A Novel Single Impedance Network Based Neutral Point Clamped Seven Level Three Phase Inveter with Reduced Clamping Diodes for Regenerative Applications

A Multilevel Inverter (MLI) can eliminate the need for the step-up transformer and reduce the harmonics produced by the inverter. This paper presents Neutral Point Clamped (NPC) seven level inverter with less number of clamping diodes which is suitable for regenerative loads such as three phase induction motor with regenerative braking. To reduce the stress across the main switches, diodes are clamped anti-parallel to the main switches. In Earlier configurations, the numbers of clamping diodes were increased proportionately with the number of levels and the number of impedance network required increases with increase number of levels. Therefore the cost and converter size increases as the number of levels goes high. In this paper a single impedance network based seven level neutral point clamped inverter with reduced number of clamping diodes without deterioration in performance is proposed, the simulation of proposed circuit is carried out using MATLAB/Simulink and the results for the same are presented. The MOSFET internal capacitance and body diodes are used for active clamping which eliminates the need for snubber circuit.