THEORETICAL ANALYSIS AND REDUCTION TECHNIQUES
OF DC CAPACITOR RIPPLES AND REQUIREMENTS IN INVERTERS
By
Xi Lu

A DISSERTATION
Submitted to
Michigan State University
in partial fulfillment of the requirements
for the degree of
Electrical Engineering—Doctor of Philosophy

2014

ABSTRACT
THEORETICAL ANALYSIS AND REDUCTION TECHNIQUES
OF DC CAPACITOR RIPPLES AND REQUIREMENTS IN INVERTERS
By
Xi Lu
DC link capacitor is an important component for many conventional topologies, such as
three-phase voltage source inverter (VSI), H-bridge VSI and etc. However, it is usually very
large, heavy and expensive. Therefore, minimization of the dc capacitor is an essential step
towards developing and manufacturing compact low-cost inverter systems for high temperature
operation, long life and high reliability. Traditionally, the dc capacitance has been determined
according to empirical equations and computer simulations, which provides little insights into
how to minimize the dc capacitor. In order to achieve an optimum minimization of the dc
capacitor, an accurate theory to calculate the dc capacitor voltage ripple and current ripples must
be developed first, then pulse-width modulation (PWM) and control techniques or topological
improvements can be further developed to minimize both dc voltage and current ripples. This
dissertation is mainly divided into two parts. First half is minimizing the capacitor ripple and
requirements for three-phase VSI; while second half is for H-bridge VSI.
In the first half of the dissertation, it proposes an accurate theory of calculating the dc link
capacitor voltage ripples and current ripples for inverters and PWM rectifiers. The results are
analyzed and summarized into graphs according to the theory, which helps find the right
capacitance value for a given voltage ripple tolerance and the rms ripple current that the
capacitor has to absorb.
In hybrid electric vehicle (HEV) applications, the high voltage battery pack is connected to
the dc link bus through a dc-dc converter. Based on the above-proposed theory, a PWM

modulation method for the dc-dc converter is developed to further reduce the dc capacitor
current ripples and requirements. To verify the proposed theory and PWM method, a 150 kW
inverter prototype has been built. The comparison between the calculation result and
experimental result shows that they are in close agreement.
For the second half of the dissertation, contributions for H-bridge inverters are made for
photovoltaic and FACTs systems.
As the demand of the renewable energy increases every year, the photovoltaic (PV) systems
have been playing an important part in supplying energy for the global consumption. In order to
connect PV modules to the grid without inserting any bulky low frequency step-up transformers,
the cascaded H-bridge multilevel inverters are utilized to increase the output voltage level up to
the grid voltage (e.g. 13.8 kV). The 2ω harmonic component on the dc link side of the H-bridge
inverters has long been a thorny problem, which requires a huge dc link capacitor bank to absorb
this 2ω low frequency current ripple in order to maintain the dc link voltage ripple under a
tolerable value. This dissertation presents a simple 3rd harmonic injection method for the
cascaded H-bridge multilevel inverters for photovoltaic systems at unity power factor. This
approach achieves a 40% to 50% reduction of the dc link capacitance, without adding any extra
components or increasing the control complexity.
Same 2ω harmonic problem exists in FACTs devices, which is typically implemented by an
H-bridge inverter. A new topology and control method are proposed to significantly reduce the
dc capacitance to minimum by only adding a phase leg and an ac capacitor with the value of 1/10
of the original dc capacitance.

Dedicated to my Father and Mother:
Jiming Lu and Xuri Shen

iv

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
First of all, I would like to give my heartfelt thanks to my dear advisor, Dr. Fang Z. Peng.
Thank you very much for having me as one of your students. I really appreciate everything that
you have done for me, your clear directions, your precious advices, and all your patient helps
during the past years. I would not be able to achieve what I become today and finish all these
works without you. I am so grateful and honorable of being your student.
Meanwhile, I am also very thankful to my committee members, Dr. Bingsen Wang, Dr. Mitra,
and Dr. Guoming Zhu. Thank you for giving me all the impressive lectures from which I built up
my knowledge base.
Many thanks go to my colleagues in PEMD lab, for valuable discussions, suggestions and
selfless help, as well as priceless friendships. Special thanks go to Dr. Honnyong Cha for
offering me great helps during my first 2 years of graduate study, thanks for helping me with the
derivation of the dc capacitance theoretical calculation, and teaching me how to debug and built
inverters. Many thanks go to Dr. Wei Qian, Dr. Dong Cao, Dr. Qin Lei, Dr. Shuitao Yang, Dr.
Dan Wang, Dr. Julio Cesar Rosas-Caro and Dr. Craig Rogers for delightful technical discussions,
research hints on the battery equalizer and experimental method of carrier-based modulation, and
proofreading of my papers and thesis. Thanks to Dr. Shuai Jiang, Dr. Baoming Ge, and Dr. Shao
Zhang for a lot of valuable discussions in all areas throughout my graduate study. Indeed thanks
to Mr. Xianhao Yu, Dr. Zhenguo Gu, Mr. Yang Liu, Mr. Sisheng Liang, and Mr. Runruo Chen
for the collaboration in the MW inverter project and the SSVC project during my last a couple of
years in PElab. Finally, thanks to Dr. Lihua Chen, Dr. Yi Huang, Dr. Jianfeng Liu, Dr. Yuan Li,

v

Dr. Maosong Zhang, Dr. Junming Zhang, Dr. Jorge G. Cintron-Rivera, Mr. Joel Anderson, Dr.
Uthane Supatti, Mr. Matthew Gebben, Mr. Sangmin Han, and Dr. Irvin Balaguer.
Finally, thanks from my deep heart go to my parents. Thank you for raising me up and
teaching me everything. The love that I got from you is beyond expression.

vi

TABLE OF CONTENTS
LIST OF TABLES .........................................................................................................................x
LIST OF FIGURES ..................................................................................................................... xi
CHAPTER 1 DC Link Capacitors .............................................................................................1
1.1
Types of DC Link Capacitors............................................................................................2
1.1.1
Electrolytic capacitor ................................................................................................ 2
1.1.2
Film capacitor ........................................................................................................... 4
1.2
Comparisons ......................................................................................................................5
1.3
Applications Using DC Link Capacitors and Outline of Dissertation ..............................6
1.3.1
Three-Phase Inverters ............................................................................................... 6
1.3.2
Single-Phase Inverters .............................................................................................. 7
CHAPTER 2 Introduction of HEV Applications and Their DC Capacitors .........................9
2.1
The Advantage of HEV in the Automotive Market ..........................................................9
2.2
Types of HEV Systems ...................................................................................................10
2.3
Power Electronics Challenge in HEV systems ...............................................................11
2.4
Inverter Operation Modes in HEV ..................................................................................12
2.4.1
Sinusoidal Pulsewidth Modulation Mode ............................................................... 12
2.4.2
Six-Step Mode ........................................................................................................ 14
2.4.3
Diode Rectifier Mode ............................................................................................. 15
2.4.4
Synchronization between DC-DC Converter and SPWM Inverter ........................ 16
2.5
Summary of Previous Work ............................................................................................17
2.5.1
Complicated AC-DC-AC PWM Converter Control Strategies .............................. 17
2.5.2
Theoretical Analysis of Current Ripples and Harmonics of DC Capacitor ............ 18
2.5.3
Simple Synchronization between DC-DC converter and SPWM Inverter to
Minimize Capacitance ........................................................................................................... 19
2.6
Goal and Methodology ....................................................................................................20
CHAPTER 3 DC Capacitance and Current Ripple Requirement of the Three-Phase
SPWM Inverter/PWM Rectifier .................................................................................................23
3.1
Basic Idea of Calculating DC Link Capacitance .............................................................24
3.2
Theoretical Basis .............................................................................................................26
3.2.1
Switching Functions................................................................................................ 26
3.2.2
Relationship between Vdc and Vac ......................................................................... 28
3.2.3
Average Current ...................................................................................................... 28
3.3
Calculation of Required DC Link Capacitance ...............................................................30
3.3.1
Maximum A·sec during 60° with the Same Power Factor and Modulation Index . 34
3.3.2
Maximum A·sec versus Power Factor ..................................................................... 39
vii

3.4

Calculation of RMS Value of DC Current Ripple ..........................................................42

CHAPTER 4 DC Capacitance Requirement of the Three-Phase Diode Rectifier ..............44
4.1
Introduction .....................................................................................................................45
4.2
Calculation of the Critical Inductance .............................................................................45
4.3
Calculation of Required DC Link Capacitance ...............................................................49
4.3.1
With No Line Inductance ........................................................................................ 49
4.3.2
With 0%~1.46% Line Inductance ........................................................................... 51
4.3.3
With Line Inductance Greater Than 1.46% ............................................................ 52
CHAPTER 5 DC Capacitance Requirement of the Six-Step Inverter .................................57
5.1
5.2

Simplified Configuration and System Parameters ..........................................................57
Calculation of Required DC Link Capacitance ...............................................................59

CHAPTER 6 Prototype and Testing Results of SHEV Power Electronics Module ............63
6.1
6.2
6.3

Prototype .........................................................................................................................63
Test Results of Voltage Ripple .......................................................................................66
Test Results of Current Ripple ........................................................................................71

CHAPTER 7 Minimizing the DC Capacitance between the DC-DC Converter and SPWM
inverter—A Carrier Modulation Method .................................................................................74
7.1
Introduction .....................................................................................................................74
7.2
The Conditions Under Consideration ..............................................................................78
7.2.1
Unity Modulation Index of the Inverter .................................................................. 78
7.2.2
Unity Power Factor of the Load.............................................................................. 78
7.2.3
Constant Duty Cycle for the Boost Converter ........................................................ 78
7.2.4
Sinusoidal Inverter Output Currents ....................................................................... 79
7.2.5
Analyze One of Six 60° Sectors ............................................................................. 79
7.3
The Analysis of the Ideal SPWM Inverter Input Current Waveform .............................80
7.4
The Proposed Carrier Modulation Method for the Boost Converter ..............................85
7.4.1
Sine Carrier Modulation Method ............................................................................ 85
7.4.2
Linear Carrier Modulation Method ......................................................................... 87
7.5
Theoretical Analysis of DC Link Current Ripple for Sine Carrier Modulation Method 91
7.5.1
Basic Equations ....................................................................................................... 92
7.5.2
Current Ripple Analysis .......................................................................................... 95
7.5.3
Calculation Results ................................................................................................. 97
7.6
Experimental Results.....................................................................................................100
7.7
Conclusion.....................................................................................................................111
CHAPTER 8 Minimizing DC Capacitance Requirement of Cascaded H-Bridge Multilevel
Inverters for Photovoltaic Systems by 3rd Harmonic Injection .............................................112
8.1
8.2

Introduction ...................................................................................................................112
Theoretical Analysis of the DC Capacitance Reduction ...............................................113
viii

8.2.1
System Configuration ........................................................................................... 113
8.2.2
DC link current ripple without 3rd harmonic injection ........................................ 115
8.2.3
DC link current ripple with 3rd harmonic injection.............................................. 116
8.2.4
Current ripple and voltage ripple reduction .......................................................... 118
8.3
Simulation Results.........................................................................................................119
8.4
Conclusions ...................................................................................................................132
CHAPTER 9 Solid State Variable Inductor-Capacitor for Reactive Power Compensation
with Minimum DC Capacitance ...............................................................................................133
9.1
9.2
9.3
9.4
9.5

Introduction ...................................................................................................................133
Past Works.....................................................................................................................138
The Proposed Solid State Variable Inductor–Capacitor (SSVLC) ...............................152
Experimental Results.....................................................................................................155
Conclusions ...................................................................................................................158

CHAPTER 10 Contribution and Future Work ......................................................................159
10.1
10.2

Contributions .................................................................................................................159
Future Work ..................................................................................................................160

APPENDIX

............................................................................................................................163

BIBLIOGRAPHY ......................................................................................................................165

ix

LIST OF TABLES
Table 1.1 DC Link Capacitor Comparison between Film and Electrolytic [4] .............................. 5
Table 3.1 Expressions of A·sec ( va > vc > vb ) ............................................................................. 33
Table 3.2 Simplified Expressions of A·sec ( va > vc > vb ) ........................................................... 34
Table 3.3 The M at the maximum A·sec for each pf ..................................................................... 40
Table 5.1 The list of Inductance and Resistance Changing Base ................................................. 58
Table 5.2 The list of Inserted Voltage source Amplitude and Phase Angle Based on Different
Power Factor and Load Impedance .............................................................................. 59
Table 6.1 The Configuration in the Prototype .............................................................................. 64
Table 6.2 Expreimental Result of Voltage ripple ......................................................................... 66
Table 6.3 Experimental Results of rms current of The Capacitor ................................................ 71
Table 7.1 Circuit Parameters and Experimental Conditions ......................................................... 99
Table 7.2 Simulation Data ............................................................................................................ 99
Table 7.3 Saber Simulation Result of The rms Value of The DC Link Capacitor’s Ripple Current
.................................................................................................................................... 101
Table 9.1 Expressions for ripple power on auxiliary inductor and capacitor for SSVL and SSVC
.................................................................................................................................... 154

x

LIST OF FIGURES
Figure 1.1 Commercial electrolytic capacitors ............................................................................... 3
Figure 1.2 Commercial film capacitors .......................................................................................... 4
Figure 1.3 Typical three-phase inverter with dc link capacitor ...................................................... 7
Figure 1.4 Typical single-phase inverter with dc link capacitor ..................................................... 8
Figure 2.1 The power electronics function blocks of the series hybrid electric vehicle (SHEV)
systems ......................................................................................................................... 11
Figure 2.2 The schematic of a three-phase inverter/PWM rectifier using SPWM with three-phase
current sources as load ................................................................................................. 13
Figure 2.3 The simplified equivalent circuit of the inverter under six-step operation ................. 14
Figure 2.4 The schematic of a three-phase uncontrolled diode rectifier with line impedance on
the ac side, and with dc link capacitor and resistive load on the dc side ..................... 15
Figure 2.5 The schematic of a bidirectional dc-dc converter connected with a three-phase inverter
with three-phase current sources as load ...................................................................... 16
Figure 2.6 The schematic of a typical AC-DC-AC PWM converter system ................................ 18
Figure 3.1 The schematic of a three-phase inverter/PWM rectifier using SPWM with three-phase
current sources as load ................................................................................................. 24
Figure 3.2 Detailed PWM waveforms in two switching periods (a) sinusoidal reference and
triangle carrier waveforms; (b) switching function of phase A; (c) switching function
of phase B; (d) switching function of phase C; (e) ideal inverter input current iinv
with I avg showing in the same graph. ........................................................................ 31

xi

Figure 3.3 Six sectors for voltage references of phase A, B and C .............................................. 32
Figure 3.4 The flowchart of calculating the maximum Asec during 60° at a certain value of MI
and pf............................................................................................................................ 37
Figure 3.5 The relationship between Modulation Index (M) and Ampere Second (A· sec) .......... 38
Figure 3.6 The relationship between per unit value of desired capacitance ( C p.u. ) and DC link
voltage ripple (ε) .......................................................................................................... 41
Figure 3.7 The relationship between the p.u. value of I rms versus MI with different power
factors for SPWM and 6-step operations ..................................................................... 43
Figure 4.1 Simplified diode rectifier circuit with no line inductance or small line inductance ... 46
Figure 4.2 Simplified diode rectifier circuit with large line inductance ...................................... 46
Figure 4.3 Critical inductance calculation of the diode rectifier (α definition) and Asec
calculation of the diode rectifier with a small inductance............................................ 47
Figure 4.4 Asec calculation of the diode rectifier without line inductance ................................. 50
Figure 4.5 Asec calculation of the diode rectifier with a large inductance.................................. 55
Figure 4.6 Cp.u. versus ε for rectifier operation compared with SPWM operation. ................... 56
Figure 5.1 The simplified equivalent circuit of the inverter under six-step operation ................ 58
Figure 5.2 Cp.u. versus ∆V for 6-step .......................................................................................... 61
Figure 5.3 The aggregate of all figures above: Cp.u. versus ∆V for all operations..................... 62
Figure 5.4 ∆IRMS versus MI for SPWM and 6-step operation ..................................................... 62

xii

Figure 6.1 Inverter module assembly photos (including DC link capacitors, IGBT module, Gate
Drive board and Gate drive power supply on top) ....................................................... 65
Figure 6.2 The experimental waveforms of three phase currents and DC link voltage ripple with
DC link voltage at 200 V. ............................................................................................ 67
Figure 6.3 The experimental waveforms of three phase currents and DC link voltage ripple with
DC link voltage at 400 V ............................................................................................. 68
Figure 6.4 The experimental waveforms of three phase currents and DC link voltage ripple with
DC link voltage at 650 V ............................................................................................. 69
Figure 6.5 The simulation waveforms of three phase currents and DC link voltage ripple with DC
link voltage at 650 V .................................................................................................... 70
Figure 6.6 The experimental waveforms of the capacitor current with DC link voltage at 200 V,
pf=0 and MI=0.9 .......................................................................................................... 72
Figure 7.1 The schematic of the bidirectional DC-DC converter and the inverter ....................... 75
Figure 7.2 (a) One sample switching period of the inverter input current with average current
drawn in the same figure; (b) The converter output current ( fconv = finv ); (c) The
converter output currents for unsynchronized case and synchronized case
( fconv =2 finv ). ........................................................................................................... 77
Figure 7.3 Three sinusoidal references va* , vb* , and vc* of the SPWM inverter with one of the
six sectors shown in pink shaded block, which will be discussed in this paper. ......... 80
Figure 7.4 (a) Common sinusoidal PWM method for the inverter; (b) Simulation waveform of
the inverter input current iinv ...................................................................................... 81
Figure 7.5 Detailed waveforms of SPWM in one switching period. (a) Sinusoidal reference and
triangle carrier waveforms; (b) Switching functions Sa , Sb and Sc of phase A, B and
C; (c) Ideal inverter input current iinv ; (d) Non-zero (active state) and zero (zero state)
current portions in blocks. ............................................................................................ 82

xiii

Figure 7.6 The trend of the S0 , 2 S7 , and S0 + 2 S7 v.s. ωt.......................................................... 84
Figure 7.7 Sine carrier modulation method .................................................................................. 86
Figure 7.8 (a) The desired converter output current of the dc-dc converter; (b) Two references
compared with the triangle carrier for the dc-dc converter; (c) Generated switching
function of v y ; (d) Generated switching function of vx ; (e) Generate Sconv using

S x ⊕ S y ....................................................................................................................... 88

Figure 7.9 The comparison of I RMS between the regular PWM strategy and modified linear
carrier modulation method ........................................................................................... 89
Figure 7.10 The comparison of A·sec between the regular PWM strategy and modified linear
carrier modulation method ........................................................................................... 90
Figure 7.11 (a) The desired dc-dc converter output; (b) The realization approach of the carrier
modulation method: two references, instead of only one, compared with the traditional
triangle carrier; (c) Generated switching function of v y from (b);(d) Generated
switching function of vx from (b); (e) Generate Sconv by S x ⊕ S y . .......................... 94
Figure 7.12 Calculation result and simulation result of the capacitor current ripple per unit value
v.s. duty cycle under test condition .............................................................................. 97
Figure 7.13 The comparison of the capacitor current ripple per unit value between the regular
PWM strategy (dash line) and modified carrier modulation method (solid line) ........ 98
Figure 7.14 The experimental result of the rms ripple current is 15.651 A at 300 V dc link
voltage (Analyzed from the saved data by WVF Viewer from Yokogawa) .............. 102
Figure 7.15 Synchronized the inverter phase A reference signal (yellow) with the converter Vx
and V y low frequency triangle reference signal ( Vx is green and V y is Purple)...... 103
Figure 7.16 The experimental result of the proposed carrier modulation signal for dc-dc boost
converter..................................................................................................................... 104

xiv

Figure 7.17 The experimental results of the inductor current, the converter output current and the
switching signal of the dc-dc boost converter ............................................................ 105
Figure 7.18 The experimental results of the inverter output currents, the switching functions, and
the input current of the SPWM inverter (Redraw the waveforms from the saved data
by WVF Viewer from Yokogawa) ............................................................................. 106
Figure 7.19 Zoom in view of Figure 7.18 ................................................................................... 107
Figure 7.20 Experimental results of the inverter input current, the converter output current, and
the DC link capacitor current (Redraw the waveforms from the saved data by WVF
Viewer from Yokogawa)............................................................................................ 108
Figure 7.21 Zoom in of Figure 7.20. ........................................................................................... 109
Figure 7.22 The SABER simulation results of the dc link capacitor current (comparison for
Figure 7.21) ................................................................................................................ 110
Figure 7.23 Prototype setup ........................................................................................................ 111
Figure 8.1 The system schematic of the 2.1 MVA three-phase cascaded H-bridge multilevel
inverter with separate photovoltaic sources. .............................................................. 114
Figure 8.2 The schematic of one H-bridge module with notations............................................. 115
Figure 8.3 The maximum magnitude of the 3rd harmonic injection that can be selected under a
certain fundamental modulation index. ...................................................................... 119
Figure 8.4 The phase-shifted carrier-based PWM method: (a) two fundamental references with a
triangle carrier; (b) zoom-in view of (a), showing the seven phase-shifted triangle
carrier for the seven modules in one phase leg. ......................................................... 121
Figure 8.5 SABER Simulation – circuit part .............................................................................. 122
Figure 8.6 SABER Simulation – PWM generating part ............................................................. 123

xv

Figure 8.7 Simulation results of the traditional pulsewidth modulation method without 3rd
harmonic injection: M0=0.9, f0=60 Hz, Cdc=3.8 mF. .............................................. 125
Figure 8.8 Simulation results of the proposed 3rd harmonic injection pulsewidth modulation
method: M0=0.9, f0=60 Hz, M3=0.4865, f3=180 Hz, Cdc=3.8 mF. ........................ 127
Figure 8.9 Simulation results of the proposed 3rd harmonic injection pulsewidth modulation
method: M0=0.9, f0=60 Hz, M3=0.4865, f3=180 Hz, Cdc=2.2 mF. ........................ 128
Figure 8.10 Simulation results of the traditional pulsewidth modulation method without 3rd
harmonic injection: M0=0.6459, f0=60 Hz, Cdc=1.6 mF. ........................................ 130
Figure 8.11 Simulation results of the proposed 3rd harmonic injection pulsewidth modulation
method: M0=0.6459, f0=60 Hz, M3=0.6459, f3=180 Hz, Cdc=800 uF.................... 131
Figure 9.1 An ideal variable capacitor ........................................................................................ 135
Figure 9.2 A variable capacitor implemented by an H-bridge inverter ...................................... 135
Figure 9.3 The proposed solid state variable inductor-capacitor: ............................................... 137
Figure 9.4 Traditional H-bridge inverter .................................................................................... 138
Figure 9.5 Traditional H-bridge topology with a bidirectional buck/boost converter ................ 142
Figure 9.6 Traditional H-bridge topology with another bidirectional buck-boost converter ..... 145
Figure 9.7 Traditional H-bridge topology with another H-bridge inverter on the ac side .......... 147
Figure 9.8 Traditional H-bridge topology with another H-bridge inverter in series on the dc side
.................................................................................................................................... 149
Figure 9.9 Traditional H-bridge topology with another H-bridge inverter in parallel on the dc
side ............................................................................................................................. 150

xvi

Figure 9.10 Traditional H-bridge topology with an active filter: (a) use a capacitor as the
auxiliary energy storage; (b) use an inductor as the auxiliary energy storage. ......... 151
Figure 9.11 Phasor diagram of (a) SSVL and (b) SSVC. ........................................................... 155
Figure 9.12 Traditional H-bridge inverter with 820 uF dc capacitor .......................................... 156
Figure 9.13 The proposed SSVC with 150 uF dc capacitor and 300 uF ac auxiliary capacitor. 157
Figure 9.14 The proposed SSVC with 150 uF dc capacitor and 300 uF ac auxiliary capacitor. 158

xvii

CHAPTER 1 DC Link Capacitors
DC link capacitors are used in intermediate circuit applications in power electronics e.g.
power conversion technique, where different kinds of converters couples to one dc voltage level.
Therefore, this kind of capacitors usually has to sustain high dc voltage which exists permanently
and which is always accompanied by high frequency ripple voltages. The capacitors that can
satisfy these requirements usually occupy a large space in the inverter, and they are also heavy
and expensive. However, they commonly exist and play a very important role in most
conventional topologies of power electronics, such as the three-phase voltage source inverter
(VSI) and the single-phase VSI (or H-bridge VSI). These topologies are so matured in nowadays
industry, and traditionally they cannot live without the dc link capacitors.
Therefore, minimization of the dc capacitor is an essential step towards developing and
manufacturing compact low-cost inverter systems for high temperature operation, long life and
high reliability.
Traditionally, the dc capacitance has been determined according to empirical equations and
computer simulations, which provides little insights into how to minimize the dc capacitor. In
order to achieve an optimum minimization of the dc capacitor, an accurate theory to calculate the
dc capacitor voltage ripple and current ripples must be developed first, then pulse-width
modulation (PWM) and control techniques or topological improvements can be further
developed to minimize both dc voltage and current ripples.
This dissertation is mainly divided into two parts. First half is minimizing the capacitor ripple
and requirements for three-phase VSI; while second half is for single-phase (H-bridge) VSI.

