Documenti di Didattica
Documenti di Professioni
Documenti di Cultura
i
a
v
a
v
dc
v
aO
v
dc
Fig. 1. Single-Phase multi-level inverters: (a) Standard 2-switch inverter-leg, (b) Standard 4-switch H-bridge, (c) 5-level stacked dual invert-
er, (d) 5-level 8-switch H-bridge, (e) Interleaved dual inverter: current ripple cancellation, (f) Interleaved dual inverter:5-level pwm output
i
a
v
a
v
dc
i
b
v
b
v
aB
(a)
i
a
v
a
v
dc
v
aO
i
a
v
a
v
dc
v
b
v
ab
i
b
v
dc
(b)
Fig. 2. Proposed multi-level single phase inverters using coupled in-
ductors: (a) 2-switch Inverter Leg: 3-Level, (b) H-Bridge: 5-level
(d) (e)
v
a
i
a
v
dc
i
a
i
b
i
a1 -switch
inverter
i
b
v
b
v
ab
2
v
dc
2
i
b1
i
a2 -switch
inverter
i
b2
B1 -switch
inverter
A2 -switch
inverter
B2
A1
(f)
A1 -switch
inverter
A2 -switch
inverter
B2
B1
(c)
(b) (a)
(a) (b)
(b)
Fig. 7. Experimental waveforms of the split-wound coupled inductor and
inverter leg: (a) expanded waveforms, (b) 60 Hz fundamental cycle.
(c)
C
u
r
r
e
n
t
-
a
m
p
s
v
o
l
t
s
:
2
0
0
V
/
d
i
v
v
aU
i
a
(a)
v
aL
v
aUL
i
cm
i
aL
i
aU
time - mS
time - mS
v
a
C
u
r
r
e
n
t
-
A
m
p
s
V
o
l
t
a
g
e
-
V
o
l
t
s i
aU
i
aL
i
a
S
aL
leakage inductance is low.The inductor voltage v
aUL
illus-
trates that the pwm cycle inductor voltage is symmetrical
with no dc component. This feature and exists over the
complete output voltage range, hence no dc currents or
core saturation are produced by the interleaved pwm con-
trol scheme.
There is always a concern that dc and circulating currents
are produced in parallel connected inverters. Ideally the
parallel circuit paths have identical voltage drops, and the
natural variations in the device operating conditions can
cause unbalanced currents. The device voltage drops in the
proposed topology produce a nett -ve voltage drop across
the inductor (= 1 switch and 1 diode voltage drop on aver-
age) that act against dc current drifts or circulating cur-
rents. Experimental testing illustrated that variations in the
switch turn off-times can produce a positive inductor volt-
age drop, and hence produce a dc current. However, prac-
tically this is easily overcome by introducing a small
difference between the switching of the upper and lower
switches to provide a small nett -ve inductor winding volt-
age drop, hence guarantee no dc current build up. It should
be noted that the inductor windings have a natural dc cur-
rent component determined by the ac output current, see
i
aU,
i
aL
in Fig. 7.
805
IV. RIPPLE CURRENT AND INDUCTOR SIZE
Analysis is presented using a per-unit system to allow in-
ductor sizes to be chosen based upon the current ripple:
, , , (1)
A test condition is used to compare the various inverter
topologies: V
s
= 120, f
s
= 60Hz, I
s,pk
= 10A, I
max
= 5%
pk-pk, V
dc
= 1.5 V
s
, switching frequency, f
c
= 10kHz
A. AC Supply Filter Inductors
The maximum high frequency pk-pk current ripple for
the ac inductor L
s
is I
max
and can be sized relative to the
60Hz pk-pk value of the ac supply current I
pp
using R
is
, R
f
,
R
v
.
, , , (2)
Hence for the test condition: R
is
= 20, R
v
= 1.06, R
f
= 166.7
Fore the standard 2-switch inverter-leg, I
max
occurs
when the inverter output terminal has a 50% duty ratio with
the voltage switching between +V
dc
and -V
dc
, Fig. 1(a).
The supply inductor L
s
sees a pwm voltage that is a sym-
metrical square-wave at the carrier frequency f
c
and mag-
nitude V
dc
:
, (3)
(1),(2),(3) can be used to link with I
max
. Similar anal-
ysis can be conducted for each of the topologies shown in
Figs. 1(a),(b) & 2(a),(b), with the results given in Table I.
TABLE I: DESIGN PARAMETERS FOR THE AC FILTER INDUCTOR L
S
Hence suitable inductors to meet the test conditions are:
(i) 2-switch inverter-leg:
With L
base
= 45mH, L
s
= 9mH. This inductor will have a
20% fundamental voltage drop at the rated current.
