Single-Phase Five-Level Inverter with Less

Number of Power Elements for Grid Connection

Mahrous Ahmed, IEEE Member, Maha G. Elsheikh, Mahmoud A. Sayed, IEEE Member, and Mohamed Orabi,
IEEE Senior Member.
APEARC, Aswan Faculty of Engineering, South Valley University, Aswan City 81542, Egypt
orabi@ieee.org

Abstractrecently, the emergence of single phase multilevel
inverter has been increased due to its advantages over
traditional one. This paper proposes a single-phase five level
pulse width modulation (PWM) inverter for grid connection
employing PI controller to perform unity power factor. Two
triangular carrier signals identical to each other with an
offset equivalent to the amplitude of the reference signal were
used to generate PWM signals for the switches. The proposed
inverter has the advantage of less number of components.
Operational principles with switching functions are analyzed.
A digital proportional integral current control algorithm is
implemented in FPGA XC3S400 to control the injected
current into the grid to be almost sinusoidal. The inverter
offers much less total harmonic distortion and can operate at
near-unity power factor. Some switches operate at
fundamental frequency and others operate at switching
frequency. The proposed inverter has been compared with
the conventional single-phase five-level PWM inverter. The
effectiveness of the proposed inverter and its control
technique has been verified theoretically, using PSIM
simulation program, and experimentally, using laboratory
prototype system.
Keywords Multi-Level Inverters, Grid Connection, PWM.
I. INTRODUCTION
Multilevel Inverters (MLI) began with the neutral point
clamped inverter topology proposed by Nabae et al. [1].
Recently, multilevel inverters have become more attractive
for researchers due to their advantages over conventional
three-level pulse width-modulated (PWM) inverters. MLI
has two main advantages compared with the conventional
H-bridge inverters [2-4], the higher voltage capability and
the reduced harmonic content in the output waveform due
to the multiple dc levels. MLI is now preferred in high
power medium voltage applications due to the reduced
voltage stresses on the devices. MLI incorporates a
topological structure that allows a desired output voltage to
be synthesized among a set of isolated or interconnected
distinct voltage sources. Numerous topologies realize this
connectivity, and can be generally divided into three major
categories, namely, diode clamped MLI, flying capacitor
MLI, and separated dc sources (cascaded voltages) MLI [5].
Recently renewable energy sources for grid connected
applications are increased due to the world energy crisis.
Injecting power to the utility must meet the world harmonic
standards. Therefore, single phase MLIs become a good
solution for those applications [6-7]. Unfortunately one of
the most particular disadvantages of MLI is the large
number of the required power semiconductor switches.
Although low voltage rate switches can be utilized in a
multilevel inverter, each switch requires a related gate drive
circuit. This may cause the overall system to be more
expensive and complex. So, in practical implementation,
reducing the number of switches and gate driver circuits
have become an essential point.
Recently, many topologies of the MLI and its control
techniques have been published. The MLI technique is
implemented in [8] by adding one switch and four power
diodes to the H-bridge single phase inverter. Another
solution can be found in [9] by using two switches and two
power diodes with the H-bridge single phase inverter.
Those two systems can generate only five levels in the
output voltage with less harmonic contents. The other
solution, shown in [10], is a modular inverter that can reach
to any required voltage levels. But these inverters
topologies can be improved by reducing their switches
without affecting their performances.
This paper presents a single-phase five-level PWM
inverter with less number of power elements and hence less
gate drive circuits in addition to less circuit layout
complexity. Its output voltage has the following five levels:
Zero, +Vdc, +2Vdc, Vdc, and 2Vdc. As the number of
output levels increases, the harmonic content can be
reduced. This inverter topology uses two carrier signals to
generate PWM signals for the switches. Some switches
operate at fundamental frequency and others operate at
switching frequency. Sections II and III explain the
principle of operation and PWM strategy for the proposed
inverter, respectively. The switching algorithm that used in
PWM is presented in section IV. Section V contains a
harmonic analysis for MLI. Moreover, a results and
comparison between the proposed MLI inverter and
conventional one are presented in section VI.
Simulation and experimental results are included in
order to verify the operating principle of the proposed MLI
inverter and its capability to inject active power to the grid.
978-1-4577-1216-6/12/$26.00 2012 IEEE 1521
II. OPERATIONAL PRINCIPLE OF THE PROPOSED
INVERTER
Figure 1 shows the proposed structure single phase MLI
inverter. It consists of n cells of switch circuits. For cells
from 1 to (n-1), each k-cell is composed of one dc voltage
source and two switches (S
k1
, S
k2
); one switch (S
k2
) is
connected in series with a dc voltage source and the other
switch ( S
k1
) is connected in parallel with both the dc
voltage source and the series switch. Based on this
configuration, each cell can generate two states (0 V) and
the dc voltage source associated with the considered cell.
Cell n is composed of only the dc source voltage resulting
in generating only one state (Vn). As a result, the dc link
voltage v
bus
has (n-1) states, they are (v
1
, v
2
, , v
n
), as
shown in Fig. 2.

