Analysis of a multilevel inverter topology with reduced number of switches

Multilevel inverter is energy conversion device that is generally used in medium-voltage and high-power applications. It offers lower total harmonic distortion, switching losses and voltage stress on switches than conventional inverter. In this chapter, the topologies of the conventional multilevel inverters are discussed and a novel multilevel inverter topology with the reduced number of power switches is proposed. Also, a modulation technique for the proposed multilevel inverter is introduced. This multilevel inverter structure consists of the level module units to enhance the level of the output voltage. Since a level module unit consists of only a DC voltage source and a bidirectional switch, this structure allows a reduction of the system cost and size. Effectiveness of the proposed topology has been demonstrated by analysis and simulation.