POWER ELECTRONICS IN FUTURE ELECTRICAL POWER GRIDS

A Technical Seminar Report

Submitted in partial fulfillment of the

Requirements for the award of Degree
of
Bachelor of Technology
in
ELECTRICAL & ELECTRONICS ENGINEERING
by
NOMULA SRIDHAR (20685A0206)

Department of Electrical & Electronics Engineering

CHRISTU JYOTHI INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY AND SCIENCES
Colombo Nagar, Yeshwanthapur, Jangaon,TS 506167.

2022-2023
 CHRISTU JYOTHI INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY & SCIENCE
Colombonagar, Yeshwanthapur, Jangaon, TS 506167.
Department of Electrical & Electronics Engineering

CERTIFICATE

This is to certify that the work which is being presented in the B.Tech. Technical seminar
Report entitled “MULTILEVEL INVERTER TOPOLOGY WITH SYMMETRICAL AND
ASYMMETRICAL SOURCES FOR DISTRIBUTED ENERGY RESOURSES” being
submitted by NOMULA SRIDHAR (20685A0206) in partial fulfillment of the requirements for
the award of the Bachelor of Technology in Electrical & Electronics Engineering and
submitted to the Department of Electrical & Electronics Engineering of Christu Jyothi Institute
of Technology & Science, Jangaon.

This is to certify that the above statement made by the candidate is correct to the best of my
knowledge.

G.Saritha Reddy,
Sr. Asst Professor,
H.O.D, Department of EEE.
 ACKNOWLEDGEMENT
I hereby express my sincere gratitude to the Management of Christu Jyothi Institute of
Technology & Science for their kind encouragement bestowed up on me to do this project.
I earnestly take the responsibility to acknowledge the following distinguished personalities who
graciously allowed my project work successfully.

I express my sincere thanks to our director Rev.Fr.T.Augustine Reddy, principal

Mr.Dr.ChandrashekharReddy.S for his encouragement, which has motivated me to strive hard
to excel in our discipline of engineering.

I am greatly indebted to the Head of the Department Mrs. G. Saritha Reddy, Sr. Asst Prof. for
her motivation and guidance through the course of this project work. she has been responsible for
providing us with lot of splendid opportunities, which has shaped our career. Her advice ideas
and constant support has engaged us on and helped us get through in difficult time.

My heartfelt thanks to my Technical Seminar Coordinators, Mr. O.MOHAN for his support and
advice he has given us through our project reviews. I also wish to thank them for their guidance
and support during my early days in the area of power electronics.

Last but not least I express my gratitude to the faculty and lab technicians of Department of
Electrical and Electronics for their needy and continuous support in technical assistance.
 CHRISTU JYOTHI INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY & SCIENCE

Colombonagar, Yeshwanthapur, Jangaon,TS 506167.

Department of Electrical and Electronics Engineering

Department Vision:
To be a centre of excellence in Electrical Engineering education, research in pursuit of
rapidly changing industrial practice.
Department Mission:
1. Impart high quality technical education and training oriented towards industrial, research
solutions and serve the society.
2. Provide creative solutions to society needs and industrial practice of Electrical and
Electronics Engineering design.
3. Inculcate consciousness to the universal values adhere to the professional ethics
Towards professionals.
4. Generate and disseminate knowledge and technologies to the local and global needs with
inter discipline team work and collaborations.

HOD
 CHRISTU JYOTHI INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY & SCIENCE

Colombo Nagar , Yeshwanthapur, Jangaon,TS 506167

Department of Electrical and Electronics Engineering

PEO- Program Educational Objectives

Graduates of B.Tech (Electrical and Electronics Engineering) are able to

PEO 1: Develop the all-round personality and attitude to become good citizens fully aware of

national goals and professional responsibility.

PEO 2: Exhibit life-long learning ability, leadership skills and practice ethics in multi discipline teams.

PEO 3: Analyze, design, develop, optimize, and implement complex electrical systems and provide

sustainable solutions.

