Design and Implementation of a Three-Phase Active T-Type NPC Inverter for Low-Voltage Microgrids

This paper presents the design and implementation of a 3 kVA three-phase active T-type neutral-point clamped (NPC) inverter with GaN power devices for low-voltage microgrids. The designed inverter is used in a battery-based energy system (BESS) for power conversion optimization in applications to low-voltage microgrids. A modular design method has been developed for the design and implementation of the AT-NPC inverter. Experimental verification has been carried out based on a 3-kW three-phase T-Type NPC grid-connected inverter. FPGA based digital control technique has been developed for the current control of the three-level three-phase grid inverter. A maximum efficiency of 98.49% has been achieved within a load range from 50% to 75%.

Novel active fault-tolerant control scheme and its application to a double inverted pendulum system

On the basis of the gain-scheduled H∞ design strategy, a novel active fault-tolerant control scheme is proposed. Under the assumption that the effects of faults on the state-space matrices of systems can be of affine parameter dependence, a reconfigurable robust H∞ linear parameter varying controller is developed. The designed controller is a function of the fault effect factors that can be derived online by using a well-trained neural network. To demonstrate the effectiveness of the proposed method, a double inverted pendulum system, with a fault in the motor tachometer loop, is considered.

An Improved Active Miller Clamp Crosstalk Suppression Method for Enhancement-Mode GaN HEMTs in Phase-Leg Configuration

When using traditional drive circuits,the enhancement-mode GaN(eGaN)HEMT will be affected by high switching speed characteristics and parasitic parameters leading to worse crosstalk problems.Currently,the existing crosstalk suppression drive circuits often have the disadvantages of increased switching loss,control complexity,and overall electromagnetic interference(EMI).Therefore,this paper combines the driving loop impedance control and the active Miller clamp method to propose an improved active Miller clamp drive circuit.First,the crosstalk mechanism is analyzed,and the crosstalk voltage model is established.Through the crosstalk voltage evaluation platform,the influencing factors are evaluated experimentally.Then,the operating principle of the improved active Miller clamp drive circuit is discussed,and the optimized parameter design method is given.Finally,the effect of the improved active Miller clamp method for suppressing crosstalk is experimentally verified.The crosstalk voltage was suppressed from 3.5 V and-3.5 V to 1 V and-1.3 V,respectively,by the improved circuit.

Single-stage active clamp power factor correction AC/DC converter

A simple single-stage AC/DC converter circuit with active clamp is presented. The operation theory and state are analyzed. The experimental results show that the voltage across main switch can be clamped to a certain value,and zero voltage switching (ZVS) can be achieved. The voltage stress and switching loss are both decreased. In range of the whole load,power factors can be always more than 97%,and the highest efficiency can reach 88%.

Low-complexity model predictive control of a four-level active neutral point clamped inverter without weighting factors

The four-level active neutral point clamped(ANPC)inverter has become increasingly widely used in the renewable energy indus-try since it offers one more voltage level without increasing the total number of active switches compared to the three-level ANPC inverter.The model predictive current control(MPCC)is a promising control method for multi-level inverters.However,the conven-tional MPCC suffers from high computational complexity and tedious weighting factor tuning in multi-level inverter applications.A low-complexity MPCC without weighting factors for a four-level ANPC inverter is proposed in this paper.The computational burden and voltage vector candidate set are reduced according to the relationship between voltage vector and neutral point voltage balance.The proposed MPCC shows excellent steady-state and dynamics performances while ensuring the neutral point voltage balancing.The efficacy of the proposed MPCC is verified by simulation and experimental results.

A NOVEL AERONAUTICAL STATIC INVERTER WITH HIGH FREQUENCY PULSE DC LINK

A new combined soft switching technique and a novel topology of aeronautical static inverter with high frequency pulse dc link are proposed in this paper, namely an electrical isolated converter can realize soft switching of two stage cascade converters. It lays technical foundation for high power density, high efficiency and low cost aeronautical static inverter. The operation and design approach of this topology are carefully analyzed and studied. The validity of this topology is verified by simulation and test.

