Multilevel NPC Converters in Parallel Connection for Power Conditioning Systems

Abstract

This paper investigates a multilevel combined NPC converter for medium-and high-power energy storage systems and active power filters. The proposed multilevel NPC converter is composed of a parallel connection of multiple NPC converters using the current sharing reactors and involves the phase shifted PWM strategy for better energy quality performance. Using the switching function-based mathematical model, the proposed multilevel converter is evaluated to show the energy quality performance and fault tolerance of an energy storage system or active power filter. In addition, the switching frequency of circulating currents is analyzed to obtain its relationship with the converter parameters and maximum sharing reactor current ripple. The performance of the proposed multilevel converter is verified by simulation.