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One of the key challenges in multilevel inverters (MLIs) design is to reduce the number of components used in the implementation while maximising the number of output voltage levels. This paper proposes a new concept that facilitates a device count reduction technique of existing cascaded MLIs. Moreover, the proposed concept can be utilised to extend existing single phase cascaded MLI topologies to three-phase structure without tripling the number of semiconductor components and input dc-supplies as per the current practice. The new generalized concept involves two stages; namely, cascaded stage and phase generator stage. The phase generator stage is a combination of a conventional three-phase two level inverter and three bi-directional switches while the cascaded stage can employ any existing cascaded topology. A laboratory prototype model is built and extensive experimental analyses are conducted to validate the feasibility of the proposed cascaded MLI concept. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study presents a new design and implementation of a three-phase hybrid multilevel inverter (MLI) using space vector modulation. The proposed MLI consists of a reduced number of dc sources and switches to minimise the control complexity. The developed topology consists of two stages: main stage and auxiliary stage. The main stage is a conventional three-phase inverter with one high-voltage input dc source and six switches. The auxiliary stages contain three individual cells. Each cell consists of two switches and one low-voltage input dc source. This topology is a modular type and without changing the previous connection it can be extended for more number of output voltage levels by adding certain number of auxiliary stages. A space vector modulation control technique has been utilised in order to generate different switching sequences. The special feature of the proposed system is its capability to maximise the number of voltage levels using a reduced number of isolated dc voltage sources and electronic switches. A prototype has been developed and tested for various modulation indexes to verify the control technique and performance of the topology. Experimental results validate the simulation results and the experimental results show a good similarity with the simulation results. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]