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- Fault Tolerant DC-DC ConvertersPublication . Bento, Fernando José Figueiredo; Cardoso, António João MarquesTechnology advancement verified in recent times is flagrant, specially in our home appliances. This advancement brought to us new electronic equipment and other DC-compatible appliances with improved capability for energy management, using electronic converters for such purpose. These loads have in common the fact that, at a certain point, they need to transform the AC energy of the grid to DC. Furthermore, an important increase in the distributed generation of energy has been witnessed. The majority of these systems produce energy in DC. These two statements, combined with the increased pressure related to the need of energy efficient systems, will certainly trigger, in a near future, the adoption of district-scale DC grids that connect DC generation plants and consumers, in an effort to reduce the number of conversion steps required to deliver power to a DC appliance and, at the same time, limit power losses arising from the energy transportation using conventional AC grids. In a future where DC grids will be used, several DC voltage levels will be required to allow the connection of the different load profiles that require DC. The inclusion of DC-DC converters will allow the creation of these voltage levels. The reliability of such converters plays a key role, as it ensures service continuity for the DC loads connected to them and, at the same time, preserve the quality of the energy delivered by these converters. With the reliability levels increase as a goal, this work uses an open-circuit fault-diagnostic method suitable for several DC-DC converter topologies. After detecting an open-circuit fault in any of the converter power switches, the control of the converter is re-adapted in order to minimize the adverse impacts of an open-circuit fault, namely the increase of the current ripple. To verify the effectiveness of these strategies, laboratory tests were conducted, using a three-phase interleaved boost converter prototype connected to a resistive load.
- Open-Circuit Fault Diagnosis and Fault Tolerant Operation of Interleaved DC–DC Boost Converters for Homes and OfficesPublication . Bento, Fernando; Cardoso, A. J. M.The use of electronic equipment and other dc-compatible appliances in homes and offices is increasing at a very fast rate, as well as the distributed generation of energy. These two statements will most likely trigger, in a near future, the adoption of district-scale dc grids, connecting dc microgeneration plants and consumers, in an effort to cut the number of conversion steps required to deliver power to dc appliances. DC-DC converters will be fundamental in these systems, allowing the establishment of several voltage levels. The reliability of these converters plays a critical role, ensuring service continuity of the loads connected to them. With the increment of reliability in mind, this paper proposes a simple yet effective open-circuit fault diagnostic method suitable for interleaved dc-dc boost converters, but equally functional for other dc-dc converter topologies. The improvements introduced in this paper greatly simplify the diagnostic action, while making the correct diagnostic of faults independent of the switching duty cycle. Moreover, an alternative reconfiguration scheme is proposed to mitigate the adverse impacts of such faults. To prove the effectiveness of these strategies, a three-phase interleaved boost converter prototype was used in the experiments.
- Thermal Analysis of a Directly Grid-Fed Induction Machine With Floating Neutral Point, Operating Under Unbalanced Voltage ConditionsPublication . Santiago, Fábio Emanuel Pereira; Bento, Fernando; Cardoso, A. J. M.; Gyftakis, Konstantinos N.Significant changes may occur in the thermal behavior of a directly grid-fed induction machine when subjected to unbalances in the voltage supply. This article studies and analyzes the thermal behavior of a low power, three-phase, squirrel-cage induction motor, connected in star configuration with floating neutral point, when subjected to different levels of unbalanced voltage. The dependence of the thermal motor behavior on the severity level of the unbalance is studied and analyzed. In addition to amplitude unbalances, this article focuses on the effects of phase unbalances, as well, which were not addressed in detail in previous published studies. Moreover, situations of mixed unbalance, where amplitude and phase unbalances occur simultaneously, are also studied. The finite element method was used to simulate the thermal behavior of the machine. The experimental setup consists of a three-phase programmable AC power supply, suitable to precisely emulate unbalanced conditions that may occur in real-scale power systems, supplying a 2.2 kW induction motor. Experimental data were acquired resorting to resistance temperature detectors PT100, placed in the machine phase whose supply current value changed the most. Finally, the simulation results are verified and critically discussed through experimentally obtained results.