2016 57th International Scientific Conference on Power and Electrical Engineering of Riga Technical University (RTUCON)

DC Link Balancing of Space Vector Modulation

Controlled Three-Level Converter for Ocean Wave
Energy Conversion
Ilknur Colak Derya Ahmet Kocabas
Sr. Researcher, Power Converter Solutions Asst. Prof., Electrical Eng. Dep.
ABB Switzerland Ltd. Istanbul Technical University
CH-Turgi, Switzerland 34469 Maslak Istanbul, Turkey
[email protected] [email protected]

Abstract—In this study, the power extraction from air turbine is used for PTO). The output of the air turbine is
oscillating water column device is done by using three level coupled to a generator to convert the mechanical energy to
active rectifier and three level inverter which is controlled electrical energy. The output of the generator is converted
by using NTV-SV-PWM method. The mid-point balancing with a 3L-NPC topology based active controlled rectifier
of the DC-link is achieved by using a look-up table, aiming which enables bidirectional current flow between AC input
to improve the efficiency, the response time of the system and the DC link.
and the quality of the power transferred to the grid. In this study the active rectifier which is controlled with S-
PWM is used to control the total DC link voltage and to
Keywords—NTV-SV-PWM, DC Bus Balancing, Wave
extract the maximum power from the generator’s terminal
Energy Conversion, NPC, OWC.
with a unity power factor. At the same time the three-level
inverter ensures to balance the DC link mid-point and delivers
I. INTRODUCTION
the sinusoidal voltage to the utility grid. To achieve a wide
Power extraction from ocean wave energy becomes more linear modulation range, less total harmonic distortion and less
popular due to many progresses on different ocean wave switching loss NTV-SV-PWM method is used to control the
devices to produce high density power for grid. In parallel, three-level inverter [4-6].
there is a growing interest in multilevel topologies since they This paper focuses on implementing a three level NTV-SV-
can extend the power and voltage ratings of the power PWM controlled inverter into an OWC converter where the
electronics systems [1]. In medium to high-voltage range it is neutral point of the DC link is balanced and the output voltage
difficult to use conventional two-level converters because of waveforms are generated from the unbalanced space vectors.
component limitations [2]. To meet the high power, low total To implement the control method, direction of each phase leg
harmonic distortion and unity power factor requirements, a current and the information of the neutral point voltage are
nearest-three-vector space-vector pulse-width-modulation detected. By applying this method, the subsequent corrections
(NTV-SV-PWM) controlled three-level neutral point clamped are not needed anymore which simplifies the control loops and
(3L-NPC) converter is used in this study. achieve a wide linear modulation range and less total
In the first part of the system an oscillating water column harmonic distortion.
(OWC) is used where hydrodynamic wave action is
transformed into reciprocating airflow as it is presented in Fig. II. POWER EXTRACTION FROM OWC
1 [3]. The OWC device consists basically a large wave capture An OWC converter system has a chamber where a column
chamber and a platform for a power take off device (PTO), (an
Generator
Ai fl C
Air turbine
V /2
Water
Air
Water
C
V /2

3L-AC/DC DC Link 3L-DC/AC

Fig. 1. System diagram.

978-1-5090-3731-5/16/$31.00 ©2016 IEEE

 2016 57th International Scientific Conference on Power and Electrical Engineering of Riga Technical University (RTUCON)