Figure 1: Structure of The Proposed Cascaded dc Link MLI.


Figure 2: Typical Output Waveform of v
dc

It can be noted that the dc link voltage has no zero state
voltage (0V) which needs extra two main switches. The H-
bridge inverter composes of four switches
( Q
1
, Q
2
, Q
S
, anu Q
4
). The H-bridge inverter has two
functions; it has to synthesis the inversion voltage of the dc
link voltage in addition to generating the zero state voltage
(0V) at the output voltage (v
ab
) by connecting the upper
two switches ( Q
1
, Q
S
) or the lower switches ( Q
2
, Q
4
).
Obviously, this structure can reduce the number of switches
compared to the conventional topologies without affecting
the inverter performances. This is due to that; the zero
voltage can be generated using the idea of the upper or
lower H-bridge inverter to generate this state.
The pulse width modulation (PWM) control algorithm
can be applied, also, for this topology. The PWM control
algorithm, which adopted in this paper, consists of one
modulation signal with amplitude (A
r
) and n (number of dc
link cell) carriers with same amplitude (A
c
). Each carrier is
shifted with the carrier amplitude (A
c
) from the former one.
The amplitude ( A
r
) can be changed from 0 to n - A
c

according to changing modulation index from 0 to 1.

III. SINGLE-PHASE FIVE-LEVEL PWM INVERTER
In order to generate five levels, the number of the
required cascaded cell is n = 2. One cell uses two switches
with the dc source while the other cell is only the dc source
as shown in Fig. 3. Assume that the dc voltage sources are
equal; v
1
= v
2
= v
dc
. The dc link bus voltage v
bus
will
have two states, v
dc
or 2v
dc
, and the load output voltage
will have five states 2v
dc
, v
dc
, u, -v
dc
, - 2v
dc
. The zero
state can be generated either by switching the upper
switches together or the lower switches together. The other
four states can be generated from the dc bus voltage v
bus

based on folded cascade unit operation.
The operation of the single-phase five-level inverter,
employing PWM, can be divided into 10 switching states
based on the direction of the output current as given by
table I. The signal generation waveforms are generated
using one modulating signal and two carriers. The
amplitude of the modulating signal is ( A
r
) and the
amplitude of each carrier is (A
c
). In addition, each carrier is
shifted with the carrier amplitude (A
c
) from the former one,
as shown in Fig. 4.


Figure 3: proposed Single-Phase Five-Level Inverter Configuration.

Figure 4: PWM Switching Strategy.
1522
TABLE I. OPERATIONAL STATES ACCORDING TO THE SWITCH ON
CONDITIONS AND THE DIRECTION OF THE LOAD CURRENT
Switching
States
The Output
Voltage (v
ab
)
The Direction of
the Output
Current (t
u
)
ON State
Switches
1 v
dc

