Peter K. Steimer (Fellow, IEEE) received his MSc and his PhD in electrical engineering from the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology in Zurich in 1981 and 1991, respectively. He served as general manager of the R
1984 IEEE Power Electronics Specialists Conference, 1984
This paper presents a new microprocessor-based high-speed controller with a simple program langua... more This paper presents a new microprocessor-based high-speed controller with a simple program language for the control of various kinds of converter-fed ac-drives. Its applications as a flexible controller of different drives is described. From the example of the current control loop the striking processing speed of the controller is shown.
2014 IEEE Energy Conversion Congress and Exposition (ECCE), 2014
In this paper, protection of modular multilevel converter with half-bridge cells against overcurr... more In this paper, protection of modular multilevel converter with half-bridge cells against overcurrent faults, which cannot be cleared by the converter, is investigated. Converter design with cell redundancy and a coupled branch reactor is considered. Special consideration is given to a separation of protection and permanent bypass functionality. Critical overcurrent protection design aspects are shown and supported by experimental data. Impact of reactor inductance mismatch in the branches on overcurrent protection design is investigated. This work was carried out within the frame of European FP7 program and its support is gratefully acknowledged.
The three-level neutral-point-clamped voltage-source converter (NPC VSC) is widely used in high-p... more The three-level neutral-point-clamped voltage-source converter (NPC VSC) is widely used in high-power medium- voltage (MV) applications. To overcome its major drawback—the unequal loss distribution among the semiconductors—the use of active NPC (ANPC) switches was previously proposed. In this pa- per, a simple feedforward loss-control scheme for the ANPC con- verter is presented. The principle of operation of the ANPC VSC is experimentally verified for the first time. Electrical measurements on a low-voltage test bench prove the proper function of the ANPC converter. Infrared junction temperature measurements confirm the improved loss distribution using the new loss-control scheme. Finally, the authors demonstrate the superior performance of the loss-controlled ANPC converter in various MV applications.
PCIM Europe 2019; International Exhibition and Conference for Power Electronics, Intelligent Motion, Renewable Energy and Energy Management, May 7, 2019
2013 IEEE Energy Conversion Congress and Exposition, 2013
ABSTRACT In this paper, the reliability of medium voltage multilevel converters based on cascaded... more ABSTRACT In this paper, the reliability of medium voltage multilevel converters based on cascaded cells is investigated. Limits of reliability prediction and redundancy application are shown. Opportunities to leverage converter predicted reliability with redundancy are analyzed. Special attention is given to the impact of the bypass device on converter reliability. The analysis shows significant influence of redundancy on power stage failure rate reduction. At a certain redundancy level though, control hardware will play a dominant limiting role in converter reliability. The analysis also shows the existence of maximum power stage redundancy level for a given bypass failure rate. Exceeding this level results in reduction of converter reliability. This work was carried out within the frame of European FP7 program and its support is gratefully acknowledged.
2008 IEEE Power Electronics Specialists Conference, 2008
... Energieverlag GmbH [12] [33] Practical medium voltage converter topologies for high power app... more ... Energieverlag GmbH [12] [33] Practical medium voltage converter topologies for high power applications, Steimer, PK; Manjrekar, MD; Industry ... for High Speed High Power Applications, Meili, Jorg; Ponnaluri, Srinivas; Serpa, Leonardo; Steimer, Peter K.; Kolar, Johann W.; IEEE ...
Rising interest in multilevel applications has triggered new research activities. This paper prop... more Rising interest in multilevel applications has triggered new research activities. This paper proposes a novel multilevel power electronics building block (PEBB) for the five-level active neutral point clamped (ANPC) multilevel voltage source inverter. The PEBB is composed of six switches in a crossed configuration and one capacitor. It is common to the three phases of a five-level ANPC topology, enabling a large number of levels to be generated. This PEBB is meant to be a reliable upgrade to the 5L topology, increasing output signal quality and reducing the size of the output filter in medium voltage applications. The number of levels generated by the common cross-connected stage (C3S) PEBB and the ANPC depends on the voltage ratios chosen between the phase capacitors of the ANPC and the PEBB capacitor(s). The tradeoff stands between the ability to balance the capacitors, the rated blocking voltage of the devices, and the number of levels produced. Under a given configuration, nine levels can be produced, with the possibility to balance the capacitors up to modulation indexes in the region of m = 0.92. The analysis of the general topology, the description of the nine-level case, and simulation results are first presented. Prototyping results are then shown, and they validate the introduced concept and topology.
