During the charging process of flywheel driving by permanent magnet synchronous motor, the three-level converter operates in a low modulation index for a long time, and the traditional virtual space vector pulse width modulation (VSVPWM) strategy frequently generates narrow pulses. Due to the discrete nature of digital control, the sector boundaries in the traditional VSVPWM strategy can shift, exacerbating the narrow pulse issue. These narrow pulses lead to significant distortion in the voltage and current waveforms of the converter and even damage the power devices.

This paper proposed an analysis method considering the discreteness of motor digital control and a hybrid VSVPWM strategy based on vector sequence optimization. Firstly, the variation characteristics of the voltage reference vector and its influence on sector boundary under digital control were studied based on the steady-state mathematical model of the motor. Then, the minimum pulse width function was established to quantitatively analyze the distribution of narrow pulses in the traditional VSVPWM within the low modulation index region. Consequently, according to the narrow pulse distribution law, a hybrid VSVPWM strategy based on vector sequence optimization was proposed.

The traditional VSVPWM (Seg9_VSVPWM), the thirteen-segment VSVPWM (Seg13_VSVPWM), and the proposed hybrid VSVPWM (LH_VSVPWM) were compared. The simulation results show that when the modulation index is 0.1 and 0.3, Seg9_VSVPWM continuously presents narrow pulses less than 2 μs at the boundary between sectors F and A with 672 and 219 times within 1 s. When the modulation index is 0.5, Seg13_VSVPWM would produce the narrowest pulses and accumulate 1 102 times within 1s. However, when the modulation index is 0.1, the proposed LH_VSVPWM eliminates the narrow pulse by optimizing the vector sequence. In addition, LH_VSVPWM has the fewest switching action times in the modulation index of 0.3 and 0.5, which is 5 836 and 5 875 times in 1s, respectively. Meanwhile, the proposed strategy performs well in limiting narrow pulses, occurring only 11 and 32 times within 1 s. The experimental results further demonstrate that LH_VSVPWM can effectively suppress the narrow pulse and keep the minimum pulse width above 6 μs in low modulation index region. Moreover, LH_VSVPWM improves the three-level converter’s output current waveform quality, with THD values of 22.24%, 13.78%, and 17.47% in the modulation index of 0.1, 0.3, and 0.5, respectively. It is the lowest among the three modulation strategies. Compared with Seg9_VSVPWM, the proposed LH_VSVPWM keeps the neutral-point potential balanced during motor start.

The following conclusions can be drawn. (1) The discreteness of motor digital control affects the variation characteristics of the voltage reference voltage and sector boundary of VSVPWM, which aggravates the narrow pulse problem. (2) In the low modulation index region of three-level converters, the effective vector durations are short, and the first vector of switching sequence changes between sectors F and A, B and C, and D and E. Therefore, the traditional VSVPWM maximum coding vectors are prone to narrow pulses at the boundary of these sectors. (3) The proposed method effectively suppresses the narrow pulse and reduces the switching times of power devices. Besides, LH_VSVPWM improves output waveform quality and solves the problem of neutral-point potential imbalance during motor startup.

Boost PFC converter is commonly utilized in rectifier circuits due to its ability to achieve a high power factor and low input current distortion. For the single-phase boost PFC converter, large-capacity and low-priced aluminum electrolytic capacitors (AECs) are typically employed to balance the instantaneous power deviation between the input and the output. However, the failure-prone nature of electrolytic capacitors may result in system instability or even collapse. Therefore, the real-time detection of electrolytic capacitor status information, assessment of its service life, and timely replacement of the soon-to-be-failed electrolytic capacitor can provide an important technical guarantee for the reliability of PFC power supply operation. This paper proposes an improved "zero-crossing removal interval" harmonic injection method for online detection of capacitance parameters to solve current zero-crossing distortion caused by harmonic injection. Additionally, based on the harmonic response of the bus voltage, the harmonic capacitor current reconstruction is achieved, and a model for calculating the C_R and R_E parameters without capacitor current sampling is constructed.

Firstly, the AC and DC input-output power action characteristics of the Boost PFC converter are fully utilized, i.e., the high harmonic current injection of the current control loop produces a high harmonic voltage splitting phenomenon on the output voltage. The two split harmonic voltage signals are employed to reconstruct the capacitor current; the capacitor's low-frequency impedance model is used to estimate C_R; a mid-frequency domain harmonic capacitor parameter computation model is established to estimate the R_E. In addition, the high harmonic current injection in the current loop inevitably results in an asymmetric zero-crossing distortion of the input current, directly affecting the accuracy of the capacitance parameter computation model. Consequently, the zero-crossing removal interval harmonic current injection method is employed to solve zero-crossing distortion caused by inter-area injection. The improved “zero-crossing removal interval” method avoids the reconstructed high-order capacitor current calculation error, enhancing C_R and R_E accuracy.

