General Electric Company

Ge Energy Power Conversion Technology Gmbh

General Electric Corporation Gmbh

Rockwell Technologies, Inc.

Luis Jose Garces

Di Zhang

Ravisekhar Nadimpalli Raju

Yan Liu

Rui Zhou

Sumit Bose

Robert Louis Steigerwald

Rajib Datta

Richard S Zhang

Allen Michael Ritter

Rixin Lai

Paul Michael Szczesny

Peter Claudius Sanza

Vinod John

Juan Antonio Sabate

Dong Dong

Mohammed Agamy

Maja Harfman Todorovic

Gautam Sinha

Jovan Z Bebic

Herman Wiegman

James Patrick Lyons

John D D'Atre

Xiaoming Yuan

Yan Pan

Cyrus David Harbourt

Mark Dame

Song Chi

Zhihong Ye

Andrew Allen Rockhill

Ranjan Kumar Gupta

Matthew Christopher Bringman

Robert Gregory Wagoner

David Grey Smith

Qiming Li

William James Premerlani

Patrick Lee Jansen

Robert William Delmerico

Lei Li

Anthony Michael Klodowski

James William Bray

Mark Edward Cardinal

Chellappa Balan

Michael Joseph Schutten

Timothy M Rowan

Changyong Wang

Kum Kang Huh

Di Pan

Zhi Zhou

Alfredo Sebastian Achilles

Mark Eugene Shepard

Allan B Plunkett

Fengfeng Tao

Reigh Allen Walling

Satish Prabhakaran

Philip Michael Cioffi

William F Wirth

Nilanjan Ray Chaudhuri

Wesley Michael Skeffington

Ashraf Said Atalla

John Harold Parslow

Jiangbiao He

Henning Luetze

Jeffrey Neal Slotnick

Juan Manuel Rivas Davila

Xiaohu Liu

Hridya Ittamveettil

Yukai Wang

Xianghui Huang

Harold Copeland Sanderson

Michael John Ryan

Jian Dai

Juan Manuel De Bedout

Ljubisa Dragolijub Stevanovic

Cheng Luo

Chunchun Xu

Emad Ezzat Ahmed

Allen Michel Ritter

Donald Gene Marabell

Michael deRooij

Nilanjan Ray Chaundhuri

A multilevel power converter includes a plurality of switches, a first DC link capacitor, a second DC link capacitor, and one or more processors configured to: generate, for a duty cycle of the multilevel power converter, a pulse width modulated pulse pattern in accordance with a reduced common mode voltage scheme; modify the pulse width modulated pulse pattern to render a modified pulse pattern; and cause the plurality of switches to implement the duty cycle based at least in part on the modified pulse pattern to render a common mode voltage pulse to balance voltages at the first DC link capacitor and the second DC link capacitor.

Reduced common mode voltage pulse width modulation switching scheme with capacitor voltage balancing for a multilevel power converter

A medium voltage direct current (MVDC) collector system for renewable power generation facilities includes at least one renewable energy generation device. The MVDC collector system also includes at least one direct current (DC)-to-DC (DC/DC) power converter coupled to the at least one renewable energy generation device. The at least one DC/DC power converter is configured to shift a switching operation of the DC/DC power converter between full-wave conversion and half-wave conversion. The MVDC collector system further includes at least one controller coupled to the at least one DC/DC power converter. The at least one controller is configured to regulate shifting the switching operation of the at least one DC/DC power converter between full-wave conversion and half-wave conversion.

Power conversion system and method of operating the same

A system for integrating energy storage into a modular power converter includes at least one energy storage unit coupled to a first converter for converting a first direct current (DC) voltage of the at least one energy storage unit into a first high frequency alternating current (AC) voltage. At least three phase legs of the modular power converter generate three phase AC voltages. Each phase leg includes a plurality of switching modules connected in series. The switching modules have a plurality of fully controllable semiconductor switches, an energy storage device, and a second converter coupled to the respective energy storage device for converting a second DC voltage of the energy storage device into a second high frequency AC voltage. In the system, three similarly positioned switching modules of the three phase legs form one power unit. Further, a high frequency transformer is provided which has at least one primary winding connected to the first converter and at least three secondary windings, each connected to the second converter of each of the three similarly positioned switching modules. A controller is configured to regulate at least one electrical parameter of the modular power converter.

