A New Five-level Single-phase Inverter Employing a Space Vector Current Control

Abstract

This article introduces a new five-level single-phase voltage source inverter. The proposed configuration employs two bidirectional switches. Since some switches share the same gate signals, the proposed circuit significantly contributed in reducing the utilized power electronics components, gate drive circuits, and system complexity. A novel space vector current control strategy was employed to maintain the desired number of voltage levels based on load current. With the proper selection of the redundant inverter switching states, the deviation in neutral-point voltage was considerably minimized. The proposed work was simulated and its hardware was manufactured.

Keywords:

• single-phase inverter
• bidirectional switch
• circuit optimization
• hysteresis bands
• space vector current modulation (SVCM)
• capacitor voltage balancing
• power losses

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Ammar Masaoud

Ammar Masaoud was born in Damascus, Syria. He received his B.S. in electrical engineering from University of Damascus, Damascus, Syria, in 1999, and his M.S. from University of Malaya, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, in 2006. He is currently pursuing his Ph.D. in electrical engineering in the Department of Electrical Engineering, University of Malaya. His current research interests include power electronics and electrical machines.

Hew Wooi Ping

Hew Wooi Ping was born in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, in 1957. He received his B.Eng. and M.Eng. degrees from the Universiti Teknologi Malaysia, Malaysia, in 1981 and 1991, respectively, and his Ph.D. degree from University of Malaya, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, in 2000. He is a professor and the deputy director of the University of Malaya Power Energy Dedicated Advanced Center (UMPEDAC). He is a member of the Institution of Engineering and Technology and a chartered engineer. His current research interests include electrical drives, electrical machine design, and application of fuzzy logic/neural networks to electrical-machine-related applications.

Saad Mekhilef

Saad Mekhilef received his B.S. in electrical engineering from University of Setif, Setif, Algeria, in 1995, and his M.S. and Ph.D. in electrical engineering from University of Malaya, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, in 1998 and 2003, respectively. He is currently a professor and deputy dean with the Faculty of Electrical Engineering, University of Malaya. He is the author or co-author of more than 200 publications in international journals and proceedings. He is actively involved in industrial consultancy for major corporations in the power electronics field. His current research interests include power conversion techniques, control of power converters, renewable energy, and energy efficiency.

Hamza Omar Belkamel

Hamza Omar Belkamel was born in Mila, Algeria. He received his B.S. (hons) in mechatronics from University of Selangor (UNISEL), Selangor, Malaysia, in 2010. He is currently working toward his M.S. in engineering science in the Department of Electrical Engineering, University of Malaya, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. Since 2011, he has been a research assistant with the Power Electronics and Renewable Energy Research Laboratory (PEARL), University of Malaya, where he is focusing on the design and control of new multi-level inverters. His current research interests include the design of advanced power converter topologies, PWM techniques, and control of power electronic systems.