NEUTRAL POINT CLAMPED CONVERTER CONTROL SYSTEM AND CONTROL METHOD AND COMPENSATION UNIT

• US 20130128632A1
• Filed: 11/21/2012
• Published: 05/23/2013
• Est. Priority Date: 11/22/2011
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: GE Infrastructure Technology, LLC (General Electric Company)
• Original Assignee: General Electric Company
• Inventors: Yang, Wenqiang, Luo, Ling, Liu, Yunfeng, Klodowski, Anthony Michael, Wagoner, Robert Gregory, Seymour, Robert Allen
• Granted Patent: US 9,083,261 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 363/37
• CPC Class Codes: H02M 5/458 using semiconductor devices only
• CPC Class Codes: H02M 7/487 Neutral point clamped inverters

Abstract

A control system includes a fundamental control unit, first and second compensation control units, a switch control unit, and a switch implementation unit. The fundamental control unit generates fundamental commands to implement fundamental power conversion operation for a converter. The first compensation control unit generates a first compensation signal for injection into the fundamental command to balance neutral point voltage when the converter is in operation in a first state. The second compensation control unit generates a second compensation signal for injection into the fundamental command to balance neutral point voltage when the converter is in operation in a second state. The switch control unit detects first and second states of the converter and provides first and second switch signals respectively. The switch implementation unit switches the fundamental control unit to communicate with the first and second compensation control units according to the first and second switch signals respectively.

Claims

1. A control system for providing commands to a multi-level converter for balancing a neutral point voltage of the multi-level converter, the control system comprising:

a fundamental control unit configured to generate fundamental commands to implement fundamental power conversion operation for the multi-level converter;

a first compensation control unit configured to generate a first compensation signal for injection into the fundamental command to balance the neutral point voltage when the multi-level converter is in operation in a first state;

a second compensation control unit configured to generate a second compensation signal for injection into the fundamental command to balance the neutral point voltage when the multi-level converter is in operation in a second state, wherein the first state is different from the second state;

a switch control unit configured to detect the state of the multi-level converter and provide a first switch signal and a second switch signal respectively corresponding to the first state and the second state; and

a switch implementation unit configured to switch the fundamental control unit to communicate with the first compensation control unit according to the first switch signal and switch the fundamental control unit to communicate with the second compensation control unit according to the second switch signal.

2. The control system of claim 1, wherein the control system is embodied in a wind turbine, wherein the first state comprises a normal operation state, and wherein the second state comprises a wind free state.

3. The control system of claim 2, wherein the switch control unit comprises a comparator element comprising:

an input terminal configured to receive a detected torque command of the multi-level converter;

a threshold terminal configured to receive a zero value; and

an output terminal configured to, when the detected torque command is not equal to the zero value, outputing the first switch signal, or, when the detected torque command is equal to the zero value, output the second switch signal.

4. The control system of claim 1, wherein the first state comprises a higher power factor state, and wherein the second state comprises a low power factor state.

5. The control system of claim 4, wherein the switch control unit comprises:

a filter element configured to filter a detected current command related to the root-mean-square value of an active current of the multi-level converter;

an absolute value calculating element configured to obtain an absolute value of the filtered detected current command; and

a hysteresis comparator element configured to provide the first switch signal and the second switch signal according to the absolute value of the absolute value calculating element.

6. The control system of claim 1, wherein the fundamental control unit comprises:

a first difference element configured to obtain an active current error signal;

a second difference element configured to obtain a reactive current error signal;

a fundamental current control block configured to convert the active current error signal and the reactive current error signal to an active modulating command and a reactive modulating command in dq coordiantes respectively; and

a dq/abc transformation block configured to transform the active modulating command and the reactive modulating command in dq coordinates to corresponding fundamental modulating commands in abc coordinates.

7. The control system of claim 6, wherein the first compensation control unit further comprises:

a third difference element configured to obtain a voltage error signal representative of neutral point voltage imbalance; and

a neutral point voltage regulator configured to receive the voltage error signal and provide a fundamental compensation command for injection into the fundamental modulating commands and driving the voltage error signal towards zero.

8. The control system of claim 7, wherein the neutral point voltage regulator comprises a filter element and a proportional integral (PI) regulator combined with a limiter.

9. The control system of claim 6, wherein the second compensation control unit comprises:

a third difference element configured to obtain a voltage error signal representative of neutral point voltage imbalance;

a neutral point voltage regulator configured to receive the voltage error signal and produce a fundamental compensation command for driving the voltage error signal towards zero; and

an odd harmonics signal generator configured to transform the fundamental compensation command to odd harmonics signals in dq coordinates for injection into the active modulating command and the reactive modulating command.