This paper describes the requirements, the design and the characteristics of 10 kV IGCTs for 6 kV... more This paper describes the requirements, the design and the characteristics of 10 kV IGCTs for 6 kV-7.2 kV three-level- neutral point clamped voltage source converters. Considerations of the converter and device design as well as measurements of 10 kV IGCTs are the basis for a description of blocking, on-state and switching characteristics which enable an attractive design of Medium Voltage Converters. 1.
Notre environnemnt est envahi de dispositifs electroniques de toutes sortes dont on atten un fonc... more Notre environnemnt est envahi de dispositifs electroniques de toutes sortes dont on atten un fonctionnement infaillible et autonome. C'est oublier qu'en electronique de puissance. Ils sont assujettis a des exigences particulierement severes, sur une vaste plage temporelle allant de la nanoseconde, pour le declencement et la surveillance de commutations individuelles, a la seconde, echelle des transitoires de longues duree. Pour piloter ce large evnetail multi-domaine, il faut un automate ABB simple, compact et perfomant...mais difficile a concevoir. Cette perle rare capable de s'adapter en souplesse a differents crenaux applicatifs et temorels a pour nom «AC 800PEC»; son code est cree a partir de puissants modeles MATLAB/Simulink. Les premieres generations d'automates AC 800PEC, baties sur ke processeur PP D103, ne conviennent pas aux petits systemes pour les economies d'espace et de cout sont primordiales. ABB a donc realise un nouvel automate architecture autou...
2017 19th European Conference on Power Electronics and Applications (EPE'17 ECCE Europe)
A large area (150mm) high voltage (6.5kV) Reverse Conducting-Integrated Gate Commutated Thyristor... more A large area (150mm) high voltage (6.5kV) Reverse Conducting-Integrated Gate Commutated Thyristor (RC-IGCT) has been developed for low frequency high power electronics applications. The devices were fabricated with GCT to diode active area ratio of 1.4. The RC-IGCT wafers were designed with an outer ring gate structure to minimize the stray impedance for the gate signal and also to improve the thermal behavior of the device. In addition, the HPT+ (High Power Technology) platform has been employed in the GCT part to increase the safe operation area of the device (to achieve high controllable turn-off current capability). In this paper we present the measurement results of the 150mm, 6.5kV RC-IGCT during conduction and turn-off in both GCT (switch)- and diode-modes of operation. In addition, we have compared the technology trade-off curve of the 150mm, 6.5kV RC-IGCT with the state-of-the-art 6.5kV HiPak IGBT modules in switch-mode.
In this paper, the reliability prediction of a power electronics building block (PEBB) printed ci... more In this paper, the reliability prediction of a power electronics building block (PEBB) printed circuit board assembly (PCBA) is performed using the Part Stress Method from the MIL-HDBK-217FN2 handbook. The breakdown of the predicted reliability with respect to circuit functional blocks is presented. Furthermore, different cases are shown, where the components with small or large failure rate dominate. Finally, the ANSI-VITA51.1 adjustments are applied and their influence on the reliability prediction results and their usage are discussed.
Power system, comprising: a wind power turbine (1) or turbine hydraulic power (1), which is conne... more Power system, comprising: a wind power turbine (1) or turbine hydraulic power (1), which is connected to a generator (2), wherein the generator (2) has at least two surface dents stator ( 3) and each stator winding (3) is respectively associated a grinding unit (4) and each stator winding (3) is connected to the AC side of the rectifier unit (4) associated, characterized in that each rectifier unit (4) it is associated, respectively, an energy accumulator (5) and each rectifier unit (4) circuit is connected in parallel on the DC voltage side to the energy store (5) associated circuit, and in that the circuits power accumulators (5) are connected in series with each other.
La presente invention concerne une unite de commande de convertisseur ou une unite de stabilisati... more La presente invention concerne une unite de commande de convertisseur ou une unite de stabilisation de systeme de puissance permettant de contrebalancer des oscillations dans des systemes electriques de puissance (1), laquelle est equipee et utilisee pour fournir et traiter des informations en vue d'une surveillance, d'une protection, d'une commande et d'une mesure de systemes importants. Elle comprend un moyen (30) destine a un echantillonnage synchronise (par exemple par l'intermediaire d'un systeme GPS ou tout autre reference de temps absolue ou globale) de tensions et/ou de courants, un moyen permettant un sous-echantillonnage afin de diminuer le nombre d'echantillons, ainsi qu'un moyen (35) permettant de calculer des vecteurs tournants, c'est-a-dire l'amplitude et l'angle de phase horodates des tensions et/ou des courants.
