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Cascaded Multilevel Inverter With PV System

Thesis · June 2015

DOI: 10.13140/RG.2.1.1134.6002

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 Chapter 1

1. Introduction

This project is about multilevel inverter (MLI) .The multilevel inverter used to
convert the D C energy to A C energy which will be connected to electricity grid .This
chapter gives a brief summary about the project .It start with project background
followed by problem statement, objectives, scope of the project, expected outcomes
and report outline.

1.1 Project background

In recent years, electric energy consumption is increasing rapidly due to the

increasing of the energy demand in the world. As result of this numerous fossil fuels
sources and other resources which have great contribution in global warming due to
greenhouse gases emission are largely consumed .Due to these negatives impacts caused
by these resources a rapid progress in finding an alternatives and renewable energy has
attained a significant interests in the area of researches to eliminate the shortage of fossil
fuels and reduce the global warming concern. In the last three decade renewable energy
(RE) has become challenging field and many researchers have make RE the main focus in
order to create new sustainable, natural abundance and environmental friendly nature
energy resources

In real world most of renewable energy resources that has been used is a D C energy
in nature such as solar energy ,wind, tidal and biomass ,however the electrical transmission

1
systems is in A C and not all of the loads (appliances/machines) are using the direct
current (D C) power supply as their sources. Most of them need an A C power as their
main source. This is where the inverter is needed to convert DC energy to AC energy

The Inverter is an electrical device which converts direct current (D C) to alternate

current (A C).In the early decade inverter was limited to two level inverter which
implement a few semiconductors switch ,however the with rapid growth in the industry
and introducing the higher power application equipment which reaches the megawatt level
the conventional two level inverter is not capable of handling high power application .Due
to this reasons the need for introducing high level inverter(multilevel inverter) become an
essential to overcome the shortage of conventional two level inverter and efficiently high
power loads .besides these reasons multilevel inverter is aimed to replace the conventional
two level inverter to gain good power quality, low switching losses, and high voltage
capability

The concept of multilevel inverter is to produce multilevel output voltages with less
power switching loss and less harmonic distortion. Multilevel inverter(MLI) have many
advantages over the conventional two level inverter including handling medium and high
power loads without causing any problems, producing higher level output voltages with
distortion and less harmonic distortion. There are many multilevel topology has been
introduced ,the most popular and widely used topology is the Cascade H-bridge Multilevel
Inverter (CHMI) which utilize a series connections of an N-bridges inverters Second is the
Diode Clamped Multilevel inverter (DCMI) which implement an (2(n-1)) semiconductors
switches for n level inverter .It utilize a series connection of capacitor across the dc bus
clamped by diode .The other multilevel inverter is the Flying Capacitor Multilevel
Inverter (FCMI) which has the same principle as the diode clamped multilevel inverter but
it doesn’t require any clamping diode it use the capacitor instead .The MLI has a greet
advantages over the conventional two level inverter the only drawback is that it uses a big
number of semiconductors switches

2
 1.2 Problem statement

In the past decades, most of researches have focused in finding renewable energy
resources which is environmentally friendly and reduce the full dependency on the fossil fuel
resources which is the main factor for global warming and environmental pollution. Since
most of the renewable energy resources produces a DC power in nature the invention of
inverter has offered a greet solution to use these DC power as an AC power which the most
frequently used by appliance and machinery .In the early decades the inverter used was the
conventional two level inverter since the requirement was not as much as essential where the
inverter was used to supply small load.

However the inverter has attracted a large interest to be used in heavy duty industries
and high power application but with the rapid growth in the industry and introducing the
higher power application equipment which reaches the megawatt level it is hard to connect a
single power semiconductor switch(conventional two level inverter ) directly to medium
voltage grids ,also the two level inverter with higher harmonic distortion which need a
complex filtering circuit to get the sinusoidal waveform .Due to this drawbacks of the
conventional two level inverter ,it recommended to use the multilevel inverter(MLI) which has
many advantages compared to single stage inverter like minimum harmonic distortion which
produce almost sinusoidal waveform without filtering circuit ,also the MLI can operate with
high power applications and produce high level output voltage with less switching losses and
reduced contents .Thus the MLI is recommended not only for the use in high power
applications but it can be used for industrial applications as alternative in high power and
medium voltage situations

3
1.3 Objectives

This project aims to:

To design multilevel inverter that will eliminate the shortcomings of conventional single
level inverter

To simulate multilevel inverter (MLI) topology with different modulations techniques and
compare the output voltage characteristics.

