Professional Documents
Culture Documents
Abstract—This paper discusses the modular multilevel cascade In the middle of the 1990s, Lai and Peng presented a static
converter (MMCC) family based on cascade connection of multi- synchronous compensator (STATCOM) for reactive-power con-
ple bidirectional chopper cells or single-phase full-bridge cells. The trol, which is based on cascade connection of modular H-bridge
MMCC family is classified from circuit configuration as follows:
the single-star bridge cells (SSBC); the single-delta bridge cells converter cells with stair-case modulation (SCM) [4], [5]. It
(SDBC); the double-star chopper cells (DSCC); and the double- was followed by a battery energy storage system (BESS) with
star bridge cells (DSBC). The term MMCC corresponds to a family SCM for motor drives [6]. These are characterized by eliminat-
name in a person while, for example, the term SSBC corresponds ing the complicated multiwinding phase-shifted line-frequency
to a given name. Therefore, the term “MMCC–SSBC” can identify transformer from the power conversion systems.
the circuit configuration without any confusion. Among the four
MMCC family members, the SSBC and DSCC are more practical Marquardt and coauthors presented another power conver-
in cost, performance, and market than the others although a dis- sion circuit referred to as a “modular multilevel converter” and
tinct difference exists in application between the SSBC and DSCC. its basic operating principle [7], [8]. Although the circuit con-
This paper presents application examples of the SSBC to a battery figuration of each arm was described in [9], research has been
energy storage system (BESS), the SDBC to a static synchronous conducted on the viability and effectiveness of the modular mul-
compensator (STATCOM) for negative-sequence reactive-power
control, and the DSCC to a motor drive for fans and blowers, tilevel converter intended for applications to HVDC and back-
along with their experimental results. to-back (BTB) systems [10], [11]. However, the sound of the
modular multilevel converter makes it impossible for the begin-
Index Terms—Battery energy storage, modular structure, motor
drives, multilevel converters. ners of power electronics to distinguish the circuit configuration
from the others because the terms “modular” and “multilevel”
do not have enough information to identify the circuit configu-
I. INTRODUCTION ration. Moreover, it is reasonable to call the modular multilevel
converter as a “cascade multilevel converter” because the con-
INCE the middle of the 1990s, Robicon Corporation,
S presently a part of Siemens, has put a medium-voltage
high-power motor drive with a multilevel pulsewidth modu-
verter is based on cascade connection of the lower dc voltage
terminals of modular bidirectional choppers. Of course, it is
allowable to use the term “modular multilevel converter” as a
lation (PWM) inverter into practical use [1]. The emergence of proper noun.
this motor drive surprised and impressed research scientists and On the other hand, the multilevel inverter developed and com-
engineers who were engaged in research and development of mercialized by Robicon Corporation is referred to as a “cascade
medium-voltage motor drives. The per-phase circuit configura- multilevel inverter,” a “series-connected H-bridge multilevel in-
tion of the multilevel inverter is based on cascade connection verter,” or a “chain-link multilevel inverter” at present. That is,
of the ac output terminals of modular single-phase full-bridge different manufactures use different names, like trade names.
or “H-bridge” inverter cells. However, it requires a complicated However, the multilevel inverter can be considered as a “modular
multiwinding phase-shifted line-frequency transformer for de- multilevel inverter” because it is one of the modular multilevel
livering electric power to all the floating H-bridge inverter cells. inverters based on modular H-bridge cells. This may lead to the
Before such a medium-voltage high-power motor drive was following confusion: when a power electronics engineer uses
brought to the market, a few pioneering papers on the “modular either “modular multilevel converter” or “cascade multilevel
multilevel structure” had been presented and published, taking converter” in his/her technical paper/article or presentation, the
the form of a single-phase circuit for plasma stabilization [2] other engineers cannot identify the circuit configuration or may
and a three-phase circuit for motor drives [3]. have a misunderstanding about it in the worst case.
This paper classifies the modular multilevel cascade converter
(MMCC) family, the name of which merges both terms “cas-
cade multilevel converter” and “modular multilevel converter”
Manuscript received February 9, 2011; accepted April 3, 2011. Date of cur- together [12]. The author gives appropriate names to the four
rent version November 18, 2011. Recommended for publication by Associate family members with focus on circuit configuration, thus result-
Editor A. Mertens.
