In the modern world of technology, the cascaded DC-DC converters with multiple output configurations are contributing a dominant part in the DC distribution systems and DC micro-grids. An individual DC-DC converter of any configuration exhibits complex non-linear dynamic behavior resulting in instability. This paper presents a cascaded system with one source boost converter and three load converters including buck, Cuk, and Single-Ended Primary Inductance Converter (SEPIC) that are analyzed for the complex non-linear bifurcation phenomena. An outer voltage feedback loop along with an inner current feedback loop control strategy is used for all the sub-converters in the cascaded system. To explain the complex non-linear dynamic behavior, a discrete mapping model is developed for the proposed cascaded system and the Jacobian matrix's eigenvalues are evaluated. For the simplification of the analysis, every load converter is regarded as a fixed power load (FPL) under reasonable assumptions such as fixed frequency and input voltage. The eigenvalues of period-1 and period-2 reveal that the source boost converter undergoes period-2 orbit and chaos whereas all the load converters operate in a stable period-1 orbit. The proposed configuration eliminates the period-2 and chaotic behavior from all the load converters and is also validated using simulation in MATLAB/Simulink and experimental results.

The technology of modern power systems is revolutionizing as renewable energy sources are being integrated with electric power grids. In the form of inverters, power electronic converters are becoming an integral part of power systems due to their massive demand for grid integration of photovoltaic (PV) systems. Existing multilevel inverter topologies either require an output filter to get a sinusoidal voltage or generate a higher number of output voltage levels at the expense of many hardware resources. This paper presents a new single-phase 81-level inverter configuration with the name given as ‘Modified W-Type Multilevel Inverter’. The proposed inverter configuration uses only eighteen power switches and four DC voltage sources to generate an 81-level output voltage approaching a sinusoidal waveform without an output filter. The general design equations are developed to calculate the number of switches, the number of voltage levels, and the number of DC sources for the proposed configuration. Loss and efficiency analysis is carried out that verifies a good practical efficiency of the proposed inverter configuration during the dynamic operation. A comparative analysis with the existing MLI topologies is also carried out that validates the effectiveness and novelty in reducing parts count and higher number of voltage levels. The proposed topology offers 1.04% total harmonic distortion of the output voltage which is within the benchmarks specified for grid integration without any filter requirements. The proposed inverter configuration is simulated in MATLAB/Simulink, and the results are validated by the design and development of a hardware prototype.

Index Terms -Time-domain measurements, Track and hold amplifier, virtual sampling Frequency, Non-Linear devices.

To address the challenge of the phase calibration of modulated RF and microwave signals or the response of a linear or nonlinear system under modulated excitation, a nextgeneration comb generator is characterized. The latter allows kHz-level modulation tones in addition to the GHz-level RF and microwave tones, while still exhibiting an acceptable power level for each tone. This comb generator includes a PRBS generator, two dividers and a logical "and" operation to trigger the internal pulse generating unit. The pulse generator is characterized using a calibrated sampling oscilloscope. Depending upon the mode of operation this generator could be operated using a plentitude of possible values for every setting (input frequency, divider value, PRBS length). Each setting results in a different amplitude and phase spectrum. In practice it is impossible to characterize this pulse generator and provide a spectral phase dataset for every possible setting of each mode. To address this problem it is investigated if it is feasible to mathematically obtain the complete amplitude and phase spectrum of each possible setting by just using the characterized information of a single pulse. The amplitude and phase characteristic obtained by the measured and predicted spectrum are analyzed and compared. In this paper this technique will be applied to a comb generator operating under divider or PRBS mode.

International audienceWe propose in this paper a 4-channel time-domain test bench for the characterization and linearity enhancement of microwave power amplifiers (PAs). The proposed time-domain measurement system utilizes four track and hold amplifiers (THAs) for direct subsampling of radiofrequency (RF) signals. The use of wideband THAs to replace samplers or mixers enables reducing analog IF circuit complexity. It permits direct digitization of RF signals like CW, two-tone and pulsed modulated signals, bringing more flexibility in the receiver's performance by enhancing the dynamic range and bandwidth. This test bench is capable of completely extracting the phase, amplitude, and transfer characteristics of non-linear devices excited with CW or modulated RF signals. In this work, two-tone transfer characteristics of a 50 W GaN HEMT Nitronex PA were extracted and processed for applying digital pre-distortion linearization to enhance linearity performance. Time-domain envelope and carrier waveforms (voltage and current) along with third-order inter-modulation distortion (IMD) products with and without digital pre-distortion scheme are also presented

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We measure the output of an electrical pulse generator with a repetition rate of 76 MHz employing a laser-based asynchronous sampling technique with an effective sampling frequency of 250 GHz. A best estimate of the resulting 13 ns long waveform is obtained from multiple waveform measurements, which are taken without any trigger event and subsequently aligned in time. This asynchronous sampling scheme can even be adopted in situations where small phase drifts between the electrical pulse generator and the laser occur, making synchronized sampling very difficult. In addition to accurate measurements, the proposed asynchronous measurement scheme allows for the construction of covariance matrices with full rank since a large number of time traces is acquired. Such matrices might reveal correlations which do not appear in low-rank matrices. We believe that the asynchronous sampling technique advocated in this paper will prove to be a valuable characterization tool covering an ultra-broadband frequency range from below 100 MHz to above 100 GHz.

Energy harvesting from renewable energy sources is trending in the world due to inventions in modern technology. This paper proposes a grid-tied single-phase modified W-type 81-level inverter. Inverter design equations to calculate various parameters, such as the number of voltage levels and the number of DC power sources, along with the feedback controller equations, are developed to integrate the proposed topology with an electric power grid. The modeling of the control system for the proposed topology is carried out in the synchronously rotating reference frame for single-phase systems. The PWM generation part of the proposed inverter system makes use of the binary search nearest level algorithm to efficiently track the grid voltage signal. The proposed system integrates the inverter with the grid without the need for an output filter. The efficiency analysis shows that the proposed system delivers active and reactive power to the grid with an efficiency of around 90% and a THD of 1.04%. The voltage and current waveforms for the dynamic active and reactive power flow reveal that the proposed system exhibits a good transient and steady-state response. The overall system is simulated in MATLAB/Simulink and the results are verified using a hardware implementation of the prototype circuit.