A capacitor-clamped inverter based torsional oscillation damping method for electromechanical drivetrains

A typical electromechanical drivetrain consists of an electric motor, connecting shafts and gears. Premature failures of these shafts and gears have been reported which are mainly due to fatigue caused by extreme loads and torsional oscillations. Overdesign and passive damping are the common approaches taken to increase the fatigue life. Nevertheless, they increase the system cost, weight and volume. Alternatively, active damping through advanced inverter control of the motor drive has been identified as a promising solution that does not require overdesign or alterations to the existing system. Even with the active damping control, oscillations propagate into the dc side of the power converter and subsequently to the upstream power bus. Generally, a large capacitor or an additional energy storage system is placed to suppress these oscillations. This paper proposes to use the clamping capacitors of the capacitor-clamped inverter as energy storage elements and thereby eliminate the need for a large dc side capacitor or an additional energy storage system. The efficacy of the proposed method has been verified with computer simulations. Simulation results show that the clamping capacitors are capable of containing torsional oscillations within the inverter without passing them to the upstream power bus.