Abstract
A multilevel power converter structure has been introduced as an alternative in high power and medium voltage situations. A multilevel converter not only achieves high power ratings, but also enables the use of renewable energy sources. Renewable energy sources such as photovoltaic, wind, and fuel cells can be easily interfaced to a multilevel converter system for a high power application. the elementary concept of a multilevel converter to achieve higher power is to use a series of power semiconductor switches with several lower voltage dc sources to perform the power conversion by synthesizing a staircase voltage waveform. Capacitors, batteries, and renewable energy voltage sources can be used as the multiple dc voltage sources. The commutation of the power switches aggregate these multiple dc sources in order to achieve high voltage at the output, however, the rated voltage of the power semiconductor switches depends only upon the rating of the dc voltage sources to which they are connected. A multilevel converter has several advantages over a conventional two-level converter that uses high switching frequency pulse width modulation (PWM). One particular disadvantage is the greater number of power semiconductor switches needed. Although lower voltage rated switches can be utilized in a multilevel converter, each switch requires a related gate drive circuit. This may cause the overall system to be more expensive and complex.
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