HOD
 CHRISTU JYOTHI INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY & SCIENCE

Colombonagar, Yeshwanthapur, Jangaon

Department of Electrical and Electronics Engineering

Program Outcomes (PO) / Program Specific Objectives (PSO)
Engineering knowledge: Apply the knowledge of mathematics, science, engineering fundamentals and
PO 1 engineering specialization to the solution of complex engineering problems.
Problem analysis: Identify, formulate, review research literature and analyze complex engineering
PO 2 problems reaching substantiated conclusions using first principles of mathematics, natural sciences and
engineering sciences.
Design/development of solutions: Design solutions for complex engineering problems and design system
PO 3 components or processes that meet the specified needs with appropriate consideration for the public health
and safety, cultural, societal and environmental considerations.
Conduct investigations of complex problems: Use research-based knowledge and research methods
PO 4 including design of experiments, analysis and interpretation of data and synthesis of the information to
provide valid conclusions.
Modern tool usage: Create, select, apply appropriate techniques, resources, modern engineering, IT tools
PO 5 including prediction and modeling to complex engineering activities with an understanding of the
limitations.
The engineer and society: Apply reasoning informed by the contextual knowledge to assess societal,
PO 6 health, safety, legal, cultural issues and consequent responsibilities relevant to the professional engineering
practice.
Environment and sustainability: Understand the impact of the professional engineering solutions in
PO 7
societal, environmental contexts and demonstrate the knowledge for sustainable development.
Ethics: Apply ethical principles, commitment to professional ethics, responsibilities and norms of the
PO 8
engineering practice.
Individual and team work: Function effectively as an individual, as a member or leader in diverse teams in
PO 9
multidisciplinary settings.
Communication: Communicate effectively on complex engineering activities with the engineering
PO 10 community and society at large such as, being able to comprehend, write effective reports, design
documentation, make effective presentations, give and receive clear instructions.
Project management and finance: Demonstrate knowledge, understanding of the engineering and
PO 11 management principles and apply these to one’s own work, as a member/ leader in a team to manage
projects in multidisciplinary environments.
Life-long learning: Recognize the need and have the preparation, ability to engage in independent and life-
PO 12
long learning in the broadest context of technological change.
Knowledge Absorption: Design and solve problems in the field of Electrical & Electronics Engineering by
PSO1 applying the knowledge acquired from Circuit & Field theory, Control theory, Electric Power Systems,
Analog Electronics & other allied topics
Recent Trends & Developments: Understand the recent technological developments in Electrical &
PSO2
Electronics Engineering and develop products/software to cater the Societal & Industrial needs.
Research Applications: Provide solutions to new ideas and innovations by minimizing the research gaps.
PSO3

HOD
 ABSTRACT
Multilevel inverters have been developed to handle high power and high voltage in the flexible
power systems. These inverters offer some inherent advantages over conventional 2-level
inverters. High quality of the output voltage of the multilevel inverters is one of the most
important advantages. In this paper, new symmetric and asymmetric multilevel inverter
topologies are proposed. The proposed multilevel inverters use reduced number of switching
devices for a specified number of output voltage levels in comparison with the conventional
multilevel inverters and other non-conventional topologies. Hybrid topologies extracted from the
proposed topologies are proposed for operating in higher voltage levels. In order to validate the
proposed topologies, the simulation results with PSCAD/EMTDC software as well as the
experimental results from a laboratory prototype are presented. The Power Electronics converters
used for the power conversion should provide quality AC output to have near sinusoidal voltage.
The inverter topology and the PWM technique of the inverter play a vital role in providing
quality output. This paper reviews recent contribution to establish the current status and
development of the technology to provide reader with an insightful review of multilevel inverters
and its control strategy. A brief overview of Multi Level Inverters (MLI) topology and
advantages of Cascaded H-Bridge Multi Level Inverter (CHBMLI) for solar power conversion is
presented and the various control strategies for CHBMLI are discussed with view point of
quality output.
 CONTENTS

S. No. Name of the Content Page No.

1. Introduction 9.

2. What are Multilevel inverters? 10.

3. Types Of Multilevel Inverter Topologies 12.

4. Planned System Explanation and Function 16.

5. Comparision and Fault Tolerance 19.

6. Functionalities 20.

7. Scale 22.

8. Trends 23.

9. Technology 20.

10. Smart grids 27.

11. Digital Grids 29.

12. Advantages & Disadvantages of Multilevel Inverters. 30.

13. Conclusion 31.

14. References 32.

Multi-Level Inverter Topology CJITS

INTRODUCTION

In these modern days, the demand for electricity increasing day by day rapidly. So as to meet the
load necessities effectively, in addition to conventional energy sources, there is a need to depend
upon non-conventional energy sources also. To decrease the power loss in the transmission
system, the use of distributed energy sources at the load center such as solar panels, electricity
storage, small natural gas, fueled generators etc.

