Optimal Predictive Control of Three-Phase NPC

Multilevel Inverter: Comparison to Robust Sliding

Mode Controller
J. Dionsio Barros

J. Fernando Silva

CAUTL, Department of Mathematics and Engineering

University of Madeira
Campus Universitrio da Penteada, 9000-390, Funchal, Portugal
Email: dbarros@uma.pt

CAUTL, Instituto Superior Tcnico

Technical University of Lisbon
Av. Rovisco Pais 1, 1049-001 Lisboa, Portugal
Email: fernandos@alfa.ist.utl.pt

Abstract - This research work presents the optimal control of

the output ac currents and input dc capacitor voltage balancing
in a three-level, three-phase neutral point clamped multilevel
converter. The ac output currents and input dc capacitor
voltages are sampled and predicted for the next sampling time,
using linearized models and considering all the 27 output voltage
vectors. A suitable quadratic weighed cost functional is used to
choose the voltage vector minimizing both the ac current errors
and the input dc capacitor voltage unbalancing. Obtained
experimental results show that the output ac currents follow
their references showing small ripple, total harmonic distortion
less than 1%, harmonic contents 46dB below the fundamental,
and no steady state error. The capacitor voltages are correctly
balanced. Comparatively to a robust sliding mode controller the
optimal controller reduces the total harmonic distortion of the ac
currents, being a suitable controller for power quality
applications. 

I.

INTRODUCTION

Multilevel inverters are considered the most suitable power

converters for high voltage and high power applications, such
as large AC motor drives, modern high speed railway traction
drives, unified power flow controllers (UPFC), high voltage
direct current transmission systems (HVDC), superconducting
magnetic energy storage (SMES) [1], and static synchronous
compensator (STATCOM) [2]-[5].
There are several
multilevel converter topologies available, being the Neutral
Point Clamped (NPC) [6], Flying Capacitor [7], and Cascaded
H-bridge [8] the most studied and used [4].
Compared to the two-level converter topology, three-level
inverters exhibit the following main advantages: a) Higher dclink voltage Udc values, because the active semiconductors
must have voltage ratings of only Udc/2; b) Reduced harmonic
distortion of the output voltage and current, at the same
switching frequency; c) Smaller rate of rise of output voltages;
d) Lower semiconductor stresses for the same load power and
voltage ratings; e) Increased voltage power ratio; f) Reduced
electromagnetic interferences; g) Reduced output filter size
[4]-[5], [9]-[11]. On the other hand, multilevel topologies also
present some drawbacks: a) The available extra DC voltage
levels need capacitive supply voltage dividers, or extra power

supply arrangements; b) Modulation strategies can be complex

when compared to two-level converters. Nevertheless, these
weaknesses are often used advantageously, given the available
extra degrees of freedom they provide.
The three-phase three-level neutral-point-clamped converter
is the most widely used topology, in spite of the inherent
neutral-point (NP) voltage balancing problem. Without NP
voltage balancing techniques, due to circuit asymmetries one
of the capacitors charges while the other discharges, needing
higher rated capacitors, and leading to malfunctions.
Industrial applications also require long-term stability of the
neutral point voltage, rather than the elimination of the low
frequency dc voltage ripple [4], [10].
Therefore this work, after converter modeling (section II),
aims to present in section III the optimal control of output ac
currents and input dc capacitor voltage balancing in a threelevel, three-phase NPC multilevel converter, to be applied in
high power quality applications, such active power filters and
dynamic voltage restorers, that require small ac current ripple
and low total harmonic distortion. The performance of
simulation and experimental results (section IV) of this realtime optimal predictive controller, which chooses the optimal
vector to enforce the output ac currents and simultaneously
balance the input dc capacitor voltages, is compared to a
robust sliding mode vector control of the output ac currents,
which uses the multilevel NPC converters redundant vectors
to balance dc capacitor voltages [5].
II. MODELING THE MULTILEVEL CONVERTER
The dc side of a Neutral-Point-Clamped multilevel
converter (Fig. 1) has a dc source Udc and capacitors C1 and C2.
The switching variables Jk represent the state of the multilevel
converter active switches, Skj, with k (1, 2, 3) and j (1, 2,
3, 4). The three valid combinations of the binary states of the
switches Skj of each leg k can be defined as:

The work of J. Dionsio Barros was supported by the Centro de Cincia e

Tecnologia da Madeira (CITMA), Fundo Social Europeu, POPRAMIII.

