Optimized modulation technique with double switching frequencies for STATCOM application

• Published in: 2016 51st International Universities Power Engineering Conference (UPEC) pp. 1 - 6
• Main Author: Bassi, Hussain M.
• Format: Conference Proceeding
• Language: English
• Published: IEEE 01-09-2016
• Subjects: Automatic voltage control; Inverters; Power Electronics; Power Quality; Power transformer insulation; Pulse width modulation; Pulse-Width Modulation (PWM); Reactive power; Switches; Total Harmonic Distortion (THD)
• DOI: 10.1109/UPEC.2016.8114103

The increase in the power demand is growing rapidly and the use of power electronics technology is considered a must. However, the injected harmonics caused by the power electronics devices affect the power quality negatively. Besides, the switching losses in the transmitted power is another issue that should be taken into the account. This paper presents an optimization of a novel carrier-based power width modulation technique for voltage-source inverter to reduce the THD and increase the fundamental component of inverter output. The carrier is in the form of a double-frequency inverse sinusoidal pulse width modulation. This technique is compared to the SPWM in the STATCOM application. One of the major advantages of this proposed technique is the increase in the fundamental component of the inverter output voltage. In other words, when using the novel technique on the same system that uses the SPWM technique, the increase in the fundamental component allow using a smaller DC source and the inverter may generate the same nominal voltage. The proposed method was verified by simulation using PSCAD/EMTDC.