The author is with the Department of Electrical and Electronic Engi-
ing in identifying the individual circuit configurations. Then,
neering, Tokyo Institute of Technology, Tokyo 152-8552, Japan (e-mail: this paper makes a detailed description of comparisons among
akagi@ee.titech.ac.jp). the four members in terms of circuit configuration, circulating
Color versions of one or more of the figures in this paper are available online
at http://ieeexplore.ieee.org.
current, and application. Finally, this paper has an intensive dis-
Digital Object Identifier 10.1109/TPEL.2011.2143431 cussion on applications of three promising family members, the
Fig. 2. Possible circuit configurations of the SSBC and the SDBC without
common dc link. (a) SSBC. (b) SDBC.
Authorized licensed use limited to: Florida State University. Downloaded on February 23,2024 at 17:09:56 UTC from IEEE Xplore. Restrictions apply.
AKAGI: CLASSIFICATION, TERMINOLOGY, AND APPLICATION OF THE MODULAR MULTILEVEL CASCADE CONVERTER (MMCC) 3121
TABLE I
COMPARISONS AMONG THE FOUR MMCC FAMILY MEMBERS
Thus, the MMCC–SSBC, MMCC–SDBC, MMCC–DSCC, diode rectifier. This makes it possible to use both DSCC and
and MMCC–DSBC should be used as the full names of the four DSBC as multilevel inverters for motor drives.
members. From a practical point of view, however, the family
name “MMCC” can be eliminated from the four full names as
B. No Circulating Current in the SSBC
long as no confusion occurs in circuit configuration.
The SSBC has the capability of controlling positive-sequence
leading and lagging reactive power. Unlike the SDBC, however,
III. COMPARISONS OF THE MMCC FAMILY the SSBC has no capability of releasing negative-sequence re-
active power to the grid or absorbing it from the grid, because
Table I summarizes comparisons among the four MMCC
no circulating current flows inside the SSBC. Therefore, appli-
members from various points of view. Generally, the SSBC and
cations of the SSBC are limited to a STATCOM for positive-
SDBC are similar in application, while the DSCC and DSBC are
sequence reactive-power control, and a BESS devoting itself
similar in circuit configuration. This suggests that a group of the
mainly to active-power control at the lowest cost among the
SSBC and SDBC has a significant difference in performance and
four members. The reason is that the SSBC has a minimum cell
application from that of the DSCC and DSBC. The difference
count among the four MMCC family members, as shown in
results mainly from two additional dc or ac terminals existing in
Table I.
Fig. 3(a) and (b). The “cell-count ratio” in the third row of Table I
The SSBC can add a common zero-sequence voltage to each
means the ratio of the cell count of each MMCC member with
of the three cluster voltages. This zero-sequence voltage can be
respect to that of the SSBC under the following assumptions:
used for achieving voltage balancing control of all the floating
the insulated-gate bipolar transistors (IGBTs) used in the four
split dc capacitors in the STATCOM [14], and for achieving
MMCC members have the same blocking voltage, and the four
state-of-charge (SOC) balancing control, fault-tolerant control,
MMCC members have the same power and voltage ratings. As
and active-power control of individual converter cells in the
a result, the IGBTs have different current ratings because the
BESS [15]–[17]. Note that no change occurs in the three-phase
count of the IGBTs is different each other. The “practicability”
line-to-line voltages at the ac side of the three clusters even if the
in the last row of Table I includes technical aspects as well as
zero-sequence voltage is applied. As a result, no change occurs
the market size of each member.
in the three-phase supply currents.
Paying attention to similarity and difference among the four
members results in making the following descriptions.