1-4244-0655-2/07/$20.002007 IEEE

2061

Jk

0
 1

S k1
S k1
S k1

1 S k 2 1 S k 3 0 S k 4
0 S k 2 1 S k 3 1 S k 4
0 Sk 2

0 S k 3 1 S k 4

0
.
0
1

(1)

idc

ib
S21

S31

C1
D11 S12
um1
im

UC1

D21 S
22
um2

D31 S
32
um3

Udc

D12 S13
UC2

D22 S23

With
i1

S14

i2

D32 S U23
33

S24

UL1

U12

C2
iC2
i'b

L R

L R

U31
i3

L R

S34

UL2

UL3

Electrical Network

S11

iC1

*1k

J k J k  1 ;
*2 k
2

U dc .
2

(2)

The converter ac side is connected to the electrical network

voltages UL1, UL2, UL3 coupled by three-phase inductors, L,
with loss resistor, R.

R
L

*11

C1
*21
 C
2

1
 L

 0

0
R
L

0
*
 12
C1
*22

C2
0


1
L

0
0
R

L
*13

C1
*23

C2
0
0


1
L

;11
L
; 21
L
; 31
L
0
0

diD
dt
di
E
dt
dU C1
dt
dU
C2
dt

;12
L
; 22 i1

L i2

; 32


i
3
L
U C1

0
U C 2

0 U
L1
U
0 L2
U
1 L3
i
C1 dc
1
C2

2 1

3 2
1

2

0
3
2
3

2

(5)
2

2
2
2
2

(6)

Applying (5) and (6) to the model (3), the multilevel model
(7) in DE coordinates is obtained.

A. Switched State-Space Multilevel Converter Model

Applying the Kirchhoff laws to the multilevel converter
circuit (Fig. 1) and doing some mathematical manipulations,
the dynamic equations of the ac currents, i1, i2, and i3, and the
capacitor voltages, UC1 and UC2, are defined as functions of
the circuit parameters and switching variables (3).
di1
dt
di
2
dt
di3
dt
dU
C1
dt
dU C 2
dt

>C @X DE .

X 123

Assuming that a suitable control system balances the

capacitor voltages UC1 and UC2, being UC1 | UC2 | Udc/2, the
voltage umk between each leg and the neutral point of the
multilevel converter is:

Jk

3
1
. (4)
2*ik  *ij

3
j 1
jzk

B. Switched State-Space Multilevel System Model in DE Coordinates

The relationship between the variables X123 represented in
system coordinates and in DE coordinates, XDE, is (C is the
Concordia transformation.)

Figure 1. Neutral-point-clamped multilevel converter circuit.

umk

J k 1  J k  ;
; ki
2

R
L

*1D
 C
1

 *2D
C

2
1
 L

0

0

0
R
L
*1E





C1
*2 E
C2

0


1
L

0
0

*1D
L
*1E
L
0
0

*2D
L
*2 E iD

L iE


0 U C1

U C 2
0

0 U LD

1 U LE
C1 idc
1
C2

(7)

With
(3)

*iD

*
*
2
*i1  i 2  i 3 ; *iE
3
2
2

2 3
3 . (8)

*i 2 
*i 3

3 2
2

This model is suitable to needed to establish the optimal

predictive controller.

2062

III. OPTIMAL PREDICTIVE CONTROLLER DESIGN

The optimal controller is designed to choose the best output
voltage vector able to minimize both the ac current, iD and iE,
errors and the input dc capacitor voltages, UC1 and UC2,
unbalancing. The obtained DE converter model (7) will be
solved to predict the state variables values at the next
sampling period, for all the 27 available vectors.
A. Predictive Equations for AC Currents and DC Capacitor
Voltages
The solution of the ac current, ix, with x (D,E), is [12]
R
 t
L

ix 0   e
0

U Ci W  | U Ci 0  ; U Lx W  | U Lx 0  ; 0  t  'T

Where UCi(0) and ULx(0) are sampled voltages.

