Position control is usually achieved using a position controller and a profile generator. The profile generator produces a desired position trajectory from a position reference and predefined profiles. The position controller forces the actual position to trace the generated position trajectory. A time-based profile generator is the most famous profile generator due to its capability of generating various profiles. However, time base difference in analysis and implementation causes a steady-state error. In order to remove the steady-state error, this paper proposes a novel profile generator for a trapezoidal velocity profile generation. The proposed generator is based on a cascaded P-PI position controller which is designed to trace the position reference. A dynamic range limiter is adopted to provide the acceleration and velocity restrictions which are basic functions for generating the trapezoidal profile. In spite of these restrictions, it cannot make a desired velocity profile only using the limiter because deceleration point is inaccurate. To adjust the deceleration point, a feedback compensator is designed which requires the velocity of the deceleration point. The velocity of the deceleration point is estimated from the initial position error. The compensator moves the deceleration point to the appropriate point which can generate the desired velocity profile. The proposed profile generator can remove the steady-state error, and the position response can be easily adjusted to be either overdamped or underdamped by selecting the two gains appropriately. Several experimental results are presented to verify the usefulness of the proposed generator.

With increasing interest in smart grid and renewable energy, significant investments have been allocated to promote related studies. Since there is a wide spectrum of topics to study, it is necessary to have an advanced experimental platform that can accommodate both system- and component- level studies, both hardware and algorithm designs, and both teaching and research. Unfortunately, such experimental platform is not commercially available. In this paper, an advanced power electronics based experimental platform is introduced. The system is consisted of one OPAL-RT real-time simulator, two one-bus microgrid testbeds, and two modular multi-level converters. The subsystems can form a multiple-bus microgrid testbed if connected through emulated power lines. The system can provide real-time simulation, controller hardware-in-the-loop simulation, and power hardware- in-the-loop simulation for power systems study. Various converter topologies can be configured with the modular converters for power electronics study. Both real-time simulator and DSP control boards can be used to implement advanced control algorithms. The designs and experiences shared in the paper will benefit many researchers that are in need of such system and promote power and energy related studies.

This paper proposes a fault diagnosis and tolerant control methods for an open-switch fault caused in a three-phase three-level neutral-point-clamped (NPC) pulse-width modulation (PWM) active rectifier. The open-switch fault in the three-level NPC active rectifier causes a distortion in the input phase current and a ripple in the DC-link capacitor voltage. Therefore, proper fault diagnosis and tolerant control methods are required to prevent additional failures and performance degradation in the rectifier system. This paper conducted a detailed analysis of the effect of the single open-switch fault on the NPC PWM active rectifier and proposed a fault diagnosis method utilizing the DC link voltage and the phase angle of the input grid voltage. Furthermore, this paper proposes a fault-tolerant control method to reduce the effect of the open-switch fault by compensating a distorted reference voltage. The effectiveness of the proposed fault diagnosis and tolerant control methods are verified through experimental results.

This study developed a hybrid pulse width modulation (PWM) control method intended for use in a high-speed brushless dc (BLDC) motor drive system that uses DC-link single-shunt current measurement. The method is designed to regulate rapid operation and expand the current sensing range of the aforementioned system and measurement, respectively. The operating characteristics of most typical PWM methods for BLDC motors were analyzed, after which, a PWM approach suitable for high-speed operation was identified. On the basis of the selected approach, the measurable range of DC-link single-shunt current was examined mathematically to determine a PWM method that is advantageous for current sensing. The results of the two analyses were used as guidance in formulating the proposed hybrid PWM control algorithm. Finally, the PWM method put forward in this work was verified through experimentation.

This paper proposes a pulse-width-modulation (PWM) control strategy for the efficient operation of the three-phase three-level neutral-point-clamped (NPC) inverters with a bootstrap gate drive circuit. The bootstrap circuit used in the three-level NPC inverter has advantages in terms of the cost reduction and the compact circuit design. However, the bootstrap circuit has a drawback due to the low gate-emitter voltage during the low-frequency and variable load condition of the inverter system. This problem leads to lower efficiency and reliability of the inverter. Therefore, this paper analyzes the causes of the voltage decrease in bootstrap capacitors and proposed PWM control strategy to increase the voltage level of bootstrap capacitors for the efficient operation of the inverter. The proposed PWM control strategy provides efficient and stable operation of the inverter system by selecting the unipolar, dipolar or partial-dipolar modulation methods according to the fundamental output frequency and load current of the inverter system. Furthermore, this paper proposes a design method of the size of bootstrap capacitors for the optimal circuit design. The effectiveness of the proposed PWM control strategy is verified using the experimental results.