A Simple Control Arithmetic of Step Wave Cascaded

Multilevel Inverter with Different Voltage Step

Qing-guo Song
1
, Bai-lu Xiao
1
, Zhong-ni Zhu
1

and Hai-bo Xu
2
1
Department of Information Countermeasures, Air Force Radar Academy,Wuhan, 430019,China
2
Guangdong East Power Co.. Ltd, Dongguan, 523808, China


Abstract Besides effectively reducing the voltage stress of
switches, the cascaded multilevel inverter could also improve the
quality of output waveforms by addition of waveforms. The step
waveform addition is a usual method. The addition could reduce
the loss of switches, but the introduced angle of flow calculating
methods of cascade inverters based on step waveform addition are
only suitable for cascaded inverters with the same voltage step. To
this situation, an angle of flow calculating method of inverters with
the different voltage step is proposed in this paper. The method is
very suitable for the application of solar battery cascaded inverters
and fuel battery cascaded inverters. The method follows the equal
area principle, and the online calculation is realized by some
constraint conditions. Finally, the correctness of the method is
validated by simulations.
I. INTRODUCTION
The H-bridge cascaded inverter enjoys many advantages of
the multilevel inverter, and it is widely used in many occasions
like motor driving and high power active power filtering. There
are many control methods of series cascaded inverters proposed,
such as the multicarrier SPWM method, the phase-shifted
SPWM method, the harmonic eliminating method and so on.
However, reducing the switching frequency, increasing the
efficiency of inverters and eliminating or reducing intermediate
frequency harmonics are still the important problems in the
research of control methods. Take the solar photovoltaic
grid-connected inverter as an example, increasing the efficiency
is one of the key technologies.
The switches are working under the fundamental wave status,
when the step waveform modulation is used, with small loss and
high efficiency. This control method is firstly considered by
high power cascaded inverters. There are many control
arithmetic about addition angle of step waveforms, such as
harmonic eliminating method, multicarrier modulating method
and the method of least content of low order harmonics and so
on. There are two problems in these methods:
(1) Some arithmetic is complex and only could calculate
off-line, which is not conveniently, like the specific
harmonic eliminating method;
(2) All the arithmetic is suitable for the same voltage difference
mode.
The first problem could be gradually improved by many
arithmetic, but it always need to solve circular function
transcendental equations and it is hard to realize the online
calculation. The second problem is seldom found in other
papers, but the phenomena of different voltage step exist in
many occasions, such as the cascaded inverter built-up by
several pieces of solar PV battery. The difference in V-I
characteristic of PV battery, the difference in location and the
DC/DC output based on MPPT arithmetic would make the
voltage step of inverters different.
From what has been mentioned above, a simple control
arithmetic of cascaded inverter with different voltage step is
proposed in this paper. In the arithmetic, the principle that the
area in each half periodic of modulating wave is equal is used,
and the phase online calculation of the single inverter is realized
by some constraint principles, and the solution of circular
function equations is avoided. The arithmetic is simple and
easily to be realized.
II. CASCADED FULL BRIDGE MUTILEVEL INVERTER WITH
DIFFERENT VOLTAGE STEPS
Cascaded series multilevel inverter can be divided as follows:
2H bridge (single-phase two levels full bridge inverter) series,
3H bridge (three levels full bridge inverter) series, 2H and 3H
bridge series and parallel type and so on. Especially, 2H bridge
series mode is the most use. The paper bases on research of 2H
bridge cascaded topological structure, 2H bridge cascaded type
topological structure of multilevel inverter is shown in Fig.1.
When
1 2
= = = = "
dc dc dcN dc
u u u u , it can be synthesized 2N-1
step wave with the same voltage steps
[16]
; When
1 2
"
dc dc dcN
u u u , it can be synthesized more step wave,
when
dci
u and
1
( 1, )
dci
u i N
+
= " is multiple relation, the
synthetic step wave of voltage step is the same. For example,
when
1
/ 2

=
dci dci
u u , it can be synthesized 2 1
N
steps with the
same amplitude. But when
dci
u and
1 dci
u
+
is difference, the
synthetic step wave of voltage step is different. The Fig.2 is the
output synthetic voltage wave when N=2 and
2 1
>
dc dc
u u , and
the Fourier expression can be described as follows:
( ) ( )
1 1 3 2 1 2
1,3,5
4
cos cos cos

