Computational Methods in Engineering

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Pulse Width Modulation (PWM) techniques are commonly used to control the output voltage and current of DC to AC converters. Space Vector Modulation (SVM), of all PWM methods, has attracted attention because of its simplicity and desired properties in digital control of Three-Phase inverters. The main drawback of this PWM technique is its complex and time-consuming computations in real-time implementation. The time-consuming calculation as well as software and hardware complexities of the network grow dramatically as the number of inverter levels increases. Therefore, it is necessary to develop an exact, fast, and general computation SVM algorithm for multi-level converters. This paper introduces such an algorithm. Specifically, the SVM computation algorithm based on a vector classification technique, introduced for 2-level inverters in 1996, is developed and generalized to be applicable in determining the switching sequences and calculating the switching instants in m-level inverters. The proposed technique reduces hardware and software complexities, decreases the computation time, and increases the accuracy of the positioning of the switching instants when compared with the conventional implementation of the SVM in multi-level converters