A Novel Space Vector Modulation for Nine-Switch Converters S. M.

Dehghan
Student Member, IEEE Tarbiat Modares University Jalal-Al-Ahmad Highway Tehran, Iran dehghansm@modares.ac.ir

M. Mohamadian
Member, IEEE Tarbiat Modares University Jalal-Al-Ahmad Highway Tehran, Iran mohamadian@modares.ac.ir

A. Yazdian
Member, IEEE Tarbiat Modares University Jalal-Al-Ahmad Highway Tehran, Iran yazdian@modares.ac.ir

F. Ashrafzadeh
Senior Member, IEEE Whirlpool Corp. 750 Monte Rd, MD 5210 Benton Harbor, MI, US Farhad.Ashrafzadeh@ieee.org

Abstract -- Recently, nine-switch inverters and nine-switch zsource inverters have been proposed as dual output inverters. In this paper, a new space vector modulation (SVM) for nineswitch and nine switch z-source inverter is proposed. The proposed method increases the sum of modulation indices about 15% in contrast with the conventional scheme in which the sum of modulation indices is equal or less than one. The extra available voltage for a given input dc-voltage, translates to a higher torque. Also, in order to further reduce the cost of power devices and also thermal heat effect reduce number of semiconductor switching, specific SVM switching pattern is presented. This feature will be advantages for high power inverter applications. The performance of the proposed SVM for both nine-switch inverter and nine-switch z-source inverter is verified by simulation and experimental results. Index Terms -- Space vector modulation (SVM), nine-switch inverter, nine-switch z-source inverter.

inverter is composed of two conventional inverters with three common switches. In nine-switch inverter sum of modulation index of two outputs must be less than or equal to one. Therefore voltage amplitude of the outputs is smaller, to that of two separate inverters [3]. To solve this problem, an impedance source (z-source) network has been proposed to be places in the front of nine-switch inverter as a DC/DC boost converter (Fig. 2) [4]. Z-source network, for the first time, was used as front-end boost converter for a conventional inverter in [5]. In [1] and [4], carrier based PWM methods have been presented for nine-switch inverter and nine-switch z-source inverter. This paper proposes space vector modulation (SVM) methods for the above mentioned inverters. In order to reduce the number of semiconductor switching, some specific switching pattern for SVM is also proposed.

I.

INTRODUCTION

Inverters are used as DC/AC converter and power controller for AC loads such as motor drivers. In many cases, there are two or more AC loads which require independent control. This is true for drive applications in most home appliances. For instance, in cloth dryers both drum motor and blower motor need to be controlled independently to reduce drying time and overcome the disturbance due to various length of venting. Also in cloth washers, both main drum motor and drain motor are required independent control during the water extraction (i.e. spin) cycle. The conventional solution is to use separate inverters. This increases cost and volume of the system and normally requires a communication interfacing between them for supervisory control. Furthermore, such as distributed converter architecture imposes some limitation at the system level. Examples are potential for increased leakage current, electromagnetic interferences (EMI), and more costly ventilation. To solve these problems, a dual output inverter has been presented in [1] using only nine semiconductor switches, Fig. 1. This inverter is known as Nine-Switch Inverter. The main benefit of such a topology is reduced cost -- A critical decision making factor in mass production such as home appliances and auto industry. The foregoing inverter is used as an AC/AC converter in [2]. The nine-switch

Fig. 1. Nine-switch inverter.

Fig. 2. Nine-switch z-source inverter.

978-1-4244-2893-9/09/$25.00 2009 IEEE

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This paper is organized as follows. Section II describes the carrier based PWM control method for nine-switch inverter. Section III examines the proposed SVM for nine-switch inverter as well as a special SVM with minimum switching. The proposed SVM is developed for nine-switch z-source inverter in Section IV. Finally, Section V presents simulation and experimental results. II. CARRIER BASED PWM METHOD

The carrier based PWM control method for a nine-switch inverter is shown in Fig. 3. There are two reference signals (upper and lower) for every phase. The upper and lower reference signals are related to upper and lower outputs respectively. The gate signal for the upper switch of a leg is generated by comparing the carrier signal and the upper reference signal of the corresponding phase (VrefUJ). Similarly, the gate signal for lower switch is generated from the carrier signal and lower reference signal of the related phase (VrefLJ). The gate signal for mid switch is generated by the logical XOR of the gate signals for the upper and lower switches. With this method, in each inverter leg, two switches are always ON. Fig. 4 shows carrier based PWM method switching vectors. There are six vectors in each switching cycle for both outputs: two non-zero vectors, one zero vectors (000), two none-zero vectors and one zero vector (111) {two active short zero (000) two active long zero (111)}. When one of the outputs have an active or short zero (000) vector, the other output has long zero (111) vector.

