Static compensators (STATCOM) based on high-power converters are widely used for utilitiesand industrial applications in order to enhance the power system reliability. Nowadays,the Chain-Link Modular Multilevel Converter is the best solution for such applications,providing high eciency and reliability, and good harmonic performance. However, thecurrent delta and wye congurations present diculties in controlling negative sequencein unbalanced networks, as well as high capacitance requirements, which results in bulkySTATCOMs.This thesis aims to analyse a new Chain-Link Modular Multilevel Converter for STATCOMapplications. The main feature of the proposed topology is the presence of a commondc-link that will allow the exchange of energy between phases, facilitating the compensationof negative sequence components. Consequently, the required zero sequence componentinjection for the current Chain-Link congurations are avoided, and thus, also theconsequent over-sizing of the converter. Moreover, it is expected to have lower capacitancerequirements, because of the elimination of the second order harmonic (100 Hz)component in most of the capacitors, as they are charged and discharged by a bi-phasecurrent instead of a single-phase one. Additionally, lower conduction losses are expectedby reducing the number of devices in the conduction path.The layout and operation of the new converter have been analysed in this thesis.A STATCOM Simulink model provided by ABB has been modied to satisfy the newtopology. The theoretical benets of the proposed converter are supported by dierentsimulations carried out in Matlab-Simulink. In particular, it is shown a 50 % of negativesequence capability without any zero sequence component injection. The total capacitanceof the converter can be reduced a 30 % in comparison with the delta Chain-LinkModular Multilevel Converter, which is the preferable topology in the market nowadays.Furthermore, the losses are kept quite low if SiC semiconductors are used.On the other hand, the proposed topology requires the usage of bi-directional switchesto do the commutation and allow the exchange of energy between phases. An in-depthanalysis of the commutation process is shown at the end of this thesis, concluding that BidirectionalControlled Thyristors would be a promising solution for this converter topology. / Reaktiv effektkompensering (STATCOM) baserade på högeffektomvandlare används vidaför samhällsservice och industriella användningar för att förbättra elsystemet pålitliga.Nuförtiden, Chain-Link Modular Multilevel Converter är den bästa lösningen för sådanaanvändningar, vilket ger hög verkningsgrad och mycket pålitliga, samt låg harmonisk distortion.Hursomhelst, den nuvarande delta och wye konfigurationer presentera svårigheteratt kontrollera negativ sekvens i obalanserade nätverk, vilket leder till överdimensioneringav omvandlaren. Vidare, dessa Chain-Link topologier har hög kapacitans kraven, vilketresulterar i skrymmande STATCOMs.Den här avhandlingen syftar till att analysera en ny Chain-Link Modular MultilevelConverter för STATCOM användningar. Det viktigaste kännetecken av den föreslagnatopologi är närvaron av en gemensam likspänningslänk som gör det möjligt utbytet avenergi mellan faserna, som underlättar ersättning av negativ sekvens komponenter. Pådetta sätt, den behövlig noll sekvens komponent injektion i de aktuella konfigurationernaundviks, och således, också den därav följande överdimensioneringen av omvandlaren.Dessutom, förväntas det att ha lägre kapacitans kraven, eftersom den första övertonens(100 Hz) komponent undviks i några av kondensatorerna, såsom de är laddas och urladdasav en bi-fas ström i stället för en enda-fas ett. Vidare, lägre ledningsförluster förväntasgenom att reducera antalet enheter i ledningsvågen.Layouten och drift av den nya omvandlaren beskrivs i denna avhandling. En Simulinkmodell från ABB har modifierats för att tillfredsställa den nya topologin. De teoretiskafördelarna med det föreslagna omvandlare topologi stöds av simuleringsresultat i Matlab-Simulink. I synnerhet, är det visas en 50 % av negativ sekvens kapacitet utan noll sekvenskomponent injektion. Den totala kapacitansen hos omvandlaren kan minskas på ett 30 %jämfört med den delta Chain-Link Modular Multilevel Converter, som är den föredragnatopologin på marknaden idag. Vidare är förlusterna hålls ganska låg om SiC halvledareanvänds.Å andra sidan, kräver den föreslagna topologi användningen av dubbelriktade omkopplareatt göra kommuteringen och möjliggöra utbytet av energi mellan faserna. Enfördjupad analys av kommuteringsförloppet visas i slutet av denna avhandling, slutsatsenatt Bi-directional Controlled Tyristors skulle vara en lovande lösning för topologin.

