Large-capacity AC superimposed DC power supply for the degradation evaluation of DC-link capacitors

Rev Sci Instrum. 2023 Apr 1;94(4):044709. doi: 10.1063/5.0138117.

Abstract

The DC-link capacitor, whose operating voltage is a periodic irregular waveform, is a key device in the converter. A large-capacity DC/AC superimposed experimental power supply above 100 kVA is an important piece of equipment that must be used in the aging research of DC-link capacitors. The irregular periodic operating voltage of the DC support capacitor is equivalent in the form of DC voltage superimposed with multiple harmonics based on the Fast Fourier transform analysis. The power supply is mainly divided into four parts: an AC module, a DC module, a protection module, and an isolation component. The composited harmonics are output by the IGBT (Insulated Gate Bipolar Transistor) inverter of the AC module. The soft start method is applied to the AC module in order to ensure the long-term reliable operation of the power supply. The kV-level high-voltage is output by four inverter units connected in series. The amplitude and phase control of harmonic decomposition is adopted, and the inverter is controlled by Sinusoidal Pulse Width Modulation. The output voltage of the power supply is close to the operating voltage of the capacitor. Based on the designed power supply, the degradation experiment was carried out. The temperature rise and aging characteristics of DC-link capacitors under different AC/DC ratios were studied.