1

1.1 Types of DC Link Capacitors
Before going into details about how to minimize the dc link capacitors, let’s take a look at
those most common types of dc link capacitors.
In general, there are two types of capacitors are commonly used in the dc link. One is the
electrolytic capacitor, and the other one is the film capacitor.

1.1.1 Electrolytic capacitor
Electrolytic capacitor for dc link usually looks similar to what are shown in Figure 1.1. It
uses an electrolyte as one of its plates to achieve a larger capacitance per unit volume than other
types. Due to this large capacitance, it makes it a very good candidate for low frequency filter
and large energy storage. [1]
However, it also gets a lot of problems. It tends to have larger leakage current than other dry
types of capacitors. In addition, the limitation on the operating temperatures keeps it away from
high temperature applications. With the large parasitic resistance and inductance, it further limits
its ripple current handle capability. Therefore, in some applications with high temperature and
ripple currents, the electrolytic capacitors tend to have shorter life and less reliability.

2

(a)

(b)
Figure 1.1 Commercial electrolytic capacitors

Pictures are obtained from the below websites:
(a) http://theelectrostore.com/shopsite_sc/store/html/high-voltage-electrolytic-capacitors-400v3900uf.html
(b) http://www.royalrrs.com/products/Capacitors/

3

1.1.2 Film capacitor
Film capacitors are made with an insulating plastic film as the dielectric, and combined with
metallized aluminum or zinc as the electrodes. They are usually wound into cylindrical shape,
with terminals attached on the sides, and then encapsulated. Some of them are look similar to
what shown in Figure 1.2. [2, 3]
They are known of high current ripple handle ability, high operating temperature, very small
equivalent series resistance and inductance. All these features make it a very good candidate for
high switching frequency inverter/converters. However, the capacitance value tends to be smaller
than the electrolytic capacitors. Additionally, the energy density is not as high as the electrolytic
ones either.

(a)

(b)
Figure 1.2 Commercial film capacitors

Pictures are obtained from the below websites:
(a) https://encrypted-tbn3.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcQs8_8lP1VhCh90QQCjguK1HM-SqDLoc87_Hs_OZYvo4ZoWwaX
(b) http://www.sbelectronics.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/04/700D349_300_200.jpg

4

1.2 Comparisons
It is more straightforward to compare these two kinds of capacitors in a table shown in Table
1.1.
In conclusion, as the switching frequency goes higher, operating temperature goes higher,
and the requirement of reliability goes up, it is more preferred to choose film capacitor rather
than aluminum electrolytic capacitor.
Table 1.1 DC Link Capacitor Comparison between Film and Electrolytic [4]

Parameter

Film

Aluminum Electrolytic

Capacitance

Low

High

ESR

Low

High

Max operating temp

105 °C

85 °C

Max voltage

Larger than 1000 Vdc

600 Vdc

Ripple Current

High

Low

Life

Long

Short

Energy Density

Low

High

Failure mode

Fail open

rupture

Construction

Dry

Liquid electrolyte

Polarity

Non polar

Have polarity

5

1.3 Applications Using DC Link Capacitors and Outline
of Dissertation
As mentioned previously, the dc link capacitors are needed in quite a lot of topologies,
including those extremely matured ones, for example, the three-phase inverter and the singlephase inverter. These two topologies are going to be the focus of this dissertation.

1.3.1 Three-Phase Inverters
Figure 1.3 shows a typical three-phase inverter with a dc link capacitor shaded in the dashed
box. This three-phase inverter has been widely used in the industry, for example, the hybrid
electric vehicles (HEV), electric vehicles (EV) and so on.
In the first half of this dissertation, minimizing the dc link capacitance is focused on this
three-phase inverter in HEV application, which is quite a hot topic in recent years.
Chapter 2 gives a general introduction and motivation of the first a few chapters (Chapter 3
to Chapter 7) on HEV applications, and introduces the limited work done in the past, which
indicates more room for this dissertation to contribute.
Chapter 3 to Chapter 5 introduces the theoretical calculation of dc capacitance requirement
and dc current ripple requirement for 3-phase inverter under SPWM, diode rectifier and 6-step
operation method. This indicates the theoretical minimum value of dc capacitance. Chapter 6
shows the simulation, prototype and experimental results of a HEV system.

6

Chapter 7 proposes a new carrier modulation method to synchronize the dc-dc converter and
SPWM inverter in the HEV systems to further minimize the dc link capacitor. It is cross checked
with simulation and experimental results.

Figure 1.3 Typical three-phase inverter with dc link capacitor

1.3.2 Single-Phase Inverters
Figure 1.4 shows a typical single-phase (H-bridge) inverter with a dc link capacitor shaded in
the dashed box. This single-phase inverter is also widely used in the industry for its matured
technology and simple configuration and control.
There are quite a lot of applications. However, in this dissertation, the photovoltaic and the
reactive power compensation is the focused application.
Chapter 8 proposes a 3rd harmonic injection for the photovoltaic system to reduce the dc link
capacitor down to around 50%.

7

Chapter 9 proposes a new topology by adding an additional phase leg and a passive
component to transfer the ripple energy to the auxiliary passive component, so as to reduce the
dc link capacitor down to minimum.
And finally Chapter 10 is the contribution and future work.

Figure 1.4 Typical single-phase inverter with dc link capacitor

8

CHAPTER 2 Introduction

of

HEV

Applications and Their DC Capacitors

2.1 The Advantage of HEV in the Automotive Market
Emissions of CO2 by human activities are currently amounting to about 27 billion tons per
year [5]. The considerably high amount of CO2 emission forces people to make every effort to
minimize these emissions from the aspect of the human activities. Many excellent thoughts are
considered, compared, analyzed, developed and finally built, tested and realized. One of these
outstanding ideas, which protecting our mother earth from global warming and pollutions, is the
development of hybrid electric vehicles (HEV), plug-in hybrid electric vehicles, and pureelectric vehicles. There are many worth reading websites and reviewed papers discussing the
configurations of each kind and the comparison among them [6-8].
Nowadays, compared to the plug-in HEV and pure-electric vehicle, the HEV is the most
popular and commercial type in the current automotive market. Similar to the ordinary vehicles,
HEV possesses the power of fast acceleration and longer driving distance without the limitation
of charging requirements. Equation Chapter 2 Section 1
The HEV system utilizes two different and independent energy sources, and hence, achieves
a much higher fuel economy than the traditional vehicle with solely operated by the lowefficiency energy source—the internal combustion engine (ICE). Therefore, utilizing the HEV

9

can reduce the emissions of CO2 and help clean the cities, at the same time save the limited
energy resources for the world due to its higher efficiency (mile per gallon).
However, speaking to individuals, the cost of a HEV is still higher than the gas price that can
be saved from it. Therefore, in order to impel more and more people to buy HEVs, the price
needs to be further lowered down. That is why engineers have been doing researches on
minimizing the cost, weight and size of the motors, generators, power electronics devices, and
passive components in HEV systems during the past decades.
The work in this dissertation is mainly focusing on minimizing one of the biggest passive
components in the HEV systems—the dc link capacitor, which leads to the ultimate goal of
minimizing the cost, weight and size of the whole HEV systems.

2.2 Types of HEV Systems
Focus on HEVs, there are many different ways to classify HEV systems, and the general
classification is to classify HEVs according to the way in which power is supplied to the
drivetrain. Hence, there are three categories: series hybrid electric vehicles (SHEV), parallel
hybrid electric vehicles (PHEV), and series-parallel hybrid electric vehicles (SPHEV). Generally
speaking, the SHEV is used on heavy duty vehicles (buses, trucks etc.), while the PHEV is
usually applied to light duty vehicles (family sedan etc.).
In order to illustrate the power electronics modules that located in the HEV, take the SHEV
system as an example. The general power electronics function blocks in the commercial SHEV
systems can be demonstrated similarly as Figure 2.1, which consists of an internal combustion
engine (ICE), a generator/motor, a bidirectional pulse-width modulation (PWM) rectifier, a dc

10

link capacitor bank, a bidirectional inverter and a motor/generator. Additionally, instead of a
high voltage battery, a low voltage battery with a smaller size is usually preferred and connected
to the dc link through a dc-dc boost converter. For the sake of having the PWM rectifier, the
inverter, and the dc-dc converter each at the same power rating, the system can have two smaller
inverters controlling two traction motors respectively (shown in Figure 2.1) instead of only one
inverter, whose power rating is the summation of the PWM rectifier’s and the dc-dc converter’s.

Figure 2.1 The power electronics function blocks of the series hybrid electric vehicle (SHEV)
systems

2.3 Power Electronics Challenge in HEV systems
As shown in Figure 2.1, in a SHEV converter/inverter system, the dc link capacitor bank,
shown in the shaded block, is usually bulky, heavy and expensive. The reason for this is that, this
dc link capacitor bank needs to absorb all the current ripples generated by two inverters, the
PWM rectifier, as well as the dc-dc converter. However, traditionally, this dc capacitance has
been determined according to empirical equations and computer simulations, which provide little
insight into how to minimize the dc link capacitance. Therefore, they are usually much bigger
than needed, so that they occupy an unnecessarily large space. It is the biggest component in an
11

inverter box. As a result, minimization of the dc capacitance is an essential step towards
developing and manufacturing compact, light, low-cost HEV converter/inverter systems for high
temperature operation, long life and high reliability.
Therefore, in order to achieve an optimum minimization of the dc capacitor, an accurate
theory to calculate the dc capacitor voltage and current ripple must be developed first, then PWM
and control techniques can be further developed to minimize both dc voltage and current ripples.

2.4 Inverter Operation Modes in HEV
2.4.1 Sinusoidal Pulsewidth Modulation Mode
In the HEV converter/inverter systems, when the vehicle is at a relatively low speed, such as
accelerating from a stop, battery is often chosen as the power supply, instead of the inefficient
ICE. Plus, dc-dc converter is operated as a boost converter, to boost the low battery voltage to
relatively high dc link voltage. Afterwards, the three-phase inverter used to drive the traction
motor usually use sinusoidal pulse-width modulation (SPWM) mode. The SPWM mode can
supply a smoothly increasing ac voltage to cooperate with the increasing speed, in order to
ensure the maximum current and maximum torque. That comes from the V/f control. In this
motoring situation, Figure 2.2 is the equivalent circuit.
Another important situation is when the generator/ICE started. In order to save the trouble of
building another lower power rating starter and adding an additional 12-V battery, just utilizing
the existed battery and the PWM rectifier instead could be a good choice. This requires the PWM
rectifier works as an inverter at this time, which again Figure 2.2 is the equivalent circuit.
How about the regenerative modes? Regenerative mode happens at when the driver pushes

12

the brake pedal. At this time, the motor acts as a generator. The generated power is transferred
through a three-phase PWM inverter (PWM rectifier mode in this case) and a dc-dc converter,
and stored this power in the battery. By doing so, instead of wasting the energy to heat up the
brakes or bleeding resistors, the energy is stored and can be reused later on. This results in
energy saving, and high efficiency. Since the motor/generator is operating as a generator, the
three-phase PWM inverter should operate as a PWM rectifier accordingly to convert the power
from ac to dc. Although it sounds so different, the PWM rectifier is actually the same as the
SPWM inverter. Therefore, in the regenerative mode, as the brake pedal is being pushed and the
speed is decreasing, the PWM rectifier is operated by SPWM, which again Figure 2.2 is
considered.
And of course, when the energy comes from ICE/generator side to the dc link side, the PWM
rectifier is working as a PWM rectifier. Therefore, it is again Figure 2.2.

I avg

iinv

icap

Sa va Sb
DC
Link C

Sc

ib

vb

vc
Sa

ia
ic

Sc

Sb

Figure 2.2 The schematic of a three-phase inverter/PWM rectifier using SPWM with
three-phase current sources as load

13

2.4.2 Six-Step Mode
After the acceleration, the vehicle reaches at a much higher speed. This requires the inverter
to output a higher voltage. In this case, six-step operation is often used, due to its higher dc
voltage utilization. This is demonstrated in Figure 2.3. The only difference from the SPWM
operation mode is that, for six-step operation, when the vehicle goes to higher speed, the back
electromotive force (EMF) can no longer be ignored, that is what happened with those added
voltage sources at the load side in Figure 2.3.

Figure 2.3 The simplified equivalent circuit of the inverter under six-step operation

14

2.4.3 Diode Rectifier Mode
The last mode is diode rectifier mode. For the PWM rectifier, if all the power switches switch
off, and only the freewheeling diodes forced on and off the input voltages, the PWM rectifier
becomes an uncontrolled diode rectifier, as shown in Figure 2.4.
If considered PHEV, there is no PWM rectifier connecting the generator/motor to the dc link.
However, if considered SHEV, there is a PWM rectifier connecting the generator/motor to the dc
link, which at most time rectifies the three-phase ac voltages generated by the generator/motor to
dc voltage. As you may notice, this PWM rectifier can work as an uncontrolled diode rectifier,
like Figure 2.4.

irec
va

L ia

vb

L

vc

L

ib
ic

icap

I avg

C

R

Figure 2.4 The schematic of a three-phase uncontrolled diode rectifier with line
impedance on the ac side, and with dc link capacitor and resistive load on the dc side

15

2.4.4 Synchronization between DC-DC Converter and SPWM Inverter
One last converter that have not been mentioned above is the dc-dc converter that connects
the battery—the energy storage system—to the dc link. Therefore, this dc-dc converter
contributes a certain amount of current harmonics to the dc link capacitor as well, which results
in voltage ripples on the dc link. Consequently, in order to minimize the dc capacitance of the
HEV systems, this part should be considered as well, which shows in Figure 2.5.

iconv
Battery
200 V

Sconv

icap

iinv
Sa
C

Sconv

Sa

va

Sb

Sc
vb

Sb

vc

n

Sc

DC-DC Boost
Converter
Figure 2.5 The schematic of a bidirectional dc-dc converter connected with a three-phase
inverter with three-phase current sources as load

In conclusion, rectifiers and inverters, operated by SPWM and six-step mode, as well as the
uncontrolled diode rectifier and dc-dc converter, are discussed in this thesis. Graphs, which show
the right capacitance value for a given voltage ripple tolerance, are summarized at the end of
each chapter.

16

2.5 Summary of Previous Work
2.5.1 Complicated AC-DC-AC PWM Converter Control Strategies
One of the typical AC-DC-AC PWM converters (sometimes called AC-AC converter) is
shown in Figure 2.6. There are many papers discussing control strategies to reduce ripple current
going through the dc link capacitor C by making the converter side dc link current the same as
the inverter side dc link current, which theoretically needs no capacitance at all. For instance,
direct capacitor current control [9], direct instantaneous input/output power balancing [10, 11],
four-step commutation strategy [12], space vector modulation strategy [13], output current
linearization feedback control (input/output current tracking) [14, 15], nonlinear control [16-18],
and some other methods utilizing the current information. Also, there are a large number of
papers discussing the matric converter or indirect matrix converter without dc link capacitor [1921]. Similarly, they are all proposed with complicated close-loop control. However, there are few
papers which discuss accurately obtaining the theoretical minimum capacitance for HEV systems
by calculating the current ripple going through the dc link capacitor and voltage ripple across the
dc link capacitor under open loop condition.

17

Figure 2.6 The schematic of a typical AC-DC-AC PWM converter system

2.5.2 Theoretical Analysis of Current Ripples and Harmonics of DC
Capacitor
Some studies have been done on current ripple and harmonics of the dc link capacitor. For
example, [22] is a very good paper about the rms current stress on the dc link capacitor for
voltage source inverter (VSI) systems. In addition, [23, 24] are both on the topic of dc link
current harmonics analysis. [25] is closer to the designer’s viewpoint, but no closed-form
equations of current ripple and capacitance value is derived. [26] did not give a theoretical
calculation either. These papers provide a theoretical basis of the current ripple and harmonics.
However, there are few papers talking about the voltage ripple and harmonics of the dc link
capacitor. Also, there are few papers analyzed the current and voltage ripples through the
Ampere-Second point of view, which is actually the source of the voltage ripple.

18

2.5.3 Simple Synchronization between DC-DC converter and SPWM
Inverter to Minimize Capacitance
In the HEV converter/inverter system, inverters are always connected to dc-dc converters, for
the sake of boosting the battery’s low dc voltage to high dc voltage, and then converting into ac
voltage to drive the traction motors, as shown in Figure 2.5. However, the dc link capacitor bank
between the dc-dc converter and the inverter is usually bulky, heavy and expensive. Yet the
bottleneck of the capacitor’s size is determined by the current ripple requirement rather than the
voltage ripple requirement. Hence, a better way to minimize the dc capacitance is narrowed
down to minimize the current ripple through the capacitor by synchronizing the dc-dc converter
and the SPWM inverter. The PWM and control techniques are fairly important. A good way will
help minimizing the capacitance, whereas an unsuccessful one may need more capacitance than
the normal operation.
Similar to the condition described in [9], in order to minimize the dc link capacitance
between the dc-dc converter and SPWM inverter, making the converter side dc link current

iconv equals to the inverter side dc link current iinv in a pulsewidth modulation (PWM)
converter-inverter system is the final destination, so that ideally no current will flow through the
dc link capacitor and no voltage fluctuation will be across the capacitor, meaning no capacitor
needed at all. Till now, most papers that discussed the current ripple reduction and the dc link
capacitance minimization are based on the AC-DC-AC PWM converter-inverter systems with
relatively complicated close-loop control methods [9-11, 14, 27-29]. The best result that they can
achieve is almost without any dc link capacitors. Besides, there are papers discussing innovating
PWM strategies only on inverter side allowing reduction of the dc input current ripples [30-32].
Furthermore, for DC-DC-AC PWM converter [33]. However, very few papers have been written

19

focusing on the current ripple reduction by synchronizing between the DC-DC converter and the
SPWM inverter, the so-called DC-DC-AC PWM converters, which is also commonly existed in
the HEV systems. [34] was a good start for the synchronization by making the DC-DC
converter’s switching frequency twice as much as the inverter’s switching frequency and
optimizing the phase difference of the carrier waveforms between the inverter carrier and DCDC carrier. This method does decrease the current ripple quite a lot. In spite of this, more
improvement can be done.

2.6 Goal and Methodology
When designing a voltage source inverter, the dc link capacitor is an important parameter to
the designer. It is always preferred to know the capacitance’s per unit value if given a percentage
of the tolerable dc link voltage ripple. As a result, once we get a curve showing the relationship
between the per unit value of the dc link capacitor and the desired voltage ripple percentage of
the dc link, as well as taking consideration of a certain value of power factor, we can easily find
out the capacitance by only checking the curve and then multiplying the capacitance base value.
This makes life much easier. In conclusion, our task is to find the curve mentioned above, which
shows the relationship between the per unit value of the capacitance and the dc link voltage
ripple percentage.
For the sake of calculating the capacitance, (2.1) is the basic equation that comes up to one’s
mind, which express the current going through a capacitor, icap , is equal to the capacitance, C,
times the derivative of the voltage across this capacitor, vcap .

20

icap = C

dvcap
dt

(2.1)

Extract the capacitance C out of (2.1), one can get (2.2).

