Model Predictive Control Using Multi Virtual Voltage Vectors for a Two-Level Inverter in Electric Propulsion ship

In response to environmental concerns, electric propulsion ships are emerging as a key technology in the maritime industry. The inverter, which controls the propulsion motor, is a critical component in electric propulsion ships. The 2- level voltage source inverter is widely implemented in small and medium-sized ships, but its output performance remains constrained due to limited number of voltage vectors. The proposed approach enables 2-level voltage source inverters to achieve multilevel inverter- comparable performance by adding virtual voltage vectors. While it incurs increased computational burden, the proposed method achieves performance enhancement without computational burden through the application of pre-voltage selection. Experiments have shown improvements in output current THD and current error. The results demonstrate potential advantages for electric propulsion systems.