The term dead time refers to a prime safety factor for most power electronic converter topologies, and it is included either in the control software or in the gate/base driver hardware, depending on the application as well as the control requirements. In this paper, the authors present a comprehensive numerical analysis of dead-time effects on the output voltage of a three-level neutral-pointclamped (NPC) inverter. To incorporate the dead-time effect in the output voltage, 3-D models of three-level carrier pulse width modulation (PWM) methods are modified for two dead-time implementations. Closed-form expressions of inverter phase voltage harmonics for phase opposition disposition (POD) PWM are derived based on the double Fourier series approach and modified contour plots. The harmonic spectra from numerical evaluations, simulations, and experiments for natural sampling (NS), symmetrical regular sampling (SRS), and asymmetrical regular sampling (ARS) are compared to validate the mathematical models. In addition, the fundamental voltage with respect to the dead time and the load phase angle is presented based on analytical results and simulation.
Distributed generation and smart grid integration of renewable energy sources introduce a lot of challenges for the enabling power electronic converter technology. Some of these challenges include wide controllability range, high power handling and good reliability. Three-level boost converter is one of the attractive solution for applications requiring voltage cross regulation such as three-level neutral point clamped inverter based grid integration of renewable sources. The present work shows the advantages and disadvantages of using discontinuous conduction mode of a Three-level boost converter for voltage cross regulation. The converter working principle, modes of operation and operating cases are listed briefly. The simulation results compare the DCM and CCM cross regulation effects. Based on these results, the controllability range of the converter is analyzed to understand the suitability of the converter for various applications.
This thesis presents an electrical system analysis of a wave energy converter (WEC) for the objective of grid connection. To transfer the enormous amount of power from waves to the load centers, efficient power electronic systems are essential. This thesis includes the modeling of a buoy–translator dynamics and the modeling of a linear permanent magnet generator along with simulation and experimental validation. Diode bridge rectifiers are considered for rectification to avoid the complex linear generator control at the input side. To reduce the size and the cost of energy storage elements, DC voltage regulation is done using a DC/DC converter.
To achieve smooth and high power, many WECs need to be connected to a common DC link. A neutral point clamped inverter is considered for the DC/AC conversion due to its advantages over conventional topologies. Various pulse width modulation schemes are tested for the inverter to choose the optimum PWM method. The harmonics in the inverter output voltage is derived numerically and compared with simulation and experiment to understand the effect of dead-time in the inverter operation.
Depending on the load current drawn from the inverter, the voltages in the two input capacitors of a three-level neutral point clamped inverter deviates from equilibrium unless the neutral point is grounded. To avoid this voltage imbalance as well as to regulate the DC link voltage a dual output boost converter with pulse delay control is proposed. The modeling, simulation and experiments show an improvement in the compensation voltage using pulse delay control compared to the previously proposed methods in the literature. The synchronous current control and the grid connection of the three-level converter have been accomplished in the laboratory.
Finally, the three-level power converter system has been tested with a linear permanent magnet generator at Lysekil to analyze the controller requirements.
This thesis deals with the electrical system analysis of a Wave Energy Converter (WEC) for the objective of grid connection. The Linear Permanent Magnet Generator (LPMG) is modeled and validated with experimental results. The comparison studies establish that this model is useful for the subsequent system modeling and performance analysis. To simplify the generator side control, diode bridge rectifiers are used for rectification. To reduce the size and cost of energy storage elements, DC voltage regulation is done using a DC/DC converter. Since the buoy has limited control, the electrical system needs additional design requirements. Moreover, to achieve smooth and high power, many WEC are connected to a common DC link. As a result, the inverter for the DC/AC conversion should be capable to withstand the low frequency instantaneous power peaks. Conventional multilevel inverters are considered for the initial analysis. The Neutral Point Clamped (NPC) inverter is chosen for the detailed analysis due to its advantages over other topologies. Voltage balancing technique and current control method are examined. The experimental performance of NPC converter for the WEC will be the focus in future.
