Multilevel inverter

• Main Authors: JOANNES, THIERRY, MILSTEIN, FRANCOIS, BLEUS, PAUL
• Format: Patent
• Language: English; French; German
• Published: 27.06.2012
• Subjects: APPARATUS FOR CONVERSION BETWEEN AC AND AC, BETWEEN AC AND DC,OR BETWEEN DC AND DC, AND FOR USE WITH MAINS OR SIMILAR POWERSUPPLY SYSTEMS; CONTROL OR REGULATION THEREOF; CONVERSION OF DC OR AC INPUT POWER INTO SURGE OUTPUTPOWER; CONVERSION OR DISTRIBUTION OF ELECTRIC POWER; ELECTRICITY; GENERATION

Multilevel DC to AC power converter comprising three DC inputs (IN1, IN2, IN3) for receiving respectively three DC voltages (V1, V2, V3) wherein V1 > V2 > V3 , one AC output (OUT1) for delivering an AC voltage (Va), a set of at least six switching means (T1, T2, T3, T4, T5, T6) arranged in a symmetric pyramidal fashion as shown in Fig.1 , and switch control means for controlling an ON/OFF state of each of the six switching means. The switch control means is configured in such a way that the top two switching means (T5,T6) are switched ON and OFF in a complementary fashion and exclusively at a fundamental frequency (Fa) of the AC voltage to be delivered at the AC output (OUT1), whereas at least some of the other four switching means (T1, T2, T3, T4) are switched ON and OFF at higher frequencies. The top two switching means (T5,T6) are hence subject to lower switching losses, thereby increasing the overall efficiency of the converter.