Simulation of Cascaded H-Bridge Multilevel Inverter for liquid food sterilization with various distance of the electrodes gap

Abstract

This paper presents the simulation results of the Cascaded H-Bridge Multilevel Inverter (CHMI) with various distance of the electrodes gap in liquid food sterilization using pulsed electric field (PEF). The utilization of the difference gap between the electrodes allow the system to reduce the applied voltage of the HVDC power supply, while fulfilling the requirements for effective liquid food sterilization. Thus it can reduce power consumption and will reduce cost. In this paper, the CHMI circuit has been simulated using MATLAB/Simulink and the distance of the electrodes gap has been simulated using Quickfield simulation software. Peak output voltage 1.2 kV, 2.4 kV and 6 kV with gap distance 0.1 cm, 0.2 cm and 0.5 cm respectively has been obtained in which the values can produce electric field strength of up to 12 kV/cm. All of the specifications meet the requirements for liquid food sterilization, particularly inactivate saccharomyces cerevisiae spoilage microorganisms in pineapple juice.