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Harmonic minimization of a solar fed cascaded H Bridge inverter using

Artificial Neural Network

Conference Paper · April 2013

DOI: 10.1109/ICEETS.2013.6533376

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Shanmuga Aravind Dr.S.Albert Alexander

K S R INSTITUTE FOR ENGINEERING AND TECHNOLOGY Kongu Engineering College
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Harmonic Minimization of a Solar fed Cascaded H
Bridge Inverter using Artificial Neural Network
P. Shanmuga Aravind
M.E - Control & Instrumentation Engineering
Department of Electronics and Instrumentation Engineering
Kongu Engineering College, Perundurai, India.
kpsaravind@gmail.com
Abstract –The major concern in the design of inverters is
dealing with harmonics. Harmonics in inverter are generated
due to improper selection of switching angles to the gates of the
inverter switches. The presence of harmonics in inverter
output will affect the loads connected to it. This paper deals
with the selective harmonic elimination problem in multilevel
inverter using Artificial Neural Networks (ANN) to generate
the switching angles for an eleven-level full-bridge cascaded H
bridge multilevel inverter powered by five varying DC input
sources (solar panels). The Harmonic equations are solved and
angles are obtained such that the fundamental was kept
constant and the low-order harmonics were minimized or
eliminated. The different data sets of angle values for various
input DC voltage conditions are obtained. The data sets thus
collected are used to train the multi-layered feed forward
neural network. The trained network is then tested for its
performance. The network model is integrated with cascaded
H bridge multilevel inverter to generate the switching angles in
real-time.
Keywords—Artificial Neural Network; Multilevel Inverter;
Selective Harmonics Elimination; Total Harmonics Distortion;
Pulse Width Modulation.
I. INTRODUCTION
The electrical power converter that converts DC to AC is
Inverter. DC to AC conversion is needed in many fields
such as power conditioning, harmonic compensation, motor
drives, and renewable energy grid-integration. In power
systems it is required to eliminate the harmonic contents
present in the output of inverter. Inverters plays vital role in
many renewable energy applications. In photovoltaic
applications, the inverter is fed by the DC electrical energy
output of a photovoltaic module or array. The inverter then
converts it into an AC voltage which is to be interfaced with
either a load or the utility grid. Inverters may also get
employed in other renewable systems, such as wind turbines
etc. In inverters the output waveforms will contain
harmonics. Elimination theory and the idea of resultants can
be used to eliminate the lower order harmonics in a
multilevel inverter that has non-equal DC sources [5]. A
difficulty with method is that when there are several DC
sources, the degrees of the polynomials are quite large
making the computational burden of their resultant
polynomials are quite high [6].
Genetic algorithm based method to solve for harmonic
optimization problem for seven level inverter has been
978-1-4673-6150-7/13/$31.00 ©2013 IEEE
S. Albert Alexander
Assistant Professor (Senior Grade)
Department of Electrical and Electronics Engineering
Kongu Engineering College, Perundurai, India.
ootyalex@gmail.com
reported that for some modulation indices no solution sets
exists [13].
II. MULTILEVEL INVERTER
A multilevel converter has several advantages over a
conventional two-level converter that uses high switching
frequency pulse width modulation (PWM) [16]. Multilevel
inverters generate a staircase waveform. By increasing the
number of output levels, the output voltages have more
steps and harmonic content on the output voltage and the
THD values are reduced [11]. Therefore, they produce high
quality output voltage by increasing the number of levels
[14]. In Cascaded H-Bridge Multi Level Inverter topology,
the H-bridges are connected in series. With the increase in
H- bridges in a phase, the output voltage waveform tends to
be more sinusoidal. In n-level topology, (n-1)/2 identical H-
Bridges are used in every phase. There must be a separate
DC source for the DC bus of every individual H-bridge.
Hence, this topology is useful for collecting energy from
renewable energy resources e.g., solar panels and fuel cell.
Cascaded H-Bridge inverter topology offers better
performance compared to other topologies [16]. Thus high
resolution multilevel waveforms can be achieved with
relatively low number of components.
III. SOLAR PANEL MODELING
The power circuit for the multilevel inverter deals with
the input DC supply given to each stage of the H Bridge.
The work starts with the modeling of solar panel. Modeling
is done with the several parallel and series combinations of
the solar cells to meet the required output voltage and short
circuit current ratings. In general the solar panel outputs a
voltage which is found be a varying from time to time
because of its dependency on various environmental
conditions responsible for the production of voltage in solar
cell [15].
A. Circuit for obtaining V-I Characteristics of the
developed Solar Panel
The interconnection of solar cells will produce the solar
panel of the desired open circuit voltage and short circuit
current ratings. Each solar cell is supplied with the
irradiance of specific value and various other parameters
such as electrical and temperature dependent parameters.
Solar cells are the simscape components and so it is to be
converted into equivalent Simulink signal while going for
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simulations. So several converters such as Simulink-
simscape and its vice versa are connected in the simulation
circuit as shown in the Figure 2 .The V-I characteristics of
the solar panel model developed is obtained with the circuit
and is shown in the Figure 3. It is found to be similar to the
V-I characteristics obtained from the hardware implemented
circuit [3, 10].
where,
n -order of harmonics to be eliminated
V1, V2, V3, V4, V5 are unequal voltage sources
θ1, θ2, θ3, θ4, θ5 are switching angles
Vout is the output voltage
Any periodic waveform can be shown to be the
superposition of a fundamental and a set of harmonic
components. By applying Fourier transformation, these
components can be extracted [17]. The frequency of each
harmonic component is a multiple of its fundamental. The
most widely used method to measure the quality of
waveform is the Total Harmonics Distortion (THD), which
is defined in terms of the magnitudes of the harmonics, Hn
at pulsation nω, where ω is the pulsation of the fundamental
component whose magnitude is H1 and n is an integer. The
THD is mathematically given by equation (2),
∞ 2
∑ Hn
T HD = n=2 (2)
H1

