In recent years, the use of multilevel inverter has become popular due to its many advantages. Due to the popularity of multilevel inverters in industries and in applications that require a wide range of voltages, there have been many challenges to achieve high-quality voltage. Many pieces of research have been done to solve the problem of annoying harmonics in multilevel inverters. In this study, pulse width modulation (PWM) has been proposed as a switching method. Using the Selective Harmonic Elimination (SHE) technique, the inverter switching can be carried out in low frequency, and also, this method can reduce the annoying harmonics significantly. However, in the lower modulation index, eliminating such harmonics is challenging, resulting in a considerable increase in output voltage distortion. This study suggests a way to solve the problem. In this research, eliminating selected harmonics in a multilevel inverter with variable DC links is proposed. The DC-link variable method in this study is to use a high-frequency isolated DC-DC converter. The proposed method is verified on a 5-level Cascaded H-Bridge (CHB) inverter using the SHE-PWM method solved by particle swarm optimization (PSO) algorithm.
Multilevel inverters are used to improve powerquality and reduce component stresses. This paper describesand compares two multilevel cascaded three phase inverterimplementations with two different modulation techniques: PhaseShifted Pulse Width Modulation, and Nearest Level Control.Further analysis will show required number of inverter levelswith respect to modulation techniques to provide desired powerand power quality to resistive load or grid. Cascaded inverterwill be designed and simulated to draw power from PV cells.
Recent research on multilevel inverters shows exciting properties, including the potential to generate multiple output voltages and integrated voltage boosting. However, most presented inverter topologies have a restricted number of output voltage levels and limited output voltage boosting ratio. In addition, balancing the voltage of capacitors in multilevel converters is very important and should be considered in the topology or control method. This paper describes a generalized switched-capacitor circuit topology for multilevel dc-to-ac inverters that can be developed for the desired output …
This paper investigates a multilevel inverter with a capability that produces a wide voltage range with high quality. The selective harmonic elimination (SHE) method is considered for a single-phase 5-level cascaded H-bridge (CHB) inverter, in which the particle swarm optimization (PSO) algorithm solves the nonlinear equations. However, eliminating the low-order harmonics has been challenging when a low range of output voltage is required. To surmount such challenges and access to a wide range of output voltage, an adjustable dc-link is introduced that allows the inverter to increase the modul…
Multilevel inverters (MLIs) are popular because of their advantages such as improved output voltage quality, lower switching losses, low EMI, and ability to handle higher voltage and power levels. To generate the desired output voltage in the MLIs, there are different switching methods including multicarrier pulse-width modulation (PWM), selective harmonic elimination (SHE), and multilevel space-vector PWM (SVPWM) methods. The SHE method minimizes the number of switching and hence the switching losses. Also, the method eliminates or attenuates specified low-order harmonics and adjusts the fund…
This paper proposes a novel multilevel inverter for automotive applications. The topology consists of a modular DCDC converter and a tap selector, where the DC-DC converter provides several DC-output levels and the tap selector produces an AC signal by choosing different DC-output signals from the DC-DC converter. To produce the DC-levels, the DC-DC converter consists of a modular structure where the modules are connected in series. The novelty is that the modules are connected both, magnetically in the AC-domain and electrically in the DCdomain. Due to the usage of low power switches in the m…
Multilevel inverter converts different level DC voltage to AC voltage. It has wide interest in power industry especially in high power applications. In power electronic equipment the major drawback is the harmonics. Several control strategies are available to reduce the harmonic content and the most widely used measure of Total Harmonic Distortion (THD). In this project, the comparison has been made for the open loop and closed loop PI controller and neural network that predict the switching angle in order to reduce the harmonics. The mapping between Modulation Index and Switching angles are p…
This letter proposes a general decentralized control of cascaded inverters-power factor angle droop control. Compared to the existing control strategies, it has the following attractive benefits: 1) it is suitable for both grid-connected and islanded modes; 2) Seamless transition between different modes can be obtained; 3) stability condition in the grid-connected mode is independent of the transmission line impedance; 4) it is suited for any types of loads in islanded modes; 5) multi-equilibrium point problem is avoided; 6) it is suitable for four quadrant operation. The small signal stabilit…
Pulse-Width Modulation Technique With Harmonic Injection in the Modulating Wave and Discontinuous Frequency Modulation for the Carrier Wave for Multilevel Inverters: An Application to the Reduction of Acoustic Noise in Induction Motors
The current paper presents a Sliding Mode Controller (SMC) for indirect field-oriented Cascaded Doubly Fed Induction Generator (CDFIG) powered through a Matrix Converter (MC). The proposed SMC employs a continuous control strategy to accomplish free chattering fractional-order sliding-mode control and to ensure that the control of the first DFIG stator's reactive and active power is separated. An MC is used to control the current provided to the second stator of the CDFIG as an alternative to standard voltage source inverters. The two MCs are controlled via Space-Vector Pulse-Width Modulation …
The application of multilevel converters to renewable energy systems is a growing topic due to their advantages in energy efficiency. Regarding its control, model predictive control (MPC) has become very appealing due to its natural consideration of discrete inputs, its optimization capability, and the present-day availability of powerful processing hardware. The main drawback of MPC compared to other control techniques in this field is that the control input is held constant during the sampling period, and it is usually difficult or even impossible to reduce this sampling period because of ha…
Cascaded H-bridge and modular multilevel converters (MMC) are on the rise with emerging applications in renewable energy generation, energy storage, and electric motor drives. However, their well-known advantages come at the price of complicated balancing, high-bandwidth isolated monitoring, and numerous sensors that can prevent MMCs from expanding into highly cost driven markets. Therefore, an obvious trend in research is developing control and topologies that depend less on measurements and benefit from simpler control. Diode-clamped topologies are considered among the more applicable soluti…
The design of gate drivers is an important topic in power converter topologies that can help reduce switching losses and increase power density. Gate driving techniques that offer zero-voltage switching and/or zero current switching have recently been successfully proposed for different modular multilevel converters such as the cascaded H bridge. Previous papers on other multilevel converters such as the multi-active bridge, however, do not sufficiently assess the topics of gate driver design for this topology. This work presents a novel isolated gate driver architecture tailored to the multi-…