Online Learning Control for Harmonics Reduction Based on Current Controlled Voltage Source Power Inverters

Nonlinear loads in the power distribution system cause non-sinusoidal currents and voltages with harmonic components.Shunt active filters(SAF) with current controlled voltage source inverters(CCVSI) are usually used to obtain balanced and sinusoidal source currents by injecting compensation currents.However,CCVSI with traditional controllers have a limited transient and steady state performance.In this paper,we propose an adaptive dynamic programming(ADP) controller with online learning capability to improve transient response and harmonics.The proposed controller works alongside existing proportional integral(PI) controllers to efficiently track the reference currents in the d-q domain.It can generate adaptive control actions to compensate the PI controller.The proposed system was simulated under different nonlinear(three-phase full wave rectifier) load conditions.The performance of the proposed approach was compared with the traditional approach.We have also included the simulation results without connecting the traditional PI control based power inverter for reference comparison.The online learning based ADP controller not only reduced average total harmonic distortion by 18.41%,but also outperformed traditional PI controllers during transients.

Control strategy of LCL-type three-phase photovoltaic grid connected inverter

The grid-connected inverter with LCL filter has the ability of easily attenuating high-frequency current harmonics. However, its suppression effect on the background harmonics in grid voltage is limited. A control strategy is presented, which is composed of an inner loop of capacitor current feedforward, an outer loop of grid-current feedforward and feedforward of grid voltage. The limitations and steps of parameters design for LCL filter are analyzed. Meanwhile, the capacitor current loop is employed to damp the resonant peak caused by the LCL filter and enhance the stability. The properties of different controllers are analyzed and compared, thereinto quasi-proportional-rasonant (PR) controller realizes the control with zero steady-state error of AC variables in static coordinates. In order to suppress the current distortion effected by the background harmonics in grid voltage, the feed-forward function is calculated for the grid-connected inverter with an LCL filter. After simplifying the block diagram, a full-feedforward control strategy for grid voltage is proposed. Theoretical analysis and Matlab/Simulink simulation results show that the proposed method has the advantages of high steady accuracy, fast dynamic response and strong robustness.

Control of an Active Filter by Duty Cycle Modulation (DCM) for the Harmonic Decontamination of a Three-Phase Electrical Network

This paper presents the control of the active filter by Duty Cycle Modulation (DCM) for the harmonic pollution control of a three-phase electrical system. Several research works have preceded this work, but most of them deal with the control by pulse-width modulation and the differences lie around the THD reduction performance, the quality of the wave obtained, the simplicity of the scheme and the cost of the control. For this purpose, we propose a very innovative approach to active filter control which aims at reducing the current THD at a lower rate than pulse-width modulation techniques improving at the same time the wave quality with a more simplified control scheme. First we present the schematic diagram of the active filter, then we present the design of the control of this active filter based on the real and imaginary instantaneous power method which uses the algebraic “Clark” transformation. The Duty Cycle Modulation controller is used to obtain the required control commands to be injected to the inverter. We then developed a simulink model of the active filter to validate this study. The simulations were performed in the Matlab/Simulink environment. The results obtained show a significant improvement on the harmonic current control techniques for the THD of 1.02% which was 26.25%, the elimination of noise in the signal and the simplicity of the control with an easier implementation than the pulse width modulation (PWM) make the Duty Cycle Modulation (DCM) control a very promising tool.

Implementation of PSOANN Optimized PI Control Algorithm for Shunt Active Filter

This paper proposes the optimum controller for shunt active filter(SAF)to mitigate the harmonics and maintain the power quality in the distribution system.It consists of shunt active filter,Voltage Source Inverter(VSI),series inductor and DC bus and nonlinear load.The proposed hybrid approach is a combination of Particle Swarm Optimization(PSO)and Artificial Neural Network(ANN)termed as PSOANN.The PI controller gain parameters of kp and ki are optimized with the help of PSOANN.The PSOANN improves the accuracy of tuning the gain parameters under steady and dynamic load conditions;thereby it reduces the values of THD within the prescribed limits of IEEE 519.The PSO optimizes the dataset of terminal voltage and DC voltage present in shunt active filter for different load condition.The optimized dataset acts as the input for the controller to predict the optimal gain with minimal error and to generate the optimized control signal for the SAF.The proposed methodology is modelled and simulated with the help of MATLAB/Simulink platform and illustrated the few test cases considered for exhibiting the performance of proposed hybrid controller.The experimental results are measured with developed laboratory prototype and compared with the simulation results to validate the effectiveness of the proposed control methodology.

