Multilevel Inverters: An Exploration of Topologies, Advantages, and Limitations

It presents a thorough analysis of Multilevel Inverter (MLI) topologies. The standard two-level converters are expensive, heavy, and cause substantial switching loss in order to obtain the sinusoidal output waveform. This is due to the requirement of the filter circuit. Multilevel Inverter topologies are becoming increasingly popular in power electronics inverters as a solution to this issue in recent years. The Multilevel Inverter configuration, which generates output voltage in more than two levels to get the stepped voltage minimizing total harmonic distortion (THD) and lowering switching frequencies, eliminates the need for bulky transformers and filter circuits. To assess the inverter efficiency, the optimal output voltage with less harmonic content requires the correct switching mechanism. In order to achieve excellent power quality and minimal switching loss, the power consumption must also be taken into consideration while choosing the topology and control method. However, because separate gate drivers are used for the switching components, it is vital to reduce count of semiconductors because this increases the complexity of the circuit. The advantages, disadvantages, and applications of MLI topologies are deliberated in this work.