Milestones in Matrix Converter Research

Abstract

The Matrix Converter (MC) evolved from the forced commutated cycloconverters and has been extensively investigated for more than thirty years. In this publication, the milestones in research on MCs in academia and industry are reviewed and presented chronologically and thematically ordered. The major contributions in the fundamental topic areas such as the development of the topology, topological extensions, commutation, modulation, loss calculation, control, or filtering and EMC are compiled and then expanded with examples of the latest activities in the corresponding field of research. In addition, an overview of the publicly reported research on MCs in industry is provided and the development of the commercialized MCs is briefly summarized. This review concludes with a brief comparison of the MC with the voltage source converter and a discussion of the current status of the MC technology and its future potential.