In this research, a new space vector modulation control algorithm is proposed to increase the reliability and the accuracy of the cascaded H-bridge multilevel inverters in case of faulty situations where one or several power cells do not function. When one or more switches of a cell are opened or shorted, that cell is considered faulty. By giving a detailed analysis on the impact of the faulty power cells on the voltage space vectors, the inapplicable voltage vectors are removed precisely. Consequently, the optimal redundant switching states are chosen such that the highest possible output voltage can be achieved. In addition, the balance of the three phases line-to-line voltage and current are maintained. The proposed algorithm is also generalized so that it can be applied to any level of H-bridge inverters. The validity of the method is verified by numerical simulations using MATLAB Simulink with an 11-level cascaded H-bridge inverter.
Keyword
Cascaded H-bridge inverter; space vector modulation (SVM); fault tolerant operation of CHB multilevel inverters
