Proposed Research Topic

Performance Investigation of a Three-Phase Three-

level NPC bidirectional Improved Power Quality
Converter under supply perturbations
by
Jamini Sharma, Research Scholar

under the supervision of

Dr. Akhilendra Yadav Dr Nitin Langer

Department of Electrical Engineering

Uttaranchal Technical University–190006, Dehradun
 AC/DC Power Converters:
Main Applications:
 Power supplies
 DC Motor Drives
 Front-end Converters for adjustable speed AC drives
 HVDC Transmission
 Switched-Mode Power Supplies (SMPS)
 Uninterruptible Power Supply (UPS)
 Non-conventional energy sources interface
with the utility and so on
Drawbacks with the conventional Rectifiers
 Poor input power factor
• Reactive power generation
• Increased Volt-Ampere rating of the system components
• Voltage drops at buses

 Generation of current harmonics

• Increased losses and deteriorated performance of equipments
• Unreliable operation of sensitive equipments
• Mal-operation of the protective devices
• Neutral burning
• Electromagnetic interference with communications circuits and
so on
 Lower Rectifier efficiency
 IEEE 519 Harmonic Standards
Table IEEE 519 Current Distortion Limits

<II II<h<17 17<h<23 23<h<35 35<h THD

SCR=I/I1

<20 4.0 2.0 1.5 0.6 0.3 5.0

20-50 7.0 3.5 2.5 1.0 0.5 8.0

50-100 10.0 4.5 4.0 1.5 0.7 12.0

100- 12.0 5.5 5.0 2.0 1.0 15.0

1000
>1000 15.0 7.0 6.0 2.5 1.4 20.0
 Methods of improving the input
power quality of converter system

 Use of Passive Filters

 Use of Active Power Filters

 Use of Hybrid Filters

 Main Drawbacks of Filters

 Bulkiness and high cost

 Fixed compensation with passive filters

 Resonance phenomenon with the line parameters

 Reduced efficiency of entire system

 Large size, cost and complexity with the active filters

Improved Power Quality Converters
 Reduced size and weight

 Higher efficiency

 Better power quality on line-side and load-side of

converter:

- Higher input power factor

- Reduced input current THD
- Regulated and Reduced-rippled output dc voltage
 Recommended Practice

Improved power quality converters with

unidirectional and bi-directional power flow are
recommended for new installations

Use of passive and active filters is recommended

in existing installations , especially high power
rating, for power quality improvement
 IPQC Topologies

Unidirectional and Bidirectional Converters:

Boost converters

Buck converters

Buck-Boost converters

Multilevel converters
Unidirectional Three-phase Buck
converter topology
Unidirectional Isolated Three-phase
Buck converter topology
Bi-directional Three-phase Buck
converter topology
Unidirectional Three-phase boost
converter topology
Parallel-stage Unidirectional Three-
phase boost converter topology
Bi-directional Three-phase boost
converter topology
Bi-directional Three-phase boost
converter topology four legged
Unidirectional Three-phase Cuk
buck-boost converter topology
Unidirectional Three-phase SEPIC
buck-boost converter topology
 Bi-directional Three-phase
buck-boost converter topology
 Multilevel Converters Topologies

 Diode-clamped MLCs

 Flying capacitor MLCs

 Cascaded MLCs
 Three-phase Diode-clamped
Three-level converter topology
Three-phase Flying-capacitor
Five-level converter topology
Three-phase Cascaded converter
topology
Three-phase Current Controlled
PWM Converter
Three-phase Voltage Controlled
PWM Converter
 Advantages with MLCs
 Higher conversion efficiency
 Lower voltage stress of devices
 No problems as faced in the series connections of
devices for high voltage applications
 Lower dv/dt stress
 Lower EMI emissions
 Better input and output power quality:
• Nearly unity input power factor

