A. Hkansson et al. (Eds.): Sustainability in Energy and Buildings, SIST 22, pp. 797812.

DOI: 10.1007/978-3-642-36645-1_71 Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg 2013

Chapter 71
Design and Control of a Diode Clamped Multilevel Wind
Energy System Using a Stand-Alone AC-DC-AC
Converter
Mona F. Moussa and Yasser G. Dessouky
Arab Academy for Science and Technology and Maritime Transport
Miami, P.O. Box: 1029, Alexandria, Egypt
mona.moussa@yahoo.com
Abstract. The major application of the stand-alone power system is in remote
areas where utility lines are uneconomical to install due to terrain, the right-of way
difficulties or the environmental concerns. Villages that are not yet connected to
utility lines are the largest potential market of the hybrid stand-alone systems using
diesel generator with wind or PV for meeting their energy needs. The stand-alone
hybrid system is technically more challenging and expensive to design than the
grid-connected system that simply augments the existing utility system.
Multilevel inverter technology has emerged recently as a very important alter-
native in the area of high-power medium-voltage energy control. This paper
presents the topology of the diode-clamped inverter, and also presents the relevant
control and modulation method developed for this converter, which is: multilevel
selective harmonic elimination, where additional notches are introduced in the
multi-level output voltage. These notches eliminate harmonics at the low or-
der/frequency and hence the filter size is reduced without increasing the switching
losses and cost of the system. The proposed modulation method is verified
through simulation using a five-level Diode-clamped inverter prototype. The sys-
tem consists of a 690V wind-driven permanent magnet synchronous generator
whose output is stepped down via a multiphase transformer, designed to eliminate
lower order harmonics of the generator current. The transformer secondary vol-
tages are rectified through an uncontrolled AC/DC converters to provide different
input DC voltage levels of the diode clamp quazi phase multilevel inverter where
the pulse widths are adjusted to eliminate low order harmonics of the output vol-
tage whose magnitude is kept constant with different loading condition by con-
trolling the inverter switching and maintaining low total harmonic distortion
THD.
Keywords: Selective Harmonic Elimination, stand alone systems, converters,
wind energy, renewable energy and Diode clamped Multilevel Inverter.
1 Introduction
In this paper a regulated AC-DC-AC converter is studied, where the AC-DC converter
has lower THD while the elimination of harmonics using diode-clamped multilevel
798 M.F. Moussa and Y.G. Dessouky
inverter (DCMLI) has been implemented. The problem of eliminating harmonics in
switching inverters has been the focus of research for many years. The current trend of
modulation control for multilevel inverters is to output high quality power with high
efficiency. For this reason, popular traditional PWM modulation methods are not the
best solution for multilevel inverter control due to their high switching frequency. The
selective harmonic elimination method has emerged as a promising modulation control
method for multilevel inverters. The major difficulty for the selective harmonic elimi-
nation method is to solve the equations characterizing harmonics; however, the solu-
tions are not available for the whole modulation index range, and it does not eliminate
any number of specified harmonics to satisfy the application requirements. The pro-
posed harmonic elimination method is used to eliminate lower order harmonics and
can be applied to DCMLI application requirements. The diode clamped inverter has
drawn much interest because it needs only one common voltage source. Also, it is
efficient, even if it has inherent unbalanced dc-link capacitor voltage problem [1].
However, it would be a limitation to applications beyond four-level diode clamped
inverters for the reason of reliability and complexity considering dc-link balancing and
the prohibitively high number of clamping diodes [2].
By increasing the number of levels in the inverter, the output voltages have more
steps generating a staircase waveform, which has a reduced harmonic distortion.
However, a high number of levels increases the control complexity and introduces
voltage imbalance problems. Three different topologies have been proposed for multi-
level inverters: diode-clamped (neutral-clamped) [8]; capacitor-clamped (flying capa-
citors) [13]; and cascaded multicell with separate dc sources [14]-[17].
The system configuration, as shown in Fig.1, is made-up of wind stand-alone sys-
tem, multi-phase transformer connected to pulse series-type diode rectifier, dc link
filter, diode clamped multilevel inverters, trap filters, and the load.

