New hybrid structure for multilevel inverter with fewer number of components for high‐voltage levels

Abstract

Application of multilevel inverters for higher voltage goals in industries has become more popular. In this study, new structures for symmetric, asymmetric and hybrid multilevel inverter are recommended. The proposed hybrid structure is used in high‐voltage levels. The proposed structures can generate a great number of output voltage levels with minimum number of power electronic components such as insulated gate bipolar transistors (IGBTs) and gate drivers. For proposed asymmetric and hybrid inverter, new methods for determination of dc voltage sources values are presented. Comparison of the results of various multilevel inverters is presented to reflect the merits of the recommended structures. The operations of the proposed multilevel inverter structures are verified with the experimental and simulation results of an asymmetric 15‐level prototype and a 19‐level hybrid inverter. Fundamental frequency‐switching method is applied to the new topologies to trigger the power switches for controlling the voltage levels generated on the output. Verification of the analytical results is performed using MATLAB/SIMULINK software.