IEEE TRANSACTIONS ON POWER ELECTRONICS, VOL. 7, NO.

3, JULY 1992

487

Switching Frequency Optimal PWM Control of a Three-Level Inverter

Jurgen K. Steinke, Member, IEEE
Abstract-A pulse-width modulation (PWM) method for the control of a three-level inverter is described. Switching frequency optimal-PWM method (SFO-PWM) works with a constant carrier frequency not synchronized with fundamental stator frequency. SFO-PWM gives an optimal utilization of mean thyristor switching frequency permitted, therefore PWM carrier frequency may be chosen to a value of two times the permitted mean thyristor switching frequency. The signal processing structure is simple. Many applications of three-levelinverters work with a dc-link neutral point not stabilized from the power input converter. A neutral-point potential control is described, which is capable of stabilizing potential by varying the switching sequences of the three-level inverter itself. Results from computer simulation and practical experience show the good performance of SFO-PWM.

I. INTRODUCTION HE most common method for controlling output voltages of a voltage source inverter is pulse-width modulation (PWM). Usually the total stator frequency range is not covered by only one PWM method. At low stator frequencies, a free-running PWM with constant sampling frequency is applied. In the middle frequency range and, depending on permitted mean thyristor switching frequency, up to high stator frequencies, synchronized PWM is used. At very high stator frequencies, full block waveforms are applied. Nabae et al. [ l ] reported about synchronized PWM for three-level inverter control: This paper presents a simple online calculation scheme for freerunning PWM pulse patterns for this inverter type. Because of achieving the highest sampling frequency possible without overloading the inverter, the presented method is called Switching Frequency Optimal PWM control (SFO-PWM). The optimal utilization of the inverters switching capability results in the lowest torque ripple achievable for a three-level inverter fed induction machine with the inverter controlled by PWM. Free-running PWM gives good results if sampling frequency is much higher than the fundamental frequency of the output voltage. For two-level inverters a common method to get the pulse patterns for a free-running PWM is to compare three time-dependent phase reference voltages with a triangular carrier signal. The moment of

equality of a phase reference voltage and the carrier signal is the phase switching instant (Fig. 1). The sample period Tspmay be defined as the time interval between two successive peak values (a positive and a negative one) of the carrier signal. The mean values of phase output and phase reference voltage taken over one sample period match only then, when the amplitude of the carrier signal is equal to that value of phase reference voltage, which represents half of the dc-link voltage. In a free-running PWM the carrier signal has a constant frequency not synchronized with fundamental stator frequency. Mean thyristor switching frequency is constant in this case. Working with a conventional two-level inverter, carrier frequency fc may be chosen to be equal to maximum thyristor switching frequency fTmax permitted. Within each period T, of camer signal each thyristor of the inverter is switched on and off once. The phase output voltage is switched from to - within a sample period with positive slope of carrier signal and switched from to within a sample period with negative slope of carrier signal.

FREQUENCY OPTIMAL PWM METHOD 11. SWITCHING

A. Fundamental Principles o SFO-PWM f

Manuscript received February 14, 1990; revised February 25, 1992. This paper was presented at the 1989 European Conf. on Power Electronics and Applications, Aachen, Germany, Oct. 9-12. The author is with Asea Brown Boveri, ABB Drives AG, Ch-5300 Turgi, Switzerland. IEEE Log Number 9200722.

Working with a three-level inverter there are two thyristor pairs within each phase of the inverter (Fig. 2): T l / T 3 and T2/T4. The simplest approach for controlling the three-level inverter is to apply the same control as for a two-level inverter. This would lead to switching both thyristor pairs within each sample period. The carrier frequency has to be chosen equal to permitted thyristor switching frequency and the amplitude of the carrier signal has to be equal to half dc-link voltage 2E ( Vd = 4 E ) . In this paper, a PWM control method called switching frequency optimal PWM (SFO-PWM) is described. By using two carrier signals for modulation (Fig. 3), only one thyristor pair of each phase of the inverter is switched per sample period. The mean switching load of the thyristor pairs is balanced. Therefore, the mean thyristor switching frequency in SFO-PWM is only one half of carrier frequency. Carrier frequency may be set to f, = 2fTmax. Looking at phase b of the inverter, for exampIe, the output voltage VbM of the phase may be switched from 0 to +2E or +2E to 0 by switching the thyristor pair (T1 /T3)b. When thyristor pair (T2/T4), is switched, the phase output voltage may be switched from 0 to -2E or -2E to 0. If the phase reference voltage for a sample

0885-8993/92$03.00 0 1992 IEEE

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IEEE TRANSACTIONS ON POWER ELECTRONICS, VOL. 7, NO. 3, JULY 1992

L+

carrier period TO

T-

time

L-

Lsarnple period TSP 4

0 switchingfrom (T1a off/T2a on) to (T1a on/ T2a off) 0 switching from (Tla on/ T2a off) to Crla offR2a on)
Fig. 1 . Camer signal and reference voltage for two-level inverter PWM control.