Fig. 1. Diode clamped multilevel wind energy system using a stand-alone AC-DC-AC converter
system
71 Design and Control of a Diode Clamped Multilevel Wind Energy System 799
An interior permanent magnet synchronous generator IPMSG is feeding a multi-
phase transformer with four secondary windings. In order to reduce the line generator
current THD, multipulse diode rectifiers powered by phase-shifting transformers are
often employed. Consequently, each winding of the transformer is connected to 6-
pulse series-type diode rectifier whose DC output is regulated by a DC link LC filter
to feed a diode clamped inverters such that they are controlled independently in order
to improve the performance under different load conditions. The output voltage of the
inverter is supplying a three-phase 440V, 60kVA load with regulated voltage through
a feedback signal from output load voltage to control the pulse width of the upper
transistor.
2 Wind Stand-Alone System
The stand-alone wind system using a constant speed generator is has many features
similar to the PV stand-alone system. For a small wind system supplying local loads,
a permanent magnet IPMSG makes a wind system simple and easier to operate.
The battery is charged by an AC to DC rectifier and discharged through a DC to AC
inverter.
The wind stand-alone power system is often used for powering farms. In Germany,
nearly half the wind systems installed on the farms are owned either by individual
farmers or by an association. The generalized d-q axis model of the generator is used
to model the synchronous generator [19].
3 Multi-phase Transformer Connected to Pulse Series-Type
Diode Rectifier
Fig. 2 shows the typical configuration of the phase-shifting transformers for 12-pulse
rectifiers. There are two identical six-pulse diode rectifiers powered by a phase-
shifting transformer with two secondary windings. The dc outputs of the six-pulse
rectifiers are connected in series. To eliminate low-order harmonics in the line current
i
A
, the line-to-line voltage v
ab
of the wye-connected secondary winding is in phase
with the primary voltage v
AB
while the delta-connected secondary winding voltage v
~b
leads v
AB
by = 30. The rms line-to-line voltage of each secondary winding is V
ab
=
V
~b
= K V
AB
/2. From which the turns ratio of the transformer can be determined
by [20]:
N
1
N
2
= 2K and
N
1
N
3
=
2
3
K , where K is the step down ratio.
The configuration of a Y/Z-2 phase-shifting transformer is shown in Fig. 2, where the
primary winding remains the same as that in the Y/Z-1 transformer while the


800 M.F. Moussa and Y.G. Dessouky

Fig. 2. 12-pulse diode rectifier
secondary delta-connected coils are connected in a reverse order. The transformer
turns ratio can be found from:
N
3
N
2
+N
3
=
sin(Su

+ o)
sin(Su

- o)

-Su

o u
N
1
N
2
+ N
3
=
1
2sin(Su

+ o)
.
I
AB
I
ub


The phase angle has a negative value for the Y/Z-2 transformer, indicating that V
ab

lags V
AB
by ||. The phase-shifting transformer is an indispensable device in
multipulse diode rectifiers. It provides three main functions: (a) a required phase dis-
placement between the primary and secondary line-to-line voltages for harmonic can-
cellation, (b) a proper secondary voltage, and (c) an electric isolation between the
rectifier and the utility supply [20].
4 Trap Filters
To attenuate the penetration of harmonics into the a.c system from a rectifier load, har-
monic filters can be connected to the neutral from each line. The manner in which the
harmonics currents are by-passed is to provide harmonic filters as shown in Fig. 3. For a
6-pulse system, tuned harmonic filters are provided for the 13
th
and 17
th
harmonic com-
ponents. For the higher order harmonics, a high pass filter is provided. Care must be
taken to avoid excessive loss at the fundamental frequency. A practical problem is that
of frequency drift, which may be as much as 2% in a public supply system. Either the
filters have to be automatically tuned or have a low Q-factor to be effective.
71 Design and Control of a Diode Clamped Multilevel Wind Energy System 801

Fig. 3. Harmonic trap filter
When, trap filters are designed to eliminate the 11
th
harmonic, they do this by pro-
viding a low impedance path for that harmonic [21].
5 Diode-Clamped Multilevel Inverter
The diode-clamped inverter, or the neutral-point clamped (NPC) inverter, effectively
doubles the device voltage level without requiring precise voltage matching [22].

