Recent Advances and Industrial Applications of

Multilevel Converters
AUTHORS
Samir Kouro, Member, IEEE, Mariusz Malinowski, Senior Member, IEEE, K. Gopakumar, Senior Member,
IEEE, Josep Pou, Member, IEEE, Leopoldo G. Franquelo, Fellow, IEEE, Bin Wu, Fellow, IEEE, José
Rodríguez, Senior Member, IEEE Marcelo A. Pérez, Member, IEEE and Jose I. Leon, Member, IEEE

LITERATURE SURVEY
Multilevel converters have been under research and development for more than 3 decades,
and have found successful industrial application. The aim of this paper is to group and
review these recent contributions, in order to establish the current state of the art and trends
of the technology, to provide readers a comprehensive and insightful review of where
multilevel converter technology stands and is heading. Recent advances made in modulation
and control of multilevel converters are also addressed.Multilevel converters are finding
increased attention in industry and academia as one of the preferred choices of electronic
power conversion for high power applications. They are commercialized in standard and
customized products that power a wide range of applications, such as: compressors,
extruders, pumps, fans, grinding mills, rolling mills, conveyors, crushers, blast furnace
blowers, gas turbine starters, mixers, mine hoists, reactive power compensation, marine
propulsion, HVDC transmission, hydro pumped storage, wind energy conversion, and
railway traction to name a few. Recently, many publications have addressed multilevel
converter technology and stressed the growing importance of multilevel converters for high
power applications . These works have a survey and tutorial nature and cover in depth the
traditional and well established multilevel converter topologies like the Neutral Point
Clamped (NPC), Cascaded H-bridge (CHB) and the Flying Capacitor (FC), as well as the
most used modulation methods. Instead, this paper presents a technology review, focused
mainly on the most recent advances made in this field in the past few years, covering new
promising topologies, modulations, controls and operational issues. In addition, one of the
most interesting topics in multilevel converter technology is the rapidly increasing and
diverse application field, which is addressed in this work as well. Also emerging trends,
challenges and possible future directions of the development in multilevel converter
technology are outlined to motivate further work in this field. Researchers all over the world
are contributing to further improve energy efficiency, reliability, power density, simplicity
and cost of multilevelconverters, and broaden their applications.This was followed closely
by a low power development of a flying capacitor (FC) topology the same year.At this point
it can be concluded that multilevel converters have reached a certain level of maturity given
their industrial presence and successful practical application. Nevertheless, the high amount
of recent publications on the subject and the fact that the number of commercially available
topologies has doubled in the past few years, reveals that there is still plenty of room for
further development.It is clear that the development of power electronic devices, the
changes and evolution of the industrial processes and the new more demanding standards
and regulations, will drive and shape the future of multilevel converter technology.
 11-level Multilevel Inverter for Medium Voltage High
Power ID and FD Fan Drives in Power Plant
AUTHORS
B. V. Pranav, Y. Mohana, Mule Sai Krishna Reddy, K.V. Siva Reddy, S. Ravi Teja

