Active thermal control in neutral-point-clamped multilevel converters based on switching-cell arrays

Neutral-point-clamped multilevel converters are a suitable solution to the implementation of low–medium voltage and power applications at present, thanks to their intrinsic superior voltage and current quality. The conventional configurations of these converters present uneven power loss distributio...

Full description

Bibliographic Details
Authors: Alepuz, Salvador, Nicolas-Apruzzese, Joan, Rafiezadeh, Roya, Busquets-Monge, Sergio, Raya Di Francisco, Mariana Candela, Filba-Martinez, Alber
Format: article
Publication Date:2023
Country:España
Institution:Varias* (Consorci de Biblioteques Universitáries de Catalunya, Centre de Serveis Científics i Acadèmics de Catalunya)
Repository:Recercat. Dipósit de la Recerca de Catalunya
OAI Identifier:oai:recercat.cat:20.500.12367/2836
Online Access:https://hdl.handle.net/20.500.12367/2836
Access Level:Open access
Keyword:Multilevel converter
Neutral-point-clamped multilevel converter
Switching-cell array
Temperature balancing control
Description
Summary:Neutral-point-clamped multilevel converters are a suitable solution to the implementation of low–medium voltage and power applications at present, thanks to their intrinsic superior voltage and current quality. The conventional configurations of these converters present uneven power loss distribution, causing thermal stress in some power semiconductors, which weakens the power converter reliability. To overcome this, an implementation of the neutral-point-clamped multilevel converter based on a switching-cell array is introduced, adding redundant conduction paths on one side and more options to distribute the switching losses on the other side. An active thermal control is proposed to balance the temperature distribution in the converter. A four-level converter has been implemented to evaluate the proposed solution. [...]