IEEE TRANSACTIONS ON POWER ELECTRONICS, VOL. 34, NO.

10, OCTOBER 2019 9585

Novel Bipolar-Type Direct AC–AC Converter

Topology Based on Non-Differential AC Choppers
Chuang Liu , Member, IEEE, Dongbo Guo, Renzhong Shan, Guowei Cai , Weichun Ge, Zhezhu Huang,
Yibo Wang, Hanwen Zhang, and Peng Wang

Abstract—This paper introduces a novel H-bridge structured respect to sensitive loads connected to the grid [2]. The fail-
ac–ac pulsewidth modulation (PWM) converter topology based on ure of electrical equipment working normally, the damage of
two-level non-differential ac chopper legs, which can work at the the sensitive equipment, the loss of the computer date, and the
non-inverting and inverting modes for the utility voltage compensa-
tion. Compared to the traditional bipolar-type H-bridge ac–ac con- increase of the line loss are driven by the voltage sag/swell.
verter, no bidirectional switches are switched in a complementary Lots of topologies of converters are implemented as volt-
manner to overcome the commutation problem due to the delayed age compensators for mitigating undesired voltage disturbances.
response of electronic circuits and semiconductor switching de- These numerous topologies of converters can be broadly divided
vices. The detailed PWM control signals and operational principles into three categories: dc–ac converters, ac–dc–ac converters, and
are presented to regulate the output voltage in a bipolar manner.
Especially the main advantage is that the proposed ac–ac converter direct pulsewidth modulation (PWM) ac–ac converters. Stored
has the same buck/boost operation process for non-inverting and energy systems such as batteries, capacitors, and flywheels are
inverting modes, which ensures the continuously average current required in dc–ac type voltage compensators. Hence, they are
supply to the low-voltage output side without a high-value capac- not capable of compensating deep and long-duration voltage
itor to support power. Additionally, due to the common sharing sag/swell, and these above facts make them costly and bulky in
ground of the input and output, the feature that output can reverse
or maintain phase angle with input is supported well. Then, the high-power systems [3]. The ac–dc–ac type converters do not
detailed analysis, design conditions, and experimental verification need energy storage systems, but there is dc link, which requires
based on a 1 kW experimental prototype are presented. two-stage power conversion of ac–dc and dc–ac. Consequently,
Index Terms—AC–AC converter, bipolar voltage gain, if this type of converter is used as a voltage compensator, the
buck/boost operation process, non-differential ac chopper, voltage footprint and loss of the compensator will be increased. Com-
sag and swell. pared with the former two types of converters, the direct PWM
ac–ac converter is a single-stage power conversion with no dc
I. INTRODUCTION
link, thus the conversion efficiency of this type converter has
WING to the rapidly growing, changing, and diversifying
O of the load and the continuously access of the large-scale
distributed renewable energy sources to the grid, a host of power
been extremely improved. Under this motivation, this converter
for voltage amplitude regulation is of interest and to be stud-
ied continuously [4], [5]. Specifically, it is more attractive for
quality problems such as utility voltage sag and swell, voltage this kind of applications where only need to maintain the grid
fluctuation (flicker) phenomenon, and three-phase unbalance voltage amplitude without changing phase shift and frequency
has been caused [1]. Among the above problems, the problem at the same time.
of utility voltage sag/swell is also one of the most serious prob- The buck, boost, buck–boost, and Z-source direct PWM ac–
lems, especially from the viewpoint of the final consumer with ac converters presented in [6]–[10] are the common topologies,
as shown in Fig. 1. These converters have the advantages of
simple structure, uncomplicated control, and high conversion
Manuscript received August 21, 2018; revised November 13, 2018; accepted
December 15, 2018. Date of publication January 1, 2019; date of current version efficiency. However, they also have some drawbacks. On the one
June 28, 2019. This work was completely supported by the Science and Tech- hand, it is well known that the vast majority of the converters
nology project of State Grid Liaoning Electric Power Supply Co., Ltd., (Project have commutation problems due to adopt ac switches [11]–[13],
No.:5222SY16000M). Recommended for publication by Associate Editor B.
Lehman. (Corresponding author: C. Liu.) then, the two-level non-differential and differential ac chopper
C. Liu, D. Guo, R. Shan, G. Cai, Y. Wang, H. Zhang, and P. Wang are topologies can be adopted to solve it [14]. On the other hand,
with the Key Laboratory of Modern Power System Simulation and Control there is one of the biggest drawbacks that all can only give
& Renewable Energy Technology, Ministry of Education (Northeast Elec-
tric Power University), Jilin 132012, China (e-mail:, victoliuchuang@163. unipolar output voltage, which restricts them to mitigate either
com; 837271373@qq.com; 84868286@qq.com; cai4806439@126.com; voltage sag or swell but not both. To achieve the bipolar output
469682939@qq.com; 1025499953@qq.com; 215900691@qq.com). voltage, many measures have been employed to overcome the
W. Ge is with the State Grid Liaoning Electric Power Supply Co., Ltd.,
Shenyang 110004, China (e-mail:,13804012589@126.com). constraints of ac–ac converters. In [15], the output bipolar volt-
Z. Huang is with the State Grid Shenyang Electric Power Supply Company, age is obtained by adding an auxiliary circuit composed of four
Shenyang 110003, China (e-mail:,huangzhezhu@163.com). bidirectional controllable thyristors; but, this kind of solution
Color versions of one or more of the figures in this paper are available online
at http://ieeexplore.ieee.org. not only decreases the efficiency and increases the volume of the
Digital Object Identifier 10.1109/TPEL.2018.2890581 converters, but also reduces the reliability. Using the Z-source

0885-8993 © 2018 IEEE. Personal use is permitted, but republication/redistribution requires IEEE permission.
See http://www.ieee.org/publications standards/publications/rights/index.html for more information.
9586 IEEE TRANSACTIONS ON POWER ELECTRONICS, VOL. 34, NO. 10, OCTOBER 2019

Fig. 2. Four types of bipolar ac–ac converters.

