Abstract:

Genetic Algorithm is presented to compute the optimum switching angles in a multi level inverter in
order to produce required fundamental voltage while at the same time to eliminate selected order
harmonics. This algorithm is used to overcome the initial guess problem of conventional method like
Newton-Raphson. Genetic Algorithm technique can be used for optimization for any number of
levels. In the proposed work, a 9 level inverter has been taken to find out the optimum switching
angles using Genetic Algorithm. The calculated switching angles have been used to turn on the
switching devices in order to reduce the total harmonic distortion i.e. % THD. The Genetic algorithm
is generally used to overcome the premature convergence problem i.e. local minima. To validate this,
Genetic Algorithm has been applied to a function which has more than one minima and a global
minima.

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 1. Introduction
One of the major problems in power quality aspects is the harmonic content present in the
electrical system. Generally the output voltage the inverters must be sinusoidal. However the output
of single phase inverter is not sinusoidal. The output of the single phase inverter is square wave or
quasi square wave. For that reason, instead of using a single phase inverter more than one number of
single phase inverter is connected in series. The output waveform nears to sinusoidal with the increase
of numbers of level in inverter. In this project cascaded multilevel inverter is used. The output
waveforms of multilevel inverters are in stepped form. Therefore they have reduced harmonics
compared to a square wave. To reduce harmonic further, the optimum switching angles are calculated
in order to eliminate certain order harmonics. Available techniques for selective harmonic elimination
include iterative methods such as Newton-Raphson method[5] and elimination by the theory
resultant[6]. Both the methods are not feasible for largest no. number of switching angles. That means
if the number of inverter levels is increased than this two iterative guaranteed no optimum solution.

Here in this project, a genetic algorithm (GA) approach applied to calculate optimum switching
angles with any number of levels. The properties of GAs reduces computational burden and search
time and also enable them to solve complex objective function.

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 2. Literature Survey
In the first paper [1] Genetic Algorithm is applied to find the optimal switching angles. This method is
used to solve the Selected Harmonic Elimination (SHE) problem for multi level inverter. The paper
describes that GA optimization technique can be applied any number of levels. Here 7 level inverter is
considered as an example. The optimum switching angles are calculated offline to eliminate the 5th
and 7th order harmonic.

In the second paper [2] describes the selected harmonic elimination of new family of multilevel
inverter. This new topology has the advantage of a reduced number of devices compared to traditional
multilevel inverter. The Genetic Algorithm technique is used to find the optimum switching angles.
The drawback of this new family is the high rating of main H bridge switches as they have to
withstand the whole dc voltage.

In the third paper [3], it is proposed to consider the alterable DC sources instead of constant DC
sources. A comparative study is done between two cases i.e. with the case of a multilevel inverter
with constant DC sources and with the case of a multilevel inverter with variable DC sources. Genetic
Algorithm is used to find the optimum switching angles for both cases. Since the switching losses are
directly proportional to the DC voltage. Switching losses of multilevel inverter with constant are less
than switching losses of multilevel inverter with constant DC sources.

In[4], they have designed 7 level multilevel inverter with constant DC supply. In this paper Genetic
Algorithm (GA) technique is used to find out the optimum switching angles in order to eliminate
selected harmonics from inverter output. The simulation is carried out in MATLAB and the result is
compared with the conventional methods like Newton-Raphson. The Total Harmonic Distortion
(THD) is measured for different modulation indices. A micro controller base 7 level multilevel
inverter hardware is designed and the hardware results are verified with the simulation result.

In[5], conventional technique such as Newton-Raphson method is used to find out optimum switching
angles.

In[6], conventional technique such as Resultant Theory method is used to find out optimum switching
angles.

In [8], switching angles are calculated for all possible modulation indexes in order to eliminate
harmonics. Here the switching angles are calculated for that value of modulation index which give the
smallest Total Harmonic Distortion (THD).

In [9], it is shown that the theory of symmetric polynomials is used to reduce the degree of the
polynomial equations that must be solved which in turn greatly reduces the computational burden. In
this paper the transcendental non linear equations transformed in to symmetric polynomials which are
then further transformed into another set of polynomials in terms of the elementary symmetric
functions.

