2015 INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE ON ADVANCED COMPUTING AND COMMUNICATION SYSTEMS (ICACCS-2015), JAN 05-07,2015,COIMBATORE,INDIA 1

A Novel Single Phase Cascaded Multilevel Inverter

for Hybrid Renewable Energy Sources
Kaliamoorthy M, Member, IEEE, Rajasekaran V, Member, IEEE, PraveenRaj G, Member, IEEE,

AbstractThis paper presents a novel single phase cascaded power, etc., in power grids are surveyed in details in [2]-
multilevel inverter for renewable energy applications. The pro- [10]. In the cited papers, it can be seen that extensive research
posed inverter consists of two H Bridge inverter connected in is undertaken to connect renewable energy sources to three-
cascade. The top H Bridge inverter is a conventional H bridge
inverter and is capable of developing three level output whereas phase grids using three-phase pulse-width-modulation (PWM)
the bottom H bridge inverter is a novel inverter which is capable inverters. In case of medium power microgrid application,
of developing multilevel output. The proposed inverter is driven single-phase inverters are gaining popularity [11]-[25]. The
from a novel hybrid modulation technique, which eliminates the existing literature show that on one hand, the single-phase
problem of capacitor voltage balancing issues. The proposed inverter is directly connected (through an interfacing choke
novel hybrid modulation technique switches the top inverter
switches at high frequency and the bottom inverter switches at coil) to the point of common coupling (PCC) [11] to facilitate
low frequency. The proposed inverter can be fed from any renew- power ow to PCC. On the other hand, the grid (microgrid)
able energy source. In this paper, the top inverter is fed from PV and the loads are also connected to the PCC. In a typical
arrays where as the bottom inverter is fed from wind turbine. The residential application, the renewable energy is used to reduce
proposed inverter has many advantages such as; it has minimum the load power demand from the microgrid.
number of power electronic devices, minimum conduction and
switching losses, improved efciency and minimum voltage stress The energy from the renewable/natural sources tends to vary
on the devices. The proposed inverter fed from renewable energy throughout the day and hence optimizing the energy capture
sources is simulated in MATLAB/SIMULINK environment. To is a necessity.For wind turbines (WT) and PV arrays, the
validate the simulation results a laboratory prototype is also output power is determined by the wind speed and irradiation.
built. The entire hardware setup is controlled by using FPGA- Hence, the control of these systems needs to behave appro-
SPATRAN 3A DSP board.
Keywords: Multilevel inverter, Hybrid modulation technique, priately according to the variation of these parameters. For
Capacitor voltage balancing, PV array and Wind Turbine. example, the turbine speed for wind needs to be adjusted for
different wind speeds such that the generated power available
is optimized and the system runs at Maximum Power Point
I. I NTRODUCTION
(MPP).Similarly,the output DC voltage and current of the PV

M ICROGRID research is gaining more and more impor-

tance due to the need of economic usage of electric
power. Nowadays, fossil fuel is the main energy supplier of
array systems need to be adjusted in order to run them at
MPP.Numerous types of converters have been used to provide
grid connected renewable energy systems. In PV applications,
the world wide economy, but it is a major cause of ecological DC-DC converters are utilized to regulate the variable and low
problems (such as global warming, air pollution etc.). The quality output voltage of PV panels. A DC- AC converter is
need of producing more energy combined with the interest in used to generate desired voltage and frequency for the grid
green energy technologies results in an increased development connection. Similarly, AC-DC-AC converter is essential for
of power distribution systems using renewable energy sources the WECS as wind energy is variable.
(RES) such as wind energy, solar, hydro, biomass, wave Due to the rising demand for medium and high power
energy, tidal power and geo thermal energy [1]. Further stress applications, multilevel inverters (MLI) have been attracting
on the present electrical power system is also increasing, and growing consideration in variable speed WT and PV sys-
due to the increase in power demand, limitation on power tems recently [3],[4]. Multilevel converters enable the output
delivery capability of the grid, complications in building new voltage to increase without increasing the voltage rating of the
transmission - distribution lines, and leading to blackouts [1]. switching devices, so that they offer the direct connection of
Developments of power electronic converters along with its renewable energy systems to the grid voltage without using
high-performance controllers make it possible to integrate the expensive and bulky transformers. Various topologies of
different types of renewable energy sources to the microgrid. multilevel inverter have been investigated in the literature. The
Different converter topologies as well as control methods most common types among them are the diode clamped [5],
to integrate renewable energies, i.e., wind power and solar the ying capacitor [6] [7], the Cascaded H-bridge multilevel
M.Kaliamoorthy is with the Department of Electrical and Elec- inverters (CHBMLI) [8] [9], modied H-bridge multilevel
tronics Engineering, PSNA College of Engineering and Technology, inverters [10] and the full bridge with cascaded transformers
Dindigul, Tamilnadu, 624622 India e-mail:kaliasgoldmedal@gmail.com (see [11].
http://www.kaliasgoldmedal.yolasite.com).
Dr.V.Rajasekaran is Professor and Head Dept of EEE,PSNACET.Dindigul. Among the various types of multilevel inverter, cascaded
G.Praveenraj is PG Scholar Dept of EEE,PSNACET.Dindigul. type is more popular especially in particular for grid connected
978-1-4779-6438-3/15/$31.00 2015
c IEEE
2015 INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE ON ADVANCED COMPUTING AND COMMUNICATION SYSTEMS (ICACCS-2015), JAN 05-07,2015,COIMBATORE,INDIA 2

