A Hybrid Cascaded Multilevel Inverter

Center of Excellence for Innovative Energy Systems, 2Faculty of Engineering King Mongkut's Institute of Technology Ladkrabang, Chalongkrung Rd. Ladkrabang, Bangkok, 10520, THAILAND
Abstract- A hybrid cascaded multilevel inverter for interfacing with renewable energy resources is developed. The objective of this research is to propose an alternative topology of hybrid cascaded multilevel inverter applications. The modified PWM technique is also developed to reduce switching losses. Also, the proposed topology can reduce the number of required power switches compared to a traditional cascaded multilevel inverter. PSIM (PowerSim) and Simulink/MATLAB are used to simulate the circuit operation and control signal. The 3-kW prototype is developed. The reduced switching losses of the proposed multilevel inverter are also discussed. The results show that this alternative topology can be applied for high power applications.
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Nattapat Praisuwanna2 , Surin Khomfoi1,2

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I.

INTRODUCTION

Renewable energy resources have become an alternative power sources in recent year. Also, power electronics technologies have provided an important improvement of renewable energy applications. Many renewable energy applications will require high power inverters (>50 kW); for instance, a grid connected inverter. Therefore, multilevel inverters are suitable for this application because a multilevel inverter can possibly provide the high voltampere ratings; more specially, in renewable energy applications, a cascaded Hbridge multilevel inverter can be applied to interface a group of batteries, photovoltaic or fuel cells. Generally, three different major multilevel converter structures have been reported in the literature: cascaded H-bridges converter with separate dc sources (SDCS), diode clamped (neutral-clamped), and flying capacitors (capacitor clamped). An advantage and disadvantage of each type of multilevel inverter have been discussed in [1] and will not be repeated here. As explained in [1], a cascaded multilevel inverter may have more potential than others since input SDCS (Photovoltaic and Fuel cell) could be naturally interfaced to the multilevel inverter to provide higher output voltages; this may offer a high transformerless multilevel inverter in a grid connected application. Moreover, a cascaded configuration would provide a possibility to connect a higher SDCS (> 600 VDC) for getting higher output voltages which do not exceed the 600 VDC to ground as NEC limits. However, a cascaded multilevel inverter contains a lot of power switches and this number of power switches will be depended upon a number of required output voltage levels. Consequently, higher switching losses will be traded off with output voltage quality. A cascaded hybrid multilevel inverter has been developed from a conventional cascaded multilevel inverter as illustrated in Fig. 1. An IGBT H-Bridge inverter and an IGCT H-Bridge inverter are used as a hybrid multilevel inverter as proposed in

(b) Fig. 1. Single phase cascaded multilevel inverter configuration (a) a conventional multilevel inverter (b) hybrid multilevel inverter using IGCTs and IGBTs.

[2]. The IGCT inverter can be used at higher voltampere rating than the IGBT inverter; however, the IGBT inverter can be operated at higher switching frequency than the IGCT inverter. This illustrates that the hybrid inverter can operate at higher voltampere rating with lower switching losses than a conventional cascaded multilevel inverter. The IGCT inverter can operate at fundamental switching frequency (square wave) and the IGBT inverter can operate at PWM switching mode as clearly explained in [2]. The hybrid inverter proposed in [2] has the same number of power switches compared to a conventional cascaded multilevel inverter. It would be better if we could reduce a number of power switches in a hybrid inverter with the same functionality. The application of hybrid multilevel inverter with a single SDCS can be also applied in vehicle applications as proposed in [3-4]. Therefore, an alternative hybrid multilevel inverter (HMI) is developed as shown in Fig. 2. The HMI consists of two types of inverter: a conventional three phase six switches inverter and a single phase four switches H-bridge inverter. The objective of this proposed HMI is to apply with the renewable energy resources for a high power application; thereupon, two SDCS is used to supply both inverters. The switching paradigm of both inverters will be developed with low switching losses.

