Review of reduced‐switch multilevel inverters for electric vehicle applications

Abstract

AbstractThis paper deals with the detailed review and comparative analysis of latest reduced switch multilevel inverter topologies for electric vehicle applications. The recent trends in reduced‐switch multilevel inverters are discussed. Detailed review of the reduced‐switch multilevel inverter topologies, their merits and demerits, and the comparative analysis based on component count, total harmonic distortion, and efficiency are conducted. This paper gives a detailed review of recent trends in reduced‐switch multilevel inverter topologies for electric vehicle applications. Switching pattern of the topologies is provided for better understanding of the inverter operation. Comparative analysis of the reduced‐switch inverter topologies based on the component count, total harmonic distortion of output voltage, and efficiency is also presented in this paper. Based on the comparative analysis, it is observed that the interleaved nine‐level flying capacitor multilevel inverter topology achieved the lowest output voltage distortion of 1.6%, which is within the acceptable limits of IEEE 519‐2014 standard. It is observed that the three‐level active neutral point clamped multilevel inverter topology achieved the highest working efficiency of 99.4%. This paper discusses the most recent trends in reduced‐switch multilevel inverters. A comprehensive review of the recent publications and a crisp comparative analysis of the different inverter configurations based on component count, harmonic distortion of output voltage, and efficiency are presented in this paper.