# Improvement of Power Converters Performance by an Efficient Use of Dead Time Compensation Technique
## 1 Introduction  
The problems at the distribution side of electrical power systems are categorized under the umbrella of power quality problems consisting of distortion in phase angle, voltage waveforms, fundamental current, as well as frequency. The definition of power quality has been used to include several issues related to a power supply such as voltage and current quality, the stability of power supply, quality of the overall system, and efficiency of supply and consumption of power [1]. These problems primarily stem from the non-ideal characteristics of power electronic equipment. The power providers are warranted to ensure stable, smooth, and safe power supply conforming to a pure sinusoidal voltage signal to the end-user [2]. At present-day, with the worldwide energycrisis becoming increasingly conspicuous and environmental pollution becoming increasingly serious, worldwide renewable generation technologies have been developed rapidly [3; 4; 5]. However, the introduction of power electronics, necessitated by the presence of renewable energy sources (RES) at the distribution junction inflicts distortions in current and voltage causing difficulties in ensuring smooth electric supply [6]. Contemporary research is focused on finding novel ways to achieve the standards of power quality and with the forecast of incessant RES growth will be a major challenge for years to come. The adverse impacts of less than ideal power quality are amply documented in [7]. Almost all of these benchmarks are application-based, there have been almost tens of rules established by the Institute of European Commission (IEC) for the power quality. Although the most important power quality standard is IEC 61000-2-2, which ensures that the voltage harmonic levels in the power system do not surpass the compatibility levels [8]. Non-linear power electronic products have been finding a greater market in the residential and industrial sectors owing to their cost-effectiveness and high efficiency. Variable frequency drives (VFDs), power factor (PF) correction equipment, and switch-mode supplies (SMPSs) improve the overall system efficiency [9]. Additionally, industrial application for power converters is also increasing. This has shifted the overall research focus on the development of state-of-the-art power converters [10]. Pulse width modulation (PWM) and voltage source inverter (VSI) are generally installed for motor drives. Ideally, the turn-off-on of the two power devices at each leg of an inverter is complimentary. However, in the practical application, the time delay in the turn-off of one and turn-on of the other device may lead to short-circuiting of DC-link due to momentary simultaneous conduction [11]. To address this problem a blank duration, called dead-time, is inserted between the switching on of the one device and off of the other ensuring safe operation [12]. The effective voltage is affected by the dead time at lower frequencies, which further distorted the inverter output voltage and results in additional components of low-order harmonics. Moreover, this also causes distortion in the current waveforms [13]. These effects necessitate devising novel dead-time compensation strategies detailed in [14]. The strategies are categorized in two broad types: (1) feed-forward compensation entailing calculation of error stemming from the dead time and the concomitant forward voltage drop, and their subsequent compensation through control algorithms; and (2) stringent observation of disturbance magnitude and the subsequent proportionate compensation. The first category of compensation strategies is contingent on the detection of current polarity-made difficult by high-frequency disturbances, and a phenomenon called \"zero-current-clamp\" [15]. Current polarity detection circuits are undesirable due to complicated structures and extra cost [16]. The low pass interference filtering strategy is rendered inefficient due to the phase lag they generate inducing new errors.