LITERATURE SURVEY
Multi-level inverter technology has emerged recently as a very important alternative in the
area of medium-voltage high-power energy control such as ID and FD fans and renewable
energy integration to grid such as solar energy integration which requires pure sinusoidal
voltage with less than five percent THD to synchronize to grid.For the requirement of large
voltage sources(DC) in number, reduced electromagnetic interference, utilization of power
electronic devices having less voltage blocking capability, less percentage of total harmonic
distortion in output voltage, reduced stress on insulation they are mostly used. Various
topologies are used for multilevel inverters. Among them the most commonly used is
cascaded H-bridge (multi-cell).The multilevel inverter (MLI) has thus attracted tremendous
interest in the high-voltage sector. In the power plants ID and FD fans play a major role and
they work under megawatt power drives. If trouble arises with a single draft fan the entire
plant unit generation would be stopped. In this paper the proposed configuration is a
modular multilevel inverter which would drive the ID and FD fans. Even if a single H-
Bridge is failed it acts as a low level inverter and power generation would not be interrupted
energy wastage is will be monitored . To obtain 11-level output five H-bridge cells are
required, but the same 11-level output can be obtained from three H-bridge cells with
unequal voltage rating of dc sources. For example for 11-level with three H-bridge cell
configuration Vdc, 2Vdc and 3Vdc level sources are required. Although reduction in no. of
H- bridge cells is achieved, but this type of configuration is compromising modularity, equal
voltage sharing capability, simplicity in selection of switches [9-10]. Hence the regular
configuration with five H-bridge cells of equal source voltage rating is considered with a
source voltage of Vdc. The proposed converter switching logic and operation. Section-III
dedicated to simulation results and analysis and finally comparison with other shifted PWM
schemes is done and representedThere are traditional multilevel inverters with three forms,
diode-clamped MLI, MLI moving capacitor and cascaded H-bridge MLI.For diode-clamped
MLI, the bulk of diodes are used and the number of diodes decreases with the level
increment.In the power plants ID and FD fans play a major role and they work under
megawatt power drives. If trouble arises with a single draft fan the entire plant unit
generation would be stopped.To validate the topology the MATLAB/SIMULINK model is
done, where carrier frequency fc is take as 1.35 kHz, single level voltage Vdc is taken as
100 volts. The output is shown in figure above.Megawatt power drives are used to run FD
and ID fans in thermal power plants.Megawatt power drives can be run only with the help of
multilevel inverters. In the implemented inverter even if there is any failure in one of the
bridges it would act as a low level inverter because of its modular structure. Modularity
plays a key role here. If this is used to run a drive its speed and torque characteristics settles
well and it can be observed the ripple in the torque.
Reduction of Current Harmonics by Cascaded Multilevel
Inverter based Shunt Active Power Filters
AUTHORS
R. Sheba Rani, C. Srinivasa Rao, M. Vijaya Kumar

LITERATURE SURVEY
Majority of loads in use today are power electronics based non-linear devices. Despite being
compact and providing low energy consumption these loads generate inherent harmonics.
Harmonics have several adverse effects such as interference with the communication lines,
incorrect meter readings, increased losses, increased heating of electrical and sensitive
electronic equipment. Sophisticated power electronic converter based filters named as Shunt
Active Power Filters (SAPF) are widely being employed that provide superior harmonic
filtering capabilities. Basic objective of SAPF is to generate or absorb currents that
compensate harmonic currents produced by non- linear loads. These currents should be
opposite in phase but have equivalent magnitude as that of harmonic currents. As compared
to Diode-Clamped and Flying capacitor multilevel inverters, Cascaded multilevel
configuration is employed for many applications due to ease of control and simple structure.

In this research paper, power quality in a three-phase three- wire system is improved by
reducing source side current harmonics produced by a non-linear load. Initially a three-level
Cascaded multilevel inverter based SAPF is developed and its performance is analyzed by
using advanced Adaptive Neuro Fuzzy Inference System (ANFIS) controller. DC link
capacitor voltage and percentage Total Harmonic Distortion (%THD) in source currents is
measured at PCC for balanced loading conditions and results are compared. In this paper, it
is also proposed to incorporate multilevel inverter topology concepts by employing Five-
Level and Seven-Level Cascaded Multilevel Inverters as VSI circuit for SAPF. Performance
of these multilevel Shunt Active power filters is analyzed by ANFIS controller.
Instantaneous Active-Reactive power theory is implemented to compute reference
compensating currents for all Shunt Active power filter models. Phase Disposition type
Pulse Width modulation is chosen for generating gate pulses for VSI circuits of all Cascaded
multilevel inverter configurations. Three-level, Five-level and Seven-level Shunt active
power filter models are developed and simulated using MATLAB/ Simulink and results are
presented.

Harmonics are referred to as voltages or currents that have frequencies (usually integer
multiples) higher than the standard 50 Hertz design frequency of an electrical system.
Harmonics when left unidentified may cause severe consequences such as total damage to
consumer equipment. Passive filters are a traditional approach to eliminate harmonics.
Shunt passive filter also referred to as notch filter is the most economical type of all passive
filters . Usage of series passive filters is limited as they are tuned to eliminate harmonics of
only one particular frequency. Hence separate series filters need to be designed for each
harmonic to be filtered out. Other configurations such as First-order, second-order and third-
order high pass filters were also developed. These filters are not widely used due to high
cost and low reliability. Application of passive filters is restricted in varying load conditions
due to their incapability to provide necessary compensation. In spite of extensive research,
usage of passive filters has become obsolete due to their shortcomings. Passive filers cause
resonance with the line impedance in the system where they are placed. Thus stability of the
system is reduced. Computation of tuning frequency is difficult and any small discrepancy
may result in inaccurate tuning frequency value . Owing to limitations of passive filters,
active filtering technique was introduced and widely implemented.

