Abstract

This study proposes a finite-state model predictive controller to regulate the load current and balance the DC-link capacitor voltages of a four-leg neutral-point-clamped converter. The discrete-time model of the converter, DC-link, inductive filter, and load is used to predict the future behavior of the load currents and the DC-link capacitor voltages for all possible switching states. The switching state that minimizes the cost function is selected and directly applied to the converter. The cost function is defined to minimize the error between the predicted load currents and their references, as well as to balance the DC-link capacitor voltages. Moreover, the current regulation performance is improved by using a two-step prediction horizon. The feasibility of the proposed predictive control scheme for different references and loads is verified through real-time implementation on the basis of dSPACEDS1103.