Η παρούσα διδακτορική διατριβή αναλύει και προτείνει κάποιες νέες λύσεις και μεθοδολογίες όσον αφορά στο πρόβλημα της βέλτιστης απομάστευσης ενέργειας από ένα αιολικό σύστημα. Στο πρώτο μέρος, προτείνεται μια νέα μεθοδολογία για τη βελτιστοποίηση της εκμετάλλευσης του ανέμου σε μια συγκεκριμένη περιοχή, καταλήγοντας στη βέλτιστη χωροταξική τοποθέτηση των ανεμογεννητριών σε ένα αιολικό πάρκο. Στο δεύτερο μέρος, ο σκοπός της βελτιστοποίησης είναι η μεγιστοποίηση της παραγόμενης ισχύος για κάθε τυχαία ταχύτητα ανέμου, μέσω της ανάπτυξης βέλτιστων τεχνικών ελέγχου. Και στις δύο περιπτώσεις, η ανάλυση γίνεται με τη χρήση μοντέλων τα οποία αναπτύχθηκαν στο περιβάλλον του προγράμματος Matlab και τον υπολογιστικών εργαλείων που παρέχει αυτό. Τα μοντέλα που δημιουργήθηκαν, μας οδήγησαν σε μια σειρά προσομοιώσεων οι οποίες επαλήθευσαν τη θεωρητική ανάλυση και επιβεβαίωσαν ότι οι πρωτότυπες λύσεις που προτείνονται δίνουν βελτιστοποιημένα αποτελέσματα σε σχέση με αντίστοιχες γνωστές αναλύσεις. Πιο συγκεκριμένα, το πρώτο μέρος αυτής της διατριβής επικεντρώνεται στη βέλτιστη επιλογή τόσο του αριθμού, όσο και της θέσης των ανεμογεννητριών σε μια συγκεκριμένη γεωγραφική περιοχή. Το κριτήριο που χρησιμοποιείται για την βελτιστοποίηση είναι η μέγιστη παραγωγή ενέργειας με το χαμηλότερο κόστος. Στην ανάλυση αυτή, εισάγεται μια νέα διαδικασία προσέγγισης αυτού του προβλήματος με τη χρήση της Μεθόδου Προσομοίωσης Μόντε Κάρλο. Στην παρούσα ανάλυση, όπως και σε παλιότερες αντίστοιχες, χρησιμοποιείται το ίδιο κριτήριο βελτιστοποίησης και γίνονται οι ίδιες παραδοχές, προκειμένου τα αποτελέσματα να είναι συγκρίσιμα. Τα αποτελέσματα που παρουσιάζονται είναι πολύ καλύτερα και όσον αφορά στην παραγόμενη ισχύ αλλά και το κριτήριο βελτιστοποίησης. Επιπρόσθετα, εξάγονται σημαντικά συμπεράσματα σχετικά με το μέγιστο αριθμό των ανεμογεννητριών και την χωροταξική τους τοποθέτηση, τα οποία επαληθεύουν ότι η προτεινόμενη μέθοδος είναι ένα λειτουργικό εργαλείο για την απόφαση τοποθέτησης ανεμογεννητριών σε ένα αιολικό πάρκο. Στο δεύτερο μέρος, που είναι και πιο εκτεταμένο, σκοπός είναι η σχεδίαση νέων ελεγκτών υψηλής απόδοσης, οι οποίοι επιτυγχάνουν τη μέγιστη παραγωγή ισχύος για συστήματα ανεμογεννητριών μεταβλητών στροφών. Πιο συγκεκριμένα, αναλύεται ένα σύστημα ανεμογεννήτριας το οποίο αποτελείται από επαγωγική γεννήτρια βραχυκυκλωμένου κλωβού που συνδέεται στο δίκτυο με πλήρως ελεγχόμενο ac/dc/ac μετατροπέα με IGBT στοιχεία. Αρχικά παρουσιάζεται μια ανάλυση των μεθόδων που χρησιμοποιούνται σήμερα για τη μεγιστοποίηση και τον έλεγχο της ισχύος. Με βάση αυτή την ανάλυση, προτείνοντες εναλλακτικές λύσεις που είναι λιγότερο πολύπλοκες, πιο ακριβείς και πιο εύκολα εφαρμόσιμες, ένα γεγονός που αποδεικνύεται μέσω της θεωρητικής ανάλυσης. Για το σκοπό αυτό αναπτύχθηκαν και προτάθηκαν κατάλληλα μη γραμμικά μοντέλα για το σύστημα της ανεμογεννήτριας, για την περίπτωση της λειτουργίας υπό μεταβλητή, προσαρμοζόμενη ταχύτητα. Η εκτενής μαθηματική ανάλυση απέδειξε ότι το αρχικό μη γραμμικό σύστημα τηρεί τη θεμελιώδη ιδιότητα των Euler-Lagrange συστημάτων, την παθητικότητα. Αυτό σημαίνει πως το σύστημα έχει απόσβεση τόσο στο ηλεκτρικό όσο και στο μηχανικό μέρος. Επίσης, γίνεται ανάλυση του εφαρμοζόμενου σχήματος του διανυσματικού ελέγχου. Η ανάλυση αυτή αποδεικνύει ότι με κατάλληλη μετατροπή και προσαρμογή των PI ελεγκτών που χρησιμοποιούνται στην πλευρά της γεννήτριας και σημαντικές απλοποιήσεις του σχήματος του παραδοσιακού διανυσματικού ελέγχου, προκύπτουν δύο διαφορετικά σχήματα ελέγχου τα οποία επιτυγχάνουν αυτόματα τον προσανατολισμό στο πεδίο που απαιτείται από το διανυσματικό έλεγχο, ενώ διατηρούν και αυξάνουν την απόσβεση του αρχικού συστήματος. Οι έλεγχοι αυτοί επιτυγχάνουν εξαιρετική ρύθμιση των στροφών λειτουργίας της γεννήτριας σύμφωνα με την ταχύτητα του ανέμου, έτσι ώστε να οδηγούν στη βέλτιστη λειτουργία, δηλαδή αυτή της μέγιστης δυνατής εξαγόμενης ισχύος. Το πρώτο σχήμα ελέγχου είναι απευθείας συγκρίσιμο με τις υπάρχουσες εφαρμογές του διανυσματικού ελέγχου, ενώ το δεύτερο εισάγει μια πρωτοποριακή τεχνική, η οποία βελτιώνει σημαντικά την απόκριση του συστήματος. Ανάλογες βελτιώσεις προτείνονται και για την πλευρά του μετατροπέα προς την πλευρά της σύνδεσης με το δίκτυο της ηλεκτρικής ενέργειας. Και για αυτή την περίπτωση αποδεικνύεται ότι ο προτεινόμενος σχεδιασμός μπορεί να δώσει απλοποιημένα σχήματα ελέγχου πολύ αποδοτικά όμως για τη διαμόρφωση της ποιότητας της παραγόμενης ισχύος Έτσι, επιτυγχάνεται πλήρης αντιστάθμιση της αέργου ισχύος με λειτουργία μοναδιαίου συντελεστή ισχύος της ανεμογεννήτριας. Επιπρόσθετα, επιτυγχάνεται η σαφής