C=

icap ⋅ dt
dvcap

(2.2)

Let’s take a closer look at (2.2), the numerator is icap ⋅ dt , which is a current times a time
interval. From now on, it will be called “Ampere-Second”, short as A· sec, in this thesis.
Moreover, the denominator dvcap , is actually the dc link voltage ripple, due to the assumption
that this thesis is only dealing with dc link capacitance calculation.
For the sake of deriving the dc link capacitance, according to (2.2) obtaining an accurate
expression, for the icap ⋅ dt —Ampere-Second (A· sec)—of the ac ripple current icap that is
flowing in and out of the dc link capacitor during one switching cycle, is the key point to get the
required dc capacitance per unit (p.u.) value, of a given tolerable voltage ripple value, such as
10%.
Based on the previous discussion about the necessity and importance of finding the minimum
dc capacitance for the HEV system, and the previous work that have done by others, here comes
the outline of thesis.
Picking a dc link capacitor is decided by two constrains: one is the capacitance which is
determined by the voltage ripple; the other one is the rms current ripple across the capacitor for
the worst case, which will cause the capacitor internal temperature rise and has to be under a
certain value to ensure the proper operation of the ordinary capacitors. Therefore, each chapter
will be divided into basically two parts:
1. Calculation of the capacitance with a certain requirement of the voltage ripple endurance;

21

2. Calculation of the rms current ripple.
Voltage ripple is more directly related to the capacitance, as one can see from (2.3).
Therefore, in order to get the minimum capacitance for the system, icap ⋅ dt (Ampere-Second)
should be obtained first.

C=

icap ⋅ dt
dvcap

=

icap ⋅ dt

εVdc

(2.3)

These calculations have to be done for 3 different topologies that exists in the HEV systems:
SPWM inverter (motoring low speed), 6-step inverter (motoring high speed), and diode rectifier
(the PWM rectifier without controlling the switches).
In the following a few chapters, an accurate theory of calculating the voltage ripples and
current ripples of the inverters and converters in HEV systems is presented, respectively. The
topologies shown in Figure 2.2 (a) three-phase inverter/PWM rectifier, Figure 2.4 a three-phase
uncontrolled diode rectifier, and Figure 2.5 a dc-dc converter, are mainly discussed in these
chapters, which are the basic modules for a hybrid electric vehicle, both SHEV and PHEV. The
voltage and current ripples of these cases are analyzed and summarized into graphs, which helps
one to find the right capacitance value for a given voltage ripple tolerance and the rms ripple
current that the capacitor has to absorb. Experiments are demonstrated with 510 µF of dc link
capacitance for a 150 kVA inverter, and the results verify the derived expressions.

22

CHAPTER 3 DC Capacitance and Current
Ripple Requirement of the Three-Phase
SPWM Inverter/PWM Rectifier
Chapter 2 gives a general idea of why we need to minimize the dc link capacitor for HEV
converter/inverter systems, and four topologies that are going to be discussed in this thesis. In
this chapter, the objective is to find the requirement of the dc link capacitance and the current
ripple for a three-phase SPWM inverter or a three-phase PWM rectifier. In fact, in terms of
influence to the dc link capacitor voltage and current ripple, these two topologies are inherently
the same. Therefore, only one needs to be analyzed, and the detailed analysis in this chapter is
based on SPWM inverter [35].
In order to make the conclusions more general and convenient for other designers to apply to
their own applications, the results of the dc link capacitance requirement are analyzed and
summarized into graphs at the end of this chapter according to the proposed accurate theory. The
conclusive graphs can help to find the right capacitance value for a given voltage ripple tolerance
and the rms current ripple that the capacitor has to absorb for different power factors.
Finally, this chapter ends up with the experimental results from a 150 kVA inverter prototype,
which proves the calculation result and experimental result are in close agreement.
First of all, let’s start from the first topology in Figure 2.2—the three-phase SPWM
inverter/rectifier. (For convenience, Figure 2.2 is redrawn here as Figure 3.1 on the next page.)

Equation Chapter 2 Section 1

23

I avg

iinv

icap
Sa va Sb
DC
Link C

Sc

ib

vb
vc

Sa

ia
ic

Sc

Sb

Figure 3.1 The schematic of a three-phase inverter/PWM rectifier using SPWM with
three-phase current sources as load

Equation Chapter 3 Section 1

3.1 Basic Idea of Calculating DC Link Capacitance
As mentioned in Chapter 2, for the sake of calculating the capacitance, (3.1) is the basic
equation that comes up to one’s mind, which express the current going through a capacitor, icap ,
is equal to the capacitance, C, times the derivative of the voltage across this capacitor, vcap .
icap = C

dvcap
dt

Extract the capacitance C out of (3.1), one can get (3.2).

24

(3.1)

C=

icap ⋅ dt
dvcap

(3.2)

In (3.2), the denominator, voltage ripple across the capacitor, dvcap , is usually known for a
design. In general, the smaller the capacitance is, the bigger the voltage ripple is. As a result, the
bigger the voltage ripple on the dc link, the more harmonics goes to the ac side load. However,
we want both small capacitor and low harmonics to the load. Obviously, there is a tradeoff
between the two. This tradeoff is determined by the designer’s target. Hence, this voltage ripple
factor is considered a constant in the followed calculation.
Therefore, according to (3.2) and explanation in the above paragraph, the required dc
capacitance C is proportional to the numerator, icap ⋅ dt , which is called Ampere-Second (A· sec)
in the later paragraphs.
In conclusion, an accurate expression for the minimum required dc link capacitance can be
obtained by finding an accurate A· sec expression of the ac ripple current icap , where icap
represents the current going in and out of the dc link capacitor.
As explained above, the most challenging part of this calculation is to find an expression for

A·sec. This is achieved by integrating the positive/negative part of icap in one switching period.
Obviously, if icap is integrated during one switching cycle, the result is zero because the dc link
capacitor does not have a dc current offset, otherwise the dc link voltage will keep increasing and
finally blow up the capacitor. That is why integrating the whole switching cycle does not help.
Therefore, integrating either positive or negative part is the target.

25

3.2 Theoretical Basis
Figure 3.1 shows the schematic of a three-phase SPWM inverter/PWM rectifier with dc link
capacitor and three-phase load/current source. Let’s take a close look at this figure. First of all, it
is desired to decompose the ideal inverter input current iinv into two parts.

•

A constant dc current I avg is assumed to be supplied by a dc current source, which
does not introduce any other current ripples. It can be imagined as a diode rectifier in
series with a huge inductor. Although this does not really exist in the HEV system
nowadays, the purpose of this assumption is eliminating all current ripples that
coming from other sources, but only focusing on the current ripples that come from
the SPWM inverter side, as shown in Figure 3.1.

•

As one may already know, the other part of the ideal inverter input current iinv is the
ac ripple current icap , which flows in and out of the dc link capacitor bank, whose
average is zero in every switching cycle and of course every fundamental cycle as
well.

Therefore, I avg is equal to the average of iinv .

3.2.1 Switching Functions
First of all, assume the rms value of the inverter output line-to-line voltage is Vac , the 3rd
harmonic injection is v3ω (the same to all three phases), the fundamental frequency in radian is

26

ω , the rms value of the inverter output line current is I ac , the modulation index is M, and the
power factor angle is φ .
The inverter three-phase output voltages van , vbn and vcn in Figure 3.1 can be expressed as
shown in (3.3). Understand that the inverter three-phase output voltages are PWM waveforms.
Equation (3.3) only shows their fundamental components. That is why they are sinusoidal
expressions, without the summation of any higher order of sine terms.

van =

2
Vac sin(ωt ) + v3ω
3

vbn =

2
2
Vac sin(ωt − π ) + v3ω
3
3

vcn =

2
2
Vac sin(ωt + π ) + v3ω
3
3

(3.3)

Secondly, the inverter three-phase output currents ia , ib and ic are all perfect sinusoidal
currents. For one thing, it is relatively reasonable because the traction motors are usually
equivalent to huge inductors, which are enough to smooth out most of the ripples. For another
thing, similar as previous explanation, it is desired to eliminate all the other ripples influence,
and only focus on the ripples that generated by the SPWM operation method.
Similarly, the inverter output three phase currents ia , ib and ic can be expressed as shown in
(3.4), where they are assumed to be perfect sinusoidal currents.

1
2
2
ib = 2 I ac sin(ωt − φ − π )
3
2
ic = 2 I ac sin(ωt − φ + π )
3
ia = 2 I ac sin(ωt − φ )

27

(3.4)

From Figure 3.2 and the proof in the Appendix, the switching functions of the three upper
switches Sa , Sb and Sc are obtained in (3.5).
Sa =

v
1 1
+ M sin ωt + 3ω
Vdc
2 2

Sb =

v
1 1
2
+ M sin(ωt − π ) + 3ω
Vdc
2 2
3

Sc =

v
1 1
2
+ M sin(ωt + π ) + 3ω
Vdc
2 2
3

(3.5)

3.2.2 Relationship between Vdc and Vac
Please note that the dc link voltage has a relationship with the ac output line-to-line voltage
as shown in (3.6), under both normal modulation and over modulation, which means
M ∈ [0, 1.15] .

V
2
M dc =
Vac
2
3

(3.6)

3.2.3 Average Current
The input real power of the inverter on the dc side can be expressed as (3.7).
Pdc = Vdc I avg

(3.7)

The output real power of the inverter on the ac side can be expressed as (3.8).
Pac = 3Vac I ac cos φ

(3.8)

The efficiency of the inverter is usually above 90%. This means the power loss is relatively
small comparing to the total power. Therefore, if the power loss in the inverter is ignored, the
input real power is equal to the output real power, as shown in (3.10).

28

Vdc I avg = 3Vac I ac cos φ

(3.9)

Put I avg on one side of the equation, and others on the other side. Equation (3.10) can be
obtained.
V
I avg = 3 ac I ac cos φ
Vdc

(3.10)

Hence, substituting (3.6) into (3.10), the average current (3.11) is obtained.
I avg =

3 2M
I ac cos φ
4

(3.11)

Similarly, the average current expression (3.11) can be achieved by substituting (3.4) and
(3.5) into (3.12) as well, which means the switching functions shown in (3.5) are actually
indicating the average duty cycle in each switching cycle.
I avg = Sa ia + Sbib + Sc ic

29

(3.12)

3.3 Calculation of Required DC Link Capacitance
Figure 3.2 shows the PWM switching details during two switching cycles. Figure 3.2 (b) (c)
(d) shows the switching functions of three phases determined by the traditional SPWM strategy,
whose duty cycle in each switching period can be calculated from (3.5). In addition, Figure 3.2 (e)
is the ideal inverter input current iinv . As it is assumed the inverter is fed by a constant current
source of I avg , it can be understood that the current waveform that is flowing in and out of the
dc link capacitor bank, icap , is the waveform in (e), but with I avg as the x-axis instead of 0.
Instead of looking at the whole 360°, it is the same to analyze only 60°, for the reason that
the waveforms are repeated in a low frequency at 6ω due to the three-phase system. Therefore,
the following analysis will only focus on the range of 30° to 90° (take va as a reference), where
va > vc > vb , drawed in pink (or shaded area) in Figure 3.3.

30

Figure 3.2 Detailed PWM waveforms in two switching periods
(a) sinusoidal reference and triangle carrier waveforms;
(b) switching function of phase A;
(c) switching function of phase B;
(d) switching function of phase C;
(e) ideal inverter input current iinv with I avg showing in the same graph.

31

Figure 3.3 Six sectors for voltage references of phase A, B and C

From Figure 3.2(e), it is obvious to calculate A· sec by integrating the positive/negative half
of icap during one switching period. If using the positive half, the expression for the area of the
shaded blocks will be
A ⋅ sec = Tsw ( Sc − Sb )(ia + ic − I avg )

(3.13)

By substituting (3.4), (3.5) and (3.11) into (3.13), we can get (3.14).
A ⋅ sec =

6
π 3


I acTsw M cos(ωt ) sin(ωt − φ + ) − M cos φ 
2
3 4



(3.14)

As one can tell from (3.11), I avg is related to power factor (pf) and modulation index (M).
Therefore, if either of the two decreases, I avg will decrease, which leads to the equation
expressing the A· sec to be different, due to different blocks are involved into (3.13).

32

Here is the conclusion: during this 60°, A· sec is actually a piecewise function related to M, pf,
rms line current, switching frequency and instantaneous time. For example, if it is assumed M=1
when pf=1, there are three expressions for A· sec listed in Table 3.1. The expression of A· sec is
basically changing with the I avg value level, depending on whether it is bigger or smaller than
ia or ia + ic . As mentioned before, pf can change the I avg value, therefore the expression of

Asec changes with pf. As pf decreases from unity to zero, the number of Asec expressions
decreases from three to one as well, such as:
•

pf=1, it has all three Asec expressions;

•

pf=0.866, it has the first two Asec expressions;

•

pf=0, it only has the first Asec expression;

Similarly, as M can modify the I avg value as well, the expression of A· sec changes with M
as expected. However, no matter what the condition is, the expression of A· sec will not come out
from these three expressions.
Table 3.1 Expressions of A· sec ( va > vc > vb )
Range

A· sec

No.

ia < I avg < ia + ic

Tsw ( Sc − Sb )(ia + ic − I avg )

Expression 1

I avg < ia < ia + ic

Tsw ( Sc − Sb )(ia + ic − I avg ) + ( Sa − Sc )(ia − I avg ) 

Expression 2

I avg < ia + ic < ia

= Tsw (1 − Sa + Sb ) I avg

ia + ic < I avg < ia

Tsw ( Sa − Sc )(ia − I avg )

33

Expression 3

In conclusion, expression 1 will be effective for any pf and M. Expression 2 and expression 3
are only valid for pf=1 with any M. Table 3.2 shows the simplified expressions of A· sec by
substituting (3.4) and (3.5) into Table 3.1.
Table 3.2 Simplified Expressions of A· sec ( va > vc > vb )
Range

A· sec

No.

ia < I avg < ia + ic

6
π 3


I acTsw MI cos(ωt ) sin(ωt − φ + ) − MI cos φ 
2
3 4



Expression 1

I avg < ia < ia + ic
I avg < ia + ic < ia
ia + ic < I avg < ia

 3 3
6
π 
I acTsw MI cos φ 
− MI sin(ωt + ) 
2
6 
 2 4

6
π 3

I acTsw MI cos(ωt + )  MI cos φ − sin(ωt − φ ) 
2
3 4


Expression 2

Expression 3

3.3.1 Maximum A·sec during 60° with the Same Power Factor and
Modulation Index
When pf=0, expression 1 becomes (3.15).
A ⋅ sec =

6
π
I acTsw M cos(ωt ) sin(ωt − )
2
6

(3.15)

The maximum Asec during 60°, with the same pf and M, can be found by taking the partial
derivative of (3.15) with respect to ωt.
Assume (3.16) to make things easier.
k = 2 I acTsw
The derivative can be expressed as (3.17).

34

(3.16)

d
π
A ⋅ sec = kM cos(2ωt − )
d ωt
6

(3.17)

Therefore, within the appropriate range of ωt, equation (3.18) can be derived. m=1 and ωt=π/3
will give A· sec maximum value, where m is an integer in (3.18).

ωt = m

π
2

−

π
6

=

π
3

(3.18)

Put (3.18) back into (3.15),
1 3
kM
4 2

A sec =

(3.19)

Equation (3.19) is drawn as the red line in Figure 3.5 by varying M from 0 to 1. If it is
assumed that the base A·sec is (3.20), A· sec max can be derived in a per unit form as (3.21).
A ⋅ secbase = 2 I acTsw

(3.20)

1 3
M
4 2

(3.21)

A ⋅ secmax p.u. =

Since Table 3.2 expression 2 is valid for pf=1, it is easier than Table 3.2 expression 1 to
manipulate. In expression 2, please note that the term, that has ωt, has a negative sign in front,
which will yield the minimum instead.
In this case, observation is necessary. For the expression 2, finding the minimum of sine will
give a maximum value. ωt=π/6 or π/2 will give the maximum Asec value.
The expression becomes (3.22).
A sec max =

 3 3
6
π 
I acTsw M cos φ 
− M sin( ) 
2
3 
 2 4

With (3.20), A·sec p.u. is obtained in (3.23).

35

(3.22)

A ⋅ secmax p.u. =

 3 3
3
π 
M cos φ 
− M sin( ) 
2
3 
 2 4

(3.23)

In conclusion, the maximum Asec, standing for voltage ripple, can be expressed in (3.21)
when pf=0 and in (3.23) when pf=1.
Similarly, the other power factors can be analyzed in the same way. However, it is a little bit
harder to find the roots than the two shown here, since they will become a 4th order polynomials.
Nevertheless, MATLAB can be used to achieve these solutions. Figure 3.4 shows the
flowchart of calculating one point on Figure 3.5, such as on the pf=u line with M=x.

36

MI = x

A sec f = 0
i=0

ωt =

π
6

ωt >

+i

π
3n

π
2

I avg > ia
A sec = Tsw ( Sc − Sb )(ia + ic − I avg )

I avg > ia + ic

A sec = Tsw (1 − Sa + Sb ) I avg

A sec = Tsw ( S a − Sc )(ia − I avg )

A sec f > A sec

A sec f = A sec

i = i +1

Figure 3.4 The flowchart of calculating the maximum Asec during 60° at a certain value
of MI and pf
37

In the flowchart, n is the number of the switching cycles in 60° of the fundamental cycle,
shown in (3.24).
f
n = sw
f ref

(3.24)

f sw is the switching frequency and f ref is the fundamental frequency.

Figure 3.5 The relationship between Modulation Index (M) and Ampere Second (A· sec)

Therefore, by varying M and pf, Figure 3.5 is obtained, which shows the relationship
between the A· sec and modulation index by varying the pf from 0 to 1.

38

Please note that the three expressions shown in Table 3.1 possess a “ Si − S j ” term, so v3ω in
(3.5) disappears in the A· sec expression, meaning the voltage ripple will not be influenced by the
3rd harmonic injection. This happens to the current ripple as well, as one can see from section 2.4.

3.3.2 Maximum A·sec versus Power Factor
The maximum Asec at different power factor points must be determined, since it is necessary
to consider the worst case when selecting capacitance values. For instance, this can be achieved
by taking the partial derivative of (3.21) and (3.23) with respect to M for pf=0 and pf=1
respectively. Therefore, when pf=0 and M=1.15, A·sec reaches its maximum, while when pf=1,
(3.25) is achieved.
3
cos φ − M cos φ = 0
2

(3.25)

If pf=cos φ =1, M=2/3 will give the maximum A·sec, which can be noticed in Figure 3.5 as
well.
Finally, in order to get the per unit value of the desired capacitance, it is necessary to define
the capacitance base formula. For the sake of eliminating the power rating of the inverter, Cbase
can be defined as (3.26).
Cbase =

3I ac
2π fVac

(3.26)

Considering Vdc is always constant, while Vac is varied with frequency by changing the MI,
Cbase can be expressed using Vdc instead by substituting (3.6) into (3.26). Eq.(3.27) is obtained.

39

Cbase =

2 I ac
π fVdc M

(3.27)

In order to calculate (3.27), one has to find the maximum point for each pf on Figure 3.5 and
record the specific M for that maximum point, as Table 3.3 shows.

Table 3.3 The M at the maximum A·sec for each pf
pf

M

1.000

0.667

0.866

0.744

0.707

0.816

0.500

1.150

0.000

1.150

Assume is ∆vdc the tolerable voltage ripple that the system requires, and ε is the voltage
ripple percentage. The capacitance can be calculated through (3.28).
C=

A secmax A secmax
=
∆vdc
ε ⋅Vdc

(3.28)

Therefore, the per unit value of the capacitance can be expressed as (3.29).

C p.u. =

f ref A secmax π M
ε
2 I ac

(3.29)

Figure 3.6 shows the relationship between the per unit value of the desired capacitance C p.u.
and a given DC link voltage ripple requirement ε.

40

Please note that Figure 3.6 is under the condition of switching at 5 kHz and having a
fundamental frequency at 200 Hz because the experiment is under this condition and will be
easier to compare later on.

1.4
1.2
X: 0.0365
Y: 0.9858

C p.u.

1
0.8
0.6
0.4
0.2

0.02

0.04
0.06
0.08
DC-link voltage ripple

0.1

Figure 3.6 The relationship between per unit value of desired capacitance ( C p.u. ) and DC
link voltage ripple (ε)

41

3.4 Calculation of RMS Value of DC Current Ripple
Most dc ripple current has to be absorbed by the dc capacitor, which is also one of the most
important factors for capacitor design and selection. For SPWM inverters, it is clear that
calculating the rms current will be very similar to Asec. Eq.(3.30) can be obtained from Figure
3.2(e).
2

−
+
−
S
S
i
i
I
(
)
c
b
a
c
avg


π
2 
3 2

2
I rms = ∫π + ( Sa − Sc ) ia − I avg
 d ωt
π


2
6 + 1 − S + S I

( a b ) avg



(

)

(

)

(3.30)

By combining with (3.4), (3.5) and (3.11), eq. (3.31) is achieved.
 3
27


M ⋅ I ac 2  −4 cos(2φ ) + 3 3π M cos 2 φ − cos 2 φ M 2 − 6  
−
4


3  12
I rms 2 = 

2
π  3 2
 π
3 

+  4 I ac cos φ M   3 − 2 M 

 

 


(3.31)

It can be simplified to (3.32), which has been proved in [22] by Dr. Kolar. The agreement
further proved both equations correctness.
 3
 3 9

I rms 2 = 4 I ac 2 M 
+ cos 2 φ 
− M  
 4π
 π 16  

(3.32)

v3ω does not appear in (3.31), which is the same as the three expressions in Table 3.2. This
means the I rms is not influenced by the 3rd harmonic injection, but varies with MI and power
factor. Please note that during over modulation operation, the expression of I rms remains the
same, as A· sec does. The only difference is that the MI is extend from 1 to 1.15.
42

The p.u. value of I rms versus MI is summarized in Figure 3.7 for SPWM, and for the sake of

RMS per unit value of ripple current

comparison, simulation results of several six-step operation points are also shown.