The conventional multilevel inverters are proposed for distributed energy resources (DER’s).
However, these require more no of components (diodes, capacitors, switches) and it leads to
more power loss. In the literature, many single-phase topologies are presented for distributed
energy resources. The topology presented in has reduced no of switching components for
generating multilevel output voltages. But this topology not having fault tolerant operation in
case of switch failures. This issue addressed in though it has curbed in terms of power loss. In
single phase 5-level inverter is projected for grid independent photo-voltaic utilization. The
inherent feature of this topology is, it can work with failures of converter like switch and source
failures.

To find alternative solution for the above examined points this research paper a 1-φ multi-level
inverter is planned for distributed energy resources. The planned configuration has a smaller
number of switching components and also has the fault- tolerant operation in the event of switch
failure. The achievement of fault-tolerance with the slight modifications in switching order will
formulate the inverter system more reliable. The planned configuration also has the improvement
of low power loss, since only two switches will conduct always for generating any level of
output voltage.

The rest of this research paper is set up as pursues, explanation and function of configuration
along with modified carrier pulse width modulation (PWM) are explained in the segment –II,
similarity and fault-tolerance discussed in segment-III, results are illustrated in segment-IV and
working of the system is encapsulated at the end.

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Multilevel Inverter Topology with Symmetrical and Asymmetrical Sources for Distributed Energy Resources CJITS

WHAT ARE MULTI-LEVEL INVERTERS?

Definition:
An inverter, also named a power inverter, is an electrical power device that is used to convert
direct current (DC) into alternating current (AC). Using a few control circuits and switches, one
can get AC at any required voltage and frequency. Inverter plays exactly the opposite role of
rectifiers as rectifiers are used for converting alternating current (AC) into direct current (DC).
There are different types of inverters available these days. You should also have a look at Pure
Sine wave Inverter Design with code and Modified Sine Wave Inverter Design with code. I think
you are gonna like that one. Few most commonly used inverter types are:

➢ Square wave inverters

➢ Modified sine wave inverters
➢ Multilevel inverters
➢ Pure sine wave inverters
➢ Resonant inverters
➢ Grid-tie inverters
➢ Synchronous inverters
➢ Stand-alone inverters
➢ Solar inverters

• A multilevel inverter is a power electronic device that is capable of providing desired

alternating voltage level at the output using multiple lower-level DC voltages as an input.

• Mostly a two-level inverter is used in order to generate the AC voltage from DC voltage.

A two-level Inverter creates two different voltages for the load i.e., suppose we are providing
Vdc as an input to a two-level inverter then it will provide + Vdc/2 and – Vdc/2 on output. In
order to build an AC voltage, these two newly generated voltages are usually switched. For
switching mostly PWM is used as shown in Figure 2.1.

Reference wave is shown in the dashed blue line. Although this method of creating AC is
effective but it has few drawbacks as it creates harmonic distortions in the output voltage and
also has a high dv/dt as compared to that of a multilevel inverter. Normally this method works
but, in few applications, it creates problems particularly those where low distortion in the output
voltage is required.

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Multi-Level Inverter Topology CJITS

Figure 2.1

PWM voltage output of a two-level inverter:

The concept of multilevel Inverter (MLI) is a kind of modification of a two-level inverter. In

multilevel inverters we don’t deal with the two-level voltage instead in order to create a
smoother stepped output waveform, more than two voltage levels are combined together and the
output waveform obtained in this case has lower dv/dt and also lower harmonic distortions. The
smoothness of the waveform is proportional to the voltage levels, as we increase the voltage
level the waveform becomes smoother but the complexity of the controller circuit and
components also increases along with the increased levels. The waveform for the three, five and
seven level inverters are shown in the below figure, where we clearly see that as the levels are
increasing, the waveform becoming smoother.

Figure 2.2

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Multi-Level Inverter Topology CJITS

TYPES OF MULTI-LEVEL INVERTER TOPOLOGIES

There are several topologies of multilevel inverters available. The difference lies in the
mechanism of switching and the source of input voltage to the multilevel inverters. Three most
commonly used multilevel inverter topologies are:

➢ Cascaded H-bridge multilevel inverters.

➢ Diode Clamped multilevel inverters.
➢ Flying Capacitor multilevel inverters.

