Abstract— This paper proposes a generalized 3-phase cascaded multilevel inverter (CMLI) along with a simplified space vector pulse width modulation (SVPWM) based on 2-level inverter (2LI) topology. While conventional cascaded H-bridge inverters (CHBIs) call for a number of DC sources which increase the cost and complexity of their implementation, the proposed CMLI requires one DC source only. On the other hand, the complexity of SVPWM lies in the switching diagram that consists of a large number of triangles comprising uneven numbers of switching vectors. The generalized 3-phase CMLI proposed in this paper is aimed at reducing the number of switching vectors of each triangle. The hypothesis of the proposed CMLI-SVPWM is firstly illustrated through extensive simulation analysis using MATLAB/SIMULINK software. Feasibility of the proposed inverter is then validated through experimental measurements on a hardware prototype. Results reveal the superiority of the proposed inverter over existing ones in terms of the quality of the output voltage and current waveforms and the overall efficiency.

中文翻译：

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具有简化开关技术的通用多电平逆变器的设计和验证

摘要—本文提出了一种广义的三相级联多电平逆变器 (CMLI) 以及基于 2 电平逆变器 (2LI) 拓扑的简化空间矢量脉宽调制 (SVPWM)。虽然传统的级联 H 桥逆变器 (CHBI) 需要多个直流电源，这会增加其实施的成本和复杂性，但提议的 CMLI 只需要一个直流电源。另一方面，SVPWM 的复杂性在于开关图，该图由包含奇数个开关矢量的大量三角形组成。本文提出的广义 3 相 CMLI 旨在减少每个三角形的开关向量数量。首先通过使用 MATLAB/SIMULINK 软件的广泛仿真分析来说明所提出的 CMLI-SVPWM 的假设。然后通过对硬件原型的实验测量来验证所提出的逆变器的可行性。结果表明，所提出的逆变器在输出电压和电流波形的质量以及整体效率方面优于现有逆变器。