To propose one of the MLI topology as the best topology to be used in this project

1.4 The scope

The scope of project includes understanding and analyzing the performance of three
different topologies of multilevel inverter which are Diode Clamped Multilevel Inverter
(DCMI), Flying Capacitor Multilevel Inverter (FCMI) and Cascaded H-bridge Multilevel
Inverter (CHMI).These three topologies is simulated using Matlab/Simulink .The
Cascaded H-bridge multilevel inverter is considered as the proposed topology to be used in
this project.

4
1.5 The expected outcomes

It expected that the design of the project:

Produce output voltage waveform of the Multilevel Inverter (MLI) with less harmonic
distortion compared to the two level inverter

Produce almost sinusoidal waveform without using any filtering circuit

Produce better output voltages when using Space vector pulse width modulation
(SVPWM)

1.6 Project Outline

For this project, it will consist of five chapters. The first chapter will be about
introduction which include the background, objective, scope and expected outcomes of
this project. In chapter two, theory and literature review on multilevel inverter
topology and their mathematical analysis and type of modulation techniques will be
discussed. While in chapter 3, the methodology of this project will be discuss in
detailed.. The results of the simulation and discussion will be shown in the chapter
four. For the last chapter which is chapter five, conclusion and summary for this
project will be made.

5
 Chapter 2

2. Literature review
2.1 Introduction
In the recent years, multilevel inverter has been attracted a large interest in heavy duty
industries and high voltage applications .The utilization of multilevel inverter has
become a good candidate and a frequently adopted solution for high-power and power-
quality demanding applications. The term multi-level implies that an n-level inverter is
capable of producing an n-voltage level rather than producing two levels as in the
convention two level inverter. Beside that the multilevel inverter can draw an input
current with low distortion, operate at higher switching frequency and lower
switching frequency with lower switching loss and achieving higher efficiency and
resulting lower total harmonic distortion in the in the output waveform without using
any filter circuit.
Nowadays, with rapid growth in the industry and introducing the higher power
application equipment which reaches the megawatt level it is hard to connect a single
power semiconductor switch directly to medium voltage grids about 6.9Kv. Due to
these reasons a new family of multi-level inverters was proposed as a solution for
working with high power application.
The first proposed multilevel inverter was to use three level inverter. Subsequently
several multilevel inverter has been introduced including a n-level of inverter [10] .The
main concept implies in multilevel inverter is to use several semiconductors switches
to produces several voltage levels.

6
 The first multilevel topology was introduced is the Cascades H-bridge design which
implement a set of H-bridge separate dc source inverter serially connected to produce
an n-voltage level. This was followed the diode clamped inverter which utilize bank of
series capacitor paralleled with dc source to produce an n-additional voltage sources
.Another multilevel topology subsequently introduced was the flying capacitor design
in which the capacitors were floating rather than series-connected. Moreover there are
different multilevel design involves parallel connection of inverter phases through
inter-phase reactors.[4]
Multilevel inverter is well suited for high power application and was introduced as an
alternative approach for the conventional two level inverter to be used in high power
and medium voltage situations .Also a multilevel inverter not only achieves high
power ratings but it can be but also enables the use of renewable energy sources with
low power rating . Among the several application fields of multilevel Inverter
typologies, one of particular interest, nowadays, is the interfaces of renewable energy
which is the photovoltaic system which can be easily supply the multilevel inverter.
In this report three different multilevel inerter will be introduced using the PV system
as the supply dc source .These three topology will be compared and one of them will
be proposed to be used

