A SVPWM based on fluctuate capacitor voltage in 3L-NPC back-to-back converter applied to wind energy

Three-level Neutral-point-clamped (3L-NPC) converters are becoming a realistic alternative to the conventional converters in high-power wind-energy applications. But the unbalance in the supported capacitors' voltage of back-to-back 3L-NPC converters, including the dynamics of the capacitors' voltage, will cause variations of the voltage vector and the dwell time distribution in the synthesizing algorithm. In this paper a novel space vector PWM (SVPWM) for back-to-back 3L-NPC converter when unbalanced neutral point potential occurring is proposed. An error factor based on the difference between the fluctuate voltage of upper and lower capacitors is extracted. Based on this error factor the duty-time of every active voltage vector is calculated. In order to validate the model and the control strategy proposed in this paper, a 2MW 3L-NPC converter used in wind energy has been simulated.