New method for estimating flying capacitor voltages in stacked multicell and flying capacitor multicell converters

Multicell converters are an interesting alternative for medium voltage and high power applications,because of the increased number of output voltage levels and apparent frequency.The two most significant types of multicell converter are the flying capacitor multicell (FCM) converter and its derivative,stacked multicell (SM) converter.Balancing flying capacitor voltages is an important constraint to the proper performance of FCM and SM converters.Thus,observation of the flying capacitor voltages used in active control is valuable,but using voltage sensors for observation increases cost and size of the converter.This paper deals with a new strategy to estimate the flying capacitor voltages of both FCM and SM converters.The proposed strategy is based on a discrete time model of the converter and uses only a load current sensor.The circuit was simulated using PSCAD/EMTDC software and simulation results were presented to validate the effectiveness of the proposed estimation strategy in observing the flying capacitor voltages.Simplicity is the most significant advantage of the proposed strategy,its performance being based on simple equations.

Fast Online Diagnosis of Open-circuit Switching Faults in Flying Capacitor Multilevel Inverters

Flying capacitor multilevel(FCML)inverter is an attractive power converter topology which provides high-quality staircase output voltage waveforms by cascading flying capacitor cells.However,the large number of semiconductor devices utilized in the FCML inverters degrades the hardware reliability,which may constrain such converters from being applied in safety-critical applications.Targeting at open-circuit switching faults,a fast online fault diagnostic method for FCML inverters is presented.Conventional phase-shifted PWM(PSPWM),which can naturally balance the voltage across flying capacitors,is used as the modulation method in this work.Hence,to retain the simplicity feature of the PSPWM,the proposed diagnostic method is developed so that it does not require any voltage measurements of flying capacitors.Only the output AC voltage and current data along with the switching PWM signals from the microcontroller are needed to detect an open-circuit switching fault,and all such sensory data is typically available in the inverter,requiring no additional sensors or hardware for the implementation of this diagnostic method.The detection process takes 5% of the fundamental period of the inverter output signals to diagnose the faulty switch.Simulation and experimental results are presented to verify the effectiveness of the proposed diagnostic method.

A Novel 5-level Flying Capacitor Bridgeless PFC Converter Based on Cost-effective Low-voltage eGaN FETs

In this study,a type of multilevel flying capacitor bridgeless PFC converter is proposed that permits the use of economical and efficient 100 V GaN transistors.Compared with the popular two-level totem-pole bridgeless PFC converters achieved using the much more expensive 650 V GaN devices,this new design has several distinct advantages:lower component costs,lower dv/dt,lower power losses,and reduced concerns about device reliability.A 1.6 kW,5-level PFC converter prototype is designed and fabricated with an efficiency of 99.18%and a power factor of 0.99,which are experimentally demonstrated.The operation principle,design considerations,control strategy and experimental results are discussed.

Integrated Power Conversion for Multiple DC Voltage Sources and Its Power Quality

In a smart grid, electric loads are supplied by various DC （direct current） power sources, such as solar cells or batteries. On the other hand, traditional AC （alternating current） loads like a directly connected induction motors will also be used. In the circumstances, a smart power conversion unit is one of key components, which can integrate these DC or AC apparatus and trade power among them. Authors have developed an integrated power converter based on a well-known circuit topology of flying capacitor multilevel converter. This paper describes the detail of the circuit topology and its characteristics depending on designed parameters. The achieved power quality is also verified by simulation study.

Si/SiC Hybrid 5-level Active NPC Inverter for Electric Aircraft Propulsion Drive Applications

Medium voltage DC(MVDC)system is considered as a promising technology to improve the efficiency and power density of electric aircraft propulsion(EAP)drives.To adapt to the MVDC voltage level and achieve high drive performance,a five-level active neutral point clamped(5L-ANPC)inverter consisting of three-level ANPC and flying capacitor circuits is investigated,which possesses higher voltage capability,lower output harmonics,as well as mitigated dv/dt and common-mode voltage.To fulfill the requirements of high-speed operation and pursue further enhanced efficiency and power density of the inverter for the next-generation EAP drives,Silicon Carbide(SiC)semiconductor devices are considered for implementing the 5L-ANPC inverter.However,the large commutation loops associated with certain switching states of the inverter lessen the benefits of configuring all the switches as SiC devices.As a result,a hybrid Si/SiC 5L-ANPC inverter is developed with a synchronous optimal pulse(SOP)width modulation strategy for controlling the switches in cell 2 and finite-control-set model predictive controller(FCS-MPC)for those in cell 3 of the inverter.Consequently,in the proposed topology,the SiC devices are merely used for the high-frequency switches in cell 3 and the rest of the low-frequency switches are configured with Si IGBTs.This Si/SiC hybrid ANPC inverter concurrently provides high efficiency and low implementation cost at high-speed operation mode.Simulation and experimental results are provided to verify the effectiveness of the proposed hybrid inverter.