Fig. 4. Diode-clamped five-level multilevel inverter circuit topologies
802 M.F. Moussa and Y.G. Dessouky
Fig. 4 shows a five-level diode-clamped converter in which the dc bus consists of
four capacitors, C
1
, C
2
, C
2
, and C
1
. For dc-bus voltage V
dc
, the voltage across each
capacitor is V
dc1
, V
dc2
, V
dc2
, and V
dc1
respectively, and each device voltage stress will
be limited to one capacitor voltage level V
dc
/4 through clamping diodes [23]-[25].
To explain how the staircase voltage is synthesized, the neutral point n is consi-
dered as the output phase voltage reference point. There are five switch combinations
to synthesize five level voltages across a and n.
1. For voltage level V
an
= V
dc1
, turn on all upper switches S
1
S
4
.
2. For voltage level V
an
= V
dc2
, turn on three upper switches S
2
S
4
and one lower
switch S
1
'.
3. For voltage level V
an
= 0, turn on two upper switches S
3
and S
4
and two lower
switches S
1
'and S
2
'.
4. For voltage level V
an
= -V
dc1
, turn on one upper switch S
4
and three lower switch-
es S
1
' S
3
'.
5. For voltage level V
an
= -V
dc2
, turn on all lower switches S
1
' S
4
'.
6 Determination of Output Waveform Shape
The concept of the proposed technique is to combine the selective harmonic eliminated
PWM method with the optimised harmonic step waveform method. The Selective
Harmonic Elimination (SHE) method introduces additional notches in the basic voltage
waveform of the square wave inverter. The inverter output voltage is chopped a
number of times at an angle(s) to eliminate the selected harmonic(s) [26]-[29]. These
angles are calculated in off-line correlating the selected harmonics to be eliminated in
the inverter output voltage. In similar lines, for the multilevel inverter, the notches are
optimised to eliminate the lower order harmonics in the output voltage of a multilevel
inverter. In the Optimized Harmonic Stepped-Waveform Technique OHSW method
the number of switching is limited to the number of level of the inverter [30].

Fig. 5. Output voltage waveform of a diode clamped inverter

71 Design and Control of a Diode Clamped Multilevel Wind Energy System 803
The output voltage waveform V(t) shown in Fig. 6 can be expressed in Fourier se-
ries as [31]:
v(t) = v
n

n=1
sinn
n
(1)
The amplitude of the n
th
harmonic is expressed only with the first quadrant switching
angles
1
,
2
, as:-
v
n
=
4V
dc
n
|B
1
(cos n
1
) + B
2
(cos n
2
)] (2)
Where u < o
1
<
2
<

2

V
n
is equated to zero for the harmonics to be eliminated [31], as follows:
v
5
= u = B
1
(cos S
1
) + B
2
(cos S
2
) (3)
v
7
= u = B
1
(cos 7
1
) + B
2
(cos 7
2
) (4)
v
11
= u = B
1
(cos 11
1
) + B
2
(cos 11
2
) (5)
These are three equations and also:
B
1
+ B
2
= 1 (6)
Solving these four equations together using MATHCAD software, the value of H
1
, H
2,

1
, and
2
can be obtained as shown in table 1. Having got the values of the angles
and DC voltage heights H, the spectrum analysis using Fourier Transformation for the
output voltage can be obtained.
Table 1.

