Abstract-Modular power converters are expected to play a major role in medium-and high-voltage/power applications. Normally, each module processes the same amount of power; however, this does not take into consideration that different modules can have a different remaining useful lifetime. This paper proposes the concept of power routing for cascaded H-bridge (CHB) converters, with the purpose of delaying the failure of the system. A third-harmonic injection into the duty cycles allows extending the imbalance capability of the structure, keeping the CHB operational even if some power paths are completely unloaded. Analytic investigation in conjunction with simulation and experimental measurements demonstrate the power routing by means of the proposed method.
Among multilevel converter topologies, the cascaded H-bridge converter (CHB) is one suitable solution for multiple applications such as flexible ac transmission systems and motor drives. CHB presents a natural high modularity because it is formed by the serial connection of H-bridges. This paper deals with a CHB where the cells do not have the same aging because the maintenance during the years of operation forces to replace some damaged cells of the converter with new or repaired ones. A method based on clamping one power cell can be used to reduce the power losses of that cell reducing its temperature and increasing its lifetime. However, clamping one cell of the CHB introduces high harmonic distortion around twice the carrier frequency due to the CHB unbalanced operation when a conventional phase-shifted PWM is applied. A deep harmonic distortion analysis of the CHB output voltage with thermal control based on clamping one cell is presented. Using this analysis, the harmonic distortion at twice the carrier frequency is eliminated applying a non-conventional phase-shifted PWM where the angles between the carriers of consecutive power cells are modified. Experimental results show how the thermal control applying the clamping of a power cell is achieved whilst the harmonic distortion around twice the carrier frequency is eliminated.
In this paper, a fault diagnosis method based on fuzzy logic for the three-parallel power converter in a wind turbine system is presented. The method can not only detect both open and short faults but can also identify faulty switching devices without additional voltage sensors or an analysis modeling of the system. The location of a faulty switch can be indicated by six-patterns of a stator current vector and the fault switching device detection is achieved by analyzing the current vector. A fault tolerant algorithm is also presented to maintain proper performance under faulty conditions. The reliability of the proposed fault detection technique has been proven by simulations and experiments with a 10kW simulator.
Abstract-This paper analyzes the performances of different carrier phase-shifting pulse width modulation (PWM) techniques to be used with a multilevel cascaded H-bridge converter in case of unbalanced operational conditions. In fact, in many practical applications, the ideal condition of equal dc voltages and equal reference signals for each Hbridge cannot be achieved. In such conditions, the conventional carrier phase-shifting PWM technique loses its harmonic canceling capabilities and then the multilevel ac voltage harmonic quality is deeply affected. To overcome this limit of the original technique, different variations have been proposed. All of them still rely on the carrier phaseshifting concept and propose to use a different value of the shifting angle for each carrier (unlike the original technique) whenever unbalanced operational conditions occur. In this paper, the three main solutions proposed over the last years to extend the capabilities of the carrier phase-shifting PWM technique are compared. The analysis is focused on a three-cell cascaded H-bridge converter. Simulation and experimental results are presented.
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