Performance comparison of SPWM and SVPWM technique in NPC bidirectional converter

In recent years, many power electronic converter utilizing switching devices like SCRs have been widely used in domestic, commercial and Industrial applications. Despite numerous advantages, these power electronic systems suffer from serious problem like drawing harmonic current and reactive component of the current from source and offer highly nonlinear characteristic. Current harmonics generated by these nonlinear loads further results in voltage distortion at the point of common coupling and this distortion in voltage is becoming troublesome for the operation of many sensitive equipment and other consumer loads. Various modulation strategies has been researched for the control of multilevel bidirectional converters. Among the various modulation strategies, SVPWM has been found the best for the control of these converters as this modulation technique results in lower switching frequency, better utilization of DC-bus voltage, negligible input current THD. The performance of a three-phase, three-level bidirectional rectifier using Sinusoidal Pulse-width modulation (SPWM) technique and Space Vector Pulse-width modulation (SVPWM) technique is evaluated.