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I nternational J ournal Of Scientific Research And Education

||Volume||2||Issue|| 3||Pages 523-531|||2014|| ISSN (e): 2321-7545


Website: http://ijsae.in
Leena Mary Oommen et al I J SRE Volume 2 I ssue 3 March 2014 Page 523


Multi-level Inverter Capable of Power Factor Control Using Phase
Opposition Disposition Modulation Method with DC Link Switches
Leena Mary Oommen
1
, M. Saranya
2
, Dhanalakshmi.J
3
, N. Aparna
4

1
M.E. (Power Electronics $ Drives)
2
B.E. (EEE),
3
M.E. (Power Electronics $ Drives),
4
AP/EEE
Email:-
1
oommen.leena@yahoo.com,
2
saranyamadheswaran@gmail.com ,
3
dhanajj@gmail.com

Abstract
The utilisation of Multi-level inverters has been increased in the power industry. They are well suited for use
in reactive power compensation. In addition, they can synthesize a near sinusoidal voltage from several
levels of dc voltages with lower levels of harmonic distortion than an equivalently rated two-level inverter.
The multilevel concept is used to decrease the harmonic distortion in the output waveform without
decreasing the inverter power output. This paper described about a POD (Phase Opposition Disposition)
modulation method which is a new PWM method and it requires only single carrier signal. It is a new multi-
level inverter topology based on H bridge structure with four switches connected to the dc link .The
minimum no of components is required to increase the number of voltage level. The 5-level inverter is
verified through simulation and hardware.

1. Introduction
In 1975 the multi-level inverter was first introduced. The use of multilevel inverters in industries is
increased for high- voltage applications, such as static var compensators, active power filters and adjustable-
speed drives (ASDs) for medium-voltage induction motors. It may be easier to produce a high power, high-
voltage inverter with multilevel structure because of the way in which device voltage stresses are controlled
in the structure. For grid-tied operation the two-level PWM inverter is used. In this two-level inverter, the
switching frequency should be high. In order to satisfy the required total Harmonic distortion (THD) the
inductance of the output filter used. Due to this, the multi-level inverters (MLIs) are introduced for grid
connected inverter in order to manage the problem associated with two level inverter. It can eliminate the
need for the step-up transformer and reduce the harmonics produced by the inverter. To synthesize ac
voltage from several dc sources, batteries, fuel cells, or solar cells which are used as dc sources in multilevel
inverter. The output waveform of multi-level inverter has more steps, which produces a staircase wave when

Leena Mary Oommen et al I J SRE Volume 2 I ssue 3 March 2014 Page 524

the number of levels increases .Also, the harmonic distortion of the output wave decreases, when more steps
are increased in the output wave of the multi-level inverter. The voltage that can be spanned by summing
multiple voltage levels also increases, when number of level increase The multilevel inverters has some
features they are,
The output voltage and power increases with number of levels. They can generate output voltages with
extremely low distortion and lower.
As the number of level increases and filtering requirement are reduced, the harmonic content of the output
waveform decreased.
It can be preselected for harmonic elimination, when the voltage waveform has more free-switching angles .
The multilevel inverters can be classified into three types, neutral point clamped (NPC), flying capacitor
(FC) and cascaded type. The two most common multilevel inverter topologies are the diode-clamped
inverter and the cascaded inverter. The multilevel inverter has some advantages .They include the following:
For high-voltage and high current applications the multi-level inverter are used. It can be switched at a low
frequency, when the multi-level inverter has higher efficiency.
No EMI problem exists.
This paper presents based on a H-bridge topology with four switches connected to the dc-link. For
generating PWM signals the proposed PWM method uses one carrier signal. In addition, it requires
minimum number of components to increase the no of voltage levels. The proposed topology of the multi-
level inverter is verified through the simulation and the experiment.

2. 5-level Inverter
The proposed method is a 5-level inverter. In this proposed method, it is based on a H-bridge topology with
four switches connected to the dc-link. For generating PWM signals the proposed PWM method uses one
carrier signal. In addition, it requires minimum number of components to increase the no of voltage levels.
The switching sequence considering the voltage balance of dc-link was proposed.

2.1. Block Diagram



Fig.1 Block Diagram of a proposed Multilevel Inverter

Leena Mary Oommen et al I J SRE Volume 2 I ssue 3 March 2014 Page 525



Power Supply:
All electronic circuits works only in low DC voltage, a power supply unit to provide the appropriate
voltage supply for their proper functioning .It includes transformer, rectifier, filter & regulator. Typically
230 ac voltage is connected to a transformer voltage down to the level to the desired ac voltage. A
diode rectifier which are used in this power supply unit. This provides the full wave rectified voltage. In
order to produce a dc voltage, diode rectifier is filtered by a simple capacitor filter. Hence dc voltage
usually has some ripple or ac voltage variation . A regulator circuit can use this dc input to provide dc
voltage that not only has much less ripple voltage but also remains the same dc value even the dc voltage
varies.

