Experimental Verification of a Modular Multilevel Cascade Inverter Based on Double-Star Bridge Cells

A modular multilevel cascade inverter based on double-star bridge cells (MMCI-DSBC) is expected to be one of the next-generation medium-voltage pulsewidth modulation (PWM) inverters intended for grid connections. This inverter is formed by six modular arms, each of which consists of a cascaded stack of multiple full-bridge converters. The DSBC is different from the traditional two-level PWM inverter in that the ac voltages are independent of the dc link voltage. Hence, the DSBC is suitable for a grid-connected inverter with a time-varying dc link voltage. This paper describes the DSBC with a focus on its operating principles and performance. The validity of the inverter is confirmed by experiments using a three-phase, 200-V, and 10-kW downscaled system.