Investigations on control of multilevel inverters for pv Applications

Abstract

Power electronics plays an important role in modern day power processing. The depletion of fossil fuel and the global concern on the adverse effects of burning the fossil fuel have triggered the research for alternate sources of energy. Since the different alternate sources of energy are of diversified nature and forms the conversion of power from the available form to the required form becomes absolutely necessary. The utilization of power electronic converters has become inevitable for all such power conversion processes. In the modern scenario, the advent of modern digital signal and data processing systems like computer, microprocessor, micro controller and digital signal controllers have contributed for the fast development of flexibly controlled power processing systems. Contemporary developments in material sciences like semiconductor technologies, magnetic materials, development of light weight and rugged materials for the fabrication of wind mill blades, advancements in the fuel cell technologies and in the field of solid state physics leads to develop efficient solar photo voltaic systems. These advancements provided different directions for the developments in electrical power generation, conversion and flexible transaction supported with intelligent controllers. The utilization of inverter is most inevitable in all kind of power electronic converters. The photo voltaic source is a dominant entity in the renewable energy sector, which primarily provides DC, where inverters are necessary for converting the DC form of energy into AC form suitable for standalone applications or grid integration. Multilevel inverters are DC to AC conversion systems which are efficient and advantageous than the simple three level inverters. A multilevel inverter can produce an AC output in which the waveform is closer to sine wave. The multilevel inverter is useful for integrating a number of distributed DC voltages into a common inverter. Inverters that are meant for high voltage and high power applications can be built b