=
= + +

"
o dc dc dc
n
u u n n u u n
n

(1)
According to Fig.2, we can see every step can be expressed as
follows:

( )
1 1
2 2 1 2 1
3 1 2 2 1
=

= =

= + =

dc
dc dc dc
dc dc dc dc
u u
u u u u u
u u u u u
(2)
Tll\C?009 98!+?++3909$?.00 ?009 Tlll 1452
#

Fig.1. cascaded structure of inverter
1

3
2
3

2

1

( ) u t

Fig.2. the synthetic process of output step wave
(a) the work wave with H1 (b) the work wave with H2 (c) synthetic output wave
Substituting (2) into (1), the result is:
[ ]
1 1 2 2 3 3
1,3,5
4
cos cos cos

=
= + +

"
o
n
u u n u n u n
n

(3)
When the output wave can be composed of N steps, the
Fourier expression can be described as follows:
[ ]
1 1 2 2
1,3,5
4
cos cos cos

=
= + + +

"
"
o n n
n
u u n u n u n
n

(4)
If the low order harmonic is removed, the harmonic amplitude
which is from both (3) and its adjacent fundamental wave must
be zero, it can be expressed as follows:
[ ]
[ ]
[ ]
1 1 2 2
1 1 2 2
1 1 2 2
4
cos cos cos 0
4
cos3 cos3 cos3 0
3

4
cos cos cos 0

+ + + =

+ + + =

+ + + =

"
"
#
"
n n
n n
n n
u u u
u u u
u m u m u m
m

(5)
When
1 2
= = = = "
N dc
u u u u , (4) can be changed into
conventional cascaded inverter with the same voltage step, when
1 2
"
N
u u u , according to (4) , solving process of
( 1, ) = "
i
i N becomes very complicated.
III. CONTROL ALGORITHM ON ANGLE OF FLOW OF
UNEQUAL-VOLTAGE- GRADATION CASCADED INVERTER
four step cascaded inverter composition wave is shown in
Fig.3, in which, according to the marking, the step cascaded
voltage normalized value can be obtained.
1 1
2 2 1
3 3 2
4 4 3
4
1
=

u k
u k k
u k k
u k k
k
(6)
In which, skew angle between step wave and sine wave:
( )
( )
1
1
sin , i=1,2,3,4,5

+
=
i i i
k (7)
Also, sampling ( 1, 2, 3, 4) =
i
i constraint condition can be
gained:
1
1 1
1 1
1 2 2
1 1
2 3 3
1 1
3 4 4
0 sin
sin sin
sin sin
sin sin
2

< <

< <

< <

< < =

k
k k
k k
k k

(8)
Base on equal-area principle, obtain
i
with two lgorithm.
A. Inner Space Equal-area Princple
It is the
i
solution method that put forward in majority
literature, analyse it by taking the
2
solving process on
12

and
23
space in fig.3 for instance. Its principle is to make the
area of trilateral
ABC
S and
BDE
S equal.as following:
( ) ( ) ( ) ( )
2 23
12 2
1 2 12 2 23 2
sin sin =

td t k k td t


(9)
sorting :
( ) ( ) ( )
( ) ( ) ( ) ( )
1 1
2 1 2 2 2 1 1
1 1
2 1
sin sin
cos sin cos sin


= +

k k k k k k
k k

(10)
Using general formula:
( ) ( ) ( )
( ) ( ) ( ) ( )
( )
1 1
1 1 1
1 1
1
1 1
sin sin
cos sin cos sin
i=1,2, , 0, sin 0

+

= +

= = "
i i i i i i i
i i
k k k k k k
k k
k

(11)
Take four step cosine superimposition for instance, in which,
according to formula (10), get the following:
[14]
1
0.38 = k
2
0.696 = k
3
0.92 = k
4
1 = k
( ) ( ) ( ) ( ) ( ) ( )
1 1 1 1
1
0.38 sin 0.38 0 sin 0 cos sin 0.38 cos sin 0
180
180
11.3
0.38 0

+

=

D
< <

(12)
2
32.8 =
D
,
3
54.5 =
D
,
4
74.6 =
D
.
Fig.4(a) is output wave harmonic wave spectrum chart, every
degree harmonic content is shown in TABLE I.
1453
1

