ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

I would like to express my sincere gratitude to my project guide Mrs.

Sunitha.K, whose valuable suggestions and guidance helped me in completing
this report. I would like to thank Dr. Jeevamma Jacob, Professor and Head,
Department of Electrical Engineering, for providing all facilities to carry out this
project.
I also thank all the faculty members and staff members of the Department
of Electrical Engineering for their cooperation and support. I am also thankful to
all my friends for their support and encouragement

Sajith P C
M120160EE

DECLARATION
"I hereby declare that this submission is my own work and that, to the best
of my knowledge and belief, it contains no material previously published or written
by another person nor material which has been accepted for the award of any
other degree or diploma of the university or other institute of higher learning,
except where due acknowledgment has been made in the text.

Place:

Sign:

Date:

Sajith P C
Reg No:M120160EE

CERTIFICATE
This is to certify that the thesis entitled: Asymmetrical Cascaded 15-Level
Inverter Using Single DC-Source submitted by Sri Sajith P C to the National
Institute of Technology Calicut towards partial fulfilment of the requirements for
the award of the Degree of Master of Technology in Electrical Engineering (Power
Electronics) is a bona fide record of the work carried out by him/her under my/our
supervision and guidance.

Mrs. Sunitha.K
Assistant Professor, EED
NIT Calicut

Dr. Jeevamma Jacob

Professor and Head, EED

Place:

NIT Calicut

Date:

(Office seal)

CONTENTS

ABSTRACT.....vii
LIST OF FIGURES....viii
LIST OF TABLES....x
LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS..xi
CHAPTER 1 INTRODUCTION..........................................................................1
1.1 LITERATURE REVIEW...............................................................................4
1.1.1 Multi-Level Inverters...............................................................................5
1.2 OBJECTIVE OF THESIS..............................................................................8
CHAPTER 2 15-LEVEL INVERTER..................................................................9
2.1 CALCULATION OF CONDUCTING ANGLE..........................................10
2.1.1 The Conventional Determination Method.............................................10
2.1.2 The Switching Voltage Reference Method.............................................11
2.2 CONDUCTING ANGLE CALCULATION FOR 15-LEVEL INVERTER 13
2.3 ANALOG CONTROLLER..........................................................................15
2.3.1 Basic Three Different Pulses For 15-Level Inverter..............................15
2.3.2 Pulses to Each Bridge Module...............................................................16
2.3.3 Pulses for a Complete Cycle..................................................................18
CHAPTER 3 FORWARD CONVERTER.........................................................19
3.1 WORKING...................................................................................................19

3.1.1 Advantages.............................................................................................20
3.1.2 Disadvantages........................................................................................20
3.1.3 Applications...........................................................................................20
3.2 FORWARD CONVERTER DESIGN..........................................................21
3.2.1 Design of Transformer...........................................................................21
3.2.2 Output Inductor and Capacitor Design..................................................23
3.2.3 Selection of Semiconductors.................................................................23
3.3 COMPENSATOR DESIGN.........................................................................23
3.3.1 Stability Analysis and Synthesis Using K-Factor Method.....................23
3.3.2 CONTRO CIRCUIT DESIGN FOR FORWARD CONVERTER USING
K-FACTOR METHOD...................................................................................30
3.4 UNIFYING FORWARD CONVERTER SECONDARY VOLTAGES.......35
CHAPTER 4 SIMULATION RESULTS...........................................................36
Complete circuit simulation was done both in mat-lab Simulink model and LTSpice model............................................................................................................36
4.1 MAT-LAB SIMULATION...........................................................................36
4.1.1 Simulink Model.....................................................................................36
4.2 LT-SPICE MODEL.......................................................................................37
CHAPTER 5 EXPERIMENTAL SETUP AND RESULTS..............................39
5.1 COMPONENTS USED................................................................................39
5.1.1 Forward Converter.................................................................................39

5.1.2 15-Level Inverter...................................................................................40

5.2 EXPERIMENTAL RESULTS......................................................................41
5.2.1 Forward Converter.................................................................................41
5.2.2 Switching Pulses....................................................................................43
5.2.3 15-Level Inverter...................................................................................45
CHAPTER 6 CONCLUSION.............................................................................48
REFERENCE............49
APPENDIX........50

ABSTRACT
......In multilevel inverters cascaded inverters emerge as new
breed for high voltage application. Cascaded inverters with
asymmetrical configuration enable higher level of output voltage
with reduced size and weight. Depending upon the application,
input DC-side of the converter may be several (solar, PV) or single
(electric vehicle) source. In this paper individual sources to each
cascaded H-Bridge are provided from a single source with aid of
forward converter (SMPS) with compensator circuit and unifying
secondary voltages and controlling of switches done by analog
controller using voltage reference method.

