Advanced SVPWM Techniques for Multi-Level Inverters: Enhancing Performance and Reducing Complexity

Over the last few years, notable progress has occurred in electric vehicle (EV) technology. Inverters are key components for electric vehicles (EV). Various PWM strategies have been implemented by OEMs over past years. For most of PWM scheme timing calculation & Lengthy algorithm increases complexity. The proposed a novel Pulse Width Modulation (PWM) control technique for generating inverter lag switching times in multi-level inverters. The proposed Space Vector PWM (SVPWM) method eliminates the need for sector and region identification by utilizing sampled values of reference phase voltages, thereby reducing computational efforts and complexities. The scheme can generate N-level PWM signals and offers flexibility to operate with fewer levels, including operation in the overmodulation range.

The sampled magnitudes reference phase voltages are converted into timing signals that are subsequently processed by an algorithm to modify modulating signals. These modulating signals are individually decoded to generate PWM pulses for each phase, making the scheme applicable towards any multilevel inverter configuration. The timing signals are applied to a five-level inverter formed by cascading two three-level inverters. The performance of the inverter is validated using an induction motor drive with open-end winding, with simulations conducted in MATLAB and Simulink software.