TITLE:
Minimization of Switching Devices and Driver Circuits in Multilevel Inverter
AUTHORS:
S. Jawahar, P. Ramamoorthy
KEYWORDS:
H-Bridge Multilevel Inverter, Single Switch Multilevel Inverter, Body Diode, Switching Angle, THD, Cycloconverter, Half Bridge Multilevel Inverter
JOURNAL NAME:
Circuits and Systems,
Vol.7 No.10,
August
29,
2016
ABSTRACT: The various configurations
of multilevel inverter involve the use of more numbers of switching devices,
energy storage devices and/or unidirectional devices. Each switching unit
necessitates the add-on driver circuit for proper functionality. Cascaded
H-Bridge Multilevel Inverter requires overlapped switching pulses for the
switching devices in positive and negative arms of the bridge which may lead to
short circuit during the device failure. This work addresses the problems in
different configurations of multilevel inverter by using reduced number of
switching and energy storage devices and driver circuits. In the present
approach Single Switch is used for each stair case positive output and single
H-Bridge for phase reversal. Driver circuits are reduced by using the property
of body diode of the MOSFET. Switching pulses are generated by Arduino
Development Board. The circuit is simulated using Matlab. More so, through
experimental means, it is physically tested and results are analyzed for the
5-step inverter and thereby simulation is fully validated. Consequently,
cycloconverter operation of the circuit is simulated using Matlab. Moreover,
half bridge configuration of the multilevel inverter is also analyzed for high
frequency induction heating applications.