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In this article, a nine-level multilevel topology is proposed by stacking of low voltage basic inverter cells and then cascading with H-bridges. The dc-link is split into four equal halves by series-connected capacitors from a common dc-link. Three common coupling points (CCPs) are formed due to the stacking of four capacitors, which are connected across the dc-link. The CCP voltage balancing is ensured by drawing or injecting zero instantaneous currents from each of these points at any instant. A six-phase symmetrical IM is used to generate equal and opposite instantaneous phase currents by applying exactly equal and opposite phase voltages for two opposite phases from the six-phase inverter. Simultaneously, the capacitor voltage balancing of H-bridge inverter cells is also achieved by proper selection of redundancies from the available pole voltage redundancies. The concept is verified with a nine-level inverter laboratory prototype, which consists of a five-level stacked inverter, and followed by two low voltage cascaded H-bridge inverters in each phase. Detailed experimental results of steady-state and transient conditions are included to validate the proposed scheme. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this article, a method is proposed for the first time, to increase the linear modulation range till full base speed irrespective of load power factor for a multilevel inverter fed induction motor drive. A five-level inverter with a single dc source is used for the proposed scheme. Using this method, linear pulsewidth modulation (PWM) operation of the inverter can be achieved till peak phase fundamental voltage of 0.637 Vdc without exceeding machine phase voltage rating. This method eliminates all the lower order harmonics from machine phase voltage till the full speed range of operation. The proposed five-level inverter scheme is realized by cascading a two-level inverter with a capacitor fed H-bridge, feeding open-end induction motor drive from one end and a capacitor fed two-level inverter from the other end. The proposed scheme uses space vector redundancy to balance all the capacitors during its operation. Operation of the proposed drive is analyzed extensively for normal five-level operation as well as during the extended modulation range. Experimental results for steady state and transient state operation are presented to validate the proposed scheme [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]