A Home-type (H-type) Cascaded Multilevel Inverter with Reduced Device Count: Analysis and Implementation

Abstract

Multilevel inverter (MLI) is increasingly recognized as a low distorted wave synthesizing power converter built using recent power semiconductor devices. However, MLIs suffer from the requirement of higher device count. In this paper, a 15-level Home-type (H-type) inverter topology is proposed to address this concern. The H-type inverter topology is cascaded to synthesize a higher number of levels in output voltage. Voltage ratings of the dc sources are designed to generate a large number of uniform steps in output voltage. Analysis of the proposed method is presented for required number of switches, dc voltage sources, driver circuits and blocking voltage of switches. Comparative study demonstrates that the suggested topology requires reduced device count compared to the similar topologies reported in the literature. Simulation and experimental studies have been carried out to validate the performance of proposed MLI topology.

Keywords:

• Keywords: cascaded inverter
• home-type
• multilevel inverter
• reduced device count

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Piyush L. Kamani

Piyush L. Kamani received the B.E. degree in electrical engineering from Lukhdhirji Engineering College Morbi, Saurashtra University, Rajkot, India, in 1999 and the M.E. degree in industrial electronics from Maharaja Sayajirao University of Baroda, Vadodara, India, in 2002. Since 2005, he has been with the Technical Education, Education Department, Gujarat State, Gandhinagar, India, where he is an Associate Professor. He is also working toward the Ph.D. degree in electrical engineering from the Sardar Vallabhbhai National Institute of Technology, Surat, India. His research interests include multilevel converters and pulse-amplitude modulation strategies.

Mahmadasraf A. Mulla

Mahmadasraf A. Mulla received the B.E. degree in electrical engineering from Sardar Vallabhbhai National Institute of Technology, Surat, India, in 1995, the M.E. degree from the Maharaja Sayajirao University of Baroda, Vadodara, India, in 1997, and the Ph. D. degree from Sardar Vallabhbhai National Institute of Technology, Surat. He is currently an Associate Professor with the Department of Electrical Engineering, Sardar Vallabhbhai National Institute of Technology, Surat. His research interests include solar and wind energy conversion, ac–dc converters, dc–ac converters, power quality, and active power filters.