1984 IEEE Power Electronics Specialists Conference, 1984
This paper presents a new microprocessor-based high-speed controller with a simple program langua... more This paper presents a new microprocessor-based high-speed controller with a simple program language for the control of various kinds of converter-fed ac-drives. Its applications as a flexible controller of different drives is described. From the example of the current control loop the striking processing speed of the controller is shown.
2014 IEEE Energy Conversion Congress and Exposition (ECCE), 2014
In this paper, protection of modular multilevel converter with half-bridge cells against overcurr... more In this paper, protection of modular multilevel converter with half-bridge cells against overcurrent faults, which cannot be cleared by the converter, is investigated. Converter design with cell redundancy and a coupled branch reactor is considered. Special consideration is given to a separation of protection and permanent bypass functionality. Critical overcurrent protection design aspects are shown and supported by experimental data. Impact of reactor inductance mismatch in the branches on overcurrent protection design is investigated. This work was carried out within the frame of European FP7 program and its support is gratefully acknowledged.
The three-level neutral-point-clamped voltage-source converter (NPC VSC) is widely used in high-p... more The three-level neutral-point-clamped voltage-source converter (NPC VSC) is widely used in high-power medium- voltage (MV) applications. To overcome its major drawback—the unequal loss distribution among the semiconductors—the use of active NPC (ANPC) switches was previously proposed. In this pa- per, a simple feedforward loss-control scheme for the ANPC con- verter is presented. The principle of operation of the ANPC VSC is experimentally verified for the first time. Electrical measurements on a low-voltage test bench prove the proper function of the ANPC converter. Infrared junction temperature measurements confirm the improved loss distribution using the new loss-control scheme. Finally, the authors demonstrate the superior performance of the loss-controlled ANPC converter in various MV applications.
PCIM Europe 2019; International Exhibition and Conference for Power Electronics, Intelligent Motion, Renewable Energy and Energy Management, May 7, 2019
2013 IEEE Energy Conversion Congress and Exposition, 2013
ABSTRACT In this paper, the reliability of medium voltage multilevel converters based on cascaded... more ABSTRACT In this paper, the reliability of medium voltage multilevel converters based on cascaded cells is investigated. Limits of reliability prediction and redundancy application are shown. Opportunities to leverage converter predicted reliability with redundancy are analyzed. Special attention is given to the impact of the bypass device on converter reliability. The analysis shows significant influence of redundancy on power stage failure rate reduction. At a certain redundancy level though, control hardware will play a dominant limiting role in converter reliability. The analysis also shows the existence of maximum power stage redundancy level for a given bypass failure rate. Exceeding this level results in reduction of converter reliability. This work was carried out within the frame of European FP7 program and its support is gratefully acknowledged.
2008 IEEE Power Electronics Specialists Conference, 2008
... Energieverlag GmbH [12] [33] Practical medium voltage converter topologies for high power app... more ... Energieverlag GmbH [12] [33] Practical medium voltage converter topologies for high power applications, Steimer, PK; Manjrekar, MD; Industry ... for High Speed High Power Applications, Meili, Jorg; Ponnaluri, Srinivas; Serpa, Leonardo; Steimer, Peter K.; Kolar, Johann W.; IEEE ...
Rising interest in multilevel applications has triggered new research activities. This paper prop... more Rising interest in multilevel applications has triggered new research activities. This paper proposes a novel multilevel power electronics building block (PEBB) for the five-level active neutral point clamped (ANPC) multilevel voltage source inverter. The PEBB is composed of six switches in a crossed configuration and one capacitor. It is common to the three phases of a five-level ANPC topology, enabling a large number of levels to be generated. This PEBB is meant to be a reliable upgrade to the 5L topology, increasing output signal quality and reducing the size of the output filter in medium voltage applications. The number of levels generated by the common cross-connected stage (C3S) PEBB and the ANPC depends on the voltage ratios chosen between the phase capacitors of the ANPC and the PEBB capacitor(s). The tradeoff stands between the ability to balance the capacitors, the rated blocking voltage of the devices, and the number of levels produced. Under a given configuration, nine levels can be produced, with the possibility to balance the capacitors up to modulation indexes in the region of m = 0.92. The analysis of the general topology, the description of the nine-level case, and simulation results are first presented. Prototyping results are then shown, and they validate the introduced concept and topology.
