Design and performance evaluation of a novel modular asymmetrical multilevel inverter with minimal switches

Abstract

In the present scenario, emerging topologies in the area of Asymmetrical Multilevel Inverter (AMLI) with fewer power switches and voltage sources have been received greater attention to achieve higher levels with low THD and voltage stress. The present work proposes a novel modular AMLI topology to generate 7-level and 15-level in the output voltage. This topology needs minimal components in comparison of topologies reported in literature. Simulation of the 7-level and 15-level AMLI is performed using MATLAB to generate all the desired levels in the output voltage for different operating frequencies and different modulation indexes. Further, a comparison of the suggested topology with other similar multilevel inverter (MLI) topologies has also been performed on the basis of number of drivers, number of DC sources, levels in the output voltage and power switches. Furthermore, efficiency, losses and total harmonic analysis of 7-level and 15-level AMLI have been calculated and compared with other studies. Finally, simulation results are validated on a hardware set up of the proposed inverter using Opal-RT 4510 controller.

Keywords

• Modular asymmetrical MLI
• THD
• Nearest level control
• MOSFET
• Opal-RT