Advanced Multilevel Converters and Applications in Grid Integration

Ali Iftekhar Maswood, Hossein Dehghani Tafti, Ali Iftekhar Maswood, Hossein Dehghani Tafti

• Publisher: Wiley
• Year: 2018
• Print ISBN:
  9781119475866
• Edition: 1
• eBook ISBN:
  9781119475897
• Topic: Technology & Engineering
• Subtopic: Electrical Engineering & Telecommunications
• Index: Technology & Engineering

A comprehensive survey of advanced multilevel converter design, control, operation and grid-connected applications

Advanced Multilevel Converters and Applications in Grid Integration presents a comprehensive review of the core principles of advanced multilevel converters, which require fewer components and provide higher power conversion efficiency and output power quality.  The authors – noted experts in the field – explain in detail the operation principles and control strategies and present the mathematical expressions and design procedures of their components.

The text examines the advantages and disadvantages compared to the classical multilevel and two level power converters. The authors also include examples of the industrial applications of the advanced multilevel converters and offer thoughtful explanations on their control strategies. Advanced Multilevel Converters and Applications in Grid Integration provides a clear understanding of the gap difference between research conducted and the current industrial needs. This important guide:

• Puts the focus on the new challenges and topics in related areas such as modulation methods, harmonic analysis, voltage balancing and balanced current injection
• Makes a strong link between the fundamental concepts of power converters and advances multilevel converter topologies and examines their control strategies, together with practical engineering considerations
• Provides a valid reference for further developments in the multilevel converters design issue
• Contains simulations files for further study

Written for university students in electrical engineering, researchers in areas of multilevel converters, high-power converters and engineers and operators in power industry, Advanced Multilevel Converters and Applications in Grid Integration offers a comprehensive review of the core principles of advanced multilevel converters, with contributions from noted experts in the field.

Part I
A review on Classical Multilevel Converters

1
Classical Multilevel Converters

Gabriel H. P. Ooi Ziyou Lim and Hossein Dehghani Tafti

1.1 Introduction

Power electronic converters are classified mainly based on the current (CS) or voltage source (VS). In the early days around the 1980s, current source inverters (CSI) were popular when thyristor‐based semiconductors were first developed [1]. The CSIs are also known as load‐commutated inverters (LCI) in the industry, which mainly comprise the gate turn‐off thyristor (GTO) or the integrated gate‐commutated thyristor (IGCT) in the circuit. Usually, CSIs are operated under short‐circuit conditions using current‐controlled switching devices; hence, a low switching frequency is required. Besides, the gate driver circuitry design can become too complicated.

In 1964, Ray E. Morgan had proved that the performance of an inverter will be more efficient for a fast switching operation where switching losses are greatly reduced through the experimented bridge chopper inverter. Despite the IGCT allowing a higher switching frequency (up to a few kilohertz) than the GTO, the switching losses are considerably high. Hence, the switching frequency for the IGCT is typically limited to a few hundred hertz (around 500 Hz).

In the mid‐1990s, insulated‐gate bipolar transistors (IGBTs) designed to be open‐circuit voltage‐controlled semiconductor devices for fast switching purposes had become available in the market. As a result, IGBTs would have been more favorable in the voltage source inverter (VSI) where a lower switching loss, higher efficiency, and a higher reliability are achieved. Moreover, the VSI has a low current harmonic distortion due to the high switching frequency operation. The VSI is used in industrial applications due to the numerous advantages, and therefore, multilevel VSI is the prime focus of research and will be further discussed in this chapter.

1.2 Classical Two‐Level Converters

The configuration of the conventional three‐phase two‐level VSI as shown in Fig. 1.1 has been commonly used in the early 1960s for motor drives. The 2L‐VSIs were constructed using thyristor‐based switching devices during...

Table of contents

• Cover
• Table of Contents
• Dedication
• List of Contributors
• Preface
• Part I: A review on Classical Multilevel Converters
• Part II: Advanced Multilevel Rectifiers and their Control Strategies
• Part III: Advanced Multilevel Inverters and their Control Strategies
• Part IV: Grid-Integration Applications of Advanced Multilevel Converters
• Index
• End User License Agreement