A Novel Five-Level Neutral Point Clamped (NPC) Single-Phase Inverter

A novel five-level inverter based on neutral point clamped (NPC) and switched-capacitor technology is proposed in this article. The proposed inverter uses six unidirectional switches, two bidirectional switches, and three capacitors. The inverter has voltage-boosting capability, allowing it to increase the voltage by a gain factor of 1.5. Other features of the proposed inverter include its ability to manage the return current, which enables the control of reactive power. Consequently, the proposed inverter effectively controls reactive power, even at very low power factors. The switched capacitor has charging and discharging currents at the switching frequency, which helps to reduce the impact of current spikes in this converter. The design of the passive components within the proposed inverter is provided. To demonstrate the pros and cons of the proposed inverter compared to other inverters, a comparative analysis is presented. Finally, to verify the performance of the proposed inverter, the experimental results for a 2-kW system with high efficiency are provided.