The cross regulation effect in multi-output DC/DC converters offers a reliable support for the grid integration of multilevel inverters by balancing the capacitor voltages. The capacitor voltage balancing by single input dual output boost converter is often realised by conventional three-level switching scheme. The three-level operation benefits lower inductor ripple current, but it limits the maximum possible compensation voltages. In this study, the entire operating modes of the boost converter is presented and all the possible cases which contribute to the voltage balancing are employed for balancing the capacitor voltages in a three-level neutral point clamped inverter. A proportional-integral controller based duty ratio control and pulse delay control are used for DC link voltage regulation and capacitor voltage balancing. Since the classical state-space averaging technique is not suitable for SIDO converters, inductor current ripple averaging technique is utilised for controller design. The circuit simulation is performed in Matlab/Simulink. The digital controller is realised using the Virtex-5FPGA in Labview/CompactRIO module. Both simulation and experimental results are presented to validate the controller performance.
This paper investigates the capacitor voltage balance scheme for a neutral point clamped inverter. A symmetrical space vector modulation is used to analyze the imbalance in neutral point voltage. This method overcomes the drawbacks of Nearest Three Vector modulation method. The redundancies of different switch configurations for the generation of the same output voltage are used to limit the voltage drift when modulation index is less than half. The deviation in the neutral voltage is further reduced by adjusting the duty cycle distribution variable. The voltage balance scheme is analyzed for linear and non linear loads. The performance of control strategy is also examined for a grid connected inverter.
This paper presents a synchronous current control method for a three-level neutral point clamped inverter. Synchronous reference frame control based on two decoupled proportional-integral (PI) controllers is used to control the current in direct and quadrature axes. A phase disposition pulse width modulation (PDPWM) method in regular symmetrical sampling is used for generating the inverter switching signals. To eliminate the harmonic content with no phase errors, two first-order low pass filters (LPFs) are used for the dq currents. The simulation of closed-loop control is done in Matlab/Simulink. The Vertex-5 field programmable gate array (FPGA) in Labview/CompactRio is used for the implementation of the control algorithm. The control and switch pulse generation are done in independent parallel loops. The synchronization of both loops is achieved by controlling the length of waiting time for each loop. The simulation results are validated with experiments. The results show that the control action is reliable and efficient for the load current control.
This study presents the dynamic modelling of a linear permanent magnet generator for extracting energy from ocean waves. Translator position, calculated from measured generator voltage, is used as input for the simulation model. Instantaneous power from the simulation model has been compared with the measurements from the Lysekil research site. The power output from the model considering the air gap flux variation is precisely matching with the measured values before core saturation. The generator dynamic model is modified by including the saturation effect. Although a simple mathematical expression is considered for representing the saturation, the model gives accurate power spectrum close to the experimental results. The presented model is a first step towards the system model that can simulate the entire electric system including electric grid. As such, the generator model can be used for further analysis of the wave energy conversion system.
The increased smart grid integration of renewable energy sources demands high power handling and wide controllability for the enabling power conversion technologies. The conventional energy conversion techniques are inadequate to efficiently handle the highly varying nature of renewable energy sources like wave, solar, tidal and wind. The present work examines the advantages of using a three-level buck-boost DC-DC converter to aid three-level neutral-point-clamped inverter based grid integration. There are two main reasons for using this converter. It can provide the conventional buck-boost capability at higher power levels for absorbing and conditioning the renewable source output. Besides, it can be used as a voltage balancing device to satisfy the input requirement for the three-level neutral-point-clamped inverter. The work includes complete operating range analysis of the converter for the combined buck-boost action and voltage balancing effects to understand its suitability for various applications. The converter switching modes of operation are also presented in detail along with essential example waveforms. The final results show good controllability bandwidth for the converter which makes it an attractive solution for smart grid integration of renewable energy sources.
The multilevel converters offer significant advantages for high power applications. The use of multilevel DC/DC converters provides improved efficiency for power conversion and transmission at high voltage. This paper investigates the control and implementation of a three level boost converter for regulating the load voltages. A PI controller based switch signal phase delay control (SSPDC) method is used for adjusting the load voltages at equal turn on and turn off time of the converter switches. The circuit simulation is done in Matlab/Simulink. The controller is realized by using the FPGA in Labview/Compact-Rio module. Software waiting loop length control technique is used for implementing the switch signal delay control. The hardware circuit is implemented and tested. The results show a validation of the controller for regulating the voltages. This method can easily be applied for voltage balancing in a three level neutral point clamped inverter where neutral voltage imbalance is always an issue.