Fig. 1. Proposed Cascaded H Bridge Multilevel Inverter.

renewable energy applications due to the following reasons, inverter, where as the lower inverter is the one established
1. Individual H bridge can be connected to a separate in [9]. Fig 1 shows the circuit conguration of the proposed
renewable energy sources such as PV modules, Wind Turbines, multilevel inverter. This proposed inverter conguration has
Fuel Cell stacks etc. lot of advantages such as less number of power electronic
2. Step up transformers are eliminated since the output devices, power diodes, capacitors and isolated DC sources
voltage level required for grid power injection can be achieved when compared with other congurations and is best suited
by DC-DC boost converters and the cascaded connection of for renewable energy applications.
H bridge outputs. The upper inverter is fed from a PV module through a DC-
3. The CHBMLI has very less total harmonic distortion DC boost converter and the lower inverter is fed from a wind
(THD) when compared to three-level based inverters, which turbine driven PMSG through an uncontrolled rectier and a
in turn reduces the output lter size for the compliance of grid DC-DC boost converter. The DC-DC boost converter in the
harmonic standards [12]. upper inverter is used to track the MPP of the PV module.
4. Since this topology allows the connection of indepen- The uncontrolled rectier in the lower inverter converts the
dent renewable energy sources each dc link voltages can be AC voltage generated from the PMSG to a DC voltage.
independently controlled, the maximum power extraction of a The DC-DC boost converter in the lower inverter is used
reduced number of PV modules can be accomplished with the to track the MPP of the wind turbine and to convert the
help of Maximum Power Point Tracking (MPPT) algorithms rectied DC voltage to a high voltage DC. High dc bus
[14]. voltages are essential to make sure that power ows from
This paper proposes a novel single phase grid connected the PV module and the wind turbine to the grid. A ltering
multilevel inverter fed from PV arrays and wind turbine cou- inductance Lf is used to lter the current injected into the
pled permanent magnet synchronous generator (PMSG). The grid. Switches SW1 and SW2 are used to disconnect the PV
proposed inverter is switched by hybrid modulation technique. power generation system and wind energy conversion system
In order to track the MPP of the PV array and the wind from the grid during islanding operation. The load is placed
turbine a novel sliding mode control strategy is used, which between switches SW1 and SW2. By switching the inverter
is more accurate and fast in tracking the MPP for varying properly, it can produce eleven output voltage levels from the
environmental conditions. DC supplies.

II. S YSTEM C ONFIGURATION

The proposed single phase eleven level grid connected MLI A. Operation of the proposed multilevel inverter
is an enhanced version of the inverter developed in [9]. It con- The proposed multilevel inverter conguration is of asym-
sists of two inverters connected in cascade (namely upper and metrical type. The magnitude of each DC link capacitor in the
lower inverters). The upper inverter is a conventional H bridge lower inverter is two times the upper H bridge capacitor.(i.e
2015 INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE ON ADVANCED COMPUTING AND COMMUNICATION SYSTEMS (ICACCS-2015), JAN 05-07,2015,COIMBATORE,INDIA 3

