• Journal of Power Electronics
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• v.13 no.2
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• pp.223-231
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• 2013

A modular three-phase multilevel inverter especially suitable for electrical drive applications has been previously presented. This topology is based on series connection of power cells in which each cell comprised of two inverter legs in series. In this paper, in order to generate the maximum number of voltage levels with reduced number of switches, three algorithms are proposed for determination of the magnitudes of dc voltage sources. In addition, a new hybrid multilevel inverter is proposed that is composed of series connection of the previously presented multilevel inverter and some H-bridges. The proposed topology has been compared with some other presented multilevel inverters. The performance of the proposed multilevel inverter has been verified by simulation and experimental results of a single-phase 39-level multilevel inverter.

• Journal of Power Electronics
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• v.10 no.4
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• pp.357-364
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• 2010

In this paper, a novel analysis of a carrier based PWM method for multilevel inverters is presented. The space vector PWM and carrier based PWM correlations in multilevel inverters are investigated in a nominal two-level switching diagram. The obtained results can be applied to design various carrier PWM techniques. In this paper, a carrier based single-state PWM technique, which reduces the switching number and optimizes the active voltage errors, is presented. This PWM technique can be advantageous if there are a large number of levels. The proposed method is mathematically formulated and demonstrated by simulations and experimental results.

• Journal of the Korean Institute of Illuminating and Electrical Installation Engineers
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• v.28 no.8
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• pp.82-89
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• 2014

The industrial products to use single phase inverter are raised the necessity of power quality improvement, such as AC Motor Driver, Lighting, Renewable energy power converter. Also, it is increasing that applied the single phase multilevel inverter for high quality power at renewable energy power converter. Especially, the photovoltaic multilevel inverters have at least more than two DC_Link and more than one DC/DC Converter. This paper proposes a triple output DC/DC Converter with one switch for photovoltaic multilevel inverter. The proposed converter has advantages of low cost and volume because it has one switch. The operation principle of the converter is analyzed and verified. A prototype is implemented to verify of the proposed converter.

• Journal of Power Electronics
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• v.17 no.1
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• pp.76-87
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• 2017

Finite-set predictive current control (FS-PCC) is advantageous for power converters due to its high dynamic performance and has received increasing interest in multilevel inverters. Among multilevel inverter topologies, the cascaded H-bridge (CHB) inverter is popular and mature in the industry. However, a main drawback of FS-PCC is its large computational burden, especially for the application of CHB inverters. In this paper, an FS-PCC method based on a deadbeat solution for three-phase zero-common-mode-voltage CHB inverters is proposed. In the proposed method, an inverse model of the load is utilized to calculate the reference voltage based on the reference current. In addition, a cost function is directly expressed in the terms of the voltage errors. An optimal control actuation is selected by minimizing the cost function. In the proposed method, only three instead of all of the control actuations are used for the calculations in one sampling period. This leads to a significant reduction in computations. The proposed method is tested on a three-phase 5-level CHB inverter. Simulation and experimental results show a very similar and comparable control performance from the proposed method compared with the traditional FS-PCC method which evaluates the cost function for all of the control actuations.

• Journal of Power Electronics
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• v.15 no.5
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• pp.1227-1234
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• 2015

The efficient electric power demand management in electric power supply industry is currently being changed by distributed generation. Meanwhile, small-scale distributed generation systems using renewable energy are being constructed worldwide. Several small-scale renewable distributed generation systems, which can supply electricity to the grid at peak load of the grid as per policy such as demand response programs, could help in the stability of the electric power demand management. In this case, the power quality of the small-scale renewable distributed generation system is more significant. Low prices of power semiconductors and multilevel inverters with high power quality have been recently investigated. However, the conventional multilevel inverter topology is unsuitable for the small-scale renewable distributed generation system, because the number of devices of such topology increases with increasing output voltage level. In this paper, a single-phase multilevel inverter based on H-bridge, with DC_Link divided by bi-directional switches, is proposed. The proposed topology has almost half the number of devices of the conventional multilevel inverter topology when these inverters have the same output voltage level. Double Fourier series solution is mainly used when comparing PWM output harmonic components of various inverter topologies. Harmonic components of the proposed multilevel inverter, which have been analyzed by double Fourier series, are compared with those of the conventional multilevel inverter. An inverter prototype is then developed to verify the validity of the theoretical analysis.

