International Journal of Engineering Science Invention

ISSN (Online): 2319 – 6734, ISSN (Print): 2319 – 6726

www.ijesi.org ||Volume 6 Issue 12|| December 2017 || PP. 69-75

Switching Angle Calculation By EP, HEP, HH And FF Methods

For Modified 11-Level Cascade H-Bridge Multilevel Inverter
Nageswara Rao.Jalakanuru1, Meseret Yenesew Kiber2
1
Lecturer, Electrical and Computer Engineering Department, Mizan-Tepi University, Ethiopia.
2
Head of the department, Electrical and Computer Engineering Department, Mizan-Tepi University, Ethiopia
Corresponding Author: Nageswara Rao.Jalakanuru1

Abstract: In this paper the switching angles, from that the time required, to generate triggering pulses for
IGBT switches of a single-phase Modified 11-Level Cascade H-Bridge Multilevel inverter is described by using
Equal Phase (EP),Half Equal Phase (HEP), Half Height (HH) and Feed Forward (FF) methods. The proposed
eleven level inverter is based on the H-bridge inverter. Instead of twenty IGBT switches as in conventional
Cascade H-Bridge, this inverter requires only nine IGBT switches to obtain eleven level output. Because the
numbers of switches are less, the cost and the complexity of the circuit is simple. The simulation results are
presented using MATLAB/SIMULINK.
Keywords: Modified Cascade H-Bridge, Multilevel Inverter, EP, HEP, HH, FF and MATLAB/SIMULINK
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Date of Submission: 24-11-2017 Date of acceptance: 08-12-2017
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I. Introduction
Multilevel inverters have become very popular in the last few years, due to their advantages over the
conventional two level inverters, in producing sinusoidal waveform with low distortion, high quality and high
efficiency. Many topologies of multilevel inverter have been proposed during the last three decades, aiming to
construct a sinusoidal waveform. Three different major multilevel inverter structures have been reported in the
literature: cascaded H-bridge inverter, diode clamped inverter and flying capacitor inverter. Nabae and
Takahashi [1] introduced design analysis and control of a neutral point clamped (diode clamped) Pulse Width
modulation inverter. The major problem with diode-clamped multilevel inverter configuration is the
achievement of a balanced voltage supply within the DC link, and high numbers of clamping diodes are required
as the number of levels increase. P. McGrath, D. G.Holmes [2] introduced Enhanced Voltage Balancing of a
Flying Capacitor Multilevel Converter Using Phase Disposition (PO) Modulation. The main drawback with
flying capacitor multilevel inverters is, voltage unbalancing of flying capacitors, which is the most serious
problem. Malinowski, M.Gopakumar, K. Rodriguez, J. Perez, M.A. [3] introduced A Survey on Cascaded
Multilevel Inverters. The major disadvantage of cascade multilevel inverter is, it needs a separate DC source for
each H-Bridge.
Among them, cascaded H-bridge multilevel inverters have been received a great attention because of
their merits such as minimum number of components, reliability, and modularity. In the viewpoint of obtaining
a multilevel output voltage, the above conventional multilevel inverters will need more components resulted in
complexity and cost increase. To minimize these drawbacks hybrid multilevel inverters were introduced in the
last decades. [4]M.S. Usha Nandhini, N.Vinothini, R.Prakash were implemented Modified H-Bridge Nine Level
Inverter with Low Switching Frequency. In their analysis they were implemented switching pattern for modified
cascade H-bridge nine level inverter. In this paper the analysis includes switching angle and time calculation for
1-level Modified cascade H-bridge inverter by the following four methods.
1. Equal Phase (EP) Method.
2. Half Equal Phase (HEP) Method.
3. Half Height (HH) Method.
4. Feed Forward (FF) Method.

II. Proposed Multilevel Inverter

The proposed multilevel inverter is a modified cascade H-bridge multilevel inverter. Fig.1. shows the
basic block diagram of the proposed multilevel inverter. The proposed system consists of a normal H bridge and
some auxiliary switches. The proposed system is significantly advantageous over the conventional cascade H-
bridge topology; less power switches, less anti parallel diodes, less power diodes and less switching losses for
inverter of the same number of levels.

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 Switching Angle Calculation by EP, HEP, HH and FF Methods for Modified 11- level Inverter.

