Applications of cascade multilevel inverters

Cascade multilevel inverters have been developed for electric utility applications. A cascade M level inverter consists of (M 1)/2 H bridges in which each bridge's dc voltage is supported by its own dc capacitor. The new inverter can: (1) generate almost sinusoidal waveform voltage while only switching one time per fundamental cycle; (2) dispense with multi pulse inverters' transformers used in conventional utility interfaces and static var compensators; (3) enables direct parallel or series transformer less connection to medium and high voltage power systems. In short, the cascade inverter is much more efficient and suitable for utility applications than traditional multi pulse and pulse width modulation (PWM) inverters. The authors have experimentally demonstrated the superiority of the new inverter for power supply, (hybrid) electric vehicle (EV) motor drive, reactive power (var) and harmonic compensation. This paper summarizes the features, feasibility, and control schemes of the cascade inverter for utility applications including utility interface of renewable energy, voltage regulation, var compensation, and harmonic filtering in power systems. Analytical, simulated, and experimental results demonstrated the superiority of the new inverters.

Modeling and Analysis of Variable Frequency Inverted Sine PWM Technique for a Hybrid Cascaded Multilevel Inverter

In cascaded H-bridge multilevel inverter, a variable frequency inverted sine PWM technique is modeled for hybrid electric vehicles. It has a particular advantage of increasing power which is achieved using series connection of H-bridge and also this topology is capable to produce superior spectral quality with considerable improvement of fundamental voltage. The variable frequency inverted sine PWM technique produces lesser torque ripple and enhances the fundamental output voltage mainly at lower modulation index ranges. The topologies of multilevel inverter are flying capacitor, diode clamped and cascaded inverter. In the paper, we will discuss about the cascaded multilevel inverter based on inverted sine PWM technique. The two switching strategies widely used to control multilevel inverters are constant frequency inverted sine PWM (CF-ISPWM) and variable frequency inverted sine PWM (VF-ISPWM). This implies that switch utilization substantially reduces 32.35% of the constant frequency inverted sine PWM switching technique. The performance of the technique is validated in terms of Total Harmonic Distortion (THD) and Torque ripple which significantly reduces when compared to constant frequency ISPWM. The analysis of conventional triangular PWM inverter and inverted sine PWM inverter using constant and variable switching scheme is done in MATLAB Simulink and verified experimentally by FPGA Spartan 3E processor.

Coordinated Capacitor Voltage Balancing Method for Cascaded H-bridge Inverter with Supercapacitor and DC-DC Stage

Cascaded H-bridge inverter(CHBI) with supercapacitors(SCs) and dc-dc stage shows significant promise for medium to high voltage energy storage applications. This paper investigates the voltage balance of capacitors within the CHBI, including both the dc-link capacitors and SCs. Balance control over the dc-link capacitor voltages is realized by the dcdc stage in each submodule(SM), while a hybrid modulation strategy(HMS) is implemented in the H-bridge to balance the SC voltages among the SMs. Meanwhile, the dc-link voltage fluctuations are analyzed under the HMS. A virtual voltage variable is introduced to coordinate the balancing of dc-link capacitor voltages and SC voltages. Compared to the balancing method that solely considers the SC voltages, the presented method reduces the dc-link voltage fluctuations without affecting the voltage balance of SCs. Finally, both simulation and experimental results verify the effectiveness of the presented method.

A Cascade Multilevel Inverter Using a Single DC Source

3.SWITCHING ANGLES If the nominal capacitor voltage is chosen as Vdc/2, then one can compute the switching anglesθ1,θ2,andθ3.Following the development,the Fourier series expan- sion of the(staircase)output voltage waveform of the multilevel inverter as shown in Fig.2(a)