(ii) 4-switch standard H-bridge: =0.05 p.u.
With L
base
= 45mH, L
s
= 2.25mH. This inductor will
have a 5% fundamental voltage drop at the rated current.
(iii) 2-switch coupled inductor:
Identical to the 4-switch H bridge: L
s
= 2.25mH, with a
5% fundamental voltage drop at rated current.
(iv) 4-switch coupled inductor:
With L
base
= 45mH, L
s
= 0.57 mH. This inductor will
have a 1.3% fundamental voltage drop at rated current, and
is four times smaller than required for the standard 4-
switch.
B. Inverter-Leg Coupled Inductor
2-switch: The maximum pk-pk high frequency current rip-
ple occurs when the inductor L
t
sees a pwm symmetrical
square-wave voltage of magnitude 2V
dc
and frequency f
c
4-switch coupled: Similarly, the coupled inductor L
t
has a
maximum current ripple when it sees a pwm symmetrical
square-wave voltage of magnitude V
dc
and frequency f
c.
Design parameters for the inductors are given in Table II:
TABLE II: DESIGN PARAMETERS FOR THE COUPLED INDUCTOR L
t
A recommended minimum value for R
it
should be 4, to
avoid excessive discontinuous winding currents: 8 or high-
er significantly lowers the high frequency current ripple.
The H-bridge under the test conditions: R
it
=4, R
v
=1.06,
R
f
=166.7: p.u.= 1.8mH ( )
These tables allow the designer to pick a suitable induct-
ance, in terms of mH, given a desired current ripple. When
compared with the standard topologies, the coupled induc-
tors reduces the ac filter inductor by a factor of 4. The high
frequency ripple in the ac filter inductor is twice the carrier
frequency for the two switch: four times for the H-bridge,
but the inductor losses are drastically reduced as the current
ripple magnitude is much smaller.
In general, the standard 2-switch inverter has a very large
relative current ripple, but when using the coupled induc-
tors, produces a ripple current magnitude equal to the
standard H-bridge. The 4-switch H-bridge with a coupled
inductor produces a current ripple magnitude comparable
to using two 4-switch H-bridges and a standard ac filter in-
ductor. Inverters using the coupled inductors produce the
same performance as standard inverters using twice the
power electronics; and lower the size of the ac inductors
and their fundamental voltage drop. This increases the fun-
damental load voltage and lowers the load current. This has
the effect of lowering the losses in the semiconductors and
inductors.
2-switch
split rail
4-switch
H-bridge
2-switch
Coupled L
4-switch
Coupled L
I
max
L
s
L
s
pu
L
b
= P
base
V
s
I
base
= L
base
V
s
2
2f
s
P
base
-------------------------- =
R
is
I
pp
I
max
---------------- = R
f
f
c
f
s
---- = R
v
V
dc
2V
s
-------------- =
dc dc
max
s c c s
V V 1
I
L 2f 2f L
pp c s
is
dc
2I f L
R
V
L
s
pu
L
s
pu
2
---
R
is
R
v
R
f
---------------
8
---
R
is
R
v
R
f
---------------
8
---
R
is
R
v
R
f
---------------
32
------
R
is
R
v
R
f
---------------
50
R
v
R
f
L
s
pu
---------------
25
2
------
R
v
R
f
L
s
pu
---------------
25
2
------
R
v
R
f
L
s
pu
--------------- 3.1
R
v
R
f
L
s
pu
---------------
L
s
pu
1.57
20 1.06
166.7
---------------------- 0.1p.u. = =
L
s
pu
0.392
20 1.06
166.7
---------------------- =
L
s
pu
0.392
20 1.06
166.7
---------------------- 0.05p.u. = =
2-switch
split dc rail
4-switch
H-bridge
L
t,pu
I
t,max
(%)
L
s
pu
0.1
20 1.06
166.7
---------------------- 0.0127p.u. = =
R
i t
R
v
R
f
--------------
2
---
R
it
R
v
R
f
--------------
100
R
v
R
f
L
t
pu
--------------- 50
R
v
R
f
L
t
pu
---------------
t ,pu
L 0.04 R
i t
I
pp
I
t max
-------------------- =
806
TABLE III: INDUCTOR DESIGNS USING LOW PERMEABILITY CORES
L
s1
= Standard H-bridge ac inductor
L
s2
=ac inductor for the proposed H-bridge
L
s3
= expt. ac inductor used for the proposed H-bridge
L
ta,b
= H-bridge coupled inductors (1: I
t,max
= 1.5A, 2:I
t,max,
4A,
2:I
t,max
= 6A).