C. Circulating Current in the SDBC, DSCC, and DSBC
The others, the SDBC, DSCC, and DSBC have the capability
A. Three-Terminal and Five-Terminal Circuits
of controlling negative-sequence reactive power because they
Both SSBC and SDBC are the so-called three-terminal cir- allow a current to circulate among three clusters for the SDBC
cuits if the neutral point of star connection is neglected from and a current to circulate through the positive and negative
the SSBC. This makes it impossible to apply both convert- arms in each leg for both DSCC and DSBC. The circulating
ers to motor drives as long as a single common dc source current plays an essential role in exchanging active power among
is available. However, both converters are applicable to mo- the three clusters and legs although the circulating current is
tor drives when available are galvanically isolated multiple dc accompanied by a slight increase in conducting and switching
voltage sources based on battery modules or stacks [6], the losses. The SDBC has one degree of freedom in the circulating
combination of a multiwinding line-frequency transformer with current. The DSCC and DSBC have two degrees of freedom
three-phase diode rectifiers [1], or bidirectional isolated dc–dc when nothing is installed on their dc terminals, or three degrees
converters [13]. of freedom when either a dc voltage source or a dc-link capacitor
On the other hand, both DSCC and DSBC are “five-terminal is connected.
circuits” because both are allowed to use the two neutral points When the SDBC is used as a STATCOM, the amplitude of the
of star-configured circuits as the two dc terminals. These termi- circulating line-frequency current is proportional to the amount
nals can be connected to the dc output terminals of a three-phase of negative-sequence reactive power, whereas it is independent
Authorized licensed use limited to: Florida State University. Downloaded on February 23,2024 at 17:09:56 UTC from IEEE Xplore. Restrictions apply.
3122 IEEE TRANSACTIONS ON POWER ELECTRONICS, VOL. 26, NO. 11, NOVEMBER 2011
Authorized licensed use limited to: Florida State University. Downloaded on February 23,2024 at 17:09:56 UTC from IEEE Xplore. Restrictions apply.
AKAGI: CLASSIFICATION, TERMINOLOGY, AND APPLICATION OF THE MODULAR MULTILEVEL CASCADE CONVERTER (MMCC) 3123
TABLE III
CIRCUIT PARAMETERS OF THE SDBC-BASED STATCOM
Authorized licensed use limited to: Florida State University. Downloaded on February 23,2024 at 17:09:56 UTC from IEEE Xplore. Restrictions apply.
AKAGI: CLASSIFICATION, TERMINOLOGY, AND APPLICATION OF THE MODULAR MULTILEVEL CASCADE CONVERTER (MMCC) 3125
Authorized licensed use limited to: Florida State University. Downloaded on February 23,2024 at 17:09:56 UTC from IEEE Xplore. Restrictions apply.
3126 IEEE TRANSACTIONS ON POWER ELECTRONICS, VOL. 26, NO. 11, NOVEMBER 2011
Fig. 12. Circuit configuration of the DSCC with eight cells per leg for experi-
ment. (a) Power circuit. (b) Chopper-cell. (c) Coupled or center-tapped inductor.
Authorized licensed use limited to: Florida State University. Downloaded on February 23,2024 at 17:09:56 UTC from IEEE Xplore. Restrictions apply.
AKAGI: CLASSIFICATION, TERMINOLOGY, AND APPLICATION OF THE MODULAR MULTILEVEL CASCADE CONVERTER (MMCC) 3127
1
8
v̄C u = vC j u . (19)
8 j =1
Authorized licensed use limited to: Florida State University. Downloaded on February 23,2024 at 17:09:56 UTC from IEEE Xplore. Restrictions apply.
3128 IEEE TRANSACTIONS ON POWER ELECTRONICS, VOL. 26, NO. 11, NOVEMBER 2011
D. Experimental Waveforms
Fig. 14 shows experimental waveforms in a steady-state con-
dition when the inverter frequency was 50 Hz and the load
torque was equal to the rated motor torque. The waveforms
were sampled and held at a sampling frequency of 500 kHz.
The motor line-to-line voltage vu v is a 15-level PWM wave-
form with voltage steps as low as 70 V where the chopper-cell
modulation index is 0.93. As a consequence, vu v contains much
less harmonic voltage as well as much less common-mode volt-
age than a traditional two-level voltage-source PWM inverter.
This results in significantly reducing electromagnetic interfer-
ence (EMI) emissions, ground leakage current, bearing current,
and so on. Since the carrier frequency of each chopper cell is
1 kHz, the equivalent switching frequency of the inverter is 8
kHz (=1 kHz × 8).