1
= 10.97;
2
= 35.24;
H
1
= 0.634; H
2
= 0.365;
7 Simulation
The stabilized AC-DC-AC power supply used is shown in Fig. 6 which consists of a
step down transformer with one primary and four secondary and whose turns ratio are
(0.8:H
1
), (0.8:H
2
), followed by an uncontrolled rectifier and then a dc link low pass
filter, therefore, two different DC voltages are obtained. Each DC voltage is feeding a
quazi-single inverter whose angles are
1
, and
2 (
given in table I) which are clamped
to get the required wave form. This system consists of a load voltage feedback control
signal in order to maintain the voltage of the load constant at 380V irrespective of the
loads variations by controlling the DC voltage levels of through the controlled rectifi-
ers. The inverters operate at 60Hz. The system has been tested from 10% to 20% of
full load at time t = 0.9s, from 80% to 100% of full load at time t = 1.9s, and from
100% to 110% of full load at time t = 2.9s. The transient response results are shown in
Fig. 7.
804 M.F. Moussa and Y.G. Dessouky

Fig. 6. Simulink block diagram
The proposed simulink system configuration is shown in Fig. 7, where a three-
phase 50kVA, 690V step-up transformer has one primary coil and four secondary
coils which feed three bridge rectifiers, which are cheap since they are uncontrolled
devices in converting the AC to DC. Each bridge rectifier is connected to a DC/AC
diode clamped inverter. The output voltages of the inverters are clamped together and
connected to supply a three-phase 380V, 60kVA load with regulated voltage through
a feedback signal from output load voltage to control the thyristor rectifiers.
The value of the inductance of the 1
st
trap filter is 0.0022 H, while that of the 2
nd

trap filter is 0.0013H. Both trap filters have a capacitance of 19.2F. The value of the
inductances of the four DC link filters are the same L
1,
L
2,
L
3,
L
4
= 5mH, while the
capacitances of the 1
st
and 4
th
DC link filters are C
1
= C
4
= 17600 F. and the capacit-
ances of the 2
nd
and 3
rd
DC link filters are C
2
= C
3
= 8800 F.


(a) (b)
Fig. 7. (a) RMS output current, (b) Duty ratio K
1

Discrete,
Ts = 1e-005 s.
powergui
v
+
-
v
+
-
v
+
-
A
B
C
a1
b1
c1
a2
b2
c2
a3
b3
c3
a4
b4
c4
Transformer
A
B
C
+
-
A
B
C
+
-
A
B
C
+
-
A
B
C
+
-
A
B
C
a
b
c
ABC ABC
A
B
C
A
B
C
ABC
ABC
ABC
ABC
C
P
S1
S2
S3
N
Phase_C
B
P
S1
S2
S3
N
Phase_B
A
P
S1
S2
S3
N
Phase_A
node 1
node 1 node 1 node 1 node 1
L4
L3
L2
L1
w
m
A
B
C
IPMS Gen
-K- InRMS
wr
440
K1
A
B
C
CONTROL
SIGNALS
C4
C3
C2
C1
Add
PID
Voltage
Controller
0 0.5 1 1.5 2 2.5 3 3.5 4
0
50
100
150
Time, (S)
R
M
S

O
u
t
p
u
t

C
u
r
r
e
n
t
,

(
A
)
0 0.5 1 1.5 2 2.5 3 3.5 4
-700
-600
-500
-400
-300
-200
-100
0
100
200
300
400
Time, Sec
D
u
t
y

R
a
t
i
o
,

K
1

%
71 Design and Control of a Diode Clamped Multilevel Wind Energy System 805



(a) (b)



(c) (d)
Fig. 8. Instantaneous O/P current, with its spectrum analysis at: (a) 10%, (b) 80%, (c) 100%,
(d) 110% of the load

0.9 0.905 0.91 0.915 0.92 0.925 0.93 0.935 0.94 0.945
-20
-10
0
10
20
Output Current at 0.9s, (A)
Time (s)
1.9 1.905 1.91 1.915 1.92 1.925 1.93 1.935 1.94 1.945
-100
0
100
Output Current 1.9s, (A)
Time (s)
0 100 200 300 400 500 600 700 800 900 1000
0
20
40
60
80
100
Frequency (Hz)
Fundamental (60Hz) = 17.77 , THD= 8.33%
M
a
g