L
t1a,b
L
t2a,b
L
t3a,b
L
s1
L
s2
Magnetic Core
E306-26 E225-26 EE168A EE450 2*E225
L
min
(mH) 3.25 1.28 0.83 2.48 0.66
L
mean
(mH) 4.85 1.84 1.23 3.78 0.96
N
turns
150 86 84 97 44
Wire AWG 16 16 16 16 16
I
max
(A) 1.5 A 4A 6A 1A 0.95A
Irms (A) 6.12 6.12 6.12 6.12 7.07
Imag,pk 5.00 5.0 5.0 10 10
A
Fe
(cm
2
) 5.6 3.6 2.4 12.2 7.2
MPL (cm) 18.5 11.5 10.4 22.9 11.5
R
w
(ohms) 0.306 0.129 0.104 0.291 0.088
Mu0 75 75 75 75 75
Saturation (%) 49.6 46.7 49.5 51 47.6
E
peak
(mJ) 40.7 16 10.3 124 33.0
B
ac
(Tesla) 0.03 0.081 0.123 0.011 0.01
B
max
(Tesla) 0.315 0.35 0.408 0.306 0.283
Wt
Fe
(g) 728.0 285.6 172.2 1960 571.2
Wt
Cu
(g) 275.3 116.1 93.0 261.9 79.1
Wt
Total
(g) 1003 402 265 2222 650
P
Fe
(W) 2.15 6.89 9.73 0.57 0.27
P
Cu
(W) 11.4 4.81 3.85 14.57 4.40
P
tot
(W) 13.5 11.79 13.58 15.15 4.67
V. INDUCTOR DESIGN STUDY
Inductor design parameters are compared here for a sin-
gle phase 4-switch H-bridge inverter using the following
design criteria: V
s
= 120V, f
s
= 60Hz, I
s
= 7A, with f
c
=
20kHz. and V
dc
= 200. Designs are considered for several
maximum current ripple magnitudes: I
t,max
=1.5, 4, 6 A.
The coupled inductor required for each winding current
ripple can be compared with each other and the ac supply
filter inductor, L
s
. Several design guidelines were used:
(1) Low permeability cores with a distributed airgap were
considered for all the ac inductors due to their slow satura-
tion characteristics. The maximum permissible core satura-
tion was set at 50%.
(2) High permeability ferrite cores with an airgap were not
considered as all inductors can be exposed to surge currents
and have significant dc flux and energy storage.
(3) The wire size was chosen to suit the rms current with no
attempt to minimize the Cu losses.
(4) The maximum ac flux (B
ac
) and manufacturer data was
used to estimate the core losses.
Note that the design for the ac filter inductors (L
s1
and
L
s2
) were chosen to give the same current ripple in both
bridge types; standard H-bridge and the proposed H-
bridge. For the experimental waveforms, a 1 mH inductor
was used for both cases (L
s3
in Fig. 8.), to compare the ef-
fect on the ac current ripple of using the proposed H-bridge
rather than the standard H-bridge. A typical design table for
the various inductors is given in Table III and all the induc-
tors used in experimental testing shown in Fig. 8.
For winding ripple current cases 4A and 1.5A, the total
weight of the inductors used was less than the weight of the
ac filter inductor required for the standard H-bridge:
Standard H bridge: Wt
Total
= 2222 g
Proposed H-bridge (I
tmax
=6A): Wt
Total
= 650+2*265=1170g
Proposed H-bridge (I
tmax
=4A): Wt
Total
= 650+2*402=1604g
Proposed H-bridge (I
tmax
=1.5A): Wt
Total
= 650+2*1002=2652g
If the winding ripple current is made too small, e.g. I
t-
max
=1.5A, the total inductor weight required can be in-
creased above that required for the standard inverters; if too
large, I
tmax
=6A, excessive losses can make the inductor
too hot. These results illustrate that the proposed topology
can half the number of switches and also be used to lower
the combined inductor weight. This weight reduction is
limited by the winding dc magnetizing current component,
and the inductor core losses. Magnetic cores with lower
core loses should be considered than used here The main
benefit of the proposed approach is to allow multi-level
pwm switching using half the power electronics and when
using an inductive load such as a motor.