Eighteen types of capacitor conditions are selected for simulation calculation, and 48 W/72 W/144 W Boost PFC experimental prototypes are established. The proposed detection method is verified under an input voltage of 60 V, a switching frequency of 100 kHz, and an output voltage of 120 V. The results demonstrated that the method exhibits high detection accuracy under symmetrical injection conditions with a 10% zero-crossing removal interval, a 10 V injection amplitude, and a 650 Hz frequency. Furthermore, the improved “zero-crossing removal interval” method can achieve parameter detection error within 5% under different loads (100 Ω, 200 Ω, and 300 Ω) and capacitor conditions (196 mΩ/412 μF and 216 mΩ/617 μF), regardless of light or heavy loads.

This paper presents the following conclusions. (1) The proposed method considers the impact of current on distortion caused by harmonic injection. A “zero-crossing removal interval” harmonic injection method improves the accuracy of capacitance parameter detection. (2) In the “zero-crossing removal interval” method, the capacitor current is obtained through algorithmic reconstruction, which avoids high-precision capacitor current sampling. The harmonic injection is achieved by the control algorithm without additional hardware equipment. (3) The proposed capacitance parameter calculation model is derived based on the AC-DC power balance, making it straightforward to extend to similar AC-DC converters.

The LLC converter plays a pivotal role in the infrastructure supporting electric vehicles, where efficiency and reliability are paramount. Its ability to efficiently transfer energy between different voltage levels makes it particularly suitable for EV charging stations, where power conversion efficiency directly impacts operational costs and environmental sustainability.

Synchronous rectification has emerged as a promising strategy for optimizing LLC converter performance. By replacing traditional diode rectifiers with active switches that operate synchronously with the converter's switching frequency, synchronous rectification minimizes energy losses and improves overall efficiency. However, existing synchronous rectification methods have faced challenges, such as complex control algorithms, sensitivity to load variations, and the need for high-frequency sampling.

Unlike conventional approaches that rely on high-frequency sampling for precise timing control, the novel synchronous rectification scheme utilizes a streamlined time-domain analysis. This approach dynamically adjusts the timing of the synchronous rectifier based on real-time feedback from the LLC converter's operating modes, ensuring optimal efficiency across a wide range of operating conditions with high-frequency sampling and alleviating the computational burden.

By reducing the complexity of control algorithms and eliminating the need for high-frequency sampling circuits, the scheme not only lowers manufacturing costs but also enhances reliability by reducing potential points of failure. This simplification is particularly advantageous in high-power applications like EV charging stations, where robustness and operational uptime are essential.

Simulation studies have validated the effectiveness of the proposed scheme under different load conditions and frequencies. Simulations have shown significant efficiency improvements compared to traditional methods, highlighting the scheme's potential to reduce energy losses and improve overall system performance.

Furthermore, experimental validation using a 6.6 kW prototype shows that the proposed scheme delivers consistent and efficient operation under steady-state and dynamic conditions, further supporting its potential for commercial EV charging infrastructure integration.

The adoption of the proposed synchronous rectification scheme promises to enhance the efficiency and reliability of LLC converters and accelerate the transition to electric mobility. As governments and industries worldwide prioritize sustainability goals and seek to reduce carbon footprints, improvements in energy conversion technologies play a crucial role in supporting the widespread adoption of electric vehicles.

In conclusion, the synchronous rectification scheme represents a significant step in evolving LLC converters for electric vehicle charging infrastructure. By overcoming traditional limitations and leveraging streamlined control strategies, the scheme enhances performance and contributes to the sustainability of transportation systems. As research continues to refine and optimize power conversion technologies, the ongoing advancements in LLC converter designs underscore their pivotal role in shaping a cleaner, greener future for global transportation.

In servo systems, the bandwidth of the current loop is increased by raising the switching frequency. However, the dead-time nonlinearity of the voltage source inverter (VSI) intensifies with the increase of switching frequency, causing the deviation between the actual and the theoretical output voltage, resulting in serious distortion of the inverter output current waveform.

The requirement of computational power constrains the implementation of high switching frequency control. Consequently, the dead-time nonlinearity compensation strategy should be more straightforward to decrease computational time, especially for high switching frequency applications. The amplitude increase is relatively modest at a low switching frequency but significantly surges at a high one, bringing on a severe degradation of the linear modulation region. It is an imperfect solution to compensate after the occurrence of dead-time, which unavoidably introduces compensation errors. Furthermore, the accurate solution of inverter nonlinear voltage error (INVE) under different currents represents a crucial aspect of achieving exact INVE compensation. Nevertheless, the existing methods are complex.

