A Predictive Torque Control Strategy for Interior Permanent Magnet Synchronous Motors Driven by a Three-level Simplified Neutral Point Clamped Inverter

This paper presents a predictive torque control (PTC) strategy for a three-level simplified neutral point clamped (3L-SNPC) inverter-fed interior permanent magnet synchronous motor drive. The motor torque is predicted from the stator currents and motor speed information. Then, the most appropriate voltage vector that minimizes the predetermined cost function and hence, the torque error is selected. The concept of the virtual voltage vectors is utilized to overcome the drawback of fewer available voltage vectors in the 3L-SNPC inverter. Furthermore, the issue of capacitor voltage imbalance is addressed. The simulation results included prove the effectiveness of the proposed method.