Linear modulation techniques (LMTs) of an asymmetrical six-phase machine (ASPM) with two isolated neutral points synthesize the desired voltage vectors by applying at least five switching states. Different choices of applied voltage vectors, sequences in which they are used, distribution of dwell times among the redundant switching states give rise to a large number of possible LMTs. It is desirable that these LMTs avoid more than two transitions of a particular inverter leg within a carrier period. Only a subset of existing LMTs of ASPM follows this rule. Through an innovative approach, this paper finds a way to account for all possible infinitely many LMTs that follow the rule of at most two transitions per leg. Another important criterion for the selection of an LMT is its current-ripple performance. Therefore, through numerical optimization, the paper finds optimal LMTs among the above infinite possible LMTs for all reference voltage vectors in the linear range and for the whole feasible range of a machine parameter. This parameter is related to the leakage inductance of the machine and impacts the current ripple performance of ASPM. An optimal hybrid strategy is proposed with these optimal techniques, which outperforms all existing techniques in terms of the current ripple. The theoretical analysis is validated through simulation in Matlab and experiments performed up to 3.5 kW on a hardware prototype.

A bidirectional single-phase AC to DC converter with high-frequency isolation finds a wide range of applications, including charging electric vehicles in the vehicle to grid applications. A conventional two-stage solution, where an AC-DC front-end rectifier is connected to an isolated DC-DC converter, suffers from poor efficiency due to hard switching of the AC-DC stage and poor reliability due to the existence of an electrolytic capacitance at the interstage DC link. A Dual Active Bridge (DAB) based single-stage AC-DC converter with a potential of bidirectional power flow can overcome the problems of a two stage solution. A rich literature exists in search for finding an efficient modulation strategy for this converter. This paper presents two constant switching frequency modulation strategies that support bidirectional power flow at any power factor utilizing all three degrees of freedom in modulation, also known as triple phase-shift modulation (TPS). One of the strategies minimizes RMS high-frequency transformer current over the line cycle, and the other one optimizes peak current. Hence, the conduction loss and the component stress over the entire line cycle are minimized. ZVS conditions are met for all high-frequency switching devices for the whole operating region, while the AC side converter is line frequency switched, incurring negligible switching loss. AC line current waveforms are of high quality and free from low-frequency harmonics. UPF operation is of importance for single-phase power conversion. All possible modes that the converter will experience over a line cycle for UPF operation are elaborated through detailed analysis. The proposed strategies are validated through experiment and simulation with 230 V, 50 Hz AC grid, 400 V DC, UPF, and output power of 1.2 kW.