Power Losses Comparison of Multilevel Asymmetrical and Symmetrical Power Converters for IPMSM Drives

MultiLevel Inverters (MLI) are power converters capable of providing several advantages over the traditional inverter. Among them, the Asymmetric Cascaded H-Bridge Multilevel Inverter (ACHBMI) allows achieving the same performance as its symmetric configuration, but with lower complexity and costs. In this framework, this article presents a study on the power loss estimation in both asymmetrical and symmetrical Cascaded H-Bridge Multilevel Inverters (CHBMIs). Therefore, this paper aims to provide a comparison in terms of power losses between the two aforementioned topologies of MLIs by estimating their efficiency from an accurate mathematical model and by validating it through simulations in the MATLAB/Simulink® environment. Interesting results are provided and discussed, demonstrating the possible technical advantages of Asymmetrical Multi-Level Inverters (AMLIs).