A nine‐level common ground multilevel inverter (9L‐CGMLI) with reduced components and boosting ability

Abstract

SummaryThis paper introduces a common ground (CG) nine‐level switched‐capacitor (SC)‐based multilevel inverter (MLI) with dual boosting feature. The proposed circuit possess 11 switches, 2 diodes, and 3 capacitors. A simple level‐shifted modulation method has been used to generate the switching signals. The key feature of the proposed circuit is the presence of common ground between the input and output. The CG configuration eliminates the leakage current problem encountered in photovoltaic (PV) applications, which means the proposed circuit is suitable for use in PV applications. Moreover, the circuit also possesses reduced overall components and voltage stress on switches. At the same time, the dual boosting feature is another salient feature of the proposed MLI. This means the input voltage is stepped up two times and we get boosted/increased voltage at the output. The various simulation and experimental conditions have been tried to test the circuit under different load situations. Moreover, the loss analysis using PLECS software tool has been done to get information about the circuit losses. The results are shown and explained in the concerned sections of the paper. A quantitative comparison, based on different parameters, has been provided with other nine‐level MLIs.