The paper presents a concept of a control system for a high-frequency three-phase PWM grid-tied converter (3x400 V / 50 Hz) that performs functions of a 10-kW DC power supply with voltage range of 600÷800 V and of a reactive power compensator. Simulation tests (in PLECS) allowed proper selection of semiconductor switches between fast IGBTs and silicon carbide MOSFETs. As the main criterion minimum amount of power losses in semiconductor devices was adopted. Switching frequency of at least 40 kHz was used with the aim of minimizing size of passive filters (chokes, capacitors) both on the AC side and on the DC side. Simulation results have been confirmed in experimental studies of the PWM converter, the power factor of which (inductive and capacitive) could be regulated in range from 0.7 to 1.0 with THDi of line currents below 5% and energy efficiency of approximately 98.5%. The control system was implemented in Texas Instruments TMS320F28377S microcontroller.
This paper presents the implementation of a thermal camera for the quantitative estimation of power losses in a high frequency planar transformer (100 kHz/ 5600 VA). The methodology is based on the observation of the transient temperature rise and determination of the power losses by means of curves representing the derivative of temperature as a function of power losses dissipated in the transformer. First, the thermal calibration characteristics had to be obtained from a simple experiment, where power losses are generated by DC current in the ferrite core and windings. Next, experimental investigations focused on the determination of the transformer power losses for a short circuit and no load, with a resistive load and with the rectifier as a load were carried out. Finally, to verify the obtained results, analytical calculations based on Dowell’s and modified Steinmetz’s equations were additionally made, which showed a good convergence. The proposed method is easy to implement and can be used as an alternative to the calorimetric method which is time-consuming and requires a complicated measurement setup.