2002 IEEE 33rd Annual IEEE Power Electronics Specialists Conference. Proceedings (Cat. No.02CH37289)

Voltage-source converters (VSCs), by themselves, are defenseless against DC faults. Their anti-parallel diodes conduct as rectifier bridges to feed the fault. Their IGBTs (insulated gate bipolar transistors) are helplessly by-passed, unable to extinguish the fault current. This paper shows how a VSC-multi-terminal high voltage direct current (MTDC) transmission system can survive DC faults by a using protection scheme based on: (1) fast, reliable fault detection; (2) blocking of IGBT-circuit breakers (IGBT-CBs) and blocking of the IGBTs of VSCs; (3) locating of the faulted DC line; (4) isolation of the faulted DC line by economical fast DC switches; and (5) de-blocking of IGBT-CBs and IGBTs of VSCs to resume normal service.

This paper presents dataflow architecture as an approach to designing reusable and reconfigurable control software for power electronics systems. A traditional "main-program-and-subroutine" architecture raises a number of software issues in power electronics control that are addressed by this new strategy. The infrastructure of dataflow architecture is discussed. A 3-phase inverter application is used as an example to evaluate the proposed software architecture vs. the legacy "main-program-and-subroutine" approach.

This paper deals with the AC voltage transformation circuits, which contain matrix or matrix-reactance PWM AC fine conditioners. These circuits can be treated as PWM AC/AC semiconductor transformers. In this paper the review of single-phase topologies are presented. The review covers both nonisolated and isolated ones as well as single or two-quadrant structure. Furthermore there are shown the averaged models, their four terminal chain parameters and some exemplary applications are outlined of presented AC voltage transformation circuits as well.

The author index contains an entry for each author and coauthor included in the proceedings record.

The aim of this paper is to present a new design for an integrated power inductor on silicon. After a choice between different topologies already known, we present the dimensioning of this component. The inductor is designed to work in a DC/DC synchronous buck converter for a portable application (P=1 W, Vout=1.5 V, Vin=3.3 V, F=500 kHz). To reach a high integration level, the manufacturing technologies used for the inductor fabrication should be compatible with the active part implementation of the converter on the same silicon chip. Thus, only one process can be used for iron and copper deposit: electro-deposition. That is why only conductive materials can be used. The chosen inductor topology is based on the spiral structure which consists of copper windings sandwiched between two NiFe layers shielding the magnetic flux induced from the inductor windings. Considering the operating frequency and the NiFe characteristics (resistivity and permeability), eddy currents appear in the magnetic material. New design is developed to limit these eddy currents in the magnetic material by laminating the NiFe. To perform the chosen inductor topology, simulations are presented, using a 3D finite element analysis method (FEA). Simulations show that the inductor has the right value calculated i.e. 1.2 /spl mu/H. The induction repartition in the laminated material is the sign of eddy currents reduction. These results combination shows the validity of our choice for this inductor topology.

In this paper a very high power density DC/DC converter module for automotive applications is investigated. The 14 V/42 V converter is specified to operate at a power level of 2.1 kW with a water cooled heatsink at 85/spl deg/C. The design and implementation of very high density passive components is discussed. Using the results of the passive component design, a prototype converter is built achieving a final power density of 170 W/in/sup 3/. The thermal performance of the passive components and converter module under different electrical and thermal excitations is investigated and recorded. Results are presented over the full excitation range.

This paper presents a thermal and PSpice modeling approach to a 5 W oven used in a telecommunication satellite to keep the oscillator frequency constant under a large temperature variation in the space. The proposed modeling approach provides a very efficient way to analyze and design the oven and other similar thermal devices, especially when considering the worst case conditions for space applications. A final optimized oven through PSpice simulation shows that a temperature variation within PC under an ambient temperature from -20/spl deg/C to 70/spl deg/C can be achieved.

High power phase-controlled converters suffer from several fundamental disadvantages. They inject current harmonics into the input AC mains due to their nonlinear characteristics, thereby distort the supply voltage waveform and demand reactive power from the associated AC power system at retarded firing angle. In this paper, a novel GTO by-pass thyristor technique is suggested, which, when applied to the conventional AC-DC bridge converter, substantially overcomes these disadvantages. Experimental and theoretical results are given which show a good input power factor, a good waveform of the line current, and a wide adjustable range of the DC output voltage.

Many different kinds of multicarrier sinusoidal pulse-width modulation (MSPWM) techniques have been used to control the multilevel neutral-point-clamped (NPC) inverter topology. These techniques are the natural extension of the conventional two-level SPWM method. In this paper, some of their characteristics are further explored. Since the switching losses are the most critical factor in selecting the "right" control method for higher power applications, the potential impact of the MSPWM methods on the switching losses is investigated. Moreover, the fundamental frequency PWM (FFPWM) is also considered. By comparing the MSPWM with FFPWM control method with attention to their effects on the total harmonic distortion (THD) of the output voltage and the switching losses, some important conclusions are reported. It is confirmed with simulation results that MSPWM is not necessarily more advantageous than the simple FFPWM control method in many occasions.

Space vector modulation (SVM) is widely used in three-phase converters. The goal of an SVM algorithm is to find the appropriate switching combinations and their duty ratios according to certain modulation scheme. This paper presents a new, novel SVM algorithm that is very fast and very simple to implement. It is developed from the basis of vector synthesis and applicable to all three-phase converters with any number of levels. With this algorithm, switching vectors needed to synthesize the reference vector can be easily identified and their duty ratios be obtained straightforwardly without complicated sector identification and duty cycle calculations that would normally involve trigonometric function calculations or look-up tables as with conventional SVM algorithms. All the benefits of this algorithm are gained from choosing an appropriate coordinate system. This paper first gives the derivation of the algorithm and the steps of implementation. Simulation and experimental results are then presented to verify the effectiveness of the algorithm.