Review of Multilevel Inverter Topologies and Its Applications

Abstract

Nowadays, multilevel inverter technologies have attracted attention as a convenient solution in many industrial applications. There are a few interesting features of using this configuration, where less component count, less switching losses, and improved output voltage/current waveform. The most significant criteria in multilevel inverter is the minimization of harmonic components in the inverter output voltage/current. The evolution of multilevel inverter technologies and the commercial products based on a multilevel inverter topology has shown tremendous developments due to the many advantages. In this paper, a review of the classical multilevel inverters and the recently introduced topologies are presented. They are trending as the most preferable power electronics device that have been widely used in the applications like motor-drive applications up to MegaWatt (MW) power levels, renewable energy (solar/wind power inverters) and reactive power compensation (i.e. STATCOM). This paper provides a general comparisons for various type of multilevel inverters and their suitable applications with useful references.