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A New Topology of Cascaded Multilevel Converters With Reduced Number of Components for High-Voltage Applications

TABLE OF CONTENTS

LIST OF TABLES

LIST OF FIGURES

ABBREVIATIONS

ABSTRACT
A new topology of a cascaded multilevel converter is proposed. The

proposed topology is based on a cascaded connection of single-phase sub multilevel converter units and full-bridge converters. Compared to the conventional multilevel converter, the number of dc voltage sources, switches, installation area, and converter cost is significantly reduced as the number of voltage steps increases. In order to calculate the magnitudes of the required dc voltage sources, three methods are proposed. Then, the structure of the proposed topology is optimized in order to utilize a minimum number of switches and dc voltage sources, and produce a high number of output voltage steps. The operation and performance of the proposed multilevel converter is verified by simulation results and compared with experimental results of a single-phase 49-level converter, too.

CHAPTER-1 INTRODUCTION
Multilevel inverters are commonly used for DC to AC conversion in renewable energy conversion . The concept of multilevel converter has been introduced since 1975 . Basically, a multilevel converter is able to achieve higher power by using a series of power switches with several lower voltage DC sources to perform the power conversion by synthesizing a staircase voltage waveform . For multilevel inverters, there are three basic types and they are cascaded Hbridge, diode-clamped, and flying-capacitor converters . The multilevel converter using cascaded-converter with separate DC sources, which may be obtained from batteries, fuel cells or solar cells, synthesizes a desired voltage from several independent sources of DC voltage . Compared with diode-clamped multilevel converters and flying-capacitor multilevel converters, cascade multilevel converters have many advantages: the device load is balanced; the device switching frequency is consistent; the amount of the devices is the least of the three types; each level has same structures and it provides the flexibility to increase the number of levels without introducing complexity into the power stage. Cascaded multilevel inverter reaches the higher output voltage and power levels and the higher reliability due to its modular topology. Traditionally, the multilevel converter using cascaded-converter with separate DC sources synthesizes a desired voltage from several independent sources of DC voltage . For conventional cascade H-bridge inverter, it will require n energy sources for 2n + 1 levels of output. For many applications, manipulating so many separate energy sources and switches deter the use of such inverter for large number of output levels. To achieve a certain level of total harmonic distortion (THD) from the cascaded H-bridge converter, either the switching frequency or the number of cascaded H-bridges has to be very

high. If the switching frequency is high, the switching loss will be high. If the number of cascaded H-bridges is high, the conduction loss will be high because the number of components involved will be more. The number of separate energy source required will also be more. The aim of this paper is to reduce the power loss contributed by the inverter with acceptable THD by reducing the number of cascaded H-bridges and the switching frequency. A single energy source is introduced and other virtual energy sources are emulated by capacitors. Switching strategies are derived for the regulation of the virtual energy sources. Experimental results are included to demonstrate the effectiveness of the proposed inverter. 1.1 Inverter A device that converts DC power into AC power at desired output voltage and frequency is called an Inverter. Phase controlled converters when operated in the inverter mode are called line commutated inverters. But line commutated inverters require at the output terminals an existing AC supply which is used for their commutation. This means that line commutated inverters can t function as isolated AC voltage sources or as variable frequency generators with DC power at the input. Therefore, voltage level, frequency and waveform on the AC side of the line commutated inverters cant be changed. On the other hand, force commutated inverters provide an independent AC output voltage of adjustable voltage and adjustable frequency and have therefore much wider application. Based on their operation the inverters can be broadly classified into 1.Voltage Source Inverters(VSI) 2.Current Source Inverters(CSI) A voltage source inverter is one where the independently controlled ac output is a voltage waveform.

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A current source inverter is one where the independently controlled ac output is a current waveform. Some industrial applications of inverters are for adjustable- speed ac drives, induction heating, stand by air-craft power supplies, UPS uninterruptible power supplies) for computers, hvdc transmission lines etc. Essentially, it does the opposite of what a battery charger or "converter" does. DC is usable for some small appliances, lights, and pumps, but not much else. Some DC appliances are available, but with the exception of lights, fans and pumps there is not a wide selection. Most other 12 volt items we have seen are expensive and/or poorly made compared to their AC cousins. The most common battery voltage inputs for inverters are 12, 24, and 48 volts DC - a few models also available in other voltages. There is also a special line of inverters called a utility intertie or grid tie, which does not usually use batteries - the solar panels or wind generator feeds directly into the inverter and the inverter output is tied to the grid power. The power produced is either sold back to the power company or (more commonly) offsets a portion of the power used. These inverters usually require a fairly high input voltage - 48 volts or more. Some, like the Sunny Boy, go up to 600 volts DC input.

1.2 Classification of inverters There are different basis of classification of inverters. Inverters are broadly classified as current source inverter and voltage-source inverter. Moreover, it can be classified on the basis of devices used (SCR or gate-commutation devices), circuit configuration (half-bridge or fullbridge), nature of outputvoltage (square, quasi-square or sine-wave) and type of circuit (Switchmode PWM or resonant converters), etc. 1.2.1 Current-source inverters (CSI) This type of inverter is fed by a current source with high-internal impedance (using current limiting chokes or inductor in series with a DC source). Therefore, supply current does

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notchange quickly. The load current is varied by controlling the input DC voltage to thecurrent-source inverter. CSI are used in very high-power drives 1.2.2 Voltage-source inverters (VSI) This type of inverter is fed by a DC source of small internal impedance. Looking from theAC side, the terminal voltage remains almost constant irrespective of the load currentdrawn. Depending on the circuit configurations, the voltage source inverter may beclassified as halfbridge and full-bridge inverters. Voltage-source inverters may also beclassified as square-wave inverter and pulse-width modulated inverter . (i) Square wave inverter A square wave inverter produces a square wave ac voltage of a constant magnitude. The outputvoltage of this type of inverter can only be varied by controlling the input dc voltage .(ii) Pulse width modulated (PWM) In a PWM inverter, the output has one or more pulses in each half cycle. Varying the width of these pulses, the output voltage may be controlled .the magnitude of input dc voltage is essential constant in this inverter.

