WIND-PV BASED 31-LEVEL MULTILEVEL

INVERTER WITH MINIMAL SWITCHES FOR

STAND-ALONE MICROGRID SYSTEM
2023 9th International Conference on Electrical Energy Systems (ICEES) | 979-8-3503-4803-3/23/$31.00 ©2023 IEEE | DOI: 10.1109/ICEES57979.2023.10110039

Abarna Rajkumar, Research Scholar, Department Sivasankar Gangatharan, Assistant Professor,

of Electrical and Electronics Engineering, Department of Electrical and Electronics
Thiagarajar College of Engineering, Madurai. Engineering, Thiagarajar College of Engineering,
[email protected]. Madurai. [email protected].

reduced cost, weight, they achieve together with very low ground
Abstract—In this paper, a newer multilevel inverter topology
with a reduced number of switches has been proposed. In this current, which are their main advantages [8].In addition to that
topology, multilevel inverters have been designed with a multilevel inverter is developed by the cascade connection of two
minimum number of switches to reduce switching losses, conventional voltage source inverter (VSI) using open winding
installation area, cost and size of the inverter. As the number of transformer [9], besides that it increases to use of renewable
switches is reduced, the voltage level gets increased, the total electrical energy source instead of fossil fuels. However, the
harmonic distortion (THD) and the waveform distortion of the cascaded MLI requires more bridges and switches
generated output voltage gets decreased. Finally, the effectiveness Number of Bridges
and practical precision of the suggested topology has been realized
݊ ൌ ʹ‫ ܪ‬൅ ͳሺͳሻ
by generating the output voltage for solar-based 31 levels multilevel
inverter using SPWM technique and it is simulated using
The series string connection of a single-phase full-bridge
MATLAB Simulink Software and the results are shown. leads to an m-level cascaded inverter. Assume n=31, the number of
bridges is given as follows:
ଵ
Index Terms—Cascaded Hbridge multilevel inverter, Solar
‫ ܪ‬ൌ ቀ݊ െ ቁሺʹሻ
ଶ
module, Sinusoidal Pulse Width Modulation, Reduction of circuit Where n = no. of levels
components From the above equation, it has arrived that 15 bridges are needed
for the 31-level inverter. So the problem is that for 31-level, it
I INTRODUCTION needs 15 bridges and it leads to a complex structure. Therefore
Microgrid technology has been getting its significance due reducing the number of bridges and switches is one of the key
to its versatility and possibility to electrify remote place where requirements for efficient MLI. Direct current (DC) waveform
the power grid cannot be reached [1, 2]. Furthermore, the grids are used in solar energy systems to create electrical energy,
incorporation of microgrid technology improves energy which is then converted to alternating current (AC) signals using
economics [3]. The advantage of microgrid includes energy solar panel arrays. The main advantages of using a multilevel
management, conversion loss reduction and efficient energy multifunctional grid-connected inverter are to keep good power
storage system [4]. An inverter is a static converter providing quality, reducing the output filter size, lower power dissipation
DC-AC conversion in a microgrid. The main function of the across switch, less harmonic distortion, and it also provide high
inverter is to obtain single-phase AC voltages of controllable power quality, voltage, reactive power support [10]. Multilevel
magnitude and frequency from a DC supply. In recent years, the inverter converter DC -AC, while transformerless photovoltaic
demand for high power increases, so the requirement for high inverter has the bidirectional capability with reduced conversion
power equipment also increases in industries. Nowadays storage, is compared with the ordinary battery which acts as a
multilevel inverters play a major role in a wide range of storage element. [11].By the use of a transformerless inverter, it
applications to satisfy this high power demand in industries [5]. can minimize the cost, reduce the size and increase efficiency, so,
Two-level inverters have some limitations for high power the research interests in various scientific fields have been
application therefore multilevel inverters are being used [6]. The developed every year.
first and foremost significance of a multilevel inverter is to give a
high output power to reduce losses from medium voltage sources. In this research, a new architecture of cascaded
The benefit of this multilevel inverter that the output waveform is multilevel inverters is developed to enhance the output voltage
sinusoidal if the number of level increases even we don’t have to levels, decrease the number of power switches, and lower the
filter it [7]. Multilevel inverters are used for high power as well as overall cost of the inverter. It's crucial to remember that the
low power application in renewable energy sources such as wind, suggested architecture makes use of unidirectional power switches.
solar and fuel cell. Transformerless photovoltaic inverter plays a Then, a novel approach is suggested to calculate the magnitude of
crucial part in the solar PV deployment due to higher efficiency, the dc voltage sources. Additionally, this topology has more

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 benefits than the usual kind from a number of angles, including
the quantity of IGBTs, the quantity of dc voltage sources, the
diversity of dc voltage sources' values, and the quantity of
blocking voltages per switch. Finally, a 31-level inverter is used
to mimic how well the suggested design performs in generating
all voltage levels.

