MULTILEVEL INVERTER, BASED ON MULTI-STAGE CONNECTION OF

THREE-LEVEL CONVERTERS, SCALED IN POWER OF THREE.

Juan Dixon (SM IEEE)

Department of Electrical Engineering
Pontificia Universidad Catlica de Chile
Casilla 306, Correo 22, Santiago, Chile
phone 56-2-686-4278
fax 56-2-552-2563
e-mail jdixon@ing.puc.cl

Luis Morn (SM IEEE)

Department of Electrical Engineering
Universidad de Concepcin
Casilla 53-C, Concepcin, Chile
fax 56-41-246-999
e-mail lmoran@renoir.die.udec.cl

Contact author. Dr. Juan W. Dixon

Preferred topical area: power converters
Subject area and keywords: multiconverters, multi-stage converters.

MULTILEVEL INVERTER, BASED ON MULTI-STAGE CONNECTION OF

THREE-LEVEL CONVERTERS, SCALED IN POWER OF THREE.

Department of Electrical Engineering

Pontificia Universidad Catlica de Chile
Casilla 306, Correo 22, Santiago, Chile

Department of Electrical Engineering

Universidad de Concepcin
Casilla 53-C, Concepcin, Chile

ABSTRACT
A multi-stage inverter using three-state converters is being analyzed for multipurpose applications, such as
active power filters, static var compensators and machine drives for sinusoidal and trapezoidal current
applications. The great advantage of this kind of converter is the minimum harmonic distortion obtained. The
drawbacks are the isolated power supplies required for each one of the stages of the multiconverter. In this
paper this problem has been overcome by using isolated, bidirectional dc power supplies, which are fed from
a common power source. This solution becomes practical because only one converter of the chain, called
Master, takes more than 80% of the total active power required by the system. The rest of the converters,
called Slaves, need very low power, and then those dc supplies are small. Another configuration with
common dc supply and output transformers is displayed, and simulation results for different applications are
shown and compared with similar results obtained with conventional PWM converters. The control of this
multi-converter is being implemented using DSP controllers, which give flexibility to the system.

MULTILEVEL INVERTER, BASED ON MULTI-STAGE CONNECTION OF

THREE-LEVEL CONVERTERS, SCALED IN POWER OF THREE.
Juan Dixon
Department of Electrical Engineering
Pontificia Universidad Catlica de Chile
Casilla 306, Correo 22, Santiago, Chile
fax 56-2-552-2563
e-mail jdixon@ing.puc.cl

Abstract. A multi-stage inverter using three-state

converters is being analyzed for multipurpose
applications, such as active power filters, static var
compensators and machine drives for sinusoidal and
trapezoidal current applications. The great advantage of
this kind of converter is the minimum harmonic distortion
obtained. The drawbacks are the isolated power supplies
required for each one of the stages of the multiconverter.
In this paper this problem has been overcome by using
isolated, bidirectional dc power supplies, which are fed
from a common power source. This solution becomes
practical because only one converter of the chain, called
Master, takes more than 80% of the total active power
required by the system. The rest of the converters, called
Slaves, need very low power, and then those dc supplies
are small. Another configuration with common dc supply
and output transformers is displayed, and simulation
results for different applications are shown and compared
with similar results obtained with conventional PWM
converters. The control of this multi-converter is being
implemented using DSP controllers, which give flexibility
to the system.
I. INTRODUCTION
Power Electronics devices contribute with important part of
harmonics in all kind of applications, such as power rectifiers,
thyristor converters, and static var compensators (SVC). On
the other hand, the PWM techniques used today to control
modern static converters such as machine drives, power factor
compensators or active power filters, do not give perfect
waveforms, which strongly depend on switching frequency of
the power semiconductors. Normally, voltage (or current in
dual devices) moves to discrete values, forcing the design of
machines with good isolation, and sometimes loads with
inductances in excess of the required value. In other words,
neither voltage nor current are as expected. This also means
harmonic contamination, additional power losses, and high
frequency noise that can affect the controllers. All these
reasons have generated many research works on the topic of
PWM modulation [1-4].
Multi-stage converters [5-7] work more like amplitude
modulation rather than pulse modulation, and this fact makes
the outputs of the converter very much cleaner. This way of
operation allows having almost perfect currents, and very

