Five level high power motor drive converter and control system

• US 6,058,031 A
• Filed: 06/30/1998
• Issued: 05/02/2000
• Est. Priority Date: 10/23/1997
• Status: Expired due to Term

• Current Assignee: General Electric Company
• Original Assignee: General Electric Company
• Inventors: Zhao, Yifan, Espelage, Paul Martin, Wang, Fei Fred Sr., Lyons, James Patrick, Vlatkovic, Vlatko, Esser, Albert Andreas Maria
• Primary Examiner(s): Wong, Peter S.
• Assistant Examiner(s): Laxton, Gary L.
• Application Number:
  US09/108,044
• Time in Patent Office: 672 Days
• Field of Search: 363/65, 363/67, 363/98
• US Class Current: 363/67
• CPC Class Codes: H02M 7/487 Neutral point clamped inverters
• CPC Class Codes: H02M 7/5395 by pulse-width modulation
• CPC Class Codes: H02P 27/14 with three or more levels of voltage

Abstract

A high power motor drive converter includes: a five level hybrid NPC output power conversion stage including three NPC phase bridges having switches and coupled in a wye configuration through a converter neutral point, each NPC phase bridge receiving power on a respective direct current bus; three isolated split series-connected DC capacitor banks each coupled in parallel to a respective one of the three NPC phase bridges; and a controller for selecting switch positions with active control of neutral voltages. The controller is adapted to select switch positions using feedforward sine-triangle modulation with third harmonic injection, zero sequence injection, and/or discontinuous modulation injection.

Claims

1. A high power motor drive converter comprising:

three direct current busses;

a five level hybrid neutral point clamped (NPC) output power conversion stage comprising three NPC phase bridges including switches and coupled in a wye configuration through a neutral point, the NPC output power conversion stage for supplying power to an AC drive motor, each NPC phase bridge receiving power on a respective one of the three direct current busses;

three isolated split series-connected DC capacitor banks each coupled in parallel to a respective one of the three NPC phase bridges;

a controller for selecting switch positions with active control of neutral voltages;

a rectifier transformer with three sets of three phase secondaries, each set coupled in parallel to a respective one of the capacitor banks; and

three diode rectifier source converter bridges each coupled in parallel to a respective one of the three sets of three phase secondaries.

2. The converter of claim 1 further including snubber circuits each coupled to a respective switch.

3. The converter of claim 1 further including a neutral-ground reference network tuned to provide damping for reflected wavefronts propagating on the motor cables.

4. The converter of claim 1 further including three resistor networks, each resistor network coupled in parallel with a respective one of the capacitor banks for balancing capacitors of the capacitor banks and enhancing capacitor safety during capacitor charging.

5. The converter of claim 1 wherein the controller is adapted to use space vector modulation to control a magnitude and a rotation of a reference voltage vector in a complex voltage plane.

6. The converter of claim 1 wherein the controller is adapted to select switch positions using feedforward sine-triangle modulation with third harmonic injection applied to each of the three NPC phase bridges.

7. The converter of claim 6 wherein the controller is further adapted to select switch positions using discontinuous modulation injection.

8. The converter of claim 1 wherein the controller is adapted to select switch positions to apply a space vector equivalent triplen harmonic waveform injection to each of the three NPC phase bridges.

9. The converter of claim 8 wherein the controller is further adapted to select switch positions using feedforward sine-triangle modulation with discontinuous modulation injection.

10. The converter of claim 8 wherein the controller is further adapted to select switch positions using feedforward sine-triangle modulation with zero sequence injection applied to each of the three NPC phase bridges.

11. The converter of claim 1 wherein the controller is adapted to select switch positions using feedforward sine-triangle modulation with zero sequence injection applied to each of the three NPC phase bridges.

12. The converter of claim 11 wherein the controller is adapted such that, if a peak magnitude of a reference voltage vector is less than one half (1/2) of a direct current bus voltage (Vdc), the zero sequence injection is applied sequentially at voltages of -3/4 Vdc, -1/4 Vdc, +1/4 Vdc, +3/4 Vdc, +3/4 Vdc, +1/4 Vdc, -1/4 Vdc, and -3/4 Vdc.

