Capacitors Voltage Switching Ripple in Three-Phase Three-Level Neutral Point Clamped Inverters with Self-Balancing Carrier-Based Modulation

Manel Hammami, Gabriele Rizzoli, Riccardo Mandrioli and Gabriele Grandi
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Manel Hammami: Department of Electrical, Electronic, and Information Engineering, University of Bologna, 40136 Bologna, Italy
Gabriele Rizzoli: Department of Electrical, Electronic, and Information Engineering, University of Bologna, 40136 Bologna, Italy
Riccardo Mandrioli: Department of Electrical, Electronic, and Information Engineering, University of Bologna, 40136 Bologna, Italy
Gabriele Grandi: Department of Electrical, Electronic, and Information Engineering, University of Bologna, 40136 Bologna, Italy

Energies, 2018, vol. 11, issue 12, 1-20

Abstract: This paper provides a comprehensive analysis of the capacitors voltage switching ripple for three-phase three-level neutral point clamped (NPC) inverter topologies. The voltage ripple amplitudes of the two dc-link capacitors are theoretically estimated as a function of both amplitude and phase angle of output current and the inverter modulation index. In particular, peak-to-peak distribution and maximum amplitudes of the capacitor voltage switching ripple over the fundamental period are obtained. A comparison is made considering different carrier-based pulse-width modulations in the case of almost all sinusoidal load currents, representing either grid connection or passive load with a negligible current ripple. Based on the voltage switching ripple requirements of capacitors, a simple and effective original equation for a preliminary sizing of the capacitors has been proposed. Numerical simulations and experimental tests have been carried out in order to verify the analytical developments.

Keywords: voltage ripple; voltage source inverter; three-phase inverter; DC-link capacitor design (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: Q Q0 Q4 Q40 Q41 Q42 Q43 Q47 Q48 Q49 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2018
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (6)

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