General modulation strategy for seven-phase inverters with independent control of multiple voltage space vectors

This paper focuses on the analysis of a seven-phase voltage-source inverter for high-performance motor drives. The problem of the modulation strategy of the inverter is solved by combining the multiple space vector representation with traditional carrier-based pulsewidth modulation. This approach leads to the definition of a general modulation strategy that can be usefully utilized in multimotor drives, as well as in multiphase motor drives for improving the torque density. The inverter output voltage capability is investigated, showing that the proposed modulation strategy is able to fully exploit the dc input voltage either in sinusoidal or nonsinusoidal operating conditions. The results obtained in the analytical investigation are confirmed by experimental tests.