LIST OF FIGURES
Fig. 1.1 Asymmetrical cascaded H-bridge configuration
Fig. 1.2 Power circuit for 15-level inverter
Fig. 1.3 Three level diode clamped multilevel inverter
Fig. 1.4 Three level capacitor clamped multilevel inverter
Fig. 1.5 7-Level cascaded H-Bridge inverter
Fig. 2.1 Asymmetrical cascaded Single Phase
Fig. 2.2 Reference voltage waveform
Fig. 2.3 Reference voltage and step pulse area in 15-level cascaded inverter
Fig. 2.4 Step Pulse Waves of 15-Level Cascaded Inverter
Fig. 2.5 Three basic pulses to 15-level inverter
Fig. 2.6 Analog controller realization circuit using logic gates
Fig. 2.7 Analog controller realization circuit for pulses to 1st H-bridge module
Fig. 2.8 Analog controller realization circuit for pulses to 2nd H-bridge Module
Fig. 2.9 Analog controller realization circuit for pulses to 3rd H-bridge Module
Fig. 2.10 Block diagram model of realization pulses for individual switches
Fig. 3.1 Single switch forward converter
Fig. 3.2 Single switch forward converter waveform
Fig. 3.3 Closed loop circuit
Fig. 3.4 Type-1 amplifier
Fig. 3.5 Type-2 amplifier
Fig. 3.6 Type-3 amplifier
Fig. 3.7 Pin diagram
Fig. 3.8 Functional diagram
Fig. 3.9 Bode plot of forward converter
Fig. 3.10 Type-2 amplifier
Fig. 3.11 Closed loop control of forward converter using SG3524
Fig. 3.12 Forward converter with unifying input voltage of single H-Bridge
Fig. 4.1 Simulink Model
Fig. 4.2 Output voltage waveform
Fig. 4.3 FFT waveform
Fig. 4.4 Complete circuit setup in LT-Spice model

Fig. 4.5 15-level output voltage in LT-Spice model

Fig. 4.6 FFT analysis of current waveform in LT-Spice model
Fig. 5.1 Complete hardware setup circuit layout
Fig.5.2 Experimental setup
Fig.5.3 Switching pulses to primary switch
Fig. 5.4 1st secondary output voltage (10Vrms)
Fig. 5.5 2nd secondary output voltage (20Vrms)
Fig. 5.6 3rd secondary output voltage (40Vrms)
Fig. 5.7 Pulses to 1st secondary switch
Fig. 5.8 Pulses to 2nd secondary switch
Fig. 5.9 Pulses to 3rd secondary switch
Fig. 5.11 4th switch pulses in each H-bridge
Fig. 5.10 1st switch pulses in each H-bridge
Fig. 5.12 3rd switch pulse in 1st H-bridge
Fig. 5.13 2nd switch pulse in 1st H-bridge
Fig. 5.14 2nd switch pulse in 2nd H-bridge
Fig. 5.15 3rd switch pulse in 2nd H-bridge
Fig. 5.16 3rd switch pulse in 3rd H-bridge
Fig. 5.17 2nd switch pulse in 3rd H-bridge
Fig. 5.18 Output voltage waveform with separate sources
Fig. 5.19 15-Level Output voltage waveform with forward converter act as single
dc source for inverter modules
Fig. 5.20 Output voltage waveform and FFT analysis with forward converter act as
single source for inverter modules
Fig. 5.21 15-Level output current waveform
Fig. 5.22 15-level Output voltage and current waveform
Fig. 5.23 15-Level output voltage, current waveform and FFT analysis

LIST OF TABLES
Table 2.1 H-bridge voltage level for corresponding output voltage
level....9
Table 2.2 Conducting angles of 15-level inverter in terms of voltage
magnitude.......13
Table

5.1

Forward

converter

secondary

....42

10

voltage

regulation

LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS
ACHB: Asymmetrical cascaded H-bridge
I-V: Current Voltage
SMPS: Switched mode power supplies
UPS: Uninterruptible power systems
EV: Electric vehicle
THD: Total harmonic distortion
PV: Photovoltaic
P-V: Power-Voltage
Mi: Modulation index
ESR: Effective series resistance

11