The unbalance of the neutral point voltage is an inherent problem of three-level neutral-point-clamped (NPC) inverter, the effect of neutral point voltage balancing which is caused by voltage vector is analyzed, and the relationship of the voltage offset and neutral point voltage is studied in this paper. This paper proposes a novel neutral point balance strategy for three-level NPC inverter based on space vector pulse width modulation (SVPWM). A voltage offset is added to the modulation wave, and a closed-loop neutral point voltage balance control system is designed. In the control system, the dwelling time of synthesis voltage vectors for SVPWM is varied to solve the problem of the unbalance of the neutral point voltage, the sequence of the voltage vectors maintains unchanging. Simulation and experimental results show the neutral point voltage balancing control strategy based on SVPWM is effective.

Dynamic charge carrier transport behavior in the zirconium (Zr) oxide was investigated based on the frequency-dependent capacitance-voltage (C-V) and temperature-dependent current-voltage (I-V) measurements. The Zr oxide was formed on the ZIRLO and newly developed zirconium-based alloy (NDZ) by corrosion in the PWR-simulated loop at 360°C. The corrosion test for 90 days showed that the NDZ exhibits better corrosion resistance than ZIRLO alloy. Based on the C-V measurement, dielectric constant values for the Zr oxide was estimated to be 11.28 and 11.52 for the ZIRLO and NDZ. The capacitance difference between low and high frequency was larger in the ZIRLO than in the NDZ, which was attributed to more mobile electrical charge carriers in the oxide layer on the ZIRLO alloy. The current through the oxide layers on the ZIRLO increased more drastically with increasing temperature than on the NDZ, which indicating that more charge trap sites exist in the ZIRLO than in NDZ. Based on the dynamic charge carrier transport behavior, it was concluded that the electrical charge carrier transport within the oxide layers was closely related with the corrosion behavior of the Zr alloys.

Static Var Compensator (SVC) is a popular FACTS device for providing reactive power support in power systems and its placement representing the location and size has significant influence on network loss, while keeping the voltage magnitudes within the acceptable range. This paper presents a Firefly algorithm based optimization strategy for placement of SVC in power systems with a view of minimizing the transmission loss besides keeping the voltage magnitude within the acceptable range. The method uses a self-adaptive scheme for tuning the parameters in the Firefly algorithm. The strategy is tested on three IEEE test systems and their results are presented to demonstrate its effectiveness.

The single-phase voltage loss is a common fault. Once the voltage-loss failure occurs, the amount of electrical energy will not be measured, but it is to be calculated so as to protect the interest of the power supplier. Two automatic calculation methods, the power substitution and the voltage substitution, are introduced in this paper. Considering the lack of quantitative analysis of the calculation error of the voltage substitution method, the grid traversal method and MATLAB tool are applied to solve the problem. The theoretical analysis indicates that the calculation error is closely related to the voltage unbalance factor and the power factor, and the maximum calculation error is about 6% when the power system operates normally. To verify the theoretical analysis, two three-phase electrical energy metering devices have been developed, and verification tests have been carried out in both the lab and field conditions. The lab testing results are consistent with the theoretical ones, and the field testing results show that the calculation errors are generally below 0.2%, that is correct in most cases.

The permanent magnet synchronous motor (PMSM) driven by an inverter is widely used in the industrial field, but the inverter has a significant impact on the operational stability of the PMSM. The torque ripple of the PMSM is directly affected by the coupling of multiple harmonic voltages in the motor windings. In order to analyze its influence, a water-cooled PMSM with 20 kW 2000 r/min is taken as an example to establish the finite element model of the prototype, and the correctness of the model is verified by experiments. Firstly, based on the finite element method, the electromagnetic field of the PMSM is numerically solved in different operating states, and the performance parameters of the PMSM are obtained. Based on these parameters, the influence of the harmonic voltage amplitude on the torque ripple is studied, and the influence law is obtained. Secondly, combined with the decoupling analysis method, the influence of harmonic voltage coupling on the torque ripple is compared and analyzed, and the variation law of harmonic voltage coupling on the torque ripple is obtained. In addition, the influence of different harmonic voltage coupling on the average torque of the PMSM is studied, and the influence degree of different harmonic voltage amplitude on the torque fluctuation is determined. The conclusion of this paper provides reliable theoretical guidance for improving motor performance.

Novel method of space-vector-based pulsewidth modulation (PWM) has been disseminated for synchronous control of four inverters feeding six-phase drive based on asymmetrical induction motor which has two sets of windings spatially shifted by 30 electrical degrees. Basic schemes of synchronized PWM, applied for control of four separate voltage source inverters, allow both continuous phase voltages synchronization in the system and required power sharing between DC-sources. Simulations show a behavior of six-phase system with continuous and discontinuous versions of synchronized PWM.

The matrix rectifier modulated by the classical space vector modulation (SVM) strategy generates common-mode voltage (CMV). The high magnitude and high du/dt of the CMV causes serious problems such as motor damage, electromagnetic noise and many others. In this paper, an improved SVM strategy is proposed by replacing the zero vectors with suitable couple of active ones that substantially eliminate the CMV. Theoretical analysis proves that the proposed strategy can reduce the amplitude of the CMV to half of the original value. In addition, the quality of the input and output waveforms is not affected by extra active vectors. Simulation and experimental results demonstrate the feasibility and effectiveness of the proposed strategy are shown.