1.3 Basic design In one simple inverter circuit, DC power is connected to a transformer through the centre tap of the primary winding. A switch is rapidly switched back and forth to allow current to flow back to the DC source following two alternate paths through one end of the primary winding and then the other. The alternation of the direction of current in the primary winding of the transformer produces alternating current (AC) in the secondary circuit.

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Fig: 1.1 simple inverter circuit shown with an electromechanical switch.

The electromechanical version of the switching device includes two stationary contacts and a spring supported moving contact. The spring holds the movable contact against one of the stationary contacts and an electromagnet pulls the movable contact to the opposite stationary contact. The current in the electromagnet is interrupted by the action of the switch so that the switch continually switches rapidly back and forth. This type of electromechanical inverter switch, called a vibrator or buzzer, was once used in vacuum tube automobile radios. A similar mechanism has been used in door bells, buzzers and tattoo guns.

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As they became available with adequate power ratings, transistors and various other types of semiconductor switches have been incorporated into inverter circuit designs.

1.4 Working An inverter takes the DC input and runs it into a pair (or more) of power switching transistors. By rapidly turning these transistors on and off, and feeding opposite sides of a transformer, it makes the transformer think it is getting AC. The transformer changes this "alternating DC" into AC at the output. Depending on the quality and complexity of the inverter, it may put out a square wave, a "quasi-sine" (sometimes called modified sine) wave, or a true sine wave. Quasi-sine (modified sine, modified square) wave inverters have more circuitry beyond the simple switching, and put out a wave that looks like a stepped square wave - it is suitable for most standard appliances, but may not work well with some electronics appliances that electronic heat or speed control, or uses the AC for clocks or a timer. Also, some of the chargers used for battery operated tools may not shut off when the battery is charged, and should not be used with anything but sine wave inverters unless you are sure they will work. Sine wave inverters put out a wave that is the same as you get from the power company in fact, it is often better and cleaner. Sine wave inverters can run anything, but are also more expensive. The quality of the "modified sine" (actually modified square wave), Quasi-sine wave, etc. can also vary quite a bit between inverters, and may also vary somewhat with the load 1.5 Output waveforms The switch in the simple inverter described above, when not coupled to an output transformer, produces a square voltage waveform due to its simple off and on nature as opposed to the sinusoidal waveform that is the usual waveform of an AC power supply. Using Fourier

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analysis, periodic waveforms are represented as the sum of an infinite series of sine waves. The sine wave that has the same frequency as the original waveform is called the fundamental component. The other sine waves, called harmonics, that are included in the series have frequencies that are integral multiples of the fundamental frequency .

Fig.1.2 Output Waveform

The quality of the inverter output waveform can be expressed by using the Fourier analysis data to calculate the total harmonic distortion (THD). The total harmonic distortion is the square root of the sum of the squares of the harmonic voltages divided by the fundamental voltage. The quality of output waveform that is needed from an inverter depends on the characteristics of the connected load. Some loads need a nearly perfect sine wave voltage supply in order to work properly. Other loads may work quite well with a square wave voltage.

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1.6 LITERATURE REVIEW:

1. IEEE TRANSACTIONS ON INDUSTRIAL ELECTRONICS, VOL. 59, NO. 11, NOVEMBER 2012 Design and Implementation of a New Multilevel Inverter Topology ,Ehsan Najafi, Member, IEEE, and Abdul Halim Mohamed Yatim, Senior Member, IEEE New Topology with a Reversing Voltage Component is proposed. Requires less carrier signals & Gate drives. Overall cost & Complexity are reduced in Higher Output levels. A Seven level proposed topology is built and tested to show the performance of the inverter. dv/dt output voltage stress are reduced.

2. NATIONAL POWER ELECTRONICS CONFERENCE 2010 Implementation Of A Five-Level Inverter Using Reversing Voltage Topology: Tekwani, 3.Amar Hinduja Department of Electrical Engineering, Institute of Technology, Nirma University, Ahmedabad, India . A competitive solution for high power applications. Reversing voltage topology with five level inverter is proposed. Require fewer no. of components. Improve the multi level performance. Requires half of the required carriers for PWM controller.

3. IEEE Transactions Ind, Appl., vol. 44 no, 4pp 1239 -1248 Jul/Aug 2008. A Carrier Based PWM method with Optimal Switching Sequence for a Multi level inverter Four-leg VSI. K.Jang-Hwan, S.K. Sul & P.N. Enjeti.

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Multi level four-leg VSI used for high power application To control zero sequence component as well as dq component Introduced a new offset voltage It possible for minimization harmonic distortion PWM method is verified by spectral analysis, simulation and experimental results

4. JPE , Volume 10,No.3,May 2010. Design of a cascaded H Bridge Multilevel Inverter based on Power Electronics Building blocks and control for High

Performance . Young-Min park, Han seong Ryu, Hyun-won Lee, Myung-Gil jung and Se-Hyun Lee. CHBM based on PEBB & high performance control scheme is used To improve current control and increase fault tolerance
It has shown that expansion and modularization characteristics of the CHBM inverter.

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CHAPTER-2 MULTILEVEL INVERTER

2. INTRODUCTION TO MULTILEVEL INVERTERS: 2.1 Inverter Inverters convert DC power into AC power through waves called either sine waves or modified sine waves. Sine waves are the waves that are typically found in power from a power plant. Modified sine waves are made to simulate sine waves. Inverters with modified sine waves work well for backup power in houses and are much less expensive. Although there are several types of inverters, all standard inverters use only one switch, or in other words, one power circuit. 2.2 Multilevel Inverter Multilevel inverters are a a source of high power, often used in industrial applications and can use either sine or modified sine waves. Instead of using one converter to convert an AC current into a DC current, a multilevel inverter uses a series of semiconductor power converters (usually two to three) thus generating higher voltage. While with an inverter you would transfer energy with the flip of one switch, with a multilevel inverter you would have to flip several switches, each switch requiring a circuit. These multiple switches and circuits usually make multilevel inverters more expensive than inverters.