σταθεροποίηση της λειτουργίας της διασύνδεσης συνεχούς ρεύματος σε λειτουργία σταθερής dc τάσης. Οι αναλυτικές προσομοιώσεις οι οποίες διεξήχθησαν, βασίζονται σε ρεαλιστικά σενάρια λειτουργίας. Σύμφωνα με αυτά η απαίτηση για ρύθμιση της ταχύτητας στην βέλτιστη τιμή της συμβαίνει την ίδια χρονική στιγμή που εμφανίζεται αλλαγή της παρεχόμενης ισχύος και ροπής από τον άνεμο. Τα αποτελέσματα της προσομοίωσης επαληθεύουν τη θεωρητική ανάλυση και δείχνουν ότι και τα δύο προτεινόμενα σχήματα ελέγχου επιτυγχάνουν μεγιστοποίηση στην παραγωγή ισχύος με τρόπο αποδοτικό και με τους αναμενόμενους χρόνους απόκρισης. Συγκρίσεις με υπάρχουσες αντίστοιχες τεχνικές ελέγχου δείχνουν την υπεροχή των προτεινόμενων σχημάτων ελέγχου και την ικανοποιητική λειτουργία τους. / This dissertation analyses and suggests some efficient solutions for the optimization problem of the available power in a wind system. The thesis is divided into two parts. In the first part, a new methodology is proposed for optimizing the manipulation of wind in a certain area, based on the optimal placement of wind turbines in wind parks. In the second part, the purpose of the optimization is to maximize the power production from the wind, through the development of new control techniques. In both cases, the analysis is made by using detailed nonlinear models, which were developed in computational environment of the Matlab program and all the computational tools that were available. The models that were developed lead us to a series of simulations that confirm the theoretical analysis and suggest original solutions and optimized results in comparison to known ones. Particularly, the first part of this thesis is concentrated in the optimal selection of the number and the positioning of the wind turbines in a certain geographic region. The criterion used for the optimization is the maximum power production with the minimum cost. In this analysis a novel procedure is introduced, based on the Monte Carlo Simulation Method. As in previous studies, we used the same optimization criterion and the other conditions in order the results to be comparable. The presented results are far better as long it concern the maximum power production and the optimization factor. Furthermore, important conclusions are made for the maximum number of the wind turbines and their location that confirm the proposed method as an efficient tool for the geographic distribution of wind mills in a wind park. In the second part of this dissertation, the goal is to design high efficient and simple controllers that achieve maximum power production for wind turbine systems. Particularly, a variable speed wind generation system is considered consisting by a squirrel cage induction generator connected to the grid by a fully controlled ac/dc/ac IGBT converter. To this end, first it is presented an analysis of the control method, namely the vector control method, which is used today for maximization and control of the active power. Based on this analysis, alternative solutions are proposed, that are less complicated, more accurate and easier to be accomplished, a fact that is proved through a theoretical analysis. Suitable nonlinear models have been developed and proposed for a wind turbine system, for the case of operating under variable, adjustable speed. Comprehensive mathematical analysis proves that the original nonlinear system has the fundamental property of Euler-Lagrange systems, which is passivity. This means that the system is damped in both the electric and the mechanical part. Also, an analysis of the existing, vector control based schemes is conducted. Then, by modifying properly the PI controllers used at the generator side and simplifying decisively the vector control scheme, we propose two different control schemes that simultaneously are free from the field oriented requirement of the vector control while they maintain and increase the damping of the initial system. The first control scheme is directly comparable with the existing vector control applications, while the second introduces an innovated technique that improves substantially the system response. Detailed simulations that carried out are based on realistic operation scenario, which mean that require demand for the adjustment of the speed in its optimal value, at the same time that a change at the supplied by the wind power and torque occurs. The simulation results confirm the theoretical analysis and show, that both the proposed control schemes achieve optimal power production in an efficient manner and in the expected response time.