Fig. 1. Four types of unipolar ac–ac converters. (a) Buck type. (b) Boost type.
(c) Buck–boost type. (d) Z-source type.
common ground between the input and output ports. But,
topology to gain the output bipolar voltage is also an alternative the use of bidirectional switches may lead to commutation
solution, which is analyzed in [16] and [17]. However, a snubber problems. Hence, the safe commutation strategy in [25] and
circuit needs to be used to implement secure commutation [26] is employed to address commutation problems. Besides,
in [16] and the proposed converter in [17] demands to apply a converter proposed in [27] retains the common ground for
a new commutation strategy to achieve safe commutation. input and output, but the output voltage range of the converter
These two solutions have some serious drawbacks [18], [19], is narrow, which restricts its applications.
which cannot guarantee safe and stable commutation [20]. This paper investigates a novel H-bridge structured ac–ac con-
The topology shown in Fig. 2(a) is an H-bridge type of ac–ac verter based on non-differential PWM ac choppers with bipolar
converters capable of obtaining bipolar voltages [21]. But it voltage gains. Hence, it can effectively address both voltage sag
also has commutation problems due to bidirectional switches. and swell in a wide range as a distributed flexible voltage condi-
In an effort to achieve safe commutation and obtain a wide tioner (DFVC). The proposed converter can achieve continuous
range bipolar output voltage, a buck–boost ac–ac converter us- and bipolar voltage transfer without drastic changes and the
ing switching cell structured is proposed in [22], as shown combination of multiple PWM modulation modes increases the
in Fig. 2(b). Although it overcomes commutation problems, degree of freedom of control. In addition, the proposed converter
it needs more numbers of passive components and it can be employs less passive devices, thus reducing footprint of the con-
found that non-inverting and inverting run different modes. A verter, and the common ground between the input and output
novel buck–boost ac–ac converter is proposed in [23] with a ports is retained. The paper is arranged as follows. The descrip-
wide range bipolar output voltage, as shown in Fig. 2(c). It uses tion of the proposed topology and PWM modulation principles
less number of passive components and it also effectively over- are described in Section II. Section III investigates the operation
comes the commutation problems. But similar to the converter states of the ac–ac converter. Section IV discusses the design of
proposed in [22], the converter also has not the same buck/boost the converter parameters. Simulation and experimental results
operation process for non-inverting and inverting modes and the illustrating the performance of the converter are presented in
inductor current exists intermittently. Moreover, the drawbacks Section V. Finally, the conclusions are highlighted in Section VI.
of the converter proposed in [22] and [23] have not the common
ground on input and output. II. DESCRIPTION OF THE PROPOSED TOPOLOGY AND PMW
In order to achieve a common ground shared by the input MODULATION PRINCIPLES
and output ports, a unified non-inverting and inverting PWM
A. Topology of the Proposed Converter
ac–ac converter is presented in [24], as shown in Fig. 2(d). This
converter has the advantage of output continuously controllable The novel bipolar-type ac–ac converter (BT-AC) proposed is
bipolar voltage. It uses less passive devices and retains the depicted in Fig. 3. As shown in Fig. 3, the two legs that build
LIU et al.: NOVEL BIPOLAR-TYPE DIRECT AC–AC CONVERTER TOPOLOGY BASED ON NON-DIFFERENTIAL AC CHOPPERS 9587

Fig. 4. PWM modulation principles.

TABLE I
COMPARISON BETWEEN THE PROPOSED BT-AC AND PREVIOUSLY PUBLISHED
BIPOLAR VOLTAGE GAIN AC–AC CONVERTERS

Fig. 3. Schematic of the proposed BT-AC.

up the H-bridge are defined as P-Leg (positive leg) and N-Leg

(negative leg), respectively, both of which are two-level non-
differential ac choppers. Each leg consists of four insulated gate
bipolar transistor (IGBT) and one capacitor that is applied to
absorb the energy stored in the line stray inductance. At the
same time, in order to ensure the quality of the output voltage,
it is necessary to add an input capacitor, as shown in Fig. 3.
In addition, the common ground between the input and output
ports of the two legs is retained.
When compared with the conventional ac–ac converters, the
BT-AC configured with the P-Leg and N-Leg structure can ef-
fectively address the commutation problems without bulky and
lossy resistor–capacitor (RC) snubbers circuits or soft commu-
tation strategies. Besides, the ac–ac converter proposed in this
paper achieves the output of continuously controllable bipolar
voltage. The application of the unique structure of P-Leg and
N-Leg also enhances the flexibility and variety of the operation
mode of the BT-AC. Especially the main advantage is that the
proposed converter has the same buck/boost operation process
for non-inverting and inverting modes, which ensures the con-
tinuously average current supply to the low-voltage output side
without a high-value capacitor to support power. Additionally,
due to the common sharing ground of the input and output, the
feature that output can reverse or maintain phase angle with
input is supported well.

B. PWM Modulation Principles

The control of both converters is identical and is similar to the
one used for a dc–dc buck converter with the main difference
that it takes into account the sign of the input voltage (Uin )
[28], as shown in Fig. 4. A square wave signal is generated by
each half-cycle during any operation mode, whether the input
a comparison of Uin and zero potential. Besides, d1 and d2 are
voltage is positive half-wave or negative half-wave. Therefore,
the duty cycle of P-Leg and N-Leg, respectively. The existence
this PWM modulation principle can effectively reduce the to-
of two duty cycles improves the controllable degree of freedom
tal switching loss. In order to further understand the BT-AC,
of the converter. In Fig. 4, uc is a triangular carrier with a peak
Table I shows a detailed comparison between it and previously
value of 0 to 1, and the P-Leg and N-Leg adopt exactly the same
published bipolar voltage gain ac-ac converters.
triangular carrier. One of the biggest advantages of this PWM
modulation principle is that there is always a current path in the
III. OPERATION OF THE PROPOSED CONVERTER
circuit regardless of the current direction on the inductors.
Combined with Figs. 3 and 4, it can be seen that only two According to the principle of PWM modulation shown in
switches of this converter are switched at high frequency in Fig. 4, the BT-AC mentioned in this paper has a variety of
9588 IEEE TRANSACTIONS ON POWER ELECTRONICS, VOL. 34, NO. 10, OCTOBER 2019

TABLE II
DIFFERENT MODULATION COMBINATION

Fig. 6. Gate signals, inductor current, and inductor voltage in mode 1.