of air is compressed and decompressed by the wave crest and dm/dt: mass flow rate
wave trough to generate an alternating stream of air through N: rotational speed
the exit hole of the chamber as shown in Fig. 1. In the first D t : diameter of the Wells turbine
step of the power conversion chain, the energy obtained from A a : cross sectional area of the cylindirical region
wave is transferred to the water where potential and kinetic ȡ a : air density
energy conversion are used. The group velocity of the ocean v t : speed on the Wells turbine’s blade tip
waves is given as in (1) [7].
P t : turbine power
§ · P(t): air pressure (relative to atmospheric
1 g .O .T h ¨¨ 2.S h ¸¸ ª m º (1) pressure)
Cg ˜ ˜ tanh(2.S ) ˜ 1  ˜
2 2.S O ¨ sinh(2.S h ) O ¸ «¬ s »¼ Q(t): volume flow rate
¨ ¸
© O ¹ To calculate the power the law of conversion of mass and
By using the velocity equation the power value of the the law of conversion of volume are used here.
incoming waves can be obtained as in (2).
§ ·
Q(t ) ³³ v(t ).dA (8)
1 2 O .T h ¨¨ 2.S h ¸¸ ªW º (2) m
PW ˜U˜g ˜H
2
tanh(2.S ) ˜ 1  ˜ Q
32 S O ¨ sinh(2.S h ) O ¸ «¬ m »¼ (9)
¨
O
¸ U
© ¹
Where;
h: depth of water
m ³³ U.v(t ).dA (10)
Generator output
H: displacement of the wave cables
T: wave period
C g : wave group velocity
P w : wave power
ȡ density of the surface seawater Generator
Generator
g: gravitational acceleration losses
Ȝ wave length
In the second step, energy in the water is converted to
pneumatic energy in the air chamber. Some of the energy is
lost in the air chamber due to the friction and the reflection on
the walls of the water column. The relationship between the
incoming wave energy and the energy which is going out from EM: Mechanical
energy
the reservoir of the air chamber can be found as in (3). Here
E R represents the loss energy due to wave reflection on the Oscillating
Oscillating
air flow
walls and E F is the loss energy due to wave turbulence and air flow
friction occurring on the OWC walls and the water bed.
EW  E R  E F EP (3) Casing
J: Turbine
In the exit hole of the water column a PTO system (a EFt: Frictional inertia Dh: Hub
coupled Wells turbine and generator block) converts the losses
diameter
pneumatic energy into electrical power. The outline of the air
Wells
turbine and the generator block is given in Fig. 2. Hub turbine
To calculate the power extracted from the Wells turbine the
following dimensionless equations need to be used here: Rotation
Symmetrical
P blade profile
Pressure: < (4)
U a .N 2 .Dt2
Oscillating
Q m Oscillating
Air flow rate: ) (5) air flow
EP: Pneumatic air flow
Aa .vt Aa .N .Dt3 energy Dt: Turbine
diameter
Pt Fig. 2. Outline of turbine/generator group.
Torque: 3 (6)
U a .N 3 .Dt5 The inertia and the energy of the Wells turbine are written
The pneumatic power delivered to the turbine is as in (11) and (12) respectively:
given as in (7). 1
J ˜ m ˜ r2 (11)
T 2
1
T ³0
Pin P(t ).Q(t ).dt (7) 1
E ˜ J ˜Z2 (12)
2
 2016 57th International Scientific Conference on Power and Electrical Engineering of Riga Technical University (RTUCON)

The mechanical power extracted from the air turbine shaft has to be decided. The key point of defining the switching
can be found as below: sequence is to change the state of the minimum number of the
semiconductors each time, which means when moving from
dE d m.r 2 .Z 2
P ˜ (13) one switching state to another, only two switching
dt dt 4 semiconductors can be used in complementary mode.
III. PRINCIPLE OF THE NTV-SPACE VECTOR PULSE WIDTH
MODULATION METHOD
In the space vector representation, 27 output voltage vectors
(six large vectors, six medium vectors, 12 small vectors and
three zero vectors) can be obtained depending on the
switching semiconductors ‘on’ and ‘off’ states (assuming the
balanced DC link capacitor voltages). Voltage fluctuation,
total harmonic distortion and the number of switching in each
modulation event and therefore the switching losses depend on
the type of the switching modulation method. For the balanced
DC link mid-point the NTV-SV-PWM method can be utilized
by applying the following steps.
A. Determination of the Reference Voltage’s (Vref) Sector
The space vector diagram is formed in the hexagonal shape
with six equal sectors. To define where the reference vector
lies, thHGLVSODFHPHQWDQJOH ș RIWKHUHIHUHQFHYHFWRUVKRXOG
be defined first. Depending on the value of this angle the
location of the reference vector is defined.
Vref VrefD  VrefE . (14)
S
2 2 j (T  )
Vref VrefD  VrefE .e 2
. (15)