3
2
4

( ) u t

12

23

34

Fig.3. four step superimposed voltage wave

(a) Spectrum figure of inner space equal-area princple

(b) Spectrum figure of easy algorithm 1

(c) Spectrum figure of easy algorithm 2
Fig.4. Spectrum figure of different access method
TABLE I
HARMONIC WAVE OF INNER SPACE EQUAL-AREA PRINCPLETHD=9.58%
harmonic degree 1 3 5 7 9
content 100 0.14 0.16 0.01 0.49
harmonic degree 11 13 15 17 19
content 0.31 0 4.66 7.1 0.77
harmonic degree 21 23 25 27 29
content 0.69 0.11 0.56 0.17 0.13
harmonic degree 31 33 35 37 39
content 1.5 3.65 1.3 0.81 0.06

B. An Easy Algorithm-area Equal Principle On All Space
According to (11), get
i
is more complex in control
implement process,especially, when step voltage fluctuate
frequently, it make against system online control. According to
equal-area principle, a principle of step area and sine area is
equal is proposed to make sure angle of flow
i
of cascaded
inverter.
Analyse it by taking four step system in fig.3 for instance,
under normalizing, the respective enclose area of sine wave and
step wave in ( ) 0 is:
( ) ( )
( ) ( ) ( )
1
0
2 1 1 2 2 1 3 3 2 4 3
sin 1
2
0
2

= =

= + + +

S t d t
S k k k k

(12)
mul
1 2
= S S ,o|tu`u:
( ) ( ) ( )
2 1 1 3 2 2 4 3 3 4 4
0 + + = k k k k k k k (13)
Extend to N step cascaded inverter, get the general formula:
( ) ( ) ( )
2 1 1 3 2 2 1 1
0

+ + + = "
N N N N N
k k k k k k k (14)
To conveniently access, make the following principle:
(1)
i
meet the constraint condition in (7);
(2) ( ) 2, , = "
i
i N is integer multiple of
1
or get the value at
the midst of
1, i i
and
, 1 + i i
;
(3) ( )
1
1
0 sin

< <
i
k
According to formula13and access principle, still take
cosine superimposition step for instance, seek two kind access
method.
Easy algorithm 1:
1 2
3 4
11.25 , 3 11.25 33.75 ,
5 11.25 56.25 , 7 11.25 78.75
= = =
= = = =
D D D
D D D D



Easy algorithm 2:

1 2 3 3
6 , 6 6 36 , 9 6 54 , 14 6 84 = = = = = = =
D D D D D D D

Fig.4band fig.4crespectively shows access spectrum
assay plan with Easy algorithm 1 and Easy algorithm 2,
TABLE and TABLE is calculated harmonic content of
every time harmonic and whole distortion factor respectively
with the two method.
It can be analysed that the start angle
1
has more effect on
harmonic of output wave from fig.4 and table12 and 3 start
angle
1
affect wave is studied as following.

TABLE
HARMONIC DISTRIBUTING WITH EASY ALGORITHM 1THD=9.95%
harmonic degree 1 3 5 7 9
content 100 0.42 0.29 0.12 0.09
harmonic degree 11 13 15 17 19
content 0.13 0.1 6.67 5.88 0.07
harmonic degree 21 23 25 27 29
content 0 0.04 0.03 0.05 0.04
harmonic degree 31 33 35 37 39
content 3.23 3.03 0.04 0.04 0.02
1454
TABLE
HARMONIC DISTRIBUTING WITH EASY ALGORITHM 2THD=12.28%
harmonic degree 1 3 5 7 9
content 100 1.12 1.37 6.36 5.92
harmonic degree 11 13 15 17 19
content 2.41 2.71 3.41 2.37 1.09
harmonic degree 21 23 25 27 29
content 1.41 3.63 3.15 1.3 1.09
harmonic degree 31 33 35 37 39
content 1.02 1.06 2.23 2.26 0.76
C. The relation between
1
and harmonics
Still take
1 2 3 4
0.38, 0.696, 0.92, 1 = = = = k k k k as an example to
analyze, where the span of
1
is
( ) ( )
( ) ( )
1 2
3 4
0 22.3 , 22.3 44.1 ,
44.1 66.9 , 66.9 90
D D D D
D D D D





