A Single-Source High-Gain Switched-Capacitor Multilevel Inverter with Inherent Voltage Balancing

Design of multilevel inverters (MLIs) using switched-capacitor (SC) is emerging due to suitability in renewable power conversion systems, high-frequency power distribution, etc. Using the SC technique, the number of dc sources can be significantly reduced, and required voltage levels can be created by utilizing the capacitor voltage along with the dc source. In addition to the source reduction, switch count reduction than the conventional MLIs while enhancing the boosting ability is another challenging task. Unlike the SC MLIs presented earlier with a low voltage gain, this paper proposes a new single-source high-gain SC MLI using a reduced number of switches. The proposed topology can synthesize 13-levels in the output utilizing two different modules, i.e., a cross-switched unit and a traditional H-bridge. The capacitors are self-regulated using the integral switching pulse logic used for the switches. The capacitors are charged in parallel and discharged in series to create the required voltage steps. A comparison of the SC MLIs is carried out to confirm the novelty of the proposed topology. The fundamental switching modulation scheme is used to generate the required pulses for controlling the switches. Various simulation tests are conducted to validate the working in a transient environment, and the results are further obtained in real-time using a setup developed in the laboratory.