A Comprehensive Review on Space Vector Modulation Techniques for Neutral Point Clamped Multi-Level Inverters

Abstract

The Neutral Point Clamped (NPC) Multi-Level Inverters (MLI) have been ruling the power electronics industries for the past two decades. The Multi-Carrier Pulse Width Modulation (MCPWM) is common PWM techniques which are widely used in NPC-MLI applications. However, MCPWM is not having a good impact on the balancing of DC-link voltages, Common Mode Voltage (CMV) and limiting the Total Harmonics Distortion (THD). The Selective Harmonic Elimination (SHE) technique is introduced for reducing the THD, however all the switching angles should be maintained less than π/2 to keep the eliminated harmonics at constant level which narrows down the modulation index range. Hence, in recent days Space Vector Modulation (SVM) technique is widely used in NPC-MLI, which gives better DC-link voltage balancing, self-neutral point balancing, near-zero CMV reduction, better-quality harmonics profile and switching loss minimization. Hence, it is a preferred solution for the majority of electrical conversion applications such as electric traction, high power industrial drives, renewable power generation, and gridconnected inverters, etc. The paper gives a comprehensive review of the SVM for NPC-MLI. First, this paper deliberates the state of art for two-level SVM and extends it to three-level (3L) SVM. Also compares the 3L SVM performance with other MCPWM techniques. Followed by the various modified MLI SVM techniques in terms of their implementations, DC-link capacitor balancing, and reduction of CMV. Further, the review of MLI SVM is widened to open-end winding Inverters and multiphase MLIs. The final part of this paper discussed the future trends and research directions on MLI SVM techniques and its applications.

Space Vector Techniques for a Binary-Cascaded Multilevel Inverter Operating Under Reduced Common-Mode Voltage With Reduced Commutations

“…The transformation to gh coordinates can be generated from both line-to-line and phase voltages. For consistency within the paper, the transformation from phase voltages is adopted and expressed as [15], [36] 1 1 0…”

Switching Frequency Effects on the Efficiency and Harmonic Distortion in a Three-Phase Five-Level CHBMI Prototype with Multicarrier PWM Schemes: Experimental Analysis

“…Another interesting method to drive a converter is the Space Vector PWM (SVPWM) that, as well known, is particularly adapted in electric drives and traction applications. The Space Vector PWM (SVPWM) strategies are widely adopted for good DC-link voltage utilization, for flexibility in switching states selection, and for lower THD, as discussed in [24]. According to [25], a novel SVPWM for an electrical drive system-based Permanent Magnet Synchronous Machine (PMSM) fed by CHBMI has been proposed with the purpose of reducing the computational complexity.…”

Minimization of total harmonic distortion in neutral point clamped multilevel inverter using grey wolf optimizer

“…Nevertheless, the NPC MLI has advantages of easy control and low cost hardware implementation among the MLIs [9]. Beside the topological solutions, reducing THD of output voltage by generating proper switching pattern modulation is also a hot issue of research in MLIs [10], such as multi-carrier PWM [11], selective harmonic elimination pulse width modulation PWM [12], and space vector modulation [13]. Many studies have been performed to reduce the harmonics of the output voltage of a MLI [14].…”