This paper proposes a novel strategy that combines no-dead-time double modulation wave pulse-width modulation (PWM) and inverter nonlinearity compensation for analyzing the dead-time nonlinearity and the nonideal characteristics of the inverter on the output voltage error. Firstly, according to the continuous current characteristics of the anti-parallel diode, the drive vacancy area is added between the complementary drive pulses to avoid the introduction of dead time. Compared with the ideal space vector pulse width modulation (SVPWM), an auxiliary modulating wave is added. Depending on the current polarity, its amplitude is adjusted up or down from the original modulating waveform. The underlap periods are generated between the complementary drive pulse by contrasting the double-modulating and the triangular carrier waves. It is practical to avoid both the bridge arm shoot-through and the introduction of dead time. Most importantly, the actual output voltage of this method is identical to the optimal voltage, which directly eliminates the dead-time nonlinearity and removes the limitation of dead time on the output duty cycle at a high switching frequency. Moreover, the control signals of each switching device are obtained based on the comparison between the double-modulating and the carrier wave. No additional control loop calculations are required, while the generated PWM signals are symmetric about the carrier midpoint.

Secondly, the inverter nonlinearity is equated to the INVE, which varies with the current. When the motor is at a standstill of ${{\theta }_{\text{e}}}={{0}^{\circ }}$, by injecting the ramp current signal into the direct axis and applying Kirchhoff's voltage law, the sum of INVE containing the nonlinear factor of the two-phase VSI is obtained. Finally, the relationship between the INVE and the current amplitude is calculated using the linear iterative interpolation approach, and the online compensation of the INVE is achieved.

The results show that the proposed strategy can increase the linear modulation region of the output voltage, eliminate the output duty cycle limitation derived from the dead-time, and effectively suppress the current harmonic distortion phenomenon caused by the dead-time nonlinearity of high switching frequency inverters. In addition, the strategy is easy to implement without additional control loop calculations, which can be applied to servo drive control systems requiring high switching frequencies.

The rotating rectifier is the key part of multiphase annular brushless excitation systems. Nevertheless, the rectifiers often experience faults caused by diode failures, which brings security risks in practice. Accurately diagnosing faults in the rotating rectifier is pivotal for ensuring the safe operation of multiphase annular brushless excitation systems. However, the types of rotating rectifier faults are diverse, and the characteristics of different faults are inherently weak. Traditional mechanism-driven diagnostic schemes offer interpretability but often struggle with precise fault diagnosis. New data-driven diagnostic schemes exhibit speed and accuracy but encounter challenges in training and debugging in practical applications. This paper proposes a hybrid mechanism-data-driven diagnostic scheme for rotating rectifier faults.

Based on the fault mechanism, the frequency domain characteristics of the excitation current after the fault are derived, and the fault characteristic patterns are summarized. Then, thresholds of the mechanism diagnosis model are calculated using finite element simulation data. Extracting the frequency domain characteristics of the excitation current allows the fault mechanism to be clearly described, thus providing a solid foundation for subsequent fault diagnosis. The current waveform under normal operation and different fault conditions can be simulated by adjusting the models, which allows for determining thresholds for various operating conditions.

Then, the fast dynamic time warping (Fast-DTW) algorithm is introduced to calculate the similarity of excitation current time-domain waveforms, subsequently forming a data-driven model combined with the k-nearest neighbors (kNN) classifier. The fast-DTW algorithm can align waveforms of different time lengths and start points to capture subtle differences between waveforms. By combining the fast-DTW algorithm with the kNN classifier, the data-driven model can realize the diagnosis of rotating rectifier faults.

Mechanism-driven and data-driven diagnostic schemes are integrated based on ensemble learning principles. Ensemble learning significantly enhances the overall performance of the model by combining the results of multiple learners. Five mechanism-driven and five data-driven models are established to obtain a final diagnostic result based on the absolute majority voting method. The hybrid diagnostic scheme exhibits the advantages of mechanism-driven and data-driven models, effectively overcoming the limitations of a single-driven model.

Finally, the verification of prototype experiments indicates that the hybrid scheme’s diagnostic accuracy reaches 100%, significantly surpassing single-driven models. Establishing diagnostic models requires offline simulation data, reducing training difficulty and improving practicality on-site. The hybrid scheme maintains a reasonable diagnostic speed while ensuring high accuracy.

In conclusion, the proposed hybrid mechanism-data-driven fault diagnosis scheme combines mechanism analysis and data-driven methods to enhance the accuracy and robustness of fault diagnosis, demonstrating excellent test performance in prototype experiments. The diagnostic approach based on the time-frequency characteristics of the excitation current demonstrates excellent interpretability, achieving accurate fault diagnosis solely through training with simulation data.