10. The control system of claim 9, wherein the odd harmonics signal generator comprises:

a first multiplying element configured to obtain a first odd harmonics signal by multiplying the fundamental compensation command and a first angular signal; and

a second multiplying element configured to obtain a second odd harmonics signal by multiplying the fundamental compensation command and a second angular signal.

11. The control system of claim 10, wherein the first angular signal comprises cos(−

3(ω

t+ψ

_n)), and the second angular signal comprises sin(−

3(ω

t+ψ

_n)), ω

=2π

f, ψ

_n=(n−

1)(θ

+π

/2(n−

1))/n, θ

=a tan(L_Uycmd/L_Uxcmd), wherein ψ

_n comprises an injected harmonic angle, n comprises an order of harmonic injected in the dq coordinate, f represents frequency, t represents time, L_Uxcmd and L_Uycmd are respectively the active modulating command and the reactive modulating command, and n is an odd number.

12. The control system of claim 11, wherein the multi-level converter comprises a three-level converter, and n is equal to three.

13. A control method for balancing neutral point voltage of a multi-level converter, the control method comprising:

obtaining a reference parameter related to the state of the multi-lever converter;

determining the state of the multi-lever converter according to the reference parameter;

generating a fundamental command from a fundamental control unit to implement fundamental power conversion of the multi-level converter;

when the state of the multi-level converter is in a first state, switching the fundamental control unit to communicate with a first compensation control unit, generating a first compensation signal with the first compensation control unit, and injecting the first compensation signal into the fundamental command to balance the neutral point voltage of the multi-level converter; and

when the state of the multi-level converter is in a second state, switching the fundamental control unit to communicate with a second compensation control unit, generating a second compensation signal with the second compensation control unit, and injecting the second compensation signal into the fundamental command to balance the neutral point voltage of the multi-level converter, wherein the first state is different from the second state.

14. The control method of claim 13, wherein the reference parameter comprises a power factor of the multi-level converter, and wherein determining the state of the multi-level converter according to the reference parameter comprises:

determining whether the power factor is equal to zero or less than a determined value;

when the power factor is equal to zero or is less than the determined value, identifying the second state; and

when the power factor is not equal to zero or is greater than the determined value, identifying the first state.

15. The control method of claim 13, wherein the second compensation signal comprises odd harmonics signals in the dq coordinate.

16. The control method of claim 15, wherein the odd harmonics signals comprise:

a first odd harmonics signal generated by multiplying a fundamental compensation command and a first angular signal; and

a second odd harmonics signal generated by multiplying the fundamental compensation command and a second angular signal.

17. A compensation control unit for providing a compensation command for balancing neutral point voltage of a multi-level converter, the compensation control unit comprising:

a difference element configured to obtain a voltage error signal representative of neutral point voltage imbalance;

a neutral point voltage regulator configured to receive the voltage error signal and produce a fundamental compensation command for driving the voltage error signal towards zero; and

an odd harmonics signal generator configured to transform the fundamental compensation command to odd harmonics signals in the dq coordinates.

18. The compensation control unit of claim 17, wherein the odd harmonics signal generator comprises a first multiplying element and a second multiplying element, wherein the first multiplying element is configured to obtain a first odd harmonics signal by multiplying the fundamental compensation command and a first angular signal, and the second multiplying element is configured to obtain a second odd harmonics signal by multiplying the fundamental compensation command and a second angular signal.

19. The compensation control unit of claim 18, wherein the first angular signal comprises cos(−

3(ω

t+ψ

_n)), and the second angular signal comprises sin(−

3(ω

t+ψ

_n)), ω

=2π

f, ψ

_n=(n−

1)(θ

+π

/2(n−

1))/n, θ

=a tan(L_Uycmd/L_Uxcmd), wherein ψ

_n, comprises an injected harmonic angle, n comprises an order of harmonic injected in the dq coordinate, f represents frequency, t represents time, L_Uxcmd and L_Uycmd are respectively the active modulating command and the reactive modulating command, and n is an odd number.

20. The compensation control unit of claim 17, wherein the compensation control unit is embodied in a wind turbine power generation system, and wherein the compensation command is configured to balance neutral point voltage of the multi-level converter when the multi-level converter is in operation in wind free state or a low power factor state.