An experimental investigation on a multilevel inverter for solar energy applications

The main objective of the proposed work is to design, develop and test a three phase multilevel inverter with the modern power electronic switches to reduce the power quality issues in solar power conversion system. Due to the increased usage of power electronic converters for processing the power in all walks of our life, the power quality problem become the hot research topic in the recent years. As the power level increases, the voltage level is increased accordingly to obtain satisfactory efficiency. The multilevel power converter has shown growing popularity. The fundamental advantages of multilevel converter topologies are low distorted output waveforms and limited voltage stress on the switching devices and hence the reduced electromagnetic interferences. The main disadvantages are higher complexity and more difficult control; it can be overcome by using modern digital controllers. In this paper, the performance parameters are analyzed with the developed prototype of the three phase cascaded multilevel inverter for solar energy conversion designed with digital controller for reduced power quality issues with three phase AC motor drive. The main objective is to obtain the better quality of output waveform on the inverter output with suitable control strategy on the experimental hardware setup.

► Novel implementation of solar energy conversion system.
► Novel approach is presented on control side of the multilevel inverter.
► The results are validated with hardware outputs.
► The obtained results show the better quality of waveforms.
► The output AC adhere the power quality standards meant for it.