Chinese Journal of Electrical Engineering ›› 2017, Vol. 3 ›› Issue (2): 87-101.

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Overview on Fault-Tolerant Four-Switch Three-Phase Voltage Source Converters

Kai Ni1, Yihua Hu1, Yang Liu2,*, Chun Gan3   

  1. 1. Department of Electrical Engineering and Electronics, University of Liverpool, Liverpool L69 3GJ, UK;
    2. School of Electric Power Engineering, South China University of Technology, Guangzhou 510640, China;
    3. Department of Electrical Engineering, University of Tennessee, Knoxville, USA
  • Online:2017-09-25 Published:2019-10-31
  • Contact: E-mail: l.y96@mail.scut.edu.cn
  • About author:Kai Ni was born in Jiangsu, China. He received the BEng degree in Electrical Engineering in 2016 from University of Liverpool, Liverpool, UK. He is currently pursuing the Ph.D. degree in Department of Electrical Engineering and Electronics at University of Liverpool. His research interests include fault-tolerant operation and control of power electronic converters in doubly-fed induction machines. Yihua Hu received the B.S. degree in electrical motor drives in 2003, and the Ph.D. degree in power electronics and drives in 2011, both from China University of Mining and Technology, Jiangsu, China. Between 2011 and 2013, he was with the College of Electrical Engineering, Zhejiang University as a Postdoctoral Fellow. Between November 2012 and February 2013, he was an academic visiting scholar with the School of Electrical and Electronic Engineering, Newcastle University, Newcastle upon Tyne, UK. Between 2013 and 2015, he worked as a Research Associate at the power electronics and motor drive group, the University of Strathclyde. Currently, he is a Lecturer at the Department of Electrical Engineering and Electronics, University of Liverpool (UoL). He has published more than 60 peer reviewed technical papers in leading journals. His research interests include PV generation system, power electronics converters & control, and electrical motor drives. He is the associate editor of IET Power Electronics, IET Renewable Power Generation, and Journal of Power Electronics. Yang Liu was born in Inner Mongolia, and he obtained a B.E. degree in Electrical Engineering from South China University of Technology (SCUT), Guangzhou, China, in 2012. He is currently pursuing the Ph.D degree at the same area in SCUT. His research interests include the areas of power system control and operation, smart grid and renewable energy. Chun Gan received B.S. and M.S. degrees in power electronics and motor drives from China University of Mining and Technology, Jiangsu, China, in 2009 and 2012, respectively, and Ph.D. degree in power electronics and motor drives from Zhejiang University, Hangzhou, China, in 2016. He is currently a Research Associate with the Department of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science, The University of Tennessee Knoxville, Tennessee, USA. He has published more than 30 technical papers in leading journals and conference proceedings, and authored one book chapter. His research interests include high-efficiency power converters, high voltage direct current transmission, micro-grid, electrical motor drives and electrical motor design. Dr. Gan received the 2015 Top Ten Excellent Scholar Award, the 2016 Excellent Ph.D. Graduate, the 2015 Ph.D. National Scholarship, the 2015 Wang Guosong Scholarship, and the 2014 and 2015 Outstanding Ph.D. Candidate in Zhejiang University.

Abstract: With the rapid development and widespread applications of power electronic converters, strong fault-tolerant capability of power electronic converters is required since they play important roles in power systems. In this paper, a review of one of the most promising fault-tolerant topologies for semiconductor open-circuit fault, called four-switch three-phase(FSTP) topology, is presented in terms of modeling analysis, modulation techniques, and control strategies. The configuration of FSTP voltage source converter (VSC) is illustrated. To minimize the negative effects caused by the innate drawbacks of this fault-tolerant converter topology, considerable research has been carried out regarding modulation techniques and control strategies. The modulation principle for FSTP topology is explained in detail, since the performance of FSTP VSCs relies on it. This paper aims to illustrate current research progress on this fault-tolerant FSTP VSC topology.

Key words: Fault-tolerant ability, four-switch three-phase(FSTP) topology, voltage source converter (VSC), modeling analysis, modulation techniques, control strategies.