13. The converter of claim 11 wherein the controller is adapted such that, if a peak magnitude of a reference voltage vector is in the range of about 1/2 Vdc to about Vdc, the zero sequence injection is applied sequentially at voltages of -1/2 Vdc, 0, +1/2 Vdc, +1/2 Vdc, 0, and -1/2 Vdc.

14. The converter of claim 11 wherein the controller is adapted such that, if a peak magnitude of a reference voltage vector is in the range of about Vdc to about 1.5 Vdc, the zero sequence injection is applied sequentially at voltages of -1/4 Vdc and +1/4 Vdc.

15. The converter of claim 1 wherein the controller is adapted to select switch positions using feedforward sine-triangle modulation with discontinuous modulation injection.

16. The converter of claim 15 wherein the discontinuous modulation injection comprises the addition of a discontinuous segment for a sixty degree period for forcing overmodulation on a selected one of the three phases to clamp the selected one of the three phases to either a positive or negative direct current bus value, the discontinuous segment being situated about 30 degrees after a reference voltage vector peak.

17. A method of controlling a high power motor drive converter including three direct current busses, a five level hybrid neutral point clamped (NPC) output power conversion stage comprising three NPC phase bridges including switches and coupled in a wye configuration through a neutral point, each NPC phase bridge receiving power on a respective one of the three direct current busses, and three isolated split series-connected DC capacitor banks each coupled in parallel to a respective one of the three NPC phase bridges, the method comprising:

selecting switch positions with active control of neutral voltages by using space vector modulation to control a magnitude and a rotation of a reference voltage vector in a complex voltage plane.

18. A method of controlling a high power motor drive converter including three direct current busses, a five level hybrid neutral point clamped (NPC) output power conversion stage comprising three NPC phase bridges including switches and coupled in a wye configuration through a neutral point, each NPC phase bridge receiving power on a respective one of the three direct current busses, and three isolated split series-connected DC capacitor banks each coupled in parallel to a respective one of the three NPC phase bridges, the method comprising:

selecting switch positions with active control of neutral voltages by using feedforward sine-triangle modulation with third harmonic injection applied to each of the three NPC phase bridges.

19. The method of claim 18 wherein selecting switch positions further includes using discontinuous modulation injection.

20. A method of controlling a high power motor drive converter including three direct current busses, a five level hybrid neutral point clamped (NPC) output power conversion stage comprising three NPC phase bridges including switches and coupled in a wye configuration through a neutral point, each NPC phase bridge receiving power on a respective one of the three direct current busses, and three isolated split series-connected DC capacitor banks each coupled in parallel to a respective one of the three NPC phase bridges, the method comprising:

selecting switch positions that apply a space vector equivalent triplen harmonic waveform injection to each of the three NPC phase bridges to provide active control of neutral voltages.

21. The method of claim 20 wherein selecting switch positions further includes using discontinuous modulation injection.

22. The method of claim 20 wherein selecting switch positions further includes applying zero sequence injection to each of the three NPC phase bridges.

23. A method of controlling a high power motor drive converter including three direct current busses, a five level hybrid neutral point clamped (NPC) output poser conversion stage comprising three NPC phase bridges including switches and coupled in a wye configuration through a neutral point, each NPC phase bridge receiving power on a respective one of the three direct current busses, and three isolated split series-connected DC capacitor banks each coupled in parallel to a respective one of the three NPC phase bridges, the method comprising:

selecting switch positions with active control of neutral voltages by using feedforward sine-triangle modulatin with zero sequence injection applied to each of the three NPC phase bridges.

24. A method of controlling a high power motor drive converter including three direct current busses, a five level hybrid neutral point clamped (NPC) output power conversion stage comprising three NPC phase bridges including switches and coupled in a wye configuration thourgh a neutral point, each NPC phase bridge receiving power on a respective one of the three direct current busses, and three isolated split series-connected DC capacitor banks each coupled in parallel to a respective one of the three NPC phase bridges, the method comprising:

selecting switch positions with active control of neutral voltages by using feedforward sine-triangle modulation with discontinuous modulation injection.

25. The method of claim 24 wherein the discontinuous modulation injection comprises the addition of a discontinuous segment for a sixty degree period for forcing overmodulation on a selected one of the three phases to clamp the selected one of the three phases to either a positive or negative direct current bus value, the discontinuous segment being situated about 30 degrees after a reference voltage vector peak.