The popularity of distributed generating (DG) sources have been increasing over the past few years. With the increasing penetration of these DGs, the concept of micro grid is becoming popular. A micro grid is a small power system network with distributed generating sources which can operate seamlessly irrespective of the presence of the utility grid. Operating the micro grid in this manner increases system reliability and reduces power interruptions. However, it introduces several control challenges. This thesis aims at analysing the behaviour of a micro grid system during the transition between grid connected mode and islanded mode of operation and address the control challenges through novel schemes. With the presence of grid, the micro grid system variables, such as voltage and frequency, are strictly regulated by the grid. The local sources follow the voltage and frequency reference set by the grid and supply constant power. With the loss of grid, that is when the system is islanded, the network variables need to be regulated by the local sources. The control structures for the inverter-based sources during the two operating modes are detailed in the present work. With the loss of grid, the system should be able to transfer seamlessly to islanded mode without any transients. Similarly, when the grid supply is restored, the micro grid should seamlessly resynchronize to the grid without any transients. This thesis proposes two novel controller schemes for achieving seamless transfer between grid-connected and islanded mode in micro grids. The rst scheme uses an output feedback topology to reduce the transitions during mode transfer. The second scheme uses a Linear Quadratic Regulator (LQR) theory based compensator to achieve seamless transfer. The performance of the proposed schemes have been validated through simulations on a benchmark micro grid network for various operating conditions. An experimental micro grid set-up is developed with a single inverter based DG source. The droop control scheme for islanded mode of operation has been validated on hardware.

For low and medium power applications, conventional two-level inverters are widely used in industrial applications including electric vehicle drives, traction drives, distributed generation, power management and grid connected renewable energy systems. To filter out the harmonic currents from the load, passive line filters are used. These filters are designed to pass the fundamental phase current and suppress higher harmonic currents, making the filters bulky. To get a nearly sinusoidal current waveform, these two level inverters are switched at high frequency to shift the harmonic components in the phase current to high frequencies to reduce size and cost of the filter. But higher switching frequencies have some drawbacks like large dV /dt stresses on the motor terminals and switching devices, leading to electro-magnetic interference (EMI) problems and higher switching losses. For full DC bus utilization to enhance the power output from the two level inverter, the inverter has to operate in overmodulation region up to the six-step operation. Considerable fifth and seventh order (6n ± 1, n = odd) harmonics are produced when the inverter operates in overmodulation region. These include some low order harmonics like fifth and seventh, which are currently suppressed by using bulky passive line filters. Different high frequency modulation schemes are uniquely used in overmodulation region to suppress these harmonics. Another well accepted method of harmonic suppression is the selective harmonic elimination (SHE) techniques. SHE introduces notches at specific angles in a fundamental period of the inverter pole voltage to eliminate a particular harmonic component from the pole voltage. But, SHE involves extensive offline computation and requirement for higher memory for implementation of huge lookup tables. dodecagonal voltage space vectors have been reported in literature. Dodecagonal voltage space vector structures inherently eliminate fifth and seventh order (6n ± 1, n = odd) harmonics from the phase voltage. However, these require multiple isolated and unequal DC supplies (like VDC and 0.366VDC ). Generating DC voltage supplies at particular ratio to the main DC supply, requires additional circuitry. This increases the size of the converter and four quadrant back to back operation is not possible for the converter. To overcome the problems mentioned above, a novel switched capacitive filtering technique is proposed in this work for low and medium power drives applications. The filtering is done by an inverter fed by capacitor. A novel method to ensure zero power contribution by an inverter is shown, enabling the inverter to be fed by a capacitor. Thus, the capacitor fed inverter is shown to operate as a switched capacitive filter, which generates harmonic voltages that gets eliminated from the phase voltage of conventional two level inverters. With the proposed switched capacitive filtering technique, the following benefits are achieved. • Fifth and seventh order (6n ± 1, n = odd) harmonics are eliminated from the phase voltage, for the full modulation range of the two level inverters even while operating in overmodulation region and six-step mode. Thus, bulky passive line filters are avoided. • Since, the capacitive filter does not contribute any active power to the load, single DC supply operation is possible. Hence, four quadrant back to back operations is possible with the proposed filtering technique. • Dodecagonal voltage space vector structures are realized using single DC supply for the first time. • Modulation techniques for different power circuit topologies have been proposed which inherently controls the capacitor voltage at specific voltage levels for the full modulation range of the inverter including six-step operation. Hence, no additional pre-charging circuitry is required. • High frequency switching is shifted to the capacitive filter which is at a low voltage compared to the DC supply fed power contributing inverter. Thus, the main inverter need not be switched at high switching frequency for harmonic suppression. This reduces the switching loss as compared to conventional inverters, to achieve harmonic suppression of comparable order. • Reduced voltage stress on the switches of the switched capacitive