Fig. 8. Experimental inductors
807
C
u
r
r
e
n
t
-
A
m
p
s
C
u
r
r
e
n
t
-
A
m
p
s
V
o
l
t
a
g
e
-
V
o
l
t
s
V
o
l
t
a
g
e
-
V
o
l
t
s
Fig. 9. Differences between 3-level and 5-level pwm voltages: (a) Standard H-bridge, (b) H-bridge using the proposed coupled inductors
(a) (b)
time - mS time - mS
C
u
r
r
e
n
t
-
A
m
p
s
C
u
r
r
e
n
t
-
A
m
p
s
Fig. 10. Winding current comparisons between using different coupled inductor sizes: (a) L
ta,b
= L
t2a,b
, (b) L
ta,b
= L
t1a,b
(a) (b)
time - mS time - mS
C
u
r
r
e
n
t
-
A
m
p
s
C
u
r
r
e
n
t
-
A
m
p
s
V
o
l
t
a
g
e
-
V
o
l
t
s
Fig. 11. Inverter-leg waveforms illustrating 3-level pwm output voltages
and a raised cosine winding current waveshape: L
ta,b
= L
t1a,b
time - mS
time - mS
The same standard laminated iron ac filter inductor was
used in all cases (L
s3
= 1mH, Fig. 8) to allow comparison
of the ac load current ripple magnitude. The interleaved
pwm signals were generated using a TI TMS320F2812
dsp.
The proposed 4-switch H-bridge produces 5-level pwm
load voltage waveforms and a load current ripple 25% low-
er than the standard 4-switch H-bridge, Fig. 9.
The magnitude of the couple inductor winding current
ripple does not affect the load current ripple or the quality
of the pwm output voltage waveforms, Figs. 9,10. The cou-
pled inductor winding currents have a magnetizing current,
i
cm
, with a dc component equal to half the peak ac output
current (Figs. 10,12) and a high frequency current ripple
determined by the inductor size. The 3-level inverter-leg
output voltage waveform is shown in Fig. 11 with the mid-
dle voltage level sitting at one half the dc rail voltage. The
coupled inductor magnetizing current and its ripple is
shown in Fig. 12 relative to the ac load current. Since this
dc component is about one half the peak current, its physi-
cal size is reduced.
Fig. 12. Coupled winding dc magnetizing current, i
cm
, compared with the
ac load current i
a
: L
ta,b
= L
t1a,b
i
a
v
ab
v
ab
i
a
i
aU
i
aL
i
cm
i
aU
i
aL
i
cm
i
aU i
aL
i
a
v
a i
a
i
cm
808
VII. CONCLUSIONS
The use of a coupled split-wound inductor is described
to allow interleaved pwm switching of the upper and lower
switches in an inverter leg. This increases the number of
pwm output voltage levels and doubles the pwm frequen-
cy. The main benefits of this topology are:
(1) Multi-level pwm (3-level increased to 5-level) using
half the power electronics of alternative schemes
(2) Lowering of the load high frequency current ripple in
the ac output current, which can lower the losses in the ac
filter inductor or an ac motor; the latter has potential ben-
efits in terms of increasing the motor power ratings and ef-
ficiency of the machine. These features have great
potential in high speed machine drives. The multi-level
output voltage waveforms also places less stress on the
motor windings and help to alleviate motor winding dv/dt
stresses.
(3) The ac filter inductor can be reduced in size. The fun-
damental voltage drop across the inductor is also reduced
as a result and more fundamental voltage reaches the load.
.(4) The switch control deadtimes can be eliminated,
helping to improve the quality of the pwm voltage gener-
ation and increasing the maximum potential output volt-
age.
(5) The coupled inductor provides excellent protection
against dc-rail shoot-through conditions.
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
The authors wish to acknowledge the financial support
provided by the National Science and Engineering Re-
search Council of Canada and the University of Alberta.
REFERENCES
[1] K. Matsui, Y. Kawata, F. Ueda: Application of parallel connected
NPC-PWM inverters with multilevel modulation for AC motor
drive, IEEE Trans. Power Electron., 2000, 15, pp. 901907
[2] S.J. Chiang, C.Y. Yen, K.T. Chang: A multimodule paralleable se-
ries-connected PWM voltage regulator, IEEE Trans. Ind. Elec-
tron., 2001, 48, pp. 506516
[3] K. Matsui, Y. Murai, M. Watenabe, M. Kaneko, F. Ueda: A
pulsewidth-modulation inverter with parallel connected transistors
using current-sharing reactors, IEEE Trans. Power Electron.,
1993, 8, pp. 186191.
[4] F. Ueda, K. Matsui, M. Asao, K. Tsuboi, K.: Parallel-connections
of pulsewidth modulated inverters using current sharing reactors,
IEEE Trans. on Power Electron., 1995, 6, pp. 673697.