• Negligible input current THD

• Regulated and reduced-rippled dc output voltage

 Main Drawbacks

 Large device count

 Complexity in control

 DC bus capacitor voltages unbalancing

 Gaps in the present work
1. The three-phase IPQCs operating with PWM control
technique give higher switching losses and hence lower
operating efficiency.
2. The problem of series operation of power
semiconducting switches(for two level converters) for
high voltage operation needs to be addressed.
3. Current control techniques for the control of three-phase
multi-level converters for achieving high input power
factor, lower supply current harmonics and a highly
regulated dc output voltage need to be explored.
 Gaps in the present work
4. The problems posed by dc-bus capacitor voltage
unbalance and neutral point potential (NPP) variation has
been a great hurdle in the development of three-phase
multilevel converters for industrial applications. This
issue needs to be addressed.
5. Significant effort is needed in the area of modeling and
control design, particularly for operation under
unbalanced and distorted input voltage conditions.
6. Use of evolutionary techniques such as fuzzy logic,
genetic algorithms and neural networks has not been
fully explored in the operation of three-phase multi-level
converters for power quality improvement.
 Proposed Area of work
1. Exhaustive simulation and comparative analysis of the
existing three-phase, improved power quality AC-DC
converters including the multilevel converters will be done.
2. Three-phase neutral-point clamped converter model will be
developed and analyzed for achieving the higher input
power factor, lower source current distortion and highly-
regulated and reduced-rippled DC output voltage.
3. A mathematical model of the proposed converter will be
developed and analyzed for improved performance.
4. Based on the detailed mathematical modeling of the
converter, the proposed converter system will be simulated
exhaustively using MATLAB/Simulink software and its
performance will be studied through the simulated results.
 Proposed Area of work
5. Space Vector PWM (SVPWM) which is considered as the best
control algorithm for such converters will be used for the
control of three-phase NPC converter. The advantages of
using SVPWM will be explored through system performance.
6. The SVPWM algorithm will be modified for addressing the DC-
bus capacitor voltage unbalancing problem. The modified
algorithm will be tested on the proposed IPQC converter.
7. A prototype of the proposed converter will be developed. The
performance of the proposed converter will be investigated for
better input side and output side power quality viz. reduced
input current harmonics, near-unity supply side power factor,
output voltage regulation, less component stresses, reduced
switching frequency, reduced losses and higher efficiency.
 Proposed Area of work
8. ANN implementation of proposed algorithm will be carried
out and exhaustively tested on the prototype.
9. The control system design will be aided by the
evolutionary technique(Fuzzy Logic or Genetic Algorithm)
and the validity of designed control parameters will be
checked on the proposed converter model.
Proposed 2-level IPQC topology
Proposed 3-level IPQC topology
Proposed Modulation Technique for
the control of IPQC

Space Vector Pulse-Width Modulation

(SVPWM)
 Why SVPWM Modulation
Strategy?
 It is an advanced and probably the best modulation technique.
 For same switching frequency, a better performance of
converter is obtained.
 Results in reduced switching power losses and increased
efficiency.
 No synchronization of carrier to modulating signal is required
and reduces the burden of control and firing circuit.
 Maximum output voltage is increased by 15.5%.
 Large number of redundant switching states are available for
DC-bus capacitor voltage balancing
 Results in better power quality at the line-side and load-side of
converter.
 This technique can be employed on-line with the processor.
 Space vector map
Im

v 1 1
v 1 0 v 9

N P N O P N P PP N

v v3 v R4 v S1
1 2 2 8

N P O O P O P P O P O N
N O N O O N

R3
v
v13 v4
0
v R2 v
N N N R1 1 7

N P P O P P
N O O
O O O
P O O
O N N
P N N R e
P P P

v 1 4
v 5
v 6
v 1 8

N O P O O P P O P P N O
N N O O N O

v1 5 v 1 6 v 1 7

N N P O N P P N P
ANN-Implementation of SVPWM algorithm
(Feed-forward neural network)

Why ANN Implementation?

 Faster implementation of SVPWM algorithm
 No on-line complex computation of vector timings
 No look up table required
 No need for DSP
 Can be implemented using Application Specific IC chip
(ASIC)
 Miniaturization and cost-effective solution
 Brighter future especially for industrial applications
 Control Objectives
• Minimization of utility line current harmonics;
• Maintaining unity power factor operation;
• Regulating DC load voltage;
• Ensuring DC bus capacitor voltage
balancing;
• Ensuring uniform switching frequency for all
the switching devices.
 Some important References
B. T. Ooi, J. C. Salmon, J. W. Dixon, and A. B. Kulkarni, “ A three-phase
controlled-current PWM converter with leading power factor,” IEEE Trans.
Ind. Applicat., vol. IA-23, pp. 78-84, Jan./Feb. 1987.