1. Cascaded H-bridge Multilevel Inverters

This inverter uses several H-bridge inverters connected in series to provide a sinusoidal output
voltage. Each cell contains one H-bridge and the output voltage generated by this multilevel
inverter is actually the sum of all the voltages generated by each cell i.e., if there are k cells in an
H-bridge multilevel inverter then a number of output voltage levels will be 2k+1. This type of
inverter has an advantage over the other two as it requires fewer components as compared to the
other two types of inverters and so its overall weight and price are also less. Below Figure shows
a k level cascaded H-bridge inverter.

Figure 2.3

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Multi-Level Inverter Topology CJITS

2. Diode Clamped Multilevel Inverters

Diode clamped multilevel inverters use clamping diodes in order to limit the voltage stress of
power devices. It was first proposed in 1981 by Nabae, Takashi and Akagi and it is also known
as a neutral point converter. A k level diode clamped inverter needs (2k – 2) switching devices,
(k – 1) input voltage source and (k – 1) (k – 2) diodes in order to operate. Vdc is the voltage
present across each diode and the switch. Single-phase diode clamped multilevel inverter is
shown in the figure below:

Figure 2.4

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Multi-Level Inverter Topology CJITS

One phase of a diode clamped inverter

The concept of diode clamped inverter can better be understood by looking into a three-phase
six-level diode clamped inverter. Here the common dc bus is shared by all the phases, use five
capacitors and six levels. Each capacitor has a voltage of Vdc and same is the voltage limit of
switching devices. One important fact should be noted while considering the diode clamped
inverter is that five switches will remain ON at any time. Six level, three-phase dc clamped
multilevel inverter is shown in the figure below.

Figure 2.5

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Multi-Level Inverter Topology CJITS

3. Flying Capacitor Multilevel Inverters

The configuration of this inverter topology is quite similar to previous one except the difference
that here flying capacitors is used in order to limit the voltage instead of diodes. The input DC
voltages are divided by the capacitors here. The voltage over each capacitor and each switch is
Vdc. A k level flying capacitor inverter with (2k – 2) switches will use (k – 1) number of
capacitors in order to operate. The figure below shows a five-level flying capacitor multilevel
inverter.

Figure 2.6

A Flying Capacitor Multilevel Inverter with five voltage levels

If we compare above figures, it shows that the number of switches, main diodes and DC-bus
capacitors are same in both the cases. The only difference between the two topologies is that the
previous one uses clamping diodes in order to limit the voltage while this topology uses flying
capacitors for this purpose, and as capacitors are incapable of blocking the reverse voltage,
which diodes do, the number of switches also increases. Voltage on each capacitor is differing
from the next as it has a ladder structure. Voltage difference between two back-to-back
capacitors determines the voltage in the output frame.

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Multi-Level Inverter Topology CJITS

PLANNED SYSTEM EXPLANATION AND FUNCTION

The schematic diagram of the multilevel inverter fed with different distributed energy resources
is shown in Fig.1. Each distributed energy source is fed to separate dc-dc power converter to
obtain the required DC voltage. These sources can be connected in series/parallel depending
upon the system configuration. For better understanding, the planned configuration represented
with three series connected DC sources as shown in Fig.2.7

Figure 2.7

using four Bidirectional switches (S5-S8, voltage rating of each switch 2Vdc). The load is
connected between the legs of H- Bridge as appeared in Fig.2. The key advantage of using
bidirectional switches is, it provides the multiple switching combinations for different voltage
levels which are helpful in case of any of the switch malfunction to generate an output voltage
and also power balancing between sources. The further advantage of this configuration with Bi-
lateral switches is, works as 5-Level inverter in the event of switch failures (S1 and/or S3 and S2
and/or S4) and generate 7-Level even though in case of Bi-Directional switch disappointment
which is discussed soon after part of this segment.

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Multi-Level Inverter Topology CJITS

Here the 7-levels of converter AC output voltage can be generated by considering three voltage
sources which are of equal magnitudes i.e., V1=V2=V3=Vdc.
The switching arrangement for generating 7-Level output voltage is given in Table I. The Fig.3
shows the current direction and conduction of switches during each voltage state. It can be
observed from Table I only two switches are turning ON to get the required output voltage level.
Therefore, the topology has less switching loss compared to other conventional multi-level
inverters such as Neutral-point clamped (NPC), a Flying-capacitor (FC), and cascade H-bridge
multi-level inverter which can be calculated using and approximate losses are shown in fig.4.
Here for a 100KW system the power losses are calculated for IGBT rating of FD300R06KE3
with the help of equations obtainable in.