The three-phase motor-side ac currents iu , iv , and iw are
sinusoidal and balanced with a fundamental component of
50 Hz, so that motor-torque ripple can be mitigated. The 4-kHz
switching-ripple component included in iP u and iN u depends
on the inductance value of the coupled inductor lab .
The dc capacitor voltage vC 1u contains both dc and ac com-
ponents as shown in Fig. 14, in which the mean-voltage con-
trol regulates the dc component at 140 V. The ac components
consist of a dominant fundamental (50 Hz) component, and a
second-order (100 Hz) harmonic component. The ac compo-
nents included in vC 1u are equal to those in vC 2u , vC 3u , and
vC 4u because the chopper cells numbered 1 to 4 carry the com-
mon arm current iP u under the same duty ratio.4 In the same
way, the ac components included in vC 5u are equal to those in
vC 6u , vC 7u , and vC 8u . Each of the arm currents iP u and iN u
contains an amount of second-order harmonic current as a re-
sult of achieving the mean-voltage control of eight floating dc
capacitors per leg. However, no second-order harmonic current
appears in iu because those included in iP u and iN u are in phase
and the same in amplitude.
The waveform of the supply-side ac current iS u is similar to
that when only a resistive load is connected on the dc side of a
three-phase diode rectifier without dc-link capacitor. It is well
known that the waveform of iS u cannot comply with harmonic
guidelines or regulations. A transformerless hybrid active filter Fig. 14. Experimental waveforms from the DSCC when the inverter frequency
was 50 Hz and the load torque was the rated motor torque.
for a medium-voltage motor drive has been proposed, and its
viability and effectiveness have been confirmed by a downscaled
experimental system. It devotes itself to the three-phase six- E. Instantaneous Real and Imaginary Powers at the DC
pulse diode rectifier used as the front end of such a medium- and AC Sides
voltage motor drive. The hybrid filter is characterized by direct
connection of a simple LC filter tuned to the seventh-harmonic Fig. 14 presents the waveforms of the instantaneous real
frequency with a small-rated active filter using a three-level power p and the instantaneous imaginary power q at the ac
diode-clamped PWM converter in series [24]. side of the DSCC, that is, at the motor terminals. The waveform
of instantaneous real power pdc at the dc side is given by
4 The duty ratio is defined by the ratio of the time-varying on-duration to the where vdc is the dc-link voltage, and idc is the dc current flowing
switching period. through the dc link. Note that no instantaneous imaginary power
Authorized licensed use limited to: Florida State University. Downloaded on February 23,2024 at 17:09:56 UTC from IEEE Xplore. Restrictions apply.
AKAGI: CLASSIFICATION, TERMINOLOGY, AND APPLICATION OF THE MODULAR MULTILEVEL CASCADE CONVERTER (MMCC) 3129
exists at the dc side of the inverter. The waveform of v̄dc in may confine its application to a STATCOM for negative-
Fig. 14 is observed from vdc through a first-order low-pass sequence reactive-power
√ control because the converter-cell
filter with a cutoff frequency of 1 kHz. The waveform of p is count of SDBC is 3 times of that of the SSBC. The DSCC
different from that of pdc because the DSCC has the 24 floating is expected to fill the role of power conversion in the next-
dc capacitors acting as energy storage elements. However, the generation multiterminal HVDC and BTB systems as well as
dc mean component of p would be equal to that of pdc if the medium-voltage motor drives. The DSBC is characterized by
DSCC produced no loss. having buck and boost functions in addition to rectification and
inversion although it requires a large number of power switching
F. Which is Better, the DSCC and a Multilevel Diode-Clamped devices.
Inverter?
A serious question may be asked “Which is better, the DSCC ACKNOWLEDGMENT
or a multilevel diode-clamped inverter for medium-voltage mo- The author would like to thank Dr. M. Hagiwara, former
tor drives?” It is not easy to answer the question because the graduate students Dr. S. Inoue, Dr. L. Maharjan, T. Yamagishi,
general answer would depend on design and cost issues includ- K. Nishimura, and R. Maeda, and a Visiting Engineer J. Asakura
ing nominal grid voltages, motor voltage and current ratings, for their contribution to the MMCC research project going on
applications, power switching devices available, and so on. in the power electronics laboratory at the Tokyo Institute of
Although the DSCC has no practical limitation on the Technology.
