PROJECT TITLE :

A Transition Arm Modular Multilevel Universal Pulse-Waveform Generator for Electro oration Applications - 2017

ABSTRACT:

High-voltage (HV) pulses are used in electroporation to subject pulsed electrical field (PEF) onto a sample below treatment. Pulse-waveform form, voltage magnitude, pulse length, and pulse repetition rate are the basic controllable variables required for particular PEF application. In practice, a custom-made pulse generator is dedicated for each PEF application with restricted flexibility in changing these variables. During this paper, a universal pulse-waveform generator (UPG) is proposed, where the controller software algorithm can manipulate a basic generated multilevel pulse waveform to emulate several totally different PEF pulse waveforms. The commonly used PEF HV pulse waveforms will be generated as bipolar or monopolar with controllable pulse durations, repetition times, and voltage magnitudes. The UPG has the ability to get multilevel pulses that have controllable dv/dt, which permits reduction of the electromagnetic interference generated by the converter. The UPG topology is based on half-bridge modular multilevel converter (HB-MMC) cells forming two transition arms together with two bistate arms, along making an Hbridge. The HB-MMC cell capacitors provide a controllable energy source that charge from the dc input provide and discharge across the load, while the 2 bistate arms allow charging the HB-MMC cell capacitors. Hence, the UPG topology offers modularity, redundancy, and scalability. The HB-MMC individual cell capacitance is low and therefore the cell voltages are balanced by employing the sorting and rotating algorithm used in typical HB-MMC topologies for HV dc transmission applications. The viability of the proposed UPG converter is validated by MATLAB/Simulink simulation and scaled-down experimentation.