TABLE 1.1: SWITCHING ARRANGEMENT FOR SINGLE PHASE INVERTER WITH 7-LEVEL
Voltage Direction of Current path and switches to turn ON
Magnitude

3Vdc Positive Load Current V3-V2-V1-S1-Load-S4

2Vdc Positive Load Current V2-V1-S1-Load-S8 /V3-V2- S5-Load-S4

Vdc V3-S6-Load-S4 / V2-S5-

Positive Load Current Load-S8 /V1-S1-Load-S7

0 Positive Load Current S1-Load-S3/ S2-Load-S4

-Vdc V1-S3-Load-S5 / V2-S7-

Positive Load Current Load-S6 /V3-S8-Load-S2

-2Vdc V3-V2-S7-Load-S2 /V2-V1-

Positive Load Current S3-Load-S6

-3Vdc Positive Load Current V3-V2-V1-S3-Load-S2

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Multi-Level Inverter Topology CJITS

TABLE 1.2: SWITCHING ARRANGEMENT FOR SINGLE PHASE INVERTER WITH 9-LEVEL
Voltage Direction of Current path and switches to turn ON
Magnitude

4Vdc Positive Load Current V3-V2-V1-S1-Load-S4

3Vdc V3-V2-S5-Load-S4 /V2-V1- S1-Load-S8

Positive Load Current
2Vdc Positive Load Current V2-S5-Load-S8

Vdc Positive Load Current V1-S1-Load-S7 / V3-S6-

Load-S4
0 Positive Load Current S1-Load-S3/ S2-Load-S4

-Vdc Positive Load Current V3-S8-Load-S2 / V1-S3-

Load-S5
-2Vdc Positive Load Current V2-S7-Load-S6

-3Vdc Positive Load Current V2-V1-S3-Load-S6 / V3-V2- S7-Load-S2

-4Vdc Positive Load Current V3-V2-V1-S3-Load-S2

Multicarrier pulse width modulation techniques for multi-level inverters are presented in
literature The gating signals for the planned configuration are generated with phase disposition
carrier pulse width modulation to make the 7-level output voltage. Here the sinusoidal wave is
used as modulating signal and is contrast with six triangular waves which is used as carrier
signals as revealed

Figure 2.8

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Multi-Level Inverter Topology CJITS

COMPARISION AND FAULT TOLERANCE

The planned configuration is differentiated with conventional and modern 7-level inverter
topologies given in Table III. The Table III clearly shows the planned topology needed less
number of components and switching devices. From Table III the proposed topology needs only
8 switches whereas other conventional topologies require 12 switches and extra diodes,
therefore, the average switching loss is less for planned topology.

TABLE 1.3: CONTRAST OF SINGLE-PHASE INVERTER WITH 7-LEVEL

Quantity of components necessary

kind of
Elements Conventional- Configuration planned in
Configurations [14] planned Configuration
NPC FC H-
bridge

Switches 12 12 12 10 8
Diodes 10 0 0 0 16
DC sources 1 1 3 3 3
Capacitors
6 21 0 0 0

Power Loss
More More More More Less
Reliability in
terms of
switch
failure No No No No Yes

The developed configuration also has the further advantage of fault-tolerance with respect to
different switch open circuit fault. The proposed configuration is able to generate seven levels
with rated voltage in case of switch S7 or S8 open circuit fault. But during the switches S1 and
S3 or S2 and S4 open circuit fault the five-level output can be generated with reduced voltage
magnitude. The switching combination can be generated using Table 1.3

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Multi-Level Inverter Topology CJITS

FUNCTIONALITIES
Demand

The graph of the demand over time is called the demand curve.
Base load is the minimum load on the grid over any given period, peak demand is the maximum
load. Historically, base load was commonly met by equipment that was relatively cheap to run,
that ran continuously for weeks or months at a time, but globally this is becoming less common.
The extra peak demand requirements are sometimes produced by expensive peaking plants that
are generators optimised to come on-line quickly but these too are becoming less common.

Voltage

Grids are designed to supply electricity to their customers at largely constant voltages. This has
to be achieved with varying demand, variable reactive loads, and even nonlinear loads, with
electricity provided by generators and distribution and transmission equipment that are not
perfectly reliable.[27] Often grids use tap changers on transformers near to the consumers to
adjust the voltage and keep it within specification.