II. IMPLEMENTATION OF SOLAR-BASED 31-LEVEL INVERTER WITH

REDUCED SWITCHES:
The proposed 31-level inverter shown in Fig.1
consists of ten unidirectional power switches (Q 1, Q2,
Q3, Q4, Q5, Q6, Q7, Q8, Q9, Q10) and four solar
modules terminal voltages (ST1, ST2, ST3, ST4).
According to this topology, if the switching devices
(Q1, Q2), (Q3, Q4), (Q5, Q6) and (Q7, Q8) turn on
simultaneously, the terminal voltages of solar gets
short-circuited, respectively. Therefore the
simultaneous turn-on of these switches should be
avoided. In addition, (Q9, Q10) should not turn on
simultaneously.

Fig.2 Topology of Solar Based 31-level Multilevel Inverter

The magnitudes of the solar terminal voltage sources of the

proposed 31-level inverter are recommended as follows:
Fig.1 Proposed Multilevel inverter topology ்ܵଵ ൌ ்ܵǡ ሺ͸ሻ
்ܵଶ ൌ ʹ்ܵǡ ሺ͹ሻ
In the proposed general topology, the
number of output voltage levels (Nstep), number of switches ்ܵଷ ൌ ͷ்ܵǡ ሺͺሻ
(Nswitch), number of solar modules (Nsource), and the maximum ்ܵସ ൌ ͳͲ்ܵǡ ሺͻሻ
magnitude of the generated voltage (Vo,max) are calculated as
follows:
2.1 Switching Pattern Of 31-Level Inverter
ଶ௡ାଵ
ܰ௦௧௘௣ ൌ ʹ ͳሺ͵ሻ
Table 1. shows the switching pattern of a 31 level
ܰ௦௪௜௧௖௛  ൌ Ͷ݊ ൅ ʹሺͶሻ
multilevel inverter. Calculation of pulse generator values for
ܰ௦௢௨௥௖௘ ൌ ʹ݊ሺͷሻ
triggering IGBT causes more time complexity. In this paper, the
The multilevel inverter can be used for standalone deployment
pulse generators are replaced by repeating sequence and the
of solar PV and wind plant [12, 13]. It is well suited for wind
following switching pattern need to be feed in the repeating
and solar integrated system [14]. Fig.2 shows the solar PV and
sequence block.
wind plant based standalone microgrid setup.

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 TABLE 1. SWITCHING PATTERN OF SOLAR 1
BASED 31LEVEL MULTILEVEL INVERTER
2 ST3 -ST1 0 1 1 0 1 0 0 1 0 1
2 +ST2
S Voltage(v) Q Q Q Q Q Q Q Q Q Q
N 2 ST2 - ST1 0 1 1 0 0 1 0 1 0 1
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10
3
1 0 1 0 1 0 1 0 1 0 1 0
2 ST4 + ST1 1 0 0 1 1 0 1 0 0 1
2 ST3 0 1 0 1 1 0 0 1 0 1 4
3 ST1 1 0 0 1 0 1 0 1 0 1 2 ST4 + ST1 - 1 0 0 1 0 1 1 0 0 1
5 ST3
4 ST3 + ST1 1 0 0 1 1 0 0 1 0 1
2 ST4 0 1 0 1 1 0 1 0 0 1
5 ST4 - ST3 0 1 0 1 0 1 1 0 0 1
6
6 ST4 0 1 0 1 1 0 1 0 0 1
2 ST4 - ST3 0 1 0 1 0 1 1 0 0 1
7 ST4 + ST1 - 1 0 0 1 0 1 1 0 0 1 7
ST3
2 ST3 + ST1 1 0 0 1 1 0 0 1 0 1
8 ST4 + ST1 1 0 0 0 1 0 1 0 0 1 8
9 ST2 - ST1 0 1 1 0 0 1 0 1 0 1 2 ST1 1 0 0 1 0 1 0 1 0 1
9
1 ST3 -ST1 0 1 1 0 1 0 0 1 0 1
0 +ST2 3 ST3 0 1 0 1 1 0 0 1 0 1
0
1 ST2 1 0 1 0 0 1 0 1 0 1
1 3 0 1 0 1 0 1 0 1 0 1 0
1
1 ST3 + ST2 1 0 1 0 1 0 0 1 0 1
2
According to the switching pattern, the
1 ST4 +ST2 - 0 1 1 0 0 1 1 0 0 1
3 ST3 - ST1 switching diagram of ten power devices has been drawn
below and it is shown in Fig.3. The multilevel output of
1 ST2 +ST4 - 0 1 1 0 1 0 1 0 0 1 the inverter is shown in Fig.4.
4 ST1
1 ST4 +ST2 1 0 1 0 0 1 1 0 0 1
5 -ST3
1 ST4 + ST2 1 0 1 0 1 0 1 0 0 1
6
1 ST4 +ST2 1 0 1 0 0 1 1 0 0 1
7 -ST3 Q1
1 ST2 +ST4 0 1 1 0 1 0 1 0 0 1
8 -ST1
1 ST4 +ST2 - 0 1 1 0 0 1 1 0 0 1
9 ST3 - ST1
2 ST3 + ST2 1 0 1 0 1 0 0 1 0 1
Q2
0
2 ST2 1 0 1 0 0 1 0 1 0 1