Fig. 5. Relationship between Q C and (d1 , d2 ).

combined modulations, as shown in Table II, where Uin and U0

are the root-mean-square (rms) value of the output and input
voltages, respectively.
The relationship between the output voltage and input voltage
is shown in the following formula:
U0 = (d1 − d2 ) Uin (1)
where d1 and d2 are defined as the time interval when switches
are turned ON during one switching period.
The relation of formula (2) is derived from formula (1), where
QC is defined as transfer ration of the voltage rms from input
voltage to output voltage. Then, the plot for the relationship
between QC and (d1 , d2 ) can be displayed in Fig. 5 with a
three-dimensional surface figure. Fig. 5 shows that d1 and d2
are controllable degrees of freedom in the operation of BT-AC,
where it is observed that the range of QC is from –1 to 1.
Hence, the BT-AC with bipolar voltage gain can compensate
both voltage sag and swell
U0
QC = = (d1 − d2 ) . (2)
Uin
It can be seen from Table II that the operating mode of the BT-
AC can be divided into two categories according to the polarity
of the converter output voltage. In each category, the operation
of BT-AC also divided into three modulation modes. In order Fig. 7. Two effective switching states of BT-AC under mode 1.
to avoid repeated description, we only take Uin > 0, iL > 0,
and positive voltage gain (QC > 0) as examples to analyze the inductor current iL and load current i0 circulate in the directions
operation process in detail in this paper, the working process di- indicated in Figs. 6, 8, and 10 during any operation modes. In
agram and the gate signals diagram of BT-AC are shown below. addition, it should be pointed out that although the signal of the
When the output voltage gain is negative (QC < 0) and the switch in Figs. 6, 8, and 10 takes into account the deadtime, due
input voltage is negative half-wave, the principle is similar, so to the deadtime is very short, the change of inductor current (iL )
the detailed analysis is not given in this paper. Assuming that the in the deadtime is ignored in the quantitative stability analysis.
LIU et al.: NOVEL BIPOLAR-TYPE DIRECT AC–AC CONVERTER TOPOLOGY BASED ON NON-DIFFERENTIAL AC CHOPPERS 9589

Fig. 8. Gate signals, inductor current, and inductor voltage under mode 2.

Fig. 10. Gate signals, inductor current, and inductor voltage under mode 3.

this mode uses the switching states I and II shown in Fig. 7

to illustrate the power conversion process. In this mode, the
switches S2 , S2C , S1C P , S2P , and S2C P are always ON, and
S1P is always OFF, at the same time, S1 and S1C are modulated
in a PWM manner. Fig. 7(a) is used to describe state I that S1
is ON and S1C is OFF. The time period of state I is [0∼t1 ] with
reference to Fig. 6. At this point, the converter is in active mode
and the inductor current changes during state I as given by the
following formula:
 
Uin − U0
IL m ax − IL m in = d1 T S . (3)
L
With reference to Fig. 6, the time period of [t1 ∼t2 ], [t3 ∼t4 ]
are deadtime of the BT-AC, the switch S1 and S1C are turned
OFF, and the working state of the BT-AC can be described in
Fig. 7(b).
Figs. 6 and 7(b) are employed together to describe the state
II [t2 ∼t3 ], where S1 is turned OFF, S1C is turned ON, and the
current through the inductor is given by the following formula
during state II:
 
−U0
Fig. 9. Two effective switching states of BT-AC under mode 2. IL m in − IL m ax = (1 − d1 ) TS . (4)
L

A. Operation Process in Mode 1 Applying the formula of (3), (4), and the volts-seconds bal-
ance condition on inductor L, at this mode, the transfer ration of
In this mode, the voltage transfer ration QC > 0, and U0 the voltage is obtained as
is in-phase with Uin . In addition, the duty cycle of d1 ranges
from 0 to 1, and d2 takes 0. With the gate signals of the partial U0
QC = = d1 . (5)
switches, inductor current and voltage arranged as in Fig. 6, Uin
9590 IEEE TRANSACTIONS ON POWER ELECTRONICS, VOL. 34, NO. 10, OCTOBER 2019

When the input voltage is negative half-wave, the switches

S1 and S1C are always ON, S2 and S2C are switched at high
frequency. With the exception of switching state changes for
S1P and S2P , other switch states remain unchanged. Besides,
when the inductor current iL < 0, in active mode, iL pass
through the S1 body diode, S2 , S2C P and the S1C P body diode
to form a closed loop. Similarly, the current-closing loop of iL is
formed by the S1C , S2C body diode, S2C P and S1C P body diode
when in continuation mode. Therefore, in any case, the current
has a circulating circuit, and there is no commutation problem.
Mode 1 is a typical non-inverting buck operation mode. If we
intend to obtain the negative voltage gain (QC < 0), that is, the
BT-AC works in the inverting buck mode, we only need to set
d1 = 0 and d2 values range from 0 to 1.