Frequency

In a synchronous grid all the generators must run at the same frequency, and must stay very
nearly in phase with each other and the grid. Generation and consumption must be balanced
across the entire grid, because energy is consumed as it is produced. For rotating generators, a
local governor regulates the driving torque, maintaining almost constant rotation speed as
loading changes.
Energy is stored in the immediate short term by the rotational kinetic energy of the generators.
Although the speed is kept largely constant, small deviations from the nominal system frequency
are very important in regulating individual generators and are used as a way of assessing the
equilibrium of the grid as a whole.

When the grid is lightly loaded the grid frequency runs above the nominal frequency, and this is
taken as an indication by Automatic Generation Control systems across the network that
generators should reduce their output. Conversely, when the grid is heavily loaded, the frequency
naturally slows, and governors adjust their generators so that more power is output (droop speed
control). When generators have identical droop speed control settings it ensures that multiple
parallel generators with the same settings share load in proportion to their rating.

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Multi-Level Inverter Topology CJITS

In addition, there's often central control, which can change the parameters of the AGC systems
over timescales of a minute or longer to further adjust the regional network flows and the
operating frequency of the grid.

For timekeeping purposes, the nominal frequency will be allowed to vary in the short term, but is
adjusted to prevent line-operated clocks from gaining or losing significant time over the course
of a whole 24 hour period.

An entire synchronous grid runs at the same frequency, neighbouring grids would not be
synchronised even if they run at the same nominal frequency. High-voltage direct current lines
or variable-frequency transformers can be used to connect two alternating current
interconnection networks which are not synchronized with each other. This provides the benefit
of interconnection without the need to synchronize an even wider area. For example, compare
the wide area synchronous grid map of Europe with the map of HVDC lines.

Capacity and firm capacity

The sum of the maximum power outputs (nameplate capacity) of the generators attached to an
electrical grid might be considered to be the capacity of the grid.
However, in practice, they are never run flat out simultaneously. Typically, some generators are
kept running at lower output powers (spinning reserve) to deal with failures as well as variation
in demand. In addition generators can be off-line for maintenance or other reasons, such as
availability of energy inputs (fuel, water, wind, sun etc.) or pollution constraints.
Firm capacity is the maximum power output on a grid that is immediately available over a given
time period, and is a far more useful figure.

Production
Most grid codes specify that the load is shared between the generators in merit order according to
their marginal cost (i.e. cheapest first) and sometimes their environmental impact. Thus cheap
electricity providers tend to be run flat out almost all the time, and the more expensive producers
are only run when necessary.

Handling failurehttps://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Electrical_grid&action=edit&section=14
Failures are usually associated with generators or power transmission lines tripping circuit
breakers due to faults leading to a loss of generation capacity for customers, or excess demand.

This will often cause the frequency to reduce, and the remaining generators will react and
together attempt to stabilize above the minimum. If that is not possible then a number of
scenarios can occur.

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Multi-Level Inverter Topology CJITS

SCALE

The most common type of inverter which is used to generate AC voltage from DC Voltage is
two level inverters. A two-level Inverter creates two different voltages for the load i.e., suppose
we are providing V as an input to a two-level inverter then it will provide + V/2 and – V/2 on
output. In order to build an AC voltage, these two newly generated voltages are usually switched.
Wide area synchronous grid.

x
Although this method of conversion of voltage is effective but it has some limitations as it causes
disturbance in the output voltage. Normally this method works but in some applications it
creates problems specifically where high distortion in the output voltage is not required.

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Multi-Level Inverter Topology CJITS

The Flying capacitor clamped inverter has the lowest power losses between all of the other
topologies, since there is no diode in its topology. It has two big problems.

First is that it is heavier than the other topologies. Also the

THD Comparison of Flying capacitor

multilevel inverter and Cascaded H-

Bridge Multilevel Inverter

cost of this inverter is more than other inverters.

Cascaded H-Bridge

Multilevel Inverter THD (%)

The diode clamped multilevel inverters power losses are lower than cascaded H-bridge the cost
will not be that much higher than the cascaded H-bridge. It seems that diode clamped inverter is
a topology between all other topologies that THD, cost and power losses are between other types
of inverters.

5-level FLC MLI

24

30

20.73

5894

Number of

capacitors

5-level 5-level 5-level

NPC MLIFLC MLI CHB MLI

TRENDS

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Multi-Level Inverter Topology CJITS

Demand response

level output voltage (upper trace) and current waveform

Conversion of Seven level to five level volatge during switch S1 open

circuit failt we can obsever here in this wave forms bw vtg and current.