converter-cell count per arm due to modular structure, the diode-
clamped inverter has a practical limitation on the voltage level. REFERENCES
Since the three-level neutral-point-clamped (diode-clamped) in-
[1] P. W. Hammond, “A new approach to enhance power quality for medium
verter was invented at the end of the 1970s [25], it has been put voltage ac drives,” IEEE Trans. Ind. Appl., vol. 33, no. 1, pp. 202–208,
into practical use, not only as a general-purpose PWM inverter, Jan./Feb. 1997.
but also for a steel mill drive, the Japanese bullet train the [2] M. Marchesoni, M. Mazzucchelli, and S. Tenconi, “A noncoventional
power converter for plasma stabilization,” IEEE Trans. Power Electron.,
“Shinkansen,” the unified power flow controller, and so on [26]. vol. 5, no. 2, pp. 212–219, Apr. 1990.
However, among multilevel diode-clamped inverters with a volt- [3] M. Marchesoni and M. Mazzucchelli, “Multilevel converters for high
age level more than three, only the five-level inverter would be a power ac drives: A review,” in Conf. Rec. IEEE Int. Symp. Ind. Electron.,
1993, pp. 38–43.
good candidate competing with the DSCC from a practical point [4] J. S. Lai and F. Z. Peng, “Multilevel converters–A new breed of power
of view [27]–[33]. The main reasons are that multilevel diode- converters,” IEEE Trans. Ind. Appl., vol. 32, no. 3, pp. 509–517, May/Jun.
clamped inverters with a voltage level more than five would 1996.
[5] F. Z. Peng, J. S. Lai, J. W. McKeever, and J. VanCoevering, “A multilevel
suffer from voltage imbalance among split dc capacitors on the voltage-source inverter with separate dc sources for static VAr generation,”
dc link, and that the number of the clamping diodes required IEEE Trans. Ind. Appl., vol. 32, no. 5, pp. 1130–1138, Sep./Oct. 1996.
increases significantly as the voltage level increases. [6] L. M. Tolbert, F. Z. Peng, and T. G. Habetler, “Multilevel converters for
large electric drives,” IEEE Trans. Ind. Appl., vol. 35, no. 1, pp. 36–44,
On the other hand, it would be difficult to apply the DSCC Jan./Feb. 1999.
to the motor drive requiring the rated torque in a low-speed re- [7] R. Marquardt and A. Lesnicar, “A new modular voltage source inverter
gion. Thus, the DSCC would confine its application to medium- topology,” in Conf. Rec. Eur. Conf. Power Electron. Appl., 2003, pp. 1–10.
[CD-ROM].
voltage motor drives for fans, blowers, and compressors, the [8] M. Glinka and R. Marquardt, “A new single-phase ac/ac-multilevel con-
torque of which is proportional to a square of motor speed. verter for traction vehicles operating on ac line voltage,” in Conf. Rec.
However, the five-level diode-clamped inverter has no limita- Eur. Conf. Power Electron. Appl., 2003, pp. 1–10. [CD-ROM].
[9] A. Alesina and M. Venturini, “Solid-state power conversion: A Fourier
tion on its applications. analysis approach to generalized transformer synthesis,” IEEE Trans.
Circ. Syst., vol. 28, no. 4, pp. 319–330, Apr. 1981.
[10] (2007). [Online]. Available: http://www.modernpowersystems.com
VII. CONCLUSION [11] S. Allebrod, R. Hamerski, and R. Marquardt, “New transformerless, scal-
This paper has described the MMCC family with focus on able modular multilevel converters for HVDC-transmission,” in Conf. Rec.
IEEE Power Electronics Spec. Conf., 2008, pp. 174–179.
classification, terminology, and application. The converter fam- [12] H. Akagi, “Classification, terminology, and application of the modular
ily is characterized by cascade connection of modular chopper- multilevel cascade converter (MMCC),” in Conf. Rec. Int. Power Electron.
cells or bridge-cells to form each cluster or arm. This brings Conf.-Sappro/ECCE-Asia, 2010, pp. 508–515.