Fig. 4. Carrie based PWM method switching vector.

III.

SVM FOR NINE- SWITCH INVERTER

The combination of switching vector of both outputs in Fig.4 creates a specific sequence as shown in Fig. 5. This sequence is used to design SVM method. There are 12 vectors in each switching cycle: {two upper active (VAU) zero (VZ) two upper active (VAU) zero (VZ) two lower active (VAL) zero (VZ) two lower active (VAL) zero (VZ)}. Other switching vectors are listed in TABLE I. The vectors V1-V6 are upper active vectors. In these vectors, the upper output is in active state, and the lower output is in zero state. There is an inverse logic in lower active vectors (V7-V12). In zero vectors (V13-V15), both outputs are in zero state. An inverter leg may be in {1}, {0} or {-1} states. The state of semiconductors in these states is illustrated in TABLE II where, J is A, B, or C.

Fig. 5. SVM switching vector sequence. TABLE I SVM SWITCHING VECTORS Leg A Leg B Leg C 1 0 0 1 1 0 0 1 0 0 1 1 0 0 1 1 0 1 -1 1 1 -1 -1 1 1 -1 1 1 -1 -1 1 1 -1 -1 1 -1 1 1 1 0 0 0 -1 -1 -1

Fig. 3. Carrie based PWM method for nine-switch inverter.

Vector 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15

Type Upper Active Upper Active Upper Active Upper Active Upper Active Upper Active Lower Active Lower Active Lower Active Lower Active Lower Active Lower Active Zero Zero Zero

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TABLE II STATE OF SWITCHES IN TABLE 1 VECTORS. SJU SJM SJL 1 ON OFF ON 0 OFF ON ON -1 ON ON OFF

mU = 2 mL = 2

VrefU Vi VrefL Vi

(10) (11)

To determine correct active vectors, two space vector diagrams are proposed as shown in Fig. 6. The diagram (a) and (b) are used to determine the upper and lower active vectors respectively. The SVM active vectors are determined with regard to location of the upper reference signal (Vref U ) in the diagram (a) and the lower reference signal (Vref L ) in the diagram (b). The reference signals for the upper and lower outputs are defined as: Vref U = Vref U U (1)

The sum of active vector time intervals must be less or equals to T. Thus, the following constrain must be satisfied: (mU + mL ) 2 1.155 (12) 3
Equation (12) clearly indicates that the proposed SVM scheme, sum of modulation indices increases about 15% -- a very important feature to provide higher torque for a given input dc-voltage. In the case of washing machines, the above capability translates to higher machine capacity (in terms of cloth load) at high spin speed (e.g. 1800 rpm) an important product feature in marketplace. A switching vector sequence for the proposed SVM is shown in Fig. 7. This switching sequence is developed to reduce number of semiconductor switching. The zero vectors are placed just between two upper and lower active vectors. In the upper active vectors, legs are in state {1} or {0} and in lower active vectors, legs are in state {1} or {-1}. If a zero vector V13 is placed between the states, minimum number of switching is required. While if V14 or V15 is used, the number of switching is increased. There are two odd active vectors (V1, V3, V5, V8, V10 and V12) and two even active vectors (V2, V4, V6, V7, V9 and V11) in a switching sequence. In an even active vector, two legs are in state {1}, while only one leg is in state {1} in an odd active vector. If even active vectors are placed next to V13, number of switching will be reduced even more. This is shown in Fig. 7.

Vref L = Vref L L
where

(2)

U = 2 fU t + U (3) L = 2 f L t + L (4) where fU and fL are the frequencies, and U and L are the phases. All zero vectors V13, V14 and V15 can be used for zero states.
The switching time intervals of vectors are calculated as:

T1 = T2 = T3 = T4 =

3 mU T sin( U ) 2 3 3 mU T sin( U ) 2 3 mL T sin( L ) 2 3

(5) (6) (7)

3 m L T sin( L ) (8) 2 To = T T1 T2 T3 T4 (9) where T1 and T2 are the time interval of upper active vectors, T3, T4 are time of lower active vectors, To is time of zero vectors and T is switching period. mU and mL are modulation index and defined by:

Fig. 6. Space vector diagrams for nine-switch inverter: a) Upper output, b) Lower output.