2.3 DIFFERENCES BETWEEN INVERTER AND MULTILEVEL INVERTER:

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Inverters are often used to provide power to electronics in the case of a power outage or for activities such as camping, where no power is available. An inverter converts a direct current (DC) or battery power into an alternating current (AC) or household power. A multilevel inverter is a more powerful inverter, meaning it does the same thing as an inverter except provides energy in higher-power situations. 2.4 GENERAL STRUCTURE :

Fig.2.1 a. Single level

Fig.b.Two Level

Fig.c. N Level

2.5 BLOCK DIAGRAM:

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Fig.2.2 Block Diagram 2.6 TYPES OF MULTILEVEL INVERTER: A multilevel power converter system is a simpler solution than running direct power lines for different voltages. There are three structures for multilevel inverters: Cascaded H-bridges with separate DC sources, Diode-clamped inverters and Flying Capacitors Cascaded H-bridge Inverter: In this inverter, each DC power source is connected to an H-bridge inverter. The inverter has four switches. By using different combinations of switches, the inverter can produce three different AC voltage outputs.

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Diode-Clamped Multilevel Inverter This inverter uses six diodes and five capacitors to create six voltage levels. The inverter is suitable for transmission of DC current on an AC transmission line or variable speed motors. Precise monitoring and control are required to prevent overcharging or discharging. Control of Cascaded Multilevel Inverters Research is being conducted that combines the cascaded inverter design with the diodeclamped design. Such a configuration shows promise in using only one DC power source. Theory indicates that this configuration could produce seven voltage levels. Flying Capacitor Multilevel Inverter This inverter has a similar design to a diode-clamped inverter. However, the clamping diodes have been replaced with capacitors. The design requires only two switch combinations to create a voltage output. Tracking the output of all the capacitors is complicated, as is precharging all of the capacitors. Reverse Topology: . It is the simulation of new multilevel inverter topology with reverse voltage technique.This technique helps to reduce the number of power switches used in the power circuit without compensating the levels.

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Table. 1. COMPARISON BETWEEN MULTILEVEL INVERTERS:

Cascade H-bridge Voltage Required High voltage rating required Device rating Voltage balancing Unequal device rating Capacitor voltage imbalance Main switching devices Main diodes 2(m 1) 2(m 1) Less Diode Clamped Medium voltage required Equal device rating Capacitor voltage imbalance 2(m 1) 2(m 1) More compared to cascade Output voltage Increase with increasing levels Switching losses Using PWM techniques can be avoided Applications Large Motor drive applications Normal output voltage expected Using PWM techniques can be avoided Light load applications Equal device rating Capacitor voltage balance 2(m 1) 2(m 1) Less compared to cascade High output voltage due to less harmonics results Using PWM techniques can be avoided High power rating applications Flying Capacitor High voltage required

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2.7. CONTROL SCHEMES :

Fig.2.3 Control Schemes HYSTERESIS CONTROL Hysteresis control presents an alternative method for producing a sinusoidal ac current waveform from a dc voltage source. With this method, the controller maintains an output current that stays within a given tolerance of the reference waveform. The tolerance that the output stays within is called the hysteresis band. Unlike the above described PWM switching technique, the method of hysteresis control depends on feedback from the output current to control the inverter system. The closed-loop control method enables the inverter with hysteresis control to adapt instantly to changes in the output loading.

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2.8 Merits of Multilevel Inverter Multilevel concept is used to decrease the harmonic distortion in the output waveform without decreasing the inverter power output. To increase inverter operating voltage without devices in series. To minimize THD with low switching frequencies f sw To reduce EMI due to lower voltage steps. Ability to reduce the voltage stress on each power device due to the utilization of multiple levels on the DC bus. Important when a high DC side voltage is imposed by an application (e.g. traction systems) Even at low switching frequencies, smaller distortion in the multilevel inverter AC side waveform can be achieved (with stepped modulation technique) Reduced electromagnetic compatibility (EMC) when operated at high voltage. Smaller rating of semiconductor devices.

2.9 Demerits of Multilevel Inverter The drawbacks are the isolated power supplies required for each one of the stages of the multi converter and its also lot harder to build, more expensive, harder to controlling software. Switching utilization and efficiency are poor for real transmission.

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CHAPTER-3 PULSE MODULATION SCHEME

3.1 Pulse Amplitude Modulation Pulse Amplitude Modulation refers to a method of carrying information on a train of pulses, the information being encoded in the amplitude of pulses. In other words the pulse amplitude is modulated according to the varying amplitude of analog signal.

3.2 Pulse Width Modulation

Pulse Width Modulation refers to a method of carrying information on a train of pulses, the information being encoded in the width of the pulses. The pulses have constant amplitude but their duration varies in direct proportion to the amplitude of analog signal.

3.3 Pulse Position Modulation

The amplitude and width of the pulse is kept constant in the system. The position of each pulse, in relation to the position of a recurrent reference pulse, is varied by each instantaneous sampled value of the modulating wave. PPM has the advantage of requiring constant transmitter power since the pulses are of constant amplitude and duration.