B. Definition of the Nearest Three Vectors

The reference vector is built based on the three nearest
stationary vectors, where as a next step those three vectors
Fig. 3. Defining the region of the reference vector empirically.
need to be defined. As it can be seen from Fig. 3 one sector
has four regions. Depending on the amplitude and the angle, it V15 Sector - II
V14
can be defined where the reference vector lies. V8
+ +
C. Determination of the Switching Time Period (Tk, Tk+1, Tk+2) - - -
Sector - III Sector - I
Each specified vector in the defined region is applied for a
V9 V3 V7
specific time (dwell time) during the sampling period. The + +
V2
+
dwell time specifies the duty cycle period of the each applied - - -
V0 -
vector where the switching period of each vector is defined as V16
V4
V13
in (8). V1
T T Tk Tk 1 T
+ + + +
1 1 k 1 1
T ³0 ³ ³T Vk 1.dt  T T ³TVk 2 .dt (16)
Vref .dt Vk .dt  V10
- V5 -
V6
-
V12
T 0 T k k k 1 Sector - VI
Sector - VI + + +
T Tk  Tk 1  Tk  2 (17)
- V11 -

Where; V17 Sector - V V18

x V k , V k+1 , V k+2 are the three nearest vectors from Fig. 4. Directions of the switching sequence rotation in the space vector
arbitrary sector and region, modulation scheme (+ for clockwise, - for counterclockwise).
x T is the sampling period, T k , T k+1 , T k+2 are the dwell It should be ensured that when the switching state is
times for the three nearest vectors. changed the neutral point of the DC link deviation will be kept
D. Definition of the Switching Sequence minimum. And the sequence of connection of each phase to
the DC link points has to be symmetrical. The sequence of the
Finally, the switching sequence within the switching cycle
 2016 57th International Scientific Conference on Power and Electrical Engineering of Riga Technical University (RTUCON)

vectors are chosen as shown in Fig. 4 for each triangle. equations in Fig. 5. A look-up table is based on this new duty
ratios is directly implemented in the system control. Therefore
IV. NTV-SV-PWM CONTROL WHEN THE DC-LINK MID-POINT no iteration is required for the DC-link mid-point control
IS UNBALANCED
while creating the reference vector.
When the DC-link mid-point voltage is unbalanced the
redundant small vectors magnitude changes while their total V. SIMULATION RESULTS
value and the angle remain the same. The magnitude and the A three-level NTV-SV-PWM controlled inverter is
angle of the medium vectors change and large vectors implemented in oscillating water column converter together
magnitude and the angles remain the same. In this case the with three-level active rectifier. A look-up table is prepared
number of the triangles in one sector increases from 4 to 12 based on the unbalanced DC-link mid-point and the system
[8-9]. By using geometry and the mathematical equations the run with the given waveforms in Fig. 6.
duty ratios for each region are replaced with the given

Region – I (onn) Region – I (onn) Region – II (onn-oon)

݉ 12 ݉ ݉ 12 ݉ ݉ ݉
݀‫= ݊݊݋‬ ݀‫ = ݊݋݌‬2 ݀‫ = ݊݊݌‬1 െ ݀‫= ݋݋݌‬ ݀‫ = ݊݋݌‬2 ݀‫ = ݊݋݌‬1 െ ݀‫ = ݊݊݋‬1 െ 2 ݀‫ = ݊݋݌‬1 െ 1
ߛ2 ߛ1 ߛ1 ߛ1 ߛ1 ߛ2
݉ 12
െ
݉2 ݉ 12
െ
݉2 ݉2 ݉12
ߛ2 ߛ1 ߛ1 ߛ1 ݀‫= ݊݋݋‬ + െ1
݉12 ݉2 ݉12 ݉2 ߛ1 ߛ2
݀‫݊݊݌‬ = 1െ െ ൒0 ݀‫ = ݊݊݌‬1 െ െ ൒0
ߛ2 ߛ1 ߛ1 ߛ1

Region – II (oon-poo) Region – II (poo-ppo) Region – II (onn-ppo)

