Control of Four-Leg Sinewave Output Inverter using Flux Vector Modulation Dhaval C. Patel R. R. Sawant M. C. Chandorkar Department of Electrical Engineering Department of Electrical Engineering Department of Electrical Engineering Indian Institute of Technology, Bombay Indian Institute of Technology, Bombay Indian Institute of Technology, Bombay Mumbai 400076, INDIA Mumbai 400076, INDIA Mumbai 400076, INDIA Email: dhavalpatel@ee.iitb.ac.in Email: rrsawant@iitb.ac.in Email: mukul@ee.iitb.ac.in Abstract—The time-integral of the output voltage vector of a three-phase inverter is often termed as the inverter flux vector. This paper addresses the control of a three-phase fourleg sinewave output inverter having an LC filter at its output, by controlling the flux vector in three dimensions. Flux vector control has the property that the output filter resonance is actively damped by the output voltage control loop alone. Further, the inverter switching action inherently regulates the output voltage rapidly against dc bus voltage variations. Flux vector control of sinewave output inverters finds several applications in threephase four-wire systems. This paper presents the flux modulation method for three-phase four-leg inverters feeding unbalanced and nonlinear loads. All the necessary steps for the digital implementation of the flux modulator are presented. To provide experimental validation, the modulator is implemented as part of the control system for a stand-alone three-phase four-leg inverter with an LC filter at its output. Control system details are also provided. Experimental results indicate the effectiveness of the modulator and the control system in providing balanced voltages at the output of the LC filter even under highly unbalanced conditions with nonlinear loads. The resonance damping and voltage regulation properties of the modulator are also apparent from the experimental results. I. I NTRODUCTION Conventional three-phase three-wire inverters are suitable for supplying three-phase balanced loads such as induction motors. For unbalanced three-phase loads, inverters should be able to provide path for the neutral current. There are two main ways for doing this with three-phase inverters. • Inverters with split dc link capacitors [1] • Inverters with fourth (neutral) leg [2]–[5] (see Fig. 1) The higher dc link utilization, requirement of smaller dc link capacitors and flexibility in control are inherent advantages of four-leg inverters over split dc link capacitor inverters. Fourleg inverters can be used for applications such as stand-alone sinewave output inverters for non-linear unbalanced loads, distributed generation interfaces, microgrids, neutral current compensators and active filters [5]. Space vector modulation methods for four-leg inverters have been presented in [2]–[5]. Space vector modulation for four-leg inverters is complex [2], [5]. However, it has advantages such as low output distortion, suitability to digital implementation, constant switching frequency and good dc bus utilization [6]. The inverter flux vector is the time-integral of the inverter switching voltage vector. Inverter switching based on the k,((( Snp Vdc Sap A N Sbp Scp B C Snn San Sbn Scn Four leg VSC Fig. 1. LC filter a Linear/Non linear b c Balanced/Unbalanced Load n Ln Four-leg sinewave output voltage inverter control of the flux vector has several advantages in the control of sinewave output inverters having LC output filters. In contrast to voltage modulation control methods, the output voltage control loop alone with a flux modulator is sufficient to actively damp the output filter resonance [7]. Further, the inverter switching inherently regulates the output voltage against dc bus voltage variations. The method also lends itself to easy digital implementation on a processor or an FPGA. Two dimensional flux vector modulation of three-leg inverters was presented in [7], [8]. Grid connected applications of three-leg sinewave output inverters using flux vector modulation were discussed in [7]. A flux vector modulator for a fuel cell inverter was presented in [9]. An application for active filter was discussed in [10]. An undesirable feature of flux modulators is the variable inverter switching