A MATRIX STRUCTURE MULTILEVEL INVERTER WITH SWITCHED CAPACITOR CELLS USING PHOTO VOLTAIC ENERGY SOURCES FOR MICROGRID APPLICATIONS
S. Thamizharasan , S.Saravanan, J. Baskaran, A. Arulvizhi
Keywords: MLI, Optimal structure, reduced count, simulation model, 9- level MLI
Abstract
Power converters play a vital position in microgrid purpose by transforming and converting one voltage level to other voltage level either ac or dc in a required mode from renewable sources into ac power well suited with grid or local loads. The traditional 2- level inverters produce higher harmonic distortion due to reduced voltage levels which increase the filter size. In this context, multilevel inverters tender enhanced output voltage quality, reduced harmonics and improved efficiency suitable for microgrid applications. To overcome this, reduced count topologies came into existence with the perspective of reducing the switching retaining input dc sources which increases the cost and complexity. In this paper, a new MLI is developed to offer reduced components in its structure in a way to arrange the dc sources in matrix form with reduced isolated dc sources and improved power loss. The performance of the developed topology is analyzed in grid tied inverter configuration using PV sources. A computer based model using Matlab/Simulink is availed to validate the feasibility of developed MLI for microgrid applications.