Implementation of inductor-less 13-level inverter topology with reduced number of required component

Abstract

This paper presents an inductor-less multilevel inverter (MLI) with a 13-level ac output. The proposed MLI consists of only 11 switches, 2 capacitors, and 2 input sources. Owing to the inductor-less symmetrical topology, the proposed MLI can reduce the component count in comparison of conventional MLIs. This leads to reduction of power loss and hardware cost. To clarify the effectiveness of the proposed MLI, the characteristic evaluation is given in detail. Some computer-based simulations in SPICE simulator environment as well as breadboard-based experimental tests are conducted concerning the proposed 13-level inverter. In the performed simulations, the power efficiency of the proposed MLI reaches about 85% and 88% at 1 kW in the case of a sinusoidal output and a triangular output, respectively. The proposed MLI improves power efficiency more than 2.5% comparing with the conventional K-type MLI when the output power is 1 kW. Furthermore, the experimental result proves the physical feasibility of the proposed topology by demonstrating the 13-level ac output.

Keywords

• Multilevel inverters
• Inductor-less inverters
• Step-up/step-down inverters
• Switched-capacitor techniques
• Symmetrical topology
• Diode-bridge-less