Magnetic integration of the harmonic filter inductor for dual-converter fed open-end transformer topology

Many high power converter systems are often connected to the medium voltage network using a step-up transformer. In such systems, the converter-side windings of the transformer can be configured as an open-end and multi-level voltage waveforms can be achieved by feeding these open-end windings from both ends using the dual-converter. An LCL filter with separate converter-side inductors for each of the converter is commonly used to attenuate the undesirable harmonic frequency components in the grid current. The magnetic integration of the converter-side inductors is presented in this paper, where the flux in the common part of the magnetic core is completely canceled out. As a result, the size of the magnetic component can be significantly reduced. A multi-objective design optimization is presented, where the energy loss and the volume are optimized. The optimization process takes into account the yearly load profile and the energy loss is minimized, rather than minimizing the losses at a specific operating point. The size reduction achieved by the proposed inductor is demonstrated through a comparative evaluation. Finally, the analysis is supported through simulations and experimental results.