L. Malesani, P. Tenti, “Three-phase AC/DC PWM converter with sinusoidal

ac currents and minimum filter requirements,” IEEE Trans. Ind. Appl., vol.
IA23, no. 1, pp. 71-77, Jan/Feb 1987.

S. Fukuda and H. Hasegawa, “Current source rectifier/inverter system with

sinusoidal currents,” in Conf. Rec. IEEE-IAS Annu. Meeting, 1988, pp. 909-
914.
J. W. Dixon and B. T. Ooi, “Indirect current control of a unity power factor
sinusoidal current boost type three-phase rectifier,” IEEE Trans. Power
Electron,.,vol. 35, pp. 508-515, Nov. 1988.

B. T. Ooi, J. C. Salmon, J. W. Dixon, and A. B. Kulkarni, “ A three-phase

controlled-current PWM converter with leading power factor,” IEEE Trans.
Ind. Applicat., vol. IA-23, pp. 78-84, Jan./Feb. 1987.
J. W. Dixon and B. T. Ooi, “Indirect current control of a unity power factor
sinusoidal current boost type three-phase rectifier,” IEEE Trans. Power
Electron,.,vol. 35, pp. 508-515, Nov. 1988. .

Wu, S. B. Dewan, and G. R. Slemon, “A PWM ac-to-dc converter with fixed

switching frequency,” IEEE Trans. Ind. Applicat., vol. 26, no.5, pp. 880-885,
Sept./Oct.1990.

Thomas G. Habelter, “A space vector-based rectifier regulator for ac/dc/ac

converters” IEEE Trans. Power Electron., vol. 8, no. 1, January 1993
A. Draou, Y. Ssto, and T. Kataoka, “A new state feedback based transient
control of PWM AC to DC voltage type converters,” IEEE Trans. Power
Electron., vol. 10, pp. 716-724, Nov. 1995

Jih-Sheng Lai, Fang Zhebg Peng, “Multilevel Converters- A New Breed of

Power Converters,” IEEE Trans. Industrial Electronics, vol. 12, No. 3, pp.
509-517, May/June 1996.

B. Mwinyiwiwa, Z. Wolanski, Y. Chen, and B. T. Ooi, “Multilevel converters

with input/output lineary,” IEEE Trans. Ind. Applicat., vol. 33, pp. 1214-
1219, Sept./Oct. 1997
• L. Zhiqiang, L. Hongli, H. Sun, and W. Hongwen, “A simple scheme
based on space-vector pulse-width modulation for three-phase
rectifier,” in Power Conversion Conference, 2002, PCC Osaka, 2002. Vol.
3, pp. 1262-1266.
• A. H. Bhat and P. Agarwal, “DSP- Based implementation of capacitor
voltage balancing strategy for a three-phase three-level bi-directional
rectifier,” IET Power Electronics, vol. 2, issue 4, pp. 375-386, 2009.
• A. H. Bhat and N Langer,” Supply Perturbation Compensated Control
Scheme for Three-Phase Neutral-Point Clamped Bi-directional Rectifier”
International Journal of Electrical Power and Energy Systems, IJEPES
(Elsevier) vol: 54, pp: 17-25, 2014.
• A. H. Bhat and N Langer, “Capacitor Voltage Balancing of a Three-
Phase Neutral-Point Clamped Bi-directional Rectifier Using Optimized
Switching Sequences” IET Power Electronics Vol-6, issue-6, pp: 1209-
1219, 2013.
• A. H. Bhat and N Langer, “Capacitor Voltage Balancing of a Three-
Phase Neutral-Point-Clamped Rectifier Using Modified Reference
Vector” IEEE Transaction on Power Electronics, Vol-29, issue-2, pp:
561-568, February 2014.
THANKYOU