Analytical evaluation of DC capacitor RMS current and voltage ripple in neutral-point clamped inverters

The sizing of the DC-link capacitor in a three-level inverter is based on the RMS current flowing through it. This paper analyses the DC-link capacitor RMS current in a neutral-point clamped (NPC) inverter and expresses the same as a function of modulation index, line-side current amplitude and power factor. Analytical closed-form expressions are derived for the capacitor RMS current for single-phase half-bridge, single-phase full-bridge and three-phase three-leg topologies of a three-level inverter. The worst-case capacitor current stress is determined for each topology based on the analytical expressions. Further, analytical expressions are derived for the RMS values of low-frequency and high-frequency capacitor currents. These expressions are then used to estimate voltage ripple across the DC capacitor for sinusoidally modulated three-phase NPC inverter. The analytical expressions for the RMS current and voltage ripple are validated experimentally over a wide range of operating points.