Fig. 7. SVM with reduced number of semiconductor switching.

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IV.

SVM FOR NINE- SWITCH Z- SOURCE INVERTER

The nine-switch z-source inverter is shown in Fig. 2. This inverter has an extra z-source network including two inductors (L1 & L2), two capacitors (C1 & C2) and a diode (D). The z-source network is similar to a DC/DC boost converter, with: Vi = BVo (13) where Vo is input DC voltage and Vi is output of z-source network. B is known as boost factor and is given by following equation: 1 (14) B= 1 2TSC / T where TSC is shoot-through time. In the shoot-through times, the output of z-source network is shorted through the switches of inverter. During shoot-through state, since inverter (output of z-source network) is shorted, inverter can't have an active vector. Therefore a shoot-through state can only occur when the inverter has a zero state. TABLE III shows all vectors that the inverter has a zero state and the zsource network has a shoot-through state. These vectors are known as shoot-through vectors. There is a new state (state {2}) in TABLE III. The states of switches of a leg in state {2} are shown in TABLE IV. All vectors of Table III can be used for creating a shoot-through state.
TABLE III SHOOT-THROUGH VECTORS OF NINE-SWITCH Z-SOURCE INVERTER. Vector Leg A Leg B Leg C 16 2 2 2 17 2 2 0 18 2 2 1 19 2 2 -1 20 2 0 2 21 2 1 2 22 2 -1 2 23 0 2 2 24 1 2 2 25 -1 2 2 26 2 0 0 27 2 1 1 28 2 -1 -1 29 0 2 0 30 1 2 1 31 -1 2 -1 32 0 0 2 33 1 1 2 34 -1 -1 2 TABLE IV STATE OF SEMICONDUCTOR SWITCHES IN STATE {2}. SJU SJM SJL 2 ON ON ON

Fig. 8 shows a SVM vector sequence for nine-switch inverter with reduced number of switching. The sequence is a modified version of Fig. 7. Two shoot-through vectors are placed in both sides of zero vector (V13). Here the shootthrough vector close to upper active vector is called upper shoot-through vector (VSCU) and the shoot-through vector close to lower active vector is called upper shoot-through vector (VSCL). All vectors of Table 3 can be used as the upper and lower shoot-through vectors. However vectors V27, V30 and V33 are preferred because those vectors have only on state {2} and need less switching. As shown in Fig. 8, even active vectors are placed close to shoot-through vectors (The reason described in section III). In even active vectors two legs are in state {1} and one leg is in state {0} or {-1}. On other hand, in shoot-through vectors V27, V30 and V33, two legs are in state {1} and one leg is in state {2}. To reduce number of switching, the two legs in state {1} must be same in an even active vector and shoot-through vector close to it. TABLE V can be used for shoot-through vectors selection. V. SIMULATIONS AND EXPERIMENT

The proposed SVMs are simulated for nine-switch inverter and nine-switch z-source inverter. Prototypes of both converters also were built using DSP for verifying the proposed SVMs (Fig. 9). Two similar resistance loads with LC filters are connected to outputs of inverters. Simulation parameters are listed in TABLE VI.

Fig. 8. Nine-switch z-source inverter SVM with reduced switching. TABLE V DETERMINING UPPER AND LOWER SHOOT-THROUGH VECTOR WITH REDUCED NUMBER OF SWITCHING. Section of VrefU VSCU Section of VrefL VSCL I V33 I V27 II V33 II V30 III V27 III V30 IV V27 IV V33 V V30 V V33 VI V30 VI V27

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The nine-switch inverter with input DC source of 150V is simulated by reduced number of switching SVM. Fig. 10 and Fig. 11 show line-line voltage and phase voltage of both outputs, respectively. The load current is shown in Fig. 12. In second simulation, a z-source network including L1=L2=2mH and C1=C2=2.2mF was added to nine-switch inverter. An input DC source of 100V is used. To boost input voltage to 150V, TSC/T was set to 0.166 considering equation (14). The output of z-source network (Vi) is shown in Fig. 13. As expected, Vi changes magnitude between 0V and 150V. Fig. 14 shows z-source network capacitor voltages. The voltage is equal to expected value of 125V. Capacitor voltage is 0.5(VO + Vi), as described in [3]. Fig. 15 and Fig. 16 show line-line voltage and phase voltage of both outputs, respectively. The load current is seen in Fig. 17. Number of switching of semiconductor elements for nineswitch inverter and z-source nine-switch inverter using carrier based PWM and the proposed SVM are shown in TABLE VII. Number of switching is considerably reduced using proposed SVM.