filter. Hence, low voltage devices can be used to implement the switched capacitive filter, reducing the cost and size drastically as compared to conventional passive line filters. The proposed switched capacitive filtering scheme has been realized for open-end winding induction motor drive and three phase star connected three terminal induction motor drive where conventional two level inverter is used as the power contributing inverter. Additionally, extension of the capacitive filtering scheme to multilevel inverter fed drives is also shown, where the main power contributing inverter is a three level flying capacitor (FC) inverter. The power circuit implementations are briefly described as following. (i) In open-end winding three phase induction motors, the two terminals of each of the three phase windings are accessed. The main DC bus connected two level inverter feeds power from one end of the motor terminals. A capacitor fed two level inverter eliminates the fifth and seventh order harmonics from the other end for the full modulation range including overmodulation and six-step operation of DC bus fed inverter. The voltage space vectors from both the inverters connected at opposite ends of the motor forms dodecagonal voltage space vectors. An uniform pulse width modulation (PWM), for the full modulation range is proposed which switches from the dodecagonal voltage space vectors while inherently maintaining the capacitor voltage at 0.289VDC . (ii) In conventional star connection of three phase induction motors, all three terminals of the three phase windings are shorted from one end, leaving access to just three terminals. Such three terminal induction motor fed to conventional two level inverter is commonly used in many drives applications. Capacitor fed H-bridges are cascaded to such two-level inverters, to eliminate the fifth and seventh order harmonics from the phase voltage for the full modulation range including overmodulation and six-step operation of DC fed inverter. The voltage space vectors from capacitor fed H-bridges get added to the voltage space vectors from the two level inverter to form dodecagonal voltage space vectors. A PWM technique for the full modulation range is proposed to switch from the dodecagonal voltage space vector while inherently maintaining the three H-bridge connected capacitor voltages at 0.1445VDC . (iii) Advantages of dodecagonal space vector switching and multilevel inverters are achieved with a single DC supply. A DC supply fed three level flying capacitor (FC) inverter feeds active power to one end of the induction motor winding terminals and H-bridge connected capacitors eliminate fifth and seventh order harmonics from the other end of the motor winding terminals. The voltage space vectors from the three level FC inverter and the H-bridge inverter forms a three level dodecagonal voltage space vectors with symmetric triangular sectors. A PWM technique is developed to switch the three level dodecagonal space vectors and simultaneously control the H-bridge connected capacitors at 0.1445VDC . The fifth and seventh order harmonics are eliminated for the full modulation range of the three level FC inverter, including the extreme six-step operation. Additionally, the proposed inverter has also been shown to operate for rotor field oriented vector control of the open-end winding induction motor drive. For all the power circuit implementation of the switched capacitive filter, an increase of 7.8% in the linear modulation range (up to 48.8Hz) is achieved, implying better DC bus utilization as compared to conventional inverter topologies switching from hexagonal voltage space vectors. With advantages like fifth and seventh order (6n ± 1, n = odd) harmonic elimination throughout the modulation range, reduced dv/dt stress, lower switching frequency in high voltage devices, single DC supply requirement, dodecagonal voltage space vector switching, PWM technique with inherent capacitor balancing, increased linear modulation range and reduced voltage stress on high frequency switches, the proposed switched capacitive filtering scheme is well suited for low and medium power drives application with requirements for high dynamic performance and precise speed control.

Submitted by Emanuel Varela Cardoso (emanuel.varela@ufcg.edu.br) on 2018-05-08T00:11:48Z No. of bitstreams: 1 NAYARA BRANDÃO DE FREITAS – DISSERTAÇÃO (PPGEE) 2016.pdf: 3718233 bytes, checksum: f4f88b8a316139fc246558ded5f688d9 (MD5) / Made available in DSpace on 2018-05-08T00:11:48Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 NAYARA BRANDÃO DE FREITAS – DISSERTAÇÃO (PPGEE) 2016.pdf: 3718233 bytes, checksum: f4f88b8a316139fc246558ded5f688d9 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2016-06-23 / O tema desenvolvido consiste no estudo, caracterização e análise de conversores multiníveis CA/CC/CA monofásicos/monofásicos, monofásicos/bifásicos e monofásicos/trifásicos aplicados a sistemas de conversão e compensação de energia, empregando IGBTs (Transistor Bipolar de Porta isolada) como dispositivos semicondutores. No decorrer do trabalho, diversas topologias são analisadas e comparadas utilizados critérios como quantidade de barramentos CC, valores das tensões dos barramentos CC, WTHD (Distorção Harmônica Total Ponderada) das tensões chaveadas, frequências de chaveamentos dos IGBTs e perdas por condução e chaveamento. Os sistemas de controle das variáveis dos conversores estudados são apresentados e o controle individual dos barramentos CC é abordado com destaque. Implementações experimentais foram utilizadas para comprovar a teoria apresentada e mostrar a viabilidade dos sistemas. / This work consists in the study, characterization, anda analysis of AC/DC/AC multilevel converters are applied to conversion and compensation systems and employ and IGBTs (Insulated Gate Bipolar Transistor) as power semiconductor device. Many topologies are analyzed and compared considering the number of DC-links, DC-links voltages values, WTHDs (Weighted Total Harmonic Distortion) of the generated voltages, and semiconductors conduction and switching losses. The control systems of the studied converters are presented and the individual control of the DC-links voltages in highlighted. Experimental results are provided in order to prove the theoretical results and the viability of the systems.