0.8
pf=1 (SPWM)
pf=0.866 (SPWM)
pf=0.5 (SPWM)
pf=0 (SPWM)
pf=1, L=3% (6-step)
pf=0.5, L=3% (6-step)
pf=0, L=3% (6-step)
pf=1, L=1% (6-step)
pf=0.5, L=1% (6-step)
pf=0, L=1% (6-step)

0.6

0.4

0.2

0
0

0.3

0.6
0.9
Modulation Index

1.2

1.4

Figure 3.7 The relationship between the p.u. value of I rms versus MI with different
power factors for SPWM and 6-step operations

43

CHAPTER 4 DC Capacitance Requirement
of the Three-Phase Diode Rectifier
The previous chapter is about the SPWM inverter/PWM rectifier. In this chapter, the dc
capacitance and current ripple will be calculated for the traditional diode rectifier.
The three-phase diode rectifier is not specially built in a HEV system. However, every IGBT
has a freewheeling diode paralleled with it. Therefore, when the traction motor is doing
regenerative breaking, the energy from the motor will have to be sent back to the dc link side and
intended to store in the battery or any other energy storage system connected on the other side of
the dc-dc converter. When the firing angle is 0, that is to say, there is no control for the switches,
but only the diodes, the converter is an uncontrolled diode rectifier as shown in Figure 2.4. Also,
when the generator on the engine side is generating power, the PWM rectifier can work as a
diode rectifier if there are no switching signals sent to the IGBTs.
In conclusion, in the HEV system, even if there is no diode rectifier purely consisted with
diodes, the diode rectifier is still existed because of the freewheeling diode of the IGBT.

Equation Chapter 3 Section 1

44

4.1 Introduction
Generally speaking, based on if there is current commutation when the phase current shifts,
the diode rectifier can be divided into three cases:
a) Without line inductance;
b) With a small line inductance;
c) With a big line inductance.
How to determine this critical point between small and big inductance is the first question.

4.2 Calculation of the Critical Inductance
At this critical point, the output current id is between discontinuous current mode (DCM)
and continuous current mode (CCM), where no phase current commutation happens. Therefore,
there are always two diodes on at the same time, as shown in Figure 4.1. Therefore, (3.1) can be
obtained from Figure 4.1. Equation Chapter (Next) Section 1
di
vab − 2 L d 2 = Vdc
dt

(4.1)

Assume α is the angle when the line current starts to rise from 0, as shown in Figure 4.3.
Since current begins to flow only when the line-to-line voltage vab becomes equal to the dc link
voltage, (3.2) is true.

cos α =

Vdc
2Vac

Hence, by doing integration from 0 to t of (3.1), id 2 can be expressed as (3.3).

45

(4.2)

id 2 =


1  2Vac
[sin(ωt − α ) − sin(−α )] − Vdct 

2 L  ω


L

va

ia
id2

L

vb

(4.3)

ib

ic

Iavg

C

R

Figure 4.1 Simplified diode rectifier circuit with no line inductance or small line
inductance

va

L

ia

vb

L

ib

vc

L

id1
iu

ic

ic

Iavg
C

R

Figure 4.2 Simplified diode rectifier circuit with large line inductance

46

ia
0 α

π
3

vvdc
dc
vab t = 0

t = t pk

Figure 4.3 Critical inductance calculation of the diode rectifier (α definition) and Asec
calculation of the diode rectifier with a small inductance

Since this case is the critical point of id , the initial condition is (3.4).
T 
ia = id 2 (0) = id 2   = 0
6

(4.4)

Assume the fundamental frequency is 60 Hz, so that t=T/6=1/360, and ω=2π60. Solving
(3.2), (3.3) and (3.4) gives (3.5).

α = 0.34767 = 19.92°

(4.5)

Assume the real power consumed by the load P remains the same. I avg is the same as the

47

average value of ia during 60°.
1

P
= I avg = 360∫ 360 id 2 dt
0
Vdc

(4.6)

Then, putting (3.2) and (3.3) into (3.6), the real value of the inductance is expressed as (3.7).
By assuming the base value of the inductance is (3.8), the per unit value of critical inductance
L p.u. . is achieved to be 1.4639%.
2Vac
2Vac sin(−α )
360
ω
(1/ 360)2
[−
(cos(
]
− α ) − cos(−α )) −
− Vdc
2
2
360
360
2
ω
ω
L=
P
2Vac cos α

(4.7)

V 2
Lbase = ac
ωP

(4.8)

48

4.3 Calculation of Required DC Link Capacitance

4.3.1 With No Line Inductance
The voltage waveform of the diode rectifier when there is no line inductance is shown in
Figure 4.4. The blue, green, magenta and red waveforms are vab , vbc , vca and vdc respectively.
Assume the time interval is t1 when the dc link capacitor is being charged through the diodes by
the ac sources, and the time interval is t2 when the capacitor is discharging to the load. During
t2 , the dc link voltage is decreasing exponentially to be exact, like shown in (3.9).
t
RC
Vr ( pp ) = 2Vac − 2Vac e
−

(4.9)

where R is the load resistance, C is the dc link capacitance and Vac is the three-phase input lineto-line rms voltage. However, for the sake of convenience, the exponential function can be
simplified to a linear function (3.10) without much error involved.
Vr ( pp ) =

49

2Vact2
RC

(4.10)

vdc

vbc

T
6

vab

vca

t2

t1

Figure 4.4 Asec calculation of the diode rectifier without line inductance

An approximated assumption is made here, in order to get the simple expression of the A·sec,
which is t2 ≈T/6. Therefore,
Vr ( pp ) =

2Vac
6 fRC

(4.11)

Hence, since a linearly decreasing voltage is assumed already, the average of the dc link
voltage (4.12) is at the middle point of the peak to peak ripple voltage.
Vdc = 2Vac −

Vr ( pp )
2

(4.12)

Again, assume the voltage ripple ε in (4.13) is the peak to peak ripple voltage divided by the
average dc voltage.

ε=

Vr ( pp )
Vdc

=

50

2
12 fRC − 1

(4.13)

One of the known conditions is (4.14).
V 2
R = dc
P

(4.14)

Consequently, substituting (4.13) into (4.14), will yield (4.15).

2Vac 2 

2 

 2+ε 
P

R=

2

(4.15)

Substituting (4.15) into (4.13) will give the final capacitance expression as (4.16).
C=

1
P
2 
(2 + ε )2  + 1
96 f V 2
ε

ac

(4.16)

The per unit value of the DC link capacitance (4.17) is only related the dc link voltage ripple
factor ε, by assuming the base value in the form of (4.18).
C p.u. =

C
Cbase

=

1
2 
(2 + ε )2  + 1 2π
96
ε


Cbase =

P
2π fVac 2

(4.17)

(4.18)

4.3.2 With 0%~1.46% Line Inductance
The primary method for this case is to first get the expression of the desired current ic and
secondly to integrate over a period to get A·sec. Matlab is used to get the initial value.
The equations for this case are almost the same as in the critical point calculation method. In
Figure 4.3, α’s assumption is the same as in the previous case. Therefore, (3.2) is again valid.
The same (3.1) is obtained from the simplified circuit in Figure 4.1. The solution (3.3) of (3.1) is
the phase current. When t = t pk , id 2 = 0 . (3.9) is obtained. The real power expression (3.6) is

51

valid as well.
Vdc t pk
2Vac
[sin(ωt pk − α ) − sin(−α )] −
=0
2ω Ls
2 Ls

(4.19)

Fortunately, only t pk and α are unknowns in the system of equations (3.19) and (3.6),
indicating that there exists a unique pair of solutions. Using Matlab, t pk and α can be obtained.
Finally, integrating the positive half of ic will give the expression of Asec. The upper and
lower limit of the integration t1 and t2 are determined by (3.20) using Matlab. From all of these,
(3.21) can be drawn in Figure 4.6 as the blue dashed line, of course by assuming the base value
of the capacitance as (3.18).
2Vac
V t
P
[sin(ωt − α ) − sin(−α )] − dc −
=0
2ω Ls
2 Ls Vdc

(4.20)

V t
1 t2  2Vac
P 
[sin(ωt − α ) − sin(−α )] − dc −

 dt
∫
ε t1  2ω Ls
2 Ls Vdc 

(4.21)

ic =

C=

4.3.3 With Line Inductance Greater Than 1.46%
The primary method of this case is the same as the previous one with a small line inductance.
However, this case includes two conditions: one is that three diodes are on at the same time as
shown in Figure 4.2, and the other is that two diodes are on at the same time as shown in Figure
4.1, because of the phase current commutation.
For the first condition, derive (3.22) and (3.23) from the simplified diode rectifier circuit as
shown in Figure 4.2.

52

di
di
vab = 2Vac cos(ωt − α ) = 2 L d1 − L u + Vdc
dt
dt

(4.22)

di
di
2π
) = 2 L u − L d1
3
dt
dt

(4.23)

vbc = 2Vac cos(ωt − α −

By combining (3.22) and (3.23), id1 and iu are obtained.
id1 =

2 2Vac
2V t
[sin(ωt − α ) − sin(−α )] − dc
3ω L
3L

(4.24)

2Vac
2π
2π
+
[sin(ωt − α − ) − sin(−α − )] + id1(0)
3ω L
3
3

where id1(0) is the initial condition.
iu =

2 2Vac
2π
2π
[sin(ωt − α − ) − sin(−α − )]
3ω L
3
3

(4.25)

2Vac
V t
+
[sin(ωt − α ) − sin(−α )] − dc
3ω L
3L

To calculate id1(0) , (3.26) is used, and (3.27) is achieved, where t1 and the origin are
demonstrated in Figure 4.5.
iu (t1 ) = id1(t1 )

id1 (0) =

2Vac
ωt
ωt
π V t
(2 3) sin( 1 ) sin( 1 − α − ) + dc 1
3ω L
2
2
3
3L

(4.26)

(4.27)

For the second condition, (3.28) is derived from the simplified circuit, and please note that
the time delay of π/3 is due to the reference voltage is vab .
di
π
vac = 2Vac cos(ωt − α − ) = 2 L d 2 + Vdc
3
dt

where id 2 is shown in Figure 4.1.
Therefore, id 2 is obtained from (3.28).

53

(4.28)

id 2 =

2Vac
V
π
π
[sin(ωt − α − ) − sin(ωt1 − α − )] − dc (t − t1 ) + id 2 (t1)
2ω L
3
3
2L

(4.29)

where id 2 (t1) is the initial condition.
Since the condition is known:
id 2 (t1) = iu (t1)

(4.30)

Substituting (3.30) into (3.25) yields (3.31).
id 2 (t1) =

2 2Vac
2π
2π
[sin(ωt1 − α − ) − sin(−α − )]
3ω L
3
3

(4.31)

2Vac
V t
+
[sin(ωt1 − α ) − sin(−α )] − dc 1
3ω L
3L

Finally, by utilizing (3.32) and (3.33), t1 (the critical point from commutation to normal
status) and Vdc can be achieved with Matlab. Using the same method as before, after getting the
expression of Asec, the per unit value of capacitance can be obtained.
 1 
id 2 
 = id1(0)
 360 

(4.32)

1


1  t1
P

360
+
=
i
dt
i
dt
d
1
d
2
∫
∫
 V
t1
1/ 360  0
dc




(4.33)

In conclusion, three curves, that show the relationship between the per unit capacitance value
and the given tolerable voltage ripple percentage ε, for no line inductance, small inductance, and
large inductance respectively, are drawn in the same graph in Figure 4.6, with comparison to the
SPWM operation.

54

ia
ic

vvdc

dc

vab

α
t = 0 t = t1

t=

1
360

Figure 4.5 Asec calculation of the diode rectifier with a large inductance

55

10
L=0 (Diode rectifier)
L=1% (Diode rectifier)
L=10% (Diode rectifier)
pf=0~1 (SPWM)

C p.u.

8
6
4
2
0
0

0.02

0.04
0.06
0.08
DC-link voltage ripple

0.1

Figure 4.6 Cp.u. versus ε for rectifier operation compared with SPWM operation.

56

CHAPTER 5 DC Capacitance Requirement
of the Six-Step Inverter
Six-step operation is used at a higher speed, when higher output voltage is required. It is
because that six-step operation has higher dc utilization than the traditional SPWM operation.

5.1 Simplified Configuration and System Parameters
As the traction motors run to a higher speed, the back electromotive force (EMF) should be
considered. In this case, the equivalent circuit of the inverter under six-step operation is shown in
Figure 5.1. Assume that there are three more voltage sources va , vb , and vc , inserted in each
phase leg at the load side, representing the three-phase back EMFs of the traction motors. Since
the load is a traction motor, inductors and resistors should be added as well. In order to have
unity power factor, the inserted voltage source will have a leading power factor,
va = Vi sin(ωt + ϕ ) ( Vi and ϕ are the amplitude and angle of the inserted voltage source—the
back EMF, which are calculated by assuming a power factor and an inductance).
Assume the inductance L ranging from 0.3%, 1% and 3% of the per unit (p.u.) value, the
resistance R is 1% p.u., the base system is as (5.1), the base speed of the traction motor is 1200
rpm, and the maximum speed is 5000 rpm. Therefore, the inductance of the system base would
be as shown in Table 5.1.Equation Chapter (Next) Section 1
 P = 150kW

Vll = 480V

57

(5.1)

Figure 5.1 The simplified equivalent circuit of the inverter under six-step operation

Table 5.1 The list of Inductance and Resistance Changing Base
Per unit

Lreal

Lnew,base

0.3%

18.335 uH

1.466772 mH

1.25%

1%

61.115 uH

1.466772 mH

4.17%

3%

183.346 uH

1.466772 mH

12.5%

1%

0.01536 Ω

(base speed)

L

R

Per unit

58

(max speed)

1%

By knowing the inductance and assuming a power factor, the amplitude and angle of the
inserted voltage source, Vi and ϕ , are obtained in Table 5.2.
Table 5.2 The list of Inserted Voltage source Amplitude and Phase Angle Based on Different
Power Factor and Load Impedance
L
3%

p.f.

1%

0.3%

Vi ( peak ) / V

φ/º

Vi ( peak ) / V

φ/º

Vi ( peak ) / V

φ/º

1.0

391.08

7.19624

388.34

2.41002

388.03

0.72339

0.5

433.28

3.69049

404.27

1.63847

394.24

0.84928

0.0

440.93

0.50928

408.27

0.55002

396.84

0.56587

5.2 Calculation of Required DC Link Capacitance
From a simplified schematic of Figure 5.1, which is very similar to Figure 4.2, (4.2) is
obtained.
dia
d (−ib )

Vdc = Ria + L dt + va + R(−ib ) + L dt + (−vb )

ia + ib + ic = 0

di
di
 Ria + L a + va = Ric + L c + vc
dt
dt


(5.2)

By combining them together, (4.3) is achieved.
dia R
V
v
+ ia = dc − a
dt L
3L L

(5.3)

Therefore, the solution of (5.3) should be in the general form of: ia = ia ( p ) + ia ( g ) , where

59

ia ( p ) stands for the particular solution and ia ( g ) represent general solution. The particular
solution ia ( p ) is (4.4).
ia ( p ) = a + C cos(ωt − ϕ ) + D sin(ωt − ϕ )

(5.4)

V
Vi
Dω L
where a = dc , D = −
,C = −
.
2
2
2
R
3R
R +ω L

and the general solution ia ( g ) is (4.5).

ia ( g )

R
− t
= k ⋅e L

(5.5)

For ia , the only unknown coefficient is k, the initial coefficient. To get this, Matlab can be
utilized to calculate k, integrate ia , and draw Figure 5.2 showing the relationship between the per
unit value of the desired capacitance and a given dc link voltage ripple requirement.

60

5

pf=1 -:L=3%
pf=0.5 --:L=1%
pf=0

C p.u.

4
3
2
1
0
0

0.02

0.04
0.06
0.08
DC-link voltage ripple

0.1

Figure 5.2 Cp.u. versus ∆V for 6-step
In conclusion, all figures above are aggregated and compared, in Figure 5.3 and Figure 5.4

61

4
SPWM inverter (pf=0~1)
Diode rectifier (L>=6%)
Diode rectifier (L=1%)
Diode rectifier (L=0)
6-step inverter (pf=1, L=3%)
6-step inverter (pf=0.5, L=3%)
6-step inverter (pf=0, L=3%)
6-step inverter (pf=1, L=1%)
6-step inverter (pf=0.5, L=1%)
6-step inverter (pf=0, L=1%)

C p.u.

3

2

1

0
0

0.02

0.04
0.06
0.08
DC-link voltage ripple

0.1

RMS per unit value of ripple current

Figure 5.3 The aggregate of all figures above: Cp.u. versus ∆V for all operations

0.8
pf=1 (SPWM)
pf=0.866 (SPWM)
pf=0.5 (SPWM)
pf=0 (SPWM)
pf=1, L=3% (6-step)
pf=0.5, L=3% (6-step)
pf=0, L=3% (6-step)
pf=1, L=1% (6-step)
pf=0.5, L=1% (6-step)
pf=0, L=1% (6-step)

0.6

0.4

0.2

0
0

0.3

0.6
0.9
Modulation Index

1.2

1.4

Figure 5.4 ∆IRMS versus MI for SPWM and 6-step operation

62

CHAPTER 6 Prototype and Testing Results
of SHEV Power Electronics Module

6.1 Prototype
The inverter module in Figure 6.1 was developed to achieve 100 kW continuous output
power (150 kW peak power) for use in a series hybrid electric bus. The rated output line-to-line
voltage is 480 V, and the rated line current is 180 A. Therefore, according to (3.29) and Table
3.3, Cbase is 516.95 uF. Equation Chapter (Next) Section 1
This paper shows calculations of the minimum capacitance that one system needs without
any close-loop control strategy. Therefore, the experiments were done under open loop
circumstances.
The experiment is done at the condition when the dc link voltages are 200 V, 300 V, 400 V,
500 V, 600V and 650 V, the switching frequency is 5 kHz, the fundamental frequency is 200 Hz,
and the power factor is almost 0 with a purely inductive load—1 mH in each phase connected in
wye. The inverter is operated under the SPWM normal modulation method. In this prototype, the
parameters of the setup are listed in Table 6.1. In the system in Figure 6.1, the total dc link
capacitance is 510 uF with six 85 uF 1000 V film capacitors in parallel.
The per unit value of dc capacitance can be obtained.
C p.u. =

510uF
= 0.9866
516.95uF

63

(6.1)

Table 6.1 The Configuration in the Prototype
Parameters

Value

Load inductor

1 mH

Power factor (pf)

0

DC link capacitance

510 uF

DC link voltage

650 V

AC current

180 A

Switching frequency

5 kHz

Fundamental frequency

200 Hz

Modulation index (MI)

0.9

From Figure 3.6, the nearest point of the per unit value of dc capacitance is 0.9858, whose ycoordinate indicates that the voltage ripples on the dc link would be 3.65%. This is verified by
the following experiment results.

64

Figure 6.1 Inverter module assembly photos (including DC link capacitors, IGBT module,
Gate Drive board and Gate drive power supply on top)

65

6.2 Test Results of Voltage Ripple
The experimental results are shown in Table 6.2.
Table 6.2 Expreimental Result of Voltage ripple

Vdc/V

Iac/A

Vdc ripple/V

ε/%

200

58

7.8

3.9

300

87

10.8

3.6

400

116

13.7

3.4

500

145

16.6

3.3

600

173

20.9

3.5

650

180

21.7

3.3

As mentioned before, the maximum voltage ripple on the dc link during one switching cycle
should be around 3.6% of the dc voltage by the theoretical calcuation, which is in close
agreement with the test result shown in Table 6.2. The purple, blue and yellow nearly sinusoidal
waveforms in Figure 6.2, Figure 6.3, and Figure 6.4 are the load phase currents, and the green
waveform is the dc link voltage ripple. The 6ω ripple component in the dc link voltage comes
from the almost pure inductive load.

66

ia [50 A / div]

ib [50 A / div]

ic [50 A / div]

∆vdc [5 V / div]

Y1

3.25000V

Y2

-4.55000V

∆Y

7.80000V

Figure 6.2 The experimental waveforms of three phase currents and DC link voltage
ripple with DC link voltage at 200 V.

67

ia [100 A / div]

ib [100 A / div]

ic [100 A / div]

∆vdc [5 V / div]

Y1
Y2

4.95000V
-8.75000V

∆Y

13.7000V

Figure 6.3 The experimental waveforms of three phase currents and DC link voltage
ripple with DC link voltage at 400 V

68

ia [200 A / div]

ib [200 A / div]

ic [200 A / div]

∆vdc [10 V / div]

Y1

7.70000V

Y2
∆Y

-14.0000V
21.7000V

Figure 6.4 The experimental waveforms of three phase currents and DC link voltage
ripple with DC link voltage at 650 V

69

Figure 6.5 The simulation waveforms of three phase currents and DC link voltage ripple
with DC link voltage at 650 V

70

6.3 Test Results of Current Ripple
From Figure 5.4, when pf=0 and MI=1, the rms current per unit value is 0.52; when MI=0.75,
the p.u. is 0.46; when MI=0.5, the p.u. is 0.38; when MI=0.25, the p.u. is 0.27. The experimental
results are shown in Table 6.3, which is in close agreement with the theoretical value.
id = Sa ia + Sbib + Scic

(6.2)

Table 6.3 Experimental Results of rms current of The Capacitor

MI=1

MI=0.75

Vdc/V
Iac/A

Irms/A

ε

Iac/A

Irms/A

ε

200

30.2

15.15

0.50

22.7

10.40

0.46

300

45.3

23.80

0.53

33.9

15.57

0.46

400

60.4

33.28

0.55

45.2

21.50

0.48

500

75.3

40.10

0.53

56.7

26.60

0.47

600

90.6

48.00

0.53

67.8

31.53

0.47

MI=0.5

MI=0.25

Vdc/V
Iac/A

Irms/A

ε

Iac/A

Irms/A

ε

200

15.1

5.73

0.38

7.22

1.93

0.27

300

22.5

8.83

0.39

10.9

3.02

0.28

400

30.0

11.4

0.38

14.3

3.88

0.27

500

37.6

15.0

0.40

18.1

4.80

0.27

600

44.9

17.7

0.39

21.6

5.65

0.26

71

The yellow and green waveforms in Figure 6.6 are Vce waveforms of the lower switches of
phase A and B. The red and orange sine waveforms are the phase currents of phase A and C. The
middle PWM red waveform is the inverter input current and since pf=0, it is the capacitor current
ic as well due to I avg =0. Since layout of the dc link is of the busbar design type, the capacitor
current was measured by math function in oscilloscope by (6.2).

va [500 V / div]

vb [500 V / div]

ic
ic [500 A / div]

ia [500 A / div]
MATH1

Rms

31.805E+00
Rms
CH1
HIGH CH5
280.24 mV
197.50 V
Figure 6.6 The experimental waveforms of the capacitor current with DC link voltage at
200 V, pf=0 and MI=0.9

72

Theoretical equations to express capacitance versus voltage ripple and rms ripple current
versus modulation index have been developed for SPWM. These equations improve the
design/calculation of the required dc capacitance and enhance insight into the limits and
optimum operation of the HEV converter/inverter system as compared to the traditional
empirical equations and simulations. The validity of the theory was verified by the experimental
results of a three-phase SPWM inverter system.

