A Two-Terminal Active Capacitor

On the Practical Design of a Two-Terminal Active Capacitor

“…Power electronics researchers have explored an alternative path to overcome the challenge by introducing capacitor banks with auxiliary active circuits [4][5][6][7][8][9][10][11], especially for capacitive DC-link applications. The benchmarking of different methods for a single-phase application is presented in [12] in terms of overall component cost in order to fulfill a specific lifetime target.…”

“…The benchmarking of different methods for a single-phase application is presented in [12] in terms of overall component cost in order to fulfill a specific lifetime target. The study identifies that the most cost-effective solutions are based on series-connected auxiliary circuits [8][9][10][11]. By applying the auxiliary circuit topology in [8], a voltage control method, and a self-power supply scheme, a two-terminal active capacitor concept has been recently proposed in [11].…”

“…The study identifies that the most cost-effective solutions are based on series-connected auxiliary circuits [8][9][10][11]. By applying the auxiliary circuit topology in [8], a voltage control method, and a self-power supply scheme, a two-terminal active capacitor concept has been recently proposed in [11]. Two-terminal active capacitors retain the same convenience of use as passive capacitors with two power terminals only, without any additional required connections of control signals and power supplies.…”

“…Therefore, the active capacitors could be rated by voltage, ripple current, equivalent capacitance, ESR, Equivalent Series Inductance (ESL) and operational temperature range. Power electronic converters implemented with the active capacitors could achieve either increased power density or reduced design cost for a given reliability specification, as discussed in [11].…”

“…Several practical design issues need to be addressed to carry on the two-terminal active capacitor concept proposed in [11]. Firstly, the design constraints, including the functionality, efficiency, cost and reliability aspect considerations, are still open questions.…”