2.2 Introduction

Theory and basic principle

2.2.1 Cascaded H-bridge multilevel inverter

a cascade H-bridge multilevel inverter can be constructed by connecting a set of single

full bridge inverter in series .each bridge has its own isolated dc source which can solar
cells or batteries .Theses separated dc sources feeding the H-bridge multilevel inverter can
generate almost sinusoidal waveform voltage .This type of inverter can produce N level
voltages (i.e for five level H-bridge inverter can generate five different voltage outputs
+2Vdc, +vdc, 0 ,–2Vdc and –vdc).Hence The output voltage of an N-level H- bridge
multilevel inverter is the sum of all the individual inverter outputs.[1]

7
 2.2.1.1 principle and operation of CHMI

The cascade H-bridge multilevel inverter consist of a number of single full bridge inverter
units .Each bridge is fed by separate dc source which can be battery ,PV cell or any kind of dc
supply.

The output of each bridge can be summed up to generate almost sinusoidal output voltage
waveform. for nth level of CHMI each full bridge inverter unit forming the CHMI with
separate dc and four semiconductors switch is able to produce three different voltage level
+vdc ,0 and –vdc depending in the switching states. Each of the switching always conducts
for 180o or half-cycle regardless of the pulse width of the quasi-square wave so that this
method will result in the equalization of the current stress in each of the components [2]

figure 2.1 show a nth level of CHMI .each H-bridge will be activated at certain amount of
time at different start up angle and since each bridge is fed by separate dc source the output of
all the bridge which form the CHMI output will be the sum of the the separated dc sources
for three phase nth level of CHMI inverter the output equation as follow:

8
 Figure 2.1 single –phase structure of CHMI [2]

From equation 2.1 it can be concluded that the output voltage of cascaded H-bridge
multilevel inverter is the sum of the separated dc sources across the multilevel inverter. The
Fourier series of bridge multilevel voltage waveform as in figure 2.2 can be expended as in
equation 2.3 [3]

Figure 2.2 Staircase voltage waveform for single-phase multilevel inverter [3]

( ) ∑ ( )

s given by

∑ ( ( ) ( ( )

( ( ) ( ( )

9
For equal and constant source the bn is given by

∑ ( ( ) ( ) ( ) ( )

Where

L= the number of dc sources for each full bridge inverter cell

N= the number of switching angles

The total harmonic distortion (THD) is a method to calculate the total distortion in the output
waveform cause by the harmonics present in the output. The general equation of the total
harmonic distortion (THD) is given as follows [2]

√∑ ( ∑ ( ( )))
∑ ( ( ))

2.2.1.2 Modulation techniques of CHMI

When it comes to the control strategy of the multilevel inverter, numerous researchers
in the power electronic field have developed many modulation techniques the most famous
and easiest modulation technique is the sinusoidal pulse width modulation (SPWM),also
the space vector pulse width modulation (SVPWM) .The cascaded H-bridge multilevel
inverter switching signal can be generated using these two method with less switching
losses and less harmonic distortion.

Sinusoidal pulse width modulation

10
 The CHMI can be controlled by using the SPWM. Where sinusoidal wave is compared
with square waves to generate the switching signal that will trigger the semiconductors
switches in time sequence considering the phase between the phases shift three phase inverter
legs

Figure 2.3 show the SPWM circuit used to generate the pulse for one phase of the 3-
level Cascaded H-bridge multilevel inverter, where the circuit design for the other two phases
is the same except the 120 shift between each phase and other

Figure 2.3 the SPWM circuit of controlling the CHMI

11
 2.3 Review of previous related works

2.3.1 diode clamped multilevel inverter

2.3.1.1 Introduction

The diode clamped inverter produce multiple outputs voltages utilizing the technique of
connection of the phases to a series bank of capacitors. The first diode clamped was limited to
three voltage level but nowadays the level can be extended by increasing the number of
capacitor connected across the dc bus resulting in additional voltage levels. the diode is used
as the clamping device to clamp the dc bus voltage so as to achieve steps in the output voltage,
however the number of level of multilevel inverter must be odd number because in the case of
even number level the neutral point can’t be accessed .[4][5]

2.3.1.2 principle of operation

The main concept of this inverter is to use diodes as the clamping device to clamp the
dc bus voltage so as to achieve steps in the output voltage a three-level diode clamped inverter
shown in figure 2.4a consists of two pair of switches and two diodes. Each switch pairs works
in complimentary mode and the diodes used to provide access to mid-point voltage. In a three-
level inverter each of the three phases of the inverter shares a common dc bus which has been
subdivided by two capacitors into three levels. The DC bus voltage is split into three voltage
levels by using two series connections of DC capacitors, C1 and C2. The voltage stress across
each switching device is limited to Vdc through the clamping diodes Dc1 and Dc2. It is
assumed that the total dc link [5]

As mentioned earlier the diode clamped inverter can be extended to nth level figure
2.4b show one leg of nth level of DCMI.