This paper describes the requirements, the design and the characteristics of 10 kV IGCTs for 6 kV... more This paper describes the requirements, the design and the characteristics of 10 kV IGCTs for 6 kV-7.2 kV three-level- neutral point clamped voltage source converters. Considerations of the converter and device design as well as measurements of 10 kV IGCTs are the basis for a description of blocking, on-state and switching characteristics which enable an attractive design of Medium Voltage Converters. 1.
Notre environnemnt est envahi de dispositifs electroniques de toutes sortes dont on atten un fonc... more Notre environnemnt est envahi de dispositifs electroniques de toutes sortes dont on atten un fonctionnement infaillible et autonome. C'est oublier qu'en electronique de puissance. Ils sont assujettis a des exigences particulierement severes, sur une vaste plage temporelle allant de la nanoseconde, pour le declencement et la surveillance de commutations individuelles, a la seconde, echelle des transitoires de longues duree. Pour piloter ce large evnetail multi-domaine, il faut un automate ABB simple, compact et perfomant...mais difficile a concevoir. Cette perle rare capable de s'adapter en souplesse a differents crenaux applicatifs et temorels a pour nom «AC 800PEC»; son code est cree a partir de puissants modeles MATLAB/Simulink. Les premieres generations d'automates AC 800PEC, baties sur ke processeur PP D103, ne conviennent pas aux petits systemes pour les economies d'espace et de cout sont primordiales. ABB a donc realise un nouvel automate architecture autou...
2017 19th European Conference on Power Electronics and Applications (EPE'17 ECCE Europe)
A large area (150mm) high voltage (6.5kV) Reverse Conducting-Integrated Gate Commutated Thyristor... more A large area (150mm) high voltage (6.5kV) Reverse Conducting-Integrated Gate Commutated Thyristor (RC-IGCT) has been developed for low frequency high power electronics applications. The devices were fabricated with GCT to diode active area ratio of 1.4. The RC-IGCT wafers were designed with an outer ring gate structure to minimize the stray impedance for the gate signal and also to improve the thermal behavior of the device. In addition, the HPT+ (High Power Technology) platform has been employed in the GCT part to increase the safe operation area of the device (to achieve high controllable turn-off current capability). In this paper we present the measurement results of the 150mm, 6.5kV RC-IGCT during conduction and turn-off in both GCT (switch)- and diode-modes of operation. In addition, we have compared the technology trade-off curve of the 150mm, 6.5kV RC-IGCT with the state-of-the-art 6.5kV HiPak IGBT modules in switch-mode.
In this paper, the reliability prediction of a power electronics building block (PEBB) printed ci... more In this paper, the reliability prediction of a power electronics building block (PEBB) printed circuit board assembly (PCBA) is performed using the Part Stress Method from the MIL-HDBK-217FN2 handbook. The breakdown of the predicted reliability with respect to circuit functional blocks is presented. Furthermore, different cases are shown, where the components with small or large failure rate dominate. Finally, the ANSI-VITA51.1 adjustments are applied and their influence on the reliability prediction results and their usage are discussed.
Power system, comprising: a wind power turbine (1) or turbine hydraulic power (1), which is conne... more Power system, comprising: a wind power turbine (1) or turbine hydraulic power (1), which is connected to a generator (2), wherein the generator (2) has at least two surface dents stator ( 3) and each stator winding (3) is respectively associated a grinding unit (4) and each stator winding (3) is connected to the AC side of the rectifier unit (4) associated, characterized in that each rectifier unit (4) it is associated, respectively, an energy accumulator (5) and each rectifier unit (4) circuit is connected in parallel on the DC voltage side to the energy store (5) associated circuit, and in that the circuits power accumulators (5) are connected in series with each other.
La presente invention concerne une unite de commande de convertisseur ou une unite de stabilisati... more La presente invention concerne une unite de commande de convertisseur ou une unite de stabilisation de systeme de puissance permettant de contrebalancer des oscillations dans des systemes electriques de puissance (1), laquelle est equipee et utilisee pour fournir et traiter des informations en vue d'une surveillance, d'une protection, d'une commande et d'une mesure de systemes importants. Elle comprend un moyen (30) destine a un echantillonnage synchronise (par exemple par l'intermediaire d'un systeme GPS ou tout autre reference de temps absolue ou globale) de tensions et/ou de courants, un moyen permettant un sous-echantillonnage afin de diminuer le nombre d'echantillons, ainsi qu'un moyen (35) permettant de calculer des vecteurs tournants, c'est-a-dire l'amplitude et l'angle de phase horodates des tensions et/ou des courants.
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Papers by Peter Steimer