Analysis Of Cascaded Multilevel Inverter Induction Motor Drives

Abstract

This thesis aims to extend the knowledge about the performance of different cascaded multilevel inverter induction motor drives through harmonic analysis. Large electric drives and utility applications require advanced power electronics converter to meet the high power demands. As a result, multilevel power converter structure has been introduced as an alternative in high power and medium voltage situations. A multilevel converter not only achieves high power ratings, but also improves the performance of the whole system in terms of harmonics, dv/dt stresses, and stresses in the bearings of a motor. Several multilevel converter topologies have been developed; i) diode clamped, ii) flying capacitors, and iii) cascaded or H-bridge. Referring to the literature reviews, the cascaded multilevel inverter (CMI) with separated DC sources is clearly the most feasible topology for use as a power converter for medium & high power applications due to their modularization and extensibility. The H-bridge inverter eliminates the excessively large number of (i) bulky transformers required by conventional multilevel inverters, (ii) clamping diodes required by multilevel diode-clamped inverters, , and (iii) flying capacitors required by multilevel flying-capacitor inverter.