L+

L-

L
Fig. 2. Circuit diagram of a three-level inverter.

, signal carrier
1 ~
Va

,
I

,,
I ,

..

transformation into the interval[-Vdh.+Vd14]

I I ,

age in a steady state. Therefore the phase reference voltage is positive within one half of the fundamental period and negative within the other half. This balances the mean load of all thyristor pairs. The described simple fundamental idea is the basis of SFO-PWM, which has a very simple signal processing structure. This simple structure also makes it possible to add a neutral-point potential control. With the potential control not engaged, the switching sequences within a sample period are similar to those received from control methods called space-vector modulation [2] or space-vector approximation [3], [4]. B. Basic Signal Processing Structure Instead of using two carrier signals it is also possible to work with only one carrier with an amplitude of a quarter of dc-link voltage ( E = Vd/4). This is achieved by subtracting E from the positive carrier and the positive reference voltages and adding E to the negative camer and the negative reference voltages (Fig. 3). Fig. 4 shows the basic structure of SFO-PWM. The first main block is sign identification and shift block. In an initial step, sign of each phase reference voltage is determined. Three sign signals are sent to the second main block phase output signal control. If, for example, the sign of i?b is positive, the phase output signal control sets thyristor pair (T1/T3)b to the constant state (Tlb off, T3bon) and connects thyristor pair (T2/T4)b to the output Tb of the pulsewidth modulator. If the sign is negative, thyristor pair (T2/T4)b is switched to the constant switching state (T2b

-Vd4

IL T s p

Fig. 3 . Carrier signals and reference voltages for three-level inverter control.

period is positive, only thyristor pair (T1 /T3), has to be switched. If the phase reference voltage is negative, only pair (T2/T4), has to change its switching state within the sample period. Therefore switching instants resulting from comparing the positive carrier signal with the reference voltages lead to switching of thyristor pairs (T1 /T3) while switching instants resulting from comparison of the negative carrier signal with the reference voltages leads to switching of thyristor pairs (T2/T4). In drive applications, the phase reference voltage is a sinusoidal ac volt-

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489

identification and
shift

PWM

Fig. 4. Basic SFO-PWM structure

on, T4b off) and thyristor pair (Tl/T3)b is connected to the PWM Output Tb.

liil

Fig. 5 . Output voltage operating range of a three-level inverter.

C. Preprocessing the Phase Reference Voltages

1) Symmetry About the Zero Axis: Phase reference voltages from induction machine control are normally free from a zero sequence voltage system. Often, a voltage space vector v, represents the phase reference voltages.
v, = 2 / 3
(U,,

+ avbr + a'v,,);

a = exp ( j 2 7 ~ / 3 ) .

v, represents the voltage space vector that leads controlled machine values to their setpoint values within the next sample period. Using space-vector representation of the output voltages of a three-level inverter, Fig. 5 shows the range of output voltages that may be covered by PWM. If working with three phase-reference voltages instead of a voltage space vector, it is not possible to utilize the whole output range with the phase reference voltage system being free from a zero sequence voltage system [ 5 ] . The whole range may be utilized, if the zero sequence voltage system is added to the three-phase reference voltages that makes the absolute values of the maximum and the minimum phase reference voltage equal to each other. If the original system of phase reference voltages does not contain a zero sequence voltage system, half of the reference voltage with the lowest absolute value within the three has to be added to each one of them. After this transformation, the condition U , max = - v, m,n is fulfilled. A zero sequence voltage system has no influence on machine voltage because normal induction machines do not have a neutral terminal connected to the inverter. 2) Sign Equality of the Three-phase Reference Voltages: A premise to the fundamental idea of SFOPWM was the assumption that it is sufficient to take the average of thyristor switching frequency over a complete fundamental period. Working only with the basic structure of SFO-PWM, within one half of fundamental period one thyristor pair switches with double mean switching frequency, whereas during the remaining half it does not switch at all. If the fundamental frequency is very low, averaging over a complete fundamental period must not be applied for evaluation of the mean thyristor switching load. In induction machine control, low fundamental frequencies cause the machine voltages to be small. Refer-

