An On-line Diagnostic Method for Open-circuit Switch Faults in NPC Multilevel Converters

Authors

Jiangbiao He, General Electric CorporationFollow
Nabeel Demerdash, Marquette UniversityFollow

Document Type

Article

Language

eng

Publication Date

9-18-2016

Publisher

Institute of Electrical and Electronic Engineers (IEEE)

Source Publication

2016 IEEE Energy Conversion Congress and Exposition (ECCE)

Source ISSN

9781509007370

Abstract

On-line condition monitoring is of paramount importance for multilevel converters used in safety-critical applications. A novel on-line diagnostic method for detecting open-circuit switch faults in neutral-point-clamped (NPC) multilevel converters is introduced in this paper. The principle of this method is based on monitoring the abnormal variation of the dc-bus neutral-point current in combination with the existing information on instantaneous switching states and phase currents. Advantages of this method include simpler implementation and faster detection speed compared to other existing diagnostic methods in the literature. In this method, only one additional current sensor is required for measuring the dc-bus neutral-point current, therefore the implementation cost is low. Simulation and experimental results based on a lab-scale 50 kVA adjustable speed drive (ASD) with a three-level NPC inverter validate the efficacy of this novel diagnostic method.

Comments

Accepted version. 2016 IEEE Energy Conversion Congress and Exposition (ECCE) (September 18-22, 2016). DOI. © 2019 IEEE. Used with permission.

Recommended Citation

He, Jiangbiao and Demerdash, Nabeel, "An On-line Diagnostic Method for Open-circuit Switch Faults in NPC Multilevel Converters" (2016). Electrical and Computer Engineering Faculty Research and Publications. 505.
https://epublications.marquette.edu/electric_fac/505