A Sa3 Vdc 2 + Sa4 Sa6 Sa5 Vdc 2 + Sb4 Sb6 Sb3 Sb5

B Sc3 Vdc 2 + Sc4 Sc6 Sc5

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Sa1 Vdc + N Sa2 Sb2 Sc2 Sb1 Sc1

Fig. 2. Proposed three phase cascaded hybrid multilevel inverter.

II. PROPOSED PWM PARADIGM Before continuing discussion in this research, it should be noted that the word main inverter is used to refer to the sixswitch three phase inverter and the word auxiliary inverter is referred to four-switch H-bridge inverter. Since the low switching losses during PWM operation is required, the main inverter will operate at square wave mode and auxiliary inverter will operate PWM mode as depicted in Fig. 3. In practical, if a single chip is used to generate the PWM signals, it normally has only one carrier signal with six PWM channels; nevertheless, the HMI requires 12 PWM channels for both main and auxiliary inverter. Thereafter, the referent signal of sinusoidal PWM (SPWM) used for the auxiliary inverter is modified by using equation (1)-(4). The multiplexing signals from (3) and (4) are used to fabricate PWM signal by using logic diagram as shown in Table I. and Fig. 4. In this particular application, PIC18F4431 single chip is used to generate the PWM signals incorporating with a CPLD XC9536XL to fabricate the PWM signals for the HMI.
f (t ) = ma Sin ( t )
1 1 2 f (t ) ; f (t ) 1 TP 2 2 = 1 TC 1 2 f (t ) ; 0 f (t ) 2 2

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(c) Fig. 3. Proposed PWM paradigm: (a) Output phase voltage, (b) Auxiliary and main inverter output voltages and (c) Modulation signals of both main and auxiliary inverter.

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1 ; f (t ) 0 A1 = 0 ; f (t ) < 0 1 1 ; f (t ) 2 A2 = 1 0 ; f (t ) < 2 is Reference signal, is Modulation Index (0-1.0),

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Fig. 4. Logic diagram.

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TABLE I. FABRICATED PWM SIGNAL FOR PROPOSED HYBRID MULTILEVEL INVERTER

when

f (t ) ma

A1 A2 TP TC

is multiplexing signal #1, is multiplexing signals #2, is Pulse width of PWM (01).

Sn SA1 SA2 SA3 SA4 SA5 SA6

Hybrid PWM mixing operator

A1 A1 PWM (( A2 A1) + ( A2 A1))

PWM + (( A2 A1) + ( A2 A1)) PWM (( A2 A1) + ( A2 A1)) PWM + (( A2 A1) + ( A2 A1))

III. SIMULATION STUDY PSIM (Powersim) [5] and MATLAB/Simulink are utilized to create the simulation model. MATLAB/Simulink is used to simulate the control signals and PSIM acts as a hardware prototype. This simulation model could offer the simplicity of a changing control scheme and simple to transfer the control model from simulation to implementation in a single chip. Fundamental output voltages can be controlled by changing a modulation index ma of referent signal; also, the fundamental output frequency can be adjusted by changing frequency of the referent signal. The simulation results of the proposed hybrid multilevel inverter are illustrated in Fig. 5-7. As can be seen, the simulation model can operate at different modulation indices. The results show that this hybrid can be also applied with traction drive applications. The simulation results on switching losses analysis are also performed to compare between the conventional multilevel inverter and the proposed hybrid multilevel inverter as shown in the table II.
TABLE II. SWITCHING LOSSES COMPARISON

Fig. 5. Output voltage of main and auxiliary inverter operated at ma 0.9/1.0.

Switching losses Phase A Phase B Phase C Total

Proposed HMI (Fig. 2) Main Auxiliary inverter inverter 25.68 39.786 25.68 39.782 25.68 39.785 196.393 W

Cascaded multilevel inverter Fig. 1 (a) Lower Upper H-Bridge H-Bridge 48.1 40.627 48.1 40.006 48.1 40.535 265.542 W

