A twice boost nine-level switched-capacitor multilevel (2B-9L-SCMLI) inverter with self-voltage balancing capability

Abstract

The research on the multilevel inverter structures has been focused on reducing the number of voltage sources and the components while obtaining voltage boosting in the output voltage. A lesser number of components would ensure lesser cost while higher boosting ability increases its application potential. Based on these features, the paper presents a new topology for switched-capacitor multi-level inverter (SCMLI), which can produce an output voltage waveform of nine levels with a voltage boosting of twice the input voltage employing a single dc voltage source, three capacitors, and 11 power switches. The operation of switches, capacitors with a self-charge balancing modulation scheme, and a voltage source for producing nine-level boosted output voltage make this topology useful, and it is capable of supplying different types of load with efficiency above 97%. The simulation results and the hardware results are provided to verify the satisfactory operation of the proposed topology.