A new technique for capacitor balancing of three-level flying-capacitor multilevel inverter

Topologically flying capacitor multilevel configuration is one of the basic versions and this has been widely researched. However, topological simplicity cannot be fully exploited due to the capacitor balancing issues. This paper proposes a simple open loop control strategy for balancing the voltages across the capacitors. Three-level flying-capacitor multilevel inverter is considered for the investigation. Level doubling network principle ensures capacitor balancing without any closed-loop algorithm or any extra hardware. The study is also extended to equalize device utilization and reduce floating-capacitor rating. The controller is extensively simulated using MATLAB/Simulink. Experimental results from a laboratory prototype confirm the usefulness of the proposed concept.

[1]  Dong-Seok Hyun,et al.  Carrier-rotation strategy for voltage balancing in flying capacitor multilevel inverter , 2004 .

[2]  Keith Corzine,et al.  A generalized capacitor voltage balancing scheme for flying capacitor multilevel converters , 2010, 2010 Twenty-Fifth Annual IEEE Applied Power Electronics Conference and Exposition (APEC).

[3]  A. Shukla,et al.  Improved Multilevel Hysteresis Current Regulation and Capacitor Voltage Balancing Schemes for Flying Capacitor Multilevel Inverter , 2008, IEEE Transactions on Power Electronics.

[4]  Yuyao He,et al.  Phase-Shifted Suboptimal Pulse-Width Modulation Strategy for Multilevel Inverter , 2006, 2006 1ST IEEE Conference on Industrial Electronics and Applications.

[5]  Mario A. Gonzalez,et al.  New voltage balancing strategy for flying capacitor multilevel converters , 2010, 12th IEEE International Power Electronics Congress.

[6]  Jalal Amini,et al.  An Effortless Space-Vector-Based Modulation for $N$ -level Flying Capacitor Multilevel Inverter With Capacitor Voltage Balancing Capability , 2014, IEEE Transactions on Power Electronics.

[7]  Dong-Seok Hyun,et al.  A symmetric carrier technique of CRPWM for voltage balance method of flying-capacitor multilevel inverter , 2005, IEEE Transactions on Industrial Electronics.

[8]  A. Shukla,et al.  Capacitor Voltage Balancing Schemes in Flying Capacitor Multilevel Inverters , 2007, 2007 IEEE Power Electronics Specialists Conference.

[9]  Francois Defay,et al.  Direct control strategy for a flying capacitor converter , 2009, 2009 13th European Conference on Power Electronics and Applications.

[10]  Chandan Chakraborty,et al.  A New Multilevel Inverter Topology With Self-Balancing Level Doubling Network , 2014, IEEE Transactions on Industrial Electronics.

[11]  Dong-Seok Hyun,et al.  A symmetric carrier technique of CRPWM for voltage balance method of flying capacitor multi-level inverter , 2003, IECON'03. 29th Annual Conference of the IEEE Industrial Electronics Society (IEEE Cat. No.03CH37468).

[12]  Gang Mu,et al.  A Novel PWM Method for Stacked Flying Capacitor Inverter , 2006, 2006 CES/IEEE 5th International Power Electronics and Motion Control Conference.

[13]  S. J. Watkins,et al.  Capacitor voltage balancing in multilevel flying capacitor inverters by rule-based switching pattern selection , 2007 .

[14]  Chandan Chakraborty,et al.  Multilevel inverters with level doubling network: A new topological variation , 2013, IECON 2013 - 39th Annual Conference of the IEEE Industrial Electronics Society.

[15]  Xiangning He,et al.  Novel carrier-based PWM method with voltage balance for flying capacitor multilevel inverters , 2004, 2004 IEEE 35th Annual Power Electronics Specialists Conference (IEEE Cat. No.04CH37551).

[16]  Thierry Meynard,et al.  Modeling of multilevel converters , 1997, IEEE Trans. Ind. Electron..

[17]  D.G. Holmes,et al.  Optimal Modulation of Flying Capacitor and Stacked Multicell Converters Using a State Machine Decoder , 2007, IEEE Transactions on Power Electronics.