IV. EXPERIMENTAL SETUP The 3-kW prototype was developed by using power bipolar junction transistor (BJT) (TOSHIBA MG50G6EL1 50A 600V) in main inverter and IGBT (FAIRCHILD G20N60B30 40A 600V) in auxiliary inverter. The switching power supplies were used as SDCS for supplying dc voltages to HMI. A 1-hp induction motor was used as a load. A Yokogawa oscilloscope incorporating with a PC was used to perform a measurement unit. The experiment setup is shown in Fig. 9. The BJTs were used because the conduction power loss in BJTs is quite small. Experimental results are illustrated Fig. 10. Fig. 10 (a) shows the output line to neutral voltage and line output current of the proposed HMI operating at unity modulation index. As can be seen, the HMI can operate in PWM mode with a good sinusoidal output current. The output voltage of main and auxiliary inverter is depicted in Fig. 10 (b). Clearly, the main inverter operates at square wave mode, but the auxiliary inverter operates at PWM mode. This operation can reduce the switching frequency losses in the HMI. The experimental results suggest that the proposed HMI can be used with renewable energy resources. It should be noted that, in most cases, the HMI in renewable energy applications may not require a wide range of modulation index; however, a wide range modulation index does require for drive applications. Also, it should be mentioned that this HMI do require a half of dc input voltage of the main inverter supplying to the auxiliary inverter in order to achieve a balance output voltages.
Fig. 7. Line to line and line to neutral Output voltage of the hybrid inverter operated at ma = 0.48/1.0.

Fig. 8. Line to line and line to neutral Output voltage and output current of the hybrid inverter operated at ma = 0.9/1.0.

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(b) Fig. 9. Experimental setup: (a) test rig and measurement unit, (b) proposed hybrid multilevel inverter.

V. CONCLUSION In the conclusion of this summary, the hybrid cascaded multilevel inverter for interfacing with renewable energy resources has been proposed. The modified PWM technique has also been developed to reduce switching losses. Also, the proposed topology can reduce the number of required power switches compared to a traditional cascaded multilevel inverter. Simulation and experimental results have been validated. The results show that this alternative cascaded hybrid multilevel inverter topology can be applied for high power applications as a multilevel inverter and can be used to interface with renewable energy resources. ACKNOWLEDGEMENT This research is supported by Kings Mongkuts Institute of Technology Ladkrabang Research Fund and Thailand Research Fund under the MRG5280027 contact number. REFERENCES
[1] [2] S. Khomfoi, L. M. Tolbert, Multilevel Power Converters, Power Electronics Handbook, 2nd Edition Elsevier, 2007, ISBN 978-0-12088479-7, Chapter 17, pp. 451-482. M. D. Manjrekar, P. Steimer and T. A. Lipo, Hybrid Multilevel Power Conversion System: A Competitive Solution for High Power Applications, IEEE Trans. On Industry Applications, Vol. 36, No. 3, pp. 834-841, May/June 2000.

(b) Fig. 10. Experimental results operating at ma =1.0/1.0: (a) Output phase voltages and line current (b) Output voltages of main and auxiliary inverter with line current. [3] Z. Du, B. Ozpineci, L. M. Tolbert,, J. N. Chiasson, A Novel Inductorless DC-AC Cascaded H-bridge Multilevel Boost Inverter for Electric/Hybrid Electric Vehicle Applications, IEEE Industry Applications Society Annual Meeting, September 23-27, 2007, New Orleans, Louisiana, pp. 603-608. H. Liu, L. M. Tolbert, B. Ozpineci, Z. Du, Comparison of Fundamental Frequency and PWM Methods Applied on a Hybrid Cascaded Multilevel Inverter, IEEE Industrial Electronics Society Annual Conference, Orlando, Florida, November 10-13, 2008, pp. 3233-3237 Powersim Inc, PSIM Users Guide Version 6, Powersim Inc, 2003, http://www.powersimtech.com. S. Khomfoi, A. Chatrchai, A 5-Level Cascaded Hybrid Multilevel Inverter for Interfacing with Renewable Energy Resoures, Proceedings of The 2009 Electrical Engineering/Electronics, Computer, Telecommunications, and Information Technology International Conference, (ECTI-CON 2009), 6-9 May 2009, Pattaya, Thailand.

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