The concept of active filtering has been subjected to extensive research for past three
decades. The idea of active power filtering for mitigating current harmonics was proposed
by Sasaki and Machida in 1971. For effective harmonic filtering by an active power filter,
choice of a suitable control technique, inverter configuration and relevant pulse width
modulation technique plays a significant role. Harmonic extraction methods are broadly
classified into Frequency domain and Time domain methods. Several time domain methods
were proposed for estimating reference currents such that instantaneous compensation may
be provided for current or voltage harmonics present in a system. Time domain methods are
advantageous for online applications where compensation should be provided very quickly.
PQ theory was first proposed by Akagi, Nabae and Kanazawa. This method is also named as
Instantaneous Reactive Power theory (IRP). This technique was employed for control of
APFs and power line conditioners for the purpose of instantaneous harmonic mitigation.
This method is quite simple as it involves simple calculations and hence is easy to
implement.

This paper discussed the performance of three- level, five- level and seven- level CMLI
based SAPFs for harmonic mitigation in a three- phase system with balanced load. PQ
theory was implemented for estimating reference compensating currents of SAPF. LSPWM
method was implemented for generating gating pulses for three- level, five- level and seven-
level CMLIs. ANFIS controller was employed for processing the error between reference
and actual DC link voltages such that DC link voltage is maintained constant. The
performance of these SAPFs was observed and corresponding waveforms were presented.
%THD in source currents was measured and compared. It was observed that when three-
level CMLI based SAPF was connected to the system, %THD is source current at PCC is
about 6.30% which exceeds IEEE standards. %THD in source currents is reduced to 4.80%
when five- level CMLI based SAPF is connected. It was observed that when seven-level
SAPF was employed harmonic content in the source current at PCC is reduced to an
acceptable level of 1.30%. Thus ANFIS controller based seven- level SAPF resulted in
satisfactory current harmonic mitigation as compared to three- level and five- level SAPFs.
 Multilevel Inverter For Solar Power Applications
AUTHORS
L.Pattathurani, Rajat Kumar Dwibedi, Dr.S.S.Dash

LITERATURE SURVEY
Multilevel voltage source inverters offer several advantages compared to their conventional
counterparts. Synthesizing the AC output terminal voltage from several levels of voltages,
staircase waveforms can be produced, which approach the sinusoidal waveform with low
harmonic distortion, thus reducing the filter requirements. By increasing the level of the
inverter we can get several advantages: get a good voltage wave form, Very low THD,
reduced volume and cost. The need of several sources on the DC side of the converter
makes multilevel technology attractive for photovoltaic applications. This paper provides an
overview of a multilevel inverter topology and investigates their suitability for singlephase
photovoltaic systems. A simulation model is based on MATLAB/SIMULINK is developed.
An experimental 40W prototype inverter is built and tested. The results experimentally
validate the proposed PWM based three H-bridge 27 level cascaded multilevel inverter.

Multilevel converter technology is based on the synthesis of the AC voltage from several
different voltage levels on the DC bus. As the number of voltage levels on the DC side
increases, the synthesized output waveform adds more steps, producing a staircase wave
which approaches the sinusoidal wave with minimum harmonic distortion. Multilevel
converters are particularly interesting for high power applications such as FACTS since the
need of filters is reduced and the efficiency is high because all devices switch at
fundamental frequency. In low power applications where switching frequencies are not as
restricted as in high power applications various control methods such as multicarrier pulse
width modulation or multiple hysteresis band control methods can be used to further reduce
harmonics in the stepped waveforms. Multilevel converter topologies are especially suitable
for PV applications since due to the modular structure of PV arrays different DC voltage
levels can easily be provided. A multilevel converter not only achieves low power ratings,
but also enables the use of renewable energy sources. Renewable energy sources such as
photovoltaic, wind, and fuel cells can be easily interfaced to a multilevel converter system
for a high power application.