TABLE I inverter in the conventional mode. Fig. 2(b) and (e) show
S WITCHING S TATES OF P ROPOSED I NVERTER the additional switching sequence of the lower H bridge. The
combined switching combinations of the upper and lower H
Upper Inverter Switches
(High Frequency Switches)
Lower Inverter Switches
(Low Frequency Switches)
Derived Output Voltage
Vdc1 = Vdc2 = 2Vdc0
bridge inverter to develop eleven levels at the load terminals
M S1
ON
M S2
OFF
M S3
OFF
M S4
ON
M S5
ON
M S6
OFF
M S7
OFF
M S8
ON
AS1
OFF
Vup
0 Vdc0
Vlow
4Vdc0
Vtotal
4Vdc0 5Vdc0
Mode
I
are given in Table 1.
OFF ON ON OFF ON OFF OFF ON OFF Vdc0 0 4Vdc0 3Vdc0 4Vdc0 II
ON OFF OFF ON OFF OFF OFF ON ON 0 Vdc0 2Vdc0 2Vdc0 3Vdc0 III
OFF ON ON OFF OFF OFF OFF ON ON Vdc0 0 2Vdc0 Vdc0 2Vdc0 IV B. Hybrid PWM switching strategy
ON OFF OFF ON ON ON OFF OFF OFF 0 Vdc0 0 0 Vdc0 V
OFF
ON
ON
OFF
ON
OFF
OFF
ON
OFF
OFF
OFF
ON
ON
OFF
ON
OFF
OFF
ON
0 Vdc0
Vdc0 0
0
2Vdc0
0 Vdc0
Vdc0 2Vdc0
VI
VII
To minimize the switching losses in the proposed multilevel
OFF
ON
ON
OFF
ON
OFF
OFF
ON
OFF
OFF
ON
ON
OFF
ON
OFF
OFF
ON
OFF
0 Vdc0
Vdc0 0
2Vdc0
4Vdc0
2Vdc0 3Vdc0
3Vdc0 4Vdc0
VIII
IX
inverter, hybrid PWM (Pulse Width Modulation) switching
OFF ON ON OFF OFF ON ON OFF OFF 0 Vdc0 4Vdc0 4Vdc0 5Vdc0 X strategy is used [15],[34]. Since most of the power fed to
the load is from the lower inverter, the switches of the lower
H bridge inverter are switched at fundamental frequency (i.e.
Vdc2 = Vdc3 = 2Vdc1 ). Hence, the DC link voltage of the
at 50Hz). Whereas, the upper H bridge inverter switches are
lower H bridge is four times the DC link voltage of the
switched at high frequency (i.e. at 10 KHz). Fig 3 shows the
upper H bridge.Thus 90 of the power fed to the load is from
modulation strategy of the proposed inverter. The signals R01
the lower inverter and the upper inverter supplies only 10.
and R02 shown in g 3 are responsible for generation of PWM
The upper H bridge inverter is a conventional inverter which
pulses for the upper inverter. Signal R01 is compared with the
generates three level output (+Vdc1 , 0, Vdc1 ). The lower H
high frequency carrier to generate PWM for M S1 and M S4
bridge inverter is capable of generating ve level output (
similarly R02 generates PWM for M S2 and M S3 . Since the
+2Vdc1 , Vdc1 , 0, Vdc1 , 2Vdc1 ). The lower H bridge inverter
lower inverter switches at low frequency, the switching signal
operation can be divided into ve switching states, as shown
generation of lower inverter switches can be determined easily
in Fig. 2(a) (f ).
by simple arithmetic and logical computations. The switching
signals for the lower inverter are also shown in g 3.

Fig. 2. Operation of Lower Inverter.

TABLE II
S WITCHING S TATES OF L OWER H B RIDGE I NVERTER

Vlow M S5 M S6 M S7 M S8 AS1 Reference

4Vdc ON OFF OFF ON OFF Fig 2(a) Fig. 3. Modulation Strategy of the Proposed Inverter.
2Vdc OFF OFF OFF ON ON Fig 2(b)
0 ON ON OFF OFF OFF Fig 2(c) The total reference waveform of the inverter is generated as
0 OFF OFF ON ON OFF Fig 2(d) shown in Fig. 4 (a) and dened in (1).
2Vdc OFF ON OFF OFF ON Fig 2(e)
Uref = sin(t). (1)
4Vdc OFF ON ON OFF OFF Fig 2(f)
The reference waveform for the upper inverter is generated by
Fig. 2(a) and (f) are switching sequences of the lower using the following expressions:
2015 INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE ON ADVANCED COMPUTING AND COMMUNICATION SYSTEMS (ICACCS-2015), JAN 05-07,2015,COIMBATORE,INDIA 4