B. Operation Process in Mode 2

In mode 2, the duty cycles of d1 takes 1 and d2 ranges from
0 to 1. A positive output voltage gain is also obtained in this
mode. There are also two states of switches, state I and state II,
respectively, which are used to describe the BT-AC performance.
In this mode, the switches S1 , S2 , S2C , S2P , and S2C P are always
ON, S1C is always OFF, meanwhile, S1P and S1C P are modulated
in a PWM manner.
Fig. 9(a) shows state I that the S1P is turned ON and the S1C P
is turned OFF. Referring to Fig. 8, the current through inductor
decreases almost linearly during [0∼t1 ] and the total changes
can be written as
 
−U0
IL m in − IL m ax = d2 T S . (6)
L
Similarly, with reference to Fig. 8, the time frame of [t1 ∼t2 ],
[t3 ∼t4 ] are deadtime of the BT-AC, the switch S1P and S1C P are
turned OFF, and the working state of the BT-AC can be described
in Fig. 9(a).
As shown in Fig. 9(b), S1P is OFF and S1C P is ON during
state II [t2 ∼t3 ]. Similarly, we can obtain the following formula
according to Fig. 8:
  Fig. 11. Three effective switching states of BT-AC under mode 3.
Uin − U0
IL m ax − IL m in = (1 − d2 ) TS . (7)
L
C. Operation Process in Mode 3
The transfer ration of voltage QC in mode 2 also can be
obtained as In mode 3, the two duty cycles of d1 and d2 range from 0
to 1, respectively. At this point, the BT-AC has the maximum
U0
QC = = 1 − d2 . (8) controllable degree of freedom. In this scenario, d1 and d2 are
Uin free variables that are coordinated to regulate the output voltage.
Notice that if we plan to obtain a reverse voltage, we just It should be pointed that if d1 is greater than d2 , the positive
have to set the duty cycles of d2 = 1, and the duty cycles of d1 output voltage gain is obtained, whereas the negative output
range from 0 to 1. In mode 2, whether the positive or negative voltage gain is obtained. Since the principle of the BT-AC in
voltage gain is obtained, there are only two switches which are mode 3 is the same, this paper only analyzes the case where the
modulated in a PWM manner. Consequently, the switching loss duty cycle of d1 is greater than d2 , that is, QC > 0. As depicted
is effectively reduced. Similar to mode 1, when the inductor in Fig. 10, the four states of the all switches are employed to
current iL < 0 in state I, iL can through the body diode of S1 , illustrate how the BT-AC works in mode 3. In the four states
S2 , the body diode of S2P and S1P constitutes a current-closing of the all switches, the S2 , S2C , S2P , and S2C P are always ON,
loop. In state II, the current closed loop can also be formed when at the same time, S1 , S1C , S1P , and S1C P are modulated in a
commuting, so there is no commutation problem. In mode 2, the PWM manner.
converter has only one control degree of freedom to control the The S1 , S1C P are turned ON and S1C , S1P are turned OFF
output voltage by changing the duty cycle of d2 . during state I [0∼t1 ], which is described in Fig. 11(a). At this
LIU et al.: NOVEL BIPOLAR-TYPE DIRECT AC–AC CONVERTER TOPOLOGY BASED ON NON-DIFFERENTIAL AC CHOPPERS 9591

point, the voltage of terminal A and B, and the load voltage are the same conclusion as mode 2 can be achieved under mode 3.
represented, respectively, by the following expressions: Based on the above analysis, it can be seen that, in any case,
the current in the circuit always has a circulating circuit, so the
UA = d1 Uin (9)
proposed converter can guarantee the safe commutation without
UB = d2 Uin (10) any other measures. Moreover, there are also three modulation
modes when U0 and Uin are out-of-phase. The principle of the
U0 = UA − UB = (d1 − d2 ) Uin . (11)
BT-AC is similar to the described above. To avoid repetition,
The current variation of the inductor in state I is shown in the the detailed analysis is not carried out in this paper.
following formula:
   IV. HARMONIC ANALYSIS OF THE OUTPUT VOLTAGE
Uin − U0 d1 − d2
IL m ax1 − IL m in2 = TS . (12)
L 2 In this section, we will carry out a theoretical analysis of the
When the switches of S1 and S1P are turned ON and the S1C harmonic content of the output voltage. Supposing that the input
and S1C P are turned OFF, the converter enters the state II [t2 ∼t3 ], voltage is an ideal sinusoid, as given in the following formula:
and Figs. 10 and 11(b) are employed to illustrate this process. Uin = Uinm sin (ωt) (18)
At this point, the voltage and current changes on the inductor
are represented, respectively, by the following expressions: where ω is the angular frequency and Uinm is the peak voltage.
The Fourier series of the square wave control signal with a
UL = −U0 = − (d1 − d2 ) Uin (13)
    constant duty cycles is given by
UL d1 − d2
IL m in 1 − IL m ax1 = d2 T S = − Uin d2 TS . ∞
 2sin (kQC π)
L L g (ωS t) = QC + cos (kωS t) (19)
(14) kπ
k =1

In addition, with reference to Fig. 10, the time frame of where ωS denotes the angular switching frequency. By bringing
[t1 ∼t2 ], [t3 ∼t4 ] are deadtime of the BT-AC, the switch S1 is the formula (19) into (18), the instantaneous voltage UH (t)
ON, S1C , S1P , and S1C P are turned OFF during deadtime, the generated by the BT-AC is obtained as follows:
working state of the BT-AC can be described in Fig. 11(b).
In state III [t4 ∼t5 ], refers to Figs. 10 and 11(a). In this state, UH (t) = g (ωS t) Uin (t)
the state of the switches is similar to the state I, but the inductor 
∞
U i n m sin(k Q C π )
= QC Uinm sin (ωt) + kπ sin (ω ± kωS) t.
current varies differently, and the formula for the change of the k =1
inductor current is as follows: (20)
  