frequency that results from the tracking of the flux reference vector using inverter switching within a hysteresis band. The switching frequency characteristics of the flux modulator for a three-leg inverter were discussed in [7]. A solution to the problem of variable switching frequency was presented in [11], [12], which resulted in constant switching frequency. The concept of two dimensional inverter flux vector control for a three-phase three-wire system can be extended to three dimensional inverter flux vector control for a three-phase fourwire system. Two dimensional control is restricted to situations in which the reference flux vector is confined to the q−d plane. With three dimensional control the reference flux vector can be anywhere in the q−d−0 space. This can be used effectively to control a four-leg inverter. TABLE I S WITCHING POSITION WITH CORRESPONDING PHASE VOLTAGES AND V0 = Vdc V14 TRANSFORMED VOLTAGES Switch States 0000 0100 0110 Van Vbn Vcn Vq 0 Vdc Vdc 0 0 Vdc 0 0 0 0 2 V 3 dc 1 V 3 dc − 31 Vdc − 32 Vdc − 31 Vdc 1 V 3 dc 0010 0 Vdc 0 0011 0001 0 0 Vdc 0 Vdc Vdc 0101 0111 1111 1011 1001 Vdc Vdc 0 -Vdc -Vdc 0 Vdc 0 0 -Vdc Vdc Vdc 0 0 0 1101 0 -Vdc 0 1100 1110 0 0 -Vdc 0 -Vdc -Vdc 1010 1000 -Vdc -Vdc 0 -Vdc -Vdc -Vdc Vd 0 0 Vdc 1 √ 3 1 √ V 3 dc 0 − √1 Vdc 3 0 1 V 3 dc 2 V 3 dc 3 Vdc 0 − 13 Vdc − 32 Vdc 1 V 3 dc 2 V 3 dc 1 V 3 dc 1 − 3 Vdc − √1 Vdc − 31 Vdc 0 − 23 Vdc − 31 Vdc 0 0 0 0 − 32 Vdc − 31 Vdc 3 1 √ V 3 dc 1 √ V 3 dc V0 = 2Vdc/3 −Vdc/ 3 V10 V4 1 V 3 dc 2 V 3 dc 1 V 3 dc 2 V 3 dc − √1 Vdc 3 0 0 0 − √1 Vdc V12 Vd = Vdc/ 3 V6 Vd = 0 V0 V8 V0 = Vdc/3 V2 0 d q V0 V15 V0 = 0 V13 V0 = −Vdc/3 V7 − 32 Vdc -Vdc V11 V5 V9 This paper presents a three dimensional flux vector modulator for four-leg sinewave output inverters used to feed nonlinear and unbalanced loads. The implementation steps are discussed in detail. Closed loop voltage control of an experimental four-leg inverter with an LC filter is implemented using synchronous reference frame PI controllers for the q− and d− axis flux vector components. The experimental results indicate that the modulator and control system is very effective in providing balanced regulated output voltages even with highly unbalanced nonlinear loads. Filter resonance damping and good dynamic response are also apparent. II. T HREE D IMENSIONAL S PACE V ECTORS FOR F OUR -L EG I NVERTER In four-leg inverters the load neutral wire is connected to the fourth leg as shown in the Fig. 1. This provides the flexibility to control the neutral voltage and hence produces balanced voltages across the load. The maximum voltage across each phase is Vdc . This is an advantage in terms of dc link voltage utilization in comparison with a split dc link capacitor inverter. Although the fourth leg introduces complexity, it gives more flexibility to control the voltage using advanced pulse width modulation techniques. In four-leg inverters with three-phase unbalanced loads, electrical variables in a − b − c coordinates can be transformed to q − d − 0 coordinates as follows. 0 − 21 − 12 Xq Xa √ √ 3 Xd − 23 (1) Xb = 2/3 1 2 1 1 1 X0 Xc 2 2 2 There are sixteen switch combinations possible in fourleg inverters. The switching vectors are represented by states [Sn ,Sa ,Sb ,Sc ] of the inverter legs. Each leg is denoted by 1 and 0, when upper switch and lower switch of the leg is closed k,((( V3 Vq = −Vdc/3 Vq = 0 Vq = −2Vdc/3 Fig. 2. V0 = −2Vdc/3 Vq = Vdc/3 V1 Vq = 2Vdc/3 V0 = −Vdc Switching vectors in q − d − 0 coordinate space respectively. The switch positions determine the phase to neutral voltages, which are transformed to q−d−0 coordinates using (1). Table I shows the phase to neutral voltages and the transformed q − d − 0 voltages for each inverter switching state. Fig. 2 shows the entries of Table I as vectors in the three dimensional q − d − 0 space. III. F LUX M ODULATION FOR F OUR -L EG I NVERTER A. Principle of the Flux Modulator The inverter flux vector is defined as Z t ~ dτ + Ψ(0) ~ ~ V Ψ(t) = (2) 0 ~ is the inverter output voltage vector (Fig. 2.) In this, V In three dimensional flux vector modulation, the vector ~ is made to track a reference vector Ψ ~ ∗ by choosing an Ψ appropriate sequence of inverter output voltage vectors. An inverter voltage vector is