Power Converter Topologies for Heat Pumps Powered by Renewable Energy Sources: A Literature Review

Round 1

Reviewer 1 Report

Comments and Suggestions for Authors

The paper concludes power converter topologies for heat pumps powered by renewable energy sources. The motivation of the paper is very good. There are some suggestions which need to be followed.

1) The circuit principle should be analyzed for each topology in the paper.

2) The control method for each topology could be generally introduced.

3) More state-of the art topology such as DC cascaded system in [R1] in microgrid system should be added to enrich the review.

[R1] H. Lin, H. S. -H. Chung, R. Shen and Y. Xiang, "Enhancing Stability of DC Cascaded Systems With CPLs Using MPC Combined With NI and Accounting for Parameter Uncertainties," in IEEE Transactions on Power Electronics, vol. 39, no. 5, pp. 5225-5238, May 2024, doi: 10.1109/TPEL.2024.3359672. 

Author Response

Please see the attachment 

Author Response File: Author Response.pdf

Reviewer 2 Report

Comments and Suggestions for Authors

1. Among the converter topologies for heat pumps, the CHB multilevel converter is also one of the applicable topologies. What is the impact of such a topology on a heat pump system if it fails? A review can be made in the context of the following literature.

(1) D. Xie et al., "Simple Vector Calculation and Constraint-Based Fault-Tolerant Control for a Single-Phase CHBMC," in IEEE Transactions on Power Electronics, doi: 10.1109/TPEL.2024.3437229.

(2) N. B. Y. Gorla, S. Kolluri, M. Chai and S. K. Panda, "An Open-Circuit Fault Detection and Localization Scheme for Cascaded H-Bridge Multilevel Converter Without Additional Sensors," in IEEE Transactions on Industry Applications, vol. 58, no. 1, pp. 457-467, Jan.-Feb. 2022, doi: 10.1109/TIA.2021.3123199. 

2. Several references in the paper do not have reference sources, so please recheck and verify them.

3. An important part of the review is to present key future challenges and research directions based on the current state of research. This should be addressed as a separate section.

Comments on the Quality of English Language

Minor editing of the English language should be required.

Author Response

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Author Response File: Author Response.pdf

Reviewer 3 Report

Comments and Suggestions for Authors

This manuscript is a review of converter topologies. Although the title suggests that it is focused on heat pump applications, this is only partially true because most of the references do not mention heat pumps at all. In addition, it has been poorly written because has numerous missing references (probably to tables or figures). Also, some references seem badly or incompletely cited.

 

In particular:

·         Line 70, a reference is missing. Line 135, a reference is missing. Line 168 the reference is missing. Line 261, a reference is missing. Line 309, a reference is missing. Line 331, a reference is missing. Line 334-335, a reference is missing. Line 364, a reference is missing. Line 392, a reference is missing. Lines 294 and 395, two references are missing.

·         Line 405 too much lumped references (128-136). Please, comment these references in a more detailed manner.

·         Reference 139 is incompletely defined. Line 436, a reference is missing. Line 441, a reference is missing. Lines 446 and 448, a reference is missing. Lines 457 and 459, a reference is missing. Lines 480 and 482, a reference is missing. Lines 495 and 497, a reference is missing. Line 504, a reference is missing. Line 522, a reference is missing.

·         Reference 33 is not completely defined. Reference 38 is not completely defined. Reference 97 seems incomplete, please complete it. Reference 99 is incomplete. Reference 103 is incomplete.  Reference 110 is incomplete. Reference 121 is the same as reference 99.

·         Reference 159 is not cited. Please cite, or suppress, it.

·         Figure 3 caption, probably “e, f, g” should be d, e, f.

Comments on the Quality of English Language

There is only a minor mistake (probably a typo) in line 892, do you mean “… High-Power…”.

Author Response

Please see attachment 

Author Response File: Author Response.pdf

Round 2

Reviewer 1 Report

Comments and Suggestions for Authors

Dear authors, thank you for your revision and answering my questions. The work now presents significant improvement. I only have one suggestions, does the NPC topology consider in the review? such as the topology in [R1], it can be supplemented to enable the discussion more complete.

[R1] H. Lin, C. Cai, J. Chen, Y. Gao, S. Vazquez and Y. Li, "Modulation and Control Independent Dead-Zone Compensation for H-Bridge Converters: A Simplified Digital Logic Scheme," in IEEE Transactions on Industrial Electronics, vol. 71, no. 11, pp. 15239-15244, Nov. 2024, doi: 10.1109/TIE.2024.3370975.

Author Response

Comment: 

Dear authors, thank you for your revision and answering my questions. The work now presents significant improvement. I only have one suggestions, does the NPC topology consider in the review? such as the topology in [R1], it can be supplemented to enable the discussion more complete.

[R1] H. Lin, C. Cai, J. Chen, Y. Gao, S. Vazquez and Y. Li, "Modulation and Control Independent Dead-Zone Compensation for H-Bridge Converters: A Simplified Digital Logic Scheme," in IEEE Transactions on Industrial Electronics, vol. 71, no. 11, pp. 15239-15244, Nov. 2024, doi: 10.1109/TIE.2024.3370975.

Response: Thank you for recommending this article. We agree that it adds significant value to our work. Please refer to lines 562 to 568 on pages 17 and 18 for its inclusion.

Author Response File: Author Response.pdf

Reviewer 2 Report

Comments and Suggestions for Authors

Thanks for the authors' hard work. All of my problems have been solved. I think this paper can be published in its present form.

 

Author Response

Comment: Thanks for the authors' hard work. All of my problems have been solved. I think this paper can be published in its present form.

Answer: Thank you very much for your kind words and valuable feedback throughout the review process. We greatly appreciate your thoughtful insights and are pleased to hear that all concerns have been addressed. We are grateful for your recommendation and look forward to the publication of the paper.

Reviewer 3 Report

Comments and Suggestions for Authors

The authors have solved most of my concerns. However, one issue remains. As the authors point out, there are nearly no references specific to the manuscript title. This means that the subject is at its infancy. Therefore, I wonder if it is appropriate to publish a review paper on a technology that is so "new". I mean heat pumps and electronic converters are mature technologies but their combination is not.

Author Response

Comment: The authors have solved most of my concerns. However, one issue remains. As the authors point out, there are nearly no references specific to the manuscript title. This means that the subject is at its infancy. Therefore, I wonder if it is appropriate to publish a review paper on a technology that is so "new". I mean heat pumps and electronic converters are mature technologies but their combination is not.

Response: We sincerely appreciate your thoughtful analysis and comments. While we recognize that the subject is in its early stages and that references may be limited, we believe this underscores the importance of publishing our review article. The novelty of the idea and the gaps in existing literature justify the need to position our contribution within the field and to introduce the associated scientific challenges, which can guide future research efforts. We hope this provides clarity on the significance of our work.