1 − d1 + d2 d1 − d2 Hence, the total harmonic distortion (THD) factors of the
IL m ax2 − IL m in1 = Uin TS .
L 2 output voltage U0 are defined as follows [29]:
(15) 
100 ∞
Figs. 10 and 11(c) are applied to describe state IV [t6 ∼t7 ], THDV = U 2 (%) (21)
U0f k =1 0k
where S1C , S1C P are turned ON and S1 , S1P are turned OFF.
In this process, the voltage across the inductor is UL = −U0 = where U0f and U0k are the amplitudes of the fundamental and
−(d1 − d2 )Uin , so the current through inductor decreases al- harmonic components of the output voltage U0 , respectively.
most linearly as given by the following formula: Assuming that the output filter is an ideal filter and the load
  is a pure resistive load, the relation between the fundamental
d1 − d2
IL m in2 − IL m ax2 = − Uin (1 − d1 ) TS . (16) components of the output voltage and the voltage generated by
L
the converters is as follows:
With reference to Fig. 10, the time frame of [t5 ∼t6 ], [t7 ∼t8 ]
−jXC f R
are also deadtime of the BT-AC, the switch S1C P is ON, S1 , S1C , U0f = UH f (22)
and S1P are turned OFF during deadtime, the working state of the jR (XL − XC ) − XL XC
BT-AC can be described in Fig. 11(c). Similarly, in mode 3, the where
following formula can be obtained by using the volts-seconds
1
balance principles: XC = , XL = ωL, UH f = QC Uinm = (d1 − d2 )Uinm .
ωC
U0
QC = = d1 − d 2 . (17) Due to
Uin
In this mode, QC of the voltage transfer ration has the largest XC  R  XL .
range of variations, ranging from –1 to 1 as shown in Fig. 5,
which results in the variant output voltage range. It is worth Hence
noticing that the mode 1 and 2 are both special cases of the XC R
U0f =  UH f ∼
= UH f . (23)
mode 3. If the duty cycle of d2 in mode 3 is set to 0, the mode 2 2
R2 (X L − XC ) + (XL XC )
3 is equivalent to mode 1. Analogously, when setting d1 = 1
9592 IEEE TRANSACTIONS ON POWER ELECTRONICS, VOL. 34, NO. 10, OCTOBER 2019

TABLE III
SPECIFICATION OF THE BT-AC EXPERIMENT

Fig. 12. Relationship between the THDV variation of the output U0 and the
duty cycles. (a) In mode 1. (b) In mode 2. (c) In mode 3.

In the same way, the relationship of voltage with harmonic

components can be derived as follows:
−jXk ω S C ± R
U0k ± = UH k
jR (Xk ω S L ± − Xk ω S C ± ) − Xk ω S L ± Xk ω S C ±
(24)
Based on the previous analysis, the guidelines of the param-
where
eter selection for the BT-AC are provided using a scale-down
1 case study in the following procedure.
Xk ω S C ± = , Xk ω S L ± = (kωS ± ω)L,
(kωS ± ω)C 1) The known parameters: The rms value of input voltage
and [120–220 Vrms], frequency 50 Hz, output voltage gain
range [–1, 1], the rating output power of the BT-AC P0 =
Uinm sin (kQC π)
UH k = . 1 kW, and switching frequency fS = 18 kHz, which are
kπ depended in the selected power switches, are shown in
As the angular frequency ωS of the switches is extremely Table III.
higher than the angular frequency ω of the source, the harmonic 2) Recall all operation modes of the converter proposed in
angular frequency (kωS ± ω) and the harmonic impedances this paper, we naturally can acquire the relationship be-
Xk ω S L ± and Xk ω S C ± are approximately equal to the following tween duty cycles d1 and d2 , that is, d1 is not equal to
formula: d2 , assuming that d1 is equal to d2 , then the output volt-
kωS ± ω ∼
= kωS (25) age of the converter is 0, so the analysis becomes mean-
ingless. Another important consideration is the choice of
1
Xk ω S C ± ∼
= Xk ω S C = (26) power switches. In this topology, the maximum voltage
kωS C across each switch is equal to the input peak voltage
Xk ω S L ± ∼
= Xk ω S L = kωS L. (27) Uinm = 311 V. The switch current is given by the fol-
lowing equation and the converter is assumed to have a
And because of Xk ω S C  R  Xk ω S L , the following for- minimum conversion efficiency of 80%, thus the source
mula can be derived: current can be calculated as follows:
Xk ω S C R
U0k =  UH k
R2 (Xk ω S L − Xk ω S C )2 + (Xk ω S L Xk ω S C )2 U0 I0 1000 W
IS m ax = = = 10.42 A. (30)
Uin η 120 × 0.8
∼ Xk ω S C
= UH k . (28)
Xk ω S L 3) The output low-pass filter (LPF) inductor: Based on the
Therefore, by using formula (18)–(28), the formula for cal- formulas (3)–(17) and principle of conservation of energy,
culating the THD can be derived as follows: the inductor currents in each mode can be calculated,
√  respectively, as follows:
100 2 ∞ (sink (d1 − d2 ) π)2
THDV = . (29)

(d1 − d2 ) π k =1 (LC)2 ω 4 k 6 1 (1 − d1 )
ILAm in = d1 Uin − TS (31)
It can be seen from formula (29) that the THDV of output R 2L
voltage U0 is independent of the load characteristics. But, d1 ,

1 (1 − d1 )
d2 , L, and C have a great influence on the THDV of the output ILAm ax = d1 Uin + TS (32)
R 2L
voltage. It is important to point out that d1 and d2 of the two

legs duty cycles are not equal, and if d1 = d2 the output voltage 1 U02 1
ILBm in = − − d2
U0 = 0, thus the aforementioned analysis becomes meaningless. 1 − d2 RUin (Uin − V0 ) 2
The relationship between the THDV variation of the output 

voltage and the duty cycles when the output filter is fixed is 1 2
+ d2 TS (33)
shown in Fig. 12. 2
LIU et al.: NOVEL BIPOLAR-TYPE DIRECT AC–AC CONVERTER TOPOLOGY BASED ON NON-DIFFERENTIAL AC CHOPPERS 9593

Fig. 14. Simulation results of the BT-AC. (a) In mode 1 with d1 = 0.5 and
Fig. 13. Function relationship between the minimum required inductor value d2 = 0. (b) In mode 2 with d1 = 1 and d2 = 0.5.
and the duty cycles.

