Eleven-Level Switched Capacitor Multilevel Inverter Topology for Photovoltaic Applications

In this paper, a novel hybrid 11-level switched capacitor (SC) based multilevel inverter (MLI) topology is proposed for distributed photovoltaic (PV) systems. The proposed SC-MLI structure utilizes asymmetrically structured PV panel voltages to generate a high-quality cascaded output voltage waveform. The main circuit is able to directly synthesize the 0 V level, allowing the H-bridge at the output side to be used only for polarity conversion, thus avoiding problems such as high switching losses and circulation currents. Moreover, the circuit produces a high-level output with a low number of switches, which reduces the total harmonic distortion (THD) and improves the output quality. The proposed topology is simulated with Sinusoidal Pulse Width Modulation (SPWM) and Nearest Level Control (NLC) techniques and tested under various load conditions and varying frequency. Simulation results show that the structure is both efficient and feasible.