Multilevel inverter technology has emerged recently as a very important alternative in the area of high-power medium-voltage energy control. This paper presents the most important topologies like diode-clamped inverter (neutral-point clamped), capacitor-clamped (flying capacitor), and cascaded multicell with separate DC sources. Emerging topologies like asymmetric hybrid cells and soft-switched multilevel inverters are also discussed. This paper also presents the most relevant control and modulation methods developed for this family of converters: multilevel sinusoidal pulsewidth modulation, multilevel selective harmonic elimination, and space-vector modulation. Special attention is dedicated to the latest and more relevant applications of these converters such as laminators, conveyor belts, and unified power-flow controllers. The need of an active front end at the input side for those inverters supplying regenerative loads is also discussed, and the circuit topology options are also presented. Finally, the peripherally developing areas such as high-voltage high-power devices and optical sensors and other opportunities for future development are addressed.

Multilevel inverters: a survey of topologies, controls, and applications

Multilevel converters have been under research and development for more than three decades and have found successful industrial application. However, this is still a technology under development, and many new contributions and new commercial topologies have been reported in the last few years. The aim of this paper is to group and review these recent contributions, in order to establish the current state of the art and trends of the technology, to provide readers with a comprehensive and insightful review of where multilevel converter technology stands and is heading. This paper first presents a brief overview of well-established multilevel converters strongly oriented to their current state in industrial applications to then center the discussion on the new converters that have made their way into the industry. In addition, new promising topologies are discussed. Recent advances made in modulation and control of multilevel converters are also addressed. A great part of this paper is devoted to show nontraditional applications powered by multilevel converters and how multilevel converters are becoming an enabling technology in many industrial sectors. Finally, some future trends and challenges in the further development of this technology are discussed to motivate future contributions that address open problems and explore new possibilities.

/pdf/recent-advances-and-industrial-applications-of-multilevel-26fluutoc9.pdf

Recent Advances and Industrial Applications of Multilevel Converters

This paper reviews the current status and implementation of battery chargers, charging power levels, and infrastructure for plug-in electric vehicles and hybrids. Charger systems are categorized into off-board and on-board types with unidirectional or bidirectional power flow. Unidirectional charging limits hardware requirements and simplifies interconnection issues. Bidirectional charging supports battery energy injection back to the grid. Typical on-board chargers restrict power because of weight, space, and cost constraints. They can be integrated with the electric drive to avoid these problems. The availability of charging infrastructure reduces on-board energy storage requirements and costs. On-board charger systems can be conductive or inductive. An off-board charger can be designed for high charging rates and is less constrained by size and weight. Level 1 (convenience), Level 2 (primary), and Level 3 (fast) power levels are discussed. Future aspects such as roadbed charging are presented. Various power level chargers and infrastructure configurations are presented, compared, and evaluated based on amount of power, charging time and location, cost, equipment, and other factors.

/pdf/review-of-battery-charger-topologies-charging-power-levels-85yy2igx2w.pdf

Review of Battery Charger Topologies, Charging Power Levels, and Infrastructure for Plug-In Electric and Hybrid Vehicles

http://ieeexplore.ieee.org/iel5/5610941/5624686/05624745.pdf

Power electronics

Cascaded multilevel inverters synthesize a medium-voltage output based on a series connection of power cells which use standard low-voltage component configurations. This characteristic allows one to achieve high-quality output voltages and input currents and also outstanding availability due to their intrinsic component redundancy. Due to these features, the cascaded multilevel inverter has been recognized as an important alternative in the medium-voltage inverter market. This paper presents a survey of different topologies, control strategies and modulation techniques used by these inverters. Regenerative and advanced topologies are also discussed. Applications where the mentioned features play a key role are shown. Finally, future developments are addressed.

A Survey on Cascaded Multilevel Inverters

Analog circuitry based maximum power point (MPP) tracker is attractive due to its low cost and capability of easy integration with a normal DC/DC controller such that “plug and play” can be expected for many photovoltaic (PV) applications. However, the challenge for analog MPPT controller is how to implement an algorithm and store necessary information (i.e., PV panel voltage V PV and output power P PV ) to find MPP. In this paper, a new cost-effective analog MPPT controller is proposed. By creating a truth table from the perturbation and observation (P&O) algorithm, the algorithm can be implemented with only several logic gates. Thanks to the capacitor based storage cell, information like V PV and P PV in last perturbation cycle can be stored easily. Compared with existing analog MPPT solutions, the proposed controller can find the real MPP dynamically and its operation is independent of converter topologies or its control. The operation principle of the new controller is explained and the cost of proposed solution is evaluated. The tracking performance of the proposed controller has been validated by both of the simulation and experimental results using a single phase PV inverter prototype with 200W PV panels under different sun irradiation level and temperature.

