Patent · US Active

Four-level power converter

US10277144B2 · kind B2 · utility

3Cited by
3References
17Claims
0Family size

Assignee

Inventors

Key dates

Filing dateMay 24, 2018
Grant dateApr 30, 2019
Priority date
Expiry dateMay 24, 2038

Classification

  • Technology area (CPC H)Electricity
  • CPC primaryH02M7/219
  • WIPO fieldElectrical machinery, apparatus, energy
  • WIPO sectorElectrical engineering

Abstract

The present invention is concerned with a four-level voltage source converter topology including two intermediate converter branches connecting two intermediate voltage levels to a load terminal, and including a interconnect switch coupling the two intermediate branches. The interconnect switch replaces two controlled switches present in corresponding four-level prior art topologies. The four-level converter thus requires, for a full bidirectional implementation, only five active switches. The reduced number of active switches/gate drivers and the four available output voltage levels make this solution interesting for lower cost power electronics with improved reliability, good power quality and minimized filtering requirement.

Source: USPTO / EPO open patent data. Objective bibliographic and citation counts.