dynamic behavior of the ac currents is approximately:

(11)
The

e L | 1

R ; 0  t  'T .
t
L

(12)

(13)

Using (13) in the ac currents (12) the ac currents are

*
R
tix 0  1x tU C1 0 
L
L
*
t
 2 x tU 0   U 0 .

ix t  | ix 0 
L

C2

Lx

(14)

In order to predict the capacitor voltage difference,

UC1(t) - UC2(t), the dynamic equations (7) are now solved.
The solution of the capacitor voltages are [12]
t

U Ci t  U Ci 0   
0

*iE
i W 
*iD
iD W  
iE W   dc dW .
Ci
Ci
Ci

(15)

(17)

(18)

B. Quadratic Cost Functional Definition

If a NPC multilevel converter is operated as a current source,
there are three variables to control, iD(t), iE(t), and
UC1(t) - UC2(t).
The main objective of the optimizing
controller must be the minimization of both the ac currents
errors and the capacitor voltage difference, the quadratic cost
functional (19).

R
 t
L

Assuming (R/L)t << 1 the exponential can be approximated

with the 2 first terms of the Taylor series:
R

U C1 t   U C 2 t  | U C1 0   U C 2 0 
t
t
 *2D  *1D  iD 0   *2 E  *1E  iE 0  .
C
C

C 'T 

*
i x 0   1 x U C1 0  
L
R
 t
*2 x
U Lx 0  L
L .



e
U C 2 0  
1

L R
L

ix t  | e

(10)

*
*iD
t
tiD 0   iE tiE 0   idc 0  .
Ci
Ci
Ci

Considering C1 | C2 | C, the capacitors voltage error is

(9)

Constant ; 0  t  'T ; with i (1, 2)

(16)

Substituting (16) into (15) and considering the same

conditions as in (10) the capacitor voltages are:
U Ci t  | U Ci 0  

Where ix(0) is the current ix(t) at the sample instant t.

Assuming fixed switching variables Jk and a sampling time 'T
small enough to consider UC1(t), UC2(t), and ULx(t) nearly
constants.
*ix

idc W  | idc 0  ; ix W  | ix 0  ; 0  t  'T .

R
W
L

*1 x
L U C1 W  

U Lx W  .
*2 x
U C 2 W  

dW

ix t  e

Where UCi(0) are the sampled capacitor voltages at t = 0.

Assuming 'T small enough to consider nearly constant the dc
current, idc(t), and that the ac currents follow their references:

2
2
'T 
eD2 'T  eE 'T  eUC



UD

UE

(19)

UUC

eD t  iDref t   iD t  ; eE t  iEref t   iE t 

(20)

eUC t  U C1 t   U C 2 t 

(21)

Here, iDref('T) and iEref('T), are the ac current references

one sample time forward, 'T. In the cost functional (19) the
errors are weighted with the weights UD, UE, and UUC, having
two purposes: they normalize the distinct errors, which have
different units and ranges, with a maximum error; they define
the priority level of each error variable. To assure adjacent
level voltage transition in the multilevel output voltage only
adjacent vectors are analyzed.
C. Multilevel Converter Optimal Predictive Controller
The block diagram of the multilevel converter with the
optimal controller (Fig. 2) includes as inputs, the state of the
multilevel converter switches (vector), J1(0), J2(0), and J3(0),
the sampled capacitor voltages, UC1(0) and UC2(0), the ac
currents reference one sampling time forward, iDref('T) and
iEref('T), and the ac currents, i1(0), i2(0), and i3(0), read and
transformed to DE coordinates, iD(0) and iE(0), using the
Concordia transformation. The controller makes use of these
inputs and estimates of the ac electric network voltage, UL1(t),

2063

Udc

idc
UC2
UC1

J1
J2
J3

J1

Algorithm
UC1 to determine
UC2 the optimal
state of the
iDref multilevel
iEref converter
iE
iD

iDref('T)
iEref('T)

iD
iE

Transformation
i1, i2, and i3 to
iD and iE

C1

C2

UC1

UC2

Multilevel

J2
J3
Converter
i1

i1
i2
i3

i2

i3

UL1
UL2
UL3
Electrical Network
Figure 2. Feedback system of the multilevel converter power controlled with
the optimal controller.