12
13
 Figure 2.4 the circuit of 3-level and nth level of DCML

2.3.2 Flying capacitor multilevel inverter

2.3.2.1 Introduction

Another multilevel inverter topology is the flying capacitor which utilizes a series
connection of capacitor. The main concept of this inverter is to use capacitors as clamping
switching cells. The capacitors transfer the limited amount of voltage to electrical devices.
This inverter use the same switching states as the diode clamping inverter but it doesn’t
require any clamping diode it use capacitor instead [7]. This topology has several unique and
attractive features when compared to the diode-clamped inverter. One feature is that added
clamping diodes are not needed. Furthermore, the flying capacitor inverter has switching

14
redundancy within the phase which can be used to balance the flying capacitors so that only
one dc source is needed.

2.3.2.2 The principle of operation

Figure 2.5 shows the three-level flying capacitor inverter. The general concept of
operation is that each flying capacitor is charged to one-half of the dc voltage and can be
connected in series with the phase to add or subtract this voltage.[4] table 2.1 shows the
relationships for the a-phase

Table 2.1 Three-level flying capacitor relationships.[4]

The flying capacitor can be extended to an N-level by adding more capacitor as shown
in figure 2.5 the generalized nth level of flying capacitor.

15
 Figure 2.5 3-level and nth level of FCM

2.4 Comparison between multilevel topology

This review present three different topology of multilevel inverter which are the cascaded
H-bridge multilevel inverter, diode clamped multilevel inverter and flying capacitor multilevel
inverter .it compare these topology in terms of harmonic contents THD% present in the output
wave form and switching component used and dc sources .Each topology is controlled by
SPWM techniques .based on the analysis and simulation results it showed that CHMI topology
has the lowest harmonic distortion content compared to the other topology .

16
 2.4.1 Switching component

Among the three multilevel topologies the cascade H-bridge multilevel inverter utilize
less components which doesn’t require any clamping diode or dc bus capacitor as in the DCMI
and FCMI but it require separate dc source for each bridge which is the only drawbacks
presented in the cascaded H-bridge multilevel inverter .For the switching semiconductors
(mosfet/IGBT) all the three topology utilize the same number of switches for n-level of
inverter.

2.4.2 Harmonic distortion THD%

The three topology were simulated using Matlab /Simulink to produce the THD% in the
output of each topology .the five level inverter were used in each topology to compare the
three topology

The three phase 5-level output voltage (line to line) waveforms of DCMLI,FCMLI and
CHB-MLI and the total harmonic distortion (THD) are as shown in Figure 2.6 ,2,7,2.8
respectively [8]

17
  Diode clamped multilevel inverter DCMI

Figure 2.6 line-line voltages of 5-level DCMLI and FFT analysis .

18
figure 2.7 line-line voltage of 5-level FCMLI and FFT analysis

19
 Figure 2.8 line-line voltage of 5-level of CHMLI and FFT analysis

2.5 Summary

. This section has discussed three phase Cascaded H-bridge multilevel Inverter topology and
its comparison with the DC-MLI and FCMLI. The three phases five level inverters have been
simulated and the output have been gotten in MATLAB/SIMULINK. The inverters have been
controlled by utilizing the SPWM method. The investigation demonstrates that the CHB
topology has the fewest number of harmonic content in the output voltage. The cascaded H-
bridge multilevel inverters has gotten critical attention because of its circuit design simplicity
and it doesn’t require additional balancing circuit and clamping components such as diode and
capacitors

20
 Chapter 3

3 Methodology

3.1 Introduction

This project starts by collecting the required and relevant information on multilevel
inverter topologies and its modulation methods. From the literature review three different
multilevel inverter topology proposed and one of t topology are chosen as the focus of the
project for comparison purposes in terms of operation and characteristics.
MATLAB/Simulink blocks are used to construct these MLI topologies and the modulation
method. Simulation of both MLI allows generation of the respective output voltage
waveforms which are used to obtain the required data for further analysis. Figure 3.1
shows the project flow chart.

