New strategy to minimize dead-time distortion in DCI-NPC power amplifiers using COE-error injection

Abstract

The DCI-NPC topology has become one of the best options to optimize energy efficiency in the world of high power and high quality amplifiers. This can use an analog PWM modulator that is sensitive to generate distortion or error, mainly for two reasons: Carriers Amplitude Error (CAE) and Carriers Offset Error (COE). Other main error and distortion sources in the system is the Dead-Time (td). This is necessary to guarantee the proper operation of the power amplifier stage so that errors and distortions originated by it are unavoidable. This work proposes a negative COE generation to minimize the distortion effects of td. Simulation and experimental results validates this strategy.