UL2(t), and UL3(t), to compute the optimal vector and apply it

to the multilevel converter.
IV. SIMULATION AND EXPERIMENTAL RESULTS
The multilevel converter model and the optimal controller
were implemented in the MATLAB/SIMULINK, as shown in
Fig. 2. The dynamic equations of the system model (3), the ac
currents, i1(t), i2(t), and i3(t), and the capacitor voltages, UC1(t)
and UC2(t), were implemented in the simulation program.
Ideal switches were considered. The optimal predictive
controller was implemented in a MATLAB S-Function. To
experimentally validate the simulations, a low power (200V,
3kW) laboratorial prototype was constructed as shown in
Fig. 1, and Fig. 2 with IGBTs (MG25Q2YS40), diodes
(40HFL), capacitors, inductors, resistors, IGBT drives with
optical isolation (IR2110 together with optocouplers HCPL2200), sensors to read the ac currents, i1(t), i2(t) (Hall effect
LEM LA25NP), and sensors to read the capacitor voltages
difference, UC1(t) - UC2(t) (Isolation Amplifier AD210AN).
The algorithm, to determine the optimal vector, is
implemented in a Digital Signal Processor (DS1103), which is
programmed in C language.

The following parameters were used: C1 = 4.4 mF,

C2 = 4.4 mF, L = 15.1 mH, R = 0.1 :, Udc = 120 V, iac = 7 A,
UL = 24 V rms, fac = 50 Hz, 'T = 28 Ps, UD = 0.09, UE = 0.09,
and UUC = 0.04. For comparison purposes, these results will
be compared to a sliding mode controller [5].
Simulation and experimental results of the ac currents, i1, i2,
and i3, in steady state operation (Fig. 3c and Fig. 3d) show that
they are nearly sinusoidal with very small ripple (<3%), and a
total harmonic distortion (THD) lower than 1%.
Comparatively to the sliding mode controller, this controller
improves the ripple, which is more than 7% (Fig. 3a and
Fig. 3b) and the THD, which is around 6%.
The experimental power spectral density of the ac current i1
using the sliding mode controller (Fig. 4a) show that the main
harmonics are nearly 32 dB below the 50 Hz fundamental.
The switching frequency is not constant being mostly below
1.5 kHz. The experimental results of the power spectral
density of the ac current i1, using the optimal predictive
controller (Fig. 4b), show that the main harmonics are nearly
46 dB below the 50 Hz fundamental, an improvement of 14
dB comparatively to the sliding mode controller. The
switching frequency of the optimal predictive controller is
spreading over the frequency spectrum which is advantageous
to reduce audible noise.
The improvement of the optimal controller is due to the
chosen optimal vector that minimizes the errors of the ac
currents and capacitor voltage imbalance. The optimal
controller just chooses the vector leading to a minimum
current error at the end of each sampling time. The sliding
mode controller always chooses a vector to ensure a fast
reaching of the sliding mode regime, unnecessarily increasing
the ripple, the total harmonic distortion and the switching
frequency.
The sliding mode controller is characterized by having a
fast dynamic response to step ac current reference changes [5].
Applying a positive step (3.5 ampere to 7 ampere) in the ac
current references (Fig. 5, at 35ms) and a negative step (7
ampere to 3.5 ampere), at 75ms, in order to compare the
performance of the dynamic response for these two controllers,
the results show that they have similar dynamic response with
no overshoots.
The optimal predictive controller also chooses the optimal
vector that minimizes the capacitor voltage errors and these
voltages are balanced (Fig. 6b), with an error lower than
0.05%. The ac measurements of the capacitor voltages show,
the zooming results of Fig. 6b, with a vertical scale of
0.4 V/Div, that the two capacitors voltage are really
overlapped. The capacitor voltages of the sliding mode
controller are also balanced, but they present a ripple error of
about 6% (Fig. 6a). The steps variations of the ac current
amplitude do not affect the balancing of the capacitor voltages
(Fig. 6) for these two controllers.

