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Mode-Change PWM Method for Improving Efficiency of 3-Level T-Type PWM Converter

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A Correction to this article was published on 12 November 2021

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Abstract

In this paper, the mode-change PWM method is proposed to improve the efficiency of a 3-level T-type (3LT) PWM converter. A 3LT PWM converter, except for its added neutral-point switches, has the same topology as that of the 2-level PWM converter. Therefore, 3LT PWM converter can operate in two modes depending on the operation of neutral-point switches. In the case of a 3LT topology using generic IGBT, two IGBTs are added at the neutral point, which causes twice the conduction loss compared to 2-level converters. Thus, 3LT PWM converters have more conduction loss than 2-level converters, particularly in the low MI region. Consequently, 3LT PWM converters have lower efficiency than that of a 2-level converter in the low MI region. The switching and conduction losses based on the operation mode of each topology is calculated, analyzed. If the controller determines the operation mode of the 2- or 3-level PWM converter based on the power loss calculated during every cycle, the efficiency of 3LT PWM converter can be improved. The validity of the proposed control scheme was investigated through simulation and experiments. The waveform and efficiency of each method were compared.

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Acknowledgments

This work was supported by the National Research Foundation of Korea (NRF) grant funded by the Korea government (MSIT) (No. 2021R1F1A1059253).

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Correspondence to Woo-Cheol Lee.

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The original online version of this article was revised: Due to an unfortunate misunderstanding during the correction process the corresponding author has been given erroneously. Furthermore, the authors biographies and portraits have been omitted.

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Lee, WC., Kim, TH. Mode-Change PWM Method for Improving Efficiency of 3-Level T-Type PWM Converter. J. Electr. Eng. Technol. 17, 437–445 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1007/s42835-021-00894-3

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s42835-021-00894-3

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