Jun-ichi Itoh

Bio: Jun-ichi Itoh is an academic researcher from Nagaoka University of Technology. The author has contributed to research in topics: Inverter & Boost converter. The author has an hindex of 24, co-authored 445 publications receiving 3377 citations. Previous affiliations of Jun-ichi Itoh include Nagaoka University.

Ripple Current Reduction of a Fuel Cell for a Single-Phase Isolated Converter Using a DC Active Filter With a Center Tap

Abstract: A ripple current reduction method is proposed that does not require additional switching devices. A current ripple that has twice the frequency component of the power supply is generated in the dc part when a single-phase pulsewidth-modulated inverter is used for a grid connection. The current ripple causes shortening of the lifetime of electrolytic capacitors, batteries, and fuel cells. The proposed circuit realizes a dc active filter function without increasing the number of switching devices, because the energy buffer capacitor is connected to the center tap of the isolation transformer. In addition, the buffer capacitor voltage is controlled by the common-mode voltage of the inverter. The features of the proposed circuit, control strategy, and experimental results are described, including the result of ripple reduction, to approximately 20% that of the conventional circuit.

Ripple Current Reduction of a Fuel Cell for a Single-Phase Isolated Converter using a DC Active Filter with a Center Tap

Abstract: This paper proposes a ripple reduction method in current without using any additional switching devices. The current ripple that has double frequency component of the power supply is generated in the DC part when a single-phase PWM inverter is used for a grid connection. The current ripple causes short lifetime for electrolytic capacitors, batteries and fuel cells. The proposed circuit realizes a DC active filter function without increasing the number of the switching device because the energy buffer capacitor is connected to the center tap of the isolation transformer. In addition, the buffer capacitor voltage is controlled by the common mode voltage of the inverter. This paper describes the features of the proposed circuit, control strategy and experimental results. As a result, about 1/5 times of the ripple can be reduced.

A novel approach to practical matrix converter motor drive system with reverse blocking IGBT

Abstract: This paper proposes a novel control strategy and a protection circuit and shows the advantage of utilizing a newly developed reverse blocking insulated gate bipolar transistor (RB-IGBT), to solve several practical problems of the matrix converter. The proposed control strategy is based on a virtual indirect control method with a virtual rectifier and a virtual inverter. Pulse-width modulated (PWM) pulses for the matrix converter are obtained by combining PWM pulses for the virtual rectifier and inverter. As a result, the control part of the input current and output voltage can be clearly separated. Thus, the conventional inverter control algorithms can be applied to the virtual inverter control. The advantage of this method is confirmed by experimental results with a 22-kW induction motor drive system. Good sinusoidal waveforms are obtained for the input and output currents, and the total harmonic distortion (THD) of the input and output current are 5.1% and 1.4%, respectively. The conduction loss of the RB-IGBT is decreased to about two-thirds of the conventional ac switch with series connection diode. Thus, the converter loss is about a half to the conventional PWM rectifier-inverter system with the same capacity. Furthermore, the protection problem is solved by a dynamic clamp method without an electrolytic capacitor. This protection circuit directly dissipates reactive load energy by dynamic clamp operation of an IGBT.

A Novel Single-Phase Buck PFC AC–DC Converter With Power Decoupling Capability Using an Active Buffer

Abstract: This paper discusses a new circuit configuration and a new control method for a single-phase ac–dc converter with power factor (P.F.) correction and a power pulsation decoupling function. The proposed converter can achieve low total harmonic distortion (THD) on the input current and the power pulsation decoupling function between the input and output sides, which allows low output voltage ripple even on a small output energy buffer at the same time using an active buffer. Therefore, the proposed converter does not require large smoothing capacitors or large smoothing inductors. The buffering energy is stored by a small capacitor, which controls the variation of the capacitor voltage through the active buffer. In this paper, the fundamental operations of the proposed converter are investigated experimentally. The experimental results reveal that the input current THD is 1.44%, the rate of the output voltage ripple is 6.33%, and the input P.F. is over 99%. In addition, a maximum efficiency of over 96% is obtained for a 750-W prototype converter.

A Single-Phase Current-Source PV Inverter With Power Decoupling Capability Using an Active Buffer

Abstract: This paper proposes a new circuit configuration and a control scheme for a single-phase current-source inverter with a power decoupling circuit which is called as the active buffer. The proposed inverter achieves a low-dc-input voltage ripple and also provides a sinusoidal current that can achieve unity power factor, without large passive components in the dc bus such as smoothing inductors and electrolytic capacitors. These components are conventionally required in order to decouple the power pulsation caused by the single-phase power source. In this paper, the fundamental operations of the proposed inverter are demonstrated experimentally. From the experimental results, the input voltage ripple is 8.87%, and the output current total harmonic distortion is 4.24%. In addition, an output power factor of 99% and a maximum efficiency of 94.9% are obtained. Finally, it is confirmed that the maximum power densities of the conventional circuit and the proposed circuit are 2.75 kW/L at the switching frequency of 70 kHz and 4.86 kW/L at the switching frequency of 80 kHz, respectively.

I and i

Abstract: There is, I think, something ethereal about i —the square root of minus one. I remember first hearing about it at school. It seemed an odd beast at that time—an intruder hovering on the edge of reality. Usually familiarity dulls this sense of the bizarre, but in the case of i it was the reverse: over the years the sense of its surreal nature intensified. It seemed that it was impossible to write mathematics that described the real world in …

A Review of Control and Modulation Methods for Matrix Converters

Abstract: This paper presents a review of the most popular control and modulation strategies studied for matrix converters (MCs) in the last decade. The purpose of most of these methods is to generate sinusoidal current on the input and output sides. These methods are compared considering theoretical complexity and performance. This paper concludes that the control strategy has a significant impact on the resonance of the MC input filter.

Review of Active Power Decoupling Topologies in Single-Phase Systems

Abstract: Active power decoupling methods are developed to deal with the inherent ripple power at twice the grid frequency in single-phase systems generally by adding active switches and energy storage units. They have obtained a wide range of applications, such as photovoltaic (PV) systems, light-emitting diodes (LEDs) drivers, fuel cell (FC) power systems, and electric vehicle (EV) battery chargers, etc. This paper provides a comprehensive review of active power decoupling circuit topologies. They are categorized into two groups in terms of the structure characteristics: independent and dependent decoupling circuit topologies. The former operates independently with the original converter, and the latter, however, shares the power semiconductor devices with the original converter partially and even completely. The development laws for the active power decoupling topologies are revealed from the view of “duality principle,” “switches sharing,” and “differential connection.” In addition, the exceptions and special cases are also briefly introduced. This paper is targeted to help researchers, engineers, and designers to construct some new decoupling circuit topologies and properly select existing ones according to the specific application.