experimentally the impact of different Decoupled Discontinuous Pulse Width Modulation (DDPWM) control strategies on the performance of the OEWIM-DI supplied by a common DC-link. The criteria performance adopted in this study are: (i) the Total Harmonic Distortion (THD) of the current and voltage, (ii) the Zero Sequence Voltage (ZSV), (iii) the Common Mode Voltage (CMV), and (iv) the dual inverters losses. The various DDPWM control schemes for the 1.5 kW OEWIM-DI motor drive are implemented on a dSPACE 1104 board and the results are compared with the popular and widely used Space-Vector PWM (SVPWM) strategy. From the results, it can be concluded that the optimised DDPWM technique gives the best performance. This technique has reduced the CMV by one level and reduce the losses by 50% while having the same THD and ZSV obtained with the SVPWM technique.

Boundary-Based Hybrid Control Algorithm for Switched Boost Converter Operating in CCM and DCM

It is essential to have enhanced efficiency for the DC-DC converters operating in continuous conduction mode (CCM) and discontinuous conduction mode (DCM). This requires a hybrid controller designed using pulse width modulation (PWM) and pulse frequency modulation (PFM) schemes. This paper fixates on a boundary-based hybrid control algorithm for the second-order DC-DC converter - the switched boost converter. The proposed algorithm works in PWM control scheme for CCM operation, whereas DCM operation uses PFM control scheme. The boundary conditions are defined by the load current, output voltage, and switching frequency. Here, an attempt is carried out to have the advantages of both the control schemes. The boost converter is represented by the switched system operating in three modes. Violating transition guards condition orchestrates the switching among these modes. A supervisor detects the CCM and DCM operations, and subsequently switches between PWM and PFM control scheme. Extensive circuit-level simulations are carried out in MATLAB to show the efficacy of the suggested algorithm under the fluctuating line, load, and set-point.

Nonisolated Dual-Output Single-Phase Boost Inverter With Reduced Active and Passive Components

This article proposes a nonisolated dual- output single-phase boost inverter with reduced active and passive components. The suggested inverter can serve two single-phase ac loads independently like two full-bridge inverters, but owing to the use of a pair of three-switch legs in the inverter bridge, it has a 25% reduction in active switches. The proposed inverter is capable of obtaining a boost output voltage while employing fewer passive components compared to the traditional impedance source inverter. And the high-frequency current commutation problem of diodes in the traditional split-source inverter is solved by replacing the diodes with two complimentary switches. A hybrid sinusoidal and constant pulsewidth modulation control strategy is elaborated, which enables the proposed inverter to operate in equal frequency mode and different frequency mode. Comprehensive working principles, modulation strategy, steady-state analysis, and parameter design guideline are introduced, both simulation and experimental results are presented to confirm the characteristics of the proposed topology.

Dual-Mode Control Scheme to Improve Light Load Efficiency for Dual Active Bridge DC-DC Converters Using Single-Phase-Shift Control

In vehicle-to-grid (V2G) applications, dual active bridge (DAB) converters are commonly used as the power interface because they offer high efficiency, galvanic isolation, and bidirectional power flow. For the DAB control strategy, phase-shift control is the mainstream, especially the single-phase-shift (SPS) method because of its ease of implementation. However, due to the phase shift, a DAB converter operated under this control method has relatively high backflow power, resulting in poor efficiency. The SPS control method has the drawback of high backflow power, especially at light loads. Thus, this paper proposes a new dual-mode control scheme to improve the light load efficiency of DAB converters by taking advantage of the pulse-width modulation (PWM) strategy in combination with the conventional SPS strategy for DAB converters based on load conditions. In other words, when the DAB converter operates under light load conditions, the PWM control strategy is used to avoid considerable backflow power. A prototype DAB converter with a power rating of 1 kW under a switching frequency of 100 kHz interfacing a DC bus (400 V) and a battery pack (50 V) is designed and implemented to verify the feasibility of this control strategy. A detailed analysis of the working principle and design parameters of the proposed converter is provided in this paper. Experimental results show that the highest efficiency of the proposed converter at light loads (10–200 W) was 96.2% for the forward power conversion and 97.3% for the backward power conversion.