1 U02
ILBm ax =
1 − d2 RUin (Uin − V0 )
 

1 1 2
− − d2 + d2 TS
2 2
 
Uin − U0
+ (1 − d2 ) TS (34)
L
  
Uin − U0 d1 − d2
ILCm in1 = ILCm in2 +
L 2
 

−U0
+ d2 T S (35)
L
2U02
ILCm in2 =
(2 − d1 − d2 ) Uin R
 Fig. 15. Simulation results of the BT-AC in mode 3: d1 = 0.85, d2 = 0.35.
TS (Uin − U0 ) (d1 − d2 )2
−
L (2 − d1 − d2 ) 4 kV = 10% of U0 (or Uin ). Furthermore, the transfer ration of
the voltage QC can reach the maximum 1, then the minimum
+ U0 (3d1 − 1) (d1 − 1)] (36)
   output capacitor can be chosen by the following equation
Uin − U0 d1 − d2 based on the voltage ripple requirement:
ILCm ax1 = ILCm in2 + TS (37)
L 2 im ax m ax
QC
in = Cm in = Cm in = √
1 2 3 0
  Cm = 9.38 μF. (40)
U0 2πfS kV Uin
ILCm ax2 = ILCm in2 + (1 − d1 ) TS . (38)
L Therefore, the output capacitor ultimately selects 10 μF.
In order to ensure continuous-conduction mode (CCM) op- To be compatible with all operation mode of the BT-AC, the
eration ILCm in1 > 0, which leads to a minimum inductor value experiment specifications of the BT-AC are selected as shown
as in Table III, where eight IGBTs with a body diode are adopted
 to achieve the power conversion.
(U i n −U 0 )(d 1 −d 2 ) 2
Lm in = U i2V
n RTS
2 4 + U0 (3d1 − 1) (d1 − 1)
0
−d 2 )U i n R V. SIMULATION AND EXPERIMENTAL RESULTS OF THE BT-AC
− (2−d 1 4U 2 [Uin (d1 − d2 ) − U0 (d1 + d2 )] .
0
(39) A. Simulation Results of BT-AC

Therefore, according to Fig. 13, the output inductor of the The simulation is done in power simulation (PSIM) and the
prototype built in this paper is finally determined to be 0.3 mH. simulation results of the BT-AC with specifications in Table III
are shown in Figs. 14 and 15. In this test, the output voltage is
4) The output LPF capacitor: In order to filter out the influence controlled as 110 V in-phase. In Fig. 14(a), it can be seen that
of the input voltage fluctuation, a 20 μF input capacitor is the output voltage waveform of the converter is good quality,
selected in the prototype, and the capacitor C1 and C2 of the voltage is not distorted at zero crossing, and the inductor
each leg are 10 μF. Besides, a reasonable output capacitor current has two changing processes in mode 1. Fig. 14(b) shows
is designed to guarantee the waveform quality of the output that the BT-AC can still output standard sinusoidal voltage in
voltage. Assuming that the allowable output voltage ripples mode 2.
9594 IEEE TRANSACTIONS ON POWER ELECTRONICS, VOL. 34, NO. 10, OCTOBER 2019

Fig. 17. Partial switching signals of the proposed converter (Time: 5 ms/div
and 10 μs/div).

Fig. 16. Photograph of the experimental prototype.

The largest controllable degrees of freedom and most com-

plex process of the converter are shown in Fig. 15. Due to the
difference of the duty cycles between the two legs, the sequence Fig. 18. Experimental waveforms of the BT-AC under mode 3 with a pure
of switches ON and OFF has overlapping parts, resulting in four resistive load (Uin = 200 Vrms, R = 16 Ω, Q C = 0.5). (a) Time 20 ms/div.
(b) Time 20 ms/div.
changing processes of inductor current in a period. It can be
seen from the simulation results of the three modes that the
simulation is good agreement with the theoretical analysis. Fig. 17 shows the BT-AC’s partial switches signals in mode
3 (d1 = 0.8, d2 = 0.3). It can be seen from the figure that there
are only two switches operating at high frequency on one leg in
B. Experimental Results of BT-AC each half-wave period, and the other two switches are in the low
For further proving the viability and merits of the proposed frequency and normally open state, which is completely con-
ac–ac converter, a prototype of the BT-AC has been designed sistent with the theoretical analysis and simulation verification.
and tested. The photograph of the experimental setup is dis- To avoid the shoot-through problem, the deadtime of 2 μs is set
played in Fig. 16, and the prototype is based on the electrical between the two complementary signals. Fig. 17 also shows the
specifications listed in Table III. The BT-AC test setup works zoomed waveforms of the switch signals.
in operation mode 1, 2, and 3 described above. In order to fully When the duty cycles of the BT-AC are set to d1 = 0.8 and
verify the performance of the proposed converter, several dif- d2 = 0.3, respectively, and the load is a pure resistive load
ferent experiments were conducted as follows. It is important to R = 16 Ω, the input voltage (Uin ), the output voltage (U0 ),
note that the input voltage (Uin ), transfer ration (QC ), and the and load current (i0 ) waveforms are shown in Fig. 18(a). It can
type of the load may vary from one experiment to another in be seen that the input voltage (Uin ) and output voltage (U0 )
these experiments. waveforms are highly sinusoidal. Fig. 18(b) shows the voltage
LIU et al.: NOVEL BIPOLAR-TYPE DIRECT AC–AC CONVERTER TOPOLOGY BASED ON NON-DIFFERENTIAL AC CHOPPERS 9595

Fig. 20. Experimental waveforms of the BT-AC under mode 3 with an RL-load
(Uin = 200 Vrms, R = 16 Ω, X L = 12.1 Ω, Q C = –0.4). (a) Time 20 ms/div.
(b) Time 20 ms/div. (c) Time 20 ms/div.