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3.4 Pulse Code Modulation

To obtain PCM from an analog waveform at the source (transmitter), the analog signal amplitude is sampled at regular time intervals. The sampling rate (number of samples per second), is several times the maximum frequency of the analog waveform. The amplitude of the analog signal at each sample is rounded off to the nearest binary level (quantization). The Number of levels is always a power of 2 (4, 8, 16, 32, 64, ...). These numbers can be represented by two, three, four, five, six or more binary digits

Fig3.1(a)Analog signal, s( t). ( b) Pulse-amplitude modulation. ( c) Pulse-width modulation. ( d ) Pulse position modulation

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PCM is a general scheme for transmitting analog data in a digital and binary way independent of the complexity of the analog waveform. With PCM all forms of analog data like video, voice, music and telemetry can be transferred. 3.5 Advantages of PWM The output voltage control is easier with PWM than other schemes and can beachieved without any additional components. The lower order harmonics are either minimized or eliminated altogether. The filtering requirements are minimized as lower order harmonics are eliminated and higher order harmonics are filtered easily. It has very low power consumption. The entire control circuit can be digitized which reduces the susceptibility of thecircuit to interference. PWM is the most popular method for producing a controlled output for inverters. They are quite popular in industrial applications. 3.6 Single Phase PWM Inverters In many industrial applications, to control the output voltage of the inverters is necessary for the following reasons To adjust with variations of dc input voltage To regulate voltage of inverters To satisfy the contain volts and frequency control requirement There are various techniques to vary the inverter gain. The most efficient method of Controlling the gain (and output voltage) is to incorporate pulse width modulation (PWM) Control within the inverters. The commonly used techniques are

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a) Single Pulse width Modulation b) Multiple Pulse width Modulation c) Sinusoidal Pulse width Modulation d) Modified sinusoidal Pulse width Modulation e) Phase-displacement control.

The PWM techniques given above vary with respect to the harmonic content in their output voltages.

3.7 Single Pulse Width Modulation In this control, theres only one pulse per half cycle and the width of the pulse is varied to control the inverter output. The gating signals are generated by comparing a rectangular reference signal of the amplitude Are with triangular carrier wave of amplitude Ac, the f frequency of the carrier wave determines the fundamental frequency of output voltage. By varying Ar from 0 to Ac ,the pulse width can be varied from 0 to 100 percent. The ratio of Arto Ac is the control variable and defined as the modulation index 3.8Multiple Pulse Width Modulation The harmonic content can be reduced by using several pulses in each half cycle of outputvoltage. The generation of gating signals for turning ON and OFF transistors by comparing a reference signal with a triangular carrier wave. The frequency Fc, determines the number of pulses per half cycle. The modulation index controls the output voltage. This type of modulation is also known as uniform pulse width modulation (UPWM).

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3.9 Sinusoidal Pulse Width Modulation Modulation the width of each pulse is varied in proportion to the amplitude of a sine wave evaluated at the centre of the same pulse. The distortion factor and lower order harmonics are reduced significantly. The gating signals are generated by comparing a sinusoidal reference signal with a Instead of, maintaining the width of all pulses of same as in case of multiple pulse width triangular carrier wave of frequency Fc. The frequency of reference signal Fr, determines the

inverter output frequency and its peak amplitude Ar, controls the modulation index M, and rms output voltage Vo. The number of pulses per half cycle depends on carrier frequency. 3.10 Single-phase, full-bridge, voltage-source inverters The single-phase, half-bridge inverters require only two controlled switches and two diodes. These inverters can be used only when three-wired dc supply is available. Moreover, the voltage across the off-state semiconductor device is V , which is double the load voltage. These drawbacks are removed in full bridge inverters (fig. 2.1). The inverter uses two pairs of controlled switches (S1S2and S3S4) and two pairs of diodes (D1D2and D3D4). The devices of one pair operate simultaneously. The gating signals of the switch-pairs S1S2and S3S4areshown in Figs. 2.3 a & b, respectively.

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Fig.3.2: Circuit and gating configurations of single phase full bridge inverter

3.11 Unipolar switching scheme

In unipolar switching scheme, the switch pairs S1S2and S3S4of the full-bridge inverter of fig.2.1, are not operated as pair. Instead, the switches of the first leg, i.e. S1and S4, are operated by paring triangular carrier wave (vc) with the sinusoidal reference signal (vref ). The switches of the other leg, i.e. S2and S3, are operated by comparing vc with vref . Following logic is used to operate these switches:1. If vref >vc, S1is on and if vref <vc, S4is on.2. If vref >vc, S3is on and if vref <vc, S2is on .Here V an and V bn, are the potentials of the load terminals A and B, with respect to the reference point N. The waveform for the unipolar switching scheme, mf =12 and ma= 0.8, are shown in fig. 2.4. It may be observed that the output voltage fluctuates from 0 to +V in the positive half-cycle and from0 to V in the negative half-cycle. Thus the scheme is called unipolar switching scheme

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CHAPTER-4 CIRCUIT DESCRIPTION

4.1. BLOCK DIAGRAM:

DC POWER SUPPLY

LEVEL GENERATION UNIT

CASCADE HBRIDGE

OUTPUT

DRIVER CIRCUIT

REVERSE TOPOLOGY IN CASCADE H-BRIDGE CIRCUIT

BLOCK DIAGRAM DESCRIPTION DC power supply is taken from battery Driver circuit drives the motor 15 level reversing voltage topology used Level generation unit is connected to the H-bridge circuit Output is taken from the H bridge inverter

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4.2 CIRCUIT DIAGRAM:

Fig.4.2 General Circuit Diagram for Multilevel inverter

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Fig.No.4.3 Detailed Circuit for Multilevel Inverter

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4.3. Inverter with voltage regulation

As mentioned in Section 3, in order to regulate the virtual supply sources which are emulated by capacitors the switching frequency has to be doubled such that one switching cycle of the original operation can accommodate two switching operations. An inductor is also added to the output of the inverter to smooth out the synthesized supply.