Figure 2 simulation circuit for V-I characteristics where,

H1 is the fundamental component and
Hn stands for all other harmonic components.
In Selective Harmonic Elimination (SHE) method only
harmonics of selective orders are eliminated. In three-phase
applications, the multiples of the third harmonic vectors will
add to zero in the line voltage. Hence even order harmonics
and the triplen harmonics are not considered in this system
[9].
A number of methods are available for using selective
Figure 3 Obtained V-I Characteristics
harmonic elimination (SHE) or minimization have been
reported for fundamental frequency operation using the
IV. SELECTIVE HARMONIC ELIMINATION most common multilevel inverter topologies. The cascaded
Selective Harmonic Elimination (SHE) comes under the MLI configuration has independent DC sources that may
category of lower switching frequency method [7]. This have different voltage levels. Many methods fail for real-
method is used to eliminate the selective order harmonics in time estimation of switching angles and for unequal DC
the output voltage waveform [2,8]. The elimination of low- sources and in genetic algorithm based approach a large
order harmonics is an important issue in power electronics lookup table is needed [1]. In this method the lookup table is
applications. Therefore in order to eliminate the lower order replaced by an artificial neural network (ANN), which, if
harmonics SHE method is used. Performance of inverter is well trained has the inherent capability of generalizing
also improved by incorporating selective harmonic solutions i.e., correct range of data is used for training and if
elimination [17]. In this method the switching angles are the ANN is not over trained, the network will fill in the
computed such that a desired fundamental sinusoidal solution gap properly.
voltage is produced while at the same time certain order Initially harmonic elimination equations are solved in
harmonics are eliminated. Mathcad Prime 2.0 by providing the switching angle values
13 as the guess values. Various set of input voltages are given
Vo u t ( ω t ) = ∑ and after solving the harmonic elimination equations
n = 1 , 5, 7 corresponding sets of switching angles are obtained. The
⎛ ⎛ V1 c o s ( n θ 1) + V2 c o s ( n θ 2 ) ⎞⎞ obtained datasets are tabulated and used for training and
⎜ 4 ⎜ ⎟⎟ s i n ( n ω t ) testing of the neural network. The trained network is
X + V3 c o s ( n θ 3) + V4 c o s ( n θ 4) ( 1) integrated with a eleven level inverter to produce the
⎜ π.n ⎜ ⎟⎟
⎜ ⎜ ⎟⎟ switching angles to the inverter switches based on the input
⎝ ⎝ + V5 c o s ( n θ 5) ⎠⎠

