A Comparative Study of Multicell Amplifiers for AC-Power-Source Applications

AC test power sources are essential for testing electric equipment that is ac-mains connected. Typically, linear power amplifiers (LPAs) are mainly employed as ac test sources because of their high fidelity and excellent dynamic behavior. However, these LPAs have very high losses in their output stages, which make the systems bulky and expensive due to the large heatsinks that are required. In recent years, two approaches have attracted popular interest to improve the efficiency of ac power sources. These are hybrid operation, i.e., combination of linear and switch mode, and multilevel switch-mode inverters. In this paper, three types of multilevel power amplifiers, based on hybrid or switching technology, are presented, namely: hybrid multicell amplifier (H-MCA), amplitude-modulated (AM) + pulsewidth-modulated (PWM) MCA (AP-MCA), and PWM MCA (P-MCA). For each of these topologies, the operating principle and control scheme are introduced. Finally, a 1-kVA laboratory prototype, which can realize all the three topologies, is built, and the measured performance based on this universal prototype are compared.