A New Design Methodology for Time-Based Capacitance-to-Digital Converters (T-CDCs)

This paper introduces a 9-bit time-based capacitance-to-digital converter (T-CDC). This T-CDC adopts a new design methodology for parasitic cancellation with a simple calibration technique. In T-CDCs, the input sensor capacitance is first converted into a delay pulse using a capacitance-to-time converter (CTC) circuit; then this delay signal is converted into a digital code through a time-to-digital converter (TDC) circuit. A prototype of the proposed T-CDC is implemented in UMC 0.13 μm CMOS technology. This T-CDC consumes 8.42 μW and achieves a maximum SNR of 45.14 dB with a conversion time of 1 μs that corresponds to a figure of merit (FoM) of 16.4 fJ/Conv.     

Direct model-based predictive control scheme without cost function for voltage source inverters with reduced common-mode voltage

This paper presents a direct model-based predictive control scheme for voltage source inverters (VSIs) with reduced common-mode voltages (CMVs). The developed method directly finds optimal vectors without using repetitive calculation of a cost function. To adjust output currents with the CMVs in the range of –V_dc/6 to +V_dc/6, the developed method uses voltage vectors, as finite control resources, excluding zero voltage vectors which produce the CMVs in the VSI within ±V_dc/2. In a model-based predictive control (MPC), not using zero voltage vectors increases the output current ripples and the current errors. To alleviate these problems, the developed method uses two non-zero voltage vectors in one sampling step. In addition, the voltage vectors scheduled to be used are directly selected at every sampling step once the developed method calculates the future reference voltage vector, saving the efforts of repeatedly calculating the cost function. And the two non-zero voltage vectors are optimally allocated to make the output current approach the reference current as close as possible. Thus, low CMV, rapid current-following capability and sufficient output current ripple performance are attained by the developed method. The results of a simulation and an experiment verify the effectiveness of the developed method.     

Iron Loss Calculation of AC Filter Inductor for Three‐Phase PWM Inverters

In recent years, remarkable advancement of new power semiconductor devices, such as SiC and GaN, enables the increase of switching frequency of power converters, and hence the volume of passive components, such as ac filters and transformers, can be reduced. However, temperature rise caused by the inductor loss is increasing, and hence iron loss evaluation of the inductor is one of the most important issues to realize high power density converters. Conventionally, an improved generalized Steinmetz equation (iGSE) has proposed in order to calculate the iron loss under a pulse voltage magnetizing condition. However, accurate iron loss calculation of the ac filter inductor used in a PWM inverter cannot be realized. The authors have proposed two methods of iron loss evaluation of ac filter inductors. The first one is a loss map method which can calculate the iron loss without using a real PWM inverter. Another one is an ILA (Inductor Loss Analyzer) which can measure the iron loss in every switching period in a real PWM inverter. In this paper, comparisons of the iron loss between the ILA and the loss map method on both the single‐phase and three‐phase inverters are studied. It is found that iron loss of the ac filter inductor in the three‐phase PWM inverter which is calculated by the loss map method cause a large error on a specific condition. In order to prevent the calculation error, the authors proposed a revised loss map method and proved the effectiveness of the method.     

Integrated circuit and system design for renewable energy inverters

This study proposes that a novel integrated circuit (IC) and system design for renewable energy inverters can harvest renewable energy to power direct current (DC) and alternating current (AC) loads. In addition, an intelligent synthesis and management tool is developed to design the proposed system and to judge the system’s operational maintenance decisions. Finally, a renewable energy inverter’s information is posted to an online system. Users can obtain the proposed system’s information at any time and place. The accurate and superior performance of the proposed IC and system is confirmed by computer simulations and experimental results.     

Assessing Cloud Transient Impacts of Solar and Battery Energy Systems on Grid Inertial Responses

To assess the dynamic impact of intermittency of rapidly increasing solar photovoltaic generation on the grid, this article presents the modeling and integration of the components that need to be considered, including the solar photovoltaic plant, battery energy storage system, grid-tied interface, and associated control systems. The complexity and accuracy of these models are suitable for evaluating the transient impact on bulk power systems. Of particular interest is the grid inertial response in such situations as different penetration levels of solar generation and fast cloud transient induced solar generation decrease coupled with outages that recurrently occur in the grid, e.g., a generator trip. The impact of such events on the grid frequency responses is investigated using a simplified simulation approach to account for the locational or spatial irradiance variation patterns and cloud movements. Responsive battery energy storage systems are recognized as an effective means to improve the inertial response.     

