A novel structure of cascaded multilevel inverter with reduced device count

Abstract

In this paper, a novel structure of cascaded multilevel inverter (MLI) is proposed. Each module of the proposed MLI consists of three numbers of DC sources and eight power switching devices. Each module possesses the capability of generating bipolar voltage level at its output terminals. Hence, the topology is analyzed for symmetrical and asymmetrical DC source configurations. Two types of asymmetrical DC source configuration algorithms have been proposed. As compared with existing MLI topologies, the proposed MLI requires lower components such as switching devices, driver circuits to generate specific number of output voltage level. This further reduces the size and cost of the inverter system. Extensive simulation studies of 7 level symmetrical and 11 level asymmetrical structures of proposed MLI have been done in Simulink /MATLAB. The different results of simulation studies prove the effectiveness of the proposed topology.