• Journal of Power Electronics
• /
• v.13 no.2
• /
• pp.296-303
• /
• 2013

This paper proposes a high efficiency three-phase cascaded phase shifted H-bridge multi-level inverter without DC/DC converters for grid-tied multi string photovoltaic (PV) applications. The cascaded H-bridge topology is suitable for PV applications since each PV module can act as a separate DC source for each cascaded H-bridge module. The proposed phase shifted H-bridge multi-level topology offers advantages such as operation at a lower switching frequency and a lower current ripple when compared to conventional two level topologies. It is also shown that low ripple sinusoidal current waveforms are generated with a unity power factor. The control algorithm permits the independent control of each DC link voltage with a maximum power point for each string of PV modules. The use of the controller area network (CAN) communication protocol for H-bridge multi-level inverters, along with localized PWM generation and PV voltage regulation are implemented. It is also shown that the expansion and modularization capabilities of the H-bridge modules are improved since the individual inverter modules operate more independently. The proposed topology is implemented for a three phase 240kW multi-level PV power conditioning system (PCS) which has 40kW H-bridge modules. The experimental results show that the proposed topology has good performance.

• The Transactions of The Korean Institute of Electrical Engineers
• /
• v.62 no.4
• /
• pp.502-509
• /
• 2013

It presents an efficient switching pattern, which expects a reduction of switching losses in a cascaded H-bridge PWM multilevel inverter. By the proposed switching scheme, the lower H-bridge module operates at low frequency of 60[Hz] because it assigns to transfer most load power. The upper H-bridge module operates at high frequency of PWM switching to improve THD of output voltage. The proposed switching pattern applies to cascaded H-bridge multilevel inverter with PD, APOD, bipolar, and unipolar switching methods. By computer-aided simulations, we verify the validity of the proposed switching scheme. Finally, we prove that the proposed PD and APOD switching patterns are better than those of the conventional one in efficiency.

• Journal of international Conference on Electrical Machines and Systems
• /
• v.1 no.4
• /
• pp.448-456
• /
• 2012

This paper presents a multilevel inverter configuration which is designed by insertion of a bidirectional switch between capacitive voltage sources and a conventional H-bridge module. The modified inverter can produce a better sinusoidal waveform by increasing the number of output voltage levels. By serial connection of two modified H-bridge modules, it is possible to produce 9 output voltage levels including zero. There are 24 basic switching patterns with the 9 output voltage levels. Among the patterns, we select the 2 most efficient switching patterns to get a lower switching loss and minimum dv/dt stress. We then analyze characteristics of Total Harmonic Distortion (THD) of the output voltage with variation of input voltage by computer-aided simulations and experiments.

• The Transactions of the Korean Institute of Power Electronics
• /
• v.26 no.1
• /
• pp.59-65
• /
• 2021

This study proposes a dead-time implementation method suitable for cell voltage control of a cascaded H-bridge (CHB) inverter. The PWM module of an existing microcontroller cannot generate a maximum voltage due to the dead-time effect when used as the cell controller of the CHB inverter. In the proposed method, the operation method of the PWM module was changed without using the dead time module included in the existing microcontroller, so that the cell output voltage can be increased to the maximum voltage without voltage discontinuity. During the maximum voltage generation period, the full turn-on state can be maintained without unnecessary switching. The validity of the proposed method is confirmed through an experiment.

• Journal of international Conference on Electrical Machines and Systems
• /
• v.2 no.2
• /
• pp.190-196
• /
• 2013

It presents a unification of buck-boost and flyback converter for driving a cascaded H-bridge multilevel inverter with a single independent DC voltage source. Cascaded H-bridge multilevel inverter is useful to make many output voltage levels for sinusoidal waveform by combining two or more H-bridge modules. However, each H-bridge module needs an independent DC voltage source to generate multi levels in an output voltage. This topological characteristic brings a demerit of increasing the number of independent DC voltage sources when it needs to increase the number of output voltage levels. To solve this problem, we propose a converter combining a buck-boost converter with a flyback converter. The proposed converter provides independent DC voltage sources at back-end two H-bridge modules. After analyzing theoretical operation of the circuit topology, the validity of the proposed approach is verified by computer-aided simulations using PSIM and experiments.

• Journal of the Korean Institute of Illuminating and Electrical Installation Engineers
• /
• v.18 no.2
• /
• pp.68-74
• /
• 2004

This paper presents a novel hybrid multilevel inverter using DC-Link voltage combination in order to improve the waveshape of output voltage and reduce harmonics. The proposed multilevel inverter can generate an 11-level output voltage. It employs three H-bridge cell, which consists of single phase full-bridge inverter module. Among them, two modules are used for level generation, and one module performs PWM switching. Nine levels are synthesised by the level inverter, and two levels are added to output by the PWM inverter. As a result, it generates an 11-level. The operational principles are explained in depth, and the validity of the proposed system is verified through the PSpice simulation and experimental results based on a prototype.