A novel SVPWM strategy considering neutral-point potential balancing for three-level NPC inverter

This paper proposes a novel SVPWM （space vector pulse width modulation） strategy for the three-level neutral-point-clamped voltage source inverter, based on the particular disposition of all the redundant voltage vectors. The new modulation approach shows superior performance for harmonic voltage and balancing control of neutral-point potential compared to the popular eight-stage centered SVPWM. It realizes suppression of inverter neutral-point potential variation by accurately modifying redundant factor of small vectors pairs, only requiring information of DC-link capacitor voltages and three-phase load currents. This is convenient to apply and is compatible of digital computer realization. Feasibility of the proposed control approach is verified by simulation and experimental results.

Combined Active Islanding Detection Method for Grid-connected Photovoltaic System

Unintentional islanding phenomenon has been one of the most important problems of gridconnected photovoltaic inverters. To prevent this phenomenon, all kinds of anti-islanding methods have been discussed. This paper presents a combined active islanding detection method, which consists of active frequency drift method and automatic phase-shift method. The traditional active anti-islanding methods of grid-connected PV inverters bear nondetection zone possibilities for certain paralleled RLC loads. The combined method shows islanding detection ability effectively, and it can eliminate nondetection zones even in the worst case conditions. Simulation in different load conditions is performed for verification.

Photoactive area modification in bulk heterojunction organic solar cells using optimization of electrochemically synthesized ZnO nanorods

In this work, ZnO nanorod arrays grown by an electrochemical deposition method are investigated. The crucial parameters of length, diameter, and density of the nanorods are optimized over the synthesize process and nanorods growth time. Crystalline structure, morphologies, and optical properties of ZnO nanorod arrays are studied by different techniques such as x-ray diffraction, scanning electron microscope, atomic force microscope, and UV-visible transmission spectra. The ZnO nanorod arrays are employed in an inverted bulk heterojunction organic solar cell of Poly （3-hexylthiophene）：[6- 6] Phenyl-（6） butyric acid methyl ester to introduce more surface contact between the electron transporter layer and the active layer. Our results show that the deposition time is a very important factor to achieve the aligned and uniform ZnO nanorods with suitable surface density which is required for effective infiltration of active area into the ZnO nanorod spacing and make a maximum interfacial surface contact for electron collection, as overgrowing causes nanorods to be too dense and thick and results in high resistance and lower visible light transmittance. By optimizing the thickness of the active layer on top of ZnO nanorods, an improved efficiency of 3.17% with a high FF beyond 60% was achieved.

Coordination of multiple grid-connected inverters for harmonic compensation

For multiple grid-connected inverters with active filter function,it makes sense to regulate every unit to output maximum active power from photovoltaic arrays,as well as eliminate the harmonic due to the non-linear loads connected to the electric networks.Naturally,a centralized control coordination strategy was proposed for the purpose of high facility utilization,good harmonic compensation ability and unwanted overcompensation condition.Based on a vector decoupling control scheme and generalized instantaneous reactive power theory,the solution was to allocate the harmonic eliminating task for every inverter according to the instantaneous power margin of each.The grid current always keeps sinusoidal in spite of non-linear load change and output active power change for any inverter.The simulation results validate the efficacy of the proposed coordination strategy.

Improved VSVPWM Modulation Method for Three-level NPC Inverter in Rural Power Grid

With the acceleration of agricultural electrification,a lot of nonlinear and shock loads appear in the rural power grid,and the resulting harmonic and reactive currents pollute the rural power grid more and more seriously.To solve the above problem,three-level neutral point clamped(NPC)inverters have been widely used,but their development is greatly restricted by the defect of neutral point voltage imbalance.In this paper,an improved virtual space vector pulse width modulation(VSVPWM)was proposed.Firstly,the mathematical models of various space vectors were established,and the influence of various space vectors on neutral point voltage was analyzed.The sum of the vector current at the neutral point was zero and the voltage control at the neutral point was completed by.introducing the time offset into different switching times of the redundant small vector.This method was simple in design and avoided the redundant calculation of the traditional VSVPWM method and tedious switch sequence design.This balancing control strategy could greatly reduce the influence of virtual vectors on neutral point voltage and effectively control the low-frequency oscillation of neutral point voltage.The validity of the method was verified by establishing a matlab simulation model.