4.4. Virtual energy sources Even with voltage regulation for the virtual supply sources, it was shown from Table 3 that regulations were not supported at some output levels as the provided switching actions are supposed not to worsen the voltage deviation. Hence capacitors replacing the supply sources have to be sufficiently large to cope with the changes. According to the local supply rule, the amplitude of a power supply is allowed for 5% deviation. Hence the virtual supply sources are allowed for similar deviations from their nominal values under normal operation. The size of the capacitor is chosen as(4)

(4.1) where Ci is the size of capacitor for the ith stage H-bridge, Imax is the maximum magnitude of current handled, T is taken as half of the period of oscillation of the synthesized supply and Ei is the allowable voltage deviation in T. Ei is set to 5% of Ei. For the present implementation, T = 0.01 s,Imax = 7.07 A, E1 = 1.65 V and E2 = 4.95 V which imply that

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The final capacitors chosen were C1 = 0.1F and C2 = 0.033F such that the voltage levels of virtual energy sources would still be acceptable even if there was no regulation for half cycle at peak current.

4.5 Smoothing inductor Under voltage regulation, some of the switching states are approximated by two switching operations within one of the original switching cycle. In these cases, the two output levels within the original switching cycle will be very much different and smoothing is required in order to retain the THD of the synthesized signal. The size of the added inductor can be chosen as(5)

(4.2) where L is the inductance of the added inductor, RL is the rated resistive load, fs is the effective switching frequency of the inverter and E is the maximum difference in the voltage level within one normal switching cycle under voltage regulation such that the voltage variation appeared across the rated load will still be less than E. value. If the generated supply is set to 5% above the nominal value under no-load condition, the total allowable variation from no-load to rated load will be 10% and (6)

(4.4) where fv is the frequency of the synthesized signal.

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Fig. 4.4 shows the final circuit schematic diagram. It should be noted that differential amplifiers are required to measure the capacitor voltages using the analogue-to-digital converter (ADC). To avoid the effects of aliasing on the sampled virtual energy sources, lowpass filters with a cutoff frequency at about 677 Hz are attached to the two capacitors. Fig.4.5. showed the synthesized waveform of the inverter for 50 loading. The frequency spectrum of the synthesized voltage was shown in Fig. 4.6. The THD of the raw synthesized voltage was 4.12%. Fig. 4.7 showed the synthesized voltage after the filtering inductor and Fig. 4.8 showed the frequency spectrum of the synthesized voltage after filtering. Clearly a much smoother output was created and the THD of the synthesized waveform reduced to 0.63%. Fig. 4.9 showed the voltages of the two virtual energy sources and they were well regulated at 33 V and 99 V. Fig. 4.10 showed the synthesized voltage for 200 load and the frequency spectrum of the raw signal was shown.

Fig.4 . 4SYNTHESIZED VOLTAGE WITH THREE REGULATED DC SOURCES:

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Fig.4.5. FREQUENCY SPECTRUM OF THE SYNTHESIZED VOLTAGE:

Fig.4.6. RAW SYNTHESIZED VOLTAGE WITH 50 OHM LOAD:

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Fig.4.7FREQUENCY SPECTRUM OF RAW SYNTHEZIED VOLTAGE WITH 50 OHM LOAD:

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Fig.4.8. SYNTHESIZED VOLTAGE AFTER FILTERING INDUCTOR WITH 50 OHM LOAD:

Fig.4.9. FREQUENCY SPECTRUM OF THE SYNTHESIZED VOLTAGE AFTER FILTERING INDUCTOR WITH 50 OHM

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Fig.4.10. VIRTUAL SOURCES E1 AND E2:

Table 2. showed the output voltage and efficiencies of the inverter under different loading conditions and the efficiencies were above 85% under different loading conditions. Fig. 16 showed a picture of the implemented inverter. Table 2. Efficiencies and output voltages under different loading conditions. Loading resistance () Output voltage (V rms) Rated power (%) E3 supply current (A) Input power (W) 30.2 213 136.6 5.8 1722.6 44 (nominal) 220 100 4.2 1247.2 50 221 88.8 3.72 1104.8 100 226 46.4 1.85 549.5 200 233 24.7 1.06 314.8

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Efficiency (%)

87.2

88.2

88.4

93.0

86.2

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CHAPTER-5 CASCADED MULTILEVEL INVERTER

5.1 BASIC PRINCIPLE OF OPERATION OF CASCADED MULTILEVELINVERTER: The Cascaded Multilevel Converters (CMC) is simply a number of conventional twolevel bridges, whose AC terminals are simply connected in series to synthesize the output waveforms. Fig. 1 shows the power circuit for a five level inverter with two cascaded cells. The CMC needs several independent DC sources which may be obtained from batteries, fuel cells or solar cells. Through different combinations of the four switches of each cell, each converter level can generate three different voltage outputs, +Vdc, 0, Vdc. The AC output is the sum of the individual converter outputs. The number of output phase voltage levels is defined by n = 2N+1, where N is the number of DC sources.

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Fig.5.1. Cascade level inverter A method is presented showing that a cascade multilevel inverter can be implemented using only a single DC power source and capacitors. A standard cascade multilevel inverter requires n DC sources for 2n + 1 levels. Without requiring transformers, the scheme proposed here allows the use of a single DC power source (e.g., a battery or a fuel cell stack) with the remaining n-1 DC sources being capacitors. It is shown that one can simultaneously maintain the DC voltage level of the capacitors and choose a fundamental frequency-switching pattern to produce a nearly sinusoidal output.

