Renewable energy sources employ a power conditioning unit for injecting power into the grid. Such resources of small capacity are characterized by low generated voltage and thus require a high voltage boost at the inversion stage. This paper proposes a novel transformer-less, single-phase grid-connected, 13-level inverter to yield the voltage boost. The presented topology is realized through 12 unidirectional switches, 2 diodes, and 3 capacitors. A single-stage circuit synthesizes 13 levels with a single input source and yielding an overall voltage gain of six. The adapted modulation technique is robust enough to keep the capacitors self-balanced for all values of the modulation index. The proposed topology is modular and cost-effective in comparison to other similar typologies due to reduced device count and space requirement. The presented topology is validated experimentally with satisfactory operation in yielding input voltage boost by a factor of six.

中文翻译：

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一种用于多级电源转换的新型升压拓扑结构

可再生能源使用功率调节单元将功率注入电网。这种小容量资源的特点是产生电压低，因此需要在逆变阶段进行高压升压。本文提出了一种新型无变压器、单相并网、13 电平逆变器来产生电压提升。所呈现的拓扑结构是通过 12 个单向开关、2 个二极管和 3 个电容器实现的。单级电路使用单个输入源合成 13 个电平，并产生 6 的总电压增益。自适应调制技术足够稳健，可以针对调制指数的所有值保持电容器的自平衡。由于减少了设备数量和空间要求，与其他类似的拓扑结构相比，所提出的拓扑结构是模块化的并且具有成本效益。