[13] S. Inoue and H. Akagi, “A bidirectional isolated dc-dc converter as a core
flexibility to circuit design, and results in low-voltage steps. circuit of the next-generation medium-voltage power conversion system,”
Moreover, this paper has exhibited multiple applications of the IEEE Trans. Power Electron., vol. 22, no. 2, pp. 535–542, Mar. 2007.
MMCC family to grid connections and motor drives. Exper- [14] H. Akagi, S. Inoue, and T. Yoshii, “Control and performance of a trans-
formerless cascade PWM STATCOM with star configuration,” IEEE
imental results obtained from three downscaled systems have Trans. Ind. Appl., vol. 43, no. 4, pp. 1041–1049, Jul./Aug. 2007.
confirmed that the MMCC family with low-voltage steps has [15] L. Maharjan, S. Inoue, H. Akagi, and J. Asakura, “SOC (state-of-charge)-
shown significant promise as environment-friendly medium- balancing control of a battery energy storage system based on a cascade
PWM converter,” IEEE Trans. Power Electron., vol. 24, no. 6, pp. 1628–
voltage high-power converters in terms of low-voltage/current 1636, Jun. 2009.
harmonics and low EMI emissions. [16] L. Maharjan, T. Yamagishi, H. Akagi, and J. Asakura, “Fault-tolerant
Among the four MMCC family members, the SSBC is the operation of a battery energy storage system based on a multilevel cascade
PWM converter with star configuration,” IEEE Trans. Power Electron.,
most promising as a BESS for positive-sequence active-power vol. 25, no. 9, pp. 2386–2396, Sep. 2010.
control and as a STATCOM for positive-sequence reactive- [17] L. Maharjan, T. Yamagishi, and H. Akagi, “Active-power control of in-
power control with the lowest converter-cell count. The SDBC dividual converter cells of a battery energy storage system based on a
Authorized licensed use limited to: Florida State University. Downloaded on February 23,2024 at 17:09:56 UTC from IEEE Xplore. Restrictions apply.
3130 IEEE TRANSACTIONS ON POWER ELECTRONICS, VOL. 26, NO. 11, NOVEMBER 2011
multilevel cascade PWM converter,” IEEE Trans. Power Electron., to be [32] N. Hatti, K. Hasegawa, and H. Akagi, “A 6.6-kV transformerless motor
published in May/Jun. 2011. drive using a five-level diode-clamped PWM inverter for energy savings
[18] K. Fujii, U. Schwarzer, and R. W. De Doncker, “Comparison of of pumps and blowers,” IEEE Trans. Power Electron., vol. 24, no. 3,
hard-switched multi-level inverter topologies for STATCOM by loss- pp. 796–803, Mar. 2009.
implemented simulation and cost estimation,” in Conf. Rec. IEEE Power [33] K. Hasegawa and H. Akagi, “A new dc-voltage-balancing circuit including
Electron. Spec. Conf., 2005, pp. 340–346. a single coupled inductor for a five-level diode-clamped PWM inverter,”
[19] H. Fujita, S. Tominaga, and H. Akagi, “Analysis and design of a dc voltage- IEEE Trans. Ind. Appl., vol. 47, no. 2, pp. 841–852, Mar./Apr. 2011.
controlled static VAr compensator using quad-series voltage-source invert-
ers,” IEEE Trans. Ind. Applicat., vol. 32, no. 4, pp. 970–977, Jul./Aug.
1996.
[20] H. Akagi, Y. Kanazawa, and A. Nabae, “Instantaneous reactive power
compensators comprising switching devices without energy storage com-
ponents,” IEEE Trans. Ind. Appl., vol. IA-20, no. 3, pp. 625–630, May/Jun.
1984.
[21] H. Akagi, E. H. Watanabe, and M Aredes, Instantaneous Power Theory
and Applications to Power Conditioning. Piscataway, NJ: IEEE Press, Hirofumi Akagi (M’87–SM’94–F’96) was born in
2007. Okayama, Japan, in 1951. He received the B.S.
[22] M. Hagiwara and H. Akagi, “Control and experiment of pulsewidth- degree from the Nagoya Institute of Technology,
modulated modular multilevel converters,” IEEE Trans. Power Electron., Nagoya, Japan, in 1974, and the M.S. and Ph.D. de-
vol. 24, no. 7, pp. 1737–1746, Jul. 2009. grees from the Tokyo Institute of Technology, Tokyo,
[23] M. Hagiwara, K. Nishimura, and H. Akagi, “A medium-voltage motor Japan, in 1976 and 1979, respectively, all in electrical
drive with a modular multilevel PWM inverter,” IEEE Trans. Power engineering.