The master’s thesis deals with design and realization of three-phase inverter for experimental high speed asynchronous motor with a mechanical power of 6 kW. The thesis deals with the design of the individual components of the DC link. The thesis describes the selection of suitable capacitors in the DC link. There is also a complete simulation of the inverter in the Matlab Simulink program. Part of the thesis is also the design and realization of printed circuit boards of this inverter.

Les structures de conversion multiniveaux permettent de convertir en moyenne tension et forte puissance. Celles-ci sont construites à partir de cellules de commutations et permettent d’augmenter le courant et la tension en entrée ou en sortie. Ces structures sont appelées multiniveaux car les formes d’ondes des tensions en sortie permettent d’avoir plus de deux niveaux de tension différents. Les différentes structures peuvent être classées dans différentes catégories tel que la mise en série de pont en H, les convertisseurs multicellulaires série ou parallèle ou encore les structures utilisant le fractionnement du bus continu. Toutes ces structures ont des propriétés et applications différentes, même si certaines structures ont des propriétés communes. Il est aussi possible de créer de nouvelles structures en mixant les différentes structures de bases des différentes familles de convertisseurs multiniveaux ou en assemblant les structures de base de la conversion statique. Même si l’utilisation de structure de conversion multiniveaux permet de convertir à forte puissance, celle-ci n’est pas toujours aisée. En effet l’augmentation du nombre de niveaux ou de la tension d’entrée implique également une augmentation du nombre de composants semiconducteurs. Ceci peut être un frein à l’utilisation de convertisseur multiniveaux. Pour cela une nouvelle structure utilisant des composants partagés entre les différentes phases est proposée afin de limiter leur nombre. Un autre problème important lié aux convertisseurs multiniveaux est l’équilibrage des tensions des condensateurs du bus continu si celui-ci est composé de plus de deux condensateurs mis en série. Pour cela plusieurs solutions sont possibles : soit en utilisant une commande spécifique utilisant la modulation vectorielle, soit en utilisant des structures auxiliaires qui ont pour but d’équilibrer les différentes tensions des condensateurs. Dans une dernière partie ont été proposées de nouvelles structures qui permettent à la fois d’augmenter le courant de sortie et la tension en entrée en utilisant les principes des structures de base des convertisseurs multicellulaires série et parallèle. De plus, ces structures ont des propriétés intéressantes sur les formes d’ondes de sortie. De ces structures a été conçu un prototype permettant de valider les résultats de simulation. Une commande numérique implantée sur FPGA a été réalisée et a permis d’avoir des résultats expérimentaux intéressants. / This PhD Thesis deals with the study of new multilevel structures. At the beginning of this work, a new methodology to create new multilevel structures has been conceived. To evaluate the performances of these structures, there are many possibilities: number of output voltage levels, number of components, and the quality of the converters’ output waveforms. The list of criteria is not exhaustive. One technique to obtain an output multilevel waveform is to split the DC link in several capacitors. There is a limitation since putting more than two capacitors in serial connection leads to an unbalancing of these voltage capacitors. Several solutions are possible to balance these voltages. The first one uses the control of the structure in a three phase application, using a space vector modulation and minimizing the energy stored in the DC link. The second solution consists in using auxiliary circuits, which realize an energy transfer between one capacitor to another through an inductor. The drawback of this method is the high number of components. This problem can be reduced sharing some components between the three phases of the converter. The third part of this study is related to multicell converters, structures with very interesting good properties. New converter structures mix serial and parallel multicell converters, to obtain a hybrid converter with similar performances to the two basic converters. An experimental prototype was built to validate the results of the PhD. The digital control of this hybrid structure was made with a FPGA where two DSP processors were implemented.

