Study on the performance of two topology multilevel inverter

Abstract

It has been accepted that conventional inverters have limitation dealing with high voltage and high power applications. Lately, multilevel inverters are popular for high power applications due to its improved harmonic profile and increased power ratings. There are various literatures regarding topology and control techniques of multilevel inverters. This paper presents the performance of two Flying Capacitor Multilevel Inverter (FCMI) topologies particularly a 3-level and 5-level multilevel inverters. Besides that, concept of the topologies and its modulation techniques were described. Sinusoidal pulse width modulation (SPWM) techniques were utilized in this paper as the topologies control strategy. Two control parameters, namely the amplitude modulation index, ma and the frequency modulation index, mfwere varied in order to control the output voltage of the inverters. The model and simulation study were carried out using Matlab/Simulink software. Analyses on the performance of the two topologies were based on the fundamental voltage, output voltage waveform, output harmonic spectrum and total harmonic distortion (THD). It’s found that the five level FCMI have shown better performance in terms of THD compared to the three level FCMI in all conditions of varied ma and mf. Based on the study also, five level FCMI shows a better voltage output waveform; close to a sinusoidal waveform compared to the three level FCMI.