Luis Morn
Department of Electrical Engineering
Universidad de Concepcin
Casilla 53-C, Concepcin, Chile
fax 56-41-246-999
e-mail lmoran@renoir.die.udec.cl

good voltage waveforms, eliminating most of the undesirable

harmonics. And even better, the bridges of each converter
work at a very low switching frequency, which gives the
possibility to work with low speed semiconductors, and to
generate low switching frequency losses. The objective of this
paper is to show the advantages of multi-stage converters for
all kind of applications. The drawbacks of requiring isolated
power supplies is solved using different techniques, which
depend on the type of application, and based on the fact that
the first converter, called Master, takes more than 80% of the
total power delivered to the load. A four-stage converter using
three-state power modules, which gives 81 different levels of
voltage amplitude is studied. The results are compared with
conventional PWM modulators working at a switching
frequency of 10 kHz. All the load parameters of both types of
converters are set at the same values.
II. BASICS OF MULTI-STAGE CONVERTERS
A. Basic Principle
The circuit of fig.1 shows the basic topology of one
converter used for the implementation of multi-stage
converters. It is based on the simple, four switches converter,
used for single phase inverters or for dual converters. These
converters are able to produce three levels of voltage in the
load: +Vdc, -Vdc, and Zero.

Driver

+
_

Vdc

LOAD

Figure 1. Three-level module for building multiconverters

The figure 2 displays the main components of a four-stage
converter which is being analysed in this work. The figure
only shows one of the three phases of the complete system. As
can be seen, the dc power supplies of the four converters are
isolated, and the dc supplies are scaled with levels of voltage
in power of three. The scaling of voltages in power of three
allows having, with only four converters, 81 (34) different
levels of voltage: 40 levels of positive values, 40 levels of

negative values, and zero. The converter located at the bottom

of the figure has the bigger voltage, and will be called Master.
The rest of the modules will be the Slaves. The Master works
at the lower switching frequency, which is an additional
advantage of this topology.
With 81 levels of voltage, a four-stage converter can follow
a sinusoidal waveform in a very precise way, as shown in
figure 3. It can control the load voltage as an AM device
(Amplitude Modulation). The figure 3 shows different levels
of amplitude, which are obtained through the control of the
gates of the power transistors in each one of the four
converters.

The Figure 4 shows the voltage modulation of each one of

the four converters of the chain of figure 2.
3RD S L A V E

0
2ND SLAV E

0
1 ST S L A V E

0
Driver

+
_

Vdc

rd

3 Slave
M ASTER

0
+

Driver

_ 3xVdc

2nd Slave

LOAD

Driver

9xVdc

1st Slave

27xVdc

Master

Driver

Figure 4. Voltage modulation in each converter

B. Power Distribution
One of the good advantages of the strategy described here
for multiconverters is that most of the power delivered comes
from the Master. The example of figure 5 shows the power
distribution in one phase of the four-stage converter, feeding a
pure resistive load with sinusoidal voltage. A little more than
80% of the real power is delivered by the Master converter,
and only 20% for the Slaves. Even more, the second and third
slave only deliver 5% of the total power. That means, the dc
power sources needed by the Slaves are small.
1 % P O W E R IN 3 R D S L A V E

Figure 2. Main components of the four-stage

multiconverter.

0
4 % P O W E R IN 2 N D S L A V E

0
1 5 % P O W E R IN 1 S T S L A V E

0
8 0 % P O W E R IN M A S T E R

0
Figure 3. Voltage AM using a four-stage converter

Figure 5. Active power distribution in a four-stage converter.