21
 Start

Literature review

Understanding the project

Implement the circuit

Using Matlab/Simulink

Achieved
NO
desired
results?

YES

Analysis of the
results

Write the report

END

Figure 3.1 project flow chart

22
 3.2 Control strategy (modulation techniques)

Generally the power electronic inverters are operated in the “switched mode”. This
means the switches within the inverter are always in either one of the two states - turned off or
turned on. Any operation of inverter to produce an ac voltage from a dc source the
semiconductors switches must alternate between these two states on and off in organized and
time sequencing manner to generate an ac supply which consist positive and negative
portions from a dc source only one portion .This happens by proposing different control
strategy and modulation techniques that will control and trigger the inverter switches at
different time portion.

There are several modulation techniques can be used to control the inverter the most
popular two control strategy is the sinusoidal pulse width modulation SPWM and the space
vector pulse width modulation SVPWM

Modulation of multilevel inverter

PWM

Sinusoidal pulse width Space vector pulse width

modulation modulation

23
 3.2.1 Sinusoidal pulse width modulation

The control principle of the SPWM is to use several triangular carrier signals keeping
only one modulating sinusoidal signal. For a m-level inverter, (m-1) triangular carriers are
needed. The carriers have the same frequency fc and the same peak-to peak amplitude AC.
The modulating signal is a sinusoid of frequency fm and amplitude Am. At every instant, each
carrier is compared with the modulating signal. Each comparison switches the switch "on" if
the modulating signal is greater than the triangular carrier assigned to that switch

The sinusoidal pulse width modulation is the easiest modulation techniques .where
reference sine wave signal compared with square wave carrier signal to produce gate signal
that can be applied to the invert gates
figure 3.2 shows the circuit of generating the PWM signals that used to control one bridge
inverter

Figure 3.2 the PWM circuit of one bridge inverter

Figure 3.3 SPWM for one leg 3-level diode clamped inverter

24
 Figure 3.4 the gate signal for one leg 3-level flying capacitor inverter

the concept behind the SPWM is that sine wave is compared with square wave signal to

produce the gate signals that control the inverter as shown in figure 3.5

Figure 3.5 the SPWM modulation techniques for three phase inverter

The SPWM concept is to compare the reference sine wave with set of carrier wave and by
using additional logic gates the desired switching sequence can be achieved

25
 3.2 .2 Space vector pulse width modulation

SVPWM arises from the vectorial description of the switching states of power
converters. Since those switching states constitute a discrete set of space vectors, the
continuous reference vector must be approximated by the time averaging of a space vector
sequence.[9] The basic idea of voltage space vector modulation is to control the inverter
output voltages so that their Parks representation will be approximately equals the
reference voltage vector. In the case of two level inverter, the output of each phase will be
either +Vdc/2 or - Vd&2.The SVM technique can be easily extended to all multilevel
inverters. Figure.7 shows space vectors for the traditional two-, three-, and five-level
inverters. These vector dia-grams are universal regardless of the type of multilevel
inverter. In other words, Figure 3.6 is valid for five-level diode-clamped, capacitor-
clamped, or cascaded inverter

. V*= ( TjVj+ Tj+1Vj+1 + Tj+2Vj+2 )/T

Figure 3.6 Space-Vector Diagram of multilevel inverter

26
 3.3 Implementation using MATLAB/Simulink

3.3.1 Diode clamped multilevel inverter

The three level diode clamped multilevel inverter circuit is shown in figure 3.7 which
has been built using Matlab /Simulink

Figure 3.7 3-level diode clamped multilevel inverter circuit design

27
 3.3.2 Flying capacitor multilevel inverter

The circuit design of flying capacitor of multilevel inverter is shown in figure 3.8
which has been built using Matlab /Simulink

Figure 3.9 3-level flying capacitor multilevel inverter circuit

design

28
 3.3.3 Cascaded H-bridge multilevel inverter

The circuit design of Cascaded H-bridge multilevel inverter is shown in figure 3.10 which has
been built using Matlab/Simulink

Figure 3.10 3-level cascaded H-bridge multilevel inverter

3.4 summary
To sum it up this chapter has discussed the methodology of the project.
The simulation blocks of three different multilevel inverter topology have been
presented along with different modulation technique utilizing
MATLAB/Simulink.

