Three-level neutral-point-clamped inverters in transformerless PV systems — State of the art

Nowadays, the three-level neutral point clamped (3L-NPC) inverter has become more attractive among multilevel inverters topologies, especially in transformerless grid connected photovoltaic systems. Due to the unbalance between the two DC load-side capacitor voltages, the development and improvement of such topology were important topics in recent studies. New structures were derived focusing on better distribution of losses, increasing efficiency, decreasing the switching devices losses and the conduction losses. For this reason, seven derived topologies are discussed in this paper and compared among the conventional inverter. In addition, a part of this study focuses on modifying modulation techniques in order to comply with the neutral point fluctuation problem. Several carrier-based PWM and space vector modulation techniques are considered, discussed and compared.