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.

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Recent Advances and Industrial Applications of Multilevel Converters

Neutral-point-clamped (NPC) inverters are the most widely used topology of multilevel inverters in high-power applications (several megawatts). This paper presents in a very simple way the basic operation and the most used modulation and control techniques developed to date. Special attention is paid to the loss distribution in semiconductors, and an active NPC inverter is presented to overcome this problem. This paper discusses the main fields of application and presents some technological problems such as capacitor balance and losses.

A Survey on Neutral-Point-Clamped Inverters

This paper presents a detailed description of finite control set model predictive control (FCS-MPC) applied to power converters Several key aspects related to this methodology are, in depth, presented and compared with traditional power converter control techniques, such as linear controllers with pulsewidth-modulation-based methods The basic concepts, operating principles, control diagrams, and results are used to provide a comparison between the different control strategies The analysis is performed on a traditional three-phase voltage source inverter, used as a simple and comprehensive reference frame However, additional topologies and power systems are addressed to highlight differences, potentialities, and challenges of FCS-MPC Among the conclusions are the feasibility and great potential of FCS-MPC due to present-day signal-processing capabilities, particularly for power systems with a reduced number of switching states and more complex operating principles, such as matrix converters In addition, the possibility to address different or additional control objectives easily in a single cost function enables a simple, flexible, and improved performance controller for power-conversion systems

Model Predictive Control—A Simple and Powerful Method to Control Power Converters

Predictive control is a very wide class of controllers that have found rather recent application in the control of power converters. Research on this topic has been increased in the last years due to the possibilities of today's microprocessors used for the control. This paper presents the application of different predictive control methods to power electronics and drives. A simple classification of the most important types of predictive control is introduced, and each one of them is explained including some application examples. Predictive control presents several advantages that make it suitable for the control of power converters and drives. The different control schemes and applications presented in this paper illustrate the effectiveness and flexibility of predictive control.

Predictive Control in Power Electronics and Drives

This paper presents a predictive current control method and its application to a voltage source inverter. The method uses a discrete-time model of the system to predict the future value of the load current for all possible voltage vectors generated by the inverter. The voltage vector which minimizes a quality function is selected. The quality function used in this work evaluates the current error at the next sampling time. The performance of the proposed predictive control method is compared with hysteresis and pulsewidth modulation control. The results show that the predictive method controls very effectively the load current and performs very well compared with the classical solutions

Predictive Current Control of a Voltage Source Inverter

A new predictive strategy for current control of a three-phase neutral-point-clamped inverter is presented. The algorithm is based on a model of the system. From that model, the behavior of the system is predicted for each possible switching state of the inverter. The state that minimizes a given quality function is selected to be applied during the next sampling interval. Several compositions of are proposed, including terms dedicated to achieve reference tracking, balance in the dc link, and reduction of the switching frequency. In comparison to an established control method, the strategy presents a remarkable performance. The proposed method achieves comparable reference tracking with lower switching frequency per semiconductor and similar transient behavior. The main advantage of the method is that it does not require any kind of linear controller or modulation technique, achieving a different approach to control a power converter.

Predictive Control of a Three-Phase Neutral-Point-Clamped Inverter

A different approach to perform the control of an induction machine fed by a matrix converter (MC) is presented in this paper. The proposed technique is based on predictive control and effectively controls input and output variables to the power converter, as expected from an MC. The method allows the use of all valid switching states, including rotating vectors that are not considered in most control techniques, as space vector modulation or direct torque control for induction machines fed by MCs. Experimental results show the excellent performance of the proposed approach, with low-distortion input currents, adjustable power factor, sinusoidal output currents with smooth frequency transitions, and good speed control in motoring and regeneration conditions, even working under an unbalanced power supply. The implementation and comprehension of the method should be considered simple compared to other control strategies with similar features. The high computational effort required should not be a problem considering recent progresses in digital signal processors-and even less in years to come.

Predictive Current Control of an Induction Machine Fed by a Matrix Converter With Reactive Power Control

This paper presents a new control method for a matrix-converter-based induction machine drive. A discrete model of the converter, motor, and input filter is used to predict the behavior of torque, flux, and input power to the drive. The switching state that optimizes the value of a quality function, used as the evaluation criterion, is selected and applied during the next discrete-time interval. Experimental results confirm that the proposed strategy gives high-quality control of the torque, flux, and power factor with a fast dynamic control response. The key implementation issues are analyzed in depth to give an overview of the realization aspects of the proposed algorithm.

U. Ammann

Papers

Model Predictive Control—A Simple and Powerful Method to Control Power Converters

Predictive Current Control of a Voltage Source Inverter

Predictive Control of a Three-Phase Neutral-Point-Clamped Inverter

Predictive Current Control of an Induction Machine Fed by a Matrix Converter With Reactive Power Control

Predictive Torque Control of an Induction Machine Fed by a Matrix Converter With Reactive Input Power Control