Transformerless High-Gain Three-Port Converter With Low Voltage Stress and Reduced Switches for Standalone PV Systems

This article proposes a high-gain transformerless three-port converter (TPC) for standalone photovoltaic (PV) systems. The TPC is designed and developed based on a dual-inductor high-gain two-port converter by utilizing one of the buffer capacitors to derive the third part for PV input. A hybrid pulse-frequency modulation scheme unified with a pulsewidth modulation control strategy is adopted, which realizes the maximum power point tracking control, load voltage regulation, and bidirectional energy flow at the battery port. The proposed TPC offers the unique advantages of high voltage gain, continuous battery port current, reduced power semiconductors, lower voltage stresses, common ground shared by all the ports, low-cost gate driver, and small size of the rear-end inductor. The working principle, steady-state characteristics, small-signal models, and the control method, including design conditions, are comprehensively analyzed. The correctness of the theoretical analysis is verified by developing a 300-W experimental prototype, which shows that the maximum efficiency is 97.7%.

A New Fault-Tolerant Multilevel Inverter Structure With Reduced Device Count and Low Total Standing Voltage

A new fault-tolerant (FT) multilevel inverter (MLI) structure that can tolerate the faults on the switches and sources is introduced in this article. The presence of redundant states in the proposed structure ensures the FT capability, which is an important requirement for emergency loads. Initially, the operation of the proposed FTMLI for fault-free and different fault conditions under symmetric and asymmetric source configurations is discussed. Furthermore, this article explores the ability of the proposed topology operating at different voltage levels in positive and negative half cycles of the output voltage to improve the reliability of the system. For this case, the modified pulsewidth modulation control strategy ensuring minimized lower order harmonics and zero dc offset is presented. The feasibility of the proposed topology is verified through simulation and experimental studies. Lower total standing voltage, reduced switch count, higher efficiency, and improved reliability are the key features of the proposed topology. A comprehensive evaluation and comparative study are performed to evaluate the performance of the proposed MLI over other structures.

Simple Lossless Inductive Snubbers-Assisted Series Load Resonant Inverter Operating under ZCS-PDM Scheme for High-Frequency Induction Heating Fixed Roller

This paper presents a high-frequency pulse-density-modulated (PDM) soft-switching series load resonant inverter for use in induction heating (IH) fixed roller applications, which is used in copy and printing machines. The proposed simple high-frequency resonant inverter uses an asymmetrical pulse pattern PDM control scheme to achieve complete zero-current soft-switching commutations over a wide output range of input power regulation. Additionally, when the printer toner requires operation in very light load conditions, this causes difficulty in achieving zero-voltage or zero-current soft-switching operations in the IH high-frequency resonant inverters with pulse frequency modulation or pulse width modulation control schemes. The proposed resonant inverter demonstrates the capability to accomplish highly efficient power conversions. In this work, a fixed roller for printing machines is developed for doing experiments to verify the efficiency of the proposed circuit topology and its PDM control schemes. The inverter’s steady-state and transient operating principles are analyzed based on the proposed control strategy at a high-frequency PDM. Operating conditions such as power loss analysis, power conversion efficiency and temperature rise characteristics of the proposed inverter are presented and analyzed through experimental results. Finally, from a practical viewpoint, a comparative study of a conventional halogen lamp heater and the proposed IH fixed roller is deliberated.

Space Vector Pulse-Width Modulation Control Strategy for Four-Leg Inverters Under Single Line-to-Ground Faults in Islanded Microgrids

In this paper, we propose a novel switching modulation scheme for three-phase four-leg inverters that enables the separation of the fault points occurring in AC distribution networks. The proposed method is aimed at continuously supplying normal voltage to the remaining healthy phases while applying zero voltage to any faulty phase when a single line-to-ground (SLG) fault occurs in the distribution network. This modulation scheme allows isolation without physically blocking the point of failure. This can prevent unnecessary continuous outages in the AC distribution network. To this end, we propose a novel coordinate transformation method to extract accurate values for the magnitude of unbalanced three-phase voltages. A novel space vector pulse-width modulation (SVPWM) method for switching schemes that are used under fault conditions is also presented. The proposed coordinate transformation considers a plane lying in a three-dimensional (3-D) space that describes the rotation of a three-phase voltage vector. This transformation converts a physical quantity that rotates in 3-D space into a value that moves in two-dimensional (2-D) space. Subsequently, the use of synchronous reference frame (SRF) transformation enables the detection and control of the voltage magnitude in case of an SLG fault. Additionally, switching vectors are selected to apply zero voltage to the faulty phase by analyzing the switching vector diagram of a four-leg inverter. Mathematical analyses conducted for the entire process are detailed herein. Further, the experimental results of four-leg inverters designed for the 10 kW class verify the proposed strategies.

