Multilevel converters -- A new breed of power converters

Journal Article · Wed May 01 04:00:00 UTC 1996 · IEEE Transactions on Industry Applications

OSTI ID:264202

Lai, J S ^[1]; Peng, F Z ^[2]

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1. Oak Ridge National Lab., TN (United States). Div. of Engineering Technology
2. Univ. of Tennessee, Knoxville, TN (United States). Dept. of Electrical and Computer Engineering

Multilevel voltage source converters are emerging as a new breed of power converter options for high-power applications. The multilevel voltage source converters typically synthesize the staircase voltage wave from several levels of dc capacitor voltages. One of the major limitations of the multilevel converters is the voltage unbalance between different levels. The techniques to balance the voltage between different levels normally involve voltage clamping or capacitor charge control. There are several ways of implementing voltage balance in multilevel converters. Without considering the traditional magnetic coupled converters, this paper presents three recently developed multilevel voltage source converters: (1) diode-clamp, (2) flying-capacitors, and (3) cascaded-inverters with separate dc sources. The operating principle, features, constraints, and potential applications of these converters will be discussed.

• DOE Contract Number: AC05-96OR22464
• OSTI ID: 264202
• Report Number(s): CONF-9510203--
• Journal Information: IEEE Transactions on Industry Applications, Journal Name: IEEE Transactions on Industry Applications Journal Issue: 3 Vol. 32; ISSN ITIACR; ISSN 0093-9994
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

24 POWER TRANSMISSION AND DISTRIBUTION
CAPACITORS
DESIGN
ELECTRIC BATTERIES
ENERGY STORAGE
INVERTERS
POWER SYSTEMS