Multilevel inverter technology has emerged recently as a very important alternative in the area of high-power medium-voltage energy control. This paper presents the most important topologies like diode-clamped inverter (neutral-point clamped), capacitor-clamped (flying capacitor), and cascaded multicell with separate DC sources. Emerging topologies like asymmetric hybrid cells and soft-switched multilevel inverters are also discussed. This paper also presents the most relevant control and modulation methods developed for this family of converters: multilevel sinusoidal pulsewidth modulation, multilevel selective harmonic elimination, and space-vector modulation. Special attention is dedicated to the latest and more relevant applications of these converters such as laminators, conveyor belts, and unified power-flow controllers. The need of an active front end at the input side for those inverters supplying regenerative loads is also discussed, and the circuit topology options are also presented. Finally, the peripherally developing areas such as high-voltage high-power devices and optical sensors and other opportunities for future development are addressed.

Multilevel inverters: a survey of topologies, controls, and applications

The use of distributed energy resources is increasingly being pursued as a supplement and an alternative to large conventional central power stations. The specification of a power-electronic interface is subject to requirements related not only to the renewable energy source itself but also to its effects on the power-system operation, especially where the intermittent energy source constitutes a significant part of the total system capacity. In this paper, new trends in power electronics for the integration of wind and photovoltaic (PV) power generators are presented. A review of the appropriate storage-system technology used for the integration of intermittent renewable energy sources is also introduced. Discussions about common and future trends in renewable energy systems based on reliability and maturity of each technology are presented

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Power-Electronic Systems for the Grid Integration of Renewable Energy Sources: A Survey

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

Multilevel voltage source converters are emerging as a new breed of power converter options for high-power applications. The multilevel voltage source converters typically synthesize the staircase voltage wave from several levels of DC capacitor voltages. One of the major limitations of the multilevel converters is the voltage unbalance between different levels. The techniques to balance the voltage between different levels normally involve voltage clamping or capacitor charge control. There are several ways of implementing voltage balance in multilevel converters. Without considering the traditional magnetic coupled converters, this paper presents three recently developed multilevel voltage source converters: (1) diode-clamp, (2) flying-capacitors, and (3) cascaded-inverters with separate DC sources. The operating principle, features, constraints, and potential applications of these converters are discussed.

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Multilevel converters-a new breed of power converters

This paper presents a new multilevel converter topology suitable for very high voltage applications, especially network interties in power generation and transmission. The fundamental concept and the applied control scheme is introduced. Simulation results of a 36 MW-network intertie illustrate the efficient operating characteristics. A suitable structure of the converter-control is proposed.

An innovative modular multilevel converter topology suitable for a wide power range

This paper explores control methods for the Z-source inverter and their relationships of voltage boost versus modulation index. A maximum boost control is presented to produce the maximum voltage boost (or voltage gain) under a given modulation index. The control method, relationships of voltage gain versus modulation index, and voltage stress versus voltage gain are analyzed in detail and verified by simulation and experiment.

Maximum boost control of the Z-source inverter

This paper presents a fixed frequency operating sliding mode (SM) current control method with fast response and improved stability. Different from the conventional SM control with variable switching frequency, the fixed-frequency SM controller is proposed to control the modulation index and shoot-through duty ratio of the voltage-fed quasi-Z-source inverter (qZSI), which will not increase the passive components and filter design difficulty. A large-signal dynamic model of the system has been established, which can be used for the system stability control in a wide operating range. By using linear approximation, the system small-signal model is also obtained to analyze the control system stability and transient response. Compared with the conventional current mode controller, the proposed SM controller can achieve faster response, lower current ripple and better stability for qZSI when the supply and load variation is large. Experimental results are presented to demonstrate the validity of the theoretical design and the effectiveness of the proposed controller.

A Digital Current Control of Quasi-Z-Source Inverter With Battery

This paper is a survey on photovoltaic (PV) power conditioning systems (PCS) and their control strategies. Different inverter structures used in the PCSs are summarized. A novel Z-Source inverter based PCS is presented. The requirements and standards of PV PCS are also introduced.

Survey of the Power Conditioning System for PV Power Generation

A battery-energy-stored quasi-Z-source cascaded multilevel inverter (qZS-CMI)-based photovoltaic (PV) power generation system combines advantages of a qZS inverter, a CMI, and a battery energy storage system. However, unbalanced battery state of charge (SOC) between cascaded H-bridge inverter modules will degrade an entire system's performance and shorten battery lifespan. This paper proposes a control method to balance battery SOCs of all modules, no matter the intermittent states of each module's PV power. The method is on the basis of battery SOCs, SOC limits of each module, and the total power injected into the power grid. Simulation and experimental results verify the proposed control method that ensures identical SOCs for the battery-energy-stored qZS-CMI PV system.

State-of-Charge Balancing Control for a Battery-Energy-Stored Quasi-Z-Source Cascaded-Multilevel-Inverter-Based Photovoltaic Power System

Power flow control is important in power systems and recently becomes more urgent because of the deregulation and 2003 blackout. This paper presents a novel configuration of unified power flow controller. The proposed configuration has several unique features and advantages over the conventional configuration. As a result, cascade multilevel inverter can be used in the new configuration to lower the cost, volume, and increase the reliability of the system. Analysis and simulation results will be presented.

Fang Zheng Peng

Papers

Maximum boost control of the Z-source inverter

A Digital Current Control of Quasi-Z-Source Inverter With Battery

Survey of the Power Conditioning System for PV Power Generation

State-of-Charge Balancing Control for a Battery-Energy-Stored Quasi-Z-Source Cascaded-Multilevel-Inverter-Based Photovoltaic Power System

Unified power flow controller using the cascade multilevel inverter