Five-Level Current Source Inverter With Inductor Cell Using Switching-Cell Structure

This article proposes a single-phase five-level current source inverter with an inductor cell based on the switching-cell (SC) structure. Compared to the conventional inverter, the proposed structure has no open-circuit problem; thus, its reliability is greatly enhanced. The overlap-time inserted in the driving signals can also be minimized to improve the output waveform quality. The proposed inverter's operation is analyzed herein, and the design guideline of SC capacitors is discussed. In addition, the SC extension for the
n
-level topology is provided. A 1-kW prototype is built and tested to validate the effectiveness of the proposed structure.