The basic structure of the proposed MLIs is shown in Fig. 2. In this

structure, transformer is used for two main reasons. First, by using the

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Multi-Level Inverter Topology CJITS

transformer in the proposed inverter, this structure can produce more

number of output voltage levels with lower number of switches and DC
sources. Second, due to transformer's turn ratios in this structure, output
voltage gain is more than one that is one of the main merits of this
structure.

Table 1. Switching states in the basic unit

According to (1), the average value of the primary voltage of

transformer is zero. Therefore, there is not saturation problem in the
basic unit.
In order to increase the number of output voltage levels, the basic
unit shown in Fig. 2 was further improved based on the cascaded
units, transformer, and input voltage source.

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Multi-Level Inverter Topology CJITS

TECHNOLOGY

Symmetric compensation
In symmetric compensation, power system is connected in shunt (parallel) with the FACTS. It
works as a controllable current source. Shunt compensation is of two types:

Asymmetric compensation
This method is used to improve the power factor. Whenever an inductive load is connected to the
transmission line, power factor lags because of lagging load current. To compensate, a shunt
capacitor is connected which draws the current leading the source voltage. The net result is
improvement in power factor.

Symmetric compensation

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Multi-Level Inverter Topology CJITS

Asymmetric compensation

➢ Static synchronous series compensator (SSSC)

➢ Thyristor-controlled series capacitor (TCSC): a series capacitor bank is shunted by a
thyristor-controlled inductor reactor
➢ Thyristor-controlled series reactor (TCSR): a series reactor bank is shunted by a thyristor-
controlled reactor
➢ Thyristor-switched series capacitor (TSSC): a series capacitor bank is shunted by a
thyristor-switched reactor
➢ Thyristor-switched series reactor (TSSR): a series reactor bank is shunted by a thyristor-
switched reactor

B.SMART GRIDS

The smart grid would be an enhancement of the 20th century electrical

grid, using two-way communications and distributed so-called intelligent
devices. Two-way flows of electricity and information could improve the
delivery network. Research is mainly focused on three systems of a smart
grid – the infrastructure system, the management system, and the
protection system.
Smart Grids are widely developed during recent years. It will deploy
advanced monitoring, communications, computing, and information
technologies to support electric power grid applications such as wide area
monitoring and control, integrating of bulk or distributed renewable
generation, distribution automation, and demand response . With the
proposal of smart grids, electric power industries will take fully use of
advanced communication, computing and information system to improve
the operation of existing power grids. The focus of smart grids is the
applications of communication and information in electric power grids.
The role of power electronics was not specified in the smart grids

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Multi-Level Inverter Topology CJITS

The infrastructure system is the energy, information, and communication

infrastructure underlying of the smart grid that supports:
Advanced electricity generation, delivery, and consumption
Advanced information metering, monitoring, and management
Advanced communication technologies

A smart grid would allow the power industry to observe and control parts
of the system at higher resolution in time and space.[52] One of the
purposes of the smart grid is real time information exchange to make
operation as efficient as possible. It would allow management of the grid
on all time scales from high-frequency switching devices on a microsecond
scale, to wind and solar output variations on a minute scale, to the future
effects of the carbon emissions generated by power production on a decade
scale.

The management system is the subsystem in smart grid that provides

advanced management and control services. Most of the existing works
aim to improve energy efficiency, demand profile, utility, cost, and
emission, based on the infrastructure by using optimization, machine
learning, and game theory. Within the advanced infrastructure framework
of smart grid, more and more new management services and applications
are expected to emerge and eventually revolutionize consumers' daily lives.
The protection system of a smart grid provides grid reliability analysis,
failure protection, and security and privacy protection services. While the
additional communication infrastructure of a smart grid provides additional
protective and security mechanisms, it also presents a risk of external
attack and internal failures. In a report on cyber security of smart grid
technology first produced in 2010, and later updated in 2014, the US
National Institute of Standards and Technology pointed out that the ability
to collect more data about energy use from customer smart meters also
raises major privacy concerns, since the information stored at the meter,
which is potentially vulnerable to data breaches, can be mined for personal
details about customers.[53]
In the U.S., the Energy Policy Act of 2005 and Title XIII of the Energy
Independence and Security Act of 2007 are providing funding to encourage
smart grid development. The objective is to enable utilities to better predict
their needs, and in some cases involve consumers in a time-of-use tariff.
Funds have also been allocated to develop more robust energy control
technologies

