Study and Computational Implementation of a T-type NPC Converter

• Grant number: 25/06764-0
• Support Opportunities: Scholarships in Brazil - Scientific Initiation
• Start date: May 01, 2025
• End date: April 30, 2026
• Field of knowledge: Engineering - Electrical Engineering - Industrial Electronics, Electronic Systems and Controls
• Principal Investigator: Augusto Matheus dos Santos Alonso
• Grantee: João Vitor Barbosa Benedetti
• Host Institution: Escola de Engenharia de São Carlos (EESC). Universidade de São Paulo (USP). São Carlos , SP, Brazil
• Associated research grant: 24/13330-3 - Bidirectional electric vehicle chargers connected to low-voltage grids: modeling, experimental assessment and study of supraharmonic distortions, AP.R

Abstract

Vehicle electrification has brought new paradigms to modern power grids, not only resulting from the battery charging process, but also from the new possibility of providing reverse energy flow. In order to dispatch the energy available in batteries to the power grid, electric vehicle chargers (EVCs) must provide bidirectional current capability, thus requiring the implementation of more complex power electronics circuits. This scientific initiation project proposes the study of a bidirectional converter, called T-type NPC (or T-NPC), in order to use it as a device for an EVC. It is expected that the modeling of this converter will be carried out, in addition to the study of a control strategy that allows its use with flexibility in the bidirectional control of active power. Computational studies shall be carried out, considering the context of a real EVC under different operational conditions, and a survey of requirements for its prototyping shall be carried out to support a future experimental implementation.