In [10], a modified SHE-PWM technique that extends the standard modulation region and generates a
stepped voltage waveform within a wide range of modulation indices. Genetic Algorithm is used to
solve the non-linear transcendental equations in order to find the optimum switching angles. A higher
order filter is required in order to generate pure sinusoidal waveform.

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In paper[11], gives the idea about the working principle of Genetic Algorithm. It generates solutions
to the optimization problem using techniques such selection, crossover and mutation. Genetic
algorithm gives the result which is best among others.

In [12], gives idea about mutation operator. They described five different mutation schemes for
genetic algorithm. They found that a mutation clock implementation is computationally quick and
also efficient in finding a solution close to the optimum on four different problems used in this study.

In [13], working principle of binary genetic algorithm has been described. It gives a theoretical
description of Genetic algorithm parameters. First is initialisation of population or chromosome for
the population size of n. Then evaluation of fitness and selection of best fit parent chromosomes for
the crossover. After that mutation occur in order to overcome the chances premature convergence.
The produced child chromosome replaces the parent chromosome.

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 3. Progress
3.1 Progress work in brief:-
• In my last report a calculation was shown to find out global minima. Now a code has been
implemented to find this.

• In my previous work Genetic Algorithm tool box was used to find optimum switching angles.
Now a Matlab script has been implemented to find these angles in order to improve output
voltage quality.

• Calculated switching angles are used in a nine level inverter.

• Simulation result is shown below where the THD is reduced to 9.01 % where as it was
13.13% earlier in my last report.

• Third order harmonic is reduced to zero where as other lower order harmonics are reduced as
well.

3.2 Progress of Work:-

Fig1: a) Topology of a single phase cascaded multilevel inverter. [7]

b) Staircase output phase voltage. [7]

From fig 1.a, as four number of H-bridge cells are connected in series. An output voltage waveform
can be generated by summation of the output of each cell, i.e.

𝑉𝑉𝑉𝑉𝑉𝑉𝑉𝑉 = 𝑉𝑉𝑉𝑉𝑉𝑉1 + 𝑉𝑉𝑉𝑉𝑉𝑉2 + 𝑉𝑉𝑉𝑉𝑉𝑉3 + 𝑉𝑉𝑉𝑉𝑉𝑉4

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Now the output voltage V(t) of the Multilevel inverter as shown in fig1.b can be represented by(1)

𝑉𝑉(𝑡𝑡) = 𝑎𝑎0 + ∑∞
𝑛𝑛=1 (𝑎𝑎𝑛𝑛 sin nθ 𝑛𝑛 + 𝑏𝑏𝑛𝑛 cos nθn) .................... (1)

Where 𝑎𝑎0 , 𝑎𝑎𝑛𝑛 and 𝑏𝑏𝑛𝑛 are the Fourier coefficient.

Because of odd quarter-wave symmetric characteristic, shown in fig 1.b

π
4
𝑎𝑎𝑛𝑛 = ∫02 f(ωt) sin(nωt) d(ωt) , for odd n
π

𝑎𝑎𝑛𝑛 = 0 , for even n

𝑏𝑏𝑛𝑛 = 0, for all n

So from equation number (1)

V(t)= ∑∞
𝑛𝑛=1 (𝑎𝑎𝑛𝑛 sin nθ 𝑛𝑛).....................................(2)

π
4 2
𝑎𝑎𝑛𝑛 = � f(θ) Sin(nθ)dθ
π 0
π
4 𝜃𝜃2 𝜃𝜃3 𝜃𝜃4
2
= � 𝑉𝑉 𝑆𝑆𝑆𝑆𝑆𝑆(𝑛𝑛𝑛𝑛)𝑑𝑑𝑑𝑑 + � 2𝑉𝑉 𝑆𝑆𝑆𝑆𝑆𝑆(𝑛𝑛𝑛𝑛)𝑑𝑑𝑑𝑑 + � 3𝑉𝑉 𝑆𝑆𝑆𝑆𝑆𝑆(𝑛𝑛𝑛𝑛)𝑑𝑑𝑑𝑑 + � 4𝑉𝑉 𝑆𝑆𝑆𝑆𝑆𝑆(𝑛𝑛𝑛𝑛)𝑑𝑑𝑑𝑑
𝜋𝜋 𝜃𝜃1 𝜃𝜃2 𝜃𝜃3 𝜃𝜃4

= 4𝑉𝑉/𝑛𝑛𝑛𝑛(𝐶𝐶𝐶𝐶𝐶𝐶(𝑛𝑛𝑛𝑛1) + 𝐶𝐶𝐶𝐶𝐶𝐶(𝑛𝑛𝑛𝑛2) + 𝐶𝐶𝐶𝐶𝐶𝐶(𝑛𝑛𝑛𝑛3) + 𝐶𝐶𝐶𝐶𝐶𝐶(𝑛𝑛𝑛𝑛4)) [After simplification.]