݉ ݉ ݉ ݉
݀‫ = ݊݋݋‬1 െ 1 ݀‫ = ݋݋݌‬1 െ 2 ݀‫ = ݊݋݌‬1 െ 12 ݀‫ = ݋݌݌‬1 െ 1 1 ݉ ݉ 12
ߛ2 ߛ1 ߛ1 ߛ2 ݀‫ = ݊݊݋‬ቆߛ 1 ߛ ቇ.ቀ 1 + െ 1ቁ
݉1 ݉2 ݉ 12 ݉1 + 2 െ1 ߛ2 ߛ1
݀‫= ݊݋݋‬ + െ1 ݀‫= ݋݋݌‬ + െ1 ߛ2 ߛ1
ߛ2 ߛ1 ߛ1 ߛ2
1 ݉ ݉2
݀‫ = ݊݋݌‬ቆߛ 1 ߛ ቇ.ቀ 1 + െ 1ቁ
+ 2 െ1 ߛ1 ߛ2
ߛ2 ߛ1

1 ݉ ݉ 12
݀‫ = ݋݌݌‬ቆߛ 1 ߛ ቇ.ቀ 2 + െ 1ቁ
+ 2 െ1 ߛ1 ߛ2
ߛ2 ߛ1

Fig. 5. Updated regions and duty ratios for unbalanced DC link mid-point (a).
 2016 57th International Scientific Conference on Power and Electrical Engineering of Riga Technical University (RTUCON)

2 1

Region – III (poo-ppo) Region – III (oon-poo) Region – III (onn-ppo)

݉1 ݉ ݉1 ݉ ݉1 ݉
݀‫= ݋݋݌‬ ݀‫ = ݋݌݌‬2 ݀‫ = ݋݋݋‬1 െ ݀‫݋݋݌‬ = ݀‫ = ݋݌݌‬2 ݀‫ = ݋݋݋‬1 െ ݀‫݊݊݋‬ = ݀‫ = ݋݌݌‬2 ݀‫ = ݋݋݋‬1 െ
ߛ2 ߛ2 ߛ2 ߛ1 ߛ1 ߛ2
݉1 ݉2 ݉1 ݉2 ݉1 ݉2 ݉1 ݉2
െ ݀‫ = ݋݋݋‬1 െ െ ൒0 െ െ
ߛ2 ߛ2 ߛ2 ߛ2 ߛ2 ߛ1 ߛ1 ߛ2
݀‫ = ݋݋݋‬1 െ
݉1
െ
݉2
൒0 ݉1 ݉2
ߛ2 ߛ1 ݀111 = 1 െ െ ൒0
ߛ1 ߛ2

Region – IV (onn-oon) Region – IV (oon) Region – IV (ppo)

݉1 ݉ ݉ 12 ݉ ݉ 12 ݉
݀‫= ݊݊݋‬ ݀‫ = ݊݋݋‬2 ݀݊݊݊ = 1 െ ݀‫= ݊݋݋‬ ݀‫ = ݊݋݌‬1 ݀‫ = ݊݌݌‬1 െ ݀‫= ݋݌݌‬ ݀‫ = ݊݋݌‬1 ݀‫= ݊݌݌‬
ߛ1 ߛ1 ߛ2 ߛ2 ߛ1 ߛ2
݉1 ݉2 ݉ 12 ݉1 ݉ 12 ݉1 ݉ 12 ݉1
െ െ 1െ െ ݀‫ = ݊݌݌‬1 െ െ ൒0
ߛ1 ߛ1 ߛ2 ߛ2 ߛ1 ߛ2 ߛ1 ߛ2
݉1 ݉2 ݉12 ݉1
݀݊݊݊ = 1 െ െ ൒0 ݀‫ = ݊݌݌‬1 െ െ ൒0
ߛ1 ߛ1 ߛ2 ߛ2
Fig. 6. Updated regions and duty ratios for unbalanced DC link mid-point (b).

As it’s shown in Fig. 6-(a) with the applied look-up table Vdc1
method the deviation between the upper and lower DC link
voltages is kept below 0.2% even if the input voltage
discontinuous. On the other hand the power delivered to the
Vdc2
utility grid becomes continuous (see Fig. 6 (b) and Fig. 6 (c))
with the NTV-SV-PWM method.
As it can be observed from Fig. 6-(d) the voltage waveform
generated from the OWC system is very much distorted due to
harmonics and it becomes discontinuous during the sea wave’s
zero crossing period. However with the proposed method the
inverter output voltage becomes sinusoidal (see Fig. 6 (e).

