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Progress in Design and Control of Power Converters

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A special issue of Energies (ISSN 1996-1073). This special issue belongs to the section "F3: Power Electronics".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (10 August 2023) | Viewed by 9976

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Special Issue Editor

Prof. Dr. Manuel Arias Pérez de Azpeitia

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Guest Editor

Electrical Engineering Department, Power Supply Systems Group, University of Oviedo, 33204 Gijon, Spain
Interests: AC–DC and DC–DC power converters; battery equalizers; UPS; LED lighting; DC micro-grids and solid state transformers
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Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

Power electronics is one of the most prolific research fields in electronics. One of the main reasons is its relevance in present-day society, increasingly concerned with energy saving and greener energy production. This constitutes a powerful catalyst for research, boosting the amount of ideas, solutions, and studies, as well as the number of topics that emerge under the umbrella of power electronics. This is evident in well-established research topics, such as renewable energies, battery management, and electric traction, coexisting—or even merging—with more recent topics, such as LED lighting or micro- and nanogrids. Moreover, these topics can be considered established when compared wide-bandgap devices and electric vehicles, for example, where research is still incipient.

In all of the aforementioned topics, among others, the “design and control of power converters” plays a key role. This Special Issue is inviting papers that focus on well-established topics as well as more recent ones. This mixture will foster new ideas for readers and will help researchers detect solutions that can be migrated from one topic to another, making this Special Issue a relevant milestone for any power electronics engineer.

Prof. Dr. Manuel Arias Pérez de Azpeitia
Guest Editor

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Keywords

new control techniques in power electronics
converters based on wide-band-gap devices
high-power converters
low-power converters
reliability-oriented design and control
lighting
motor drives
renewable energies
power quality and utility applications
solid state transformers
micro-and nanogrids
electric vehicles
battery management systems and battery equalizers

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Published Papers (5 papers)

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14 pages, 894 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Polymorphic Virtual Synchronous Generator: An Advanced Controller for Smart Inverters

by Audrey Moulichon, Mazen Alamir, Vincent Debusschere, Lauric Garbuio and Nouredine Hadjsaid

Energies 2023, 16(20), 7075; https://doi.org/10.3390/en16207075 - 13 Oct 2023

Cited by 1 | Viewed by 1134

Abstract

Virtual synchronous generators (VSGs) are one of the most relevant solutions to integrate renewable energy in weak grids and microgrids. They indeed provide inverters characteristics of rotating machines (inertia for instance) that are useful for stabilizing the system, notably in the context of the high variability of the production. Thanks to the virtual characteristics of the VSG, the virtual parameters of the emulated synchronous machine can be optimally adapted online as a function of the electric environment of the inverter. We call that inverter’s control a polymorphic VSG. The online adaptation of the critical control parameters of the VSG helps reduce the risk of deterioration of the inverter’s constituents that might be induced by harsh events (frequent in weak grids) but, more importantly, improves the robustness of the system. In this paper, four implementations of a polymorphic VSG controller are compared on a simple microgrid study case to a complete VSG model. For the test, polymorphic VSGs have to minimize frequency and voltage oscillations while withstanding short circuits, which is typically a requirement for units in this context. One of the controls is based on recurrent optimization over a prediction time horizon, and two sub-optimal ones target practical implementation in industrial inverters with limited computational power. Results show a clear reduction in incidents in the microgrid thanks to the controllers. The error reduction with the complete polymorphic VSG is up to 100% for the voltage, 32% for the currents, and 79% for the duty ratio. Those values are decreased by 30 to 50% with the sub-optimal controllers but for a reduction in the computational burden of more than 97%. Recommendations are proposed for the development of an auto-adaptive polymorphic VSG from a high technology-readiness-level perspective, i.e., targeting a compromise between error reduction and computational burden. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Progress in Design and Control of Power Converters)

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24 pages, 4764 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Sequence Control Strategy for Grid-Forming Voltage Source Converters Based on the Virtual-Flux Orientation under Balanced and Unbalanced Faults

by Juan Dolado Fernández, Joaquín Eloy-Garcia, Santiago Arnaltes and Jose Luis Rodríguez-Amenedo

Energies 2023, 16(7), 3056; https://doi.org/10.3390/en16073056 - 27 Mar 2023

Cited by 4 | Viewed by 2921

Abstract

Renewable power generation has increased in recent years, which has led to a decrease in the use of synchronous generators (SGs). These power plants are mainly connected to the power system through electronic converters. One of the main differences between electronic converters connected to power systems and SGs connected to the grid is the current contribution during faults, which can have an impact on protection systems. New grid codes set requirements for fast current injection, but the converters’ maximum current limitation during faults make it challenging to develop control strategies for such current contribution. This paper presents a positive and negative sequence current injection strategy according to the new Spanish grid code requirements for the novel grid-forming converter control algorithm based on virtual-flux orientation. The behavior of the proposed strategy is tested in a hardware in the loop (HiL) experimental set-up under balanced faults, meaning that the fault is symmetrically distributed among the three phases, and unbalanced faults, where the fault current is distributed asymmetrically between the phases. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Progress in Design and Control of Power Converters)

