Symmetrical Multilevel Converter Research Articles

Design and PIL Implementation of Fuzzy Logic-based MPPT Control for Symmetrical Multilevel Boost Converter

This paper aims to introduce a fuzzy logic adaptive MPPT controller to control a symmetrical multilevel converter in a standalone PV system. The system is evaluated under fixed and variable solar radiation with 15 V as the input voltage 60 V as the required output voltage and 50 kHz as the switching frequency. Results prove that by using the controller, the system successfully tracks the MPPT point for constant and variable radiation without oscillation around the maximum power point. In addition, the overshoot and time response is reduced while the voltage ripples are eliminated. The proposed controller is verified through practical implementation in Arduino mega board to test the accuracy of results. The practical finding via a processor in the loop test validates the simulation results.

Creative design of symmetric multilevel converter to enhance the circuit's performance

In this study, a new symmetric multilevel converter is introduced which is commonly suitable for medium-voltage applications and where higher number of output levels is required. The proposed inverter can generate all levels at the output associated with a lower number of circuit devices including switches and related gate driver circuits for each switch compared with the conventional symmetric cascaded converter, semi-cascaded converter and the recently introduced inverters. Owing to the lower number of circuit devices, the total cost and the installation area are reduced. Another advantage of the proposed inverter over the mentioned topologies is the lower number of on-state switches which causes a reduction on power losses. Simulation and experimental results are presented to validate the practicality of the proposed multilevel structure.