• Journal of Power Electronics
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• v.14 no.2
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• pp.302-314
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• 2014

Due to advancements in power electronics and inverter topologies, the current controlled multilevel voltage-source pulse width modulated (PWM) inverter is usually preferred for accurate control, quick response and high dynamic performance. A multilevel topology approach is found to be best suited for overcoming many problems arising from the use of high power converters. This paper presents a comprehensive review and comparative study of several current control (CC) techniques for multilevel inverters with a special emphasis on various approaches of the hysteresis current controller. Since the hysteresis CC technique poses a problem of variable switching frequency, a ramp-comparator controller and a predictive controller to attain constant switching frequency are described along with its quantitative comparison. Furthermore, various methods have been reviewed to achieve hysteresis current control PWM with constant switching frequency operation. This paper complies various guidelines to choose a particular method suitable for application at a given power level, switching frequency and dynamic response.

• Journal of Power Electronics
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• v.16 no.4
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• pp.1316-1323
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• 2016

Multilevel inverters (MLIs) have been preferred over conventional two-level inverters due to their inherent properties such as reduced harmonic distortion, lower electromagnetic interference, minimal common mode voltage, ability to synthesize medium/high voltage from low voltage sources, etc. On the other hand, they suffer from an increased number of switching devices, complex gate pulse generation, etc. This paper develops an ingenious symmetrical MLI topology, which consumes lesser component count. The proposed level dependent sources concoction multilevel inverter (LDSCMLI) is basically a multilevel dc link MLI (MLDCMLI), which first synthesizes a stepped dc link voltage using a sources concoction module and then realizes the ac waveform through a conventional H-bridge. Seven level and eleven level versions of the proposed topology are simulated in MATLAB r2010b and prototypes are constructed to validate the performance. The proposed topology requires lesser components compared to recent component reduced MLI topologies and the classical topologies. In addition, it requires fewer carrier signals and gate driver circuits.

• Journal of Power Electronics
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• v.16 no.6
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• pp.2067-2075
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• 2016

Cascaded H-bridge multilevel inverters are currently used because it enables the integration of various sources, such as batteries, ultracapacitors, photovoltaic array and fuel cells in a single system. Conventional modulation schemes for multilevel inverters have concentrated mainly on the generation of a low harmonic output voltage, which results in less effective utilization of connected sources. Less effective utilization leads to a difference in the charging/discharging of sources, causing unsteady voltages over a long period of operation and a reduction in the lifetime of the sources. Hence, a charge balance control scheme has to be incorporated along with the modulation scheme to overcome these issues. In this paper, a new approach for charge balancing in symmetric cascaded H-bridge multilevel inverter that enables almost 100% charge balancing of sources is presented. The proposed method achieves charge balancing without any additional stages or complex circuit or considerable computational requirement. The validity of the proposed method is verified through simulation and experiments.

• Journal of Power Electronics
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• v.10 no.4
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• pp.365-373
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• 2010

This paper proposes a hybrid single carrier sinusoidal modulation suitable for multiphase multilevel inverters. Multiphase multilevel inverters are controlled by hybrid modulation to provide multiphase variable voltage and a variable frequency supply. The proposed modulation combines the benefits of fundamental frequency modulation and single carrier sinusoidal modulation (SC-SPWM) strategies. The main characteristics of hybrid modulation are a reduction in switching losses and improved harmonic performance. The proposed algorithm can be applied to cascaded multilevel inverter topologies. It has low computational complexity and it is suitable for hardware implementations. SC-SPWM and its base modulation design are implemented on a TMS320F2407 digital signal processor (DSP). A Complex Programmable Logic Device realizes the hybrid PWM algorithm and it is integrated with a DSP processor for hybrid SC-SPWM generation. The feasibility of this hybrid modulation is verified by spectral analysis, power loss analysis, simulation and experimental results.

• Journal of Power Electronics
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• v.16 no.5
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• pp.1706-1715
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• 2016

In this paper, a single phase modified switched-diode topology for both symmetrical and asymmetrical cascaded multilevel inverters is presented. It consists of a Modified Switched-Diode Unit (MSDU) and a Twin Source Two Switch Unit (TSTSU) to produce distinct positive voltage levels according to the operating modes. An additional H-bridge synthesizes a voltage waveform, where the voltage levels of either polarity have less Total Harmonic Distortion (THD). Higher-level inverters can be built by cascading MSDUs. A comparative analysis is done with other topologies. The proposed topology results in reductions in the number of power switches, losses, installation area, voltage stress and converter cost. The Nearest Level Control (NLC) technique is employed to generate the gating signals for the power switches. To verify the performance of the proposed structure, simulation results are carried out by a PSIM under both steady state and dynamic conditions. Experimental results are presented to validate the simulation results.