Three-Level Bridge

(To be removed) Implement three-level neutral point clamped (NPC) power converter with selectable topologies and power switching devices

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The Specialized Power Systems library will be removed in R2026a. Use the Simscape™ Electrical™ blocks and functions instead. For more information on updating your models, see Upgrade Specialized Power System Models to use Simscape Electrical Blocks.

  • Three-Level Bridge block

Libraries:
Simscape / Electrical / Specialized Power Systems / Power Electronics

Description

The Three-Level Bridge block implements a three-level power converter that consists of one, two, or three arms of power switching devices. Each arm consists of four switching devices along with their antiparallel diodes and two neutral clamping diodes as shown in the figure below.

The type of power switching device (IGBT, GTO, MOSFET, or ideal switch) and the number of arms (one, two, or three) are selectable from the dialog box. When the ideal switch is used as the switching device, the Three-Level Bridge block implements an ideal switch bridge having a three-level topology as shown in the following figure.

Assumptions and Limitations

This block does not model turn-on and turn-off times (Fall time, Tail time) of power switching devices.

Ports

Input

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Vectorized gating signal that contains pulses to control the power electronic devices of the bridge. The length of the input vector depends on the number of arm you specified for the bridge topology.

Number of bridge arms

Pulse Vector of Input g

1

[Q1a,Q2a,Q3a,Q4a]

2

[Q1a,Q2a,Q3a,Q4a,Q1b,Q2b,Q3b,Q4b]

3

[Q1a,Q2a,Q3a,Q4a,Q1b,Q2b,Q3b,Q4b,Q1c,Q2c,Q3c,Q4c]

Note

In the case of the ideal switch converter, the Q1 pulse is sent to Sw1, the Q4 pulse to Sw2, and a logical AND operation is performed on the Q2 and Q3 pulses and the result sent to Sw3.

Conserving

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Specialized electrical conserving port associated with the phase A terminal.

Specialized electrical conserving port associated with the phase B terminal.

Specialized electrical conserving port associated with the phase C terminal.

Specialized electrical conserving port associated with the neutral terminal.

Specialized electrical conserving port associated with the positive terminal.

Specialized electrical conserving port associated with the negative terminal.

Parameters

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To edit block parameters interactively, use the Property Inspector. From the Simulink® Toolstrip, on the Simulation tab, in the Prepare gallery, select Property Inspector.

Number of bridge arms.

Snubber resistance, in ohms. Set the snubber resistance to inf to eliminate the snubbers.

Snubber capacitance, in farads. Set the Snubber capacitance Cs (F) parameter to 0 to eliminate the snubbers, or to inf to get a resistive snubber.

To eliminate snubbers in all power electronic devices when using a continuous solver, select the Disable snubbers in switching devices option in the Powergui Preferences tab.

When your system is discretized, you can simulate power electronic devices with virtually no snubbers by specifying purely resistive snubbers with a very large resistance, thus producing negligible leakage currents. The bridge operates satisfactorily with purely resistive snubbers.

Type of power electronic device to use in the bridge

Internal resistance of the selected devices and diodes, in ohms (Ω).

Forward voltage of the selected devices (for GTO or IGBT only) and of the anti-parallel and clamping diodes, in volts

Dependencies

To enable this parameter, set Power electronic device to GTO/Diodes or IGBT / Diodes.

Select All device currents to measure the current flowing through all the components (switching devices and diodes). If the snubber devices are defined, the measured currents are those flowing through the power electronic devices only.

Select Phase-to-Neutral and DC voltages to measure the terminal voltages (AC and DC) of the Three-Level Bridge block.

Select All voltages and currents to measure all voltages and currents defined for the Three-Level Bridge block.

Place a Multimeter block in your model to display the selected measurements during the simulation. In the Available Measurement list box of the Multimeter block, the measurement is identified by a label followed by the block name.

Measurement

Label (for GTO, IGBT, MOSFET Devices)

Device currents

IQ1a, IQ2a, IQ3a, IQ4a,

IQ1b, IQ2b, IQ3b, IQ4b,

IQ1c, IQ2c, IQ3c, IQ4c,

ID1a, ID2a, ID3a, ID4a, ID5a, ID6a,

ID1b, ID2b, ID3b, ID4b, ID5b, ID6b,

ID1c, ID2c, ID3c, ID4c, ID5c, ID6c

Terminal voltages

Uan:, Ubn:, Ucn:, Udc+:, Udc-:

Measurement

Label (for Ideal Switch Device)

Device currents

Isw1a, Isw2a, Isw3a, Isw1b, Isw2b, Isw3b,
Isw1c, Isw2c, Isw3c

Terminal voltages

Uan:, Ubn:, Ucn:, Udc+:, Udc-:

Extended Capabilities

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C/C++ Code Generation
Generate C and C++ code using Simulink® Coder™.

Version History

Introduced before R2006a

See Also

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