Indirect model predictive control of a three-phase grid-connected Siwakoti-H inverter

The Siwakoti-H flying-capacitor inverter (sFCI) is a potential candidate for photovoltaic applications, specifically for the transformerless grid-connected systems. One of the main challenges in the control of a sFCI is to maintain the flying capacitor voltage within prescribed limits while balancing the voltages on the three flying capacitors. This paper proposes an indirect model predictive control strategy for a three-phase sFCI connected to the grid via an LCL-filter. By linearizing the system model, the nonlinearities introduced due to the dynamics of the flying capacitor are neglected. Moreover, by not directly controlling the switches, but rather manipulating the modulating signal, the optimization problem can be formulated as a quadratic program (QP) and solved in a computationally efficient manner. The explicit solution computed by the controller makes the realtime implementation feasible by employing a carrier-based pulse width modulator (CB-PWM). The presented results illustrate the steady-state and dynamic performance of the controller.