Journal of Electrical Engineering

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SIMULATION OF A NOVEL MULTI LEVEL INVERTER TOPOLOGY FOR

INDUCTION MOTOR DRIVE APPLICATIONS

V S Prasadarao K
Assistant Professor
KLUniversity
Vaddeswaram, Guntur (dt), AP, and India
[email protected]

Abstract- This paper presents a novel multilevel inverter for

inductor motor drive applications. The use of MLIs in medium
and high power applications are increasing due to reduced
voltage stress across the switches and lower total harmonic
distortion (THD) of the output waveform. But the conventional
MLIs requires more number of switches as the level increases
for reducing the THD of the output waveform. This paper
presents a new MLI inverter topology with reduced number of
power electronic components. The proposed inverter produces
thirteen level output voltage using only 9 switches and a diode.
For generating thirteen level output voltage conventional Hbridge MLI uses 12 switches, which increase the cost as well as
switching losses. This paper presents the comparison between
cascaded H-bridge MLI and symmetrical and asymmetrical
configuration of the proposed inverter. Finally induction
motor fed from the proposed MLI is simulated in
MATLAB/SIMULINK environment and the corresponding
results are presented.
Keywords- Induction motor, Multilevel inverter, symmetrical
configuration and Total harmonic distortion, Voltage source
inverter.

I. INTRODUCTION
The use of induction motors (IMs) are increasing day by day
in industry sector for high power applications. The main
advantages of IMs are rugged in construction, easy
maintenance, less cost and sufficiently high efficiency, etc.
Speed control of IM requires a suitable inverter to change
the voltage and frequency [1] applied to it. Normally we do
two stage conversion, i.e. convert the ac power from supply
mains to dc (rectification) and then it is converted to again
ac (inversion) to control the speed of the machine. Generally
we use a voltage source inverter (VSI) for this job. But the
conventional H-bridge VSI produces a square wave output
voltage waveform which contains infinite number of odd
harmonics. For getting the sine wave output we prefer PWM
based inverter, but the main disadvantage of PWM inverter
[2] is switching losses are high and also it is limited to low
power applications. For medium and high power
applications, we are using multilevel inverters (MLI) [3-6].

Malligunta Kiran Kumar

Assistant Professor
KLUniversity
Vaddeswaram, Guntur (dt), AP, and India
[email protected]

The main advantage of MLI is that the output voltage is

almost nearer to sine wave. The other advantages of MLI
are reduced dv/dt stress across the switches, and less THD.
Generally multilevel inverters are categorized into
three types depending upon their configuration. They are
Diode clamped MLI, Flying capacitor MLI, and Cascaded
H-bridge MLIs. The main problem associated with Diode
clamped MLIs [7] is that requirement of extra diodes in
addition to the switches which increase the cost. In flying
capacitor MLIs [8-10], control is complicated and large
numbers of capacitors are expensive as the level increases.
Cascaded H-bridge MLI [11] are more expensive as the
level increases and also it requires separate dc sources. To
overcome the above disadvantages this paper proposes a
new multilevel inverter topology with fewer switches
compared to conventional MLIs. Finally the induction
motor fed by the proposed MLI is presented in this paper.

II.CASCADED H-BRIDGE MLI TOPOLOGY

The general structure of cascaded H-bridge
multilevel inverter in symmetrical configuration is shown in
the figure 1. Each H-bridge uses four switches. For N
number of levels level, the no of H-bridge required is given
by the following formula,
Number of levels = 2N + 1
Where,
N = number of H-bridges
Here each H-bridge is connected in series so that the outputs
of each bridge are added up to get the required output level
[12-13]. For generating seven level output voltage, we
require three H-bridges in symmetrical configuration. So it
requires 12 switches to generate seven level output voltage
which increases the switching losses and cost also.