     
 M S6 (t) = (R1 ) Z1 + R1 (Z1 ) (8)
1 if Uref > 0     
Z1 = (2)
0 if Uref < 0 M S7 (t) = R1 + (R2 ) Z1 (9)
       
|Uref | M S8 (t) = [(R1 ) (Z1 )] + R1 Z1 (10)
VLower,expected = round 0.4 Z1
0.4
    (3) Where + denotes logical OR operation and * denotes multi-
|Uref |
+ round 0.4 Z1 plication of signals. The switching patterns of auxiliary switch
0.4
AS1 is given by
 
R01 = 5 (Uref VLower,expected ) (4a) AS1 (t) = (R1 R2 ) Z1 (11)
R02 = 1 [5 (Uref VLower,expected )] (4b) where denotes XOR operation.

III. S LIDING M ODE C ONTROL BASED MPPT FOR PV

MODULE AND W IND T URBINE

At given environmental conditions, PV module and WT

supply maximum power at a particular operating pointthe
maximum power point (MPP). In order to make use of the
nature power effectively, it is necessary to operate PV module
and WT at their MPP [16]-[20]. However, the locus of MPP
varies over a wide range, depending on the climatic conditions
[21], [22]. For example MPP of PV module depends on its
temperature and insolation intensity and MPP of WT depends
upon the wind velocity, which varies throughout the day. Many
authors have proposed different solutions [23]-[26]. Some of
them are better during steady state [23], [24], while others
show superior performance transitions [25][26]. The perturb
and observeand the Hill-Climbing algorithms are probably
those most widely used. The operating principle is almost
similar in both the algorithms, in case of the PV module the
voltage and current of the PV generator are sensed and the
power is calculated where as in the case of WT, speed and
torque are sensed and the power is calculated. Then, the MPP
is sought iteratively.
These algorithms involve a trade off in selecting the in-
crement value by which the control factor, such as reference
voltage, current or duty cycle is tuned. When small values are
chosen, the losses are decreased in steady state because of
small perturbations around the MPP but gives poor dynamic
Fig. 4. Reference Waveform Generation for an 11 level Inverter (Upper
performance. On the other hand large values improve the
Bridge). dynamic behavior but gives large steady state error [25][26].
The presented sliding mode control based MPPT improves
The waveform representation of the equations (1), (3) and the dynamic performance and reduces the steady state error.
(4) are shown in g 4. The reference waveform for the lower Fig 5(a) shows the VI characteristics of TATA BP solar
inverter is given by, PV module (TP 180) for various insolation conditions. Once
 
|Uref | the VI characteristics are simulated for various irradiance
VLower,ref = round (5) levels, MPP data can be easily identied from the simulation
0.4
data array. All the MPP for various irradiance levels are
The next step is to divide the lower inverter reference signal
joined together to form a curve by using curve tting tool of
(5) into two signals (i.e. R01 andR02 ) and they are given as,
 MATLAB/SIMULINK. The equation of the curve is also given
1 : if VLower,ref > 1 in gure 5(a). The electrical parameters at standard testing
R1 = (6a)
0 : if VLower,ref < 0 conditions (STC) are given in table 2.

1 : if VLower,ref > 2 The system used for MPPT is shown in g 1. Assuming
R2 = (6b)
0 : if VLower,ref < 0 a large output capacitor (C1 , C2 andC2 in g 1) and the DC-
DC boost converter output voltage is assumed to be almost
The H bridge switches of the lower inverter are switches as
constant. Thus, the PV module voltage and current form all
per the equations given below,
   the converters state variables, which give the switching surface
M S5 (t) = R1 + (R2 ) (Z1 ) (7) as given by (12).
2015 INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE ON ADVANCED COMPUTING AND COMMUNICATION SYSTEMS (ICACCS-2015), JAN 05-07,2015,COIMBATORE,INDIA 5

TABLE III
PARAMETERS OF PV MODULE UNDER STC (S TANDARD T ESTING
C ONDITIONS 1000 W/m2 , 250 C)

Parameter Value
Power Output PM AX (W) 180
Voltage at PM AX , VM AX (V) 35
Current at PM AX , IM AX (A) 5.03
Open Circuit Voltage Voc (V) 43.6
Short Circuit Current Isc (V) 5.48