THD Analysis of Cascaded H-Bridge Inverter with Fuzzy Logic Controller

In recent days, the multilevel inverter technology is widely applied to domestic and industrial applications for medium voltage conversion. But, the power quality issues of the multilevel inverter limit the usage of much sensitive equipment like medical instruments. The lower distortion level of the output voltage and current can generate a quality sinusoidal output voltage in inverters and they can be used for many applications. The harmonics can cause major problems in equipments due to the nonlinear loads connected with the power system. So, it is necessary to minimize the losses to raise its overall efficiency. In this paper, a new topology of seven level asymmetrical cascaded H-bridge multilevel inverter with a Fuzzy logic controller had been implemented to reduce the Total Harmonic Distortion (THD) and to improve the overall performance of the inverter. The proposed model is well suited for use with a solar PV application. In this topology, only six IGBT switches are used with three different voltage ratings of PV modules (1:2:4). The lower number of semiconductor switches leads to minimizing overall di/dt ratings and voltage stress on each switches and switching losses. The gate pulses generated by Sinusoidal Pulse Width Modulation (SPWM) technique with a Fuzzy logic controller are also introduced. A buck-boost converter is used to maintain the constant PV voltage level integrated by an MPPT technique followed by Perturb and Observer algorithm is also implemented. The MPPT is used to harness the maximum power of solar radiations under its various climatic conditions. The new topology is evaluated by a Matlab/Simulink model and compared with a hardware model. The results proved that the THD achieved by this topology is 1.66% and realized that it meets the IEEE harmonic standards.

Efficient Choice of a Multilevel Inverter for Integration on a Hybrid Wind-Solar Power Station

DC/AC converters are very important components that have to be chosen efficiently for each type of power station. In this article, we present in details, a comparison between three different architectures of multilevel inverters, the flying capacitor multilevel inverter (FCMLI), the diode clamped multilevel inverter (DCMLI), and the cascaded H-bridge multilevel inverter (CHMLI). Thus the comparison is focused on the output voltage quality, the complexity of the power circuits, the cost of implementation, and the influence on a power bank inside the renewable power station. We also investigate trough simulation the efficient number of levels and suitable characteristics for the CHMLI that showed the most promising performance. The study uses Matlab Simulink platform as a tool of simulation, and aim to choose the most qualified inverter, for a potential insertion on a hybrid renewable energy platform (wind-solar). In all the simulations we use the same PWM control type (SPWM).

Neural Network and Fuzzy Control Based 11-Level Cascaded Inverter Operation

This paper presents a combined control and modulation technique to enhance the power quality(PQ)and power reliability(PR)of a hybrid energy system(HES)through a single-phase 11-level cascaded H-bridge inverter(11-CHBI).The controller and inverter specifically regulate the HES and meet the load demand.To track optimum power,a Modified Perturb and Observe(MP&O)technique is used for HES.Ultra-capacitor(UCAP)based energy storage device and a novel current control strategy are proposed to provide additional active power support during both voltage sag and swell conditions.For an improved PQ and PR,a two-way current control strategy such as the main controller(MC)and auxiliary controller(AC)is suggested for the 11-CHBI operation.MC is used to regulate the active current component through the fuzzy controller(FC),and AC is used to regulate the dc-link voltage of CHBI through a neural network-based PI controller(ANN-PI).By tracking the reference signals fromMC and AC,a novel hybrid pulse widthmodulation(HPWM)technique is proposed for the 11-CHBI operation.To justify and analyze the MATLAB/Simulink software-based designed model,the robust controller performance is tested through numerous steady-state and dynamic state case studies.

A New Phase-Shifted Cascade High Voltage Inverter

This paper presents a unique novel design of the phase-shifted cascade high voltage inverter. Thehigh voltage inverter utilizes fewer power switches and supplies a balance load. The usage of phase shifttransformer and phase shifting SPWM ensures that input and output harmonic wave content is low and outputvoltage change (du/dt) has a low rate, meeting all the requirements of the power authorities. The most out-standing feature is the energy saving with very fast cost recovery.

Hybrid Control Strategy for BCD Topology Based Modular Multilevel Inverter

In this paper, a Binary Coded Decimal (BCD) topology of modular multilevel inverter with reduced component count is proposed. For the control of this inverter, hybrid control strategy is used. The proposed modular multilevel inverter uses asymmetrical dc sources and reduced number of switches topology. This hybrid modulation technique uses the multicarrier based Pulse Width Modulation (PWM) and the fundamental frequency modulation strategy. The hybrid modulation algorithm is implemented with “NUC140” micro-controller. In comparison with the conventional and some of the recently reported inverter topologies, the proposed inverter topology is able to generate high number of voltage levels in the output by using minimum number of components such as dc sources, power switches and driver circuits. This inverter offers significant performance with less number of components. The feasibility of the proposed topology is confirmed by simulation and experimental results.