[5] Liu Xiaosi, Xionghi, Research on generating and restraining of
circulating current between parallel inverters, IEEE, Trans on
Power Electronics, no. 33 no. 3, 1999, pp. 16-18
[6] T.P. Chen, Circulating zero-sequence current control of parallel
three-phase inverters, IEE Proc.-Electr. Power Appl., Vol. 153,
No. 2, March 2006, pp. 282-288.
[7] Z. Ye, D. Boroyevich, J. Choi, F.C. Lee,: Control of circulating
current in two parallel three-phase boost rectifier, IEEE Trans.
Power Electron., 2002, 17, pp. 609615
[8] J. Thunes, R. Kerkman, D. Schlegel, T. Rowan, IEEE, Current
Regulator Instabilities on Parallel Voltage-Source Inverters, IEEE
Trans. On Ind. Appl., vol. 35, no. 1, 1999, pp. 70-77.
[9] G. M. K. Gopakumar, P. N. Tekwani, E. Levi, A Reduced-Switch-
Count Five-Level Inverter With Common-Mode Voltage Elimina-
tion for an Open-End Winding Induction Motor Drive, IEEE
Trans. On Ind. Elect.s, vol. 54, no. 4, 2007, pp 2344-2351.
[10] F. Forest, T.A. Meynard, E. Labour, V. Costan, E. Sarraute, A.
Cunire, and T. Martir, Optimization of the Supply Voltage Sys-
tem in Interleaved Converters Using Intercell Transformers, IEEE
Trans. on Power Elect., vol. 22, No. 3, May 2007, pp. 934-942.
[11] X. Kong, and A. M. Khambadkone, Analysis and Implementation
of a High Efficiency, Interleaved Current-Fed Full Bridge Convert-
er for Fuel Cell System, IEEE Trans. on Power Elect., vol. 22, No.
2, Mch 2007, pp. 543-550.
[12] P.W. Lee, Y.S. Lee, D.K.W. Cheng, and X.C. Liu, Steady-State
Analysis of an Interleaved Boost Converter with Coupled Induc-
tors, IEEE Trans. on Ind. Elect., vol. 47, no. 4, Aug. 2000, pp. 787-
795.
[13] H.B. Shin, J.G. Park, S.K. Chung, H.W. Lee and T.A. Lipo, Gen-
eralised steady-state analysis of multiphase interleaved boost con-
verter with coupled inductors, IEE Proc. Elect. Power Appl., vol.
152, Issue 3, 2005, pp. 584 - 594.
[14] O. Garcia, P. Zumel, A. de Castro and A. Cobos, Automotive DC
DC Bidirectional Converter Made With Many Interleaved Buck
Stages, IEEE Trans. on Power Elect., vol. 21, no. 3, May. 2006,
pp. 578-586.
[15] K. Yao, Y. Qiu, M. Xu, and F.C. Lee, A Novel Winding-Coupled
Buck Converter for High-Frequency, High-Step-Down DCDC
Conversion, IEEE Trans. on Power Elect., vol. 20, no. 5, May.
2006, pp. 1017-1024.
[16] T.F. Wu; J.C. Hung; S.Y. Tseng and Y.M. Chen, A single-stage
fast regulator with PFC based on an asymmetrical half-bridge to-
pology, IEEE Trans. on Ind. Elect., vol. 52, Issue 1, 2005, pp. 139-
150.
[17] M. Xu, J. Zhou, K. Yao, and F.C. Lee, Small Signal Modeling of
a High Bandwidth Voltage Regulator Using Coupled Inductors,
IEEE Trans. on Power Elect., Vol. 22, no. 2, Mch 2007, pp. 399-
406.
[18] K. Xing, F.C. Lee, B. Borojevic, Z. Ye.: Interleaved PWM with
discontinuous space-vector modulation, IEEE Trans. Power Elec-
tron., 1999, 14, pp. 906917
[19] Y. Murai, T. Watanabe, and H. Iwasaki, Waveform distortion and
correction circuit for PWM Inverters with switching lag-times,
IEEE Trans. Ind. Appl., vol. 23, 1987, pp. 881886.
[20] S.G. Jeong, B.S. Lee K.S. Kim, M.H. Park: The analysis and com-
pensation of dead time effects in PWM Inv IEEE Trans. Ind. Elect.,
1991, 38 (2): pp. 108-114.
[21] J.W. Choi and S.K. Sul, Inverter output voltage synthesis using
novel dead time compensation, IEEE Trans. Power Elect., vol. 11,
no. 2, 1996, pp. 221227.
[22] H.S. Kim, H.T. Moon, and M.J. Young, On-line dead time com-
pensation method using disturbance observer, IEEE Trans. Power.
Electron., vol. 18, no. 6, Nov. 2003, pp. 13361345.