Dr. Espinosa-Neira, Eduardo

Multi-cell converters are widely used in medium-voltage AC drives. This equipment is based on power cells that operate with low-voltage-rating semiconductors and require an input multipulse transformer. This transformer cancels the low-frequency current harmonics generated by the three-phase diode-based rectifier. Unfortunately, this transformer is bulky, heavy, expensive, and does not extend the existing power cell (three-phase rectifier—Direct Current (DC) voltage-link—single-phase inverter) to the transformer. In this study, a harmonic cancelation method based on finite control set-model predictive control (FCS–MPC), extending the power cell’s modularity to the input transformer. On the other hand, it considers treating the two disadvantages of the FCS–MPC: High switching frequency and spread spectrum. The details were developed in theory and practice to obtain satisfactory experimental results.

The use of controlled power converters has been extended for high power applications, stacking off-the-shelve semiconductors, and allowing the implementation of, among others, AC drives for medium voltages of 2.3 kV to 13.8 kV. For AC drives based on power cells assembled with three-phase diode rectifiers and cascaded H-bridge inverters, a sophisticated input multipulse transformer is required to reduce the grid voltage, provide isolation among the power cells, and compensate for low-frequency current harmonics generated by the diode-based rectifiers. However, this input multipulse transformer is bulky, heavy, and expensive and must be designed according to the number of power cells, not allowing total modularity of the AC drives based on cascade H-bridges. This study proposes and evaluates a control strategy based on a finite control set-model predictive control that emulates the harmonic cancellation performed by an input multipulse transformer in a cascade H-bridge topology. Hence, the proposed method requires conventional input transformers and replaces the three-phase diode rectifiers. As a result, greater modularity than the conventional multicell converter and improved AC overall input current with a THD as low as 2% with a unitary displacement power factor are achieved. In this case, each power cell manages its own DC voltage using a nonlinear control strategy, ensuring stable system operation for passive and regenerative loads. The experimental tests demonstrated the correct performance of the proposed scheme.