A Non-Computationally Intensive, Capacitor Balancing Technique for a Multilevel Matrix Converter

Industrial motors use approximately a third of the worlds electrical energy. Addressing energy savings in this area can be seen as critical to combat global warming and reduce carbon dioxide emissions. Compact power conversion techniques and topologies to create variable speed motor solutions such as matrix converters can reduce raw material usage in the manufacture of industrial motor drives. Higher power industrial applications however utilise medium voltage supplies and as such, the higher voltages used can cause significant design and implementation challenges to create variable speed motor drive solutions. This paper highlights a multi-level, capacitor clamped direct (matrix) converter topology and the control of the balancing capacitors which are critical to enable the usage of series connections of lower voltage capable semiconductor devices in a higher voltage application.