Verification of Iron Loss Calculation Method Using a High‐Precision Iron Loss Analyzer

Because of the improved performance of power devices, the volume of the ac filter inductors used in high‐frequency PWM inverters has been reduced. However, the temperature rise in the filter inductor due to this miniaturization has become more pronounced. Therefore, we have proposed an iron loss calculation method for the ac filter inductor. However, the accuracy of the value calculated via the loss map method cannot be verified, because the iron loss arising during each switching period cannot be measured with conventional power measuring instruments. In order to resolve this problem, we developed an inductor loss analyzer (ILA), which allows precise measurement of the iron loss in the inductor during each switching period. The accuracy of the calculation of iron loss in the filter inductor by the loss map method was verified with the ILA. We found that the value calculated by the loss map method differed slightly from the value measured with the ILA. However, these differences can be reduced if we take into account the accurate flux density calculation and the effect of the duty ratio of PWM pulses on the loss. Finally, we verified that the loss map method can provide accurate iron loss calculations.     

Application of differential evolution for cascaded multilevel VSI with harmonics elimination PWM switching

Harmonic elimination pulse width modulation (HEPWM) method has been widely applied to multilevel voltage source inverter (MVSI) to remove low frequency harmonics from its output voltage. However, the computation of the HEPWM switching angles for MVSI is very challenging due to several constraints, namely angle sequencing, very tight angular spacing and the numerous possibilities of angles distribution ratio. Realizing the potential of Differential Evolution (DE) to handle complex problems, this work proposes its application to solve the HEPWM problem for cascaded MVSI. Its emphasis is on improving the availability of HEPWM for higher output voltage by extending the maximum range of modulation index (M). It also removes the discontinuities in the switching angles and reduces the number of distribution ratio required to obtain the required solution. Compared to the most advanced (similar) work, i.e., 7-level MVSI with seventeen switching angles, DE covers a wider range of M; the maximum achievable M is 2.80. Furthermore, it exhibits very low second order distortion factor (DF₂): for the worst case, the value of DF₂ is 0.0014%. To verify the viability of the proposed algorithm, simulation is carried out and hardware prototype is constructed. Both results show very good agreement with the theoretical prediction.     

Bidirectional energy storage photovoltaic grid-connected inverter application system

A novel topology of the bidirectional energy storage photovoltaic grid-connected inverter was proposed to reduce the negative impact of the photovoltaic grid-connected system on the grid caused by environmental instability. Using the proposed Inverter as a UPS power supply in case of a grid failure, storage electrical energy and regulating the energy delivered to the grid for reducing the pressure on the grid. A new artificial fish-swarm algorithm and variable step voltage perturbation method were presented to track the maximum power point of the solar panels. Analysis was done to reduce the output ripple of the inverter and sinusoidal pulse width modulation (SPWM) was selected to control the inverter. Model simulation was performed using PSpice software to obtain the volt-ampere characteristic curve of the solar panel output. The solar array simulator was used to verify the effect of maximum power point tracking at different light intensities. The study concludes that the maximum power point tracking (MPPT) efficiency of the bidirectional energy storage photovoltaic grid-connected inverter designed was as high as 99.9%. The distortion rate of the grid-connected current waveform was within 2% and the DC current component was less than 0.5%. The output voltage and power were in full compliance with the grid connection standard.     

双PWM变频调速系统在矿井提升机中的应用

针对目前大部分矿井提升机仍采用转子串电阻调速方法造成能量浪费的现状,提出了一种双PWM变频调速方案:三相电压型PWM整流器采用电压、电流双闭环控制,其中电流环引入前馈解耦控制,并结合空间矢量脉宽调制(SVPWM)算法来提高直流电压利用率。仿真实验的结果表明,该双PWM变频调速系统控制精度高、动态响应快、抗扰能力强,能有效地实现矿井提升机的节能降耗。