An improved new hybrid 27 level multilevel inverter structure is proposed. Basic new
hybrid inverter scheme is to get the better sinusoidal output compared with low level
inverters. The asymmetrical multilevel inverter is used to obtain a high resolution. By this
method decrease the input voltage and get better efficiency in a 27 level multi level inverter
structure. As per the design of the proposed 27 level multilevel inverter, the total harmonic
distortion is dramatically reduced to 4.84%.The asymmetrical hybrid technique is used to
improve the level of inverter and extends the design flexibility and reduces the harmonics.
 New Multilevel Inverter Topology with Reduced
Component Count
AUTHORS
Ahmed Salem, Student Member, IEEE, Huynh Van Khang, Member, IEEE and Kjell G.
Robbersmyr, Senior Member, IEEE

LITERATURE SURVEY
This paper introduces a new topology of modular multilevel inverters, being suitable in
medium and high voltage applications. As compared to the existing circuits, the proposed
topology has advantages of high ‘levels/components’ ratio, increasing the output voltage
levels without increasing the voltage stress across the used switches, structure simplicity,
isolation features, and modularity. These merits allow it to fit well in high-reliability
medium-power applications, which require fast troubleshooting and maintenance flexibility.
Operating principles of the proposed scheme are detailed in low frequency and pulse width
modulation. Simulation and experimental results validate the effectiveness of the circuit
under different modulation and load conditions. Further, a comparative study between the
proposed topology and other existing multilevel topologies was conducted and summarized
in this paper.

Modular multilevel inverters (MMLIs) have got great attention in both academia and
industry due to their advantages such as high modularity, dynamics, power quality, low total
harmonic distortion (THD), and low dv/dt. Such merits make MMLIs more suitable for an
efficient and reliable power converter in renewable energy (RE) than counterparts, i.e. two-
level, Quasi-Z-Source and matrix converter.

In this study, a new modular multilevel topology suitable for high-voltage medium power
applications was proposed. Although the proposed topology can produce N-level, only five-
level version was studied and validated in this paper. For the purpose of illustrating
operating principles of the proposed topology, both pulse width and low-frequency
modulation strategies are successfully developed and implemented. Further, the simulation
results were experimentally validated by using an in-house lab setup. Moreover, a
comparative study between the proposed circuit and other multilevel inverter topologies was
conducted and summarized. Compared to the existing five-level topologies, the proposed
topology has the merits of using low component count for producing the same number of
output voltage level. Finally, several significant limitations due to using transformers such
as size, noise, and presence of leakage or parasitic inductance, etc. need to be considered in
certain applications.
 A Thirteen Level Inverter Design Based on Hybrid
MLI Topology for Minimum THD
AUTHORS
S.Lakshmipriya, R.K.Raghav, Dr.M.Muruganandam

LITERATURE SURVEY
To minimize the power demand and scarcity we have to improve the power extracting
methods. Multilevel inverter is used to extract power from solar cells, fuel cells and
batteries. It synthesizes the desired ac output waveform from several dc sources. This paper
presents a three phase hybrid multilevel inverter topology that uses thirteen level transistor
clamped H-Bridge with minimum total harmonic distortion. To achieve a better voltage
utilisation and harmonics reduction, Multicarrier Phase Shift Pulse Width Modulation
control technology is used. The analysis of output voltage harmonics and the total power
losses converging the switching power losses are carried out and compared with the
cascaded neutral point clamped and conventional H-Bridge inverters. A new method to
balance the system voltage in each source is developed and tested. For the verifications it is
tested on three phase application systems. From the results, the proposed inverter provides
higher output quality with relatively less harmonics losses and THD as compared to the
other conventional inverters.

Multilevel converters are mainly used to synthesis a required single or three-phase voltage
waveform. The required multi-staircase output voltage is obtained by combining several
balanced dc voltage sources. The most commonly used independent sources are Solar cells,
fuel cells, batteries and ultra-capacitors [1]. One important application of multilevel
converters is mainly concentrated on medium and high-power conversion systems. Now a
day, there exist three commercial topologies of multilevel voltage-source inverters: neutral
point clamped (NPC) or diode clamped inverter, cascaded H-bridge (CHB), and flying
capacitors (FCs). Among these three topologies, cascaded multilevel inverter reaches the
higher output voltage and power levels and the higher reliability due to its modular
topology.