A New Phase-shifted Cascade High Voltage Inverter

This paper presents the characteristic and structure of phase-shifted cascade high voltage inverter. The high voltage inverter utilizes fewer power switches and has a balance load, a good linearity between input and output and a perfect control feature.

A New Structure of Multilevel Inverter with Reduced Number of Switches for Electric Vehicle Applications

Both Hybrid Electric Vehicles (HEVs) and Electric Vehicles (EVs) need a traction motor and a power in-verter to drive the traction motor. The requirements for the power inverter include high peak power, opti-mum consumption of energy, low output harmonics and inexpensive circuit. In this paper, a new structure of multilevel inverter with reduced number of switches is proposed for electric vehicle applications. It consists of an H-bridge and an inverter in each phase which produces multilevel voltage by switching the dc voltage sources in series. As the number of switches are reduced, both conduction and switching losses will be de-creased, which leads to increase the efficiency of converter. The size and power consumption of driving cir-cuits are also reduced. The proposed three phase inverter can produces more number of voltage levels in the same number of the voltage source and reduced number of switches compared to the conventional inverters. This structure minimizes the total harmonic distortion (THD) of the output voltage waveforms. The structure of proposed multilevel inverter, modulation method, switching losses, THD calculation and simulation re-sults with PSCAD/EMTDC software are shown in this paper.

Capacitor Pattern H-Bridge Multilevel Inverter (CPHMLI) Using Phase Diposition Pulse Width Modulation for Grid Applications

This work presents an implementation of an innovative single phase multilevel inverter using capacitors with reduced switches. The proposed Capacitor pattern H-bridge Multilevel Inverter (CPHMLI) topology consists of a proper number of Capacitor connected with switches and power sources. The advanced switching control supplied by Pulse Width Modulation (PDPWM) to attain mixed staircase switching state. The charging and discharging mode are achieved by calculating the voltage error at the load. Furthermore, to accomplish the higher voltage levels at the output with less number of semiconductors switches and simple commutation designed using CPHMLI topology. To prove the performance and effectiveness of the proposed approach, a set of experiments performed under various load conditions using MATLAB tool.

Performance Metric of Z Source CHB Multilevel Inverter FED IM for Selective Harmonic Elimination and THD Reduction

This paper focuses on a Z source cascaded multilevel inverter which is designed to minimize harmonics in the output voltage. A balanced dc-link peak voltage can be achieved. The power generation module is built by PV panels which are connected to Z-Source Cascade H-bridge inverter. Cascaded multilevel inverter can achieve the distributed maximum power point tracking to increase the system efficiency and achieve high voltage/high power grid tie without a transformer. This paper analyzes the different PWM switching scheme and the operating states of a ZSI module and comparison is made with different PWM and total harmonic distortion of various PWM schemes.

A Pathway to Explore the Hidden Specialty in the Design of Fifteen Level Inverter in Grid Connected PV System

This research paper proposes a single phase fifteen level inverter for a grid connected PV system.The proposed inverter is also called cascaded asymmetric multilevel inverter.By adopting appropriate hybrid modulation technique improved output voltage is obtained with minimum number of power electronic switches.By reducing the number of gate triggering circuits of the switches,the size and power consumption of the driving circuits can be reduced.The total harmonic distortion of the output of the inverter is improved by this inverter.The proposed inverter developed by cascading a full bridge inverter with modified H bridge multilevel inverter.The validity of the proposed system is verified through MATLAB simulations.

The General Technique of Selected Harmonics Elimination for Multilevel Converters

Forhigh power applications,multilevel converters have many advantages in comparison with other circuit topologies with output transformers. Cascaded inverters are one type of multilevel converters,they are easy to implement,very suitable for modularized layout and packaging.Their manufacturing cost is low.A multilevel PWM technique,called as General Technique of Selected Harmonics Elimination (GTSHE) ,is proposed in the paper. A general harmonic elimination equation for N cells,M pulses per half cycle,nth harmonic is derived,and verified by simulation results.