selected on the basis of the error ~ ∗ and Ψ, ~ so that Ψ ~ moves towards Ψ ~ ∗ . Fig. 3 shows between Ψ ~ ~∗ the actual flux vector Ψ tracking the reference flux vector Ψ in the three dimensional q − d − 0 space. The flux vector error is sampled at regular intervals ∆T , and the the inverter output voltage vector is chosen so as to keep the vector error within a tolerance band. This is detailed in the next section. B. Implementation of the Flux Modulator The flux modulator is implemented in discrete-time on a digital signal processor (DSP). The sampling time step for 0 V5 Reference Flux Vector Ψ d T3 T2 Ψ4 Ψ1 V1 V4 V6 III T4 q T2 T3 Ψ* qd II III T4 II I q I IV q IV T1 Actual Flux Vector Ψ VI T1 V T6 T6 Graphical representation of reference flux tracking Fig. 4. T5 VI V T5 Fig. 3. Flux Reference Trajectory Ψ3 V7 V14 d d ∗ Sector identification for balanced and unbalanced flux trajectories TABLE II S ECTOR WITH CORRESPONDING LIMITS OF TANGENT SLOPE Limits of π/3 ≤ 2π/3 ≤ π ≤ 4π/3 ≤ 5π/3 ≤ 0 ≤ tangent slope T < 2π/3 T < π T < 4π/3 T < 5π/3 T < 2π T < π/3 TABLE III E RROR BITS GENERATION Sectors I II III IV V VI Comparison of Vectors Ψ∗x − Ψx ≥ h Ψ∗x − Ψx ≤ h −h < Ψ∗x − Ψx < h the discrete-time implementation is ∆T . This is the time step at which the error between the reference and the actual flux ~ ∗ − Ψ, ~ is sampled for corrective action. In order to vector, Ψ realize flux modulator for a four-leg inverter it is necessary to ~ ∗ , the 1) identify the sector on the q − d plane in which Ψ qd ~ ∗, q − d plane projection of the reference flux vector Ψ is located, as shown in Table II and Fig. 4 2) generate the error bits for the q−, d− and 0−axis component errors as shown in Table III 3) select the inverter voltage vector that reduces the errors in the q−, d− and 0−axis components as shown in Tables IV and V. ~ ∗ identifies one 1) Sector identification: The location of Ψ qd of six sectors (I. . .VI) on the q − d plane. This is shown in Table II and Fig. 4. The sector is identified by limits ~ ∗ . These to the slope of the tangent to the trajectory of Ψ qd limits are given in Table II. It is important to note that, ~ ∗ may or depending on the application, the trajectory of Ψ qd may not be a circle. In applications with balanced loads, the trajectory would typically be a circle. However, if the inverter has to produce balanced output voltages when unbalanced and ~ ∗ will not be nonlinear loads are present, the trajectory of Ψ qd a circle. Both situations are shown in Fig. 4. In Fig. 4, the tangents are denoted as T1. . .T6 and the sectors as I. . .VI. 2) Error bits generation: The errors in the q−, d− and 0−axis flux vector components are Ψ∗q − Ψq , Ψ∗d − Ψd and Ψ∗0 − Ψ0 . These errors are used to determine three bits Sq , Sd and S0 as shown in Table III. In this table, the subscript x stands for one of q, d and 0. The error tolerance band is h. 3) Inverter voltage vector selection: The sector information and error bits determined above are used to select an appropriate inverter voltage vector for output during the current time ~∗−Ψ ~ during the step. The selected vector reduces the error Ψ time step. k,((( Error Bit Sx = 1 Sx = 0 Sx = Sx− Next Action Increase Ψx Decrease Ψx No Change There are eight possible inverter voltage vectors which can be selected for any given sector. These are given in Table IV. Further, there are eight possible combinations of the three error bits Sq , Sd and S0 . Each possible vector can correct for a specific combination of error bits based on the following rules. • Select an inverter voltage vector that can reduce the flux component errors in all three axes simultaneously. • If no voltage vector can correct all three errors, select a vector which can correct any two errors without affecting the third error. • If no voltage vector can correct two errors without affecting the third error, use 0-axis vectors. Here 0-axis vectors are V0 , V1 , V14 and V15 , shown in Fig. 2. • From among the 0-axis voltage vectors, use a vector which can reduce the 0-axis error. These rules are tabulated as shown in Table V. The flux modulator described above is implemented on a digital signal processor. In the processor, the inverter flux components are updated at constant time