A novel design of basic module-based multilevel inverter for symmetrical/asymmetrical sources

Multilevel inverter is a practical power electronic design that has motivated a great deal of ever-increasing interest. In this article, a new design of basic module-based multilevel is proposed. The article conceptualized minimizing the number of power semiconductor devices, losses, and total blocking voltage and hence the cost. The proposed inverter structure consists of both a polarity generator and a level generator unit. To investigate the eminence of the proposed topology, an exhaustive comparative study with other existing topologies is presented. The proposed inverter can be utilized for both symmetrical and asymmetrical configurations. The extended cascaded structure of the proposed topology is discussed for generating a higher level of voltages and five algorithms for asymmetrical configuration are introduced to select input dc voltages. This article presents the operating principle, modulation strategy, total standing voltage calculation, cost function, and losses calculation. The efficacy of the proposed cascaded multilevel inverter has been substantiated experimentally. The proposed structure can be efficiently used in medium-/high-voltage applications like electrical drives as well as renewable energy resource-based grid-connected systems.