Seven-Level Active-Neutral-Point-Clamped Inverter Topology With Voltage Boosting Capability

This paper presents a novel seven-level inverter with boosting capability for grid-connected renewable applications. The topology is derived from a standard five-level active-neutral-point-clamped (ANPC) converter. The proposed modification includes the addition of three switches in a manner which enables the full utilization of the dc-link voltage. With the natural balancing of the dc-link capacitor voltages being preserved and the dc-link midpoint retained as the return path for the load current, eliminates the problem of ground leakage current. A simple series-parallel technique employed for balancing of the floating capacitor voltage further reduces the control complexity. Simple logic gate based pulse width modulation scheme is applied for the control of the proposed topology. A comprehensive comparison with other similar topologies is included to prove the merits of the proposed topology. A detailed simulation study is carried out to validate the feasibility and operability of the proposed topology and the results are elucidated.