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 Q3

Q9

Q4

Q10

Fig.3 Switching signals to 10 switches Q1 to Q10 of the MLI.

Q5

Q6
Fig.4 3l level multilevel inverter output.

III. WIND-SOLAR PV BASED 31 LEVEL MULTILEVEL

INVERTER USING SPWM TECHNIQUE

In the proposed work, the Sinusoidal Pulse Width Modulation

(SPWM) switch strategy has been used to switch the inverter. The
closed-loop SPWM based controller is shown in Fig.5, it is used to
Q7
automatically control the voltage and frequency profile of the
microgrid.

Q8

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 .

Fig.6 Input and output waveforms of solar based 31- level inverter using SPW

Fig 5. Multilevel inverter controller diagram

The input and output waveforms of the solar-based 31- level

inverter using SPWM and the solar-based 31level stepped
waveform using SPWM is shown in Fig.6 and Fig.7 respectively

M.

Fig.7 Solar based 3l level multilevel inverter using SPWM..

A comparative inference has been shown in Table 2. The important

parameters of MLI considered for comparison include switch count
NSW, driver circuits number NDK, diode count ND, capacitor count
NC, number of sources NSDC, components count per level CC/L and
total standing voltage TSV.

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 TABLE II
COMPARIS
Ref NSW NDK ND NC NSDC NMCD CC/L TSVPU ON OF
Switched- [15] 18 18 - 4 2 8 1.35 5.66 PROPOSED
Capacitor [16] 12 10 - 4 3 4 0.93 5.87 31 LEVEL
Cross-Switched [17] 16 16 2 4 2 8 1.29 5.67 SYSTEMS
WITH MLI
31-level [18] 14 14 - - 4 7 1.03 2.4 TOPOLOGIE
Asymmetrical S
proposed - 10 10 - - 4 5 0.93 2.1

Fig.8 Comparison of NSW with similar 31 level MLI technique

20
Fig.10 Comparison of NSDC with similar 31 level MLI technique
15
5
NDK

10 4
3

NSDC
5
2
0
[15] [16] [17] [18] Proposed 1
MLI Techniques 0
[15] [16] [17] [18] Proposed
MLI Techniques
20
18
16
14
12
NSW

10 1.5
8
6
CC/Level

4 1
2
0
[15] [16] [17] [18] Proposed 0.5
MLI Techniques
Fig.9 Comparison of NDK with similar 31 level MLI technique 0
[15] [16] [17] [18] Proposed
MLI Techniques

Fig.11 Comparison of CC/L with similar 31 level MLI technique

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 DOI:10.3390/designs2030033.
4) Mageswaran Rengasamy, Sivasankar
8
Gangatharan , Rajvikram Madurai Elavarasan
TSVPU 6 and Lucian Mihet-Popa, “The motivation for
4 incorporation of microgrid technology in rooftop
2 solar photovoltaic deployment to enhance energy
0 economics”, Sustainability, vol.12, no. 10365, pp.
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