The bipolar DC distribution network offers high power supply reliability, extensive transmission capacity, and adaptable voltage levels. Developing a bipolar DC distribution network represents an effective strategy for constructing a new type of distribution network. Voltage unbalance constitutes a distinctive power quality issue within bipolar DC distribution networks. Power flow calculation serves as the fundamental tool for analyzing voltage imbalance. Nevertheless, conventional power flow calculation methods merely illustrate the transfer outcomes of voltage unbalance, failing to depict its transfer process within the network. Furthermore, in practical engineering, power is often the measured electrical quantity rather than current, making the existing power flow model based on injected current unsuitable for meeting the application requirements. Hence, this paper proposes a power-injection equation to analyze and quantify the transfer characteristics associated with voltage unbalance.

Initially, the generation and transfer mechanism of voltage unbalance within the bipolar DC distribution network is studied. The voltage unbalance transfer matrix grounded on sensitivity is established to depict the transfer characteristics of voltage unbalance factors at individual nodes. Furthermore, the analytical formulations for each component of the voltage unbalance transfer matrix are derived, and a power flow calculation technique based on the Newton-Raphson method is proposed for determining the matrix. The suggested method employs a power-injection equation for power flow modeling and integrates droop control and comprehensive load models of distributed generation. Finally, the effectiveness of the proposed approach is validated via the modified IEEE 33-node test system. Three case studies are conducted.

Numerical results reveal the following findings. (1) The proposed power flow calculation method exhibits a negligible sacrifice in accuracy, with no more than a 0.83% deviation and a calculation efficiency enhancement of 44%. Additionally, it offers the advantage of accommodating constant power loads, which is suitable for high prevalence power load or load data readily available scenarios. (2) The voltage unbalance transfer matrix effectively illustrates voltage unbalance factors’ alterations and transfer conditions at each node under disturbance conditions. Disturbances induce voltage unbalances that propagate throughout the network following the direction of power flow. Measures must be implemented to block or suppress it at critical network nodes. For instance, strategies such as load switching and energy storage scheduling encourage multi-point loads to adjust in a more balanced manner simultaneously, curtailing unbalanced transfer. Moreover, incorporating a power spring in series with a constant resistance load near the line's terminus can introduce intelligent load management, affording greater flexibility in system voltage unbalance adjustment. The deployment of voltage-regulating equipment, such as DC transformers and voltage balancers, is instrumental in obstructing unbalanced voltage transfer.

Power electronic transformer with cascaded H-bridge (CHB-PET) can realize the flexible interconnection of AC/DC microgrid and renewable energy sources such as energy storage devices and DC loads. In a practical project, CHB-PET is connected to different bus segments through two short leads that are standby for each other. Considering the fault occurring AC side of CHB-PET, the spare short lead needs to be put into operation quickly to realize the rapid recovery of power supply. However, the conventional scheme cannot distinguish whether there is a fault before the spare short lead is put into operation, and there is a risk of connecting the faulty short lead. To solve this problem, this paper proposes a scheme based on the cooperative control of CHB-PET and DC microgrid, which achieves safe input of short leads by actively injecting characteristic voltage.

Firstly, CHB is blocked to achieve fault isolation after fault occurring. The energy storage device is switched to DC voltage control mode, maintaining the DC bus voltage and ensuring the normal operation of DC microgrid load and other equipment. Secondly, CHB is unlocked and switched to the U/f control. CHB-PET can inject characteristic voltage into the spare line to detect whether there is a fault point in the line. Furthermore, a fault detection method considering the current imbalance factor is proposed to reduce the time required for fault detection, so as to realize the rapid and safe investment of spare short lead.

The verification results on PSCAD/EMTDC simulation platform show that the scheme based on characteristic voltage injection can give accurate detection results when the spare line is fault-free. When three-phase fault, phase-phase fault, double-phase to ground fault and single-phase to ground fault occur in the spare line, the transition resistance of the phase-to-phase fault is 200 Ω, and the transition resistance of the ground fault is 300 Ω. The proposed scheme can also give accurate detection results. Through the simulation verification and experimental verification of the proposed scheme in different scenarios, the consistent results are obtained, which confirms the accuracy of the simulation model and the feasibility of the proposed scheme.

Through the simulation analysis, the following conclusions can be drawn: (1) The scheme uses the CHB-PET ontology to inject characteristic voltage with controlled amplitude and frequency into the standby line. According to the difference of electrical characteristics of the standby line in different scenarios, proposed scheme can accurately detect whether there is a fault in the standby line. (2) In three stages of the proposed scheme, the collaborative control of CHB-PET and DC microgrid energy storage device is used to ensure the normal operation of each equipment in the DC microgrid after the AC short lead fault, which is conducive to the rapid recovery after the fault. (3) In the fault detection stage of spare short lead, the fault detection criterion is constructed by using the product of the characteristic current imbalance factor and the current integral value. Compared with the direct use of the current integral value, the fault detection time under high resistance fault is reduced and the protection action speed is improved.