A new cost-effective analog maximum power point tracker for PV systems

A hierarchical power management scheme is proposed in this paper for a typical DC Microgrid. Different from other Microgrids, the DC Microgrid can interface to the distribution system by Solid-State transformer (SST). The hierarchical power management strategy includes three control levels: 1) primary control for DC Microgrid to implement distributed operation 2) secondary control for the DC Microgrid bus voltage recovery to achieve seamless mode switch 3) tertiary control to manage the battery charge and discharge. The DC Microgrid can operate in islanding mode, including the individual control for distributed renewable energy source (DRER) and distributed energy storage device (DESD). In addition, the DC microgrid can operate in SST-enabled mode to interface to the distribution system. The DC Micorgrid can seamlessly switch between islanding mode and SST-enable mode. The consideration of state of charge (SOC) for battery is also involved into the tertiary control. To this end, a lab test-bed is constructed to verify the system performance. Lastly, several typical case studies are carried out and the experimental results verify the proposed power management strategy.

Hierarchical power management for DC microgrid in islanding mode and Solid State transformer enabled mode

The reliability of power diode under surge current stress is crucial to the applications like motor drives. In this paper, the single and repetitive surge reliability of the 4H-SiC Schottky Barrier Diodes (SBDs) and Junction Barrier Schottky (JBS) diodes have been tested and the corresponding failure mechanisms studied. The single surge test results of two SBDs and three JBS didoes suggest a 450W/mm2 constant power line of the safe operation area for single surge current with a half sinusoidal pulse width of 8.3ms. The stress tests show no degradation of SBDs up to 10,000 cycles of surge current below 34.9A/mm2. The JBS diodes show V F degradation after surge stress at different current levels, which might be dependent on the hole injection levels. The aluminum metallization and bipolar degradation are the main limits for the reliability of SiC diodes under surge conditions.

Reliability of 4H-SiC SBD/JBS diodes under repetitive surge current stress

High voltage wide bandgap (WBG) semiconductor devices like the 15kV SiC MOSFET have attracted great attentions because of its potential applications in high voltage and high frequency power converters. However, these devices are not commercially available at the moment and their high cost due to expensive material growth and fabrication may limit their widespread adoption in the future. In this paper, a 15kV/40A three terminal power switch, the FREEDM Super-Cascode, is reported for the first time which is based on series connection of 1.2kV SiC power devices. The design and operation principle of the FREEDM Super-Cascode are introduced and the performance including the static blocking capability, conduction characteristics over a wide range of temperatures, and dynamic switching performances are analyzed. In addition, the thermal resistance of the FREEDM Super-Cascode is measured and the power dissipation capability is projected. The FREEDM Super-Cascode costs only one third of the estimated high voltage SiC MOSFETs, and will facilitate early applications of SiC in very high voltage and high frequency power converters.

15kV/40A FREEDM super-cascode: A cost effective SiC high voltage and high frequency power switch

Full-bridge power-factor-correction (PFC) front-end + dual-active-bridge (DAB) AC/DC topology is widely used in industry, e.g., electrical vehicle on-board charger. Such two-stage topology limits the system efficiency, and the bulky DC link bus capacitor makes the system power density relatively low. Compared to the two-stage design, the single-stage design, unfolding bridge + DAB, eliminates the bulky DC link bus capacitor and operates the front-end with only 60Hz switching frequency, thereby has the potential to increase the system power density and efficiency. A novel variable-switching-frequency and hybrid single-dual-phase-shift (VSF-SDPS) control strategy is proposed and analyzed for the DAB based single-stage topology. The proposed VSF-SDPF control consists of two phase shifts to guarantee Zero-Voltage-Switching (ZVS) over the full range of the AC line voltage, and frequency modulation to achieve boost PFC. The conventional front-end PFC is simplified to an unfolding bridge by changing DAB control strategy to achieve PFC and ZVS at the same time. Besides, a special ZVS boundary is utilized to solve the grid current distortion problem when the switching frequency saturated, which is especially severe at light load condition. Simulation results and experimental validation are presented under 50Vrms AC line voltage and 200V DC battery voltage test condition.

A novel light load performance enhanced variable-switching-frequency and hybrid single-dual-phase-shift control for single-stage dual-active-bridge based AC/DC converter

Alex Q. Huang

Papers

A new cost-effective analog maximum power point tracker for PV systems

Hierarchical power management for DC microgrid in islanding mode and Solid State transformer enabled mode

Reliability of 4H-SiC SBD/JBS diodes under repetitive surge current stress

15kV/40A FREEDM super-cascode: A cost effective SiC high voltage and high frequency power switch

A novel light load performance enhanced variable-switching-frequency and hybrid single-dual-phase-shift control for single-stage dual-active-bridge based AC/DC converter