This characteristic makes possible to feed the Slaves with

low power, isolated power sources, fed by a common power
supply from the Master. These power sources need to be bidirectional, because the power factor of the load can produce
negative active power in some of the Slaves. The figure 6
shows a bi-directional dc-dc power supply which can be used
for this purpose [8].

a:1
3 rd Slave

Driver

a:3
DC

Input
From
Master
High
Frequency
Switching
Square
Wave

a:1

DC
Output
To
Slave

Driver

nd

Slave

LOAD

1 st Slave

Driver

a:9

Figure 6. Bidirectional DC-DC Power Supply

Another attribute of this configuration, which is possible to
see in figures 4 and 5, is the very low switching frequency of
each converter. But even better, the Master, which carries
most of the power, operates at the lower switching frequency.
Then, the larger the power of the unit, the lower its switching
frequency. In large power applications, the Master can be
implemented with GTOs, and the Slaves with IGBTs.
This configuration is good for variable frequency output,
such as machine drives of different kinds (induction motors,
synchronous and brushless dc motors). To avoid the three
Masters having to be isolated one from each other, the three
windings of the machine have to be fed independently (no
electrical connection between them).
It is also possible to use independent output transformers
with a common dc supply, as shown in figure 7. A variation of
this configuration was used by ABB [9], in his 16 Hz
substation for railroads in Bremen (Germany). The ABB
system uses identical transformers for each converter,
combined with shifted PWM modulation. In the system
described here, the transformers are smaller for higher order
converters, because voltages are scaled in power of three.
Besides, no PWM modulation is used, and the switching
frequency of the transformers connected to the slaves, work at
frequencies which are higher for smaller slaves. Then the
transformers of the slaves become smaller and smaller for two
reasons: voltage and switching frequency. This configuration
is good for fixed frequency output, in which the load could be
the power system (50 or 60 Hz), and the input could be a fuel
cell, photovoltaic array, microturbine or a dc voltage
connecting a HVDC system. If the load is the power system,
power factor compensation and harmonic filtering becomes
feasible. If the multi-stage converter is going to work as a
power factor compensator or active power filter only, then the
dc supply can be a simple voltage controlled dc capacitor.

+
_

Driver

Master
a:27

Figure 7. Four-stage multiconverter with output transformers.

III. MULTICONVERTER APPLICATIONS
Once the problem of isolated power supplies has been
solved, the multiconverters can be applied to almost every
practical situation. Active power filters, sinusoidal current
rectifiers, machine drives, power factor compensators, and
back-to-back frequency link systems, are some of the
applications available with this methodology. For example,
the figure 8 shows a typical configuration for a shunt active
power filter, using PWM strategy. The source is feeding a
contaminating load, such as a power rectifier, and the active
filter, connected in parallel, injects the harmonics the load
needs, and the power system sees a cleaner sinusoidal current
waveform.
LS

Is

IL

a
b

General load

VS

if
TF

Lf

V DC

APF

PWM
FILTER
CONTROL

+
V REF

Figure 8. Shunt active filter using PWM techniques

Looking at the active power filter showed in figure 8, the

replacement of the PWM modulator for the multiconverter of
figure 7 is straightway. The common voltage supply of the
four-stage converter is replaced by a capacitor C, whose
voltage is kept at a VREF voltage, by a feedback control loop.
The power transformers remain isolated at the converter side,
and are connected in star at the mains side. The PWM control
is replaced by an instantaneous voltage signal, which goes
through the DSP, to give the corresponding ON-OFF signals
to each one of the four converters.
Similar arrangements and adaptations can be built for other
applications, but almost every PWM converter can be replaced
by the less polluted multi-stage topology.

waveform. A four-stage converter can generate 81 steps of

voltage levels, as was shown in figure 3. Forty positive levels,
forty negative levels, and zero. The figure 11 shows the
current of the load when is fed with a PWM power supply,
and with a four-stage power supply. The load is ZL=1 + j
0.0314, and the supply frequency is 50 Hz. It is clear the
difference: the current in the four-stage converter is almost
harmonic-free.
40,0

Amps

30,0
20,0
10,0

a)

0,0

IV. OPERATION RESULTS

The following results show a comparison between PWM
and multilevel converter methodologies. These results have
been obtained using a software called PSIM [10], which has
demonstrated its reliability for almost 10 years of simulations,
which have been corroborated with real experimental results.
Shunt active power filters, sinusoidal voltage power supplies,
and machine drives for brushless dc motors, are compared.