positive Q
1
, Q
2
anu S
11

2 v
dc

negative B
1
, B
2
anu S
11

3 2v
dc

positive Q
1
, Q
2
anu S
12

4 2v
dc

negative B
1
, B
2
anu S
12

5 0
positive Q
1
, B
3
or Q
2
, B
4

6 0
negative B
1
, Q
3
or B
2
, Q
4

7 -2v
dc

positive B
3
, B
4
, anu S
12

8 -2v
dc

negative Q
3
, Q
4
, S
12

9 -v
dc

positive B
3
, B
4
, anu S
11

10 -v
dc

negative Q
3
, Q
4
, anu S
11



IV. SWITCHING ALGORITHM FOR THE PROPOSED
INVERTER USING PWM
The switching patterns employed in the proposed
inverter are illustrated in Fig. 5. The output voltage levels,
according to the switch ON/OFF conditions, are shown in
Table II. In this paper, the switching strategy used to
generate the gate signals is accomplished by comparing the
reference signal, which is rectified sinusoidal, with two
triangular carrier waveforms having the same frequency
and phase angle, but with different offset voltages. When
the lower carrier signal is compared with the reference
signal, the first level of output voltage will be generated.
This means that the modulation index (MI) is less than or
equal 0.5 (50%). The behavior of proposed inverter is
similar to the conventional fullbridge three-level PWM
inverter. The distribution of the harmonic components in
output voltage is similar to that of the conventional inverter
having the values of two times the modulation index. The
mentioned above is the first operational mode. On the other
hand, if the required output voltage is increased beyond the
modulation index 0.5, the output will result from comparing
the upper carrier signal with the same reference signal.
Therefore, the second level of the output voltage will be
generated and it will be the second mode. According to the
amplitude of the voltage reference, the operational interval
of each mode varies within a certain period.
The modes are determined as the phase angle depends
on the modulation index.
Noue A: u < wt 01, 02 < wt n
Noue B: 01 < wt 02
Noue C: n < wt 0S, 04 < wt 2n
Noue B: 0S < wt 04 (1)
The modulation index HIof the proposed five-level PWM
inverter is defined as follows [11]:
HI =
A
M
2 A
C
(2)
Where:
A
M
The peak value of the modulating (sinusoidal) signal,
i.e. the voltage reference (:
c]
) .
A
C
The peaktopeak value of the carrier (triangular).

1

2 4

Figure 5: Switching Patterns of The Proposed Inverter.

Also, the frequency ratio, m
]
is defined as follows:
m
]
=
]
c
]
m
(3)
Where:

c
The frequency of the carrier (triangular) signal.

m
The frequency of the modulating (sinusoidal) signal.

1523
When the modulation index is less than 0.5, the phase angle
displacement is equal to:
0
1
= 0
2
=
n
2
, 0
3
= 0
4
=
3n
2
(4)
And when the modulation index is greater than 0.5, the
phase angle displacement is
0
1
= sin
-1
_
A
C
A
M
]
0
2
= n - 0
1

0
3
= n + 0
1

0
4
= 2 n - 0
1
(5)

The switching Patterns of the proposed inverter is
illustrated in Fig. 5. In one period, switches Q
1
and Q
4

operate at the fundamental frequency (i.e., 50 Hz). The
switch S
11
will be completely switched at the carrier signal
frequency, whereas Q
2
and Q
3
will be switched in both low
and high switching frequency. The switch S
12
is switching
at high frequency in a certain time of the period and off
elsewhere. The output voltage according to the switch
ON/OFF conditions is shown in Table II.
As shown in Fig. 5, the control signals are generated by
the signals C
A
and C
B
, coming from the comparators, which
compare the respective carrier signals with the voltage
reference (v
rcI
). The main six periods P1, P2, P3, P4, P5
and P6 can be calculated from the intersection of the
reference waveform with the carrier signals. Then switches
signals Q
1
- Q
4
, S
11
- S
12
can be formulated based on
P1, P2, P3, P4, P5 and P6 by the phase angle displacement
as given by equation (6).

Figure 6 describes a simplified description for generating
the control signals of switches Q
1
- Q
4
, S
11
- S
12
. The
switching functions of proposed inverter are then given by
the logical (AND, OR, NOT) gates as follows:

1
= P
1
+ P
2
+ P
3

2
= ((P
1
+ P
2
+ P
3
) . C
A
) + [(P
4
+ P
6
) C
A

3
= [(P
1
+ P
3
) C
A
+ ((P
4
+ P
6
+ P
5
) C
A
)

4
= P
4
+ P
5
+ P
6

S
11
= [((P
1
+ P
3
) +(P
4
+P
6
)) C
A
+ [(P
2
+ P
5
) C
B

S
12
= (P
2
+ P
5
) C
B
(6)


V. HARMONICANALYSIS
The harmonic components in output voltage of the
proposed inverter are calculated as follows. From the two
carrier waves and output voltage in Figure5, the Analysis of
harmonic components in the proposed inverter can be
performed. The output voltage produced by comparing the
reference signal and two carrier waves can be expressed as:
I
0
(0) = A
0
+ (A
k
cos k0 + B
k
sink0)

k=1

(7)


TABLE II. OUTPUT VOLTAGE ACCORDING TO THE SWITCH ON/OFF
CONDITIONS


Figure 6: Simplified Descriptions for Generating The Control Signals of
The Inverter Switches.