System and method for integrating energy storage into modular power converter

A direct current (DC) to DC power converter includes a first bus converter for converting a first DC bus voltage into a first high frequency AC voltage and a second bus converter for converting a second high frequency alternating current (AC) voltage into a second DC bus voltage. The DC to DC converter also includes a resonant circuit for coupling the first bus converter and the second bus converter and a controller for providing switching signals to the first bus converter and the second bus converter to operate the power converter in a soft switching mode. The controller includes a switching frequency controller for determining a switching frequency signal for the power converter based on a reference output current and a phase shift controller for determining a phase shift signal for the power converter. When the reference output current is lower than the a first load current value the switching frequency signal is maintained at a first switching frequency and the phase shift is determined according to the reference output current. Further, when the reference output current is above a second load current value the switching frequency signal is maintained at a second switching frequency and the phase shift is determined according to the reference output current. When the reference output current is between the first load current value and the second load current value, the switching frequency signal is adjusted according to a value of the reference output current and the phase shift is determined based on the switching frequency, the reference output current and perturbations in the output current.

System and method for operating a DC to DC power converter

A method for power conversion includes coupling a first string to a second string via a first connecting node and a second connecting node to form at least one leg of a power converter. The first string is operatively coupled across a first bus and a second bus and comprises a first branch and a second branch coupled via a third connecting node. The first branch and the second branch include a plurality of controllable semiconductor switches. Furthermore, the second string comprises a first chain link and a second chain link coupled via an alternating current phase bus and includes a plurality of switching units. The first chain link and/or the second chain link are controlled to generate a negative voltage across at least one of the plurality of controllable semiconductor switches during a switch turn off process.

Modular embedded multi-level converter

The present disclosure is directed to a system and method for modulating a voltage output of a hybrid converter system having first and second set of Si-based power electronic devices coupled to first and second voltage source, respectively, and a first set of SiC-based power electronic devices coupled to the first and second sets of Si-based power electronic devices. The method includes switching between operational states of the hybrid converter system based on a desired voltage output, wherein each operational state includes one of the Si-based power electronic devices from the first and second sets of Si-based power electronic devices and one of the SiC-based devices from the first set of SiC-based power electronic devices being switched on and the remaining power electronic devices being switched off. Each SiC-based power electronic device of the first set of SiC-based power electronic devices switches at a higher frequency as compared to each Si-based power electronic device of the first and second sets of the Si-based power electronic devices.

Modulator for a hybrid converter system

A power conversion system includes a first converter effectively connected in series to a second converter. Each converter has a plurality of output levels. A phase-shifted transformer is coupled to the converters. The phase-shifted transformer has a delta-wound winding and an open star winding. The first converter is coupled to the open star winding and the second converter is coupled to the delta winding. The open star winding is configured for direct connection to either of a load or the open star winding of a second phase-shifted transformer, having a delta winding connected to a third converter. One or more DC voltage sources are each connected to the first and second converters by a respective DC link capacitor. Each DC voltage source is connected to a common power grid by an isolated multiphase transformer winding.

Power conversion system and method

Systems and methods for controlling an electrical power supply are provided. One system includes an input configured for receiving voltage measurement signals for the power supply and a controller for one or more electrical phases of the power supply. The controller includes an integrator configured to integrate the received voltage measurement signals and to generate integrated control signals or integrated error signals. The controller is configured to generate an output signal using the integrated control signals or the integrated error signals. The system also includes an output configured to output the output signal to control switching of the power supply.