73

CHAPTER 7

Minimizing

the

DC

Capacitance between the DC-DC Converter
and SPWM inverter—A Carrier Modulation
Method
7.1 Introduction
In the HEV converter/inverter system, for the sake of boosting the battery’s low dc voltage to
high dc voltage, and then converting it into ac voltage to drive the traction motors, the inverters
are always connected in series to the dc-dc converters, as shown in Figure 7.1. However, the dc
link capacitor bank between the dc-dc converter and the inverter is usually bulky, heavy and
expensive, due to the fact that it must absorb all the current ripples from every converter
connected to it. Therefore, minimization of the dc capacitor is an essential step towards
developing and manufacturing compact low-cost HEV converter/inverter systems for high
temperature operation, long life and high reliability [36]. Equation Chapter (Next) Section 1

74

Figure 7.1 The schematic of the bidirectional DC-DC converter and the inverter

Yet the bottleneck of the capacitor’s size is determined by the current ripple requirement
rather than the voltage ripple requirement due to the existing capacitors-making technology.
Similar to the condition described in [9], in order to minimize the dc link capacitance between
the dc-dc converter and the SPWM inverter, making the converter side dc link current iconv equal
to the inverter side dc link current iinv in a PWM converter-inverter system is the final destination.
Ideally, no current will flow through the dc link capacitor and no voltage fluctuation will be
across the capacitor, meaning no capacitor is needed at all. Till now, most papers that discussed
the current ripple reduction and the dc link capacitance minimization are based on the AC-DCAC PWM converter-inverter systems with relatively complicated close-loop control methods [911, 14, 24, 27-29]. The best result that they can achieve is almost without any dc link capacitors.
Besides, there are papers discussing innovative PWM strategies only on the inverter side,
allowing reduction of the dc input current ripples [30-32, 37], which is the same as reducing the
capacitance. Still, there are a few papers related to DC-DC-AC PWM converters [33, 38]. [33]
75

used bang-bang control for the dc-dc converter to minimize the dc link capacitance, however it is
a complicated close-loop control. Additionally, [38] developed a single-phase PWM method for
the inverter to reduce 2/3 of the switching loss and achieve high efficiency; this kind of PWM
method requires the system to have bigger ripple on the dc link so that only a tiny dc link
capacitor is needed. These are either complicated close-loop control for the dc-dc converter, or
the PWM strategy for the inverter. However, very few papers have been written focusing on the
current ripple reduction by synchronizing between the dc-dc converter and the SPWM inverter.
Shown in Figure 7.2 (c), the black solid line shows the converter output current when
synchronized, while the blue dashed line shows the one that is unsynchronized. Therefore, in
order to cancel the current ripple with the inverter input current shown in Figure 7.2 (a), the solid
line one will definitely do a better job than the dashed line one. In conclusion, a synchronized
PWM method will help minimize the capacitance, whereas an unsynchronized PWM may double
the requirement of the capacitance. Hence, a better way to minimize the dc capacitance is to
reduce the current ripple through the capacitor by synchronizing the dc-dc converter and the
SPWM inverter. [34] made a good start for the synchronization by making the dc-dc converter’s
switching frequency twice as much as the inverter’s switching frequency and optimizing the
phase difference of the carrier waveforms between the inverter carrier and dc-dc carrier. This
method does decrease the current ripple quite a lot, which is shown in Figure 7.2. In spite of this,
more improvement can be made.
In this chapter, a simple carrier modulation method is proposed to reduce the current ripple
going through the dc link capacitor. This paper proposes two different kinds of new carrier
modulation methods for the dc-dc converter, and concludes to one that is easy to implement, in
order to match with the inverter input current so as to minimize the current ripple that going

76

through the dc link capacitor. Comparing with the conventional triangle carrier, the proposed
simple carrier modulation is able to help minimize the current ripple going through the dc link
capacitor at unity power factor by a simple and easy implementation without complex close-loop
control. The simulation and experimental results are provided to validate the effectiveness of the
proposed method.

Figure 7.2 (a) One sample switching period of the inverter input current with average
current drawn in the same figure; (b) The converter output current ( fconv = finv ); (c) The
converter output currents for unsynchronized case and synchronized case ( fconv =2 finv ).

77

7.2 The Conditions Under Consideration

7.2.1 Unity Modulation Index of the Inverter
Assume the dc-dc converter is working at boost mode; therefore the SPWM inverter operates
at unity modulation index to maximize the output voltage. This assumption is made, because
common sense states that lowering the voltage by decreasing the modulation index of the
inverter is counter-productive, when dc-dc converter is doing boost. However, the method
proposed in this paper is still applicable to modulation index other than unity, since different
modulation index does not change the positions of the inverter current pulses.

7.2.2 Unity Power Factor of the Load
Depending on motor types and motor operation conditions, the motor power factor can range
from 0.6 to unity. In this chapter, it is assumed that the load is at unity power factor, due to the
reason that low power factor will result in low dc current, so that benefit of the proposed carrier
modulation method will not be significant.

7.2.3 Constant Duty Cycle for the Boost Converter
The duty cycle of the dc-dc converter in every switching cycle is constant in steady state, and
assume the dc-dc converter’s duty cycle under 2/3, when doing boost. The reasons are as follows.
First of all, the constant output voltage of the battery and the desired value of the dc link voltage
determines the duty cycle of the dc-dc converter. Secondly, if one keeps the average duty cycle
constant, but periodically changes it from cycle to cycle, the inductor current will end up with
78

much higher low frequency harmonic components, which is absolutely undesired. Therefore, it is
better to keep the duty cycle constant in every switching cycle.

7.2.4 Sinusoidal Inverter Output Currents
Since the motors in HEV systems usually behave as huge inductors plus resistors, it is safe to
assume that the output current is almost sinusoidal.

7.2.5 Analyze One of Six 60° Sectors
Instead of looking at the whole fundamental period of 360°, it is the same to analyze only 60°,
for the reason that the waveforms are repeated at a frequency of 6ω due to the three phases.
Therefore, the following analysis will only focus on the range of 30° to 90° (take va* as a
reference), where va* > vc* > vb* , shown in pink shaded block in Figure 7.3.

79

Figure 7.3 Three sinusoidal references va* , vb* , and vc* of the SPWM inverter with one of
the six sectors shown in pink shaded block, which will be discussed in this paper.

7.3 The Analysis of the Ideal SPWM Inverter Input
Current Waveform
Figure 7.4 (a) shows the common sinusoidal PWM method for the inverter during the 60°
sector ( va* > vc* > vb* ) that specified in section II. Figure 7.4 (b) demonstrates the trend of the
inverter input current’s pulse positions within this sector. Each triangle indicates a switching
cycle; therefore there are 6 switching cycles in Figure 7.4. From switching cycle No. 1 to No. 6, it
can be seen that the two pulses in each switching cycle are shifting from the side to the middle.

80

Figure 7.4 (a) Common sinusoidal PWM method for the inverter; (b) Simulation
waveform of the inverter input current iinv

81

Figure 7.5 Detailed waveforms of SPWM in one switching period. (a) Sinusoidal
reference and triangle carrier waveforms; (b) Switching functions Sa , Sb and Sc of
phase A, B and C; (c) Ideal inverter input current iinv ; (d) Non-zero (active state) and
zero (zero state) current portions in blocks.
82

Figure 7.5 shows the detailed SPWM inverter input current waveform in one switching
period during this 60° sector of va* > vc* > vb* . Therefore, va* actually refers to the maximum
phase voltage, vc* indicating the middle one and vb* represents the minimum phase voltage
within this sector. It can be seen from Figure 7.5 (d) that the ideal SPWM inverter input current
iinv waveform is composed of two parts: the blue blocks indicating the non-zero current portion
and the pink blocks stands for the zero current part. The analytical equations respect of the time
for each portion can be obtained as shown in (7.1).
S0 = 1 − S a
1
S 4 = ( S a − Sc )
2
1
S5 = ( Sc − Sb )
2
1
S7 = Sb
2

(7.1)

where Sa , Sb and Sc are the switching functions expressed as in (7.2) [39].
1 1
+ MI ⋅ sin ωt
2 2
1 1
2
Sb = + MI ⋅ sin(ωt − π )
2 2
3
1 1
2
Sc = + MI ⋅ sin(ωt + π )
2 2
3
Sa =

(7.2)

MI stands for the modulation index and ωt represents the instantaneous time. From Figure 7.5
(c), it can be easily understood that the ideal SPWM inverter input side dc link current waveform
iinv , which is ideally expected to be cancelled as much as possible in order to minimize the dc
capacitance, is composed of two almost symmetrical pulses. That is why the extended summary
[34] made a big step towards minimizing the current ripple of the dc link capacitor by making the
converter’s switching frequency double that of the inverter switching frequency.
83

From (1), (2) and Figure 7.4, it is obvious that the zero current portions S0 and S7 , as shown
in the pink blocks in Figure 7.5 (d), are changing with ωt, while the duty cycle of the boost
converter is fixed, determined by the battery’s current voltage and the required dc link voltage.
This conflict cannot be satisfied unless we shift the output converter current pulses left or right to
fit the position of the inverter input current pulses. Figure 7.6 shows the trend of the S0 and 2 S7
v.s. the degrees. If 1 − D is between 0.134 and 0.25, where D is the duty cycle of the dc-dc

Normalized zero current time
S0, S7, S7+S0

converter, the ripple cancellation will achieve a better result.

0.25
0.2

2S7+S0

0.15
0.134

S0

0.1

2S7

0.05
0
30

40

50

60

70

80

ωt/°
Figure 7.6 The trend of the S0 , 2S7 , and S0 + 2S7 v.s. ωt

84

90

7.4 The Proposed Carrier Modulation Method for the
Boost Converter
Considering pulse width modulation, there are usually two things that can be modified, the
carrier and the reference. As discussed in section 6.2, the duty cycle of the boost converter is
fixed. Hence, it is better to keep the reference as a straight horizontal line, and change the carrier
to ensure the fixed duty cycle in each cycle, but at the same time shift the output current pulses of
the dc-dc converter left or right to match with the inverter’s input current.
In order to match the dc-dc converter output current pulses in Figure 7.2 (c), with the above
described inverter input current pulses, there are several ways to generate this modulated carrier.
Two of them are listed below as A and B. Please note that they are different, so that the resulted
rms values of the dc link capacitor ripple current are different as well. However, since A—the
linear method—involves in fewer harmonics, it has lower rms current ripples than the others.

7.4.1 Sine Carrier Modulation Method
If we just consider the middle point X of the left one pulse of the two shown as in Figure 7.7,
the function of this shifting actually can be expressed as the length in (7.3).
S + S4 

∆T =  S7 + 5
 Tsw
2 


(7.3)

where Tsw is the inverter switching period and ∆T is defined to be the time length from the
starting point of the switching cycle to the above mentioned middle point X. Substitute (7.1) and
(7.2) into (7.3) will achieve (7.4).

85

T  1
1
π 

∆T = ( Sa + Sb )Tsw = sw 1 + MI sin  ωt +  
4
4  2
3 


S 5 + S 4 S5 + S 4
2
2
Figure 7.7 Sine carrier modulation method

86

(7.4)

7.4.2 Linear Carrier Modulation Method
A balanced system indicates that Sa + Sb + Sc = 0 , therefore, Sa + Sb = − Sc . It can be
noticed that ∆T in (7.4) is proportional to Sc , where again Sa is the maximum phase voltage, Sb
is the minimum phase voltage, and Sc is the middle phase voltage.
As we all know, sine function is approaching linear around zero crossing point. Review Figure
7.3 or Figure 7.4 (a), the middle phase voltage can actually be simplified to a straight line crossing
zero. This is the B method—linear carrier modulation method. The mathematical expression is
written in (7.5).

T f
f
∆T = sw  sw − n  , n = 1, 2, ... , sw
2  6 f0
6 f0


(7.5)

where ∆T is the same meaning as previous one, f0 is the fundamental frequency, and n is the
index number of each switching cycle.
It is quite simple and easy to realize both of them. Taking the sine carrier modulation method
as an example, ∆T in (7.4) is actually a part of the sine function for each sector, but is very close
to the ∆T in (7.5)—a triangle function. Based on the triangle theory and assuming the amplitude
of the triangle carrier is 1, (7.6) and (7.7) are easy to get from observing Figure 7.8, where D is
the boost converter’s duty cycle. Please note that (7.4) has a minimum and maximum value of
[1/4, 3/4], when ωt is between 30° and 90°, which means D in (7.6) and (7.7) can only be
between [1/2, 1] to make sure Vx and V y are between 0 and 1. With the assumption that the
boost converter’s duty cycle is usually under 2/3, in this case D is limited in the range of [1/2,
2/3]. Finally, the way to get Sconv is simply S x ⊕ S y as shown in Figure 7.8 .

87

1 − D Tsw 
2
2 
2∆T 1 − D
⇒ Vx =
−

Tx
Vx
2
Tsw

=
Tsw / 2 1


(7.6)

1 − D Tsw 
2
2 
2∆T 1 − D
+
 ⇒ Vy =
Ty
Vy
Tsw
2

=

Tsw / 2 1

(7.7)

Tx = ∆T −

Ty = ∆T +

The way to generate the sine carrier modulation is quite similar to [40].

Figure 7.8 (a) The desired converter output current of the dc-dc converter; (b) Two
references compared with the triangle carrier for the dc-dc converter; (c) Generated
switching function of v y ; (d) Generated switching function of vx ; (e) Generate Sconv
using S x ⊕ S y

88

1.2

Irms p.u.

1
0.8
0.6
0.4
0.2
0

0.1

0.2

0.3 0.4
Duty Cycle

0.5

0.6

Figure 7.9 The comparison of I RMS between the regular PWM strategy and modified
linear carrier modulation method

89

0.03
0.025

AmpSec

0.02
0.015
0.01
0.005
0
0

0.1

0.2

0.3 0.4
Duty Cycle

0.5

0.6

Figure 7.10 The comparison of A·sec between the regular PWM strategy and modified
linear carrier modulation method

90

7.5 Theoretical Analysis of DC Link Current Ripple for
Sine Carrier Modulation Method
More theoretical analysis is highly desired to prove the effectiveness for many other different
conditions.
This section presents the theoretical analysis and experimental verification of the dc link
capacitor current ripple reduction using this proposed carrier modulation method, in the HEV dcdc converter and inverter systems. Detailed analysis and equations are shown for both the dc-dc
converter output current waveforms and the SPWM inverter input current waveforms. By
subtracting one from the other, the dc link capacitor current waveform is obtained. Thereafter,
MATLAB is used to calculate the rms value of this dc link capacitor current waveform. The
conclusions are summarized into graphs to show the variation of the rms current ripple changing
with the dc-dc converter duty cycle for different load power factors.
In this section, the final goal is to get the expression of the dc link current ripple ( icap ) for
both the traditional method and carrier modulation method. In order to achieve this goal, it is
necessary to get the expressions of the dc-dc converter output current iconv and the SPWM
inverter input current iinv respectively. Please note that the carrier modulation method referred in
this section is the sine carrier modulation method as explained in the last section.
In Figure 7.4 (a), each triangle indicates a switching cycle. Obviously, there are 6 switching
cycles in Figure 7.4. From switching cycle No. 1 to No. 6, it can be seen that the two inverter
input current pulses in each switching cycle are shifting from the sides to the middle. Therefore,

91

in order to cancel out the inverter input current pulses, the desired converter output current should
have the similar pattern as shown in Figure 7.4.

7.5.1 Basic Equations
Figure 7.11 shows the details of the realization approach for the carrier modulation method. In
order to get the desired dc-dc converter output current shown in Figure 7.11 (a), the switches
control signal is generated by two references comparing with the traditional triangle carrier,
shown in Figure 7.11 (b), instead of generating a modulated triangle carrier, which requires a lot
from a DSP. The final switch control signal is shown in Figure 7.11 (e).
Obviously, there are five time intervals shown in Figure 7.11 (e): T1, T2, T3, T4, and T5.
Because of the symmetry and assume the carrier’s frequency is much higher than the reference’s
fundamental frequency, it can be concluded that T1=T5, and T2=T4. Therefore, we can get T1,
T2, and T3 as shown in (7.8), (7.9) and (7.10) respectively.
T1 = Tx = ∆T −

T2 =

1− D
Tsw
4

1− D
Tsw
2

T3 = Tsw − 2∆T −

1− D
Tsw
2

(7.8)

(7.9)

(7.10)

S + S4 

where ∆T =  S7 + 5
 Tsw . Please note that the sine modulation method tries to align the
2 


middle of the inverter input current pulses with the middle of the converter output pulses.
Figure 7.5 (c) shows the detailed SPWM inverter input current in one switching period which
is in the 60° sector of va > vc > vb . Therefore, va refers to the maximum phase voltage, vc

92

indicates the medium one and vb represents the minimum phase voltage. The analytical equations
respect of the time for each portion can be obtained as (7.11).
1
TS0 = Tsw Sb
2
1
TS5 = Tsw ( Sc − Sb )
2
1
TS = Tsw ( Sa − Sc )
4
2
TS7 = Tsw (1 − Sa )

(7.11)

where Tsw is the switching period of the inverter, and Sa , Sb and Sc are switching functions
expressed as in (7.2).

93

Figure 7.11 (a) The desired dc-dc converter output; (b) The realization approach of
the carrier modulation method: two references, instead of only one, compared with
the traditional triangle carrier; (c) Generated switching function of v y from (b);(d)
Generated switching function of vx from (b); (e) Generate Sconv by S x ⊕ S y .
94

7.5.2 Current Ripple Analysis
First of all, obtain the dc-dc converter output current expression, which is a piecewise function
as you can see from Figure 7.11 (a). Known that the average of the inductor current I avg is
related with the average of the dc-dc converter output current I avg _ conv by the duty cycle D, as
shown in (7.12).
I avg _ conv

I avg =

1− D

(7.12)

Due to the conservation of energy, the average of the dc-dc converter output current
I avg _ conv is equal to the inverter input current I avg _ inv , whose expression is shown in (7.13).
I avg _ inv =

3 2 MI
I ac cos φ
4

(7.13)

Hence, the inductor average current can be expressed as shown in.
I avg =

3 2 MI
I ac cos φ
4(1 − D)

(7.14)

Understand that, for every steady-state switching cycle, the inductor current starts with this
I avg , and ends with this I avg as well. Therefore, the inductor current expression for the five time
intervals are shown below from a to e.

i.

During time interval T1

The inductor current has a positive slope, because that the switch is turned on, and the
converter input voltage is charging the inductor. The inductor current can be express as shown in
(7.15).

95

V
iL _ T 1 = I avg + in t
L

(7.15)

where t = [0, T1] .

ii.

During time interval T2
V
DVin


iL _ T 2 =  I avg + in T1  −
( t − T1 )
L  (1 − D ) L


(7.16)

where t = [T1, T1 + T2 ] .

iii.

During time interval T3
V
DVin

 V
iL _ T 3 =  I avg + in T1 −
Tsw  + in ( t − T1 − T2 )
L
2L

 L

(7.17)

where t = [T2 , T3 ] .

iv.

During time interval T4
V
DVin
V
DVin


iL _ T 4 =  I avg + in T1 −
Tsw + in T3  −
( t − T1 − T2 − T3 )
L
2L
L

 (1 − D ) L

(7.18)

where t = [T3 , T4 ] .

v.

During time interval T5

V
DVin
V
DVin

 V
iL _ T 5 =  I avg + in T1 −
Tsw + in T3 −
Tsw  + in ( t − T1 − T2 − T3 − T4 ) (7.19)
L
2L
L
2L

 L

where t = [T4 , T5 ]

96

7.5.3 Calculation Results
Figure 7.12 shows calculation result (the solid line) and simulation result (six red dots,
simulation data are in Table 7.2) of the current ripple per unit value vs. duty cycle under test
condition but varies the duty ratio. Figure 7.13 shows the comparison of the capacitor current
ripple per unit value between the regular PWM strategy (dash line) and modified carrier
modulation method (solid line) (black: p.f.=1, blue: 0.866; green: 0.707; magenta: 0.5; red:
p.f.=0.)

1.2

Irms p.u.

1
0.8
0.6
0.4
0.2
0.2

0.3

0.4
0.5
Duty Cycle

0.6

0.7

Figure 7.12 Calculation result and simulation result of the capacitor current ripple
per unit value v.s. duty cycle under test condition
97

1.6

Irms p.u.

