Low Voltage Stress 3-Phase 5-Level Multiceli E-Type Converter for Photovoltaic Applications

This paper proposes a 3-Phase 5-Level Multicell E-Type Converter (3Φ5L ME-Type) for medium-voltage applications. The proposed converter has each phase being accomplished by the combination of two I-Type cells connected to the Neutral Point Clamped (NPC) cell. The 3Φ5L ME-Type topology can improve the voltage stress of the power semiconductors, allowing to increase the DC-bus voltage. Operation modes and characteristics of the proposed converter are presented, and the theoretical investigation has been validated through the realized model in the Hardware-In-the-Loop (HIL) test bench. The performance of the proposed converter has been estimated through the created thermal model in Plexim/PLECS environment of the selected power semiconductors. The results show good performance and the effectiveness of the proposed converter to reduce the power semiconductor voltage stress compared to the previously E-Type Topology.