If there are 'P' pulses per a quarter periods and it is an
odd number, the coefficients B
k
and A
O
will be zero, where
'k' is an even number. Therefore, equation (7) can be
rewritten as follows:
I
0
(0) = A
k
cos k0

k=1,3,
(8)
A
k
= -
2v
dc
kn
j(-1)
nt(

2
, )
sin(ko
m+
)[
4
=1
P
m=0
(9)
Where, 'm' is a pulse number. The Fourier series
coefficients of the conventional Single-phase full-bridge
inverter by sinusoidal PWM are given as:
A
k
=
4V
dc
k
|(-1)
m
sin(k
m
)]
P
m=1
(10)

Vab
Switches State
Q1 Q2 Q3 Q4 S11 S12
+ 2vuc ON ON OFF OFF OFF ON
+ vuc ON ON OFF OFF ON OFF
u
ON OFF ON OFF OFF OFF
OFF ON OFF ON OFF OFF
- vuc OFF OFF ON ON ON OFF
- 2vuc OFF OFF ON ON OFF ON
1524
VI. RESULTS AND DISCUS
The feedback controller used in this a
the PI algorithm as shown in Fig. 7. The g
grid voltage v
g
are detected by sensors fo
estimate the reference grid current I
rc
amplitude is assumed constant and it
obtained from grid voltage waveform
power factor. The instantaneous current e
controller. The resulting error signal (u)
is compared with the two triangular
produce PWM signals for the switches
XC3S400 is used as a controller in the lab
Proposed topology has been simul
software to verify the performance
configuration. A two cells (n = 2) with
voltage waveform has been chosen and si
the topology can be extended to n ce
control for grid connection with wide ran
index has been simulated at 10 kHz sw
Two identical power supplies of 20 V ea
for the dc bus (>2 v
g
; in this case, v
g
order to inject current into the grid. The
the shape of the inverter output voltage
current i
g
. Figure 8 (a), (b), and (c) s
output voltage v
Inv
and the grid current
0.4, 0.8, and 1.2 respectively. When the m
less than or equal 0.5 (1/n), the behavio
inverter will be similar to the conventiona
level PWM inverter. In this case the lowe
always disconnected (S
11
is always ON
OFF) and the upper capacitor only is use
and generate v
ab
. As shown in figure 8(a
here that v
Inv
at 0.4 value of NI is less
means that the current will be injected fro
inverter so this condition must be avoid
inverter from damage. In case of over mo
NI =1.2, the reference signal exceed
amplitude of both carrier signals. This wi
a at portion at the peak of the waveform
pure sinusoidal waveform. Whereas whe
index is larger than 0.5 (1/n) and less th
capacitor will share the upper capacitor
resulting in five-level inverter output volta
Figure 7: Five-Level Inverter with PI Contro
SSION

application utilizes
grid current I
g
and
for the controller to
cI
. The reference
ts phase angle is
to achieve unity
error is fed to a PI
) which forms v
rcI

carrier signals to
s. A FPGA kit of
boratory prototype.
lated using PSIM
of the proposed
h five-level output
imulated. However
lls. A closed loop
nge of modulation
witching frequency.
ach have been used
is 30 V RMS) in
NI will determine
e v
In
and the grid
hows the inverter
t i
g
at NI equal to
modulation index is
or of the proposed
al full bridge three-
er capacitor bank is
and S
12
is always
ed to feed the load
a). It can be noted
s than 2 v
g
. This
om the grid into the
ded to protect the
odulation index, at
ds the maximum
ill cause i
g
to have
m, so it will not be
en the modulation
han 1.0, the lower
r in generating v
ab

age.

oller Algorithm.
TABLE III. CURRENT AND VO
SWITCH
Max Curren
All switches
max voltage
S
11
, S
12
Q
1
, Q
2
, Q
3
, and Q
4
max maximum
TABLE IV. COMPONENT COMPAR
AND OTH
1
st
[8]
m
Main switches
(m-1)*2
Main diodes