29
 Chapter 4

4 Preliminary results and discussion

4.1 Introduction

In determining the output of multilevel inverter, three different multilevel topology

circuits are simulated for the cases of three levels using MATLAB/Simulink. The performance
of the output voltage of both MLI topologies is measured based on its THD as mentioned
earlier in literature review

This chapter particularly presents the results of the simulation obtained for the CHMI , DCML
and FCMI when subjected to parameter variations. The simulation obtained for each MLI
topology by implementing different modulation techniques

30
 4.2 Preliminary Simulation results

Figure 4.1 a and figure 4.1 b show the output line and phase voltages for three
level cascaded H-bridge multilevel inverter (CHMLI) by using SPWM
modulation technique.

Figure 4.1a line voltage of 3-level CHMI

Figure 4.1b phase voltage of 3-level CHMI

31
Figure 4.2 a and figure 4.2 b show the output line and phase voltages for three
level diode clamped multilevel inverter (DCMI) by using SPWM modulation
technique

Figure 4.2 a the phase voltage of 3-level DCMLI

Figure 4.2 B the line voltage of 3-level DCMLI

32
Figure 4.3 a and figure 4.3 b show the output line and phase voltages for three
level diode clamped multilevel inverter (DCMI) by using SPWM modulation
technique

Figure 4.3 a the line voltage of 3-level FCMLI

Figure 4.3 a the line voltage of 3-level FCMLI

33
Figure 4.4 show the THD of the CHMLI (FFT) analysis

Figure 4.4 THD of 3-level of CHMLI

34
Figure 4.5 a and 4.5 b show the THD for DCMLI and FCMLI

Figure 4.5 a the THD of DCMLI

Figure 4.5 b the THD of FCMLI

35
4.3 Analysis of the Results

As the aim of this project indicate to propose different multilevel inverter

topologies and compare them in terms of different aspects.
Table 4.1 show the comparison between the three MLI topologies .

Inverter type NO.level Carrier THD% Modulation

frequency techniques
CHMLI 3 1000 22% Spwm
DCMLI 3 1000 23% Spwm
FCMLI 3 1000 24% Spwm
Table 4.1 comparison between MLI topologies

Table 4.2 show the comparsion between MLI topologies in terms of components
used for three level inverter

Inverter type Number of Numbers Number of Total of

switches capacitors diodes components
CHMLI 12 0 0 12
DCMLI 12 2 6 20
FCMLI 12 12 0 24
Table 4.2 number of components used in each MLI topology

Based in the the information tabulated above and by referring to the THD curve
.it can be seen clearly that the CHMLI has the best THD% compared to the other
topology besides it utilize the fewest semiconductors devices where it doesn’t
require any clamping diode or balancing capacitor .Not only that the CHMI is the
easiest topology in terms of circuit complexity especially when implementing
higher number of levels also the CHMI has the easies modulation techniques.
Thus it is widely used in many high and medium voltages applications.

36
4.4 Summary

To sum it up this chapter has discussed the simulations study conducted on 3-

level riveter topologies CHMLI, DCMLI and FCMLI using MATLAB/Simulink. The
date obtained from the simulation results was tabled and compared in terms of
different aspects .From the comparisons and characteristics of each MLI topology the
CHMLI is considered the best topology which utilize less switching devices and
produce less harmonic contents in the output .

