Hybrid Cascaded H-bridges Multilevel Motor Drive Control for Electric Vehicles

This paper presents a hybrid cascaded H-bridge multilevel motor drive control scheme for electric/hybrid electric vehicles where each phase of a three-phase cascaded multilevel converter can be implemented using only a single DC source and capacitors for the other DC sources. Traditionally, each phase of a three-phase cascaded multilevel converter requires n DC sources for 2n + 1 output voltage levels. In this paper, a scheme is proposed that allows the use of a single DC source as the first DC source with the remaining n − 1 DC sources being capacitors. It is shown that a simple 7-level equal step output voltage switching control can simultaneously maintain the balance of DC voltage levels of the capacitors, eliminate specified low order non-triplen harmonics, and produce a nearly sinusoidal three-phase output voltage. This scheme therefore provides the capability to produce higher voltages at higher speeds (where they are needed) with a low switching frequency method for motor drive application, which has inherent low switching losses and high conversion efficiency. This control scheme especially fits fuel cell electric vehicle motor drive applications and hybrid electric vehicle motor drive applications.

[1]  W. A. Hill,et al.  Performance of medium voltage multi-level inverters , 1999, Conference Record of the 1999 IEEE Industry Applications Conference. Thirty-Forth IAS Annual Meeting (Cat. No.99CH36370).

[2]  Richard G. Hoft,et al.  Generalized Techniques of Harmonic Elimination and Voltage Control in Thyristor Inverters: Part I--Harmonic Elimination , 1973 .

[3]  Fang Zheng Peng,et al.  Multilevel converters-a new breed of power converters , 1995, IAS '95. Conference Record of the 1995 IEEE Industry Applications Conference Thirtieth IAS Annual Meeting.

[4]  Z. Du,et al.  Harmonic elimination for multilevel converter with programmed PWM method , 2004, Conference Record of the 2004 IEEE Industry Applications Conference, 2004. 39th IAS Annual Meeting..

[5]  D. G. Holmes,et al.  The significance of zero space vector placement for carrier based PWM schemes , 1995, IAS '95. Conference Record of the 1995 IEEE Industry Applications Conference Thirtieth IAS Annual Meeting.

[6]  T.A. Lipo,et al.  Implementation and control of distributed PWM cascaded multilevel inverters with minimal harmonic distortion and common-mode voltage , 2005, IEEE Transactions on Power Electronics.

[7]  Zhong Du,et al.  Modulation extension control for multilevel converters using triplen harmonic injection with low switching frequency , 2005, Twentieth Annual IEEE Applied Power Electronics Conference and Exposition, 2005. APEC 2005..

[8]  Tian-Hua Liu,et al.  Optimum harmonic reduction with a wide range of modulation indexes for multilevel converters , 2002, IEEE Trans. Ind. Electron..

[9]  L.M. Tolbert,et al.  Novel multilevel inverter carrier-based PWM methods , 1998, Conference Record of 1998 IEEE Industry Applications Conference. Thirty-Third IAS Annual Meeting (Cat. No.98CH36242).

[10]  Keith Corzine,et al.  A cascaded multi-level H-bridge inverter utilizing capacitor voltages sources , 2003 .

[11]  Patrick Wheeler,et al.  A power-equalized harmonic-elimination scheme for utility-connected cascaded H-bridge multilevel converters , 2003, IECON'03. 29th Annual Conference of the IEEE Industrial Electronics Society (IEEE Cat. No.03CH37468).

[12]  J. K. Steinke,et al.  Control strategy for a three phase AC traction drive with three-level GTO PWM inverter , 1988, PESC '88 Record., 19th Annual IEEE Power Electronics Specialists Conference.

[13]  Leon M. Tolbert,et al.  Multilevel PWM methods at low modulation indices , 1999, APEC '99. Fourteenth Annual Applied Power Electronics Conference and Exposition. 1999 Conference Proceedings (Cat. No.99CH36285).

[14]  P. W. Hammond,et al.  A new approach to enhance power quality for medium voltage AC drives , 1997 .

[15]  T. Habetler,et al.  Novel Multilevel Inverter Carrier-Based PWM Method , 2000 .

[16]  R. Hoft,et al.  Generalized Techniques of Harmonic Elimination and Voltage Control in Thyristor Inverters: Part II --- Voltage Control Techniques , 1974 .

[17]  Fang Zheng Peng,et al.  Multilevel inverters: a survey of topologies, controls, and applications , 2002, IEEE Trans. Ind. Electron..

[18]  J. Chiasson,et al.  A cascade multilevel inverter using a single DC source , 2006, Twenty-First Annual IEEE Applied Power Electronics Conference and Exposition, 2006. APEC '06..

[19]  Toshiji Kato,et al.  Sequential homotopy-based computation of multiple solutions for selected harmonic elimination in PWM inverters , 1999 .

[20]  G. Sciutto,et al.  A new multilevel PWM method: a theoretical analysis , 1990, 21st Annual IEEE Conference on Power Electronics Specialists.

[21]  P.N. Enjeti,et al.  Programmed PWM techniques to eliminate harmonics - A critical evaluation , 1988, Conference Record of the 1988 IEEE Industry Applications Society Annual Meeting.

[22]  Zhong Du,et al.  Control of a multilevel converter using resultant theory , 2003, IEEE Trans. Control. Syst. Technol..

[23]  J. Chiasson,et al.  A new approach to solving the harmonic elimination equations for a multilevel converter , 2003, 38th IAS Annual Meeting on Conference Record of the Industry Applications Conference, 2003..

[24]  Leon M. Tolbert,et al.  Multilevel converters for large electric drives , 1999 .