TABLE V. COMPONENT COMPA
OUTPUT VO
1
st
[8]
S
Main switches
4
Main diodes

So, to optimize the power tr
grid, it is recommended to o
shown from the inverter output
Fig. 8(b). It is clear that the gri
sinusoidal waveform and thus
drastically.
To validate the proposed
prototype of the proposed five-
experimentally carried out,
simulation results. Fig. 9 sh
laboratory. The inverter circuit
MOSFET as switches. The u
10 kHz. The switching signa
FPGA of type XC3S400 as a
power supplies of 20 V each we
The proposed inverter syst
using closed loop condition f
current controller, which is
XC3S400 and with L filter e
inverter voltage v
Inv
and g
measured for two values of M
than 0.5 as shown in Fig. 10 (
more for MI less than 0.5 the
inverter will be same as the
three-level inverter. The grid
greater than 0.5 are shown in
proposed system can inject activ
Figure 12 shows the gate
greater than 0.5. It can be noted
at line frequency and others
frequency. Switch voltage and
measured as shown in table III
carry load current and thus thei
it. The H-bridge inverter sw
OLTAGE RATING FOR INVERTER
HES
nt ratings
%(Iswitch/ILoad)max = 100
e ratings
%(Vswitch max/Vdc) = 1/n=0.5
%(Vswitch max/Vdc) = 1
RISION FOR THE PROPSED INVERTER
HERS
proposed 2
nd
[10]
m+1 m+3
0 0
ARISON FOR PRODUCING A 5-LEVEL
OLTAGE
proposed 2
nd
[10]
6 8
u u
ransferred from dc link to the
perate at 0.5 NI 1.0 as
t voltage and grid current in
id current i
g
is almost a pure
s the THD can be reduced
d inverter, an experimental
level inverter has been built,
and compared with the
hows the system setup in
t has been built using power
used switching frequency is
als are generated using an
controller. Two identical dc
ere used for the dc bus.
tem is tested experimentally
for grid connection with PI
implemented into FPGA
qual to 3.3mH. The output
grid current I
g
have been
MI greater than 0.5 and less
(a) & (b) respectively. Once
e behavior of the five-level
e conventional single-phase
voltage and current for MI
Fig. 11. It is clear that the
ve power into the grid.
signals of switches for MI
d that some switches operate
s operate at the switching
d current ratings have been
I. It is clear that all switches
ir current ratings depends on
witches have higher voltage
1525
ratings compared to the cell switches; the
voltage as a maximum voltage rating
switches have equal voltage blocking ca
proportional with the number of cell n.

Figure 8: Inverter Output Voltage (v
Inv
) and Gr
Different NI.
(a) For NI<0.5 (b) For u.S NI 1.u


Figure 9: Prototype of The Proposed Five-Lev
(a)

(b)
(c)
ey have the cell dc
g. While the cell
apability inversely

rid Current (I
g
) for
(c) For NI>1.
vel PWM Inverter.
By comparing the prop
conventional single phase inve
[8], [9], and [10], it is found th
only six switches and no pow
switches and four power diode
two main power diodes as in [9
In general, for a given numb
proposed inverter requires (m+
diodes, whereas the inverter in
and (m-1)*2 power diodes. The
and then less efficiency. In
(Cascaded inverter type) shown
switches are (m+3), that means
two switches less. Table IV
number of switches and diode
compared with that in [8] and
output voltage levels (m).
Table V shows a compariso
switches and main diodes amon
and the one in [8], and [10] in
voltage. It clearly shows t
reduction in the proposed
components grows as the n
increases. Therefore, the prop
switch, less gate drive, cost redu

(a)
(b)
Figure 10: Experimental Inverter Outp
(I
g
) for Diff
(a) For u.S NI 1.u ,

posed inverter with three
erter topologies explained in
hat the proposed inverter has
wer diodes compared to five
es in [8], or six switches and
9], or eight switches in [10].
er of voltage levels m, the
+ 1) active switches and no
n [8] requires (m) switches
ese diodes cause more losses
another inverter topology,
n [10], the number of active
s the proposed inverter have
V summarizes the required
es of the proposed inverter
[10] for a given number of
on considering the number of
ng the new proposed inverter
n case of five levels output
the substantial component
structure. This saving in
number of voltage levels
posed inverter provides less
uction, and high efficiency.



put Voltage (v
Inv
) and Grid Current
ferent NI
, (b) For NI u.S
1526

Figure 11: Experimental Grid Voltage (v
g
) and Current (I
g
)
for u.S NI 1.u



Figure 12: Gate Pulses of Switches for u.S NI 1.u.
VII. CONCLUSION
This paper has presented a new single-phase five-level
PWM inverter with grid connection control. The proposed
control technique for PWM switching and for the grid
injected current control has been presented. A digital PI
current control algorithm is implemented in FPGA
XC3S400 to optimize the performance of the proposed
inverter. The major benefits of the proposed inverter are
summarized as follow:
- It has less number of power elements.
- Some switches operate at fundament load
frequency and others operate at carrier frequency.
- Smaller filter size, less circuit layout complexity
and high efficiency can be achieved.
Both the grid voltage and the grid current are in phase,
so the system operates at unity power factor, and hence
inject active power to the grid. Simulation and experimental
results prove that the proposed single-phase multilevel
inverter has the capability of grid connection with high
efficiency as compared with conventional type.
ACKNOWLEDGMENT
This work is sponsored by Egyptian Science and
Technology Development Funds (STDF) under STDF
project # 658. Any opinions, findings, and conclusions or
recommendations expressed in this material are those of the
author(s) and do not necessarily reflect the views of the
funding agencies.
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[10] Gui-Jia Su, Multilevel DC-Link Inverter, IEEE Transactions on
Industry Applications, Vol. 41, No. 3, May/June 2005, pp. 848-854.

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S12
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1527