A Dual-Source Self-Balanced Switched-Capacitor Reduced Switch Multilevel Inverter With Extending Ability

Multilevel inverters (MLIs) with switched-capacitor (SC) combinations are widely recognized to improve the power quality and efficiency of the renewable energy and high-frequency power distribution systems. Self-balancing of SCs and voltage boosting ability are the salient features of the recently developed SC MLIs. This work presents a new SC MLI structure using a reduced number of switches and two dc sources. For increasing the voltage levels, the basic units of the proposed MLI can be extended without increasing the number of dc sources. By suitable charging-discharging patterns, the SCs are self-balanced and voltage boosting is achieved. Comparative analysis with prior-art MLIs demonstrates the merit of topological advancement. Further, extensive simulation and experimental results confirm the feasibility of the proposed MLI under different loading and dynamic operating conditions.