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5.2 Basics behind this project: Power-electronic inverters are becoming popular for various industrial drives applications. In recent years also high-power and medium-voltage drive applications have been installed. To overcome the limited semiconductor voltage and current ratings, some kind of series and/or parallel connection will be necessary. Due to their ability to synthesize waveforms with a better harmonic spectrum and attain higher voltages, multi-level inverters are receiving increasing attention in the past few years. The multilevel inverter was introduced as a solution to increase the converter operating voltage above the voltage limits of classical semiconductors. The multilevel voltage source inverter is recently applied in many industrial applications such as ac power supplies, static VAR compensators, drive systems, etc. One of the significant advantages of multilevel configuration is the harmonic reduction in the output waveform without increasing switching frequency or decreasing the inverter power output. The output voltage waveform of a multilevel inverter is composed of the number of levels of voltages, typically obtained from capacitor voltage sources. The so-called multilevel starts from three levels. As the number of levels reach infinity, the output THD (Total Harmonic Distortion) approaches zero. The number of the achievable voltage levels, however, is limited by voltage unbalance problems, voltage clamping requirement, circuit layout, and packaging constraints. Multilevel inverters synthesizing a large number of levels have a lot of merits such as improved output waveform, a smaller filter size, a lower EMI (Electro Magnetic Interference), and other advantages. The principle advantage of using multilevel inverters is the low harmonic distortion obtained due to the multiple voltage levels at the output and reduced stresses on the switching devices used. Improvements in fast switching power devices have led to an increased interest in voltage source inverters (VSI) with pulse width modulation control (PWM). It is generally accepted that the performance of an inverter, with any switching strategies, can be related to the harmonic contents

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of its output voltage. Power electronics researchers have always studied many novel control techniques to reduce harmonics in such waveforms. Up-to-date, there are many techniques, which are applied to multilevel inverter topologies. Pulse Width Modulation (PWM) is widely employed to control the output of static power inverters. The reason for using PWM is that they provide voltage and/or current wave shaping customized to the specific needs of the application under consideration. It is lastly performance and cost criteria, which determines the choice of a PWM method in a specific application. PWM inverters can control their output voltage and frequency simultaneously. And also they can reduce the harmonic components in load currents. These features have made them power candidate in many industrial applications such as variable speed drives, uninterruptible power supplies, and other power conversion systems. However, the reduction of harmonic components in output currents is still the focus of major interest to alleviate the influences of electromagnetic interferences or noise and vibrations.

In general, neutral point clamped PWM three-phase inverter which uses four switching elements in each arm has the five- level voltage waveforms that results in considerable suppression of the harmonic currents comparing with the conventional full-bridge type three-level PWM inverters. However, this is not the case of single-phase PWM inverter. In these days, the popular singlephase inverters adopt the full-bridge type using approximate sinusoidal modulation technique as the power circuits. The output voltage of them has three values: zero, positive and negative supply dc voltage levels. Therefore, the harmonic components of their output voltage are determined by the carrier frequency and switching functions. Moreover, the harmonic reduction of them is limited to a certain degree. Under these technical backgrounds, is presented in the project.

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5.3. Cascaded H-bridge inverter and multilevel output:

A schematic diagram for cascading three H-bridges is shown a single-phase three-level PWM (Pulse Width Modulation) in Fig. 1. For each H-bridge, it could have three output states depending on the switch positions. Table 1. shows the switching positions, switching states and the outputs for different H-bridge inverters. As each H-bridge can have three output levels, a trinary system is able to form if the voltages across the voltage sources are set appropriately. If the voltage of an H-bridge is set to three times higher than the previous stage, a maximum of 3n levels inverter with equal intervals can be generated from n-stage H-bridge. If the voltages of the cascaded H-bridge inverter shown in Fig.1. are set to E1 = E, E2 = 3E and E3 = 9E where E is any arbitrary voltage level, a maximum of 15 levels with equal intervals can be generated if the switching states are correctly set. The advantage of the proposed method is only 12 power switches are needed to generate 15 levels whereas in other schemes the number of level is less than 11 although proposed a new configuration of cascaded multilevel inverter and the suggested topology needs fewer switches and gate driver circuits with minimum standing voltage on switches. Table.2. shows the required switching states for the proposed cascaded H-bridge inverter, the output of individual inverter and the total output from the cascaded inverter. A particular switching state for the cascaded H-bridge inverters can be selected if the required output is half a step within the available output level of the inverter.

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Fig. 5.2 CASCADE H-BRIDGE INVERTER:

Table 3. Switching tables for the cascaded H-bridge inverter.

Switch position

Switching state

Output

S1

S2

S3

S4

U1

V1

(a) Switching table for first stage of H-bridge On Off Off On 1 E1

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Switch position

Switching state

Output

S1 On Off Off

S2 On Off On

S3 Off On On

S4 Off On Off

U1 0 0 1

V1 0 0 E1

S5

S6

S7

S8

U2

V2

(b) Switching table for second stage of H-bridge On On Off Off Off On Off On Off Off On On On Off On Off 1 0 0 1 E2 0 0 E2

S9

S10

S11

S12

U3

V3

(c) Switching table for third stage of H-bridge On On Off Off Off On Off On Off Off On On On Off On Off 1 0 0 1 E3 0 0 E3

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Table 4. Switching states and output of cascaded H-bridge inverter.

Switching states

Inverter output

Total output

U3 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 0 0 0

U2 1 1 1 0 0 0 1 1 1 1 1 1

U1 1 0 1 1 0 1 1 0 1 1 0 1

V3 9E 9E 9E 9E 9EE 9E 9E 9E 9E 0 0 0

V2 3E 3E 3E 0 0 0 3E 3E 3E 3E 3E 3E

V1 E 0 E E 0 E E 0 E E 0 E

V = V1 + V2 + V3 13E 12E 11E 10E 9E 8E 7E 6E 5E 4E 3E 2E

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0 0 0 0 0 0 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1

0 0 0 1 1 1 1 1 1 0 0 0 1 1 1

1 0 1 1 0 1 1 0 1 1 0 1 1 0 1

0 0 0 0 0 0 9E 9E 9E 9E 9E 9E 9E 9E 9E

0 0 0 3E 3E 3E 3E 3E 3E 0 0 0 3E 3E 3E

E 0 E E 0 E E 0 E E 0 E E 0 E

E 0 E 2E 3E 4E 5E 6E 7E 8E 9E 10E 11E 12E 13E

5.4 Virtual energy sources and voltage regulation: As the current drawn from different DC sources are different, the voltages across different energy sources have to be regulated properly if the energy sources do not have their own voltage regulation. It will be more problematic if some of the energy sources are replaced by capacitors. Clearly, the virtual energy sources provided by the capacitors have to be carefully regulated. Otherwise, the number of levels generated from the inverter will be destroyed and the