With the increasing penetration rate of grid-connected renewable energy generation, the problem of grid voltage excursion becomes an important issue that needs to be solved urgently. As a new type of voltage regulation control method, electric spring (ES) can alleviate the fluctuations of renewable energy output effectively. In this paper, the background and basic principle of the electric spring are introduced firstly. Then, considering the influence of an electric spring on noncritical load voltage, noncritical loads are classified reasonably, and based on the electric spring phasor diagram, the control method to meet the noncritical load voltage constraint is proposed. This control method can meet the requirements of voltage excursions of different kinds of noncritical load, increase the connection capacity of the noncritical load and improve the voltage stabilization capacity of the electric spring. Finally, through the simulation case, the feasibility and validity of electric spring theory and the proposed control method are verified.

This paper presents a study on ferroresonance occurring in a high voltage 400 kV transmission grid due to energization of power transformer under no-load conditions. The system scenarios analyzed in the present paper are considered as critical for development and modernization plans as currently announced by the national grid operator in Poland. The PSCADsimulation modelwas developed and applied for several study cases of a system with double-circuit arrangement of a transmission line. It is shown that the ferroresonant oscillations can be initiated by two-phase switching operation of a line circuit breaker. The impact of the double-circuit length on the ferroresonance mode and severity is demonstrated with the use of the Poincaré map analysis and Short Time Fourier Transform. It is demon- strated that the length of the transmission line that is mutually coupled in the double-circuit arrangement has a significant impact on the ferroresonance occurrence and on its mode. As the ferroresonance can pose severe threat to the power system components due to the severe overvoltage and overcurrent oscillations, the analysis presented in this paper demonstrates the necessity of the ferroresonance analyses for any re-designed transmission system.

The paper presents a laboratory prototype of the three-phase transformer less voltage outages compensator with an energy storage based on high voltage supercapacitors. The system described is able to protect an isolated grid e.g. in industry against short voltage interruptions, dips and sags. An idea of a control method as well as a Digital controller has been presented, too.

A low drop-out [LDO] voltage regulator with fast transient response which does not require a capacitor for proper operation is proposed in this paper. Recent cap-less LDOs do not use off chip capacitor but instead they use on chip capacitor which occupy a large area on the chip. In the proposed LDO, this on chip capacitor is also avoided. A novel secondary local feedback technique is introduced which helps to achieve a good transient response even in the absence of output capacitor. Further an error amplifier that does need compensation capacitor is selected to reduce the on chip area. Stability analysis shows that the proposed LDO is stable with a phase margin of 78°. The proposed LDO is laid out using Cadence Virtuoso in 180 nm standard CMOS technology. Post layout simulation is carried out and LDO gives 6mV=V and 360µV=mA line and load regulation respectively. An undershoot of 120 mV is observed during the load transition from 0 mA to 50 mA in 1 µs transition time, however LDO is able to recover within 1:4 µs. Since capacitor is not required in any part of design, it occupies only 0:010824 mm2 area on the chip.

Electronic Double-Layer Capacitors (EDLC), called Supercapacitors (SC), are electronic devices that are capable to store a relatively high amount of energy in a small volume comparing to other types of capacitors. They are composed of an activated carbon layer and electrolyte solution. The charge is stored on electrodes, forming the Helmholtz layer, and in electrolyte. The capacitance of supercapacitor is voltage- dependent. We propose an experimental method, based on monitoring of charging and discharging a supercapacitor, which enables to evaluate the charge in an SC structure as well as the Capacitance-Voltage (C-V) dependence. The measurement setup, method and experimental results of charging/discharging commercially available supercapacitors in various voltage and current conditions are presented. The total charge stored in an SC structure is proportional to the square of voltage at SC electrodes while the charge on electrodes increases linearly with the voltage on SC electrodes. The Helmholtz capacitance increases linearly with the voltage bias while a sublinear increase of total capacitance was found. The voltage on SC increases after the discharge of electrodes due to diffusion of charges from the electrolyte to the electrodes. We have found that the recovery voltage value is linearly proportional to the initial bias voltage value.

The new control method for Permanent Magnet Synchronous Motor (PMSM) and Brushless DC Motor (BLDCM) is presented. Balance of power in three-phase permanent magnet synchronous motor is based on conservation of energy law. Space vector theory determined by instantaneous value of phase quantities is applied in mathematical analysis. It makes possible to estimate instantaneous values of reactive energy and electromagnetic torque. The presented control method belongs to flux-oriented method; it synchronizes current vector in relation to stator flux vector. New structure of control system as well as block diagram containing all basic elements and operating modes of specific blocks are described. Simulation studies and experimental results for two kinds of motors: PMSM and BLDCM were performed based on the dSPACE development DS1103 system.

A novel phase shift full bridge (PSFB) converter with voltage-doubler and decoupling integrated magnetics in photovoltaic (PV) systems is proposed. Considering the demand that the output voltage is higher than the input voltage in PV systems, the voltage-doubler is added to achieve higher voltage gain compared with the traditional PSFB. In order to avoid current oscillation caused by the voltage-doubler and obtain the wide zero voltage switching (ZVS) ranges, an external inductor is imposed on the circuit. Especially, to obtain much higher power density, the external inductor and transformer are integrated into one magnetic core. The operation and voltage gain of proposed converter are analyzed. Also, in order to reveal the effects the integrated magnetics gives to the converter, the decoupling condition and the expression of leakage inductor of integrated magnetics are obtained in detail. Finally a 100 W prototype converter is made and the experimental results are given to verify the analysis.

In this survey paper, resonant and quasiresonant dc link inverters are reexamined for ac motor drive applications. Critical evaluation of representative topologies is based on simulation and waveform analysis to characterize current/voltage stress of components, control timing constraints and feasibility. A special concern over inverter common-mode voltage and voltage gradient du/dt limitation capacity is discussed for motor bearing and winding insulation safety. Experimental records of the laboratory developed parallel quasiresonant dc link inverter feeding induction motor confirm results of analysis. Comparative tables and simulation results demonstrate characteristic features of various schemes.