1 Chapter - 1 INTRODUCTION 1.

1 PREAMBLE Multilevel voltage-source inverters are suitable configuration to reach high power ratingsand high quality output waveforms besides reasonable dynamic responses. Among the differenttopologies for multilevel converters, the Cascaded Multilevel Inverter (CMLI) has receivedspecial attention due to its modularity and simplicity of control. The principle of operation of thisinverter is usually based on synthesizing the desired output voltage waveform from several stepsof voltage, which is typically obtained from DC voltage sources. There are different power circuit topologies for multilevel converters. The most familiar power circuit topology for multilevel converters is based on the cascade connection of an s number of single -phase full- bridge inverters to generate (2s + 1) number of levels. However, from the practical point of view,it is somehow difficult to keep equal the magnitude of Separated DC Sources (SDCSs) of different levels. This is because of the different charging and discharging time intervals of DC-side voltage sources.To control the output voltage and to eliminate the undesired harmonics in multilevelconverters with equal DC voltages, various modulation methods such as sinusoidal Pulse WidthModulation (PWM) and space-vector PWM techniques are suggested. However, PWMtechniques are not able to eliminate lower order harmonics completely. Another approach is tochoose the switching angles so that specific higher order harmonics such as the 5th, 7th, 11th,and 13th are suppressed in the output voltage of the inverter. This method is known as SelectiveHarmonic Elimination (SHE) or programmed PWM techniques in technical literature. Afundamental issue associated with such method is to obtain the arithmetic solution of nonlinear transcendental equations which contain trigonometric terms and naturally present multiplesolutions. This set of nonlinear equations can be solved by iterative techniques such as the Newton Raphson method. However, such techniques need a good initial guess which should bevery close to the exact solution patterns. Furthermore, this method finds only one set of solutionsdepending on the initial guess. Therefore, the Newton Raphson method is not feasible to solvethe SHE problem for a large number of switching angles if good initial guesses are not available.A systematic approach to solve the SHE problem based on the mathematical theory of resultant, where transcendental equations that describe the SHE problem is converted into an 2 equivalent set of polynomial equations and then the mathematical theory of resultant is utilizedto find all possible sets of solutions for this equivalent problem.This method is also applied to Multilevel Inverters with unequal DC sources. However,applying the inequality of DC sources results to the asymmetry of the transcendental equation setto be solved and requires the solution of a set of high-degree equations, which is beyond thecapability of contemporary computer algebra software tools. In fact, the resultant theory islimited to find up to six switching angles for equal DC voltages and up to three switching anglesfor nonequal DC voltage cases.More recently, the real-time calculation of switching angles with analytical proof is presented to minimize the Total Harmonic Distortion (THD) of the output voltage of multilevelconverters. However, the presented analytical proofs only validate to minimize all harmonicsincluding triples and cannot be extended to minimize only non-triple harmonics that are suitablefor three-phase applications.The harmonic elimination for multilevel converters by Genetic Algorithm (GA) approachis only applied to equal DC sources and needs considerable computational time. Moreover, thismethod has not succeeded to find switching angles for some modulation indices which havesolutions. This thesis presents a modern stochastic search technique based on Firefly

Algorithm(FFA) to deal with the problem for equal DC sources.In this thesis, the FFA approach is developed to deal with the SHE problem with unequalDC sources while the number of switching angles is increased and the determination of theseangles using conventional iterative methods as well as the resultant theory is not possible. Inaddition, for a low number of switching angles, the proposed FFA approach reduces thecomputational burden to find the optimal solution compared with iterative methods and theresultant theory approach. The proposed method is used to solve the asymmetric transcendentalequation set of the harmonic minimization problem of the Cascaded Multilevel Inverter.

