Multilevel inverters: A survey of topologies, controls, and applications

José Rodríguez, Jih Sheng Lai, Fang Zheng Peng

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

6278 Citations (Scopus)

Abstract

Multilevel inverter technology has emerged recently as a very important alternative in the area of high-power medium-voltage energy control. This paper presents the most important topologies like diode-clamped inverter (neutral-point clamped), capacitor-clamped (flying capacitor), and cascaded multicell with separate dc sources. Emerging topologies like asymmetric hybrid cells and soft-switched multilevel inverters are also discussed. This paper also presents the most relevant control and modulation methods developed for this family of converters: multilevel sinusoidal pulsewidth modulation, multilevel selective harmonic elimination, and space-vector modulation. Special attention is dedicated to the latest and more relevant applications of these converters such as laminators, conveyor belts, and unified power-flow controllers. The need of an active front end at the input side for those inverters supplying regenerative loads is also discussed, and the circuit topology options are also presented. Finally, the peripherally developing areas such as high-voltage high-power devices and optical sensors and other opportunities for future development are addressed.

Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)724-738
Number of pages15
JournalIEEE Transactions on Industrial Electronics
Volume49
Issue number4
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - Aug 2002

Keywords

  • Medium-voltage drives
  • Multilevel converter
  • Multilevel inverter
  • Power converters

ASJC Scopus subject areas

  • Control and Systems Engineering
  • Electrical and Electronic Engineering

Fingerprint

Dive into the research topics of 'Multilevel inverters: A survey of topologies, controls, and applications'. Together they form a unique fingerprint.

Cite this