Fig. 6 . Resulting carrier signal for three-level inverter PWM control in the low-voltage operating mode.

ence voltage space vectors are always included inside the half voltage hexagon of the inverters output range (Fig. 5 ) . After transformation of the phase reference voltages to U , max = - U , min, each of the phase reference voltages is within the voltage interval [ - E * + E ] . By adding the zero sequence voltage system ( E , E , E ) , each of the new reference voltages is now positive. Subtracting ( E , E , E ) from the reference voltage system leads to three negative reference voltages. Applying basic SFO processing, positive reference voltages lead to a constant state of thyristor pairs (T2/T4) and negative reference voltages lead to a constant state of thyristor pairs (Tl/T3). If addition and subtraction of ( E , E , E ) alternate with equal intervals of addition and subtraction, and if synchronization with fc exists, fundamental frequency now has no influence on the intervals of double and zero switching frequency. The interval length of addition and subtraction of ( E , E , E ) has to be an even multiple of a sample period. The carrier signal has to be inverted when changing from addition to subtraction or vice versa. These two conditions for getting optimal results were derived in [ 5 ] .Fig. 6 shows the resulting camer signal. Fig. 7 shows a complete block diagram of phase reference voltage preprocessing. Operating mode with addition or subtraction of an ( E , E , E ) system will be called the "low-voltage mode," whereas the operating mode without addition or subtraction of an ( E , E , E ) voltage system will be called the "normal mode."

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IEEE TRANSACTIONS ON POWER ELECTRONICS, VOL. 7, NO. 3, JULY 1992

transformation three phase reference

operating operating range determination

Fig. 7. Block diagram of a phase reference voltage preprocessing unit.

I l l

I I

Fig. 8. Block diagram of the simulated drive system

111. RESULTS FROM COMPUTER SIMULATION

pI Complete system consisting of a machine control, SFOnPWM, three-level inverter and a squirrel cage induption motor was simulated (Fig. 8). The parameters of fit inverter and induction machine were taken from the ppv locomotive Re 4/4 Serie 460 for Bahn 2000project of the Switzerland railways (SBB) (see Table I). The machine control applied was described in [ 5 ] . The b p i 9 structure was derived from direct self-control [ 6 ] [I$], Total stator flux linkage and torque are calculated from measured values of machine currents and speed. Machine voltages are derived from dc-link voltages u d l and trd2 and the actual switching state of the inverter. Machine control calculates the reference voltage space vector that leads torque and stator flux to their setpoint valups within the next sample period. Figs. 9-12 show the performance of the simulated system. Carrier frequency y s get to 400 Hz (T, = 2.5 ms, Tsp= 1.25 ms). In Fig. a 9 pimulated curves at steady-state operation withp n = Or2fsN T = OST, are shown. The switching state sigand nals of phase thyristors (Fig. 9(d)) indicate operation with alternating addition or subtraction of the ( E , E , E ) system, In Fig. 10 simulated curves at steady-state operation withp * n = 0.75fNand T = 0.5TB are shown. Switching st#@ signals of phase thyristors show normal operation without an ( E , E , E ) shift. Fig. 11 shows the dynamic wflormance at p n = 0.2fN. During the rapid change

TABLE I IMPORTANT PARAMETERS OF INVERTER AND MOTOR THE OF SIMULATED DRIVE SYSTEM Inverter

Cd = 13.8 mF Vd = 3500 V fT = 200 Hz

dc-link capacity nominal dc-link voltage GTO switching frequency Motor

VN = 2640 v 1, = 315 A PN = 1200 kW f s N = 54 Hz nN = 1595 rpm TN = 7180 Nm T, = 25860 Nm

U

= 5.9%

p = 2

nominal voltage nominal current nominal power nominal stator frequency nominal speed nominal shaft torque breakdown torque leakage factor number of pole pairs

of torque operation changes from operation with the ( E , E , E ) shift to operation without the shift. Fig. 12 shows the dynamic performance at p n = 0.75fN. Torque changes are also very rapid. DC-LINKNEUTRAL-POINT POTENTIAL Figs. 9-12 also document the variation of the neutralpoint potential. In a steady state using SFO-PWM there
THE

IV. CONTROL OF

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STEINKE: SWITCHING FREQUENCY OPTIMAL PWM CONTROL

48 1

. I

81
-05 -1 0
-2 0

-1.1

h m r in mr

(e) Fig. 9. Simulation results a t p . n = 0.2hN, = 0.5TB. (a) Torque. (b) T Current of phase a. (c) Machine voltage of phase a . (d) Switching state signals of phase a thyristor pairs. (e) Voltage difference AV, of ideal and real dc-link neutral-point potential.