Multilevel inverter technology has emerged recently as a very important alternative in the area of high-power medium-voltage energy control. Voltage operation above semiconductor device limits, lower common mode voltages, near sinusoidal outputs together with small dv/dt’s, are some of the characteristics that have made this power converters popular for industry and modern research. However, the existing solutions suffer from some inherent drawbacks like common mode voltage problem, DC-link capacitor voltage fluctuation etc. Cascaded multi-level inverter with open-end winding induction motor structure promises significant improvements for high power medium-voltage applications. This dissertation investigates such cascaded multi-level inverters for open-end winding induction motor drive with reduced switch count. Similar to the conventional two-level inverters, other multi-level inverters with PWM control generate alternating common mode voltage (CMV). The alternating common mode voltage coupled through the parasitic capacitors in the machine and results in excessive bearing current and shaft voltage. The unwanted shaft voltage may cross the limit of insulation breakdown voltage and cause motor failure. This alternating common mode voltage adds to the total leakage current through ground conductor and acts as a source of conducted EMI which can interfere with other electronic equipments around. As the number of level increase in the inverter, different voltage levels are made available by using DC-link capacitor banks, instead of using different isolated power supplies. The intermediate-circuit capacitor voltages which are not directly supplied by the power sources are inherently unstable and require a suitable control method for converter operation, preferably without influence on the load power factor. Apart from normal operation, the sudden fault conditions may occur in the system and it is necessary to implement the control strategy considering this condition also. A five-level inverter topology with cascaded power circuit structure is proposed in this dissertation with the strategy to eliminate the common mode voltage and also to maintain the balance in the DC-link capacitor voltages. The proposed scheme is based on a dual five-level inverter for open-end winding induction motor. The principle achievement of this work is the reduction of power circuit complexity in the five-level inverter compared to a previously proposed five-level inverter structure for open-end winding IM drive with common mode voltage elimination. The reduction in the number of power switching devices is achieved by sharing the two two-level inverters for both the inverter structures. The resultant inverter structure can produce a nine-level voltage vector structure with the presence of alternating common mode voltage. The inverter structure is formed by cascading conventional two-level inverters together with NPC three-level inverters. Thus it offers modular and simpler power bus structure. As the power circuit is realised by cascading conventional two-level and NPC three-level inverters the number of power diodes requirements also reduced compared to the conventional NPC five-level inverters. The present proposed structure is implemented for the open-end winding induction motor and the power circuit offers more number of switching state redundancies compared to any conventional five-level inverter. The inverter structure required half the DC-link voltage compared to the DC-link voltage required for the conventional five-level inverter structure for induction motor drive and this reduces the voltage stress on the individual power devices. The common mode voltage is eliminated by selecting only the switching states which do not generate any common mode voltage in pole voltages hence there will be no common mode voltage at the motor phase also. The technique of using the switching state selection for the common mode voltage elimination, cancels out the requirement of the filter for the same purpose. As the inverter output is achieved without the presence of common mode voltage, the dual inverter can be fed from the common DC-link sources, without generating any zero sequence current. Hence the proposed dual five-level inverter structure requires only four isolated DC supplies. The multi-level inverters supplied by single power supply, have inherent unbalance in the DC-link capacitor voltages. This unbalance in the DC-link capacitor voltages causes lower order harmonics at the inverter output, resulting in torque pulsation and increased voltage stress on the power switching devices. A five-level inverter with reduced power circuit complexity is proposed to achieve the dual task of eliminating common mode voltage and DC-link capacitor voltage balancing. The method includes the analysis of current through the DC-link capacitors, depending on the switching state selections. The conditions to maintain all the four DC-link capacitor voltages are analysed. In an ideal condition when there is no fault in the power circuit the balance in the capacitor voltages can be maintained by selecting switching states in consecutive intervals, which have opposite effect on the capacitor voltages. This is called the open loop control of DC-link capacitor voltage balancing, since the capacitor voltages are not sensed during the selection of the switching states. The switching states with zero common mode voltages are selected for the purpose of keeping the capacitor voltages in balanced condition during no fault condition. The use of any extra hardware is avoided. The proposed open loop control of DC-link capacitor voltage balancing is capable of keeping the DC-link capacitor voltages equal in the entire modulation region irrespective of the load powerfactor. The problem with the proposed open loop control strategy is that, it can not take any corrective action if there is any initial unbalance in the capacitor voltages or if any unbalance occurs in the capacitor voltages during operation of the circuit,. To get the corrective action in the capacitor voltages due occurrence of any fault in the circuit, the strategy is further improved and a closed loop control strategy for the DC-link capacitor voltages is established. All the possible fault conditions in the four capacitors are identified and the available switching states are effectively used for the corrective action in each fault condition. The strategy is implemented such a way that the voltage balancing can be achieved without affecting the output fundamental voltage. The proposed five-level inverter structure presented in this thesis is based on a previous work, where a five-level inverter structure is proposed for the open-end winding induction motor. In that previous work 48 switches are used for the realization of the power circuit. It is observed that all the available switching states in this previous work are not used for any of the performance requirement of CMV elimination or DC-link voltage balancing. So, in this proposed work, the power circuit is optimized by reducing some of the switches, keeping the performance of the inverter same as the power circuit proposed in the previous work. The five-level inverter proposed in this thesis used 36 switches and the number of switching states is also reduced. But, the available switching states are sufficient for the CMV elimination and DC-link capacitor voltage balancing. The advantage of the modular circuit structure of this proposed five-level inverter is further investigated and the inverter structure is modified to a seven-level inverter structure for the open end winding induction motor. The proposed power circuit of the seven-level inverter uses only 48 switches, which is less compared to any seven-level inverter structure for the open end winding induction motor with common mode voltage elimination. The power circuit is reduced by sharing four two-level inverters to both the individual seven-level inverters in both the sides of the of the open end winding induction motor. The cascaded structure eliminates the necessity of the power diodes as required by the conventional NPC multilevel inverters. The proposed seven-level inverter is capable of producing a thirteen-level voltage vector hexagonal structure with the presence of common mode voltage. The common mode voltage elimination is achieved by selecting only the switching states with zero common mode voltage from both the inverters and the combined inverter structure produce a seven-level voltage vector structure with zero common mode voltage. The switching frequency is also reduced for the seven-level inverter compared to the proposed five-level inverter. The advantage of this kind of power circuit structure is that the number of power diode requirement is same in both five-level and seven-level inverters. Since there is no common mode voltage in the output voltages, the dual seven-level inverter structure can be implemented with the common DC-link voltage sources for both the sides. Six isolated power supplies are sufficient for both the seven-level inverters. The available switching states in this proposed seven-level inverter are further analysed to implement the open loop and closed loop capacitor voltage balancing and this allow the power circuit to run with only three isolated DC supplies. All the proposed work presented in this thesis are initially simulated in SIMULINK toolbox and then implemented in a form of laboratory prototype. A 2.5KW open end winding induction motor is used for the implementation of these proposed works. But all these work general in nature and can be implemented for high power drive applications with proper device ratings.