In this paper, multilevel inverter configuration based on a thirteen-level TCHB inverter

with multicarrier phase shifted PWM modulation technology, is analyzed and presented. A
new method hybrid cascaded multilevel inverter was developed and tested with balanced
DC source for better voltage utilization. The output voltages of the proposed inverter were
analysed in various operating conditions. Detailed comparisons between the proposed
inverter, NPC, 5LCHB and 9L-CHB in terms of power quality, power losses and total
harmonic distortions also analysed. From the observations, the proposed inverter is found
potential not only for medium-voltage drive application but also other applications like high
voltage drives demanding higher output quality.
 Comparative Analysis of Conventional and
Modified H- Bridge Inverter Configuration
AUTHORS
Chithaj Mallikarjun, Niteesh S. Shanbog, Sangeeta Modi

LITERATURE SURVEY
In this paper a comparative analysis is presented for conventional and modified H Bridge
configuration of 5 and 7 level inverter. A modified H Bridge converter utilizes a reduced
number of switches for the same level output as compared to the conventional H-Bridge
configuration. The lower number of switches will result in reduced switching losses,
installation cost and converter cost. MATLAB/SIMULINK software is used for simulation
of the different configurations used for the comparison. R and RL type of load is used and
the corresponding voltage waveform is analyzed for its harmonic content. It can be seen
from the results obtained that the Total Harmonic Distortion (THD) in the modified and
conventional 7 level configuration is less than that of the 5 level inverter configurations.

The increase in demand of power supply has led to increased focus on the development of
renewable energy sources. Solar energy is one such major source of renewable energy. Solar
energy produces power which is dc in nature. This dc power will then have to be converted
into ac for in order to make it compatible with the present day equipments. This conversion
of dc power to ac is done using cascaded H bridge multilevel inverters with preferably low
THD[1]. This study has the potential to help a design engineer to select an appropriate
multilevel inverter for the application required. Multilevel inverters can be classified as
current source inverters or voltage source inverters. In the case of a multilevel current
source inverter, a short circuit in the circuit can cause very fault current which will damage
any other equipments connected to the circuit. Hence, multilevel voltage source inverters
preferred [2]. Multilevel voltage source inverters can be classified into three main categories
as (i) Cascaded H

bridge multilevel inverter, (ii) Neutral point clamped multilevel inverter and (iii) Flying
capacitor multilevel inverter. Cascaded H bridge multilevel inverter is more preferred
because it gives power levels, high output voltage, and reliability. The control of the
switches in such an inverter is also simple and easy to construct. The cascaded H-bridge
inverters also use reduced number of switches and have a modular structure which makes it
easy to fabricate. Drive applications which have high power and high voltage ratings also
make use of these inverters. High power and power quality applications also make use of
these H-bridge multilevel inverters. Some of the other applications are photovoltaic power
conversion, reactive power compensation applications, magnetic resonance imaging, static
synchronous compensators active filter, magnetic resonance imaging uninterruptible power
supplies, and magnetic resonance imaging. Potential applications include electric and hybrid
power trains. Any distortion in the grid due to the harmonic content will have to be reduced
in order to have maximum energy efficiency. Lakshmi et al introduced cascade seven level
inverter which has reduced number of switches which operate using a level shifting PWM
technique. A review on multilevel inverter configuration was proposed by Pharne et al. A
new multilevel converter configuration with reduced number of power electronic
components was described by Ebrahimi et al. A new configuration of Cascaded multilevel
converters with reduced number of components for high-voltage applications was proposed
by Babaei et al . Another new multilevel inverter configuration’s design and implementation
was proposed by Najafi et al. Similarly, a cascade multilevel converter configuration with
reduced number of switches was described by Ebrahim Babaei. A survey of multilevel
inverter configurations, controls and applications was made by Rodriguez et al. A cascaded
multilevel inverter with regeneration capability and a reduced number of switches was dealt
with by Lezana et.

Upon comparing the output voltages obtained from both 5 and 7 level inverter, the output of
the 7 level inverter is found to be closer to a sine wave and also has lower harmonic content
than the 5 level inverter. The advantage of the modified configuration lies in the fact that it
uses lesser number of switches than the conventional H bridge configuration. This results in
lower costs, lower switching losses, and lower electromagnetic interference. Table 5
represents the THD results obtained for conventional 5 level & 7 level inverter
configurations. Simulation results presented in table 5 reveals that the total harmonic
distortion is reduced to 16.72 % from 28.98 % in 7 level conventional H Bridge
configuration when compared with 5 level H bridge configuration. Simulation results
presented in table 6 reveals that the total harmonic distortion is reduced to 17.02 % from
28.98 % in 7 level modified H Bridge configuration when compared with 5 level modified
bridge configuration. So it is concluded that modified 7 level H bridge configuration is
better than modified and conventional 5 level inverters. Hence can be considered for the
further studies.