So from equation (2), we get

4𝑉𝑉
𝑉𝑉(𝜔𝜔𝜔𝜔) = ∑∞
𝑛𝑛=1[ ∑4𝑘𝑘=1 𝐶𝐶𝐶𝐶𝐶𝐶(𝑛𝑛𝑛𝑛𝑛𝑛)] 𝑆𝑆𝑆𝑆𝑆𝑆(𝑛𝑛𝑛𝑛𝑛𝑛)................................(3)
𝑛𝑛𝑛𝑛

The amplitude of the fundamental component, n=1 and odd harmonic component are given by

h1=4V/𝜋𝜋 ∑4𝑘𝑘=1 𝐶𝐶𝐶𝐶𝐶𝐶(𝜃𝜃𝜃𝜃) and hn=4V/n𝜋𝜋 ∑4𝑘𝑘=1 𝐶𝐶𝐶𝐶𝐶𝐶(𝑛𝑛𝑛𝑛𝑛𝑛)

Amplitude of all even harmonics equals zero.

Thus except fundamental, all odd harmonics in the quarter wave symmetric in the multilevel
waveform need to be eliminated.

h1= 4𝑉𝑉/𝜋𝜋(𝐶𝐶𝐶𝐶𝐶𝐶(𝑛𝑛𝑛𝑛1) + 𝐶𝐶𝐶𝐶𝐶𝐶(𝑛𝑛𝑛𝑛2) + 𝐶𝐶𝐶𝐶𝐶𝐶(𝑛𝑛𝑛𝑛3) + 𝐶𝐶𝐶𝐶𝐶𝐶(𝑛𝑛𝑛𝑛4)) = M

h5=4𝑉𝑉/5𝜋𝜋(𝐶𝐶𝐶𝐶𝐶𝐶(5𝜃𝜃1) + 𝐶𝐶𝐶𝐶𝐶𝐶(5𝜃𝜃2) + 𝐶𝐶𝐶𝐶𝐶𝐶(5𝜃𝜃3) + 𝐶𝐶𝐶𝐶𝐶𝐶(5𝜃𝜃4)) = 0

h7=4𝑉𝑉/7𝜋𝜋(𝐶𝐶𝐶𝐶𝐶𝐶(7𝜃𝜃1) + 𝐶𝐶𝐶𝐶𝐶𝐶(7𝜃𝜃2) + 𝐶𝐶𝐶𝐶𝐶𝐶(7𝜃𝜃3) + 𝐶𝐶𝐶𝐶𝐶𝐶(7𝜃𝜃4)) =0

:
:

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hn= 4𝑉𝑉/𝑛𝑛𝑛𝑛(𝐶𝐶𝐶𝐶𝐶𝐶(𝑛𝑛𝑛𝑛1) + 𝐶𝐶𝐶𝐶𝐶𝐶(𝑛𝑛𝑛𝑛2) + 𝐶𝐶𝐶𝐶𝐶𝐶(𝑛𝑛𝑛𝑛3) + 𝐶𝐶𝐶𝐶𝐶𝐶(𝑛𝑛𝑛𝑛4)) =0
ℎ1
Where, M is the modulation index. It is given by M=
4𝑉𝑉

𝜃𝜃1, 𝜃𝜃2, 𝜃𝜃3𝑎𝑎𝑎𝑎𝑎𝑎 𝜃𝜃4 are the switching angles which needs to be calculated in order to eliminate selected
harmonics present in the inverter output. From the waveform it is observed that the switching angles
𝜋𝜋 𝜋𝜋
can be varied from 0 to . So the ranges of switching angles are as 0< 𝜃𝜃1 < 𝜃𝜃2 < 𝜃𝜃3 < 𝜃𝜃4 < .
2 2

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 4. Genetic Algorithm
Genetic algorithms are the process of solving problems by mimicking processes that nature uses, i.e.
Selection, Crossover, Mutation and Accepting. The algorithm work as follows.