1.4
1.2
1
0.8
0.6
0.4
0.3

0.4
0.5
Duty Cycle

0.6

Figure 7.13 The comparison of the capacitor current ripple per unit value between
the regular PWM strategy (dash line) and modified carrier modulation method (solid
line)

98

Table 7.1 Circuit Parameters and Experimental Conditions
DC-DC converter input voltage

Vin

200 V

DC-DC converter duty cycle

D

1/3

DC link voltage

Vdc

300 V

DC-DC converter inductance

L

180 uH

DC link capacitor

C

510 uF

Inverter switching frequency

fsw

10.8 kHz

Equivalent converter switching frequency

fsw_conv

21.6 kHz

Fundamental frequency

f

60 Hz

Load power factor

cosφ

0.884

Load

Z

2.5 Ω + 3.5 mH

Modulation index

MI

0.92

Table 7.2 Simulation Data
D

Vin (V)

Icap_rms (A)

Iac (A)

p.u.=Irms/Iac

0.25

225

12.1273079

34.40646281

0.352471801

0.333

200

15.63728678

34.3981922

0.45459618

0.425

172.5

20.67948663

34.38478368

0.601413893

0.5

150

25.21480867

34.36809767

0.733669024

0.6

120

32.3776283

34.32988761

0.943132371

0.667

100

38.33122442

34.28333922

1.118071498

99

7.6 Experimental Results
The experiment was conducted under the following conditions: the dc-dc input voltage is 200
V generated by a three-phase diode rectifier with a large electrolytic capacitor bank, dc-dc
converter duty cycle is 1/3, the dc link voltage is 300 V, the inverter switching frequency is 10.8
kHz, the equivalent dc-dc converter switching frequency is 21.6 kHz, the fundamental frequency
is 60 Hz, and the p.f. is around 0.884 with a 3.5 mH inductor and a 2.5 Ω resistor in series
connected in wye. The inverter is operated under the SPWM normal modulation method with a
modulation index of 0.92.
One thing has to be mentioned here: since the inverter’s dc link capacitor banks are connected
to the IGBT pack through busbars, which preventing direct measurement of the inverter input
current, the same thing on the converter side. Therefore, the inverter current is obtained by (7.20)
based on measurement of the output currents and switching signals from the DSP, while the
converter output current is obtained by (7.21).
iinv = Sa ia + Sbib − Sc (ia + ib )

(7.20)

iconv = SconviL

(7.21)

This requires at least 2 current sensors and 3 voltage sensors for the inverter input current
measurement and 1 current sensor and 1 voltage sensor for the converter output current
measurement. The available oscilloscopes have 4 analog channels with enough digital inputs,
however, the math function (7.22) cannot apply to the already calculated iinv and iconv .
Therefore, the experimental results that have more than 3 waveforms on the same graph are done
by saving “waveform”—data file .wvf—on the oscilloscope and redrawn on the computer by
WVF Viewer software from Yokogawa.
100

icap = iconv − iinv

(7.22)

Table 7.3 shows the saber simulation of the four different modulation methods. First one is
the original method with the same switching frequency for both the converter and inverter.
Second is that the converter switching frequency is twice as much as the inverter switching
frequency. Third method is, based on second one, shift the converter output current pulses using
linear carrier modulation method proposed in this paper. The last one is the sine carrier
modulation method. It can be seen that the linear carrier modulation method achieves the best
result, and around 17%~20% reduction of the current ripple based on the second method is made.

Table 7.3 Saber Simulation Result of The rms Value of The DC Link Capacitor’s Ripple
Current
Condition

I cap _ rms

fconv = finv

26.531 A

fconv = 2 finv

19.271 A

fconv = 2 finv with linear carrier modulation

15.656 A

fconv = 2 finv with sine carrier modulation

15.704 A

Figure 7.14 Shows the experimental results of the rms ripple current of the dc link capacitor is
15.651 A at 300 V dc link voltage, and it is highly agreed with the SABER simulation in table I
row 3. Figure 7.15 shows the synchronized the inverter phase A reference signal (yellow) with the
converter Vx and V y low frequency triangle reference signal ( Vx is green and V y is Purple). The
ripples on these signals are due to the reason that they are got from the PWM signals after a low
pass RC filter. Figure 7.16 shows the S x , S y and Sconv for the proposed linear carrier
101

modulation method. It can be seen that the switching signal of Sconv , achieved by S x ⊕ S y , is
shifting its pulses in one inverter switching cycle left and right. Figure 7.17 shows how the
converter output current is gotten from (7.21). Digital and analog signals are separated by the
oscilloscope automatically. Figure 7.18 and Figure 7.19 show the how the inverter input current is
gotten from (7.20). Figure 7.20 and Figure 7.21 show the capacitor current got from (7.22) with
the converter output current and the inverter input current, for comparison. Finally, Figure 7.22
gives the SABER simulation for a comparison with Figure 7.21. The simulation result and the
experimental result are very similar, and the only difference is the experimental result has a 6ω
component involved in the converter output current due to the diode rectifier at the input side.

Figure 7.14 The experimental result of the rms ripple current is 15.651 A at 300 V dc
link voltage (Analyzed from the saved data by WVF Viewer from Yokogawa)

102

Figure 7.15 Synchronized the inverter phase A reference signal (yellow) with the
converter Vx and V y low frequency triangle reference signal ( Vx is green and V y is
Purple)

103

Sx ⊕ S y

2 V / div

Sx

2 V / div

Sy

2 V / div

Figure 7.16 The experimental result of the proposed carrier modulation signal for dc-dc
boost converter

104

iL
iconv

Sconv
Figure 7.17 The experimental results of the inductor current, the converter output current
and the switching signal of the dc-dc boost converter

105

ia

50 A / div

ib

50 A / div
Sa
Sb

Sc

iinv
50 A / div
Figure 7.18 The experimental results of the inverter output currents, the switching
functions, and the input current of the SPWM inverter (Redraw the waveforms from the
saved data by WVF Viewer from Yokogawa)

106

ia

ib

50 A / div

50 A / div
Sa
Sb

Sc

iinv
50 A / div
Figure 7.19 Zoom in view of Figure 7.18

107

iinv

iconv

icap

Figure 7.20 Experimental results of the inverter input current, the converter output
current, and the DC link capacitor current (Redraw the waveforms from the saved data by
WVF Viewer from Yokogawa)

108

iinv

iconv

icap

Figure 7.21 Zoom in of Figure 7.20.

109

iinv

iconv

icap

Figure 7.22 The SABER simulation results of the dc link capacitor current (comparison
for Figure 7.21)

110

Figure 7.23 Prototype setup

7.7 Conclusion
Around 17%~20% reduction of the current ripple based on the already reduced current ripple
in [34] is realized by using the proposed carrier modulation method, which leads to the
minimization of the dc capacitance. Due to the reduced current ripple, the voltage ripple of the dc
link is reduced as well. The proposed method has the merits of simple and easy realization. There
is no requirement of any fast feedback and complicated close-loop control blocks, but gives
significant dc link ripple reduction and dc link capacitance minimization.

111

CHAPTER 8 Minimizing DC Capacitance
Requirement

of

Cascaded

H-Bridge

Multilevel Inverters for Photovoltaic Systems
by 3rd Harmonic Injection

8.1 Introduction
As the demand of the renewable energy increases every year, the photovoltaic (PV) systems
have been playing an important part in supplying energy for the global consumption. In order to
connect those PV modules to supply power to the grid without inserting any bulky low frequency
step-up transformers, the cascaded H-bridge multilevel inverters are utilized to increase the
output voltage up to the grid voltage, which is tens of kilovolts. Therefore, no bulky low
frequency transformer is needed.Equation Chapter (Next) Section 1
The cascaded H-bridge multilevel inverters have been introduced for more than 20 years, and
are widely used in the high voltage and high power applications. Various studies have been done
for this special category, such as topology research and development [41-51], power flow
management [52], and performance-improving control methods [53-66]. However, none of them
has ever focused on the reduction of the dc link capacitor—one of the biggest components in the
whole system. The reason for this inevitable huge dc link capacitor is that it has to absorb a low

112

frequency current ripple that is twice as much as the fundamental frequency (noted as 2ω), in
order to maintain the dc link voltage ripple under a certain value. Due to this huge low frequency
current ripple, the dc link capacitor bank is accordingly bulky, heavy and expensive. Hence,
minimizing this dc link capacitor becomes an essential step towards developing and
manufacturing compact, light and low cost cascaded H-bridge multilevel inverters with long life
and high reliability.
This chapter proposes a 3rd harmonic injection method that achieves a 40% to 50% reduction
of the dc link capacitance, meaning a great reduction to the capacitor size, weight and cost. This
3rd harmonic injection will not cause any problem for the 3-phase cascaded H-bridge multilevel
inverter, because the 3rd harmonic currents cannot flow. On the other hand, by injecting this 3rd
harmonic, it is able to generate a negative 2ω component, which is able to cancel fully or part of
the 2ω component that generated by the traditional SPWM method. The percentage of the
capacitance reduction depends on the fundamental modulation index. Theoretical analysis and
simulation results are demonstrated to prove the effectiveness of the proposed method.

8.2 Theoretical
Reduction

Analysis

of

the

DC

Capacitance

8.2.1 System Configuration
Figure 8.1 shows the schematic of the cascaded H-bridge multilevel inverter with separate
photovoltaic sources, which needs a huge dc link capacitor banks for each module. This dc link
capacitor is supposed to absorb the current ripple from both the photovoltaic source side and the
H-bridge inverter side.

113

Figure 8.1 The system schematic of the 2.1 MVA three-phase cascaded H-bridge
multilevel inverter with separate photovoltaic sources.

Considering photovoltaic sources usually have a quite smooth output current, the majority of
the current ripples for the dc link capacitor to absorb come from the inverter side. This current
ripple id can be expressed as:
id = ( Sa − Sb ) i A

(8.1)

where Sa and Sb are the switching functions of the top switches for each phase leg within one
module operated by the traditional SPWM method, and i A is the line current of phase A, as
shown in Figure 8.2.

114

Figure 8.2 The schematic of one H-bridge module with notations

Due to the cascaded multilevel structure, the output voltage with many voltage levels has
fewer harmonics, which leads to an almost sinusoidal output current without any filtering.
Therefore, it is reasonable to assume i A to be sine shaped, with a power factor angle of φ as
shown in (8.2).
i A = 2 I A sin (ω0t + ϕ )

(8.2)

8.2.2 DC link current ripple without 3rd harmonic injection
According to [67, 68], without 3rd harmonic injection, the switching functions Sa 0 and Sb0
of phase A and phase B can be written as below.
For phase A,
Sa 0 =

1 1
+ M 0 sin (ω0t )
2 2

and for phase B,

115

(8.3)

Sb0 =

1 1
+ M 0 sin (ω0t − π )
2 2

(8.4)

Substitute (8.2), (8.3) and (8.4) into (8.1), it is able to obtain (8.5).


π 

id = 2 I A sin (ω0t + ϕ )  M 0 cos  ω0t −  
2 


M  
π
π 

= 2 I A 0 sin  2ω0t + ϕ −  + sin  ϕ +  
2  
2
2 


(8.5)

Obviously, without injecting the 3rd harmonic component, id contains a 2ω component with
an amplitude of

2M 0 I A / 2 , as the first term shows in (8.5).

8.2.3 DC link current ripple with 3rd harmonic injection
If the 3rd harmonic component is injected into the system with amplitude of M3, the
switching functions for the two phase-legs are changed into (8.6)
1 1
+ M 3 sin ( 3ω0t )
2 2

(8.6)

1 1
+ M 3 sin ( 3ω0t − π )
2 2

(8.7)

Sa3 =

And (8.7)
Sb3 =

respectively.
Therefore, the H-bridge dc side input current id can be expressed as
id = ( Sa 0 + Sa3 − Sb0 − Sb3 ) i A
which can be calculated by substitute (8.2), (8.3), (8.4), (8.6) and (8.7) into (8.8).

116

(8.8)


π
π 


id =  M 0 cos  ω0t −  + M 3 cos  3ω0t −   × 2 I A sin (ω0t + ϕ )
2
2 



1
π


 1
π

 2 M 0 sin  2ω0t − 2 + ϕ  + 2 M 0 sin  2 + ϕ 







= 2I A 

+ 1 M sin  4ω t − π + ϕ  − 1 M sin  2ω t − π − ϕ  

3
 0

 2 3  0 2
2
 2

 

(8.9)

The first term showing in (8.9) indicates that the 2ω component can be completely cancelled
out, as long as the 3rd harmonic injection’s magnitude M 3 is made to be the same as the
fundamental’s magnitude M 0 . Plus, the phase angle of the output current has to be in phase with
the voltage, meaning unity power factor. Assume the 2ω component is completely cancelled, the
amplitude of the 4ω component is going to be

2M 3 I A / 2 .

However, there is a maximum modulation index for the inserted 3rd harmonics, since the sum
f of the fundamental and the 3rd harmonic has to be within the range of [-1, +1].
f = M 0 sin ω0t + M 3 sin 3ω0t

(8.10)

Hence, two unknowns, ωt and M 0 (or M 3 ), can be calculated, based on two independent
equations shown below in (8.11).
d
 df
 = ( M 0 sin ω0t + M 3 sin 3ω0t ) = 0
 dt dt
 M 0 = M 3

(8.11)

The solutions are as follows.

2
cos ω0t =
3


1
sin ω0t =
3


3 3
M 0 = M 3 =
8


117

(8.12)

Eq. (8.12) means that in order to completely cancel out the 2ω harmonic component in id ,
the maximum fundamental modulation index can go up to 3 3 / 8 , which is about 0.6495, by
injecting the same amplitude of the 3rd harmonic component. At the same time, the total
waveform after combining the 1st and 3rd component reaches 1 at ω0t = arc cos 2 / 3 . and the
lowest harmonic component in the dc current ripple increases from 2ω to 4ω. This frequency
increase is the key factor of reducing the dc capacitor size.

8.2.4 Current ripple and voltage ripple reduction
According to the expression of the required capacitance shown in (8.13).
i ∆t
C= d
∆v

(8.13)

When M0=M3=0.6495, the reduction of the dc capacitance reaches maximum, and can be
calculated based on the relationship shown in (8.14), comparing to without the 3rd harmonic
injection:

3 3
1
M3
i '
d = 2
= 8
1
i
1
 d
M0

2

 ∆t ' 1
=

 ∆t 2

(8.14)

Assume keeping the voltage ripple as before, the requirement of the dc capacitance can be
1/2 of the original requirement, which is a 50% reduction. As the fundamental modulation index
goes up, higher than 0.6495, the magnitude of the 3rd harmonic injection is reduced accordingly
to ensure the combined waveform is no greater than 1. When the modulation index reaches 0.9,

118

the dc link capacitor still can achieve a 42% reduction by injecting a magnitude of 0.486 of the
3rd harmonic to the fundamental.
The maximum 3rd harmonic injection is shown in Figure 8.3 for fundamental modulation
index ranging from 0 to 1.15.

0.6

0.5

0.4

0.3

0.2

0.1

0

0

0.2

0.4

0.6

0.8

1

Figure 8.3 The maximum magnitude of the 3rd harmonic injection that can be
selected under a certain fundamental modulation index.

8.3 Simulation Results
The simulated cascaded H-bridge multilevel inverter for PV system is rated as follows.

119

This is a three-phase system with 7 cascaded H-bridge modules in each phase leg, totally 21
modules. Each module is rated at P = 100 kW . Therefore, the whole system is rated at 2.1 MVA.
The line-to-line voltage is Vll = 13.8 kV .
Based on the given power and voltage, it can be derived that the base value of the
capacitance C, as shown in.
C=

1
= 205 µ F
ωZ

(8.15)

Generally speaking, there are three modulation methods to simulate this cascaded multilevel
inverter: programmed modulation, carrier based PWM and space vector PWM. Although they
are not mathematically equal and with different implementation method, the main idea is the
same—to generate a sine-shaped output voltage. If one wants to insert a 3rd harmonic into the
originally perfect sinusoidal voltage, for carrier-based PWM, it is obvious that the goal can be
achieved by simply adding a 3rd harmonic sine wave to the fundamental sine reference. For
space vector PWM, it originally contains a 3rd harmonic component, which means modify this
3rd harmonic is possible. For programmed modulation, simply change the 3rd harmonic
component equation from 0 to the desired amplitude, and one will get those off-line switching
angles.
Therefore, the conclusion is that the proposed 3rd harmonic injection method can achieve
similar results, no matter which modulation methods one is working with.
Hence, the phase-shifted carrier-based PWM method is chosen in this experiment. Figure 8.4
shows the phase-shifted carrier-based PWM method: (a) two fundamental references with a
triangle carrier; (b) zoom-in view of (a), showing the seven phase-shifted triangle carriers for the
seven modules in one phase leg.

120

(a)

(b)
Figure 8.4 The phase-shifted carrier-based PWM method: (a) two fundamental
references with a triangle carrier; (b) zoom-in view of (a), showing the seven phaseshifted triangle carrier for the seven modules in one phase leg.
121

Figure 8.5 and Figure 8.6 shows the SABER simulation’s circuit and PWM generating part
respectively.

Figure 8.5 SABER Simulation – circuit part

122

Figure 8.6 SABER Simulation – PWM generating part

As known from Figure 8.3, if the fundamental modulation index is high, there is only limited
quantity of 3rd harmonics can be injected. For example, M 0 =0.9, maximum M 3 can only be
0.4865.

123

On the other hand, if the fundamental modulation index is less than 0.6459, it can be
completely cancelled out by inserting the same amplitude of the 3rd harmonic component. For
example, M 0 =0.6459, maximum M 3 can also be 0.6459.
Figure 8.7 shows the simulation results when traditional pulsewidth modulation method is
used, and the fundamental modulation index is 0.9, which is at the higher end. The top 3
waveforms show the line-to-line voltage, measured to be at 12.7 kV. The 2nd 3 waveforms are
the capacitor currents in the top modules of each phase. Numerical simulation shows the rms
value of this ripple current that the dc link capacitor has to absorb is 47.2 A. The 3rd 3
waveforms demonstrate the phase voltage of the multilevel inverter, and the rms value is
measured to be 7.3 kV. And the 4th 3 waveforms show the 3 phase inverter output current. The
last waveform shows the dc link voltage for the top module in Phase A, which indicates the
voltage ripple peak-to-peak versus the dc link average voltage is around 2%.
Vripple( pp )
Vdc( avg )

=

34.329 V
= 2.0%
1648.2 V

(8.16)

This percentage is consistent for other modules as well.
From this simulation result, it is concluded that to maintain the dc link voltage ripple under
2% at this situation, the dc link capacitor for each H-bridge module has to be at least 3.8 mF.
Accordingly, in per unit value, this capacitance is
3.8 mF
= 18.5 p.u.
205 µ F

124

(8.17)

Figure 8.7 Simulation results of the traditional pulsewidth modulation method without 3rd
harmonic injection: M0=0.9, f0=60 Hz, Cdc=3.8 mF.
125

Figure 8.8 shows the simulation results of the proposed 3rd harmonic injection method with
the same dc capacitor of 3.8 mF. Waveforms are the similar as Figure 8.7, except in the 3rd
waveforms, 3rd harmonic injection can be noticed easily. Without changing the line-to-line
voltage, the dc voltage ripple is reduced to
Vripple( pp )
Vdc( avg )

=

21.696 V
= 1.3%
1648.2 V

(8.18)

Therefore, by using a smaller dc capacitance, one can still achieve the 2% voltage ripple
requirement. Figure 8.9 shows the simulation results of the proposed 3rd harmonic injection
method with a smaller dc capacitor.
In this simulation, the dc link capacitance is reduced to 2.2 mF, and still keeping a 2%
voltage ripple. The per unit value is
2.2 mF
= 10.7 p.u.
205 µ F

This is a 42% reduction, compared to the traditional PWM method.

126

(8.19)

Figure 8.8 Simulation results of the proposed 3rd harmonic injection pulsewidth modulation
method: M0=0.9, f0=60 Hz, M3=0.4865, f3=180 Hz, Cdc=3.8 mF.
127

Figure 8.9 Simulation results of the proposed 3rd harmonic injection pulsewidth modulation
method: M0=0.9, f0=60 Hz, M3=0.4865, f3=180 Hz, Cdc=2.2 mF.

128

Again, the above case is at the higher end of the fundamental modulation index, which has
limited reduction on the 2ω ripple. Whereas at the lower end, when the fundamental modulation
index is smaller than 0.6459, the reduction can be even more. Figure 8.10 and Figure 8.11 is a
good example for this situation.
Figure 8.10 shows an example of M0=0.6459, where Cdc is 1.6 mF to achieve a 2% voltage
ripple at the dc link side. And Figure 8.11 shows an example of M0=0.6459 with an additional
3rd harmonic injection of the same amplitude 0.6459. In this case, Cdc is reduced to 800 uF, and
still achieving a 2% voltage ripple. The total dc capacitance reduction is reached to 50%, and this
is completely contributed by the frequency increases from 2ω to 4ω.

129

Figure 8.10 Simulation results of the traditional pulsewidth modulation method without 3rd
harmonic injection: M0=0.6459, f0=60 Hz, Cdc=1.6 mF.
130

Figure 8.11 Simulation results of the proposed 3rd harmonic injection pulsewidth modulation
method: M0=0.6459, f0=60 Hz, M3=0.6459, f3=180 Hz, Cdc=800 uF.
131

8.4 Conclusions
This chapter presents a simple 3rd harmonic injection method for the cascaded H-bridge
multilevel inverters for photovoltaic systems. Without adding any extra components or
increasing too much of the control complexity, this approach achieves a 40% to 50% reduction
of the dc link capacitor. Theoretical analysis and simulation results are demonstrated to prove the
effectiveness.

132

CHAPTER 9 Solid State Variable InductorCapacitor for Reactive Power Compensation
with Minimum DC Capacitance
Last chapter talks about that the H-bridge inverter has an inherent problem of the 2ω ripple
that requires a huge dc capacitor on the dc link side to absorb this low frequency ripple and
smooth out the dc bus voltage. By 3rd harmonic injection, which is simply playing with the PWM
strategy with minimum effort, the dc capacitance can be reduced to half. However, the method is
based on the pre-requirement of unity output power factor. Otherwise, the 2ω component cannot
be cancelled because of mis-phase. In this chapter, the application that will be focused on is the
reactive power compensation, whose output factor is zero. Therefore, 3rd harmonic injection will
not be able to work in this situation. This dc capacitance reduction is realized by a proposed
modified H-bridge topology with suitable closed-loop control.