Fig.1 Basic block diagram

The proposed topology separates the output of the multilevel inverter into two parts. One part is named
level generation part .The auxiliary switching circuit is responsible for level generating in positive polarity. The
other part is called polarity generation part. The H-bridge will take the responsibility for generating the polarity
of the output voltage. The simulink model of the proposed inverter is shown in Fig.2. As said above the
proposed inverter consists of a normal H bridge and some auxiliary switches. A 11-level output waveform is
generated at the output according to how the sources are being connected to the load. The H Bridge is operated
normally to generate positive and negative polarity at the output. To generate the first level output, the voltage
source V1 must be connected to the load. To obtain the second level output, both the sources (V1 and V2) must
be connected to the load. The remaining sources (V3, V4 and V5) are also connected to the load in similar
manner.[6]The switches are controlled in such a way that respective sources are connected to the load during
desired time intervals. The switching pattern for the proposed 11-level inverter is shown in Fig.3

Fig.2 Simulink model of the proposed inverter

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 Switching Angle Calculation by EP, HEP, HH and FF Methods for Modified 11- level Inverter.

LEVEL S1 S2 S3 S4 S5 Q1 Q2 Q3 Q4
0
V
2V
3V
4V
5V
4V
3V
2V
V
0
-V
-2V
-3V
-4V
-5V
-4V
-3V
-2V
-V
0

Fig.3 switching pattern for the proposed inverter

Fig.4 m-level output waveform

III. Methods For Determination Of Switching Angles

Switching angle is the moment of the voltage level change at the output. For an m-level waveform as
shown in fig.4 there are 2(m-1) switching angles are needed. We call them as α1, α2, α3,………. αm-2, αm-1.Since the
sine wave is a symmetrical waveform, as shown in fig., the negative half cycle is centrally symmetrical to its
positive half cycle; and the waveform of the second quarter period is mirror symmetrical to the waveform of its
first quarter period. So we call the switching angles in the first quadrant period i.e., 00-900 as main switching
angles.

Main Switching Angles in the first quarter of the sine wave (i.e., 00 to 900):
α1, α2, α3,………. , α(m-1)/2 …………. (1)
The switching angles in the second quarter of the sine wave(i.e., 90 0 to 1800) are:
α(m+1)/2=Π-α(m-1)/2, Π- α(m-2)/2 ,…….Π-α1 ......................(2)
The switching angles in third quadrant of the sine wave (i.e.,180 0 to 2700) are
αm=Π+α1,……..,Π+α(m-1)/2 …………….(3)
The switching angles in the fourth quadrant (i.e.,270 0 to 3600) are
α(3m-1)/2=2Π-α(m-1)/2,……….2Π-α1 ……………(4)
From the above analysis it was concluded that we need to determine only the main switching angles
(i.e., from 00 to 900), the other switching angles (i.e., from 900 to 3600) can be obtained from the main switching
angles in the first quadrant. The main switching angles of the proposed inverter are determined from the
following methods.

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 Switching Angle Calculation by EP, HEP, HH and FF Methods for Modified 11- level Inverter.

3.1. Equal Phase (EP) Method:

In the equal phase method the switching angles are distributed averagely in the range 0-Π.The main switching
angles are obtained by the formula given below:
αi =i * 1800/𝑚 where i=1, 2,…………. (m-1)/2 ………………….. (5)
The main switching angles, by EP method, of the proposed 11-level inverter are determined from the equation
(5)
α1=16.360, α2=32.720, α3=49.090, α4=65.450, α5=81.810
The other switching angles in second, third and fourth quadrants of sine wave are derived from the main
switching angles according to the equations (2), (3) and (4). Table 1 shows the total switching angles required to
get the sinusoidal wave shape by EP method.

3.2 Half Equal Phase (HEP) Method:

The waveform obtained from the EPM method looks like a triangle waveform, so to get some better output
waveform, another method called [5]Half Equal Phase Method (HEPM) is established, by this approach we can
get better and reduced harmonic output waveform. The main switching angles are in the range 0 0-900, which are
obtained by the formula given below.

αi =i * 1800/(𝑚 + 1) where i=1, 2,……… (m-1)/2 ………………(6)

For the proposed 11-level inverter the main switching angles, by HEP method, are calculated from the equation
(6).
α1=150, α2=300, α3=450, α4=600, α5=750
After that the other switching angles are derived from the above main switching angles, according to the
equations (2), (3) and (4). And are tabulated in Table 2

Table 1 Switching angles by EP method Table-2 Switching angles by HEP method

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 Switching Angle Calculation by EP, HEP, HH and FF Methods for Modified 11- level Inverter.