H桥级联多电平逆变器旁路方法研究与应用

单元级联H桥逆变器因具有良好的输出电压和电流性能,在中高压变频器中逐渐得到广泛的应用,然而可靠的H桥功率单元故障旁路方法是级联H桥逆变器长期稳定运行的保证。当前逆变器应用现场要求具有高平均无故障时间(MTBF)需求,首先对级联H桥功率单元箱多电平逆变器传统旁路方法的优缺点进行分析;接着根据传统旁路方法的缺陷提出一种有着高可靠性级联H桥多电平逆变器的双重旁路方法;最后详细设计了满足双重旁路方法功能的电路并对该方法进行试验验证。试验结果表明此处所提方法能够实现级联H桥多电平逆变器的双重旁路,具有非常巨大的工程实际应用价值和意义。

一种混合级联九电平逆变器及其调制策略研究

为解决传统1:3型混合级联逆变器存在功率倒灌的问题,在五电平整流器的基础上构建含耦合电感混合级联九电平逆变器拓扑。首先,通过重构调制波,将阶梯波调制与高频调制相结合,提出混合调制策略,实现部分调制度范围内两级联单元的功率平衡。同时,通过深入分析调制度与输出功率的关系,对阶梯波调制和高频调制的范围进行调节,可实现更宽调制度范围内的两级联单元输出功率的均衡。仿真和实验结果验证了所构建逆变器拓扑以及调制策略的可行性和优越性。

混合级联H桥逆变器的新型SHEPWM功率均衡控制策略

对于直流侧电压比为1∶1∶2的混合级联H桥逆变器,传统的指定谐波消除脉宽调制法(SHEPWM)存在各单元间输出功率不均衡问题,因此,提出一种双层功率均衡调制策略。首先,通过对消谐方程组中的基波幅值方程表达式进行等效拆分,使2个低压H桥单元的输出电压基波幅值之和与高压H桥单元的输出电压基波幅值相等,实现了高低压H桥单元间的功率均衡,即外层功率均衡。其次,利用逻辑运算的方法对低压单元的初始驱动信号进行逻辑重组,实现2个低压单元间的功率均衡,即内层功率均衡;然后使用改进的实数型遗传算法(IRCGA-2)求出消谐方程组的解,消除指定的谐波,得到高质量的输出电压。最后,通过仿真和实验证明了调制策略的正确性与有效性。

大规模风电并网后江苏电网柔直换流站与UPFC的有功功率协调控制方法

随着“双碳”战略的提出与实施,我国将着力建设以新能源为主的新型电力系统。然而,风电等新能源大规模并网将给具有交直流混联特征的新型电力系统带来威胁与挑战。通过以十四五规划末期的江苏电网为例进行分析,发现在大规模风电并网背景下,江苏电网中部分“南北向”500 kV交流输电线路N-1后负载过重的问题亟待解决。为此,基于综合灵敏度计算方法,提出了一种综合利用柔直换流站和统一潮流控制器的有功功率协调控制方法,用于改善系统潮流分布并消除潜在的线路过载。最后,以江苏电网为例进行了仿真分析,对苏州500 kV统一潮流控制器、白鹤滩-江苏直流和某规划中三端柔直换流站进行了有功协调控制。结果表明,所提协调控制方法应用于江苏电网时可有效解决交流输电通道N-1后负载过重问题,且相比于典型最优化方法在计算速度上具有优势。

一种非对称级联H桥三相逆变器的功率均衡混合随机脉宽调制方法

为了降低电压比为1∶1∶1∶3的非对称级联H桥三相逆变器输出线电压的脉宽调制(PWM)噪声峰值,该文提出一种融合阶梯波调制、同相载波层叠调制、随机调制及功率均衡的功率均衡混合随机脉宽调制(PB-HRPWM)方法。该方法可概述为:(1)通过高压H桥单元的调制波与参考电位相比较,产生高压H桥单元的驱动脉冲和低压H桥单元的调制波;(2)通过同相层叠随机载波与低压H桥单元的调制波相比较,产生随机脉冲;(3)通过脉冲逻辑运算方法对随机脉冲按照0.5T_(ah)进行循环分配,得到低压H桥单元的驱动脉冲;(4)使用高低压H桥单元的驱动脉冲控制三相逆变器的运行。仿真和实验结果表明:该方法可以降低线电压PWM噪声峰值,同时实现低压H桥单元之间的功率均衡。相比传统的随机和非随机PWM方法,所提PB-HRPWM方法具有更低的线电压PWM噪声峰值和更小的线电压总谐波畸变率(THD)。最后,通过仿真对比和实验验证了所提PB-HRPWM方法的有效性和可行性。