A new medium-voltage PWM inverter topology for adjustable-speed drives

In this paper, a new pulsewidth modulation (PWM) inverter topology suitable for medium-voltage (2300/4160 V) adjustable-speed drive systems is proposed. The modular inverter topology is derived by combining three standard three-phase inverter modules and a 0.33-pu output transformer. The output voltage is high-quality multistep PWM with low dv/dt. Further, the approach also guarantees balanced operation and 100% utilization of each three-phase inverter module over the entire speed range. These features enable the proposed topology to be suitable for powering constant-torque, as well as variable-torque type loads. Clean power utility interface of the proposed inverter system can be achieved via an 18-pulse input transformer. Analysis, simulation and experimental results are shown to validate the concepts.