Novel Multilevel Hybrid Cascaded Inverter for High Power Motion Control Systems

The paper presents an analysis of a novel multilevel inverter that can be used in the power modules of motion control systems for soft starting and speed control of high power medium voltage synchronous and induction motors. The inverter is constructed from hybrid cascaded H-bridge cells. The advantages of the proposed inverter upon standard topologies are significant reduction of electrical components and as a result, smaller size and weight. The proposed approach can be extended to any desired number of voltage levels. Extensive simulation results validate the practicability of the proposed inverter. Several aspects, such as Total Harmonic Distortion Factor of the inverter output currents and voltages, harmonic content, and frequency spectrum distribution are studied.