intervals of ∆T using Euler explicit integration as given below. Ψq,k = Ψq,k−1 + Vq,k−1 × ∆T Ψd,k = Ψd,k−1 + Vd,k−1 × ∆T (3) Ψ0,k = Ψ0,k−1 + V0,k−1 × ∆T TABLE IV P OSSIBLE SWITCHING VECTORS FOR EACH SECTOR Sector I II III IV V VI V0 V0 V0 V0 V0 V0 V1 V1 V1 V1 V1 V1 V4 V4 V2 V2 V8 V8 Possible Vectors V5 V12 V13 V5 V6 V7 V3 V6 V7 V3 V10 V11 V9 V10 V11 V9 V12 V13 V14 V14 V14 V14 V14 V14 V15 V15 V15 V15 V15 V15 TABLE V F LUX MODULATOR SWITCHING TABLE II III Sq Sd S0 111 110 101 100 011 010 001 000 111 110 101 100 011 010 001 000 111 110 101 100 011 010 001 000 Vector V12 V13 V14 V1 V4 V5 V14 V1 V14 V1 V14 V1 V4 V5 V6 V7 V14 V1 V14 V1 V6 V7 V2 V3 Sector IV V VI Sq Sd S0 111 110 101 100 011 010 001 000 111 110 101 100 011 010 001 000 111 110 101 100 011 010 001 000 Vector V14 V1 V10 V11 V14 V1 V2 V3 V8 V9 V10 V11 V14 V1 V14 V1 V12 V13 V8 V9 V14 V1 V14 V1 0.2 0.15 0.1 0.05 Ψ0 Sector I 0 −0.05 −0.1 −0.15 −0.2 0.4 0.3 0.2 0.1 Ψd −0.1 −0.2 −0.3 −0.4 Fig. 5. −0.5 −0.4 −0.3 −0.2 −0.1 0 0.1 0.2 0.3 0.4 0.5 Ψq Inverter flux vector tracking for unbalanced reference the q− and d−axis synchronous frame PI controllers shown in Fig. 6 are computed accordingly. The control of the 0-axis voltage is given below. The model of an LC filter in q − d − 0 coordinate is ~qd0 V Here, the subscript k refers to the sample number. The previous voltage vector components are calculated by the digital signal processor on the basis of the information of the previous switching state of the inverter and the dc bus voltage ~ ∗ , is usually provided feedback. The flux vector reference, Ψ by the sinewave output voltage control loop of the control system. An example of the flux modulator working is shown in Fig. 5. For this example, the modulator is programmed on a 32bit floating point DSP. The a−, b− and c−phase components of the reference flux were made intentionally unbalanced. ~ in three dimensional Fig. 5 shows the inverter flux vector Ψ space, for a dc bus voltage Vdc = 320V . The angular velocity of the reference flux vector is 2π × 50rs−1 and the reference flux magnitudes are Ψa = 0.4Vs, Ψb = 0.6Vs and Ψc = 0.05Vs. The error tolerance band h = 0.01Vs. The sampling interval ∆T is 20µs. As seen in Fig. 5, the actual flux vector tracks the reference closely. The trajectory in the three dimensional q − d − 0 space is an ellipse that is inclined to the q − d plane. IV. F OUR -L EG S INEWAVE O UTPUT I NVERTER C ONTROL Fig. 6 shows the closed loop control system for a standalone four-leg sinewave output inverter with an LC filter. The inverter and filter are required to supply regulated and balanced sinusoidal voltages to unbalanced and nonlinear loads. As shown in Fig. 6, the reference voltage vector components are e e denoted by Eqref , Edref and E0ref . The superscript e denotes quantities in the synchronously rotating q e − de reference frame. These are derived through transformation of phase reference voltages from the a − b − c frame. The q − d plane component vector of the reference voltage ~ ∗ . This vector component is controlled by the twovector is E qd dimensional flux control method detailed in [7]. The gains of k,((( 0 Lqd0 d~ ~ qd0 iqd0 + E = Lqd0 dt Lf = 0 0 0 Lf 0 0 0 Lf + 3Ln (4) (5) Vqd0 , iqd0 and Eqd0 are inverter voltage, inverter output current and filter terminal voltage respectively. The state equations of the inverter and filter for the 0-axis components are 0 −ωf2 0 Ė0 E0 = Ψe0 1 0 Ψ̇e0 2 1 ωf 0 − Cf Ψv0 + (6) i0 0 0 Equation (6) remains unchanged in synchronous reference 1 frame. The frequency ωf 0 = √ . The flux comCf (Lf +3Ln ) ponent Ψe0 is associated with the 0-axis voltage component across the filter capacitor, and Ψv0 is associated with the 0-axis voltage component at the inverter terminals. With a PI regulator, the close loop state equations for the 0-axis component are 0 −ωf2 0 ωf2 0 Ė0 E0 Ψ̇e0 = 1 Ψe0 0 0 Ψv0 −ki0 kp0 ωf2 0 −kp0 ωf2 0 Ψ̇v0 1 0 0 − Cf E0ref Ė0ref (7) 0 0 + 0 1 ki0 kp0 kp0 Cf i0 The characteristic polynomial for this system is Fs = s3 + kp0 ωf2 0 s2 + ωf2 0 (1 + ki0 ) s (8) This can be used to determine the PI regulator gains for a specified dynamic response. e Eq ref + e ψq ref PI ω ψq ref controller e Ed ref + e Switching Pulses ψd ref PI controller E0 ref + jωt e ψd ref FLUX MODULATOR