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18 pages, 2677 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Incipient Fault Diagnosis of a Grid-Connected T-Type Multilevel Inverter Using Multilayer Perceptron and Walsh Transform

by Tito G. Amaral, Vitor Fernão Pires, Armando Cordeiro, Daniel Foito, João F. Martins, Julia Yamnenko, Tetyana Tereschenko, Liudmyla Laikova and Ihor Fedin

Energies 2023, 16(6), 2668; https://doi.org/10.3390/en16062668 - 13 Mar 2023

Cited by 2 | Viewed by 1739

Abstract

This article deals with fault detection and the classification of incipient and intermittent open-transistor faults in grid-connected three-level T-type inverters. Normally, open-transistor detection algorithms are developed for permanent faults. Nevertheless, the difficulty to detect incipient and intermittent faults is much greater, and appropriate methods are required. This requirement is due to the fact that over time, its repetition may lead to permanent failures that may lead to irreversible degradation. Therefore, the early detection of these failures is very important to ensure the reliability of the system and avoid unscheduled stops. For diagnosing these incipient and intermittent faults, a novel method based on a Walsh transform combined with a multilayer perceptron (MLP)-based classifier is proposed in this paper. This non-classical approach of using the Walsh transform not only allows accurate detections but is also very fast. This last characteristic is very important in these applications due to their practical implementation. The proposed method includes two main steps. First, the acquired AC currents are used by the control system and processed using the Walsh transform. This results in detailed information used to potentially identify open-transistor faults. Then, such information is processed using the MLP to finally determine whether a fault is present or not. Several experiments are conducted with different types of incipient transistor faults to create a relevant dataset. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Progress in Design and Control of Power Converters)

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19 pages, 4576 KiB

Open AccessArticle

A Generalized Approach for Determining the Current Ripple RMS in Four-Leg Inverters with the Neutral Inductor

by Riccardo Mandrioli, Francesco Lo Franco, Mattia Ricco and Gabriele Grandi

Energies 2023, 16(4), 1710; https://doi.org/10.3390/en16041710 - 8 Feb 2023

Cited by 1 | Viewed by 1783

Abstract

This manuscript proposes a novel approach for determining phase and neutral-current-ripple RMS in grid-connected four-leg inverters with the neutral inductor. The harmonic pollution is determined for any arbitrary pulse width modulation (PWM) technique and a generic value of the neutral inductor. Thanks to the proposed approach, it is possible to describe the neutral inductor in a parametric way with respect to phase inductors and obtain a wide range of results, ranging from a direct neutral connection (no neutral inductor) to a conventional three-phase inverter (no fourth wire) for any value of modulation index and common mode injection. The results permit one to compare different design choices in multiple scenarios effectively. The findings were validated by numerical simulations and experimental tests employing the most popular PWM techniques, such as space vector PWM (SVPWM) and discontinuous PWM (DPWM). Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Progress in Design and Control of Power Converters)

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22 pages, 22379 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Analysis of Asymmetric Hybrid Modular Multilevel Topology for Medium-Voltage Front-End Converter Applications

by Muhammad Ali, Ajmal Farooq, Muhammad Qasim Khan, Muhammad Mansoor Khan and Lucian Mihet-Popa

Energies 2023, 16(4), 1572; https://doi.org/10.3390/en16041572 - 4 Feb 2023

Cited by 2 | Viewed by 1522

Abstract

Modular multilevel converters (MMCs) have been conceived as an alternative in front-end converter applications to enhance the converter system’s reliability, minimize total harmonic distortion, and improve power quality. These converters utilize several DC-link capacitors and power electronic switches, along with switches operating with high switching frequencies, to attain the desired characteristics. Thereby, this paper systematically proposes a novel three-phase asymmetric hybrid modular multilevel converter (AHMMC) for front-end converters used in lower-medium-voltage applications. The AHMMC configuration is based on a three-phase converter connected to a per-phase series arrangement with a cascaded converter module (CCM). The study investigates the AHMMC and proposes a control scheme, which minimizes the voltage range on switches and maintains the current to its reference value. Furthermore, the study also introduces an active balancing of voltage across DC-link capacitors based on the phase opposition disposition PWM (POD-PWM) method. Our new configuration has features such as low switching loss, reduced DC-link voltage, a wider modulation range for the unity power factor (PF), and low voltage and current harmonic distortion. The simulation results are added to verify the performance of the new AHMMC topology and the usefulness of the modular control scheme. In addition, a low-voltage laboratory prototype based on customized control and power boards is built to validate the proposed converter and its control scheme in practice. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Progress in Design and Control of Power Converters)

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