A Study of Asymmetrical Multilevel Inverter Topologies with Less Number of Devices and Low THD: A Review

Multilevel inverters (MLI) are attracting researchers and industrialists due to their power conversion significance and versatile applications in the power sector and industrial automation. All industrial and domestic power applications require a smooth sinusoidal waveform, which cannot be produced directly by means of power sources like fuel cells, batteries, photovoltaic arrays, etc. A more similar looking modified sinusoidal waveform can be obtained by increases the output voltage levels of the inverter by using power electronic semiconductor switches, where more number of levels results in low Total Harmonic Distortion (THD). To do so, a large number of devices are used, which eventually decreases the overall power conversion efficiency of the MLI. This paper presents a technical comparison between the latest state of the art asymmetrical multilevel inverter topologies having low THD that is implemented using less number of switching devices to produce a high-level output. The study indicates improved overall power conversion efficiency of the MLI with respect to the reduced number of devices, irrespective of the inverter’s THD.

[1]  Juan Dixon,et al.  High-Frequency Link: A Solution for Using Only One DC Source in Asymmetric Cascaded Multilevel Inverters , 2011, IEEE Transactions on Industrial Electronics.

[2]  Zhang Yun,et al.  Hybrid Control Strategy for a Novel Asymmetrical Multilevel Inverter , 2010, 2010 International Conference on Intelligent System Design and Engineering Application.

[3]  Konstantin O. Khokhlov,et al.  Electric Power Converter with a Wide Input Voltage Range , 2016 .

[4]  A. A. Valdez-Fernandez,et al.  A single-phase asymmetrical NPC inverter topology , 2016, 2016 13th International Conference on Power Electronics (CIEP).

[5]  Tore Undeland,et al.  Medium-Voltage Drive for Induction Machine With Multilevel Dodecagonal Voltage Space Vectors With Symmetric Triangles , 2015, IEEE Transactions on Industrial Electronics.

[6]  A. Sireesha,et al.  Generalized cascaded Multi Level Inverter using reduced number of components with PV systems , 2016, 2016 Biennial International Conference on Power and Energy Systems: Towards Sustainable Energy (PESTSE).

[7]  Ebrahim Babaei,et al.  A new basic unit for cascaded multilevel inverters with reduced number of power electronic devices , 2016, 2016 7th Power Electronics and Drive Systems Technologies Conference (PEDSTC).

[8]  S. Umashankar,et al.  New cost effective cascaded twenty one level asymmetrical inverter with reduced number of switches and DC sources , 2014, 2014 International Conference on Advances in Electrical Engineering (ICAEE).

[9]  Shahrin Md. Ayob,et al.  Asymmetrical Nine-Level Inverter Topology with Reduce Power Semicondutor Devices , 2018 .

[10]  K. Gopakumar,et al.  A Harmonic Suppression Scheme for Full Speed Range of a Two-Level Inverter Fed Induction Motor Drive Using Switched Capacitive Filter , 2017, IEEE Transactions on Power Electronics.

[11]  J. S. Artal-Sevil,et al.  Asymmetrical multilevel inverter with staircase modulation for variable frequency drives in fractional horsepower applications , 2015, 2015 17th European Conference on Power Electronics and Applications (EPE'15 ECCE-Europe).

[12]  N. Sandeep,et al.  Novel asymmetrical multilevel inverter topology with reduced number of switches for photovoltaic applications , 2015, 2015 International Conference on Computation of Power, Energy, Information and Communication (ICCPEIC).

[13]  Baoming Ge,et al.  Medium-Voltage Multilevel Converters—State of the Art, Challenges, and Requirements in Industrial Applications , 2010, IEEE Transactions on Industrial Electronics.

[14]  Ravi Raushan,et al.  Comparative study of asymmetrical configuration of multilevel inverter for different levels , 2016, 2016 3rd International Conference on Recent Advances in Information Technology (RAIT).

[15]  Mehrdad Tarafdar Hagh,et al.  Harmonic Elimination of Cascade Multilevel Inverters with Nonequal DC Sources Using Particle Swarm Optimization , 2010, IEEE Transactions on Industrial Electronics.

[16]  Rachid Taleb,et al.  A comparative analysis of multicarrier SPWM strategies for five-level flying capacitor inverter , 2016, 2016 8th International Conference on Modelling, Identification and Control (ICMIC).

[17]  Mahmadasraf A. Mulla,et al.  A new multilevel inverter topology with reduced device count and blocking voltage , 2016, 2016 IEEE 16th International Conference on Environment and Electrical Engineering (EEEIC).

[18]  H. A. Cohen.  On A Switching Circuit , 1960 .

[19]  Fang Zheng Peng,et al.  Multilevel converters-a new breed of power converters , 1995, IAS '95. Conference Record of the 1995 IEEE Industry Applications Conference Thirtieth IAS Annual Meeting.

[20]  Bin Wu,et al.  Recent Advances and Industrial Applications of Multilevel Converters , 2010, IEEE Transactions on Industrial Electronics.

[21]  Omid Alavi,et al.  A Comparative Reliability Study of Three Fundamental Multilevel Inverters Using Two Different Approaches , 2016 .

[22]  D.K. Palwalia,et al.  A novel PWM control for asymmetric multilevel inverter based on half bridge module , 2016, 2016 IEEE 7th Power India International Conference (PIICON).

[23]  Tianzhen Wang,et al.  Model predictive control for asymmetrical cascaded H-Bridge multilevel grid-connected inverter with flying capacitor , 2014, IECON 2014 - 40th Annual Conference of the IEEE Industrial Electronics Society.

[24]  T.A. Meynard,et al.  Multi-level conversion: high voltage choppers and voltage-source inverters , 1992, PESC '92 Record. 23rd Annual IEEE Power Electronics Specialists Conference.

[25]  Krishna Kumar Gupta,et al.  Multilevel Inverter Topologies With Reduced Device Count: A Review , 2016, IEEE Transactions on Power Electronics.

[26]  J. Suganthi Vinodhini,et al.  27 Level/IGBT asymmetrical multilevel inverter using PWM for locomotives , 2016, 2016 Second International Conference on Science Technology Engineering and Management (ICONSTEM).

[27]  A. K. Panda,et al.  Performance of cascade multilevel H-Bridge inverter with single DC source by employing low frequency three-phase transformers , 2010, IECON 2010 - 36th Annual Conference on IEEE Industrial Electronics Society.

[28]  K. Gopakumar,et al.  Low-Order Harmonic Suppression for Open-End Winding IM With Dodecagonal Space Vector Using a Single DC-Link Supply , 2015, IEEE Transactions on Industrial Electronics.

[29]  S. Ranjan,et al.  Analysis of asymmetrical cascaded multilevel inverter for traction systems , 2013, 2013 International Conference on Energy Efficient Technologies for Sustainability.

[30]  P. Renuga,et al.  A comparative study of Total Harmonic Distortion in Multi level inverter topologies , 2012 .

[31]  K. Ragavan,et al.  DC-Link capacitor voltage balancing in Neutral Point Clamped inverters using Space Vector Modulation , 2015, 2015 Annual IEEE India Conference (INDICON).

[32]  Hirofumi Akagi,et al.  A New Neutral-Point-Clamped PWM Inverter , 1981, IEEE Transactions on Industry Applications.

[33]  Sai Babu Choppavarapu,et al.  Implementation, comparison and experimental verification of nearest vector control and nearest level control techniques for 27-level asymmetrical CHB multilevel inverter , 2016, 2016 International Conference on Control, Instrumentation, Communication and Computational Technologies (ICCICCT).