Impedance Source Power Electronic Converters

Yushan Liu, Haitham Abu-Rub, Baoming Ge, Frede Blaabjerg, Omar Ellabban, Poh Chiang Loh

• Publisher: Wiley-IEEE Press
• Year: 2016
• Print ISBN: 9781119037071
• eBook ISBN: 9781119037101
• Edition: 1
• Topic: Technology & Engineering
• Subtopic: Power Resources
• Index: Technology & Engineering

Impedance Source Power Electronic Converters brings together state of the art knowledge and cutting edge techniques in various stages of research related to the ever more popular impedance source converters/inverters.

Significant research efforts are underway to develop commercially viable and technically feasible, efficient and reliable power converters for renewable energy, electric transportation and for various industrial applications. This book provides a detailed understanding of the concepts, designs, controls, and application demonstrations of the impedance source converters/inverters.

Key features:

• Comprehensive analysis of the impedance source converter/inverter topologies, including typical topologies and derived topologies.
• Fully explains the design and control techniques of impedance source converters/inverters, including hardware design and control parameter design for corresponding control methods.
• Presents the latest power conversion solutions that aim to advance the role of power electronics into industries and sustainable energy conversion systems.
• Compares impedance source converter/inverter applications in renewable energy power generation and electric vehicles as well as different industrial applications.
• Provides an overview of existing challenges, solutions and future trends.
• Supported by calculation examples, simulation models and results. 

Highly accessible, this is an invaluable resource for researchers, postgraduate/graduate students studying power electronics and its application in industry and renewable energy conversion as well as practising R&D engineers. Readers will be able to apply the presented material for the future design of the next generation of efficient power electronic converters/inverters.

1
Background and Current Status

Yushan Liu¹, Haitham Abu-Rub¹, Baoming Ge², Frede Blaabjerg³, Poh Chiang Loh³ and Omar Ellabban^1,4

¹ Electrical and Computer Engineering Program, Texas A&M University at Qatar, Qatar Foundation, Doha, Qatar

² Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, Texas A&M University, College Station, TX, USA

³ Department of Energy Technology, Aalborg University, Aalborg East, Denmark

⁴ Department of Electrical Machines and Power Engineering, Helwan University, Cairo, Egypt

Significant research efforts are underway to develop commercially viable, technically feasible, highly efficient, and highly reliable power converters for renewable energy, electric transportation, and various industrial applications. This chapter presents state-of-the-art knowledge and cutting-edge techniques in various stages of research related to impedance source converters/inverters, including the concepts, advantages compared to existing technology, classification, current status, and future trends.

1.1 General Introduction to Electrical Power Generation

1.1.1 Energy Systems

Electric power generation comprises traditional power generation, such as hydroelectric, thermal and nuclear power production, and renewable energy sources, which already has a large penetration joined by photovoltaic (PV) and wind energy [1]. Climatic constraints and large amounts of pollution require us to limit our development and utilization of traditional energy. Renewable energy and energy savings are receiving a greater attention as a sustainable and environmentally friendly alternative. Figure 1.1 shows the the levels of annual global renewable energy in gigawatts (GW), including solar PV, concentrating solar power (CSP), wind, bioenergy, geothermal, ocean, and hydropower [2]. It can be seen that globally installed renewable energy shows a rapid increase since 2007. To 2013, the share of renewables in net capacity additions has reached 60%, doubling the share in 2007.

Figure 1.1 Global renewable energy annual changes in gigawatts (2001–2013) [2].

(Source: Reproduced with permission of REN21)

Among global renewable energy sources, wind and solar energy are the leading potential sources of electricity for the 21st century for several reasons: they utilize an abundant energy source (the sun or wind) and have no emissions. Furthermore, solar power can be easily integrated into buildings, and so on. Figure 1.2 shows the growth rates of installed capacity of different renewable energies in 2012 and in five years from 2007 to 2012 [2]; Figure 1.3(a) and (b) show globally installed wind and PV power capacity to 2014 [3, 4]. The cumulative capacity of wind reached 369.6 GW in 2014, and that of PV in 2014 is 177 GW. It can be seen that they have had a fast growth rate since 2007. In addition, fuel cells (FCs) have achieved global attention as an alternative power source for hybrid electric vehicles (HEVs). Fuel cell vehicles (FCVs) have generated interests among industrialists, environmentalists, and consumers. An FCV ensures the air quality, with the wide driving range and convenience of a conventional internal combustion engine vehicle.