When
1
is chosen among 2 20
D D
, and
2 3 4
, , are chosen
intermediate values under the requirement that they are times
of
1
in TABLE the curves of distortion factor and low order
harmonics are shown in TABLE


TABLE
DIFFERENT METHODS IN CHOOSING
i


1

2

3

4

method 1 2 30 54 78
method 2 4 32 56 76
method 3 6 36 54 84
method 4 11.15 33.2 55.5 78.45
method 5 11.15 33.45 55.75 78.05
method 6 11.25 33.75 56.25 78.75
method 7 11.3 32.8 54.5 74.6
method 8 15 30 60 75
method 9 20 40 60 80
The following conclusions can be obtained by analyzing
the spectrum of waveforms
(1)Both the low order harmonics and the distortion factor of
output waveforms are small when
1
is chosen nearly to
12
2 .
For example, the effects in method 4, 5, and 6 are much better
than that in method 1 and 9;
(2)The component of low order harmonics is small when
i

is chosen between
1, i i
and
, 1 + i i
. For example, compared to
method 4, 5 and 6, the low order harmonics content is the lowest
in method 7.
TABLE
THE HARMONICS DISTRIBUTION IN EACH METHOD
harmonic degree method 1 method 2 method 3 method 4 method 5 method 6 method 7 method 8 method 9
THD 14.36% 12.58% 12.28% 9.82% 9.85% 9.95% 9.58% 11.88% 16.39%
1 100 100 100 100 100 100 100 100 100
3 4.9 2.78 1.12 0.05 0.22 0.42 0.14 0.51 10.67
5 4.24 4.4 1.37 0.11 0.23 0.29 0.16 0.36 5.23
7 4.07 3.95 6.36 0.07 0.14 0.12 0.01 6.23 3.93
9 4.24 4.05 5.92 0.12 0.07 0.09 0.49 6.27 3.19
11 4.93 5.71 2.41 0.34 0.19 0.13 0.31 0.02 2.5
13 8.26 6.12 2.71 0.52 0.28 0.1 0 0.02 2.01
15 2.74 0.34 3.41 5.99 6.15 6.67 4.66 3.76 2.13
17 1.5 2.81 2.37 6.39 6.3 5.88 7.1 2.57 5.88
19 1.42 1.79 1.09 0.44 0.16 0.07 0.77 0.1 5.26

IV. THE SIMULATION RESULTS AND ANALYSIS
To validate the algorithm mentioned above, the
single-phase cascaded multilevel inverter of three 2H bridges
with different voltages is used in this paper, as shown in Fig.5.
The voltages of each 2H bridge are respectively 100V120V
170V, so that there are probably 7 kinds of voltage step, such as
100120160220260280380V, and the normalized
voltages are respectively 0.270.340.390.610.650.72
1. The corresponding angles are 0-15.7-19.9-23
-40.6-90, and the switching angle is chosen following the
proposed algorithm
1
7.5 =
D

2
D
=15
3
22.5 =
D

4
D
=30

5
D
=37. 5
6
D
=45
7
D
=67. 5 . The waveforms of the
output voltage and the load current are shown inFig.6, and the
spectrum of the output voltage and the spectrum of the load
current are shown in Fig.7 and Fig.8 respectively. From the
spectrum, we can get that the distortion of voltage u
o
and current
i
R
is small, and the content of low order harmonics is low. So the
filtering parameters can be reduced greatly.

V. CONCLUSION
The simple control algorithm of cascaded inverter with
different voltage steps is proposed in this paper, and the
principle that the area in each half periodic of modulating wave
is equal is used. The phase online calculation of the single
inverter is realized by some constraint principles, and the
solution of circular function equations is avoided. The algorithm
is simple and easily to be realized, which has high level of
application value.
ACKNOWLEDGMENT
This paper is supported by Guangdong East Power Co.. Ltd ,
which ahieve GUANGDONG and HONGKANG key field
major sally project in 2007. The project serial number is
TC07BF09-8.



1455

10

Fig. 5. The simulation circuit

Fig.6. The waveforms of the output voltage and the load current

Fig.7. The spectrum of the output voltage uo

Fig.8. The spectrum of the load current iR
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