• Journal of Power Electronics
• /
• v.17 no.1
• /
• pp.222-231
• /
• 2017

In this paper, a new architecture for a cost-effective power conditioning systems (PCS) using a single-sourced asymmetric cascaded H-bridge multilevel inverter (MLI) for photovoltaic (PV) applications is proposed. The asymmetric MLI topology has a reduced number of parts compared to the symmetrical type for the same number of voltage level. However, the modulation index threshold related to the drop in the number of levels of the inverter output is higher than that of the symmetrical MLI. This problem results in a modulation index limitation which is relatively higher than that of the symmetrical MLI. Hence, an extra voltage pre-regulator becomes a necessary component in the PCS under a wide operating bias variation. In addition to pre-stage voltage regulation for the constant MLI dc-links, another auxiliary pre-regulator should provide isolation and voltage balance among the multiple H-bridge cells in the asymmetrical MLI as well as the symmetrical ones. The proposed PCS uses a single-ended DC-DC converter topology with a coupled inductor and charge-pump circuit to satisfy all of the aforementioned requirements. Since the proposed integrated-type voltage pre-regulator circuit uses only a single MOSFET switch and a single magnetic component, the size and cost of the PCS is an optimal trade-off. In addition, the voltage balance between the separate H-bridge cells is automatically maintained by the number of turns in the coupled inductor transformer regardless of the duty cycle, which eliminates the need for an extra voltage regulator for the auxiliary H-bridge in MLIs. The voltage balance is also maintained under the discontinuous conduction mode (DCM). Thus, the PCS is also operational during light load conditions. The proposed architecture can apply the module-integrated converter (MIC) concept to perform distributed MPPT. The proposed architecture is analyzed and verified for a 7-level asymmetric MLI, using simulation results and a hardware implementation.

• JSTS:Journal of Semiconductor Technology and Science
• /
• v.16 no.4
• /
• pp.451-462
• /
• 2016

Photovoltaic energy conversion becomes main focus of many researches due to its promising potential as source for future electricity and has many advantages than the other alternative energy sources like wind, solar, ocean, biomass, geothermal etc. In Photovoltaic power generation multilevel inverters play a vital role in power conversion. The three different topologies, diode-clamped (neutral-point clamped) inverter, capacitor-clamped (flying capacitor) inverter and cascaded h-bridge multilevel inverter are widely used in these multilevel inverters. Among the three topologies, cascaded h-bridge multilevel inverter is more suitable for photovoltaic applications since each pv array can act as a separate dc source for each h-bridge module. This paper presents a single phase Cascaded H-bridge five level inverter for grid-connected photovoltaic application using sinusoidal pulse width modulation technique. This inverter output voltage waveform reduces the harmonics in the generated current and the filtering effort at the input. The control strategy allows the independent control of each dc-link voltages and tracks the maximum power point of PV strings. This topology can inject to the grid sinusoidal input currents with unity power factor and achieves low harmonic distortion. A PID control algorithm is implemented in Arm Processor LPC2148. The validity of the proposed inverter is verified through simulation and is implemented in a single phase 100W prototype. The results of hardware are compared with simulation results. The proposed system offers improved performance over conventional three level inverter in terms of THD.

• Journal of Power Electronics
• /
• v.15 no.3
• /
• pp.830-840
• /
• 2015

The H-bridge inverter is the fundamental power cell of the cascaded distribution static synchronous compensator (DSTATCOM). Thus, cell reliability is important to the compensation performance and stability of the overall system. The concept of the power electronics building block (PEBB) is an ideal solution for the power cell design. In this paper, an H-bridge inverter-based “plug and play” HPEBB is introduced into the main circuit and the controller to improve the compensation performance and reliability of the device. The section that discusses the main circuit primarily emphasizes the design of electrical parameters, physical structure, and thermal dissipation. The section that presents the controller part focuses on the principle of complex programmable logic device -based universal controller This section also analyzes typical reliability and anti-interference issues. The function and reliability of HPEBB are verified by experiments that are conducted on an HPEBB test-bed and on a 10 kV/± 10 Mvar DSTATCOM industrial prototype.

• Proceedings of the KIEE Conference
• /
• 2015.07a
• /
• pp.990-991
• /
• 2015

To drive a magnetron injection gun, thsi paper decribes a design, fabrication and analysis results of proposed compact capacitor charging power supply (CCPS) formed resonant full-bridge inverter for electron gun power supply (EGPS). EGPS needs the -40 kV output voltage and 280 kW output power for few seconds continuously and have to be designed for the rise and fall time to be less than 1 ms with the ripple stability of output voltage of lower than 1%. In order to meet the requirements, we used eight resonant full-bridge modules operated in parallel. Each resonant full-bridge module can supply the current of 0.9 A and the voltage of 40 kV, and is operated by N-phase shift switching pattern. In this paper, we present the design, simulation and test results of interleaved CCPS.