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intervals between different levels may not be equal. To maintain the trinary system and 3 n levels of output, the virtual energy voltage sources have to be properly controlled and some switching states have to be avoided in order not to worsen the deviation of the virtual voltage source from its nominal value. An increase in voltage for a virtual energy source will depend on the switching state and inverter current Ic direction. If the inverter current Ic is negative which is equivalent to current flowing into a capacitor and the switching state is 1, there will be an increase in the capacitor voltage. If the switching state is 0, there will have no change in the capacitor voltage. And if the switching state is 1, there will be a reduction in the capacitor voltage.

5.6 APPLICATIONS:
DC power source utilization An inverter converts the DC electricity from sources such as batteries, solar panels, or fuel cells to AC electricity. The electricity can be at any required voltage; in particular it can operate AC equipment designed for mains operation, or rectified to produce DC at any desired voltage.

Uninterruptible power supplies An uninterruptible power supply (UPS) uses batteries and an inverter to supply AC power when main power is not available. When main power is restored, a rectifier supplies DC power to recharge the batteries. Induction heating

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Inverters convert low frequency main AC power to higher frequency for use in induction heating. To do this, AC power is first rectified to provide DC power. The inverter then changes the DC power to high frequency AC power. HVDC power transmission With HVDC power transmission, AC power is rectified and high voltage DC power is transmitted to another location. At the receiving location, an inverter in a static inverter plant converts the power back to AC. Variable-frequency drives A variable-frequency drive controls the operating speed of an AC motor by controlling the frequency and voltage of the power supplied to the motor. An inverter provides the controlled power. In most cases, the variable-frequency drive includes a rectifier so that DC power for the inverter can be provided from main AC power. Since an inverter is the key component, variablefrequency drives are sometimes called inverter drives or just inverters. Electric vehicle drives Adjustable speed motor control inverters are currently used to power the traction motors in some electric and diesel-electric rail vehicles as well as some battery electric vehicles and hybrid electric highway vehicles such as the Toyota Prius, BYD e6 and Fisker Karma. Various improvements in inverter technology are being developed specifically for electric vehicle applications.[4] In vehicles with regenerative braking, the inverter also takes power from the motor (now acting as a generator) and stores it in the batteries.

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Air conditioning An inverter air conditioner uses a variable-frequency drive to control the speed of the motor and thus the compressor.

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CHAPTER-6

HARMONICS ANALYSIS OF MULTILEVEL INVERTER

6.1 HARMONICS IN MULTILEVEL INVERTER:

Harmonics are currents or voltages with frequencies that are integer multiples of the fundamental power frequency being 50 or 60Hz (50Hz for European power and 60Hz for American power). For example, if the fundamental power frequency is 50 Hz, then the2ndharmonic is 100 Hz, the 3 Rd is 150 Hz, etc. In modern test equipment today harmonics can be measured up to the 63 rd harmonics. To give an understanding of this, consider a water piping system. Have you ever taken a shower when someone turns on the cold water at the sink? You experience the effect of a pressure drop to the cold water, reducing the flow of cold water. The end result is you get burned! Now imagine that someone at a sink alternately turns on and off the cold and hot water. You would effectively be hit with alternating cold and hot water! Therefore, the performance and function of the shower is reduced by other systems. This illustration is similar to an electrical distribution system with non-linear loads generating harmonics. There are several industrial applications which may allow a harmonic content of 5% of its fundamental component of input voltage when inverters are used. Actually, the inverter output voltage may have harmonic content much higher than 5% of its fundamental component. In order to bring this harmonic content to a reasonable limit of 5%, one method is to insert filters between the load and inverter. If the inverter output voltage contains high frequency harmonics, these can be reduced by a low-size filter. For the attenuation of low-frequency harmonics, however, the size of filter components increases. This makes the filter circuit costly, bulky and weighty and in addition, the transient response of the

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system becomes sluggish. This shows that lower order harmonics from the inverter output voltage should be reduced by some means other the filter.

6.2 Harmonic Optimization Techniques in Multilevel VSI One of the major problems in electric power quality is the harmonic contents. There are several methods of indicating the quantity of harmonic contents. The most widely used measure is the total harmonic distortion (THD). Various switching techniques have been used in static converters to reduce the output harmonic content. We compare the two harmonic optimization techniques, known as optimal minimization of the total harmonic distortion (OMTHD) technique and optimized harmonic stepped-waveform (OHSW) technique used in multi-level inverters with unequal dc sources. Both techniques are very effective and efficient for improving the quality of the inverter outputvoltage. First, we describe briefly the cascaded H-bridge multi-level inverter structure. Multi-level inverter is recently used in many industrial applications such as ac power supplies, static VAR compensators, drive systems, etc. One of the significant advantages of multi-level structure is the harmonic reduction in the output waveform without increasing switching frequency or decreasing the inverter output power. The output voltage waveform of a multi-level inverter is composed of a number of levels of voltages, typically obtained from capacitor voltage sources. The so-called multi-level starts from three levels. As the number of levels increases, the output THD approaches zero. The number of achievable voltage levels, however, is limited by voltage unbalance problems, voltage clamping requirement, circuit layout, and packaging constraints. Therefore, an important key in designing an effective and efficient multi-level inverter is to ensure that the total harmonic distortion (THD) in the output voltage waveform is small enough. The well-known multi-level inverter topologies are: cascaded H-bridge multi-level inverter, diode-clamped multi-level

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inverter and flying capacitor multi-level inverter. The multi-level inverter composed of cascaded H-bridges with separate dc sources(SDCSs), hereafter called a cascaded multi-level inverter, appears to be superior to the other multi-level topologies in terms of its structure that is not only simple and modular but also requires the least number of components. This modular structure makes it easily extensible to higher number of output voltage levels without undue increase in power circuit complexity. In addition, extra clamping diodes or voltage balancing capacitors are not necessary. It is generally accepted that the performance of an inverter, with any switching strategy, can be related to the harmonic contents of its output voltage. 6.3.1 Applications in Harmonic Elimination The present chapter helps us to understand the effects of non-linear loads on the power system and the implementation of suitable devices to cancel out the harmonics. The use of inverters in active power filters has been emphasized and the simulated circuits and results have been described in particular.