(a) DC link upper and lower voltage waveforms.

Fig. 7. Simulation results, (a)
2016 57th International Scientific Conference on Power and Electrical Engineering of Riga Technical University (RTUCON)

VI. CONCLUSION
In this study the power extraction from OWC based OWEC
is provided by three-level active rectifier and three-level
Discontinuity on the power inverter in a closed-loop controlled system. To maximize the
power output and the quality of the energy transferred to the
grid the space vector modulation method is used for the three-
level inverter. With the provided solution energy extraction in
both regular and irregular ocean waves becomes possible. A
duty ratio look-up table is provided for each regions space
vectors where the DC-link mid-point can be unbalanced. The
deviation is kept at minimum level by using less control loop.
The proposed methodology also provides continuity on the
energy transferring to the grid while it achieves a wide linear
(b) Generator instantaneous power.
modulation range with less harmonic contents.

REFERENCES
[1] S. Kouro, M. Malinowski, K. Gopakumar, J. Pou, L.G. Franquelo, B.
Wu, J. Rodriguez, M. A. Perez, J. I. Leon, "Recent Advances and
Industrial Applications of Multilevel Converters", IEEE Trans. on
Industrial Electronics, vol. 57, no. 8, pp., August 2010.
[2] F. Dijkhuizen, “Multilevel Converters: Review, Form, Function and
Motivation”, EVER’12, Monaco, 10-13 October, 2012.
[3] H. Martins-rivas, “Power Extraction from an Oscillating Water Column
Along a Coast”, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, 2008.
[4] H. Djeghloud, H. Benalla, “Space Vector Pulse Width Modulation
Applied to the Three-Level Voltage Inverter”, IEEE Trans. on Power
Electronics, vol. 19, pp. 732-738, 2004.
[5] I. Colak, D. A. Kocabas, “NTV-SV-PWM Controlled Three-Level
(c) Inverter instantaneous power waveform. Converter for Ocean Wave Energy Conversion”, RTUCON’15, Riga, 14
October, 2015.
Rectifier input voltage [6] I. Colak, D. A. Kocabas, “Space Vector Modulation Controlled Three-
Level Converter for Ocean Wave Energy Conversion”, MELECON’16,
Lemesos, Cyprus, 18-20 April 2016.
[7] H. Martins-Rivas, C. C. Mei, “Wave Power Extraction from
an Oscillating Water Column at the Tip of a Breakwater”, Journal of
fluid Mechanics, vol. 626, pp. 395-414, 2009.
[8] M. Anand, R.Senthilkumar “Analysis of Neutral Point Clamped
Multilevel Inverter Using Space Vector Modulation Technique” IJETR,
Issn: 2321-0869, Vol. 3, Issue: 2, February 2015.
[9] S. Mekhilef, H. I. Khudhur and H. Belkamel, “DC link Capacitor
Voltage Balancing in Three Level Neutral Point Clamped Inverter”,
COMPEL’12, June 10, 2012.

Rectifier input current BIOGRAPHY

Ilknur Colak received the B.E, M.Sc and Ph.D degrees in electrical
(d) Rectifier input voltage and current waveforms. engineering from ITU, Istanbul, Turkey. She worked in different governmental
and industrial research institutes including TUBITAK, Ansaldo and CERN.
Since 2012 she is working in ABB as senior researcher. Her research area
includes modular multilevel converters, modulation schemes, renewable energy
systems, reliability of power electronic systems, EMC mitigation methods on
high power applications, insulation coordination and transformerless concepts.
Derya Ahmet Kocabas received the B.E. degree in electrical engineering from
ITU, Istanbul, Turkey, in 1994. He received the M.Sc. and Ph.D. degrees from
Electrical Engineering Programme, Institute of Science and Technology, ITU,
in 1997 and 2004, respectively. His main subjects of concern are design and
control of electrical machines, space harmonics, drive systems and power
electronics. He joined to Department of Electrical Engineering, Electrics and
Electronics Faculty, ITU in 1995 and since January 2006 he has been an
Assistant Professor.

(e) Inverter output voltage waveform.

Fig. 8. Simulation results, (b), (c), (d), (e).