Advanced Power Converter Design for Medium-Voltage Cascaded H-bridge Motor Drives

中压（MV）驱动器已经找到了广泛的工业应用，如石油和天然气，石化，运输，采矿，发电和公用事业，以及其他应用。由于工业化的快速发展和消费者的需求，中压变频器的使用及其功率容量在全球范围内不断增长。拟议的五年项目将重点开发高效、低成本、紧凑、可靠的中压电机驱动先进大功率转换系统。该研究项目将开发最佳电池电压为750-780 V的动力电池，以减少转换器的尺寸和制造成本，以及具有模块化结构的新型SiC动力电池，以在更高的开关频率下工作，而不会降低转换器的效率。同时，在输出电能质量上也有了提高。此外，将开发先进的控制技术，以尽量减少功率波动，这有助于开发具有新型薄膜电容器技术的动力电池。该技术提高了直流电容器的可靠性和使用寿命，减小了其尺寸。最后，将开发新的热管理系统，以提高其可靠性，并允许驱动器长时间连续运行，而不会中断生产。此外，将开发新的电气和机械布局，以集成动力电池和热管理系统，从而为加拿大罗克韦尔自动化公司开发一种新的紧凑、高效、可靠的驱动技术。该项目将为罗克韦尔自动化加拿大公司带来巨大的利益，并为其提供更可靠、更具成本效益的产品，帮助他们获得更高的市场份额。该项目还将培养一批训练有素、高技能的毕业生和有实践经验的研究人员。罗克韦尔自动化加拿大公司是一家致力于广泛电力系统应用的公司。他们的产品在电机驱动系统的低功率和高功率应用。本公司设有中压驱动部，生产用于驱动的中压大功率电流源变换器。公司是世界五大中压驱动制造商之一，产品销往全球。他们计划扩大产品范围并进入新市场（更高的电压和更高的功率）。

The medium-voltage (MV) drives have found a wide range of industrial applications such as oil and gas, petrochemicals, transportation, mining, power generation and utilities, and other applications. Due to the rapid industrialization and consumers demand, the use of MV drives and its power capacity is continuously growing globally.The proposed five-year project will focus on developing efficient, low-cost, compact size, and reliable advanced high-power conversion systems for MV motor drives. This research project will develop power cells with an optimum cell voltage of 750-780 V to reduce the converter size and manufacturing cost, and new SiC based power cells with a modular structure to operate at higher switching frequencies without degrading the converter efficiency. At the same time, there is an improvement in the output power quality. Also, advanced control techniques will be developed to minimize the power fluctuations, which help to develop the power cells with a new film capacitor technology. This technology improves the reliability and lifetime of DC capacitors and reduces its size. Finally, new thermal management systems will be developed to improve its reliability and allow the drives to operate continuously for long hours without any disruption in the production. In addition, new electrical and mechanical layout will be developed to integrate the power cells and thermal management systems such that a new compact, efficient, and reliable drive technology will be developed for Rockwell Automation, Canada. This project will yield significant benefit to Rockwell Automation Canada and provide a path forward with a more reliable and cost effective product and help them achieve a higher market share. The project will also foster a talent pool of well-trained and highly-skilled graduates and researchers with hands-on experience.Rockwell Automation Canada is a company that works on a wide range of power system applications. They have products in motor drive systems for low power and high power applications. This company has a medium voltage drive department manufacturing medium-voltage high-power current source converters for drives application. The company is among the top 5 Medium Voltage Drive manufacturers in the world and their products are shipped globally. They have plans to expand their product breadth and access new markets (higher voltage and higher powers).