12,5

25

37.5
time in ms-

1
10

2 1
-2 0

timeinms

(e)
Fig. 10. Simulation results a t p . n = O.75hN, T = 0.5TB.(a) Torque. (b) Current of phase a. (c) Machine voltage of phase a . (d) Switching state signals of phase a thyristor pairs. (e) Voltage difference Avd of ideal and real dc-link neutral-point potential.

ni

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05

-051

Hi

-1.5 -O 'I .

(e) Fig. 11. Simulation results at p . n = 0.2f+,, T +0.5TB + -0.5TB +0.5TB. (a) Torque. (b) Current of phase a. (c) Machine voltage of phase a. (d) Switching state signals of phase a thyristor pairs. (e) Voltage difference AV, of ideal and real dc-link neutral-point potential.

i!;
-a 5

t l m e i n mr

12,5

25

37.5
(d)

50

62,5

l i m e inrns-

(e) Fig. 12. Simulation results a t p . n = O . 7 5 f s N , T +0.5TB -0.5TB +0.5TB.(a) Torque. (b) Current of phase a. (c) Machine voltage of phase a. (d) Switching state signals of phase a thyristor pairs. (e) Voltage difference Avd of ideal and real dc-link neutral-point potential.
+ -+

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493

is no mean potential deviation (Fig. 9(e) and Fig. 10(e)). Fig. 1l(e) and Fig. 12(e) show that dynamic changes may cause a drift of mean potential. Also, in reality the nonideal switching of the inverter can lead to a drifting mean potential. Therefore, a potential control has to be established. Because of the natural stability of neutral-point potential this control has to work quite seldom. Potential control for normal operating mode and low-voltage operating mode differ.
A . Neutral-Point Potential Control for the Low-Voltage

time inms

(a)

Operating Mode Within the half-voltage hexagon of the inverters' operating range, SFO-PWM can operate in the low-voltage mode (i.e., addition or subtraction of the zero sequence voltage system (E, E , E ) to or from the phase reference voltage system). Fig. 13 shows that changing from addition to subtraction of the ( E , E , E ) system inverts the current flowing from the neutral point. In normal steadystate operation, uniform intervals of addition and subtraction alternate. If a mean deviation of neutral-point potential is being built up, correction may easily be obtained by expanding one kind of interval by two sample periods. The choice of whether or not to expand an interval of addition or an interval of subtraction depends on the sign of potential deviation and the sign of neutral-point current appointed to these intervals. Fig. 13 shows operation of potential control. In steady-state operation, potential control is not very often in action. Therefore its influence on mean thyristor switching frequency is negligible. B. Neutral-Point Potential Control for the Normal Operating Mode Fig. 10(e) shows that potential deviation consists of a component alternating with sample frequency and another component alternating with three times the fundamental frequency. In steady-state operation, the component with a frequency of three times the fundamental frequency is dominant. In normal SFO-PWM operation, each phase output terminal is connected to the dc-link neutral point for a part of each sample period. Consequently, each phase influences the neutral-point potential within one sample period. Within each sample period the neutralpoint potential varies, but after a time interval of one third of the fundamental period, deviation is nearly the same as on the beginning of the interval. If within one sample period connection time of one phase output terminal with neutral is now omitted, a mean deviation of the potential will result. In normal operation, phase output voltage is modulated either between -2E and 0 or 0 and +2E. With potential control in action, one of the three-phase output voltages is modulated between -2E and + 2 E with minimum connection time to the neutral point. The decision of which phase has to be switched like this is made by comparing the sign of potential deviation and phase currents. The phase current of the phase, chosen for control action, has

(b) Fig. 13. Simulation results a t p . n = O.Zf,,, T = 0.5TB;action of neutralpoint potential control. (a) Switching state signals of phase a thyristor pairs. (b) Voltage difference Avd of ideal and real dc-link neutral-point potential.

