Comparison of losses in multilevel converters for aerospace applications

Author

Papastergiou, K.D. ; Wheeler, P.W. ; Clare, J.C.

Author_Institution

Dept. of Electr. & Electron. Eng., Univ. of Nottingham, Nottingham

fYear

2008

fDate

15-19 June 2008

Firstpage

4307

Lastpage

4312

Abstract

Aerospace applications require light, efficient and reliable power conversion. Multilevel converters have some potential advantages due to their lower output harmonic distortion and also the lower device voltage rating requirements. This paper compares 2-level and 3-level solutions for an application where the desired output frequency is high and low THD is required. A conventional (2-level) inverter with sinusoidal modulation is compared with a 3-level converter in terms of power losses and harmonic distortion of the output waveforms. The modulation strategy plays an important role in the switching power loss distribution as it defines the way the switches are operated. The losses are evaluated with MOSFET and IGBT switches and the effect of the modulation strategy on the THD is also examined.

Keywords

aerospace engineering; field effect transistor switches; harmonic distortion; power semiconductor switches; switching convertors; IGBT switches; MOSFET; harmonic distortion; modulation strategy; multilevel converters; output harmonic distortion; output waveforms; power losses; reliable power conversion; switching power loss distribution; Frequency; Harmonic distortion; Induction motors; Insulated gate bipolar transistors; Power semiconductor switches; Pulse width modulation inverters; Space technology; Space vector pulse width modulation; Topology; Voltage;

fLanguage

English

Publisher

ieee

Conference_Titel

Power Electronics Specialists Conference, 2008. PESC 2008. IEEE

Conference_Location

Rhodes

ISSN

0275-9306

Print_ISBN

978-1-4244-1667-7

Electronic_ISBN

0275-9306

Type

conf

DOI

10.1109/PESC.2008.4592635

Filename

4592635