Electron., vol. 25, no. 7, pp. 1786–1799, Jul. 2010. In 1979, he joined the Nagaoka University of Tech-
[24] H. Akagi and R. Kondo, “A transformerless hybrid active filter using a nology as an Assistant Professor and then became an
three-level pulsewidth modulation (PWM) converter for a medium-voltage Associate Professor in the Department of Electrical
motor drive,” IEEE Trans. Power Electron., vol. 25, no. 6, pp. 1365–1374, Engineering. In 1987, he was a Visiting Scientist at
Jun. 2010. the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), Cambridge, for ten months.
[25] A. Nabae, I. Takahashi, and H. Akagi, “A new neutral-point-clamped From 1991 to 1999, he was a Professor in the Department of Electrical En-
PWM inverter,” IEEE Trans. Ind. Applicat., vol. IA-17, no. 5, pp. 518– gineering, Okayama University, Okayama, Japan. From March to August of
523, Sep./Oct. 1981. 1996, he was a Visiting Professor at the University of Wisconsin, Madison, and
[26] B. Wu, High-Power Converters and AC Drives. Piscataway, NJ: IEEE then at MIT. Since January 2000, he has been a Professor in the Department of
Press, 2006. Electrical and Electronic Engineering, Tokyo Institute of Technology, Tokyo,
[27] R. W. Menzies, P. Steimer, and J. K. Steinke, “Five-level GTO inverters Japan. He is author and coauthor of more than 90 IEEE Transactions papers and
for large induction motor drives,” IEEE Trans. Ind. Appl., vol. 30, no. 4, two invited papers published in Proceedings of the IEEE in 2001 and 2004. The
pp. 938–944, Jul./Aug. 1994. total citation index for all his papers in Google Scholar is more than 12,000.
[28] M. Saeedifard, R. Iravani, and J. Pou, “Analysis and control of dc- He has made presentations many times as a keynote or invited speaker interna-
capacitor-voltage-drift phenomenon of a passive front-end five-level con- tionally. His research interests include power conversion systems, motor drives,
verter,” IEEE Trans. Ind. Electron., vol. 54, no. 6, pp. 3255–3236, Dec. active and passive electromagnetic interference filters, high-frequency resonant
2007. inverters for induction heating and corona discharge treatment processes, and
[29] S. Busquets-Monge, S. Alepuz, J. Rocabert, and J. Bordonau, “Pulsewidth utility applications of power electronics such as active filters, self-commutated
modulations for the comprehensive capacitor voltage balance of n-level back-to-back systems, and flexible ac transmission systems devices.
three-leg diode-clamped converters,” IEEE Trans. Power Electron., Dr. Akagi was elected as a Distinguished Lecturer of the IEEE Power Elec-
vol. 24, no. 5, pp. 1364–1375, May 2009. tronics and Industry Applications Societies for 1998–1999. He has received
[30] Z. Pan and F. Z. Peng, “A sinusoidal PWM method with voltage balancing five IEEE Transactions Prize Paper Awards and nine IEEE Conference Prize
capability for diode-clamped five-level converters,” IEEE Trans. Ind. Paper Awards. He is the recipient of the 2001 IEEE William E. Newell Power
Appl., vol. 45, no. 63, pp. 1028–1034, May/Jun. 2009. Electronics Award, the 2004 IEEE Industry Applications Society Outstanding
[31] N. Hatti, Y. Kondo, and H. Akagi, “Five-level diode-clamped PWM con- Achievement Award, and the 2008 IEEE Richard H. Kaufmann Technical Field
verter connected back-to-back for motor drives,” IEEE Trans. Ind. Appl., Award. He served as the President of the IEEE Power Electronics Society for
vol. 44, no. 4, pp. 1268–1276, Jul./Aug. 2008. 2007–2008.
Authorized licensed use limited to: Florida State University. Downloaded on February 23,2024 at 17:09:56 UTC from IEEE Xplore. Restrictions apply.