Multilevel converters have been under research and development for more than three decades and have found successful industrial application. However, this is still a technology under development, and many new contributions and new commercial topologies have been reported in the last few years. The aim of this paper is to group and review these recent contributions, in order to establish the current state of the art and trends of the technology, to provide readers with a comprehensive and insightful review of where multilevel converter technology stands and is heading. This paper first presents a brief overview of well-established multilevel converters strongly oriented to their current state in industrial applications to then center the discussion on the new converters that have made their way into the industry. In addition, new promising topologies are discussed. Recent advances made in modulation and control of multilevel converters are also addressed. A great part of this paper is devoted to show nontraditional applications powered by multilevel converters and how multilevel converters are becoming an enabling technology in many industrial sectors. Finally, some future trends and challenges in the further development of this technology are discussed to motivate future contributions that address open problems and explore new possibilities.

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Recent Advances and Industrial Applications of Multilevel Converters

This paper presents a technology review of voltage-source-converter topologies for industrial medium-voltage drives. In this highly active area, different converter topologies and circuits have found their application in the market. This paper covers the high-power voltage-source inverter and the most used multilevel-inverter topologies, including the neutral-point-clamped, cascaded H-bridge, and flying-capacitor converters. This paper presents the operating principle of each topology and a review of the most relevant modulation methods, focused mainly on those used by industry. In addition, the latest advances and future trends of the technology are discussed. It is concluded that the topology and modulation-method selection are closely related to each particular application, leaving a space on the market for all the different solutions, depending on their unique features and limitations like power or voltage level, dynamic performance, reliability, costs, and other technical specifications.

Multilevel Voltage-Source-Converter Topologies for Industrial Medium-Voltage Drives

http://ieeexplore.ieee.org/iel5/5610941/5624686/05624745.pdf

Power electronics

Cascaded multilevel inverters synthesize a medium-voltage output based on a series connection of power cells which use standard low-voltage component configurations. This characteristic allows one to achieve high-quality output voltages and input currents and also outstanding availability due to their intrinsic component redundancy. Due to these features, the cascaded multilevel inverter has been recognized as an important alternative in the medium-voltage inverter market. This paper presents a survey of different topologies, control strategies and modulation techniques used by these inverters. Regenerative and advanced topologies are also discussed. Applications where the mentioned features play a key role are shown. Finally, future developments are addressed.

A Survey on Cascaded Multilevel Inverters

This work is devoted to review and analyze the most relevant characteristics of multilevel converters, to motivate possible solutions, and to show that we are in a decisive instant in which energy companies have to bet on these converters as a good solution compared with classic two-level converters. This article presents a brief overview of the actual applications of multilevel converters and provides an introduction of the modeling techniques and the most common modulation strategies. It also addresses the operational and technological issues.

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The age of multilevel converters arrives

Silicon carbide (SiC) power devices have been investigated extensively in the past two decades, and there are many devices commercially available now. Owing to the intrinsic material advantages of SiC over silicon (Si), SiC power devices can operate at higher voltage, higher switching frequency, and higher temperature. This paper reviews the technology progress of SiC power devices and their emerging applications. The design challenges and future trends are summarized at the end of the paper.

https://ieeexplore.ieee.org/ielaam/41/8031005/7815312-aam.pdf

Review of Silicon Carbide Power Devices and Their Applications

This paper presents a modular cascaded H-bridge multilevel photovoltaic (PV) inverter for single- or three-phase grid-connected applications. The modular cascaded multilevel topology helps to improve the efficiency and flexibility of PV systems. To realize better utilization of PV modules and maximize the solar energy extraction, a distributed maximum power point tracking control scheme is applied to both single- and three-phase multilevel inverters, which allows independent control of each dc-link voltage. For three-phase grid-connected applications, PV mismatches may introduce unbalanced supplied power, leading to unbalanced grid current. To solve this issue, a control scheme with modulation compensation is also proposed. An experimental three-phase seven-level cascaded H-bridge inverter has been built utilizing nine H-bridge modules (three modules per phase). Each H-bridge module is connected to a 185-W solar panel. Simulation and experimental results are presented to verify the feasibility of the proposed approach.

Modular Cascaded H-Bridge Multilevel PV Inverter With Distributed MPPT for Grid-Connected Applications

In this letter, a genetic algorithm (GA) optimization technique is applied to determine the switching angles for a cascaded multilevel inverter which eliminates specified higher order harmonics while maintaining the required fundamental voltage. This technique can be applied to multilevel inverters with any number of levels. As an example, in this paper a seven-level inverter is considered, and the optimum switching angles are calculated offline to eliminate the fifth and seventh harmonics. These angles are then used in an experimental setup to validate the results.

/pdf/harmonic-optimization-of-multilevel-converters-using-genetic-44gegesyh9.pdf

Harmonic optimization of multilevel converters using genetic algorithms

This paper presents a cascaded H-bridge multilevel inverter that can be implemented using only a single dc power source and capacitors. Standard cascaded multilevel inverters require 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, which is referred to as hybrid cascaded H-bridge multilevel inverter (HCMLI) in this paper. It is shown that the inverter can simultaneously maintain the dc voltage level of the capacitors and choose a fundamental frequency switching pattern to produce a nearly sinusoidal output. HCMLI using only a single dc source for each phase is promising for high-power motor drive applications as it significantly decreases the number of required dc power supplies, provides high-quality output power due to its high number of output levels, and results in high conversion efficiency and low thermal stress as it uses a fundamental frequency switching scheme. This paper mainly discusses control of seven-level HCMLI with fundamental frequency switching control and how its modulation index range can be extended using triplen harmonic compensation.

/pdf/fundamental-frequency-switching-strategies-of-a-seven-level-4j7ys7s8uu.pdf

Fundamental Frequency Switching Strategies of a Seven-Level Hybrid Cascaded H-Bridge Multilevel Inverter

Plug-in hybrid electric vehicles (PHEVs) potentially have the capability to fulfill the energy storage needs of the electric grid by supplying ancillary services such as reactive power compensation, voltage regulation, and peak shaving. However, in order to allow bidirectional power transfer, the PHEV battery charger should be designed to manage such capability. While many different battery chargers have been available since the inception of the first electric vehicles (EVs), on-board, conductive chargers with bidirectional power transfer capability have recently drawn attention due to their inherent advantages in charging accessibility, ease of use, and efficiency. In this paper, a reactive power compensation case study using just the inverter dc-link capacitor is evaluated when a PHEV battery is under charging operation. Finally, the impact of providing these services on the batteries is also explained.

/pdf/examination-of-a-phev-bidirectional-charger-system-for-v2g-1gio61ypkq.pdf

Burak Ozpineci

Papers

Review of Silicon Carbide Power Devices and Their Applications

Modular Cascaded H-Bridge Multilevel PV Inverter With Distributed MPPT for Grid-Connected Applications

Harmonic optimization of multilevel converters using genetic algorithms

Fundamental Frequency Switching Strategies of a Seven-Level Hybrid Cascaded H-Bridge Multilevel Inverter

Examination of a PHEV bidirectional charger system for V2G reactive power compensation