Transformer:
A transformer which is static piece. It transforms electric power in one circuit into electric power of same
frequency in another circuit. The main advantage of transformer is, it can raise or lower the voltage in the
circuit, and corresponding decrease or increase in current. Mainly transformer works with the principle of
mutual induction. In this a step down transformer are used for providing a necessary supply for the
electronic circuits.
Rectifier:
A dc level obtained from a sinusoidal input can be improved 100% using a process called full wave
rectification. In this bridge rectifier are used for full wave rectification. From the basic bridge configuration
two diodes (say D
2
& D
3
) are conducting while the other two diodes (D
1
& D
4
) are in off state during the
period t = 0 to T/2.Accordingly for the negative cycle of the input the conducting diodes are D
1
& D
4
.
Variable types of diodes which are used in the bridge rectifier .They are 1N4001, 1N4003, 1N4004,
1N4005, IN4007 etc Filters:
To obtain a dc voltage of 0 Hz, a low pass filter is used. When a capacitor is connected at the rectifier output
a capacitive filter circuit is used & thus dc is obtained. The waveform that is obtained from the filter is
essentially a dc voltage with negligible ripples & thus it is fed to the load.

2.2. Circuit Diagram
Fig.2.shows the circuit diagram of proposed MLI. It consist of two dc-link capacitors (C
1
, C
2
) and four
switching devices (T
A
+
, T
A
-
, T
B
+
, T
B
-
) which is in the form of H-bridge, and other four switches (T
P
+
, T
P
-
,
T
N
+
, T
N
-
) which is located in between dc-link and H-bridge. The voltage across the dc-link switches (T
P
+
,
T
P
-
, T
N
+
, T
N
-
) is V
DC
/2.Whereas, voltage across H-bridge switches (T
A
+
,T
A
-
, T
B
+
, T
B
-
) is V
DC.
Capacitor
voltage (C
1
, C
2.
) should be equally balanced to V
DC
/2.When the voltage across the capacitor is unbalanced,

Leena Mary Oommen et al I J SRE Volume 2 I ssue 3 March 2014 Page 526

the output voltage become unsymmetrical. Due to this reason it results in a high harmonic content in the
output current. The dc link switches are operated at a switching frequency. Whereas the H bridge switches
are operated at a fundamental frequency (e.g. 50 or 60 Hz). In order to reduce system cost and increase
efficiency the dc-link switches (T
P
+
, T
P
-
, T
N
+
, T
N
-
) and the H bridge switches (T
A
+
,T
A
-
, T
B
+
, T
B
-) can be
strategically selected based on the rated power of the inverter system. The proposed multilevel inverter is a

5-level inverter so 5 output voltage are generated that is (V
DC,
V
DC
/2
,
0,-V
DC
/2, -V
DC
). According to the
switching states the output voltage is shown in Table I.


Figure.2 Circuit Diagram of Proposed multi-level inverter
.

Leena Mary Oommen et al I J SRE Volume 2 I ssue 3 March 2014 Page 527



TABLE I
Output voltage according to switching states

Outpu
t
voltag
e (V
O
)


Switching conditions

T
P
+


T
P
-

T
N
+

T
N
-

T
A
+
,T
B
-

T
A
-
,T
B
+

V
DC


O
N

O
FF

OF
F

ON

ON

OFF

V
DC
/2

OF
F

O
N

OF
F

ON

ON

OFF

O
N

O
FF

O
N

OF
F

ON

OFF

0

OF
F

O
N

O
N

OF
F

ON

OFF

OF
F

O
N

O
N

OF
F


OFF

ON

-
V
DC
/2

OF
F

O
N

OF
F

ON

OFF

ON

O
N

O
FF

O
N

OF
F

OFF

ON

-V
DC


O
N

O
FF

OF
F

ON

OFF

ON


Leena Mary Oommen et al I J SRE Volume 2 I ssue 3 March 2014 Page 528




2.3. Operating Modes of the Proposed Multilevel Inverter
Depending on the instantaneous value of the reference voltage.v
ref
and the maximum value of the
carrier signal V
C.,
there are 4 operation modes.
Mode 1: When the reference voltage range lies in between V
C
and 2V
C
, then the output voltage become
V
DC
/2 or V
DC
.For getting the output voltage V
DC,
switches T
P
+ and

T
N
-

need to be turned on

when it becomes
v
ref
V
C
> v
carrier
.Similarily for V
DC/2,
the switches T
P
+ and T
N
- are turned off, when it becomes v
ref
V
C
<
v
carrier
,
Mode 2: When the reference voltage range lies in between 0 and V
C
then the output voltage become 0
or V
DC
. For V
DC,
the switch T
P
+ or T
N
- is turned on alternately, If v
ref
> v
carrier
.For 0, then switches T
P
+ and
T
N
- are turned off, If v
ref
< v
carrier
,.
Mode 3: When the reference voltage range lies in between -V
C
and 0 then the output voltage become 0 or
V
DC/2.
Here negative reference signal is compared with single carrier signal. For getting the output voltage -
V
DC/2,
switches T
P
+ or

T
N
-

is turned on

when - v
ref
> v
carrier
.For 0 output voltage, If - v
ref
< v
carrier
, then all
switches T
P
+ and T
N
- are turned off.
Mode 4: When the reference voltage range lies in between -2V
C
and -V
C
then the output voltage become -
V
DC
or V
DC/2.
. For output voltage -V
DC ,
then all switches T
P
+ and T
N
- are turned on when it becomes -v
ref

V
C
< v
carrier
,Similarily for V
DC/2
, the switch T
P
+ or T
N
-is turned off alternately, If - v
ref
V
C
< v
carrier.