Virtual Space Vector Pulse Width Modulation for Asymmetric T-Type Neutral Point Clamped 3-Level Inverter

This paper proposes a novel 3-phase asymmetric 3-level T-type NPC inverter and studies its PWM performance using a virtual space vector pulse width modulation control strategy. Firstly, the mathematical model and characteristics of this economical topology are described. Then, a virtual space vector approach is proposed to build a space vector diagram for designing SVPWM control. Similar to the conventional 3-level NPC inverter, the asymmetric inverter can also work with the neutral point voltage self-balancing in a fundamental period, which enables employment of this topology in various applications. Finally, simulation and experiment results under different load conditions have shown good output performance of the asymmetric 3-level topology. Similar tests are also performed on both conventional 2-level and 3-level inverters for comparison. For an almost similar number of different voltage vectors in the space vector diagram, the asymmetric 3-level topology can compete with conventional 3-level inverters for low-cost applications. The obvious benefit of the asymmetric 3-level inverter is a smaller number of switches devices while it can achieve output performance similar to that of the conventional 3-level. The comparative investigation also shows that the total loss given by SVPWM for the asymmetric 3-level configuration is lower than that of the traditional 3-level inverter.

Reactive Power Control and Neutral Current Elimination of Four Wire Five Level NPC Inverter based STATCOM using 3D-SVPWM Technique

In this paper, three phase four wire five level Neutral Point Clamped Inverter (NPCI) based Static synchronous Compensator (STATCOM) is implemented for reactive power control and neutral current elimination. Three dimensional Space Vector Pulse Width Modulation (3D-SVPWM) control strategy is developed to control this 5-level NPC inverter. The behaviour of static synchronous compensator is analyzed and reactive power control is done using constant DC voltage. The objective of this compensating method is to provide balanced and sinusoidal source currents under unbalanced and nonlinear load conditions and reactive power control. The 3D-SVPWM technique provides reduced harmonic content in output voltage and current, controlled source current, minimized common mode voltage and improved output voltage. In 3D-SVPWM, switching pulses are generated with non-redundant switching states, which lead to reduce the complexity in switching time calculation and computational time is less. The highlights of the paper includes the neutral current is reduced to 0.25A, source current harmonics is minimized and it provides balanced and sinusoidal source currents with help of STATCOM compensation. The simulation and experimental results demonstrates the sinusoidal and harmonics free source current and minimized neutral current for four wire five level NPCI based STATCOM.

PV String-Level Isolated DC–DC Power Optimizer with Wide Voltage Range

This paper proposes a photovoltaic (PV) string-level isolated DC–DC power optimizer with wide voltage range. A hybrid control scheme in which pulse frequency modulation (PFM) control and pulse width modulation (PWM) control are combined with a variable switching frequency is employed to regulate the wide PV voltage range. By adjusting the switching frequency in the above region during the PWM control process, the circulating current period can be eliminated and the turn-on period of the bidirectional switch of the dual-bridge LLC (DBLLC) resonant converter is reduced compared to that with a conventional PWM control scheme with a fixed switching frequency, resulting in better switching and conduction loss. Soft start-up control under a no-load condition is proposed to charge the DC-link electrolytic capacitor from 0 V. A laboratory prototype of a 6.25 kW DBLLC resonant converter with a transformer, including integrated resonant inductance, is built and tested in order to verify the performance and theoretical claims.

Analysis and Control of Current-Fed Integrated Dual-DC Boost Converter Topology

This article introduces a dual-input single-output dc–dc power electronic converter topology to interface two independent sources into a common output. The proposed converter is denoted as integrated dual-dc boost converter (IDDBC), and this topology provides step-up conversions for both inputs using three controllable switches. Due to its architecture, IDDBC can be adapted to provide uninterrupted power (realizing a dispatchable system) even if any one of the two input sources are unavailable or has significant output power variation. The steady-state analysis, modeling, and design of the converter are presented, and a pulsewidth-modulation control scheme is proposed. The closed-loop control system for the converter consists of voltage-mode control for output and current-mode control for one-source input current. The behavior of converter operation is validated through experimentation on a digital-signal-processor-based laboratory prototype.