Modulated Model Predictive Control for a Three-Phase Active Rectifier

Model predictive control (MPC) has a number of desirable attributes which are difficult to achieve with classical converter control techniques. Unfortunately, the nature of power electronics imposes restriction to the method, as a result of the limited number of available converter states. This, combined with the spread spectrum nature of harmonics inherent with the strategy, complicates further design. This paper presents a method for removing this characteristic without compromising the desirable functionality of predictive control. The method, named modulated MPC, is applied to a two-level three-phase converter and compared with a number of similar approaches. Experimental results are used to support theoretical analysis and simulation studies.