Vabc ψ0 ref PI controller + Lf FOUR LEG INVERTER E0 e Eq −jωt e e Ed Ed Fig. 6. i abc Cf n ω Eq Eabc Ln abc to qd0 Linear/Nonlinear Balanced/Unbalanced Load Eabc Stand-alone four-leg sinewave output inverter system V. E XPERIMENTAL R ESULTS To provide experimental validation, the flux modulator and voltage control system described above was implemented to control a stand-alone four-leg sinewave output inverter. The power circuit was built with four IGBT legs. The IGBT assembly was rated for 35A rms current and 1200V dc bus with 850µF /1200V dc link capacitors. The LC filter components values were Lf = 3mH, Ln = 3mH and Cf = 200µF . The entire control system including the flux modulator was implemented on a platform with a Texas Instruments 32-bit floating point DSP TMS320VC33 with a 13.3ns instruction cycle. The sampling time for the control system was ∆T = 20µs. The synchronous reference frame PI controller gains for ~ qd were set at Kpq = 0.0023, Kiq = 0.175, controlling E Kpd = −0.000346, and Kid = 0.538. The gains for the 0-axis controller were Kp0 = 0.1 and Ki0 = −0.08. The suffixes p and i stand for proportional and integral gains respectively. The suffixes q, d and 0 stand for the q − d − 0 coordinates. Fig. 7 shows phase and line voltages at the inverter terminals. These were obtained with only the flux modulator, for a 50 Hz output frequency, with balanced flux references. The q− and d− axis flux references each had a magnitude of 0.4V s, and the 0-axis flux reference was 0V s. The value of the tolerance band h = 0.01V s. The inverter dc bus voltage was 320V . Experiments were performed to test different load conditions, such as balanced/unbalanced and linear/nonlinear threephase loads. Here the waveforms for two different load conditions are shown. Fig. 8 shows waveforms for a three-phase diode bridge rectifier load on the inverter. The dc side of the rectifier has a filter capacitor and a resistive load. The upper three traces show phase voltages and the corresponding phase currents. The lowest trace shows the inverter dc link voltage. Initially the rectifier is not connected to the inverter. It is switched on to the inverter at a certain time. Fig. 8 shows the noload, transient, and loaded steady state performance of the k,((( Fig. 7. Fig. 8. Experimental phase and line voltage at inverter terminals Experimental waveforms with three-phase rectifier load Here the flux modulator is operated without the output voltage control loop. The reference flux magnitudes are set as Ψa = 0.4, Ψb = 0.4 and Ψc = 0.4. The upper trace shows the output phase voltage across the LC filter capacitor. The lower trace shows the inverter dc link voltage. In the experiment, the dc link voltage is reduced from 330V to 250V . It is apparent that there is no change in the output voltage amplitude even after the dc link voltage is reduced. VI. C ONCLUSION Fig. 9. Experimental waveforms with unbalanced linear load and three-phase rectifier A flux vector modulation method has been proposed for the control of a sinewave output four-leg inverter. Digital processor implementation of the flux modulator for a four-leg inverter is simple. This paper has described the implementation details of the modulator. It has also described the implementation of a voltage control system to regulate the output sinewave voltages feeding unbalanced and nonlinear loads using the flux modulator. The paper has presented experimental validation of the modulator and control system. The results show that the flux modulator proposed here works satisfactorily under balanced and unbalanced, linear and nonlinear load conditions on the inverter. R EFERENCES Fig. 10. Experimental result of voltage regulation of flux Modulator system. The high quality sinewave voltage output under no load shows the effectiveness of the active damping of the LC filter resonance. Fig. 9 shows waveforms with unbalanced linear load and balanced nonlinear loads connected to the inverter. The upper three traces show phase voltages and the corresponding phase currents. The next trace shows the neutral current supplied by the inverter to the unbalanced load. The lowest trace shows the inverter dc link voltage. 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