Fig. 19. High-frequency voltage before filtering (U H ), P-Leg output voltage

(U A ), N-Leg output voltage (U B ), and inductor current (iL ) experimental
waveforms of the BT-AC (Uin = 200 Vrms, R = 16 Ω, Q C = 0.5). (a) Time
10 ms/div. (b) Time 100 us/div

waveforms of the switches S1 , S2 and the voltage waveforms

of the clamping capacitors C1 , C2 in mode 3. From Fig. 18(b),
it is observed that the voltage stress on the switches and the
voltage at the two ends of the clamping capacitor are half-wave
waveforms, and the maximum voltage stress is equal to the peak
value of the input voltage.
The high-frequency waveforms for BT-AC are shown in
Fig. 19(a), where the high-frequency voltage before filtering
(UH ), P-Leg output voltage (UA ), N-Leg output voltage (UB ),
and inductor current (iL ) are displayed under mode 3. Fig. 19(b) Fig. 21. Experimental waveforms of the BT-AC under mode 2 with an RL-load
is an enlarged view of four high-frequency quantities at a cer- (Uin = 200 Vrms, R = 16 Ω, X L = 12.1 Ω, Q C = 0.6). (a) Time 20 ms/div.
tain point. It is easy to see from Fig. 19(b) that there are four (b) Time 20 ms/div. (c) Time 20 ms/div. (d) Time 100 us/div.
change processes in the inductor current within one cycle, and
that the minimum inductor current is higher than zero, so the In addition, the output voltage is also affected to a certain
CCM operation can be guaranteed. The experimental results are extent due to the distortion of the power grid voltage in the lab-
in good agreement with the simulation results and theoretical oratory. In this experiment, the distortion rates of the input and
analysis results. output voltage are 7.01% and 6.34%, respectively. Fig. 20(b)
To fully prove the reliability of the BT-AC, the BT-AC is shows the two capacitors voltages UC 1 and UC 2 , and two
verified experimentally under mode 3 with a resistive–inductive switches S1 , S1P voltages US 1 and US1P . Fig. 20(c) shows
load (RL-load). In particularly, in order to increase the diver- the high-frequency voltage before filtering (UH ), inductor cur-
sity of the experiment, the voltage transfer ration QC in this rent (iL ), P-Leg output voltage (UA ), and N-Leg output voltage
experiment is –0.4(d1 = 0.3, d2 = 0.7, the BT-AC works in (UB ). Fig. 20(d) shows the zoomed waveforms of Fig. 20(c) at
the inverting buck mode), that is, Uin and U0 are out-of-phase. the annotation point.
Fig. 20(a) shows the input voltage (Uin ), output voltage (U0 ), Fig. 21 shows the experimental waveforms of the BT-AC
and load current (i0 ). Due to the existence of inductive and ca- under mode 2 with an RL-load, where the duty cycles d1 = 1,
pacitive elements, especially the existence of an LC filter, the d2 = 0.4, respectively, that is, QC = 0.6. It can be seen in
phase difference between U0 and Uin is not strictly different by Fig. 21(b) that the voltage stress on the switch S1 is 0. Fig. 21(d)
180°, and there is a phase angle error of 1.19°. shows two processes of inductor current (iL ) within one cycle.
9596 IEEE TRANSACTIONS ON POWER ELECTRONICS, VOL. 34, NO. 10, OCTOBER 2019

Fig. 24. Dynamic experimental waveforms of the BT-AC output voltage under
mode 3 (Uin = 45 Vrms, d1 = 0.7, d2 = 0.2, Q C = 0.5).

Fig. 22. Experimental waveforms of the BT-AC under mode 1 with a pure
resistive load (Uin = 160 Vrms, R = 20 Ω, Q C = –0.4). (a) Time 50 ms/div.
(b) Time 20 ms/div. (c) Time 50 ms/div. (d) Time 200 us/div.

Fig. 25. Efficiency performance of BT-AC under three modes.

Fig. 23. Experimental waveforms of the BT-AC under mode 3 with a non-
linear load (Uin = 145 Vrms, Q C = 0.5). (a) Time 10 ms/div. (b) Time
20 ms/div. S1, and capacitor voltage UC 1 , UC 2 are shown in Fig. 23(b). In
this experiment, the non-linear load consists of a single-phase
uncontrollable rectifier bridge with a capacitor filter and a pure
Fig. 22 shows the experimental waveforms of the BT-AC
resistive load, which results in a large distortion of the voltage
under mode 1 with a pure resistive load, where the input voltage
and current on the input ac side, as shown in Fig. 23(a).
Uin = 160 V (effective value), the load R = 20 Ω, and the duty
The experiment waveforms shown in Fig. 24 are employed to
cycles d1 = 0, d2 = 0.4, respectively, that is, the BT-AC works in
illustrate the dynamic response process of the BT-AC and prove
the inverting buck mode (QC = –0.4). Hence, U0 is also out-of-
that the BT-AC has the ability to output bipolar voltage. Finally,
phase with Uin in this case. It can be seen in Fig. 22(b) that the
Fig. 25 shows the efficiency curve of the BT-AC in the three
voltage stress on the switch S1 is half-wave voltage. The reason
different modes described above. In testing the efficiency of the
for this is that the modulation signal of switch S1 is a square
BT-AC, the transfer ration QC (QC = 0.6) and input voltage of
wave signal of 50 Hz, not a high-frequency PWM signal in mode
170 V (effective value) are fixed, and the load is a variable pure
1. The voltage on the clamping capacitors UC 1 , UC 2 is still half-
resistive load. Therefore, the efficiency curve of the BT-AC in
wave voltage. The high-frequency voltage before filtering (UH ),
three different modes can be obtained by varying the load. As
inductor current (iL ), P-Leg output voltage (UA ), and N-Leg
can be seen in Fig. 25, the BT-AC has the highest conversion
output voltage (UB ) are displayed in Fig. 21(c). Fig. 22(d) is an
efficiency in mode 2. This is because there are only two switches
enlarged view of Fig. 22(c). Ideally, the P-Leg output voltage
in mode 2 that do high-frequency switching, and other switches
(UA ) should be 0, but other factors in the experiment may result
are either turned OFF or are ON at a low frequency of 50 Hz.
in a very small output voltage of P-Leg, as shown in Fig. 22(c)
and (d).
Fig. 23 shows the experimental waveforms of the BT-AC C. Application of Converter as DFVC
under mode 3 with a non-linear load, where the input voltage From the above analysis, it can be seen that the BT-AC has
Uin = 145 V (effective value), the load R = 40 Ω, and the duty the ability to output bipolar voltage, so it has great potential
cycles d1 = 0.8, d2 = 0.3, respectively, that is, QC = 0.5. Hence, to be used as a DFVC shown in Fig. 26 to address voltage
U0 is in-phase with Uin in this case. The input ac side voltage swell and sag problems appeared in the power grid. The S in
and current of rectifier bridge (Uac , iac ), and the dc voltage and Fig. 26 is a bypass switch. When the grid voltage is nominal
current (Udc , idc ) of load waveforms are displayed in Fig. 23(a). voltage, the bypass switch is in a closed state, and the DFVC is
In addition, the inductor current (iL ), the voltage stress US 1 of in the bypass mode. When voltage sag or swell occur in the grid,
LIU et al.: NOVEL BIPOLAR-TYPE DIRECT AC–AC CONVERTER TOPOLOGY BASED ON NON-DIFFERENTIAL AC CHOPPERS 9597

