A novel serial hybrid three-level NPC topology for multi-MW medium voltage wind power converters

作者：Chen, Gen^*; Wang, Yong; Cai, Xu

来源：Proceedings of the CSEE, 2013, 33(9): 48-54.

• Medium voltage
• Multi-MW
• Serial hybrid
• Three-level neutral point clamped
• Voltage sharing

A novel serial hybrid three-level neutral point clamped (NPC) topology was proposed in this paper. It's a derivative of conventional three-level NPC topology with introducing serial application of high power IGBT. In the novel topology, the leg's two outer IGBTs are two low voltage ones in serial connection respectively, while the inner two IGBTs are both high voltage ones. In multi-MW medium voltage wind power converter, the switching losses of high power IGBTs are very large, which limits its switching frequency. The proposed topology can reduce power losses and increase switching frequency by serial connecting of low voltage IGBTs. The increase of switching frequency can also reduce the output filter's size. The power losses of IGBT in both conventional three-level NPC topology and proposed novel topology are compared to indicate the advantage of the new topology. By changing the gate resistor, the voltage sharing of serial connecting IGBT is achieved, which is significant for the application of the novel topology. Finally, a single phase leg prototype is built up to validate the feasibility and advantage of proposed topology.

• 出版日期2013
• 单位上海交通大学