0
4 q n l

10

15

20
t i m e in ms-

25

(a)

:+/
-20
(b) Fig. 14. Simulation results at p . n = 0.75f,,, T = 0.5TB;action of neutral-point potential control. (a) Switching state signals of phase a thyristor pairs. (b) Voltage difference Avd of ideal and real dc-link neutral-point potential.

to increase the absolute value of neutral-point potential deviation if the phase were connected to neutral. Fig. 14 shows simulated curves with the potential control in action. In normal operation potential control only checks neutral-point potential. Control is activated when a predefined limit is reached. This limit must have a value higher than the amplitude of the ac component of potential deviation in steady-state operation. Under this condition, influence on mean thyristor frequency is negligible. A complete block diagram of neutral-point potential control is shown in Fig. 15. Within the SFO control structure, it replaces the last block of the phase reference voltage preprocessing unit (Fig. 7). Potential control for normal operating mode uses three-phase control signals (acont, b,,,,, cCont). Their value is 1 if no potential correction has to be done. If correction has to take place, one of the three-phase control signals is set to 0.5. The phase control signals are also sent to the phase output signal control unit. If one control signal is 0.5, the phase switching signal of the appointed phase is connected to both of its thyristor pairs.

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tor operating range wlthout (E, E,E)-shfi

Fig. 15. Block diagram of neutral-point potential control.

TABLE I1 IMPORTANT PARAMETERSINVERTERAND MOTOR THE OF OF EXPERIMENTAL SYSTEM DRIVE Inverter C, = 8.25 mF Vd = 490 V fT = 200 Hz dc-link capacity nominal dc-link voltage GTO switching frequency Motor
VN = 364.8 V IN = 43.5 A PN = 21.12 kW f r N = 48 Hz nN = 1405 rpm TN = 143 Nm T, = 416 Nm U = 9.406% p = 2

nominal voltage nominal current nominal power nominal stator frequency nominal speed nominal shaft torque breakdown torque leakage factor number of pole pairs

V . RESULTS FROM PRACTICAL P E R I E N C E ~X

SFO control was explained before by using block diagrams for processing of analog signals to make the principle easy to explain. In practice, SFO control was implemented on a TMS 320C25 signal processor. The processor calculates the switching instants for a sample period at its beginning. Using the internal timer of the TMS 320C25, interrupts are generated at the switching instants. Output of the control signals for the inverter is managed by interrupt service subroutines. The control was applied on an experimental drive system consisting of a three-level GTO inverter, a 22-KW ac motor and a dcload machine. Important parameters of the experimental drive system are shown in Table 11. Figs. 16-18 show the curves of the machine values taken from experimental setup. They show the real performance to be as good as the simulated performance if one is looking at the current and torque of the induction machine. Only the performance of the potential control for the neutral-point is slightly bader. The reason for this are measurement prob-

lems for potential deviation. Measured values are v d and v d 2 . Because of potential control, the difference Avd of Vd, and v d 2 is very small compared to v d l and vd2. Therefore, small measurement errors of v d l or v d 2 caused by electromagnetical disturbances lead to a relatively high error of AVd. Nevertheless, potential control works also very well. The operating point for Fig. 16 w a s p n = 0.208&, T = 0.27TB. The amplitude of the phase output voltage v, shows operation in the half voltage hexagon of the inverters output voltage range (Fig. 5). The switching state signal of this phase indicates that SFO-PWM is operating in the low-voltage mode. The curves from Fig. 17 were taken at p n = O.781AN, T = 0.27TB. The amplitude of phase output voltage shows operation not within the half voltage hexagon. The phase-switching state signal shows the typical pattern for normal operating mode, i.e., switching of only one thyristor pair of a phase during one half of the stator period and switching of the other thyristor pair during the second half. Fig. 18, taken at p n = 0.2O8hNshows the good dynamic performance of the sys-

STEINKE: SWITCHING FREQUENCY OPTIMAL PWM CONTROL

150

100

so
0

-50.
time rnms

-is

f #
0

+
0

-5

-#

125

25

llme I" ms

325

50
_c

t i m e in m i

(e) Fig. 16. Experimental results a t p . n = O.208kN, = 0.27TB. (a) Torque. T (b) Current of phase a. (c) Machine voltage of phase a . (d) Switching state signals of phase a thyristor pairs. (e) Voltage difference Au,, of ideal and real dc-link neutral-point potential.

