An innovative 11-level multilevel inverter topology with rotating trapezoidal SPWM for industrial and renewable applications

Abstract This paper provides a new, less complex multilevel inverter topology that can be used for industrial loads and renewable energy sources. The arrangement consists of eight switches to produce an 11-level output voltage with two uneven input sources. Moreover, it can be connected in a cascade to increase the output voltage and number of levels even further. Due to its control mechanism, which is based on the Rotating Trapezoidal Sinusoidal Pulse Width Modulation control method for creating a high-quality output voltage, the inverter’s key characteristic is its very low harmonic distortion of 3.45% at the output voltage when compared to the advanced triangular carrier-based PWM techniques of phase disposition sinusoidal pulse width modulation (PD-SPWM) it produces harmonic distortion of 11.38% at the output voltage, phase opposition disposition sinusoidal pulse width modulation (POD-SPWM) it produces harmonic distortion of 6.43% at the output voltage, alternative phase opposition disposition sinusoidal pulse width modulation (APOD-SPWM) it produces harmonic distortion of 6.69% at the output voltage, IN-Shift sinusoidal pulse width modulation (IN-shift SPWM) it produces harmonic distortion of 3.93% at the output voltage. This inverter is commonly used in wind turbines and solar cells. The schemes are implemented in MATLAB/SIMULINK and are validated with single-phase 11-level inverter implemented by using digital signal controller (DSC).