Step Brief Description

Step1: Start
Step2: Fitness
Step3: Selection
Step4: Crossover
Step 5: Mutation
Step 6: Acceptance
Step 7: Replacement
Step 8: Test
Step 9: End
Generate a random population of n chromosome.
Evaluate fitness of each chromosome in the population.
Select two parent chromosomes from the population according their
fitness.
Cross over two parents with a crossover probability to form child
chromosome. If no crossover is performed then the child would be
exact copy of the parent chromosome.
Mutate new offspring with a mutation probability.
Place new offspring in the new population.
New offspring replaces the parent chromosome.
Test the stop criterion.
Gives out the result.

In the last end semester report a hand calculation was given to find global minima using genetic
algorithm.

An objective function had been taken which has more than one minima and one global minima. In this
report Genetic Algorithm is implemented in Matlab in order to find global minima of the same
function. Steps and execution result are given below.

Step 1:-
Plot of Objective function: - f(x) = 4 + exp (0.2*x)*sin (3*x) over a range from 0 to 9

Figure2: Graph of the function f(x) = 4 + exp (0.2*x)*sin (3*x)

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Step2:
Generation of Initial Population and Fitness of that population

Figure 3: Execution result of Initial Population and their fitness value.

Step 3:
Plotting the initial population on that graph. Red (+) indicates the initial population.

Figure 4: Plot of Initial Population on the graph.

So a random population has been generated over a range from 0 to 9.

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Step 4:
New populations have been generated after first generation. New population and their fitness are
shown below. Among ten individuals the fittest individual is 5.8349 which has maximum fitness
value i.e. 0.5349.

Figure 5: Execution result of Child population after first generation.

This population are plotted on that graph. This new population indicated by red squares.

Figure 6: Plot of the new population generated on the graph

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Step6:
Now running Genetic Algorithm for 50 generations. After every generation child individuals gets
improved and it is better than parent individuals. After 50 generation the fittest individual is 7.8762
and it is the global minimum point. The global minimum is plotted on that graph and it is indicated by
black triangle.

Figure 7: Pointing the Global minima on that graph.

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 5. Simulation and Test Result:-
The main objective is to find out optimum switching angles in order to minimise Total Harmonic
Distortion. Genetic Algorithm is used and implemented in Matlab in order to find optimum switching
angles. Simulation and test results are given below.

Step1:-
Generating random population of size 20. That means generating random angles between 0 to 90
degree. Evaluating fitness for each population.

Figure 8: Generation random initial populations of population size 20.

This matrix (initPop) contains 20 rows and 5 columns. First four columns are random angles between
0 radian to 1.5708 rad. The last column i.e. fifth column is the fitness value corresponding to the
angles.

Step2:-
Now in this step new population are generated. In order to generate new population two parent are
selected and cross over done between them. After that mutation done on them. In this way new
population are generated and fitness are calculated. After first generation the new population are given
below. Among these fittest population is the highlighted one.

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Figure 9: Execution result of generated new population after first iteration process.

Step3:-
Now the Genetic algorithm is run for 400 generations. After the 400 generations the best fit
population is

So the optimum angles are calculated using Genetic Algorithm. These angles are used to trigger the
switching device of inverters.

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5.1 Simulation Circuit:-

Figure 10: Simulation Circuit of 9 level inverter.

5.2 Simulation Result:-

Figure 11: FFT analysis for single phase nine level inverter.

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 6. Conclusion & Future work
6.1 Conclusion:
In this report, Genetic algorithm calculation is implemented in Matlab in order to find global minima
of a function which has more than one minimum point. Execution steps shown step by step to find
global minima.

The main objective of this project is to minimise Total Harmonic Distortion in order to improve
voltage quality inverter. The Genetic Algorithm is implemented in Matlab in order find optimum
switching angles so that the total harmonic distortion minimised. Now the THD is reduced to 9.01%.

6.2 Future work:

o Single phase multilevel inverter with unequal DC sources will be designed and a comparative
study will be done.
o Further study and implementation would be done to minimise value of Total Harmonic
Distortion further in order to improve output voltage of single phase full wave inverter.

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[3] N. Farokhnia, S.H. Fathi, N. Yousefpoor, M.K. Bakhshizadeh, “Minimisation of total

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