(
%

o
f

F
u
n
d
a
m
e
n
t
a
l
)
0 100 200 300 400 500 600 700 800 900 1000
0
20
40
60
80
100
Frequency (Hz)
Fundamental (60Hz) = 166.4 , THD= 2.29%
M
a
g

(
%

o
f

F
u
n
d
a
m
e
n
t
a
l
)
2.9 2.905 2.91 2.915 2.92 2.925 2.93 2.935 2.94 2.945
-200
-100
0
100
200
Output Current at 2.9s, (A)
Time (s)
3.9 3.905 3.91 3.915 3.92 3.925 3.93 3.935 3.94 3.945
-200
-100
0
100
200
Output Current at 3.9s, (A)
Time (s)
0 100 200 300 400 500 600 700 800 900 1000
0
20
40
60
80
100
Frequency (Hz)
Fundamental (60Hz) = 185.5 , THD= 0.57%
M
a
g

(
%

o
f

F
u
n
d
a
m
e
n
t
a
l
)
0 100 200 300 400 500 600 700 800 900 1000
0
20
40
60
80
100
Frequency (Hz)
Fundamental (60Hz) = 204 , THD= 0.80%
M
a
g

(
%

o
f

F
u
n
d
a
m
e
n
t
a
l
)
806 M.F. Moussa and Y.G. Dessouky


(a) (b)


(c) (d)
Fig. 9. Instantaneous O/P voltage, with its spectrum analysis at: (a) 10%, (b) 80%, (c) 100%,
(d) 110% of load
0.9 0.905 0.91 0.915 0.92 0.925 0.93 0.935 0.94 0.945
-500
0
500
Output Voltage at 0.9s, (volt)
Time (s)
1.9 1.905 1.91 1.915 1.92 1.925 1.93 1.935 1.94 1.945
-400
-200
0
200
400
Output Voltage at 1.9s, (volt)
Time (s)
0 100 200 300 400 500 600 700 800 900 1000
0
20
40
60
80
100
Frequency (Hz)
Fundamental (60Hz) = 343.9 , THD= 27.91%
M
a
g

(
%

o
f

F
u
n
d
a
m
e
n
t
a
l
)
0 100 200 300 400 500 600 700 800 900 1000
0
20
40
60
80
100
Frequency (Hz)
Fundamental (60Hz) = 358.1 , THD= 10.11%
M
a
g

(
%

o
f

F
u
n
d
a
m
e
n
t
a
l
)
2.9 2.905 2.91 2.915 2.92 2.925 2.93 2.935 2.94 2.945
-400
-200
0
200
400
Output Voltage at 2.9s, (volt)
Time (s)
3.9 3.905 3.91 3.915 3.92 3.925 3.93 3.935 3.94 3.945
-400
-200
0
200
400
Output Voltage at 3.9s, (volt)
Time (s)
0 100 200 300 400 500 600 700 800 900 1000
0
20
40
60
80
100
Frequency (Hz)
Fundamental (60Hz) = 359.2 , THD= 3.09%
M
a
g

(
%

o
f

F
u
n
d
a
m
e
n
t
a
l
)
0 100 200 300 400 500 600 700 800 900 1000
0
20
40
60
80
100
Frequency (Hz)
Fundamental (60Hz) = 359 , THD= 3.74%
M
a
g

(
%

o
f

F
u
n
d
a
m
e
n
t
a
l
)
71 Design and Control of a Diode Clamped Multilevel Wind Energy System 807


(a) (b)


