Instantaneous energy balancing in three-level neutral point clamped converters

Instantaneous energy balancing plays an important role in power electronics conversion. The unbalance of electromagnetic energy not only debases the system performance but also decreases the reliability and efficiency of the conversion. In this paper, instantaneous energy balancing problems in three-level neutral point clamped (NPC) converters are classified and discussed. Typical examples and their usual solutions of each kind of problems are expounded and compared. In the end of this paper, limitations and disadvantages of traditional methods are analyzed, and electromagnetic field method is summarized as the new trend to analyze electromagnetic energy transmission and exchange. The method using electromagnetic field theory is emphasized to be the better approach to solve the aforementioned energy balancing problems.