Z - SOURCE CONVERTERS

What is Z source Converter? Why Z source ?

V- Source converter and its limitations
I - Source Converter and its limitations

V-Source inverter:

ac output voltage is < the dc voltage or the dc-voltage > the ac input voltage.
The V-source inverter is a buck inverter for dc-to-ac power conversion and is
a boost (step-up) rectifier for ac-to-dc power conversion.
Additional dc-dc boost converter is needed for higher ac voltages.
The upper and lower devices of each phase leg cannot be gated on to avoid
shoot through fault EMI may cause shoot through; and to avoid dead time is
needed between upper and lower devices adding to cost and control
complexity.
An LC output filter is needed to provide sinusoidal output voltage.

I source inverter

c output voltage > dc voltage that feeds the dc

ductor or the dc voltage < than the ac input
oltage.
source inverter is a boost inverter for dc-to-ac
ower conversion and is a buck rectifier (or buck
onverter) for ac-to-dc power conversion.

Additional dcdc buck (or boost) converter is needed for applications requiring
ide voltage range, increasing system cost and lower efficiency.
At least one of the upper devices and one of the lower devices have to be
ated on and maintained on at any time. Otherwise, an open circuit of the dc inductor
ould occur and destroy the devices. The open-circuit problem by EMI noises
misgating-off is a major concern. Overlap time for safe current commutation is needed
the I-source converter, which also causes waveform distortion, etc.
The main switches have to block reverse voltage that requires a series diode to
e used in combination with high-speed and high-performance devices such as IGBTs.

Z source converter

The Z-source converter employs a impedance network (or circuit) to couple

the converter main circuit to the power source, providing features that
cannot be obtained in the traditional voltage-source and current-source
converters where a capacitor and inductor are used respectively.
The Z-source converter overcomes the limitations of the traditional V-source
and I-source converter and provides a novel power conversion concept.
The Z-source concept can be applied to all dc-to-ac, ac-to-dc, ac-to-ac, and
dc-to-dc power conversion. The operating principle and control, can be
described by an example: a Z-source inverter for dc-ac power conversion
needed in renewable energy source applications.

Z-source converter structure using the antiparallel combination of switching device

and diode.

Z-source converter structure using the series combination of switching device and
diode.

Traditional two-stage power conversion for fuel-cell applications.

Z-source inverter for fuel-cell applications.

Equivalent circuit of the Z-source

inverter viewed from the dc link.

Equivalent circuit of the Z-source inverter

viewed from the dc link when the inverter
bridge is in the shoot-through zero state.

Equivalent circuit of the Z-source

inverter viewed from the dc link
when the inverter bridge is in one of
the eight nonshoot-through switching
states.

Traditional carrier-based PWM

Modified carrier-based PWM control with shoot-through zero states that are evenly
distributed among the three phase legs, while the equivalent active vectors are unchanged.

CIRCUIT ANALYSIS AND OBTAINABLE OUTPUT VOLTAGE

Assuming L1=L2=L and C1=C2=C
VC1 = VC2 = VC, and vL1 = vL2= vL
(1)
For the inverter bridge in the shoot-through zero state for an interval of T0
during a switching cycle, one can write vL = VC and vd = 2VC and vout = 0

(2)

and for the non shoot through six states we can write:
vL = Vin VC, vd= Vin, vout = VC vL = 2VC Vin

(3)

Where, Vin is the dc source voltage and T = T0 + T1.

Avg voltage of the inductor over one switching period in steady state should be zero
or

Similarly, avg dc link voltage is given by:

Peak dc link voltage of eqn (3) can be expressed as:

Where, B is boost factor

The output peak phase voltage of the inverter can be expressed as

Where, M is the modulation index can be rewritten using (7) and (9) as

Eqn (10) shows that the output voltage can be boosted up and down by
choosing an appropriate buck-boost factor BB given by

From (1) (5) and (8) the capacitor voltage can be expressed as:

The buck-boost factor BB is determined by the modulation index M and boost factor B. B can be controlled by
duty cycle of the shoot through of the inverter state PWM.

References:
Fang Zheng Peng Z-Source Inverter IEEE trans. On Industry
Applications, Vol. 39, No.2 March/April 2003 pp.504-510.