A Comparison of Control and Modulation Schemes for Medium-Voltage Drives: Emerging Predictive Control Concepts Versus PWM-Based Schemes

Control and modulation schemes for ac electrical drives synthesize switched three-phase voltage waveforms that control the electrical machine. Particularly in medium-voltage applications, the aim is to minimize both the switching losses in the inverter and the harmonic distortions of the stator currents and the torque. For a given modulation scheme, lower switching losses usually imply higher distortion factors and vice versa. This tradeoff can be described by a hyperbolic function, as shown in this paper for pulsewidth modulation (PWM). A number of predictive control concepts are rapidly emerging. Their characteristic hyperbolic tradeoff functions are derived, compared with each other, and benchmarked with respect to PWM and offline optimized pulse patterns (OPPs). It is shown that predictive schemes with long prediction horizons shift the performance tradeoff curve toward the origin, thus lowering both the switching losses and the harmonic distortions. As a result, at steady-state operating conditions, these predictive schemes achieve a performance similar to OPPs, while providing a superior dynamic performance during transients.

[1]  Jorge Pontt,et al.  Predictive Control of a Three-Phase Neutral-Point-Clamped Inverter , 2007, IEEE Transactions on Industrial Electronics.

[2]  Manfred Morari,et al.  Model Predictive Direct Torque Control—Part II: Implementation and Experimental Evaluation , 2009, IEEE Transactions on Industrial Electronics.

[3]  R. Kennel,et al.  Model Predictive Control for Electrical Drives , 2005, 2005 IEEE 36th Power Electronics Specialists Conference.

[4]  R.-D. Klug,et al.  High power medium voltage drives , 2004, 2004 International Conference on Power System Technology, 2004. PowerCon 2004..

[5]  Thomas A. Lipo,et al.  Pulse Width Modulation for Power Converters: Principles and Practice , 2003 .

[6]  Tobias Geyer.  Model Predictive Direct Current Control for multi-level converters , 2010, 2010 IEEE Energy Conversion Congress and Exposition.

[7]  Giuseppe S. Buja.  Optimum Output Waveforms in PWM Inverters , 1980, IEEE Transactions on Industry Applications.

[8]  Joachim Holtz.  Pulsewidth modulation-a survey , 1992, IEEE Trans. Ind. Electron..

[9]  Ralph Kennel,et al.  Predictive control in power electronics and drives , 2008, 2008 IEEE International Symposium on Industrial Electronics.

[10]  J. Holtz,et al.  Drift and parameter compensated flux estimator for persistent zero stator frequency operation of sensorless controlled induction motors , 2002, Conference Record of the 2002 IEEE Industry Applications Conference. 37th IAS Annual Meeting (Cat. No.02CH37344).

[11]  Manfred Morari,et al.  Model Predictive Direct Torque Control—Part I: Concept, Algorithm, and Analysis , 2009, IEEE Transactions on Industrial Electronics.

[12]  David Q. Mayne,et al.  Constrained model predictive control: Stability and optimality , 2000, Autom..

[13]  Georgios Papafotiou,et al.  Model Predictive Direct Torque Control for MV drives with LC filters , 2009, 2009 13th European Conference on Power Electronics and Applications.

[14]  Manfred Morari,et al.  Sensorless explicit model predictive control of permanent magnet synchronous motors , 2009, 2009 IEEE International Electric Machines and Drives Conference.

[15]  Manfred Morari,et al.  Model Predictive Direct Torque Control of permanent magnet synchronous motors , 2010, 2010 IEEE Energy Conversion Congress and Exposition.

[16]  Toshihiko Noguchi,et al.  A New Quick-Response and High-Efficiency Control Strategy of an Induction Motor , 1986, IEEE Transactions on Industry Applications.

[17]  Tobias Geyer,et al.  Model predictive direct current control , 2010, 2010 IEEE International Conference on Industrial Technology.

[18]  Tobias Geyer,et al.  Computationally efficient Model Predictive Direct Torque Control , 2010, 2010 IEEE Energy Conversion Congress and Exposition.

[19]  Tobias Geyer,et al.  Generalized Model Predictive Direct Torque Control: Long prediction horizons and minimization of switching losses , 2009, Proceedings of the 48h IEEE Conference on Decision and Control (CDC) held jointly with 2009 28th Chinese Control Conference.

[20]  José R. Rodríguez,et al.  Predictive Torque Control of Induction Machines Based on State-Space Models , 2009, IEEE Transactions on Industrial Electronics.

[21]  D. G. Holmes,et al.  Optimized space vector switching sequences for multilevel inverters , 2003 .

[22]  Ralph Kennel,et al.  Generalized predictive control (GPC)-ready for use in drive applications? , 2001, 2001 IEEE 32nd Annual Power Electronics Specialists Conference (IEEE Cat. No.01CH37230).

[23]  Tobias Geyer,et al.  Low complexity model predictive control in power electronics and power systems , 2005 .

[24]  S. Joe Qin,et al.  A survey of industrial model predictive control technology , 2003 .

[25]  Holmes,et al.  Pulse width modulation for power converters , 2003 .

[26]  Tobias Geyer,et al.  Model Predictive Direct Torque Control of a variable speed drive with a five-level inverter , 2009, 2009 35th Annual Conference of IEEE Industrial Electronics.