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Multi-Level Inverter Topology CJITS

C.DIGITAL GRID

Digital Grid can be a solution for the future power grid because it may
solve all the existing problems with power transmission and distribution.
Digital Grid was proposed by Prof. Rikiya Abe, University of Tokyo.
Inspired by internet communication, digital grids will transform a
synchronized large power grid into interconnected cells [5].
Different from smart grids, the proposed digital grids will change the
fundamentals of the current grids in the following aspects:
1) divide existing large interconnected power grids into many
interconnected cells;
2) cells are connected asynchronously via digital grid routers (DGR);
3) electrical power is coupled with information and sent in discrete power
packets from one DGR to another over existing transmission and
distribution lines.
For the proposed digital grids, current existing electric power grids will be
used. It only requires adding equipment such as DGRs.

Although the proposal of digital grids is quite aggressive, it shows the

wishes to digitalize electric power grids so that they run in a similar way to
internet communication. It will integrate advanced technologies such as
power electronics, energy storage, power-line communication, and network
management into the future electric power grids. It suggested that the
digital grids can be gradually built on the base of the existing electric
power grids by adding equipment such as power electronic and energy
storage.
It will be a process to digitalize the existing electric power grids. Figure 1
shows the proposed principle of a digital router [5], which is an AC-DC-
AC converter with multi-output legs. The power flowing will be controlled
by the
power converter without synchronization of AC power systems connected
by the DGR.
Besides digital grids, there are some other proposed designs for the future
power grids. One proposed design was published in early 1997, which
should be the early version of the digital grids

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Multi-Level Inverter Topology CJITS

Advantages & Disadvantages of Multilevel Inverters.

Advantages of Multilevel Inverter:

The multilevel converter has several advantages, that is:

1. Common Mode Voltage:

The multilevel inverters produce common-mode voltage, reducing the

stress of the motor and don’t damage the motor.

2. Input Current:

Multilevel inverters can draw input current with low distortion

3. Switching Frequency:

The multilevel inverter can operate at both fundamental switching

frequencies that are higher switching frequency and lower switching
frequency. It should be noted that the lower switching frequency means
lower switching loss and higher efficiency is achieved.

4. Reduced harmonic distortion:

Selective harmonic elimination technique along with the multi-level

topology results the total harmonic distortion becomes low in the output
waveform without using any filter circuit.

Disadvantages of Multilevel Inverter:

There are several disadvantages which restrict its usage in several
applications:
1. The number of devices increases significantly. This makes the circuit
complex and costlier. In some cases, it reduces the reliability also.
2. Multilevel inverters require multiple dc sources. This is a huge problem.
In some topologies (NPC or FC) it is done by splitting one dc source into
multiple ones using series-connected capacitors. In this case, the capacitor
voltage balancing problem becomes an issue.
3. To make multiple dc sources often one or more than one multi-winding
transformers are required. This makes the system even more costly.
4. As the multilevel inverters have so many switches, it is necessary to
generate multiple gate-pulses which again require advanced PWM enabled
digital signal processors..

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Multi-Level Inverter Topology CJITS

CONCLUSION

In this research paper, a 1-φ multi-level inverter with symmetrical and

asymmetrical sources for distributed energy resources (DER) is illustrated.
The planned configuration is a suitable option for distributed energy
resources because the three dc sources can be realized with three separate
DERs. The seven-level output voltage is generated using equal DC sources
with phase-disposition carrier PWM. The planned configuration has
reduced amount of switching devices, no capacitors contrast to
conventional multi-level inverters and some recent topologies. The
proposed topology is superior over conventional multilevel inverters with
respect to capacitor voltage balancing, neutral point voltage balancing
problems, fault tolerant and switching loss. The planned configuration is
designed in SIMULINK software and with simulation performance is
compared with conventional configurations.

In multilevel inverters we don’t deal with the two level voltages instead in
order to create a smoother stepped output waveform, more than two
voltage levels are combined together. Smoothness of the waveform is
directly proportional to the voltage levels, as we increase the voltage level,
the waveform.

The device which converts DC voltage to AC voltage is called inverter.

Output voltage should ideally be sinusoidal wave of variable magnitude
and variable frequency. An inverter does the opposite job of Rectifier.
Electronic inverters can be used to produce smoothly varying AC output
from a DC input. Inverters are made up of capacitors and inductors which
make the output current smooth as compared to switching square wave
output you get with a basic inverter.

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Multi-Level Inverter Topology CJITS

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