Zbigniew Szular

Soft switching systems in three-phase voltage source inverters usually require the use of additional elements, such as transistors, capacitors and inductors. Contrary to the existing solutions, in the proposed soft switching system, the danger of an abrupt discharge of the capacitors through the conductive transistor does not occur. Moreover, there is no risk of interruption of the inductor current, which usually causes damage to the transistors. In the paper principles of the system operation are described in detail and rules of component selection are presented. Laboratory tests were performed for different operating conditions. The test results have confirmed the operation correctness of the three-phase voltage source inverter with the proposed soft switching system.

Zmniejszenie strat przełączania w trójfazowych falownikach napięcia można uzyskać, stosując układy łagodnego przełączania, które nie tylko wpływają na zwiększenie sprawności falownika, ale również pozwalają ograniczyć gabaryty układów chłodzących elementy półprzewodnikowe, co w napędach trakcyjnych ma istotne znaczenie. Zdecydowana większość istniejących układów łagodnego przełączania ma pewne mankamenty mogące zagrozić bezawaryjnej pracy falowników w przypadku wystąpienia zakłóceń w układzie sterowania. W artykule skrótowo opisano strukturę, zasady działania oraz wyniki badań laboratoryjnych proponowanego układu łagodnego przełączania tranzystorów. Szczególną uwagę zwrócono na alternatywne wersje proponowanego układu, które pozwalają polepszyć parametry eksploatacyjne układu podstawowego. 

Reduction of the switching losses in three-phase voltage source inverters can be achieved by using of soft switching systems that not only increase the efficiency of the inverters, but they also reduce the size of the semiconductor cooling circuits, that is especially important in traction vehicles. The majority of existing soft  switching systems have some drawbacks that could be danger for inverter operation in the case of disturbances in control systems. The paper briefly describes the structure, operation principles and results of laboratory tests of the proposed soft switching system. Particular attention has been paid to the specific features of alternative versions of the proposed soft switching system, that allow to improve operating parameters of the basic system.

The efficiency of three-phase voltage source inverters depends mainly on power losses that occur in semi-conductor elements. Total losses in these elements are a sum of conduction losses and switching losses. The switching losses are dependent on the supply voltage, load current, operating frequency and on the dynamic parameters of the switching elements; these losses can be limited with the use of soft switching methods. This paper discusses the switching loss dependence on the above mentioned factors. An analysis was carried out on power losses in voltage source inverters which generate the output voltage in the form of a rectangular wave and losses in these inverters operating with pulse width modulation. A comparison of switching losses was performed for two voltage source inverters with different nominal power ratings.

The generation of electrical energy in small power plants which use renewable energy sources is often implemented with the use of induction generators. This paper presents a proposal of an energy generation system which is constructed with the use of a three-phase self-excited squirrel-cage induction generator. The idea of this proposal consists of a control method of the generator rotor magnetic flux linkage via fully controlled power electronic switches. The energy produced by the induction generator is transferred to a DC link via an uncontrolled rectifier and a DC-DC chopper. The proposed solution allows us to generate energy with the use of a relatively simple and reliable electrical machine. Additional important advantages of this concept are a small number of controlled elements, and an easy control method.