Systems and methods for controlling an electrical power supply

A power inversion system includes an input and output coupleable to a DC power and an AC load, respectively, and a power inverter including a plurality of phase legs each having two bridge legs coupled in parallel with at least two switch and antiparallel diode pairs coupled in series. The system also includes a plurality of inductors, with at least one inductor coupled between a midpoint of each bridge leg and an LCL filter, the inductors in each phase leg being magnetically coupled. The system further includes a control system to drive the power inverter in a soft switching configuration, the control system programmed to output a switching signal to the power inverter according to a duty cycle and a phase shift angle, determine a value of the duty cycle, and optimize the phase shift angle of the power inverter based on the value of the duty cycle.

System and method for soft switching power inversion

A power converter includes a first bus converter for converting a first direct current (DC) bus voltage into a first high frequency alternating current (AC) voltage and a second bus converter for converting a second high frequency AC voltage into a second DC bus voltage. A resonant circuit couples the first bus converter and the second bus converter. Further, a controller provides switching signals to the first bus converter and the second bus converter to operate the power converter in a soft switching mode. The controller includes a voltage detection circuit connected across at least one switching device of the power converter to detect a device voltage across the at least one switching device and a counter to count a number of hard switching detection pulses of the hard switching pulse signal detector. The controller also includes a calculation module to update the number of hard switching detection pulses of the hard switching instances and to generate a new number of hard switching detection pulses and a comparator to compare the new number of hard switching detection pulses with a threshold value and to provide a control signal if the new number exceeds the threshold value.

System and method for operating a power converter

A power converter is provided. The power converter includes a converter leg including switches for converting power. The power converter also includes a controller for switching the switches using a pulse width modulation technique. The power converter further includes an interface inductor coupled to the converter leg for avoiding a reverse recovery of current in the switches during operation.

System and method to avoid reverse recovery in a power converter

A power converter is presented. The power converter includes at least one leg, the at least one leg includes a first string, where the first string includes a plurality of controllable semiconductor switches, a first connecting node, and a second connecting node, and where the first string is operatively coupled across a first bus and a second bus. Furthermore, the at least one leg includes a second string operatively coupled to the first string via the first connecting node and the second connecting node, where the second string includes a plurality of switching units. A method for power conversion is also presented.

Multilevel power converter system and method

A system and method for series connecting electronic power devices are disclosed. In one embodiment, a switching device system includes a first upper arm electrically coupled to a first lower arm and a second upper arm electrically coupled to a second lower arm. Each of the arms include a plurality of low voltage sub-modules connected in series and each plurality of low voltage sub-modules includes an auxiliary switching device, a series switching device, and a capacitor. Each plurality of low voltage sub-modules is configured to be sequentially switched using the auxiliary switching device and the series switching device separately in the upper arms and the respective lower arms to control change in voltage over time (dV/dt) while selectively blocking a desired high voltage. Further, a capacitor voltage balancing (sorting or rotating) algorithm may be used to actively balance voltage across each plurality of low voltage sub-modules.

System and method for series connecting electronic power devices

A hybrid HVDC converter system includes at least one alternating current (AC) conduit, at least one transformer coupled to said at least one AC conduit, and at least one direct current (DC) conduit. The hybrid HVDC converter system also includes at least one capacitor commutated converter (CCC) configured to convert AC voltages and AC currents to a DC voltage and DC current. The at least one CCC is coupled to the at least one AC conduit through the at least one transformer. The hybrid HVDC converter system further includes at least one self-commutated converter (SCC) configured to convert AC voltages and AC currents to a regulated DC voltage and DC current. The at least one SCC includes at least one AC/DC stage and at least one DC/DC stage coupled to the at least one AC/DC stage.

Hybrid high voltage direct current converter systems

A modular embedded multi-level converter (MEMC) includes a first phase portion and a second phase portion. The first phase portion includes a first switch stack operable to couple a first phase branch between a positive DC bus and a midpoint node. The second phase portion includes a second switch stack operable to couple a second phase branch between the midpoint node and a negative DC bus. A DC voltage between the positive DC bus and the negative DC bus is distributable among switching units disposed in the first phase branch and the second phase branch. A distribution of the DC voltage is controlled by regulating a DC voltage at the midpoint node to balance energy among the switching units.

Modular embedded multi-level converter with midpoint balancing

Growing community of inventors

Niskayuna, NY, United States of America

Luis Jose Garces