TABLE IV
PARAMETERS OF WT AND PMSG

Wind Turbine Parameters PMSG Parameters

Rated Power (KW) 2 Rated Power (KW) 3
Rated wind speed (m/s) 10 Stator resistance (Ohms) 1.5
Radius (m) 1.525 Stator inductance (mH) 0.01
Gear Ratio 5 Pole Pairs 2
Air density m3/Kg 1.08 Flux (Wb) 0.2194
Height (m) 5 Moment of Inertia (kg m) 2

 
S (v, i) = a.i b.v 3 + c.v 2 + d.v + e = 0 (12)
where (a, b, c, d, e) > 0, S < 0 ON state,
S > 0 OFF state
Where v and i are PV module voltage and inductor current,
and a, b, c, d and e dene the switching surface. a, b, c and d
set the slope in the PV module v-i plane and e sets the offset.
When S 0 (ON State), Sb1 switch in g 1 is turned ON and
the inductor gets charged. The current i through the inductor
increases, and S (v, i) increases. When S 0 Sb1 is turned
OFF and the energy stored in the inductor discharges through
the load. Thus the current i through the inductor decreases Fig. 5. (a) VI characteristics of PV module under different irradiance and the
optimal switching surface (green), S (v, i) =0.
as a result S (v, i) also decreases. Thus, S (v, i) is kept in (b)Wind Turbine Speed Vs Power Characteristics for various wind speeds and
a switching band around S =0. Similarly g 5 (b) shows the the optimum switching surface (red) Swt (p, n) = 0.
speed Vs power characteristics of WT for various wind speeds.
The details of the wind turbine and PMSG used in this study
are given in table 3. The same procedure is repeated to track IV. C ONTROL OF GRID CONNECTED MULTILEVEL
the MPP of wind turbine. The sliding surface for WT is as INVERTER
given by (13).
This section presents a method for controlling a multilevel
  inverter which interfaces PV sources and WT to the grid. The
Swt (v, i) = a.p b.v 2 + c.v + d = 0 (13)
proposed system, as show in Fig. 7, is procient of maintaining
where (a, b, c, d) > 0, Swt < 0 ON state, system performance despite of environmental conditions. This
Swt > 0 OFF state system topology is composed of two circuits which have a
Where p and n are the WT power and speed. When dc-dc converter at the input, a dc-link capacitor, and an H
Swt (p, n) < 0 (ON state), Sb2 in g 1 is turned ON and the bridge at the output. Both these circuits will be referred to
inductor charges.The current i through the inductor increase, as a sub-inverter. Both sub-inverters are connected in series
which in turn increases the sliding surface Swt (p, n). When and then interfaced to the grid via an inductive output lter.
Swt (p, n) > 0 Sb2 is turned OFF and the energy stored in the Energy balance is managed by a single master controller and
inductor discharges to the load. Thus the current i through the two local sub-inverter controllers.
inductor decreases as a result Swt (p, n) also decreases. Thus, A master controller is used to manage energy ow between
Swt (p, n) is kept in a switching band around Swt (p, n) = 0. the aggregate system of sub-inverters and the grid-utility. In
Fig 6 shows the performance of the proposed sliding mode particular, the main functions of the master controller are to
controlled MPPT algorithm for PV modules (Fig 6(a)) and regulate the output current, io, and to manage the total voltage
WT (Fig 6(b)). It is clear from the gure 6 that steady state across the dc-link capacitors. The master controller generates
and dynamic performance of the MPPT algorithms is good a master modulation signal, MSY S , which is then fed to the
and it perfectly match with that of the actual MPP (refer data individual sub-inverter controllers. Each local controller then
points in Fig 5). scales MSY S to create a unique modulation signal, M1 and
2015 INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE ON ADVANCED COMPUTING AND COMMUNICATION SYSTEMS (ICACCS-2015), JAN 05-07,2015,COIMBATORE,INDIA 6

M2 such that the local dc-link capacitor voltage is regulated.

In addition, both PV source and WT is interfaced to a dc-dc
converter which performs MPPT. From inspection of Fig.7,
is apparent that the MPPT controllers are decoupled from the
rest of the control system. With the proposed controller, the
task of capacitor voltage balancing is decomposed into two
separate problems. Namely, the master controller regulates
the aggregate sum of the capacitor voltages and the local
controllers manage their respective dc-link voltage.

