Analysis and design of a passive regenerative inductor‐capacitor‐diode snubber for DC link over‐voltage mitigation in Y‐source inverter

Abstract

AbstractRenewable energy‐based distributed generation presents new challenges for power inverters, requiring greater flexibility, reliability, cost‐effectiveness, and efficiency. Impedance source network‐based inverters (INIs) are an attractive option for addressing some of these issues since they provide a single‐stage power conversion structure with buck‐boost capability, allowing them to manage shoot‐through conduction on the inverter arms. However, some INI topologies based on magnetic coupling, such as those of the Y‐source impedance network family, have problems related to overvoltages at the power switches because of the presence of unwanted leakage inductances in the coupled‐inductor windings. The insertion of the regenerative and passive LCD snubber in the impedance network circuit is a solution to mitigate this problem, but there is currently a lack of a clear and concise methodology to design its components, which hinders a wider adoption of this solution in different types of INI. This paper presents a comprehensive and analytical design for determining LCD snubber components. This study was carried out with the quasi‐Y‐source inverter, but the same methodology can be extended to other types of INI based on the Y‐source network.