Parameter Design of Current Double Closed Loop for T-Type Three-Level Grid-Connected Inverter

To reduce current harmonics caused by switching frequency,T-type grid-connected inverter topology with LCL filter is adopted.In view of the disadvantages of the slow response speed of the traditional current control and the failure to eliminate the influence of the LCL filter on the grid-connected current by using current PI control alone,a current double closed loop PI current tracking control is proposed.Through the theoretical analysis of the grid-connected inverter control principle,the grid-connected inverter control model is designed,and the transfer functionmodel of each control link is deduced,and the current loop PI regulator is designed at last.The simulation results show that the control strategy is feasible.

Model predictive control of three-level active front-end converter with low switching frequency

In medium voltage-high power(MV-HP)applications,the high switching frequency of power converter will result in unnecessary energy losses,which directly affect efficiency.To resolve this issue,a novel finite control set-model predictive control(FCS-MPC)with low switching frequency for three-level neutral point clamped-active front-end converters(NPC-AFEs)is proposed.With this approach,the prediction model of three-level NPC-AFEs is established inα-βreference frame,and the control objective of low average switching frequency is introduced into a cost function.The proposed method not only achieves the desired control performance under low switching frequency,but also performs the efficient operation for the three-level NPC-AFEs.The simulation results are provided to verify the effectiveness of proposed control scheme.

A Novel Multilevel Inverter Circuit for the Performance Enhancement of Direct Torque Controlled Induction Motor

Induction motor is the most sought after motor in the industry for excellent performance characteristics and robustness. Developments in the Power Electronic circuitry have revolutionised the induction motor industry leading to the developments in various control strategies and circuits for motor control. Direct Torque Control (DTC) is one of the excellent control strategies preferred by industries for controlling the torque and flux in an induction machine. The main drawback of DTC is the presence of torque ripple which is slightly more than the acceptable limit. There are various parameters that introduce ripples in the electromagnetic torque, one of them being the type of inverter circuit. There are various types of inverter circuits available and the effect of each of them in the production of torque ripple is different. This work is an attempt to identify the influence of various multilevel inverter circuits on the torque ripple level and to propose the best inverter circuit. The influence of multilevel diode clamped inverter and cascaded H bridge inverter circuits on torque ripple minimization, is analysed using simulation studies for identifying the most suitable multilevel inverter circuit which gives minimum torque ripple. The results obtained from the simulation studies are validated by hardware implementation on 0.75 kW induction motor.

Generalized coupling resonance modeling, analysis, and active damping of multi-parallel inverters in microgrid operating in grid-connected mode

This paper firstly presents an equivalent coupling circuit modeling of multi-parallel inverters in microgrid operating in grid-connected mode. By using the model, the coupling resonance phenomena are explicitly investigated through the mathematical approach, and the intrinsic and extrinsic resonances exist widely in microgrid.Considering the inverter own reference current, other inverters reference current, and grid harmonic voltage, the distributions of resonance peaks with the growth in the number of inverters are obtained. Then, an active damping control parameter design method is proposed to attenuate coupling resonance, and the most salient feature is that the optimal range of the damping parameter can be easily located through an initiatively graphic method. Finally,simulations and experiments verify the validity of the proposed modeling and method.

Impact of phase-locked loop on stability of active damped LCL-filter-based grid-connected inverters with capacitor voltage feedback

Active damped LCL-filter-based inverters have been widely used for grid-connected distributed generation(DG) systems. In weak grids, however, the phase-locked loop(PLL) dynamics may detrimentally affect the stability of grid-connected inverters due to interaction between the PLL and the controller. In order to solve the problem, the impact of PLL dynamics on small-signal stability is investigated for the active damped LCL-filtered grid-connected inverters with capacitor voltage feedback. The system closed-loop transfer function is established based on the Norton equivalent model by taking the PLL dynamics into account. Using an established model, the system stability boundary is identified from the viewpoint of PLL bandwidth and current regulator gain. The accuracy of the ranges of stability for the PLL bandwidth and current regulator gain is verified by both simulation and experimental results.