Performance analysis of cascaded H-bridge 13 level STATCOM during switch fault

STATCOM utilization to compensate the reactive power of the grid must be protected from faults in the switches. The switching of the STATCOM makes it more vulnerable to switch failures such as open circuit and short circuit due to high frequency switching. This paper introduces several switching techniques applied to a 13-level cascaded H-bridge inverter topology with fault detection and mitigation. The performance and analysis is evaluated with dynamic fault conditions. Reconfiguring the switch failures in any of the H-bridge by bypassing the faulty H-bridge with a bi-directional switch, along with THD spectrum analysis is presented with graphical representation.