Die vorliegende Arbeit befasst sich mit einem detaillierten Vergleich von Mehrpunkt-Schaltungstopologien mit zentralem Gleichspannungszwischenkreis für den Einsatz in Mittelspannungsanwendungen. Im Rahmen dieser Untersuchungen wird die 3-Level Neutral Point Clamped Spannungswechselrichter Schaltungstopologie (3L-NPC VSC) sowohl mit Multilevel Flying Capacitor (FLC) als auch mit Multilevel Stacked Multicell (SMC) Schaltungstopologien verglichen, wobei unter Verwendung von aktuell verfügbaren IGBT-Modulen Stromrichterausgangsspannungen von 2.3 kV, 4.16 kV und 6.6 kV betrachtet werden. Neben der grundlegenden Funktionsweise wird die Auslegung der aktiven Leistungshalbleiter und der passiven Energiespeicher (Zwischenkreiskondensatoren, Flying Capacitors) für die untersuchten Stromrichtertopologien dargestellt. Unter Berücksichtigung verschiedener Modulationsverfahren und Schaltfrequenzen werden Kennwerte für den Oberschwingungsgehalt in der Ausgangsspannung und dem Ausgangsstrom vergleichend evaluiert. Die installierte Schalterleistungen, die Halbleiterausnutzungsfaktoren, die Stromrichterverlustleistungen sowie die Verlustleistungsverteilungen werden für die betrachteten Stromrichtertopologien detailliert gegenübergestellt und bewertet. / The thesis deals with a detailed comparison of voltage source converter topologies with a central dc-link energy storage device for medium voltage applications. The Three-Level Neutral Point Clamped Voltage Source Converter (3L-NPC VSC) is compared with multilevel Flying Capacitor (FLC) and Stacked Multicell (SMC) Voltage Source Converters (VSC) for output voltages of 2.3 kV, 4.16 kV and 6.6 kV by using state-of-the-art 6.5 kV, 3.3 kV, 4.5 kV and 1.7kV IGBTs. The fundamental functionality of the investigated converter topologies as well as the design of the power semiconductors and of the energy storage devices (Flying Capacitors and Dc-Link capacitors) is described. The installed switch power, converter losses, the semiconductor loss distribution, modulation strategies and the harmonic spectra are compared in detail.

The main focus of this thesis is on the power electronic converter system challenges associated with the grid integration of variable-renewable-energy (VRE) sources like wave, marine current, tidal, wind, solar etc. Wave energy conversion with grid integration is used as the key reference, considering its high energy potential to support the future clean energy requirements and due the availability of a test facility at Uppsala University. The emphasis is on the DC-link power conditioning and grid coupling of direct driven wave energy converters (DDWECs). The DDWEC reflects the random nature of its input energy to its output voltage wave shape. Thereby, it demands for intelligent power conversion techniques to facilitate the grid connection. One option is to improve and adapt an already existing, simple and reliable multilevel power converter technology, using smart control strategies. The proposed WECs to grid interconnection system consists of uncontrolled three-phase rectifiers, three-level boost converter(TLBC) or three-level buck-boost converter (TLBBC) and a three-level neutral point clamped (TLNPC) inverter. A new method for pulse delay control for the active balancing of DC-link capacitor voltages by using TLBC/TLBBC is presented. Duty-ratio and pulse delay control methods are combined for obtaining better voltage regulation at the DC-link and for achieving higher controllability range. The classic voltage balancing problem of the NPC inverter input, is solved efficiently using the above technique. A synchronous current compensator is used for the NPC inverter based grid coupling. Various results from both simulation and hardware testing show that the required power conditioning and power flow control can be obtained from the proposed multilevel multistage converter system. The entire control strategies are implemented in Xilinx Virtex 5 FPGA, inside National Instruments’ CompactRIO system using LabVIEW. A contour based dead-time harmonic analysis method for TLNPC and the possibilities of having various interconnection strategies of WEC-rectifier units to complement the power converter efforts for stabilizing the DC-link, are also presented. An advanced future AC2AC direct power converter system based on Modular multilevel converter (MMC) structure developed at Siemens AG is presented briefly to demonstrate the future trends in this area.