Novel Cascaded Switched-Diode Multilevel Inverter for Renewable Energy Integration

In this paper, a new topology of two-stage cascaded switched-diode (CSD) multilevel inverter is proposed for medium-voltage renewable energy integration. First, it aims to reduce the number of switches along with its gate drivers. Thus, the installation space and cost of a multilevel inverter are reduced. The spike removal switch added in the first stage of the inverter provides a flowing path for the reverse load current, and as a result, high voltage spikes occurring at the base of the stepped output voltage based upon conventional CSD multilevel inverter topologies are removed. Moreover, to resolve the problems related to dc source fluctuations of multilevel inverter used for renewable energy integration, the clock phase-shifting (CPS) one-cycle control (OCC) is developed to control the two-stage CSD multilevel inverter. By shifting the clock pulse phase of every cascaded unit, the staircase-like output voltage waveforms are obtained and a strong suppression ability against fluctuations in dc sources is achieved. Simulation and experimental results are discussed to verify the feasibility and performances of the two-stage CSD multilevel inverter controlled by the CPS OCC method.