Fig. 7. Proposed Control System for cascaded MLI.

ipk
[p1 + p2 ] ploss = Vrms Irms = Vrms (14)
2
Where p1 and p2 are the power delivered from PV module
and WT. Assuming losses are small so that ploss is approxi-
mately zero than (13) can be rewritten as,
1
2 [p1 + p2 ] = ipk (15)
Vrms

Fig. 8. Master Controller.

Fig. 6. Performance of sliding mode control based MPPT for sudden

variations in environmental conditions (a) PV module (b) Wind Turbine.

A. Master Controller
The master controller, as illustrated in Fig. 8, has two
purposes: i) regulate the sum of the dc-link voltages to a
prescribed value, and ii) deliver a sinusoidal output current
to the grid. The rst objective can be recast in terms of
energy balance. Since the dc-link capacitors are energy storage
devices, their voltages can be maintained by ensuring that
the energy generated by the PV and WT (minus losses) is
delivered to the grid. The current control stage can be designed
Fig. 9. Local Controllers.
using conventional current control methods. Each of the two
master control sections is described below. If the total power It then follows that the quantity, iapprox , in Fig. 8 is
conversion loss is ploss , RMS output current is Irms and peak approximately equal to the required peak output current for
output current is ipk , then the energy conversion can be written energy balance. However, because losses are uncertain and non
as, zero, an adjustment term, iadj , is necessary. This adjustment
2015 INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE ON ADVANCED COMPUTING AND COMMUNICATION SYSTEMS (ICACCS-2015), JAN 05-07,2015,COIMBATORE,INDIA 7

term is generated by comparing the aggregate dc-link voltage B. Local Controller

to a xed set point, VTOT AL and feeding the error to a PI The collection of two local controllers is shown in Fig. 9.
controller. The aggregate dc voltage command value, VTOT AL The primary purpose of each controller is to regulate the dc-
must be chosen sufciently higher than the peak grid ac link voltage of its respective sub-inverter. As shown, each dc-
voltage. The sum of iapprox and iadj then form the peak output link voltage is compared to a xed dc reference, Vdc1
and
current command ipk .
Vdc2 . This voltage reference is related to the aggregate dc-link
The second stage of the master controller is designed to command by
synchronize to the grid and regulate the output current. As  
shown in Fig. 1 and Fig 7, the measured grid voltage is VTOT AL VT OT AL
Vdc1 = , Vdc2 = 4 (16)
utilized by a phase-locked-loop (PLL) to generate a sinusoidal 5 5
reference, sin (t), which is in phase with the grid voltage.
Here it is assumed that operation at unity power factor is
desired. The PLL is conventional, as outlined in [27]-[32],
for the proposed application. A sinusoidal current reference
is created by multiplying the peak current command with sin
(t). Lastly, a conventional current controller can be used to
generate the system level modulation signal, MSY S , which
then goes to the both the local controllers.

Fig. 11. Total, Upper and Lower Inverter voltage along with load current of
the proposed CHBMLI (a) Simulation (b) Experiment.

The output of the 1st and 2nd PI controller is then multiplied

by the master modulation signal,MSY S , to create the local
modulation signal M1 and M2 . Ultimately, the local mod-
ulation signals and interleaved carriers are used to generate
Fig. 10. Inverter output voltage with modulation index of 0.95 (a) Simulation PWM signals which control both H-bridge inverters. As the
(b) Experiment.
modulation signal, M1 , is decreased in amplitude, the output
power of the 1st sub-inverter decreases and the upper dc link
2015 INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE ON ADVANCED COMPUTING AND COMMUNICATION SYSTEMS (ICACCS-2015), JAN 05-07,2015,COIMBATORE,INDIA 8