Fig. 10-a. Line voltage of nine-switch inverter (Simulation).

Fig. 10-b. Line voltage of nine-switch inverter (Experimental).

Fig. 9. The prototype of the nine-switch converter. TABLE VI SIMULATION PARAMETERS Parameter Switching Frequency fU fL Rload Lf Cf Nine-Switch Inverter Nine-Switch Z-Source Inverter mU mL mU mL B Value 3 kH 25 Hz 50 Hz 5.6 Ohm 1 mH 20 uF 0.35 0.55 0.40 0.35 1.5

Fig. 11-a. Phase voltage of nine-switch inverter (Simulation).

Fig. 11-b. Phase voltage of nine-switch inverter (Experimental).

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Fig. 14-b. Capacitor voltage of nine-switch z-source inverter (Experimental).

Fig. 12-a. Output currents of nine-switch inverter(Simulation).

Fig. 15-a. Line voltage of nine-switch z-source inverter (Simulation). Fig. 12-b. Output currents of nine-switch inverter (Experimental).

Fig. 5-b. Line voltage of nine-switch z-source inverter (Experimental). Fig. 13. Output voltage of z-source network (Simulation).

Fig. 14-a. Capacitor voltage of nine-switch z-source inverter (Simulation).

Fig. 16-a. Phase voltage of nine-switch z-source inverter (Simulation).

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Fig. 16-b. Phase voltage of nine-switch z-source inverter (Experimental).

of modulation indices about 15% -- an important feature in providing higher torque for a given input dc-voltage. The proposed SVM is also developed for nine-switch zsource inverter via extra shoot-through vectors. The proposed SVM has been improved to reduce switching frequency. For this purpose a table has been prepared for choosing suitable shoot-through vectors. The proposed SVMs were simulated for both nine-switch inverter and z-source nine-switch inverter. An experimental set-up was developed using digital signal processor (DSP). The performance of the proposed SVMs was verified using simulation results and it was validated using experimental data. REFERENCES
[1] Tsutomu Kominami, Yasutaka Fujimoto, A Novel Nine-Switch Inverter for Independent Control of Two Three-phase Loads, IEEE Industry Applications Society Annual Conference (IAS), pp. 2346-2350, 2007. C.Liu , B.Wu, N.Zargari and D.Xu, A Novel Three-phase Three-leg AC/AC Converter Using Nine IGBTs, IEEE Transaction on Power Electronic, Vol. 24, No. 5, pp. 1151-1160, 2009. Kazuo Oka, Yusuke Nozawa, Ryuji Omata, Kanta Suzuki, Atsushi Furuya and Kouki Matsuse, Characteristic Comparison between FiveLeg Inverter and Nine-Switch Inverter, Power Conversion Conference - Nagoya, pp. 279-283, 2007. S. M. Dehghan, M. Mohamadian and A. Yazdian, Z-Source MultiBidirectional-Terminal Converter, submitted to IEEE Transaction on Industrial Electronic. F. Z. Peng, Z-Source Inverter, IEEE Transaction on Industry Applications, vol. 39, no. 2, pp. 504-510, 2003.

[2] [3]

[4] Fig. 17-a. Output currents of nine-switch z-source inverter (Simulation). [5]

Fig. 17-b. Output currents of nine-switch z-source inverter (Experimental). TABLE VII NUMBER OF SWITCHING SPWM Nine-Switch Inverter 5336 Z-Source Nine-Switch Inverter 8842

SVM 2384 2384

VI.

CONCLUSION

In this paper, a new Space Vector Modulation (SVM) for nine-switch inverter and nine-switch z-source inverter is proposed. A switching sequence for the proposed SVM is composed of the upper active vectors, the lower active vectors and the zero vectors. The upper and lower active vectors are determined via two space vector diagrams. Also, a reduced number of semiconductor switching pattern of SVM was proposed. In addition, the proposed SVM increases sum

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