Nowadays, with the increasing electrification in transportation and demand on high‐efficient and reliable energy conversion from the renewable energy sources like wind and solar energy, the understanding of multi‐level topologies, which can satisfy these demands, is of a great importance to both academia researchers and industry.
This seminar will provide the participants with the knowledge of basic concepts and control design challenges for three‐level neutral point converters (NPC) in different applications. It will start with basic operating principles of the topology (NPC, T‐type and ANPC) and their control challenges such as neutral point voltage balancing and thermal stress distribution. Then, two different control approaches will be presented: carrier‐based PWM techniques and model predictive control techniques. For each control technique, basic concept and step‐by‐step implementation guideline will be provided, followed by more application‐oriented examples and implementation challenges.
An approach to analyze the reliability of power electronics converters will also be introduced, which includes thermal stress modelling, lifetime prediction, and reliability evaluation. It will be demonstrated that control algorithm selection has a major impact on the reliability of semiconductor devices and DClink capacitors in NPC converters.
The seminar is intended both for academia researchers and industry, who do not have previous knowledge about the NPC topology (basic operating principles will be explained), and for those who are familiar with the topology and would like to learn more about ongoing research directions and novel control solutions.