-10,0
-20,0
-30,0
-40,0

Amps
40,0
30,0
20,0
10,0

A. Shunt Active Power Filter.

The figure 9 compares the current quality obtained with a
shunt active power filter implemented with a PWM converter
working at 10 kHz switching frequency, and with the fourstage converter described in this paper. Both the figures show
the load current (a three-phase diode rectifier), the source
current, and the filter current. The parameters are the same for
both the systems: Vsource=120 Vff, line impedance ZL =
.01+j0.314 , rectifier input impedance ZR = .1+j0.157 ,
rectifier output dc load RD = 5 plus a smoothing reactor LS
= 20 mH. The more sinusoidal current correspond to the
source. The quasi-square current is from the rectifier, and the
more distorted current is the compensating current coming
from the active power filter. There is an evident difference
between the bad quality of the currents when PWM
techniques are used, and the excellent quality of the currents
when multi-converters are used.
The figures 10a) and b) show in more detail the current
waveforms of the active power filter. Now is more evident
the quality of the current generated by the active filter
implemented with the four-stage converter. In fact, the more
levels has the converter, the better the current, but with only
four converters the source current is almost a perfect
sinusoidal waveform, because the active filter has 81 levels of
voltage.
B. Sinusoidal Voltage Supply.
With PWM techniques, it is not possible to implement a
sinusoidal voltage power supply. The multiconverter
topology, scaled in power of three, with a few quantity of
inverters, can generate a very good sinusoidal voltage

b)

0,0
-10,0
-20,0
-30,0
-40,0

Figure 9. Active power filter waveforms.

a) PWM technique
b) Multilevel technique
40,0
30,0
20,0
10,0

Amps

a)

0,0
-10,0
-20,0
-30,0
-40,0

40,0
30,0
20,0
10,0

Amps

b)

0,0
-10,0
-20,0
-30,0
-40,0

Figure 10. A detail of currents from figure 9

a) PWM technique
b) Multilevel technique

traction system for an electric vehicle, the DC-DC converters

for the first Slave, are only 3 kW each. For the second Slave
are 0.8 kW, and for the third Slave only 200 W each. These
converters can be small today with a switching frequency link
of hundreds of kHz.
As the quality of sinusoidal current waveforms was already
showed in figure 12, the figure 13 shows a comparison of
current for a brushless dc motor, using PWM converter, and
four level converter. Again, the quality of the current obtained
with the last technology is superior.

a)
Figure 11. Load currents from a PWM voltage source, and
a four-stage voltage source
C.

Machine Drives.

To implement multiconverters for machine drives, which

operate at variable frequency output, the use of isolated power
supplies for the Slaves is required, which are fed by the power
supply of the Master. To avoid the isolation of the Masters of
the three phases of the machine, isolated windings for each
phase are required, as shown in figure 12.

b)

[ms]

+
VDC

rd

DC-DC Conv.

3 Slave

DC-DC Conv.

2 Slave

DC-DC Conv.

1 Slave

Figure 13. Current comparison for brushless-dc motor

nd
st

V. CONCLUSIONS

Master
rd

DC-DC Conv.

3 Slave

DC-DC Conv.

2 Slave

DC-DC Conv.

1 Slave

nd

st

Master
rd

DC-DC Conv.

3 Slave

DC-DC Conv.

2 Slave

DC-DC Conv.

1 Slave

nd
st

Master

Figure 12. System configuration for machine drives

Despite the system looks complicated, it can be adequately
integrated. It is important to remember that the DC-DC
converters are small power devices. For example, for 60 kW

A four-stage inverter, using three-state converters for

multipurpose applications, has been analyzed. Some of these
applications are active power filters, static var compensators
and machine drives for sinusoidal and trapezoidal current
waveforms. The advantages and drawbacks of this kind of
converter have been displayed. The drawbacks of isolated
power supplies have been overcome by using isolated,
bidirectional dc power supplies, which are fed from a common
power source from the Master. This solution becomes
practical because the Master, takes more than 80% of the total
active power required by the system. The rest of the
converters, called Slaves, need very low power, and then
those dc supplies are small. Another configuration with
common dc supply and output transformers was displayed,
and simulation results for different applications were shown
and compared with similar results obtained with conventional
PWM converters. The control of this multi-converter is being
implemented using DSP controllers, which will give flexibility
to the system.

ACKOWLEDGEMENTS
The authors want to thank Conicyt through Projects
Fondecyt 1020460 and 1020982, for the support given to this
work.
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