Elimination of zero sequence circulating current between parallel operating three-level inverters

In order to suppress the zero sequence circulating currents (ZSCCs) between parallel operating three level voltage source inverters with common AC and DC buses, a common mode voltage reduction PWM (CMVR-PWM) technique and neural point potentials (NPPs) control based method is proposed in this paper. An equivalent model of ZSCC is developed, and two excitation sources of ZSCC, differences of common mode voltages (CMVs) and NPPs between paralleled inverters, are analyzed. A CMVR-PWM method is investigated to reduce the CMV, and a simple electric circuit is adopted to control the NPPs. With this two strategies, ZSCCs between parallel inverters can be eliminated effectively. This strategy has the advantage of without carrier synchronization and can be utilized to parallel operating inverters with different types of filter. Simulation result validate the proposed ZSCC elimination schemes.