The novel resonant DC link three-level soft-switching inverter

ABSTRACT

In the paper, the novel topology of the resonant DC link three-level soft-switching inverter is proposed to reduce switching losses and improve the efficiency of three-level inverter at high switching frequency. Symmetrical auxiliary resonant circuits are set in the DC link of three-level hard-switching inverter. Moreover, the terminal voltage of the resonant capacitors between the DC buses periodically drops to zero via the resonance of auxiliary circuits. Furthermore, under such condition, the main switches of the three-level inverter would be operated, in order to achieve zero-voltage switching. Based on the equivalent circuits in different operating modes, the paper analyses the working process of the soft-switching inverter in detail. In addition, a 3 kW laboratory prototype of resonant DC link three-phase three-level soft-switching inverter is built. The experimental results show that the main switches and auxiliary switches of the inverter are operated under soft-switching conditions, and the efficiency is significantly improved compared with the three-level hard-switching inverter. Therefore, the proposed topology can effectively reduce switching losses and prove to be more practical in engineering.