Figure 1.2 Growth rates of installed capacity of different renewable energies [2].

(Source: Reproduced with permission of REN21)

Figure 1.3 Globally installed (a) wind power capacity [3]

(Source: Delphi234, https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Global_Wind_Power_Cumulative_Capacity.svg.

Used under CC0 1.0 Universal Public Domain Dedication https://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/zero/1.0/deed.en) and (b) PV power capacity (to 2014) [4].

(Source: Reproduced with permission of IEA Photovoltaic Power System Programme)

Nevertheless, power generated by renewable energy sources is intermittent and heavily depends on the environmental conditions. For instance, the power incident on a solar panel, the panel temperature, and the solar panel voltage affect the utilization of solar power generation; similarly, wind speed, wind turbine angular speed, and pitch angle are critical to the amount of harvested wind power. They are unpredictable because of the weather and the seasons. The resultant impact of stochastic fluctuations will have a negative effect on the utility grid in grid-connected mode and on loads in standalone mode. Moreover, power consumption also presents its own characteristics of seasonal and human living habits. In spring and autumn, there are relatively more fine days with a lot of renewable energy compared with the other seasons. These seasons also have good weather; thus, electric loads such as air conditioners may be used less often. Consequently, increased generation from renewable energy power systems and reduced loads cause a voltage rise on the power distribution line. At weekends, during which the systems continue to produce the same amount of power and industrial loads are lower, the grid voltage and frequency could easily become high. Overvoltage may exceed the upper tolerance limit at the point of common coupling; usually grid overvoltage protection will regulate the output power of the renewable energy system if the AC voltage exceeds the control range. Fuel cells prefer to be operated at constant power to prolong their lifetime and it is also more efficient in this way. However, the traction power of a vehicle is ever-changing.

An energy storage unit installed in a renewable energy system may be used to compensate for the insufficient energy through charging and discharging the energy storage unit, so that renewable energy power systems can become more reliable by acquiring the possibility to cope with some important auxiliary services. Similarly, to balance the difference and also to handle regenerative energy, a battery is often used as an energy storage device in FCVs. Basically, the main source of the vehicle’s power is the FC; the secondary power source is the battery, which stores excess energy from the FC, and from regenerative braking [5].

Efficient energy transfer and high reliability of power electronics, involved in the interface between the energy sources and the grid or loads, are essential for converting the fluctuating powers into suitable voltage and frequency AC power [6]. According to the c...

Table of contents

• Cover
• Title Page
• Table of Contents
• Preface
• Acknowledgment
• Bios
• 1 Background and Current Status
• 2 Voltage-Fed Z-Source/Quasi-Z-Source Inverters
• 3 Current-Fed Z-Source Inverter
• 4 Modulation Methods and Comparison
• 5 Control of Shoot-Through Duty Cycle: An Overview
• 6 Z-Source Inverter: Topology Improvements Review
• 7 Typical Transformer-Based Z-Source/Quasi-Z-Source Inverters
• 8 Z-Source/Quasi-Z-Source AC-DC Rectifiers
• 9 Z-Source DC-DC Converters
• 10 Z-Source Matrix Converter
• 11 Energy Stored Z-Source/Quasi-Z-Source Inverters
• 12 Z-Source Multilevel Inverters
• 13 Design of Z-Source and Quasi-Z-Source Inverters
• 14 Applications in Photovoltaic Power Systems
• 15 Applications in Wind Power
• 16 Z-Source Inverter for Motor Drives Application: A Review
• 17 Impedance Source Multi-Leg Inverters
• 18 Model Predictive Control of Impedance Source Inverter
• 19 Grid Integration of Quasi-Z Source Based PV Multilevel Inverter
• 20 Future Trends
• Index
• End User License Agreement