A Novel Single-Phase Multistring Multilevel Inverter Topology for Distributed Energy Resources

In the micro grid system, the distributed energy resource (DER)-based single-phase inverter is usually adopted. In order to reduce conversion losses, the key is to save costs and size by removing any kind of transformer as well as reducing the power devices. The objective of this paper is to study a novel nine-level Multistring inverter topology for DERs-based dc/ac conversion system. In this study, a high step-up converter is introduced as a front-end stage to improve the conversion efficiency of conventional boost converters and to stabilize the output dc voltage of various DERs such as photovoltaic and fuel cell modules for use with the simplified multilevel inverter. The simplified multilevel inverter requires only four active switches and eight such cascaded H-bridge multilevel inverters. The studied Multistring inverter topology offers strong advantages such as improved output waveforms.