In this paper, a new carrier-based space-vector coordinate-shifted discontinuous PWM (DPWM) strategy is proposed for three-level T-type neutral-point-clamped (3L-TNPC) inverters in electric propulsion applications. For a commercial aircraft, the cruising stage usually dominates the longest in the typical mission profile, which delivers lower-rated power and therefore requires high-efficiency electric propulsion. Besides, the high performance of the 3L propulsion drives depends on the premise of neutral-point (NP) voltage balance. Meanwhile, computational efficiency is highly required when executing advanced modulation algorithms, particularly for adopting multilevel topologies. To leverage the above advantages at the same time, in this work, by adopting coordinate-derived modulation signals in shifted hexagons, not only can the NP voltage drift be restored, but also reduced switching losses are achieved attributed to discontinuous pulse patterns.