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+
VDC
-

s1

s3

s4

s2

which means switching losses and cost also high. To avoid

the above problems this paper presents a new multilevel
inverter topology with fewer switches to generate the
required output voltage.
III. PROPOSED MULTILEVEL INVERTER TOPOLOGY
(i) Symmetrical configuration:

+
VDC
-

s5

s7

s8

s6

s9

s11

s12

s10

LOAD

+
VDC
-

The following figure 3 shows the symmetrical configuration

of the proposed MLI topology.

s9

+
VDC
-

s5
s6

s1
+
VDC
-

H-bridge

s3

s1
s4

+
VDC
-

s2

s7
s8

s3
Figure 3: Symmetrical configuration of proposed multilevel
inverter

s2

s5

s7

s8

s6

LOAD

+
2VDC
-

s4

VDC
+

Load

Figure 1: Symmetrical configuration of cascaded H-bridge

multilevel inverter
Asymmetrical configuration of cascaded
multilevel inverter is shown in figure2.

It consist of nine switches S1, S2, S3 S9 to achieve

seven level output voltage. Compared to symmetrical
configuration of cascaded H-bridge MLI (uses 12 switches),
the proposed multilevel inverter topology uses less switches.
Since the switches are less, the switching losses and cost are
low. The following figure 4 shows the ideal waveform of
seven level output voltage.
Voltage
magnitude

+
3VDC
-

s9

s12

s11

s10

Figure 2: Asymmetrical configuration of cascaded H-bridge

multilevel inverter
It requires three H-bridges with three different dc input
voltages to generate thirteen level output voltage. It also
uses twelve switches to get the required output voltage

3Vdc
2Vdc
Vdc
-Vdc
-2Vdc
-3Vdc

Time(s)

Figure4. Ideal seven level output voltage waveform

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The output voltage waveform consists of seven levels

3Vdc, 2Vdc, Vdc and 0. The following table I shows
the switching pattern for the proposed MLI in symmetrical
configuration.

When compared to the asymmetrical configuration of

cascaded H-bridge MLI, the proposed asymmetrical MLI
uses only nine switches to generate thirteen level output
voltage. The following figure 6 shows the ideal waveform
of thirteen level output voltage.

Table I: Switching pattern for proposed Symmetrical MLI

S1

S2

S3

S4

S5

S6

S7

S8

S9

6Vdc

Voltage
level

5Vdc
4Vdc

+Vdc

3Vdc
2Vdc

+2Vdc

Vdc

+3Vdc

-Vdc
-2Vdc

Time

-3Vdc
-4Vdc

-Vdc

-2Vdc

-3Vdc

Asymmetrical configuration means the use of different dc

voltage ratings. More number of levels can achieved with
less number of switches is the main advantage of
asymmetrical configuration. The following figure 5 shows
the asymmetrical configuration of proposed multilevel
inverter.

+
VDC
-

s5
s6

3VDC
- +

s3

s1
Load

s4
+
2VDC
-

-6Vdc

Figure6. Ideal thirteen level output voltage waveform

The output waveform consists of 13 levels: 6Vdc,

5Vdc, 4Vdc 3Vdc, 2Vdc, Vdc and 0. The
following table II shows the switching pattern for the
proposed MLI in asymmetrical configuration.

(ii) Asymmetrical configuration:

s9

-5Vdc

s7
s8

s2

Table II: Switching pattern for proposed Asymmetrical MLI

S1

S2

S3

S4

S5

S6

S7

S8

S9

Voltag
e level

+Vdc

+2Vdc

+3Vdc

+4Vdc

+5Vdc

+6Vdc

-Vdc

-2Vdc

-3Vdc

-4Vdc

-5Vdc

-6Vdc

Figure 5: Asymmetrical configuration of proposed

multilevel inverter

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Power electronic components required for the proposed MLI

and cascaded H-bridge multilevel inverter is shown in the
following table III.
Table III: Comparison between proposed MLI and cascaded H-bridge
multilevel inverter in symmetrical configuration

Type of MLI

Number of switches for 7level output voltage

Cascaded H-bridge MLI

(symmetrical)

12

Proposed MLI
(symmetrical)

performance. Second method is to control the frequency of

voltage, but this method may push the IM into saturation. In
order to address the above concerns, third method known as
V/F control, in which both voltage and current has to be
varied. For this purpose we need an inverter to change the
both frequency and voltage applied to IM. Conventional
inverters can do this job, but these are having so many
problems such as high THD, more switching losses and low
efficiency. For eliminating the above disadvantages this
paper proposes a new multilevel inverter topology. The
following figure shows 7 the inverter fed induction motor.