capacitor charges up. Alternatively, the upper dc link capacitor to operate the inverter between modulation indices of 0.8 to 1.
is discharged more heavily as the modulation depth of M1 Fig. 10 shows the simulated and hardware waveforms obtained
increases. from the prototype of the proposed 11-level inverter with
modulation index of 0.95. Fig 11 simulation and experimental
V. R ESULTS AND DISCUSSIONS results of the inverter output voltage supplied to the load along
The simulation of the proposed eleven-level grid- with the Upper and lower inverter voltage.
connected hybrid PV and WECS is simulated using MAT- In order to study the dynamic behavior of the proposed
LAB/SIMULINK before it is implemented experimentally as inverter, grid voltage is disturbed from 180 V RMS to 230 V
a prototype. The PWM switching logics for the proposed RMS at 0.35 secs in simulation. It can be noticed from g 12
CHBMLI is developed by using the expressions (4), (7) - that due to sudden change in the grid voltage, the proposed
(10). The Upper inverter is switched at high frequency (i.e. inverter is capable of tracking the grid voltage automatically,
10 KHz) and the lower inverter is switched at a frequency by adjusting its amplitude modulation index. Fig 12 (b) shows
close to fundamental (i.e. 50 Hz). The Upper inverter dc bus the waveform obtained from the developed prototype for
voltage is set to 70 volts and the lower inverter dc bus voltage sudden perturbation in the grid voltage.
is set to four times the upper inverter voltage (i.e.
280 volts).
So the net dc link voltage is set to 350 volts (> 2Vgrid ); in
this case Vgrid is 230V).

Fig. 13. Dynamic response of current supplied by the inverter to grid for
sudden change in solar irradiance (a) Simulation (b) Experiment.

Fig 13 shows the simulated and experimental waveforms

obtained due to sudden drop in the irradiance level from 1000
Fig. 12. Dynamic response of Inverter voltage for sudden change in grid
voltage (a) Simulation (b)Experiment. W/m2 to 800 W/m2 . It can be observed in g 13, that the
current supplied by the PV source drops down due to fall in
The total dc bus voltage should be always greater than 2 irradiance.
to inject current into the grid, else current will be injected Fig 14 shows the voltage and current injected into the grid
from the grid into the inverter. Therefore, it is recommended when both PV module and wind turbine operated at their rated
2015 INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE ON ADVANCED COMPUTING AND COMMUNICATION SYSTEMS (ICACCS-2015), JAN 05-07,2015,COIMBATORE,INDIA 9

environmental conditions (i.e. 1000 W/m2 and 10 m/s). When [3] Tolbert, L. M., and Peng, F. Z.,Multilevel converters as a utility
the environmental condition changes, the RMS magnitude of interface for renewable energy systems, IEEE Power Engineering
Society Summer Meeting, vol. 2, pp. 1271-1274,2000.
current injected into the grid also changes in proportional. [4] Calais, Martina, Vassilios G. Agelidis, and Mike Meinhardt, Multilevel
From g 14, the amount of RMS current injected into the converters for single-phase grid connected photovoltaic systems: an
grid is 9.35 amperes and the total power injected into the grid overview Solar Energy Vol. 66 no.5 1999, 325-335.
[5] Merahi, Farid, El Madjid Berkouk, and Saad Mekhilef,New manage-
is about 2 KW. ment structure of active and reactive power of a large wind farm based
on multilevel converter. Renewable Energy Vol. 68 2014, 814-828.
[6] Merahi, F., and Berkouk, E. M. Back-to-back ve-level converters for
VI. C ONCLUSIONS wind energy conversion system with DC-bus imbalance minimization
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M.Kaliamoorthy graduation is in Electrical and

Electronics Engineering from K.S.Rangasamy Col-
lege of Engineering and Technology, Tiruchengodu,
Tamilnadu, India in 1999 and his Post-Graduation is
in the specilization of Electrical Drives and Control
from Pondicherry Engineering College, Puducherry,
India in 2006. He received a Gold medal for being
the topper during his PG studies from Pondicherry
University for his outstanding performance. His
main area of interest includes multilevel inverters,
Power Electronics for renewable energy sources and
Induction Motor drives. He has nearly a decade of experience in teach-
ing both under graduates and Post graduates. At present, he is working
as an Associate Professor at PSNA College of Engineering and Tech-
nology, Dindigul, Tamilnadu, India. For further details, please do visit
www.kaliasgoldmedal.yolasite.com.

V.Rajasekaran completed his B.E., and M.E (Power

Systems) from Thiyagaraja College of Engineering,
Madurai in 1993 and 1999 respectively. Later, he
obtained his Ph.D degree from Madurai Kamarajar
University, Madurai in 2008. He is a certied au-
ditor of Energy auditing and serves as a consultant
for various industries. At present, he is Professor
and Head of electrical and Electronics Engineering
at PSNA College of Engineering and Technology,
Madurai, Tamilnadu, India.