The main purpose of this paper is to design a charge equalization circuit for series connected lead-acid batteries. The charger utilizes a three-level neutral point clamped (NPC) AC/DC converter with voltage balance control to charge the series connected rechargeable battery strings. This paper details the operation principles of the charge equalization circuit under different operation modes a...

The Neutral Point Clamped (NPC) three-level inverter with Z-source network is a relatively recent converter topology that exhibits both voltage-buck and voltage-boost capability. This concept can be applied to all acto-ac, dc-to-dc, ac-to-dc, and dc-to-ac power conversion whether two-level or multilevel. However, multilevel inverters offer many benefits for higher power applications. Existing p...

in this paper, free vibration of an Euler-Bernoulli beam with variable cross-section resting on elastic foundation and under axial tensile force is considered. Beam’s constant height and exponentially varying width yields variable cross-section. The problem is handled for three different boundary conditions: clamped-clamped, simply supported-simply supported and clamp-free beams. First, the equ...

OBJECTIVE We tested the hypothesis that an increase in insulin per se, i.e., in the absence of zinc, suppresses glucagon secretion during euglycemia and that a decrease in insulin per se stimulates glucagon secretion during hypoglycemia in humans. RESEARCH DESIGN AND METHODS We measured plasma glucagon concentrations in patients with type 1 diabetes infused with the zinc-free insulin glulisin...