The obtained output waveforms of the proposed inverter by EP and HEP methods are shown in the Fig.5 and
Fig.6 respectively. And also the THD analysis of the output waveforms by both the methods are shown in the
Fig.7 & Fig.8.

3.3 Half Height (HH) Method:

In the above two methods the switching angles are arranged in a simple manner, but the waveform at
the output is not a sine wave shape. According to the sine function a new method called [5] Half Height Method
(HEM) was established to determine new switching angles. The main switching angles are obtained from the
following formula.

2𝑖−1
αi =sin−1 ( ) where i=1, 2,………….(m-1)/2 ……………………..(7)
𝑚 −1
In this method the main switching angles of the proposed 11-level inverter are
α1=5.740, α2=17.460, α3=30.000, α4=44.430, α5=64.160
The other switching angles are derived from the main switching angles according to the equations (2), (3)
and (4). Table3 shows the total switching angles, by HH method, needed to get the sinusoidal wave shape.

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 Switching Angle Calculation by EP, HEP, HH and FF Methods for Modified 11- level Inverter.

3.4 Feed Forward (FF) Method:

In the above three methods, we can observe that there are wider gaps between the positive half-cycle and
negative half-cycle. In order to reduce the gaps in between the positive half cycle and negative half-cycle,
another approach called the [5]Feed Forward Method (FFM) was established to find the main switching angles.
The main switching angles are determined by the following formula.
1 2𝑖−1
αi = sin−1 ( ) where i=1, 2,…………. (m-1)/2………………………(8)
2 𝑚 −1
The main switching angles, by FF method, of the proposed 11-level inverter are
α1=2.870, α2=8.730, α3=150, α4=22.210, α5=32.080
After that the other switching angles are derived from the main switching angles, by using equations (2), (3) and
(4). Table4 shows the total switching angles, of the proposed inverter, by FF method.

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 Switching Angle Calculation by EP, HEP, HH and FF Methods for Modified 11- level Inverter.

The proposed inverter output voltage waveform by HH and FF methods are shown in the Fig.9 and Fig.10
respectively. And also the THD analysis of the output waveforms by both the methods are shown in the Fig. 11
& Fig.12 respectively.

The THD analysis of the output waveform by EP, HEP, HH and FF methods are compared and are
shown in table-5.From the comparison table, we observed that the HH method attains the least THD (i.e. 4.67%)
compared to EP,HEP and FF methods.

Table 5 THD Comparison Table

Type of Method %THD
EP 22.40
HEP 19.94
HH 4.67
FF 19.94

IV. Conclusion
In this paper EP, HEP, HH and FF methods have been proposed to find switching angles for Modified
11-level cascade H-bridge multilevel inverter. By observing above results, we concluded that by Half Height
(HH) method we obtained better harmonic spectrum compared to other three methods, because the output
waveform obtained by HH method is nearer to the sinusoidal. The results were obtained by using
Matlab/Simulink to validate the design.

References
[1]. A.Nabae, I.Takahashi, and H. Akagi, "A new neutral point clamped PWM inverter," IEEE Trans. Ind. Applicat., vol. IA-17, pp.
518-523, 1981.
[2]. B. P. McGrath, D. G.Holmes, "Enhanced Voltage Balancing of a Flying Capacitor Multilevel Converter Using Phase Disposition
(PO) Modulation", IEEE Transactions on Power Electronics, vol.26, no. 7, pp. 1933-1942.
[3]. Malinowski, M.; Gopakumar, K.; Rodriguez, J.; Pérez, M.A.; "A Survey on Cascaded Multilevel Inverters," Industrial Electronics,
IEEE Transactions on , vol.57, no.7, pp.2197-2206, July 2010.
[4]. M.S. Usha Nandhini1,; N.Vinothini2,; R.Prakash3, “Modified H-Bridge Nine Level Inverter With Low Switching Frequency”
IJACT volume 3, Issue Number 2. pp.1-5, 2012
[5]. Fang Lin Luo Hong Ye “Advanced dc/ac inverters application in renewable energy” CRC Press Taylor& Francis Group, 2013.
[6]. Vunnam Sarayu “11-Level Multilevel Inverter with Reduced Number of Switches” vol-1, issue-2, pp.21-27, 2015 June.

Nageswara Rao.Jalakanuru "Switching Angle Calculation by EP, HEP, HH and FF Methods

For Modified 11-Level Cascade H-Bridge Multilevel Inverter.” International Journal of
Engineering Science Invention(IJESI), vol. 6, no. 12, 2017, pp. 69-75.

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