Pinned mid-points multilevel inverter (PMP): Three-phase topology with high voltage levels and one bidirectional switch

High power applications need high efficiency devices to produce lower power losses and harmonics while meeting the limitation of voltage and current. Multilevel inverters generate smoother and higher voltage at the output with lower harmonics. They can deliver high power while using medium-voltage switches. In this paper a Pinned Mid-Points (PMP) multilevel inverter topology is introduced and studied which is derived from a Bidirectional Neutral Point Clamped (BNPC) three-level inverter. The proposed PMP multilevel inverter has fewer switches and clamping diodes than the Cascaded H-bridge (CHB) and Neutral Point Clamped (NPC) inverters, moreover it has less bidirectional switches in comparison with the BNPC. Moreover, it can be extended to three-phase inverter same as a NPC only using three legs and common DC link. A five-level inverter using proposed topology is validated by Matlab/SimPowerSystems. It shows the appropriate results of voltage and current as well as their THD%.