9.1 Introduction
As the power demands go up, the power system becomes more complicated. Traditionally,
the real and reactive power flow through a transmission line in the power grid is determined by
its line impedance, voltage magnitudes, and voltage angle differences of the two ends [69].
Sometimes, without adequate control, excessive reactive power flow and unwanted loss can
happen, which result in thermal and stability issues [70]. To solve these problems and increase

133

the transmittable power in the grid, reactive power compensation is used. The basic idea of the
reactive power compensation is to insert ideal variable inductors or capacitors that can absorb or
supply reactive power to the grid. Equation Chapter (Next) Section 1
Figure 9.1 shows an ideal variable capacitor. At the rated line voltage VS , as the current
changes from 0 to the rated current IC, the variable capacitance changes from 0 to Cac as well. In
this case, the ac capacitor needed for this circuit is 1 per unit (pu). However, in the real life, a
large value variable inductor or capacitor can hardly be found, especially for utility grid
applications. Therefore, flexible AC transmission system (FACTS) has been introduced since
1990 to implement a real-world variable inductor or capacitor based on semiconductors. Some
FACTS such as thyristor switched reactor (TSR) and thyristor switched capacitor (TSC) are
simply inductors and capacitors that can vary in a stepwise manner with utilizing thyristors,
while some other FACTS devices such as static synchronous compensator (STATCOM) and
unified power flow controller (UPFC) could realize continuous variation based on converter
topologies with PWM schemes. For example, a variable inductor or capacitor can be
implemented by an H-bridge as shown in Figure 9.2. The principle of this H-bridge working as a
variable capacitor is controlling the phase angle of ac current IC to lead the phase angle of ac
voltage VS by 90°, and controlling the amplitude of IC to achieve the desired equivalent
capacitance Cac. The principle of this H-bridge acting as a variable inductor is controlling the

Vs = 1 pu

Ic
Vs

I c = 0 ~ 1 pu
0 ~ Cac
134

Cac = 1 pu

Figure 9.1 An ideal variable capacitor
phase angle of ac current IC to lag the phase angle of ac voltage VS by 90°, and controlling the
amplitude of IC to achieve the desired equivalent capacitance Cac. However, this traditional Hbridge implementation has a well-known problem of a large dc link capacitor Cdc, due to the low
frequency harmonic (2ω ripple) inherent with the H-bridge topology [71]. This dc capacitor is 10
times (assuming the dc voltage ripple peak-to-peak is 5%) as big as the ac capacitance shown in
Figure 9.1 in order to maintain the dc voltage ripple low. In addition, increasing the switching
frequency is not an option here. Although increasing the switching frequency can reduce the
inductance, unfortunately it does not reduce this dc capacitance.

Figure 9.2 A variable capacitor implemented by an H-bridge inverter

Therefore, this chapter proposes a solid state variable inductor-capacitor (SSVLC), as shown
in Figure 9.3. Figure 9.3 (a) shows the proposed solid state variable inductor (SSVL) and Figure
9.3 (b) shows the proposed solid state variable capacitor (SSVC). The proposed SSVLC can

135

reduce the dc link capacitance to minimum by adding a phase leg to the H-bridge and a small
auxiliary ac capacitor/inductor. The main idea is to completely transfer the 2ω low frequency
ripple from the dc link capacitor to this auxiliary ac component through the added phase leg. The
advantages of this topology are many. First of all, the dc link capacitor can reduce to minimum,
subject to only switching frequency ripples. This improvement eliminates the electrolytic
capacitor, and enables the use of film capacitor. Film capacitors are typically come with smaller
capacitance but larger rms current ripple handling capability, and this kind of capacitors has selfhealing capability and small ESR. Therefore they are usually considered to have longer lifetime
and higher reliability [72, 73]. On the other hand, the auxiliary ac capacitor is reduced to only
1/10 of the original dc capacitance. Therefore, the combined volume of the dc capacitor and the
auxiliary ac capacitor is still smaller than the original huge dc capacitor.
In this chapter, theoretical analysis of the SSVC is provided. Regarding to SSVL, similar
derivation method can be applied. Simulation and experimental results are shown to prove the
effectiveness of the proposed SSVC with minimum dc capacitance.

136

(a)

(b)
Figure 9.3 The proposed solid state variable inductor-capacitor:
(a) solid state variable inductor (SSVL); (b) solid state variable capacitor (SSVC).
137

9.2 Past Works
The purpose of this section is to identify all the topologies that been proposed in the past with
their theoretical dc and ac capacitance requirements.
A. Traditional H-Bridge Inverter
The simplest way to implement a variable inductor-capacitor is to use a traditional H-bridge
inverter. As mentioned earlier, this topology suffers a huge dc link capacitor Cdc , due to the fact
that it has to absorb the 2ω ripple. In addition, electrolytic capacitor is commonly preferred for
this circuit because of its high power density, which can reduce the size of the converter, but at
the same time makes this converter less lifetime and less reliability.

Figure 9.4 Traditional H-bridge inverter

138

The dc current ripple idc for this traditional H-bridge inverter can be calculated as shown in
(9.1),
idc = ( Sa − Sb ) iac

(9.1)

where iac is the ac side current, and Sa and Sb are the switching functions of phase leg a and b
as shown in (9.2).
1
MI sin ωt
2
1
Sb = MI sin (ωt − π )
2
iac = 2 I ac sin (ωt + ϕ )
Sa =

(9.2)

φ is the phase angle between ac side voltage and current, vac and iac . If φ=90°, it means iac

is leading vac 90°. If φ=-90°, it means iac is lagging vac 90°.
Substitute (9.2) into (9.1), one can achieve (9.3).
idc =

2
 
π

π

I ac MI sin  2ωt − + ϕ  + sin  + ϕ  
2
2

2

 

(9.3)

It is not hard to notice that the first term in (9.3) represents the ripple current part, while the
second term in (9.3) represents the dc current portion. As this H-bridge inverter is focused on the
application of reactive power compensation, it does not have a dc current. That is to say, for the
reactive power compensation, it is equivalent to substitute φ=±90° into (9.3), and the second
term goes to zero, meaning no dc current. In conclusion, the capacitor ripple current is the first
term in (9.3) and is rewritten below in (9.4).
icap =

2
π


I ac MI sin  2ωt − + ϕ 
2
2



139

(9.4)

By integrating the capacitor ripple current icap , it gives the voltage ripple across the dc
capacitor as shown in (9.5).
vC =

1
1 2
π
 1 


icap dt =
I ac MI  −
 cos  2ωt − + ϕ 
∫
C
C 2
2
 2ω 



(9.5)

whose peak-to-peak voltage is shown in (9.6).
vCpp =

1 2
I ac MI
C 2ω

(9.6)

By moving the capacitance C to the left side of the equation, one can obtain the capacitance
as shown in (9.7).
C=

2
I ac MI
2ω vCpp

(9.7)

From (9.7), the variables are explained here. ω is the ac side fundamental frequency, and in
this grid application case, it will be either 50 Hz or 60 Hz. vCpp is the capacitor’s peak-to-peak
voltage ripple in volts. I ac is the rms value of the ac side current, and MI is the modulation
index of the H-bridge inverter.
It looks like the capacitance can be varied with the modulation index of the inverter, however,
this is not the case in reality, since one will not change the actual capacitor for each operating
points. Once the capacitor is installed, it will be there for all operating conditions within the
specification. This is equivalent to say the dc capacitor is chosen based on the worse case shown
in the specification. Therefore, the dc capacitance should be determined at the largest modulation
index, MI=1, and (9.7) is simplified to be (9.8). Ref [74] also has detailed derivations on this
capacitor requirement in section III and the expression is concluded in its own paper equation (9).

140

C=

2 I ac
2ωvCpp

(9.8)

Same thing for the ac side current, the dc capacitance is determined by the maximum ac side
current’s amplitude, therefore the unit value. It is simple for the fundamental frequency and
voltage ripple, since they are both constant for a certain design. So far, the capacitance
requirement of the traditional H-bridge inverter has been obtained as shown in (9.8). In fact, only
the constant

2 / 2 is what one really wants to keep in mind for further comparison.

In the next a couple of pages, a few different topologies will be discussed, analyzed and
theoretically calculated to compare the dc capacitance value to (9.8). Therefore, per unit system
is a good way to help comparing and determining the best choice among all. In order to get the
per unit value of the capacitance, the base value of this case should be calculated first, as shown
in (9.9).
Cbase =

I
1
= ac
ω Zbase ωVac

(9.9)

Therefore, it is straightforward to get the per unit value of the dc capacitance of this
traditional H-bridge inverter as shown in (9.10).
2 I ac
2ω vCpp
V
2Vac
C
=
=
= dc
C p.u. =
I ac
Cbase
2vCpp 2vCpp
ωVac

(9.10)

Obviously, from (9.10), in order to calculate the per unit value of the dc capacitance,
assumption on the peak-to-peak voltage ripple is needed, and it is usually determined by the
specification of the circuit. Let’s assume it to be 5% for calculation and comparison purpose,
which is most likely the case in the reality as well. Therefore, the per unit value of the dc link

141

capacitor for the traditional H-bridge inverter is about 10 as shown in (9.11). 10 pu is a very
large number for electrolytic capacitors, and the root cause of this huge capacitor is the 2ω ripple
that the capacitor has to absorb.
C p.u. =

C
Cbase

=

Vdc
= 10
2vCpp

(9.11)

B. Traditional H-Bridge Inverter with a Bidirectional Buck/Boost Converter

One proposed topology to minimize this dc link capacitor is shown in Figure 9.5 [75]. This
topology utilizes a bidirectional buck/boost converter as an auxiliary ripple energy storage circuit,
and achieves a 50% reduction of the whole system size. This is a very good topology in terms of
his specific application. However because the auxiliary capacitor Cs has a dc offset, resulting in
its ripple power handling capability not maximized, this method still hasn’t reached the
maximum reduction in the reactive power compensation application.

Figure 9.5 Traditional H-bridge topology with a bidirectional buck/boost converter

142

In order to compare with the proposed SSVLC, it is desired to calculate the auxiliary
capacitance here. Firstly, the input power Pin on the ac side is calculated as shown in (9.12).
Pin = vaciac

(9.12)

vac = 2Vac sin ( ωt )

(9.13)

where

Substitute (9.13) and (9.2) into (9.12), Pin can be simplified to (9.14).
Pin = Vac I ac cos ϕ − Vac I ac cos ( 2ωt + ϕ )

(9.14)

Again, due to different application from [75], the SSVLC is focused on reactive power only.
Therefore, φ=±90°, and the first term in (9.14) goes to zero, leaving only the second term as
shown in (9.15).
Pripple = −Vac I ac cos ( 2ωt + ϕ )

(9.15)

Similarly, the ripple energy stores on the auxiliary capacitor can be expressed as (9.16).
Pripple _ peak
1
CsVc _ peak 2 = Eripple _ peak =
2
ω

(9.16)

Therefore, the auxiliary capacitance Cs can be calculated as shown in (9.17).
Cs =

2 Pripple _ peak

ωVc _ peak 2

(9.17)

where
Pripple _ peak = Vac I ac
1
Vc _ peak = Vdc
2

143

(9.18)

Substitute (9.18) into (9.17), (9.19) is achieved.
Cs =

8Vac I ac

(9.19)

ωVdc 2

Therefore, the per unit value of the dc link capacitor for the traditional H-bridge inverter with
a bidirectional buck-boost converter is about 4, as shown in (9.20).
8Vac I ac
C p.u. =

C
Cbase

=

ωVdc 2
I ac
ωVac

=

8Vac 2
Vdc 2

=4

(9.20)

Please note that, ideally, the auxiliary circuit can completely transfer the 2ω ripple energy
from the dc link capacitor to the auxiliary capacitor. That is to say, the dc link capacitance can be
ignored (very small) for ideal case, and that’s why only the auxiliary capacitance is calculated
here in order to compare with the traditional H-bridge inverter’s main dc link capacitance.

C. Traditional H-Bridge Inverter with Another Bidirectional Buck/Boost Converter
This topology [76] is similar to the previous one [75], in the sense that both of them are
adding a complete buck/boost converter to the dc bus, performing as an active filter. Similarly,
the auxiliary capacitor has a dc offset. Therefore, the utilization of its energy storage is not fully.
In addition, due to the different configuration comparing with the previous topology, this
topology’s auxiliary capacitor has a voltage that is higher than the dc bus voltage, while the
previous one has a voltage that is smaller than the dc bus voltage. The high capacitor voltage
forms a killing factor for grid applications, since the grid voltage has already been really high. It
will be really challenging if the capacitor voltage is twice as much as the grid voltage. In spite of
these disadvantages under our special application, this is still a valid topology. Therefore,

144

theoretical calculation for dc capacitance is carried out to compare with the traditional H-bridge
inverter case.

Figure 9.6 Traditional H-bridge topology with another bidirectional buck-boost converter

According to the paper, in order to completely eliminate the 2ω ripple in C, Cs is calculated
as shown in (9.21).
Cs =

2 Eripple

(

VH2 − VL2

)

(9.21)

where VH and VL are the upper and lower limit of the Cs voltage ripple respectively, and Eripple
is ripple energy of the 2ω harmonics.
Different from the previous topology, as pointed out earlier, VH and VL here are both higher
than the dc bus voltage. According to (9.21), the larger the difference between VH and VL, the
smaller the Cs is. Therefore, let’s see how much different can these two values be: the lowest
value that VL can go is the dc bus voltage, while theoretically there is no maxim for the highest

145

value that VH can achieve. However, in reality, VH cannot be as high as possible. One reason lies
in that the boost converter cannot boost up to more than 4 or 5 times due to the parasitic
resistance, such as internal resistance of the power inductor. Another reason is that, with the
increase of the VH, the voltage rating of both the auxiliary capacitor and the auxiliary IGBTs
need to be increased accordingly. Based on the two reasons explained above, although (9.21) is
adequate for calculating the capacitance, it is hard to decide a reasonable VH and VL to compare
with those previous topologies.
In order to put a number here, it is assumed that VH is 1.5 times of the dc bus voltage, while
VL is the dc bus voltage. Therefore, it can achieve(9.22).
2Vac I ac
C p.u. =

C
Cbase

=

2
ω1.25Vdc

I ac
ωVac

146

V 2
= 1.6 ac = 3.2
Vdc 2

(9.22)

D. Traditional H-Bridge Inverter with another Auxiliary H-Bridge Inverter on the ac side
An example of this topology is similar to [77] as shown in Figure 9.7.
According to [77], the auxiliary capacitance Cs can be calculated using the equation (23) in
the paper. It is rewritten as below in (9.23).
Cs =

Vac I ac

(9.23)

ω (VCs _ pk 2 − Vdc 2 )

idc
iac
vac

vab

C

vdc

Cs

Figure 9.7 Traditional H-bridge topology with another H-bridge inverter on the ac side
147

where Vac and I ac are the rms values of the ac side voltage and current (the so-called reactive
and harmonic component of the load current is in fact all the ac side current here for the reactive
power compensation application), and VCs _ pk and Vdc are the peak voltage and average voltage
of the auxiliary capacitor respectively.
It can be easily noticed that the auxiliary capacitor is essentially still a dc capacitor, which
needs to maintain a smooth dc bus voltage for the normal operation of the auxiliary inverter.
Since the ac side 2ω power ripple flows to the auxiliary inverter instead of the main inverter, the
main dc capacitor can be kept small. Instead, the auxiliary capacitor is huge, and has to take all
the reactive ripples. Essentially, it uses a big auxiliary dc capacitor to substitute the big main dc
capacitor. Theoretically, there is no change in the total dc capacitor size [71]. This can be double
checked from (9.23), because the peak and the average is always kept small for the safe
operation of the auxiliary inverter, for example 5%. Therefore, the denominator is very small,
leading to a relatively big capacitance.
Vac I ac

ω (VCs _ pk 2 − Vdc 2 )
Cs
Vac 2
C p.u. =
=
=
= 40
I ac
Cbase
0.05Vdc 2
ωVac

148

(9.24)

E. Traditional H-Bridge Inverter with another Auxiliary H-Bridge Inverter on the dc side
Instead of putting the H-bridge on the ac side as the reference [77] shows, it is also possible
to put this H-bridge a couple of ways on the dc side as well as shown in Figure 9.8. For example,
[78, 79] show the H-bridge can be added on the dc side, acting as a series voltage compensator.
Similarly to the [77], both of them do not work, since the whole system is used for the reactive
power compensation, and additional H-bridge inverter is going to be big.

Figure 9.8 Traditional H-bridge topology with another H-bridge inverter in series on the dc side

Another way to add the H-bridge inverter on the dc side is to add in parallel with the main
inverter, such as shown below in Figure 9.9. This is a good starting point; however, there is some
redundancy in this circuit by using 2 phase legs to compensate the 2ω ripple.

149

Figure 9.9 Traditional H-bridge topology with another H-bridge inverter in parallel on the dc
side

F. Traditional H-Bridge Inverter with one additional phase added
Figure 9.10 shows the active filter way of reducing the dc capacitance. The topology is
adding only one phase leg to transfer the 2ω ripple to the added passive energy storage
component (the inductor or the capacitor). Accordingly, specific control strategy is needed to
realize the functionality. However, the author of this paper utilizes this nice topology for power
factor correction in [80], whereas this topology could perform the best if used in the reactive
power compensation with appropriate control strategy.

150

(a)

(b)

Figure 9.10 Traditional H-bridge topology with an active filter:
(a) use a capacitor as the auxiliary energy storage;
(b) use an inductor as the auxiliary energy storage.

151

9.3 The Proposed Solid State Variable Inductor–
Capacitor (SSVLC)
In the previous section, a few past works have been discussed and analyzed. From the
original H-bridge inverter, who needs a 10 pu dc capacitor, to the H-bridge with a bidirectional
buck-boost converter, who needs a 4 pu dc capacitor, more improvements can be achieved.
Most of the previous methods are the same characteristic in terms of treating the auxiliary
capacitor as a dc capacitor, since the voltages on these auxiliary capacitors are all having a dc
offset with an ac ripple. By modifying the circuit topology to those shown in Figure 9.4 to Figure
9.8, the Cac becomes a pure ac capacitor, making it handle more ripple power, as shown in
Figure 9.9 and Figure 9.10.
Now, let’s take SSVC as an example of calculating the auxiliary capacitance Cac . Again,
power balance is used. Assuming that input voltage vs and input current is are shown as (9.25).
vs = 2Vs sin ωt
is = 2 I s sin (ωt + ϕ )

(9.25)

Since (9.25) represents an ideal capacitor, φ should equals to 90°, meaning the current is
leading the voltage. Hence, (9.25) is simplified to be (9.26).
vs = 2Vs sin ωt
π

is = 2 I s sin  ωt + 
2


(9.26)

Therefore, the input ripple power can be calculated as (9.27).

π

pripple = vs is = −Vs I s cos ( 2ωt + ϕ ) = −Vs I s sin  2ωt + ϕ + 
2


152

(9.27)

The auxiliary capacitor’s voltage vc and current ic are shown as in (9.28).
ic = 2 I c sin (ωt + θ )


2Ic
 − cos (ωt + θ ) 
vc =
ωCac 


(9.28)

Therefore, the ripple power stores in the auxiliary capacitor can be expressed as in (9.29).
pc = vcic = −

2 Ic 2
I 2
sin (ωt + θ ) cos (ωt + θ ) = − c sin ( 2ωt + 2θ )
Cacω
Cacω

(9.29)

Again, the whole purpose of adding this auxiliary capacitor is letting it store the entire 2ω
ripple power that generated by the input source, so that the dc link capacitor does not have to
handle this 2ω ripple power and keeps its own capacitance minimum.
Therefore, by making
pripple = pc

(9.30)

one can find the relationship between the amplitudes and phase angles as shown in (9.31).
Ic2
−Vs I s = −
Cacω

ϕ+

π
2

(9.31)

= 2θ

There are two pairs of solutions shown in (9.32) that can satisfy (9.31):
SSVC: ϕ =

π

⇒ θ=

2

SSVL: ϕ = −

π
2

153

π
2

⇒ θ =0

(9.32)

The auxiliary inductor or capacitor’s ripple power is concluded in Table 9.1

Table 9.1 Expressions for ripple power on auxiliary inductor and capacitor for SSVL and SSVC
SSVC
Input voltage and
current

Auxiliary C/L’s voltage
and current

vs = 2Vs sin ωt

vs = 2Vs sin ωt

π

is = 2 I s sin  ωt + 
2


π

is = 2 I s sin  ωt − 
2


π

ic = 2 I c sin  ωt + 
2


il = 2 I l sin ωt

2 Ic
sin ωt
ωCac

vl = ω Lac 2 Il cos ωt

pripple = vs is = Vs I s sin 2ωt

pripple = vs is = −Vs I s sin 2ωt

vc =
Ripple energy generated
by input source
Ripple energy stored in
auxiliary C/L

SSVL

pc = vc ic =

Ic2
sin 2ωt
ωCac

pl = vl il = ω Lac Il 2 sin 2ωt

According to Table 9.1 and (9.31), C pu can be calculated pretty straightforwardly.
Ic 2
C
VIω I 2
C p.u. = ac = s s = c
Is
Cbase
Is2
ωVs

(9.33)

Equation (9.33) means that in order to completely transfer the 2ω ripple that generated by the
input source, for SSVC, the auxiliary capacitance has to satisfy (9.33).
Figure 9.11 shows the phase diagram of the source and auxiliary inductor/capacitor’s voltage
and current relationships. Again, taking the SSVC as an example, the phase b current shown in
Figure 9.3 is equal to the arithmetic difference between is and ic , since both vectors are in phase.

154

Therefore, if is and ic have the same amplitude, the phase b current can reduce down to 0. At
this situation, according to (9.33), the auxiliary capacitance is chosen to be 1 pu.

(a)

(b)

Figure 9.11 Phasor diagram of (a) SSVL and (b) SSVC.

9.4 Experimental Results
A 1 kVar solid state variable capacitor prototype is built for validation purpose with 100 V dc
voltage.
Figure 9.12 shows the ac source voltage and current with the dc voltage ripple, if the auxiliary
phase leg, capacitor and smoothing inductor are not connected at all. The dc capacitance in this
case was 820 uF, with a voltage ripple of 13%. In order to maintain a 5% voltage ripple
requirement, the dc capacitance is needed to be 3 mF.

155

Figure 9.12 Traditional H-bridge inverter with 820 uF dc capacitor

156

Figure 9.13 and Figure 9.14 shows the experimental result of the proposed SSVC with the
same condition as Figure 9.12, but with reduced dc link capacitor of 150 uF. However, this can
hold the dc link voltage ripple under 5%.

Figure 9.13 The proposed SSVC with 150 uF dc capacitor and 300 uF ac auxiliary capacitor.

157

Figure 9.14 The proposed SSVC with 150 uF dc capacitor and 300 uF ac auxiliary capacitor.

