An Efficient Model Predictive Control Using Virtual Voltage Vectors for Three-Phase Three-Level Converters with Constant Switching Frequency

In this article, an efficient model predictive control (MPC) using virtual voltage vectors for three-phase three-level converters is proposed. The proposed MPC achieves constant switching frequency by applying four voltage vectors, including one virtual voltage vectors and three other voltage vectors, in each control cycle. In addition, to reduce the computational burden, two-stage MPC approach is adopted. The first stage chooses one of six medium voltage vectors that minimizes the cost function. Then, in the second stage, these voltage vectors including virtual voltage vectors, which locate the same sector with the optimal medium voltage vector, are involved in the MPC optimization. The advantages of the proposed MPC over the classical MPC have been validated through experimental results.