Implementation of a single-phase AC/AC converter based on neutral-point-clamped topology

A single-phase ac/ac converter based on neutral-point-clamped scheme is proposed to perform unity input power factor and to provide a stable ac voltage to the critical loads. The ac/dc rectifier part is controlled to generate a unipolar pulsewidth modulation (PWM) waveform on the ac terminal by using four power switches with voltage stress of half the dc-link voltage. The carrier-based current control scheme is employed in the inner control loop to track the line current command. To regulate the dc bus voltage, a proportional-integral (PI) control is adopted in the outer control loop. The dc/ac inverter part of the system with four power switches is employed to generate a stable and clean sinusoidal output voltage to the critical load. The instantaneous current control scheme is used to track the output voltage command. To verify the effectiveness of the proposed control algorithm, the simulation and experimental results based on a laboratory prototype were implemented and discussed.