3 1.2 LITERATURE REVIEW MLIs have been drawing growing attention in the recent years especially in the distributedenergy resources area because several batteries, fuel cells, solar cells or rectified wind turbines or micro turbines can be connected through a MLI to feed a load or interconnect to the AC gridwithout voltage balancing problems. In addition, MLIs have a lower switching frequency thanstandard PWM inverters and thus have reduced switching losses [1]. The development of MLI began in the early 1980s when Nabae et al proposed the NPC pulse width modulated inverter [2].Since then several multilevel topologies, namely the diode clamped MLI, the flying capacitorsMLI and cascaded MLI have evolved and are applied in adjustable speed drives, electric utilitiesand renewable energy systems [3-8]. Among the three MLI topologies, cascaded MLIs have moreadvantages than the other two. Cascaded MLIs require less component count in producing thesame output voltage levels. They do not require a large number of clamping diodes and flyingcapacitors. They are easier to be modularized and soft switched and they do not have the problemof neutral point voltage unbalancing [9].Cascaded MLIs have been the subject of research in the last several years [10], where theDC sources were considered to be identical in that all of them were batteries, solar cells, fuel cellsetc. In [11], a MLI was presented in which the two SDCS were the secondaries of two transformerscoupled to the utility AC power. Corzine et al [28] have proposed a MLI using a single DC power source and capacitors for the other DC sources.A method was developed to transfer power from the DC power source to the capacitor inorder to regulate the capacitor voltage. A similar approach was later proposed in [12] byDu et al. These approaches required a DC power source for each phase. The scope of this thesis has been restricted to the cascaded MLIs with SDCS for each H-bridge cell which are typically produced by using transformer/rectifier combination. The hot point in MLI research is its controlstrategies based on PWM.During the past two decades, variety of multilevel PWM methods have been proposed andresearched which have significantly promoted the development of the field. Three multilevel PWMmethods most discussed in the literature are Multilevel SVPWM, carrier based PWM and SHE[13-15].Carrara et al have successfully extended the basic two level sinusoidal PWM techniques toMLI and have shown three different ways to position the carrier waves. Calais et al analyzed the multicarrier PWM methods for a single phase five level inverter. Most of the modulation methodsdeveloped for MLIs are based on multiple carrier arrangements with PWM. The carrier can bearranged with vertical shifts (phase disposition, phase opposition disposition and alternative phasedisposition PWM) [16].SHE is also extended for MLIs [17]. A different approach to the problem of harmonicelimination for PWM waveform generation was used in [18]. This approach is based on the use of Walsh series expansion of PWM waveforms rather than Fourier series. Walsh series were alsoapplied for optimum PWM pattern in induction motor [19]. It is shown that the Walsh coefficients[19] of a PWM waveform are not only a function of PWM waveform angle but also of Walshsubinterval within which the angle lies. It is pointed out that the algorithm has the restriction thatwithin a given interval, only one angle is allowed to vary and if there exists a solution that requirestwo or more angles to vary in the same selected interval, then such a solution cannot be detected bythe method shown.Chiasson et al [20-22] used the mathematical theory of resultants to compute the optimumswitching angles. The expressions involved were high order polynomials that could not be solvedwhen the number of levels in the MLI became large. The switching times (angles) are chosenappropriately such that a desired fundamental output is generated and specifically chosenharmonics of the fundamental are suppressed [23-26]. In particular, the harmonic eliminationapproach in [24] produces a system of non-linear transcendental equations that requires the Newton-Raphson matrix method for

its solutions.SHE methods such as Newton-Raphson method [24] and elimination by the theory of resultant [20] are complicated and time consuming. There are a few examples of applications of GA for power electronics in the literature [27-29] but only recently has GA been applied toMultilevel Inverters. FFA a global search technique for optimizing problem in [30, 31] is appliedfor optimizing the switching angles of MLIs in this work. 10 Fig.2.2 (a) Cascaded Multilevel Inverter The main features of cascaded Multilevel Inverters are: For real power conversions from DC to AC, the cascaded inverters need separate DC sources.The structure of SDCS is well suited for various renewable energy sources such as fuel cell, photovoltaic cell and biomass. It can generate almost sinusoidal output voltage while switching only one time per fundamental cycle. It can eliminate transformers of multi-pulse inverters used in conventional utility interfacesand static VAR compensators.

11 Least number of components is required to achieve the same number of voltage levels. Optimized circuit layout and packaging are possible Soft-switching techniques can be used to reduce switching losses and device stresses. Fig. 2.2 (b) Cyclic switching sequence of a sample seven level inverter Fig. 2.2 (b) shows the cyclic switching sequence for a sample MLI. The switchingstrategies to generate +3V DC

,-3 V DC ,+2 V DC , -2 V DC ,+ V DC ,- V DC ,0 at load are displayed in Fig.2.2 (c) Fig. 2.2 (i). The Multilevel Inverters load voltage V a0 (Fig. 2.22(a)) is equal to the sum of the output voltages (V a1 ,V a2 ,.V aN ) of the individual FBI units.

12 V dc V dc S 11 S 21 S 31 S 41 S 12 S 22 S

32 S 42 LOAD S 13 S 23 S 33 S 43 V dc V dc V dc V dc S 11 S 21 S 31 S 41 S 12 S 22 S 32 S 42 LOAD S 13 S 23 S 33 S 43 Fig.2.2 (c) Switching strategies to Fig.2.2 (d) Switching strategies togenerate +3V DC at load generate -3V DC at load