Deadbeat predictive control for PMSM drives with 3-L NPC inverter accounting for saturation effects

In this paper, a deadbeat predictive control strategy, which accounts for saturation effects, is developed for the control of electric drives with neutral-point-clamped inverter. Although predictive control offers essential advantages, its performance strongly relies on the model accuracy and can be compromised when encountering complex magnetic phenomena. Therefore, a methodology based on finite-element methods is suggested in this paper for accurately extracting the system parameters and determining the dynamic motor trajectories as functions of the core saturation. The incorporation of the direct- and cross-saturation effects into the deadbeat control routine allows the developed control scheme to reduce the current distortion and operate efficiently in both constant torque and power regions. The suggested controller, which is accompanied by a space vector-based modulator for operating with constant switching frequency, is compared with a linear control strategy by considering several performance indices. Experimental and simulation results are presented for assessing the effectiveness of the complete control scheme under steady-state and transient conditions.