Current-balancing technique for interleaved voltage source inverters with magnetically coupled legs connected in parallel

Abstract

Connecting legs in parallel in a voltage source inverter is a way to increase the output current and, thus, its rated power. The connection can be made using either coupled or uncoupled inductors, and achieving an even contribution to the output current from all the legs is a crucial issue. Circulating currents produce additional losses and stress to the power devices of the converter. Therefore, they should be controlled and minimized. An efficient technique to attain such balance when coupled inductors are used is presented in this paper. The proposed technique can also be used when the inductors are uncoupled, since it is a particular case where the coupling coefficients are zero. This technique does not include proportional-integral controllers and does not require any parameter tuning either. The exact control action needed to reach current balance is straightforwardly calculated and applied. Experimental results are shown in this paper to verify the efficiency of the proposed balancing method.