9.5 Conclusions
A new solid state variable capacitor (SSVC) with minimum dc capacitance is proposed. The
proposed SSVC consists of an H-bridge and an additional phase leg connected to an ac capacitor
with fixed capacitance, Cac and can reduce the dc capacitance to the minimum just for absorbing
switching ripples. The fixed ac capacitor controlled by the additional phase leg absorbs the 2ω
component and theoretically can eliminate 2ω ripples in the dc capacitor completely. Therefore,
no electrolytic capacitors would be needed. Simulation and experimental results are shown to
prove the effectiveness of the proposed SSVC with minimum dc capacitance.

158

CHAPTER 10

Contribution and Future

Work
10.1 Contributions
The contributions presented in this dissertation are listed in short conclusions below:
•

Theoretical equations to express capacitance versus voltage ripple and rms ripple
current versus modulation index have been developed for SPWM, 6-step operation, as
well as for diode rectifier, which provides better design/calculation of the required dc
capacitance and better insights into the limits and optimum operation of the
converter/inverter system, than the traditional empirical equations and simulations.

•

From the theory developed above, a carrier modulation method for the dc-dc
converter, which synchronizes the dc-dc converter with the SPWM inverter in the
HEV system, is further proposed. This is also able to minimize the dc capacitance and
dc current ripples through the improved PWM methods.

•

The 3-phase cascaded multilevel H-bridge inverters for photovoltaic application are
usually suffers a big dc capacitor due to the 2ω ripples. A 3rd harmonic injection
method is proposed to reduce this dc capacitor to 50% or less depending on the
modulation index used. The 3rd harmonic components do not affect the output voltage
due to the 3-phase configuration, and it is quite easy to implement by simply insert an
additional harmonics in the PWM references, where no complicated closed-loop
control is required.

159

•

A new solid state variable capacitor (SSVC) with minimum dc capacitance is
proposed. The proposed SSVC consists of an H-bridge and an additional phase leg
connected to an ac capacitor with fixed capacitance, Cac and can reduce the dc
capacitance to the minimum just for absorbing switching ripples. The fixed ac
capacitor controlled by the additional phase leg absorbs the 2ω component and
theoretically can eliminate 2ω ripples in the dc capacitor completely. Therefore, no
electrolytic capacitors would be needed.

10.2 Future Work
•

Although this dissertation has basically covered all the topologies and operation
methods that exists in the HEV system nowadays, all the analysis are assumed to be
ideal, for example, the motor currents. However, in the real system, the situation
would not be even closed to ideal at all times. Any oscillation or saturation happened
would push the circuit condition into a non-ideal case, which needs to be researched
more in details.

•

The proposed theory and PWM methods are all based on open loop control, which is
the very first step of minimizing the dc link capacitance. The next step would be, on
this basis by knowing the minimum value under open loop, further minimizing the dc
capacitance would be realized by utilizing close-loop control.

•

3rd harmonic injection method for the multilevel H-bridge inverter needs
experimental confirmation to approve the effectiveness. Additionally, this method is
limited to unity power factor applications, such as the photovoltaic application
proposed in the dissertation. However, many other applications with non-unity power

160

factor still suffer from the big dc capacitor. Topology modification may be a good
way to go to reduce the capacitance in non-unity power factor cases.
•

SSVLC definitely needs more work, both in theoretical and experimental ways.
Utilizing wide-band gap devices to further increase the switching frequency and
shrink the auxiliary inductor size is one direction, and my labmates are working on
this right now.

161

APPENDIX

162

APPENDIX
Proof of Switching Functions:
Fig. 3(a) shows the three sinusoidal references and the triangle carrier waveform for two
switching periods. Assume the switching period is Tsw, the turn off time during a switching cycle
of the phase A upper switch is Toffa, and the DC link voltage is Vdc.
As one may notice, the blue right angle triangle is similar to the red right angle triangle.
Therefore, a relationship (A. 1) is obtained.
Vdc
Vdc
− van
2
= 2
Toffa
Tsw
4
2

(A. 2)

By substituting (2.1) and (2.4), (A. 3) is achieved.
1 1
v 
Toffa = Tsw  − MI ⋅ sin ωt − 3ω 
Vdc 
2 2

(A. 4)

Therefore, the expression of Sa is obvious:
Sa = (1 −

Toffa
Tsw

(A. 5)

)

Substituting (A. 6) into (A. 7) will give the expression of switching functions as (2.3).

163

BIBLIOGRAPHY

164

BIBLIOGRAPHY
[1]

Wikipedia.
Electrolytic
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Electrolytic_capacitor

[2]

Wikipedia. Film Capacitors. Available: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Film_capacitor

[3]

Film Capacitors. Available: http://my.execpc.com/~endlr/film.html

[4]

KEMET.
Capacitors
in
Electric
Drive
Application.
Available:
http://www.swisstmeeting.ch/tl_files/images/Energy_Power/Leistungs%20DCLink%20Kondensatoren%20Kemet.pdf

[5]

S. Halasz, "Discontinuous modulation of multiphase inverter-fed AC motors," in Power
Electronics and Applications, 2009. EPE '09. 13th European Conference on, 2009, pp. 19.

[6]

P. W. Wheeler, et al., "Harmonic Loss Due to Operation of Induction Machines From
Matrix Converters," Industrial Electronics, IEEE Transactions on, vol. 55, pp. 809-816,
2008.

[7]

C. C. Chan, "The State of the Art of Electric, Hybrid, and Fuel Cell Vehicles,"
Proceedings of the IEEE, vol. 95, pp. 704-718, 2007.

[8]

G. Fedele and D. Frascino, "Spectral Analysis of a Class of DC-AC PWM Inverters by
Kapteyn Series," Power Electronics, IEEE Transactions on, vol. 25, pp. 839-849.

[9]

B.-G. Gu and K. Nam, "A DC-link capacitor minimization method through direct
capacitor current control," IEEE Transactions Industry Applications, vol. 42, pp. 573-581,
2006.

[10]

J. S. Kim and S. K. Sul, "New control scheme for AC-DC-AC converter without DC link
electrolytic capacitor," in Power Electronics Specialists Conference, 1993. PESC '93
Record., 24th Annual IEEE, 1993, pp. 300-306.

[11]

L. Malesani, et al., "AC/DC/AC PWM converter with reduced energy storage in the DC
link," Industry Applications, IEEE Transactions on, vol. 31, pp. 287-292, 1995.

165

Capacitor.

Available:

[12]

M. Muroya, et al., "Four-step commutation strategy of PWM rectifier of converter
without DC link components for induction motor drive," in Electric Machines and Drives
Conference, 2001. IEMDC 2001. IEEE International, 2001, pp. 770-772.

[13]

X. Chen and M. Kazerani, "Space Vector Modulation Control of an AC-DC-AC
Converter With a Front-End Diode Rectifier and Reduced DC-link Capacitor," Power
Electronics, IEEE Transactions on, vol. 21, pp. 1470-1478, 2006.

[14]

J. Jung, et al., "A feedback linearizing control scheme for a PWM converter-inverter
having a very small DC-link capacitor," Industry Applications, IEEE Transactions on,
vol. 35, pp. 1124-1131, 1999.

[15]

M. Winkelnkemper and S. Bernet, "Impact of control model deviations on the DC link
capacitor minimization in AC-DC-AC converters," in Industrial Electronics Society,
2005. IECON 2005. 31st Annual Conference of IEEE, 2005, p. 6 pp.

[16]

P. Liutanakul, et al., "Nonlinear control techniques of a controllable rectifier/invertermotor drive system with a small dc-link capacitor," Energy Conversion and Management,
vol. 49, pp. 3541-3549, 2008.

[17]

P. Liutanakul, et al., "DC-link capacitor reduction of a controlled rectifier supplying N
inverter-motor drive systems by compensating the load variations," in Power Electronics
Specialists Conference, 2004. PESC 04. 2004 IEEE 35th Annual, 2004, pp. 1298-1303
Vol.2.

[18]

P. Liutanakul, et al., "Stability investigation of inverter motor drive system with input
filter-Optimisation of the DC-link capacitance value," in Power Electronics Specialists
Conference, 2008. PESC 2008. IEEE, 2008, pp. 3728-3734.

[19]

L. Huber and D. Borojevic, "Space vector modulated three-phase to three-phase matrix
converter with input power factor correction," Industry Applications, IEEE Transactions
on, vol. 31, pp. 1234-1246, 1995.

[20]

M. Jussila, et al., "Realization of a three-phase indirect matrix converter with an indirect
vector modulation method," in Power Electronics Specialist Conference, 2003. PESC '03.
2003 IEEE 34th Annual, 2003, pp. 689-694 vol.2.

[21]

L. Wei and T. A. Lipo, "A novel matrix converter topology with simple commutation," in
Industry Applications Conference, 2001. Thirty-Sixth IAS Annual Meeting. Conference
Record of the 2001 IEEE, 2001, pp. 1749-1754 vol.3.
166

[22]

J. W. Kolar and S. D. Round, "Analytical calculation of the RMS current stress on the
DC-link capacitor of voltage-PWM converter systems," Electric Power Applications, IEE
Proceedings -, vol. 153, pp. 535-543, 2006.

[23]

M. H. Bierhoff and F. W. Fuchs, "DC-Link Harmonics of Three-Phase Voltage-Source
Converters Influenced by the Pulsewidth-Modulation Strategy-An Analysis," Industrial
Electronics, IEEE Transactions on, vol. 55, pp. 2085-2092, 2008.

[24]

Y. Minari, et al., "PWM-rectifier/voltage-source inverter without DC link components
for induction motor drive," Electric Power Applications, IEE Proceedings B, vol. 140, pp.
363-368, 1993.

[25]

M. N. Anwar and M. Teimor, "An analytical method for selecting DC-link-capacitor of a
voltage stiff inverter," in Industry Applications Conference, 2002. 37th IAS Annual
Meeting. Conference Record of the, 2002, pp. 803-810 vol.2.

[26]

W. Shireen, et al., "Analysis and minimization of input ripple current in PWM inverters
for designing reliable fuel cell power systems," Journal of Power Sources, vol. 156, pp.
448-454, 2006.

[27]

F. D. Kieferndorf, et al., "Reduction of DC-bus capacitor ripple current with PAM/PWM
converter," Industry Applications, IEEE Transactions on, vol. 40, pp. 607-614, 2004.

[28]

N. Hur, et al., "A fast dynamic DC-link power-balancing scheme for a PWM converterinverter system," Industrial Electronics, IEEE Transactions on, vol. 48, pp. 794-803,
2001.

[29]

B. G. Gu and K. Nam, "A Theoretical minimum DC-link capacitance in PWM converterinverter systems," Electric Power Applications, IEE Proceedings -, vol. 152, pp. 81-88,
2005.

[30]

J. Hobraiche, et al., "A New PWM Strategy to Reduce the Inverter Input Current
Ripples," Power Electronics, IEEE Transactions on, vol. 24, pp. 172-180, 2009.

[31]

J. Hobraiche, et al., "Offline optimized pulse pattern with a view to reducing DC-link
capacitor application to a starter generator," in Power Electronics Specialists Conference,
2004. PESC 04. 2004 IEEE 35th Annual, 2004, pp. 3336-3341 Vol.5.

167

[32]

M. Huber, et al., "Ripple Current Reduction of DC Link Electrolytic Capacitors by
Switching Pattern Optimisation," in Power Electronics Specialists Conference, 2005.
PESC '05. IEEE 36th, 2005, pp. 1875-1880.

[33]

Y. Nishida, et al., "A novel type of utility-interactive inverter for photovoltaic system," in
Power Electronics and Motion Control Conference, 2004. IPEMC 2004. The 4th
International, 2004, pp. 1785-1790 Vol.3.

[34]

T. Okuda, "Ripple Current Reduction in DC Link Capacitor by Harmonic Control of
DC/DC Converter and PWM Inverter," IEEJ Trans Ind Appl 129, pp. 144-149, 2009.

[35]

M. H. Rashid, Power Electronics: Circuits, Devices, and Applications: Prentice-Hall,
1993.

[36]

X. Lu and F. Z. Peng, "Minimizing DC capacitor current ripple and DC capacitance
requirement of the HEV converter/inverter systems," in Energy Conversion Congress and
Exposition, 2009. ECCE 2009. IEEE, 2009, pp. 1191-1198.

[37]

M. E. de Oliveira Filho, et al., "A control method for voltage source inverter without dc
link capacitor," in Power Electronics Specialists Conference, 2008. PESC 2008. IEEE,
2008, pp. 4432-4437.

[38]

H. Fujita, "A three-phase voltage-source solar power conditioner using a single-phase
PWM control method," in Energy Conversion Congress and Exposition, 2009. ECCE
2009. IEEE, 2009, pp. 3748-3754.

[39]

X. Lu, et al., "Optimizing capacitance in SPWM converter/inverter for series hybrid
electric bus systems," in Vehicle Power and Propulsion Conference, 2009. VPPC '09.
IEEE, 2009, pp. 852-858.

[40]

P. C. Loh, et al., "Digital Carrier Modulation and Sampling Issues of Matrix Converters,"
Power Electronics, IEEE Transactions on, vol. 24, pp. 1690-1700, 2009.

[41]

R. Teodorescu, et al., "Multilevel inverter by cascading industrial VSI," IEEE
Transactions on Industrial Electronics, vol. 49, pp. 832-838, 2002.

[42]

F. Z. Peng, et al., "A multilevel voltage-source inverter with separate DC sources for
static VAr generation," IEEE Transactions on Industry Applications, vol. 32, pp. 11301138, 1996.

168

[43]

Z. Du, et al., "DC-AC Cascaded H-Bridge Multilevel Boost Inverter With No Inductors
for Electric/Hybrid Electric Vehicle Applications," IEEE Transactions on Industry
Applications, vol. 45, pp. 963-970, 2009.

[44]

A. Nami, et al., "A Hybrid Cascade Converter Topology With Series-Connected
Symmetrical and Asymmetrical Diode-Clamped H-Bridge Cells," IEEE Transactions on
Power Electronics, vol. 26, pp. 51-65, 2011.

[45]

S. Lakshminarayanan, et al., "Multilevel inverter with 12-sided polygonal voltage space
vector locations for induction motor drive," IEE Proceedings - Electric Power
Applications, vol. 153, pp. 411-419, 2006.

[46]

K. A. Corzine and J. R. Baker, "Multilevel voltage-source duty-cycle modulation:
analysis and implementation," IEEE Transactions on Industrial Electronics, vol. 49, pp.
1009-1016, 2002.

[47]

J. Wen and K. Ma Smedley, "Hexagram Inverter for Medium-Voltage Six-Phase
Variable-Speed Drives," IEEE Transactions on Industrial Electronics, vol. 55, pp. 24732481, 2008.

[48]

Y. S. Lai and F. S. Shyu, "Topology for hybrid multilevel inverter," IEE Proceedings Electric Power Applications, vol. 149, pp. 449-458, 2002.

[49]

G. Waltrich and I. Barbi, "Three-Phase Cascaded Multilevel Inverter Using Power Cells
With Two Inverter Legs in Series," IEEE Transactions on Industrial Electronics, vol. 57,
pp. 2605-2612, 2010.

[50]

P. Lezana, et al., "Cascaded Multilevel Inverter With Regeneration Capability and
Reduced Number of Switches," IEEE Transactions on Industrial Electronics, vol. 55, pp.
1059-1066, 2008.

[51]

J. Pereda and J. Dixon, "High Frequency Link: a Solution for Using Only One DC Source
in Asymmetric Cascaded Multilevel Inverters," IEEE Transactions on Industrial
Electronics, vol. PP, pp. 1-1, 2011.

[52]

J. Rao and Y. Li, "Power flow management of a new hybrid cascaded multilevel
inverter," in International Conference on Electrical Machines and Systems, 2007.
ICEMS., 2007, pp. 58-63.

169

[53]

F. Khoucha, et al., "Hybrid Cascaded H-Bridge Multilevel-Inverter Induction-MotorDrive Direct Torque Control for Automotive Applications," IEEE Transactions on
Industrial Electronics, vol. 57, pp. 892-899, 2010.

[54]

R. Gupta, et al., "Multiband Hysteresis Modulation and Switching Characterization for
Sliding-Mode-Controlled Cascaded Multilevel Inverter," IEEE Transactions on
Industrial Electronics, vol. 57, pp. 2344-2353, 2010.

[55]

P. C. Loh, et al., "Modular hysteresis current control of hybrid multilevel inverters," IEE
Proceedings - Electric Power Applications, vol. 152, pp. 1-8, 2005.

[56]

Z. Du, et al., "Fundamental Frequency Switching Strategies of a Seven-Level Hybrid
Cascaded H-Bridge Multilevel Inverter," IEEE Transactions on Power Electronics, vol.
24, pp. 25-33, 2009.

[57]

H. Taghizadeh and M. T. Hagh, "Harmonic Elimination of Cascade Multilevel Inverters
with Nonequal DC Sources Using Particle Swarm Optimization," IEEE Transactions on
Industrial Electronics, vol. 57, pp. 3678-3684, 2010.

[58]

P. Samuel, et al., "Grid Interface of Wind Power With Large Split-Winding Alternator
Using Cascaded Multilevel Inverter," IEEE Transactions on Energy Conversion, vol. 26,
pp. 299-309, 2011.

[59]

F. Khoucha, et al., "A Comparison of Symmetrical and Asymmetrical Three-Phase HBridge Multilevel Inverter for DTC Induction Motor Drives," IEEE Transactions on
Energy Conversion, vol. 26, pp. 64-72, 2011.

[60]

C. Cecati, et al., "A Multilevel Inverter for Photovoltaic Systems With Fuzzy Logic
Control," IEEE Transactions on Industrial Electronics, vol. 57, pp. 4115-4125, 2010.

[61]

J. de Leon Morales, et al., "Observer for DC voltages in a cascaded H-bridge multilevel
STATCOM," IET Electric Power Applications, vol. 1, pp. 879-889, 2007.

[62]

Y. Li and B. Wu, "A Novel DC Voltage Detection Technique in the CHB Inverter-Based
STATCOM," IEEE Transactions on Power Delivery, vol. 23, pp. 1613-1619, 2008.

[63]

P. Cortes, et al., "Model Predictive Control of Multilevel Cascaded H-Bridge Inverters,"
Industrial Electronics, IEEE Transactions on, vol. 57, pp. 2691-2699, 2010.

170

[64]

Y.-M. Park, et al., "Practical Implementation of PWM Synchronization and Phase-Shift
Method for Cascaded H-Bridge Multilevel Inverters Based on a Standard Serial
Communication Protocol," IEEE Transactions on Industry Applications, vol. 44, pp. 634643, 2008.

[65]

S. Khomfoi and L. M. Tolbert, "Fault Diagnosis and Reconfiguration for Multilevel
Inverter Drive Using AI-Based Techniques," IEEE Transactions on Industrial
Electronics, vol. 54, pp. 2954-2968, 2007.

[66]

E. Villanueva, et al., "Control of a Single-Phase Cascaded H-Bridge Multilevel Inverter
for Grid-Connected Photovoltaic Systems," IEEE Transactions on Industrial Electronics,
vol. 56, pp. 4399-4406, 2009.

[67]

B. P. McGrath and D. G. Holmes, "A General Analytical Method for Calculating Inverter
DC-Link Current Harmonics," in Industry Applications Society Annual Meeting, 2008.
IAS '08. IEEE, 2008, pp. 1-8.

[68]

D. Holmes and T. Lipo, Pulse Width Modulation for Power Converters: Principles and
Practice, 2003.

[69]

"Proposed terms and definitions for flexible AC transmission system (FACTS)," Power
Delivery, IEEE Transactions on, vol. 12, pp. 1848-1853, 1997.

[70]

N. G. Hingorani and L. Gyugyi, Understanding FACTS: Concepts and Technology of
Flexible AC Transmission Systems: Wiley-IEEE Press, 1999.

[71]

P. T. Krein and R. S. Balog, "Cost-Effective Hundred-Year Life for Single-Phase
Inverters and Rectifiers in Solar and LED Lighting Applications Based on Minimum
Capacitance Requirements and a Ripple Power Port," in Applied Power Electronics
Conference and Exposition, 2009. APEC 2009. Twenty-Fourth Annual IEEE, 2009, pp.
620-625.

[72]

M. Salcone and J. Bond, "Selecting film bus link capacitors for high performance inverter
applications," in Electric Machines and Drives Conference, 2009. IEMDC '09. IEEE
International, 2009, pp. 1692-1699.

[73]

A. Lahyani, et al., "Failure prediction of electrolytic capacitors during operation of a
switchmode power supply," Power Electronics, IEEE Transactions on, vol. 13, pp. 11991207, 1998.

171

[74]

Y. Liang and C. O. Nwankpa, "A new type of STATCOM based on cascading voltagesource inverters with phase-shifted unipolar SPWM," Industry Applications, IEEE
Transactions on, vol. 35, pp. 1118-1123, 1999.

[75]

R. Wang, et al., "A High Power Density Single-Phase PWM Rectifier With Active
Ripple Energy Storage," Power Electronics, IEEE Transactions on, vol. 26, pp. 14301443, 2011.

[76]

A. C. Kyritsis, et al., "A novel Parallel Active Filter for Current Pulsation Smoothing on
single stage grid-connected AC-PV modules," in Power Electronics and Applications,
2007 European Conference on, 2007, pp. 1-10.

[77]

C. Y. Hsu and H. Y. Wu, "A new single-phase active power filter with reduced energystorage capacity," Electric Power Applications, IEE Proceedings -, vol. 143, pp. 25-30,
1996.

[78]

H. Wang and H. Chung, "A novel concept to reduce the DC-link capacitor in PFC frontend power conversion systems," in Applied Power Electronics Conference and
Exposition (APEC), 2012 Twenty-Seventh Annual IEEE, 2012, pp. 1192-1197.

[79]

H. Wang and H. Chung, "Study of a new technique to reduce the dc-link capacitor in a
power electronic system by using a series voltage compensator," in Energy Conversion
Congress and Exposition (ECCE), 2011 IEEE, 2011, pp. 4051-4057.

[80]

H. Li, et al., "Active Power Decoupling for High-Power Single-Phase PWM Rectifiers,"
Power Electronics, IEEE Transactions on, vol. 28, pp. 1308-1319, 2013.

172