(c) (d)
Fig. 10. Strain voltage, with its spectrum analysis at: (a) 10%, (b) 80%, (c) 100%, (d) 110% of
the load
0.9 0.905 0.91 0.915 0.92 0.925 0.93 0.935 0.94 0.945
-500
0
500
Strain Voltage at 0.9s, (volt)
Time (s)
1.9 1.905 1.91 1.915 1.92 1.925 1.93 1.935 1.94 1.945
-500
0
500
Strain Voltage at 1.9s, (volt)
Time (s)
0 100 200 300 400 500 600 700 800 900 1000
0
20
40
60
80
100
Frequency (Hz)
Fundamental (60Hz) = 348.2 , THD= 35.37%
M
a
g

(
%

o
f

F
u
n
d
a
m
e
n
t
a
l
)
0 100 200 300 400 500 600 700 800 900 1000
0
20
40
60
80
100
Frequency (Hz)
Fundamental (60Hz) = 441 , THD= 17.54%
M
a
g

(
%

o
f

F
u
n
d
a
m
e
n
t
a
l
)
2.9 2.905 2.91 2.915 2.92 2.925 2.93 2.935 2.94 2.945
-400
-200
0
200
400
Strain Voltages at 2.9s,(volt)
Time (s)
3.9 3.905 3.91 3.915 3.92 3.925 3.93 3.935 3.94 3.945
-400
-200
0
200
400
Strain Voltage at 3.9s, (volt)
Time (s)
0 100 200 300 400 500 600 700 800 900 1000
0
20
40
60
80
100
Frequency (Hz)
Fundamental (60Hz) = 453.2 , THD= 18.10%
M
a
g

(
%

o
f

F
u
n
d
a
m
e
n
t
a
l
)
0 100 200 300 400 500 600 700 800 900 1000
0
20
40
60
80
100
Frequency (Hz)
Fundamental (60Hz) = 464 , THD= 20.40%
M
a
g

(
%

o
f

F
u
n
d
a
m
e
n
t
a
l
)
808 M.F. Moussa and Y.G. Dessouky

(a) (b)
Fig. 11. (a) DC current I1, (b) DC current I
2



(a) (b)
Fig. 12. Input current, with its spectrum analysis at: (a) 10%, (b) 80%, (c) 100%, (d) 110% of
the load

0 0.5 1 1.5 2 2.5 3 3.5 4
0
50
100
150
Time, (S)
D
C

C
u
r
r
e
n
t
,

I
1

(
A
)
0 0.5 1 1.5 2 2.5 3 3.5 4
0
20
40
60
80
100
120
140
160
Time, (S)
D
C

C
u
r
r
e
n
t
,

I
2

(
A
)
0.9 0.91 0.92 0.93 0.94 0.95
-5
0
5
Input Current at 0.9s, (A)
Time (s)
1.9 1.91 1.92 1.93 1.94 1.95
-50
0
50
Input Current at 1.9s, (A)
Time (s)
0 100 200 300 400 500 600 700 800 900 1000
0
20
40
60
80
100
Frequency (Hz)
Fundamental (50Hz) = 7.392 , THD= 29.34%
M
a
g

(
%

o
f

F
u
n
d
a
m
e
n
t
a
l
)
0 100 200 300 400 500 600 700 800 900 1000
0
20
40
60
80
100
Frequency (Hz)
Fundamental (50Hz) = 80.36 , THD= 12.41%
M
a
g

(
%

o
f

F
u
n
d
a
m
e
n
t
a
l
)
71 Design and Control of a Diode Clamped Multilevel Wind Energy System 809