+
0

12.5

25

325 limeinms

50

05

0
-45-

-10(e) Fig. 17. Experimental results a t p . n = 0.781hN, T = 0.27TB.(a) Torque. (b) Current of phase a . (c) Machine voltage of phase a. (d) Switching state signals of phase a thyristor pairs. (e) Voltage difference Au,, of ideal and real dc-link neutral-point potential.

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+
0

-3/4 -4h

i
(c)
+

I
(d)
+

625

75

limein mi-

Fig. 18. Experimental results a t p . n = 0.208f,N, T +0.51TB 0.51TB +0.51TB. (a) Torque. (b) Current of phase a . (c) Machine voltage of phase a . (d) Switching state signals of phase a thyristor pairs.

tem. At the beginning with T = +0.51TB, the amplitude of the machine phase voltage shows operation within the half voltage hexagon of the output voltage range. The phase-switching state signal shows that SFO-PWM is already in a normal operating mode. After the change of torque to T = -0.51TB, the operating mode of SFO-PWM changes to the low-voltage mode. After the following step change of torque to T = +0.51TB, operating mode turns back to normal mode.

VI. CONCLUSIONS SFO-PWM is a PWM method with optimal utilization of the thyristors switching frequency. Frequency of the PWM carrier signal may be chosen to be two times the mean thyristor switching frequency permitted. The signal-processing structure of SFO-PWM is very simple. Results from computer simulation and experimental setup show the good performance of a drive system working with SFO-PWM. A very important demand on a control of a three-level inverter is the capability of neutral-point stabilization. The integration of a neutral-point potential control into the signal processing structure is shown. The performance of potential control has been evaluated by computer simulations and experimental setup.

[3] R. Jotten, M. Gekeler, and J. Eibel, A. C. drive with three-level voltage source inverter and high dynamic performance microprocessor control, European Con$ Power Electronics and Applications, Brussels, Belgium, Oct. 16-18, 1985, pp. 3.1-3.6. [4] J . Eibel, Rechner-Steuerung von Drei-Stufen-Wechselrichtem und ihre Anwendung niit einer Rechner-Regelung von Asynchronmaschinen. Doctoral thesis, dissertation, Technical University of Darmstadt, West Germany, 1985. [5] J. K. Steinke, PWM control of a neutral-point-clamped inverter for ac traction motors in the range of low shaft speeds, etzArchiv, vol. 11, no. 1, pp. 17-24, Jan. 1989. [6] M. Depenbrock, Direct self-control (DSC) of converter fed threephase machines with high dynamic performance, e t d r c h i v , vol. 7, no. 7 pp. 211-218, July 1985. Direct self-control (DSC) of inverter-fed induction machine, [7] -, IEEE Trans. Power Electron., vol. PE-3, no. 4 , pp. 420-429, Oct. 1988. [8] J . K. Steinke, Control strategy for a three phase ac traction drive with three-level GTO PWM inverter, IEEE Power Electronics Spec. Con8 Rec., Kyoto, Japan, April 11-14, 1988, pp. 431-438.

REFERENCES
A. Nabae, T. Takahashi, and H. Akagi, A new neutral-point-clamped PWM inverter, IAS Annu. Meet. 1980, Conf. Rec. Cincinnati, OH, Sept. 28-Oct. 3, 1980, pp. 761-766. J. Holtz, S . Stadtfeld, and P. Lammert, An economic very high power PWM inverter for induction motor drives, European Con8 on Power Electronics and Applications, Brussels, Belgium, Oct. 16-18, 1985, pp. 3.75-3.80.

Jiirgen K. Steinke (M87) was born in Bochum, Germany, in 1957. He received the M.S. degree in electrical engineering in 1981 and the Ph.D. degree in electrical engineering in 1986, both from the University of Bochum (Ruhr-Universi~t). Germany. His doctoral dissertation included theoretical and practical aspects of the design of GTO thyristor gate drive circuits and snubber circuits. Since 1986 he worked as a senior research engineer at the Institute for Generation and Application of Electrical Enerev (Ruhr-Universitat Bochum), were he worked on three-level inverter control and the control of ac machines. In 1990 he joined ABB Transportation Systems Ltd., Turgi, Switzerland, were he worked as a member of technical staff on drive control for mass transit vehicles. In 1991 he changed over to ABB Drives AG, Turgi, Switzerland, where he is a member of the technical staff and manager of the development group for the control of large ac drives. Dr. Steinke is member of the German Association of Electrical Engineers (VDE) and the European Power Electronics and Drives Association (EPE).
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