Abstract—In this paper, a new configuration of a three-phase
five-level multilevel voltage-source inverter is introduced. The proposed
topology constitutes the conventional three-phase two-level
bridge with three bidirectional switches. A multilevel dc link using
fixed dc voltage supply and cascaded half-bridge is connected in
such a way that the proposed inverter outputs the required output
voltage levels. The fundamental frequency staircase modulation
technique is easily used to generate the appropriate switching gate
signals. For the purpose of increasing the number of voltage levels
with fewer number of power electronic components, the structure
of the proposed inverter is extended and different methods to determine
the magnitudes of utilized dc voltage supplies are suggested.
Moreover, the prototype of the suggested configuration is manufactured
as the obtained simulation and hardware results ensured
the feasibility of the configuration and the compatibility of the
modulation technique is accurately noted.
Index Terms—Bidirectional switch, fundamental frequency
staircase modulation, multilevel inverter.