(c) (d)
Fig. 12. (continued)
It should be noted that some power suppliers use the transformer after the DC to
AC inverter to step up the voltage in the 60 Hz frequency level [32] while in this sys-
tem the step up transformer is used before the AC to DC rectifier in the 50 Hz fre-
quency level which has an advantage of lower iron core losses and less noise. The
results of Fig. 8 to Fig. 13 show that the effectiveness of this AC/DC/AC converter to
supply a regulated AC voltage regardless of the load changes with low THD.
From the simulation results, it can be noted that the phase-shifting transformer is
an indispensable device in multipulse diode rectifiers. It provides three main func-
tions: (a) a required phase displacement between the primary and secondary line-to-
line voltages for harmonic cancellation, (b) a proper secondary voltage, and (c) an
electric isolation between the rectifier and the utility supply. Also, it is clear that the
trap filters are provided to eliminate the 13
th
and 17
th

harmonic components.
The inverters are diode clamped together to result in an output voltage free of 3
rd
,
5
th
, 7
th
, 9
th
and 11
th
harmonics. The result showed that the output voltage resulted in an
almost sinusoidal current.
8 Conclusion
The selected harmonic elimination is a popular issue in multilevel inverter design.
The proposed selective harmonic elimination method for DCMLI has been validated
in simulation. The simulation results show that the proposed algorithm can be used to
eliminate any number of specific lower order harmonics effectively and results in a
dramatic decrease in the output voltage THD. In the proposed harmonic elimination
method, the lower order harmonic distortion is largely reduced in fundamental switch-
ing. Multilevel inverters include an array of power semiconductors and capacitor
2.9 2.91 2.92 2.93 2.94 2.95
-100
-50
0
50
100
Input Current at 2.9s, (A)
Time (s)
3.9 3.91 3.92 3.93 3.94 3.95
-100
-50
0
50
100
Input Current at 3.9s, (A)
Time (s)
0 100 200 300 400 500 600 700 800 900 1000
0
20
40
60
80
100
Frequency (Hz)
Fundamental (50Hz) = 90.24 , THD= 11.51%
M
a
g

(
%

o
f

F
u
n
d
a
m
e
n
t
a
l
)
0 100 200 300 400 500 600 700 800 900 1000
0
20
40
60
80
100
Frequency (Hz)
Fundamental (50Hz) = 99.66 , THD= 10.75%
M
a
g

(
%

o
f

F
u
n
d
a
m
e
n
t
a
l
)
810 M.F. Moussa and Y.G. Dessouky
voltage sources, the output of which generate voltages with stepped waveforms. The
commutation of the switches permits the addition of the capacitor voltages, which
reach high voltage at the output, while the power semiconductors must withstand only
reduced voltages. Thus, by increasing the number of levels in the inverter, the output
voltages have more steps generating a staircase waveform, which has a reduced har-
monic distortion. However, a high number of levels increases the control complexity
and introduces voltage imbalance problems. The most attractive features of multilevel
inverters are that, not only, they draw input current with very low distortion, but also,
they generate smaller common-mode (CM) voltage, thus reducing the stress in the
motor bearings. In addition, using sophisticated modulation methods, CM voltages
can be eliminated.
A high performance static AC-DC-AC converter is designed. The controller has a
good control property. The system topology adopts two single-phase diode clamped
inverters such that they are controlled independently in order to improve the perfor-
mance under different load conditions. It is clear that, the phase-shifting transformer
is an indispensable device in multipulse diode rectifiers, since it provides three main
functions: (a) a required phase displacement between the primary and secondary line-
to-line voltages for harmonic cancellation, (b) a proper secondary voltage, and (c) an
electric isolation between the rectifier and the utility supply. With the help of the de-
veloped algorithm, the switching angles are computed from the non-linear equation
characterizing the Selective Harmonic Elimination problem to contribute minimum
THD in the output voltage waveform. Therefore, lower order harmonics like 3
rd
, 5
th
,
7
th
, 9
th
, 11
th
,

13
th
, and 17
th
are eliminated and higher-order harmonics are optimized
in case of fundamental switching without using PWM. The selected harmonic elimi-
nation is a popular issue in multilevel inverter design. The proposed selective harmon-
ic elimination method has been validated using Matlab Simulink. The simulation
results show that the proposed algorithm can be used to eliminate any number of
specific lower order harmonics effectively and results in a dramatic decrease in the
output voltage THD. In the proposed harmonic elimination method, the lower order
harmonic distortion is largely reduced in fundamental switching.
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