37
 Chapter 5

5 Conclusion and recommendation

5.1 Conclusion

The invention of multilevel inverter has provided a numerous advantages in

the power electronic field which came to replace the single level inverter in handling
medium and high voltage application with less switching losses and less harmonic
contents .Different type of multilevel inverter topologies has been proposed to be
applied in the industry .In the literature review three different topologies has been
discussed and compared in terms of THD and other aspects .IT was clear that the
CHMLI is the easiest topology with ,more advantages over the other topology like
DCMLI and FCMLI.The CHMLI has the best THD in the output voltage waveform
and utilize less switching components compare to the DCMLI and FCMLI

The three MLI topologies have been successfully modeled in Matlab/Simulink

with SPWM as the modulation techniques to analyze its output voltage levels
characteristics .This analysis has been made based on the simulation result which allow
better understating of MLI topologies and implementing them in various high and
medium power application including the renewable energy resources such as the solar
energy,wind turbine resources as well as the motor drives applications

38
 5.2 Recommendation

the major advantageous features of MLI over the conventional single level
inverter is that the output of the MLI is almost sinusoidal wave form which only
require simple filtering circuit to get the smooth sinusoidal waveform .Unlike the
single level inverter which require complex filtering circuit due to the large ripple
contents exist in its output waveform. However even if the MLI inverter produce an
output waveforms with less harmonic distortion still require some improvement and
eliminations techniques to produce smoothly waveforms.

Based on this some eliminations techniques and improvements recommended as

follow:

1. Using some modulation techniques that focus in elimination the MLI output
voltage low-order harmonics such selective harmonic elimination PWM
(SHEPWM)
2. Utilizing a better filtering circuits that will produce less THD nearly 5%
3. conducting various analysis and design with consideration the losses incurred
4. implementing new and different design strategy by using less number of
switches such CHMLI
5. verifying the simulation design by utilizing the hardware implementation

39
References

[1] M. Kavitha, A. Arunkumar , N. Gokulnath , S. Arun 4 .New Cascaded H-Bridge Multilevel Inverter
Topology with Reduced Number of Switches and Sources. Final year students / Dept. of EEE / DR.S.J.S
Paul Memorial College of Engineering &Technology / Pondicherry / India. ISSN: 2278-1676 Volume 2,
Issue 6 (Sep-Oct. 2012), PP 26-36
[2] NURSYAFIQAH BINTI ZAHARI. CASCADED H - BRIDGE MULTILEVEL INVERTER. A thesis submitted in
partial fulfillment of the requirement for degree of Bachelor in Electrical Engineering (Electrical)
Faculty of Electrical Engineering Universiti Teknologi Malaysia .JUNE 2013

[3] Aman Parkash , S.L. Shimi S. Chatterji. Harmonics Elimination in Cascade Multilevel Inverters
Using Newton-Raphson and Genetic Algorithm. Department of Electrical Engineering, National
Institute of Technical Teachers’ Training and Research, Chandigarh - 160019, India

[4] Keith Corzine. Operation and Design of Multilevel Inverters. University of Missouri -
Rolla
Developed for the Office of Naval Research December 2003 Revised June 2005

[5] Dnyaneshwar D. Khairnar and V. M. Deshmukh. .Performance Analysis of Diode Clamped 3

Level MOSFET Based Inverter. Department of Electronics and Telecommunication, COET
Bambhori, Jalgaon, India. International Electrical Engineering Journal (IEEJ) Vol. 5 (2014) No.7, pp.
1484-1489 ISSN 2078-2365

[6] Tarun Agarwal. Multilevel Inverter – Types & Advantages. [online]. , Available at:
http://www.elprocus.com/multilevel-inverter-types-advantages/

[7] Mohd Azmi . characterization of a non-conventional multilevel inverter topology. A thesis

submitted in fulfilment of the requirements for the award of the degree of Bachelor of
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[8] H.S.Sangolkar, P.A.Salodkar. Comparative Analysis of Three Topologies of Three-Phase

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[9] Oscar Lopez anchEz. space vector pulse-width modulation for multilevel multiphase
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[10] R.H. Baker, “High-Voltage Converter Circuit,” U.S. Patent Number 4,203,151, May
1980.

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Appendix

Diode clamped multilevel inverter 3 level

41
Flying capacitor multilevel inverter 3-level

42
 Cascaded H-bridge multilevel inverter 3-level

43

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