works in the non-inverting mode, that is, the Uac is in-phase

with US .
Voltage sag: In Fig. 27(b), US = 80 Vrms < UR = 120 Vrms,
and the grid voltage has a voltage sage of 40 Vrms. To solve the
grid voltage sag problems, an inverted voltage Uac = 40 Vrms
is produced by the proposed DFVC, which is then added to
US = 80 Vrms, and UR is compensated at 120 Vrms. At this
point, the BT-AC proposed in paper works in the inverting mode,
that is, the Uac and US are out-of-phase.
Fig. 26. Proposed DFVC.
VI. CONCLUSION
The proposed H-bridge structured BT-AC based on two-level
non-differential ac chopper legs has been verified by experi-
mental results. The main advantage is that the proposed ac–ac
converter has the same buck/boost operation process for the
non-inverting and inverting modes, which ensures the contin-
uously average current supply to the low-voltage output side
without a high-value capacitor to support power. The BT-AC
is able to overcome the commutation problems well without
an RC snubber circuit or complicated safe commutation strat-
egy. Moreover, the BT-AC retains the characteristics of common
ground shared by the input and output ports, so the feature that
output can reversing or maintaining phase angle with input is
supported well. Thanks to its increased control degrees of free-
dom, versatile modes of operation and wide range of bipolar
output voltage can be established for the BT-AC. Hence, it has
a potential application value as the basic unit of the DFVC.

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no. 6, pp. 4241–4251, Jun. 2016. 1968. He received the B.S. and M.S. degrees from
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verter with versatile modes of operation,” IEEE Trans. Ind. Electron., 1990 and 1993, respectively, and the Ph.D. degree
vol. 64, no. 2, pp. 1137–1147, Feb. 2017. from the Harbin Institute of Technology, Harbin,
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[28] B. Glod, L. Parvulescu, and D. Floricau, “Multilevel direct PWM AC–AC in 1961. He received the B.S. and M.S. degrees from
converters,” in Proc. 10th Int. Symp. Adv. Topics Elect. Eng., Bucharest, Northeast Electric Power University, Jilin, China,
Romania, 2017, pp. 645–648. in 1984 and 1987, respectively, and the Ph.D. de-
[29] B.-H. Kwon, B.-D. Min, and J.-H. Kim, “Novel topologies of AC chop- gree from the Harbin Insitute of Technology, Harbin,
pers,” IEEE Proc. - Elect. Power Appl., vol. 143, no. 4, pp. 323–330, Jul. China, in 1992, all in electrical engineering.
1996. He has been working since 1987. He is currently
a Professor-level Senior Engineer with the State Grid
Liaoning Electric Power Supply Co., Ltd., Shenyang,
Chuang Liu (M’12) received the M.S. degree from
China. His current research interests include power
Northeast Electric Power University, Jilin, China, in
system automation analysis and wind power con-
2009, and the Ph.D. degree from the Harbin Institute sumption.
of Technology, Harbin, China, in 2013, both in elec-
trical engineering. From 2010 to 2012, he was with
the Future Energy Electronics Center, Virginia Poly-
technic Institute and State university, Blacksburg, VA,
USA, as a Visiting Ph.D. Student, supported by the Zhezhu Huang was born in Liaoning Province,
Chinese Scholarship Council. China, in 1963. He received the B.S. degree from
In 2013, he became an Associate Professor with Northeastern University, Shenyang, China, in 1985.
the school of Electrical Engineering, Northeast Elec- He is a currently a Senior Engineer with the
tric Power University, where, since 2016, he has been a Professor. His research State Grid Shenyang Electric Power Supply Com-
interests include power-electronics-based on ac and dc transformers for future pany, Shenyang, China. His current research inter-
hybrid ac–dc power grids, flexible operation and control of power grid based ests include operation and maintenance of distribu-
on ac–ac transformation, and power-electronics-based power system stability tion networks.
analysis and control.
LIU et al.: NOVEL BIPOLAR-TYPE DIRECT AC–AC CONVERTER TOPOLOGY BASED ON NON-DIFFERENTIAL AC CHOPPERS 9599

Yibo Wang was born in Shandong Province, China, Peng Wang was born in Anhui Province, China, in
in 1989. He received the B.S. and M.S. degrees in 1994. He received the B.S. degree from Northeast
electrical engineering from Northeast Electric Power Electric Power University, Jilin, China, in 2016. He is
University, Jilin, China, in 2010 and 2016, respec- currently working toward the M.S. degree in electrical
tively. He is currently working toward the Ph.D. de- engineering at Northeast Electric Power University,
gree in electrical engineering at Northeast Electric Jilin.
Power University. His current research interests include direct PWM
His current research interests include renewable ac–ac converters, power quality, and the application
energy integration into power networks, power sys- of high-power electronic conversion technology in
tems, and power quality. renewable energy generation.

Hanwen Zhang was born in Jilin Province, China,

in 1994. He received the B.S. degree from Northeast
Electric Power University, Jilin, China, in 2017. He is
currently working toward the M.S. degree in electrical
engineering at Northeast Electric Power University.
His current research interests include power qual-
ity control in distribution networks, direct PWM
ac–ac converters, and energy-efficient integrated con-
version technology.