IV. INDUCTION MOTOR FED BY THE INVERTER

Speed control of induction motor can be achieved in three
different ways. First one is to control the voltage applied to
the stator of the IM, but this method gives the poor

Figure 7: Proposed MLI fed induction motor

The following table shows the cost data for the proposed MLI topology and cascaded H-bridge MLI topology.
Type of MLI
Proposed MLI
(Symmetrical
Configuration)
Cascaded Hbridge MLI
(Symmetrical
Configuration)

No of switches(IGBT)
used
9

12

Cost of switches(IGBT)
used in rupees

No of DC sources
Required

Cost of DC sources
Required

9*200= 1800/-

3*600 = 1800

12*200=2400/-

3*600 = 1800

From the above table, the cost of IGBT switches used in the proposed MLI is less compared to cascaded MLI topologies,
where as the cost of the DC sources is same for both the topologies.

Figure8: Matlab/Simulink diagram of proposed seven level MLI in symmetrical configuration.

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Figure9: Output voltage waveform and harmonic spectrum of proposed 7-level MLI (Asymmetrical topology)

V. INVERTER LOSSES
Mainly, two kinds of losses (i.e., conduction and
switching losses) are associated with the switches [14].
As the switches reduced these losses are also reduced. In
the proposed MLI topology, we are using nine switches
which are less compared to cascaded MLI topology.
Hence switching losses are less for the proposed MLI.
VI. SIMULATION RESULTS
Matlab/Simulink diagram of proposed seven level MLI
(Symmetrical configuration) and its output voltage wave
form is shown in the following figures 8 and 9. From
figure 9 , the wave form contains seven level output
voltage and here the inverter uses nine switches. The
proposed seven level MLIs harmonic spectrum is shown

in figure 9 and THD value for this inverter is 17.27%.

Matlab/Simulink diagram of proposed thirteen level MLI
(Asymmetrical configuration) and its output voltage wave
form is shown in the following figures 10 and 11. From
the figure 11, the wave form contains thirteen level output
voltage and here the inverter uses nine switches. The
proposed thirteen level MLIs harmonic spectrum is
shown in figure 11 and THD value for this inverter is
14.21%%. Finally the proposed MLI applied to a
induction motor is shown in the figure 12. The
corresponding waveforms (phase voltages, stator currents,
rotor speed and the electromagnetic torque) are shown in
the figures 13 and 14 respectively.

Figure10: Matlab/Simulink diagram of proposed thirteen level MLI in Asymmetrical configuration

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Figure11: Output voltage waveform and harmonic spectrum of proposed 13-level MLI (Asymmetrical topology)

Figure 12: Proposed MLI fed induction motor system

Figure 13: Three phase voltages applied to induction machine

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Figure 16: Stator current, rotor speed and electromagnetic torque

The following table V shows the voltage and current THD

content for the proposed multilevel inverter and cascaded
NLI topologies.

Type of MLI
Proposed MLI in
symmetrical
configuration
Cascaded H- MLI in
symmetrical
configuration

Voltage
THD value

Current
THD
value

17.27%

17.27%

18.2%

18.2%

VII. CONCLUSION
This paper proposes a new multilevel inverter topology
for induction motor drive applications. The proposed MLI
uses only nine switches in symmetrical and asymmetrical
configuration to generate seven level and thirteen level
output waveform respectively. As compared to
conventional MLI the proposed inverter utilizes lees
switches so that the switching losses and cost also is low.
The proposed MLI can also used to drive the induction
motor. Finally the proposed MLI feeding induction motor
is proposed.
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