6.3.2 Non Linear Loads

A non-linear load on a power system is typically a rectifier or some kind of arc discharge device such as a fluorescent lamp, electric welding machine, or arc furnace in which current is not linearly related to the voltage. Because current in these systems is interrupted by a switching action, the current contains frequency components that are multiples of the power system frequency. This leads to distortion of the current waveform which in turn distorts the voltage waveform. Distortion power factor is a measure of how much the harmonic distortion of a load current decreases the average power transferred to the load.

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6.3.3 Active Power Filters The increasing use of power electronics based loads (adjustable speed drives, switch mode power supplies, etc.) to improve system efficiency and controllability is increasing the concern for harmonic distortion levels in end use facilities and on the overall power system. The application of passive tuned filters creates new system resonances which are dependent on specific system conditions. In general, passive tuned filters have been used to minimize low-frequency current harmonics while high-pass units have been connected to attenuate the amplitude of high frequency current components. However, high-pass filters present disadvantages due to the resistance connected in parallel to the inductor, which increases the filter losses and reduces the filtering effectiveness at the tuned frequency. The most critical aspects of passive filters are related to the fact that they cannot modify their compensation characteristics following the dynamic changes of the nonlinear load, the performance dependence they present with the power system parameters, and the probability of series resonances with the power systems equivalent reactance. Passive filter ratings must be coordinated with reactive power requirements of the loads and it is often difficult to design the filters to avoid leading power factor operation for some load conditions. Also, the passive filter generates at fundamental frequency reactive power that changes the system voltage regulation, and if the filter is not designed properly or disconnected during low load operating conditions, over-voltages can be generated at its terminals. A flexible and versatile solution to voltage/current quality problems is offered by active power filters. Active filters have the advantage of being able to compensate for harmonics without fundamental frequency reactive power concerns. This means that the rating of the active power can be less than a conquerable passive filter for the same nonlinear load and the active filter will not introduce system resonances that can move a harmonic problem from one frequency to another.

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Fig.6.1 Generalized block diagram for active pass filters Figure shows the components of a typical active-power-filter system and their interconnections. The information regarding the harmonic current, generated by a nonlinear load, for example, is supplied to the reference-current/voltage estimator together within formation about other system variables. The reference signal from the current estimator, as well as other signals, drives the overall system controller. This in turn provides the control for the PWM switching-pattern generator. The output of the PWM pattern generator controls the power circuit via a suitable interface. The power circuit in the generalized block diagram can be connected in parallel, series or parallel/series configurations, depending on the connection transformer used.

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CHAPTER-7

ANALYSIS OF MULTILEVEL INVERTER

7.1

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7.1 SIMULINK DIAGRAM FOR PROPOSED 3 LEVEL MULTILEVEL INVERTER

7.2 OUTPUT WAVEFORM OF 3 LEVEL MULTILEVEL INVERTER

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CHAPTER-8

CONCLUSION

8.1 CONCLUSION: A PWM-less 15-level inverter has been implemented based on cascading three H-bridge inverter and a single energy source. The THD of the synthesized voltage is acceptable by switching at 2 kHz. Switching strategy has also been successfully implemented for the voltage regulation of virtual energy sources. With the addition of the inductor and new switching strategies, a synthesized voltage with acceptable THD is resulted with less number of energy sources. In case of Sinusoidal Pulse Modulation the triangular carrier wave is compare with sine wave which results in switching losses, so square wave inverter is used which reduce the switching losses. Multilevel inverters are finding increased application in industrial environment with greater demand for high voltage high power processing techniques with improved efficiency. The essential advantage of multilevel inverters is the improvement in the output voltage signal quality using devices of low voltage rating with lesser switching frequency, thereby increasing the overall efficiency of the system. Multilevel inverters can be applied to utility interface systems and motor drives. These converters offer a low output voltage THD, and a high efficiency. A multilevel inverter can reduce the harmonics produced by the inverter and better THD is obtained when the inverter operated at higher modulation index. The harmonic distortions present in the load current and voltage waveforms were observed through analysis tool in Matlab/ simulink. The modulation index m controls the harmonic content of the output voltage waveform. The

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magnitude of fundamental component of output voltage is proportional to ma, but ma can never be more than unity. Thus the output voltage is controlled by varying ma and maximum power can also be achieved. 8.2. FUTURE SCOPE 3 Level inverter can be further implemented into 31 level. It can be used power consumption. Switching losses will be reduced. . Multilevel inverters are finding increased application in industrial environment with greater demand for high voltage high power processing techniques with improved efficiency. The essential advantage of multilevel inverters is the improvement in the output voltage signal quality using devices of low voltage rating with lesser switching frequency, thereby increasing the overall efficiency of the system. Multilevel inverters can be applied to utility interface systems and motor drives. These converters offer a low output voltage THD, and a high efficiency. A multilevel inverter can reduce the harmonics produced by the inverter and better THD is obtained when the inverter operated at higher modulation index. The harmonic distortions present in the load current and voltage waveforms were observed through analysis tool in Matlab/ simulink. The modulation index m controls the harmonic content of the output voltage waveform.

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