164
DC voltages. The ANN is used to generate the switching TABLE 1 Datasets for Neural Network training
angles online which are provided to the MLI. The well Input Voltage from Switching Angle (Degree)
trained neural network is a good tool to output a harmonic Solar Panel (Volts)
eliminated switching angle for the corresponding voltage
from the solar panel. The output voltage waveform thus
obtained from the MLI contains show reduction in THD [42,47,45,44,44] [4.6983,16.9596,23.5486,39.706,59.4157]
value. The Harmonic elimination equations for an eleven [41,45,45,43,44] [6.761,19.079,27.273,45.779,62.624]
level inverter are given by, [42,44,46,48,50] [5.271,19.309,24.351,43.144,61.421]
. .
V cos(θ ) + V cos(θ ) + V cos(θ )
1 1 2 2 3 3 . .
[45,46,44,45,48] [6.303,17.934,25.84,41.998,60.275]
+ V cos(θ ) + V cos(θ ) = (π * V / 4) (3)
4 4 5 5 f
V. NEURAL NETWORK
V cos(5θ ) + V cos(5θ ) + V cos(5θ )
1 1 2 2 3 3
The Artificial Neural Network model implemented in
this work is a multilayered feed forward perceptron network
+ V4 cos(5θ 4 ) + V5 cos(5θ 5 ) =0 (4)
with two hidden layers. First hidden layer consists of twenty
neurons and the second one is with ten neurons. Both the
V1cos(7θ1 ) + V2 cos(7θ 2 ) + V3 cos(7θ 3 ) hidden layers consist of ‘tansig’ as the activation function
and the output layer with five neurons consists of ‘purlin’ as
+ V4 cos(7θ 4 ) + V5 cos(7θ 5 ) =0 (5) the activation function. The training method which yields
good performance for this work is ‘Levenberg-Marquardt
back propagation’ algorithm. The network is created with
V cos(11θ ) + V cos(11θ ) + V cos(11θ ) the above specifications and trained with the datasets
1 1 2 2 3 3
collected. The Simulink (MATLAB) model of the Neural
+ V cos(11θ ) + V cos(11θ ) =0 (6) Network is then generated and integrated with an eleven
4 4 5 5
level cascaded H-bridge inverter circuit and the network is
utilized for the harmonic minimization in multilevel
V cos(13θ ) + V cos(13θ ) + V cos(13θ )
1 1 2 2 3 3 inverter. The architecture of the implemented artificial
network is shown in the Figure 4.
+ V4 cos(13θ 4 ) + V5 cos(13θ 5 ) =0 (7)

For an eleven level inverter, the above equations from

(3) to (7) are solved. Here odd and non-triplen harmonics
are taken into consideration. For a set of five stages of input
DC voltage values the output of five switching angles are
obtained. Based on the formula (number of
levels=2*number of stages+1) the output voltage waveform
thus produced will contain eleven levels. The guess values
provided for solving the above equations in Mathcad are
α1=15o, α2=30o, α3=45o, α4=60o, α5=75o. In the above
equations it is clear that the by providing the fundamental
voltage with desired value and other harmonic components
equal to zero the lower order harmonic contents such as
fifth, seventh, eleventh and thirteenth order harmonic
contents are minimized. The datasets thus collected by
solving the equations from (3) to (7) by providing various
values of voltages are collected and are used for the neural
network training and testing. About five hundred data are
collected and among them fitting data are selected and 75% Figure 4 Neural Network Architecture
data are used for training the neural network and 25% data
are used for testing purpose. Some of the data collected by VI. SIMULATION AND RESULTS
solving the non-linear harmonic elimination equations [4] The inverter is powered with the voltage from the solar
are tabulated in Table 1. panel and the output waveform obtained will have an eleven
level waveform .The input voltages considered for
simulation are 43V, 50V, 48V, 43V, 40V. The obtained

165
eleven level waveform from a multilevel inverter controlled
by the neural network is shown in the Figure 5. The
corresponding FFT analysis is done for the obtained
waveform and is shown in Figure 6.From the obtained FFT
analysis it is clear that the trained neural network is found to
be good in convergence towards the correct switching
angles and also reduces the THD value to a great extent.
With this reduction in minimization of harmonics in the
output waveform the necessity for the large output filter to
be connected greatly reduces and also real time control
without offline calculation of switching angle is possible
[12]. Figure 7 THD comparison chart

VII. CONCLUSION
The analytic calculation of the angles through different
paths such as theory of resultant and genetic algorithm have
various disadvantages such as offline calculation, need of
lookup tables and time consumption is drastically reduced
by following angle calculation through neural network
method. Maximum power point tacking of solar panels will
also be a good approach for improved performance.
Implementation of this same circuit to the three phase
supply will also lead to reduction in THD to even more to a
good value due to cancellation of triplen order harmonics in
three phase supply. Hardware implementation of the
multilevel inverter can be done with DSP or FPGA
processor.
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
Figure 5 Output voltage waveform of eleven level inverter obtained by NN
The authors gratefully acknowledge and thank the
Department of Science and Technology (DST), Government
of India for sanctioning the research grant under
Technology Systems Development Scheme to complete this
work.
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