For getting pulses for dc link switches and H-bridge switches, here 2 reference signals is compared with
single carrier signal which is shown in fig 3



Figure. 3. Pulse waveform of DC-link switches and H bridge switches with single carrier signal

When the reference signal is positive, then the switch pair (T
A
+, T
B
_
) are turned on, and if it is negative,
then the switch pair (T
A
_
, T
B
+) are turned on. Hence the H-bridge switches turned on and turned off once
during the period of the reference signal. In the same way to obtain pulses for dc link switches, the signal

Leena Mary Oommen et al I J SRE Volume 2 I ssue 3 March 2014 Page 529

comes from the +ve side is compared with carrier signal and thus pulses are obtained for T
P
+, T
P
- switches.
Similarily the signal from the ve side when compared with carrier signal and thus pulses are formed for the
T
N
+, T
N
- switches. Thus 8 pulses are formed in the proposed method by using only single carrier signal.

3. Future Enhancement Work
The proposed method which can be extended to 7 level or higher level by reducing the switching
components. When the number of voltage level increases the switching components can be reduced
significantly.

4. Simulation Results
The proposed method is verified using computer simulations. A five-level inverter model is constructed in
MATLAB-Simulink software. The switching devices in the proposed 5-level inverter are the same as that of
the conventional cascaded H-bridge multi-level inverter. The H-bridge switches (T
A
+, T
A
-, T
B
+, T
B
-
) in the
proposed multi-level inverter are operated at a fundamental frequency (60 Hz). Moreover, the proposed 5-
level inverter requires only one isolated voltage source, V
DC
.The circuit was simulated with R load. Fig 4
shows the circuit diagram of 5-level inverter using POD modulation. Fig. 5 shows the waveforms of multi-
level inverter .Fig 6 shows the waveform of the load voltage and the load current when the power factor
becomes unity.

Figure .4: Simulation circuit for Single phase multi level inverter system



Leena Mary Oommen et al I J SRE Volume 2 I ssue 3 March 2014 Page 530


Figure .5 Output waveform of Multi Level Inverter


Figure. 6 Output waveform of voltage and current of the inverter

5. Conclusion
A 5-level multilevel inverters has been presented and built in MATLAB-Simulink. The switching
components of the proposed method which is same as that of conventional inverter. The paper described
about a POD modulation method which is a new PWM method and it requires only single carrier signal. In
this proposed method harmonics are formed due to non-linear loads like rectifier which are incorporated in
the circuit. Thus complex current wave was obtained. To control the harmonic current, here use a filter. The
filter reduces the harmonic current and this passes only line frequency. Thus unity power factor output
current and voltages are obtained.

REFERENCES
[1] M. Calais, "Analysis of multicarrier PWM methods for a single-phase five level inverter", PESC. 2001
IEEE, Vol. 3, pp. 1351-1356, 2001.
[2] E. Villanueva, P. Correa, M. Pacas, Control of a Single-Phase Cascaded H-Bridge Multilevel Inverter
for Grid-Connected Photovoltaic Systems, IEEE Trans. Industrial Electronics, Vol. 56, pp. 4399-4406,
2009.

Leena Mary Oommen et al I J SRE Volume 2 I ssue 3 March 2014 Page 531

[3] G. Grandi, C. Rossi, D. Ostojic, D. Casadei, "A New Multilevel Conversion Structure for Grid-
Connected PV Applications", IEEE Trans. Ind. Electron., vol. 56, no. 11, pp. 4416-4426, Nov. 2009.
[4] B.P. McGrath, Multicarrier PWM strategies for multilevel inverters, IEEE Trans. Ind. Electron., Vol.
49, no. 4, pp. 858-867, 2002.
[5] N. A. Rahim, S. Mekhilef, Implementation of Three- Phase grid Connected Inverter for Photovoltaic
Solar Power Generation System Proceedings IEEE. PowerCon 2002. Vol. 1, pp. 570-573., Oct 2002
[6] D.A.B. Zambra, C. Rech, J.R. Pinheiro, "Comparison of Neutral-Point- Clamped, Symmetrical, and
Hybrid Asymmetrical Multilevel Inverters", IEEE Trans. Ind. Electron., Vol. 57, no. 7, pp2297-2306, July
2010.
[7] A New PWM Strategy for Common-Mode Voltage Reduction in Neutral Point Clamped Inverter-Fed
AC Motor Drives Hee-Jung Kim, Hyeoun-Dong Lee, Member, IEEE, and Seung-Ki Sul, Fellow, IEEE



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