2064

48
36

p i + 24 A
1

i1, i2, and i3 (A)

24

12

pi
2

-12

p i - 24 A
3

-24

-36
-48
0.4 0.41 0.42 0.43 0.44 0.45 0.46 0.47 0.48 0.49 0.5
t(s)
a) Sliding mode controller simulations.

b) Sliding mode controller experiments.

48

36

p i + 24 A
1

i1, i2, and i3 (A)

24

12

pi

-12

p i - 24 A
3

-24

-36

-48
0.4 0.41 0.42 0.43 0.44 0.45 0.46 0.47 0.48 0.49 0.5
t(s)
c) Optimal controller simulations.
d) Optimal controller experiments.
Figure 3. Sinusoidal ac currents, i1, i2, and i3, in steady state operation. i1 has a displacement of 2 divisions and i3 a displacement of 2 divisions
(Vertical - 12 A/Div and horizontal - 10 ms/Div).

a) Sliding mode controller experiments.

b) Optimal controller experiments.
Figure 4. Power spectral density of the ac current, i1, in steady state operation.

The sliding mode controller uses a robust control law,

implying a parameter independent dynamic behavior. The
optimal predictive controller, that chooses the optimal vector
of the multilevel converter, is a model-based controller

depending on system parameters (the capacitors C1 and C2, the

inductors, L, with loss resistor, R, and the electrical network,
UL, voltages (Fig. 1)). To investigate the robustness of the
optimal predictive controller, with industrial component

2065

a) Sliding mode controller experiments.

b) Optimal controller experiments.
Figure 5. Sinusoidal ac currents, i1, i2, and i3, with an amplitude step. i1 has a displacement of 2 divisions and i3 a displacement of 2 divisions
(Vertical - 12 A/Div and horizontal - 10 ms/Div).

a) Sliding mode controller experiments.

b) Optimal controller experiments.
Figure 6. Capacitor voltages, UC1 and UC2, when the ac currents experiment step variations (vertical - 10 V/Div and horizontal 20 ms/Div).

a) Double inductance, 2uL, and half resistance, R/2.

b) Half electrical network voltages UL/2.
Figure 7. Sinusoidal ac currents, i1, i2, and i3, with non-nominal parameters. i1 has a displacement of 2 divisions and i3 a displacement of 2 divisions
(Vertical - 12 A/Div and horizontal - 10 ms/Div).

tolerances, the parameters of the predictive laws were 100%

increased or 50% decreased in two limit situations: a) 2uC1,
2uC2, 2uL, R/2, and 2uUL; b) C1/2, C2/2, L/2, 2uR, and UL/2
(comparatively to the nominal values of C1, C2, L, R, and UL).
The experimental results (Fig. 7) show that, even with these

model strong parameter mismatches, the ac currents follow

their references, with mostly the same performance obtained
when using nominal parameters (Fig. 3) and the capacitor
voltages are also balanced (Fig. 8), as with the nominal
parameters (Fig. 6). This indicates that this optimal predictive

2066

a) Double capacitances, 2uC1 and 2uC2.

b) Half capacitances, C1/2 and C2/2.
Figure 8. Capacitor voltages, UC1 and UC2, with non-nominal parameters (vertical - 10 V/Div and horizontal 20 ms/Div).

controller also presents some robustness to industrial

parameters tolerances.
V. CONCLUSIONS
This paper has presented an optimal predictive control
method for the neutral point clamped multilevel converter,
working as a current source, and has compared the results with
a robust sliding mode controller.
Experimental results obtained show that the robustness
property of sliding mode, especially useful in presence of
unknown disturbances, does not optimize the ripple or the
total harmonic distortion of the ac currents.
The proposed optimal predictive controllers, that predicts in
real time the state space voltages and currents of the multilevel
converter and computes a quadratic cost functional to choose
the optimal vector, presents ac currents which track their
references with smaller ripple and no steady state error.
The capacitor voltages are correctly balanced and
indistinguishable, having a much smaller ripple than with the
sliding mode controller. The optimal predictive controller
presents also some robustness to industrial component
tolerances.
Since the optimal predictive controller achieves THD< 1%
and harmonic contents 46dB below the fundamental, this
controller is a valuable alternative for applications to enhance
power quality.
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