A New Soft-Switching Solution in Three-Level Neutral-Point-Clamped Voltage Source Inverters

Zbigniew Szular, Bartosz Rozegnal and Witold Mazgaj
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Zbigniew Szular: Department of Electrical Engineering, Cracow University of Technology, 31-155 Krakow, Poland
Bartosz Rozegnal: Department of Electrical Engineering, Cracow University of Technology, 31-155 Krakow, Poland
Witold Mazgaj: Department of Electrical Engineering, Cracow University of Technology, 31-155 Krakow, Poland

Energies, 2021, vol. 14, issue 8, 1-23

Abstract: This paper presents a new soft-switching solution recommended for three-level neutral-point-clamped inverters. The operation principles of the proposed solution, working stages, selection of elements, and the control algorithm are comprehensively discussed herein. The control method of the inverter main switches is the same as that of the switches of an inverter operating according to the hard-switching technique. The correctness of the proposed solution was confirmed by the results of different tests using a laboratory neutral-point-clamped inverter with rated parameters of 3 kW, 2 × 150 V, 12 A, and 3 kHz. Numerical analyses were performed for the inverter of rated power 1.2 MW. The switching losses of the inverter operating with the proposed solution were compared with those of an inverter with hard-switching method. The proposed soft-switching solution increased the inverter efficiency and its competitiveness in relation to other proposals because there were no connections between switches and capacitors or inductors, which pose a risk of damaging the inverter when disturbances in the control system appear.

Keywords: neutral-point-clamped inverter; soft-switching; switching losses; three-level inverter (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: 2021
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