A Self-Balanced Step-Up Multilevel Inverter Based on Switched-Capacitor Structure

In this paper, a dc to ac converter with the ability of voltage increasing is presented. This inverter is designed in a way that just one dc source is used. Also, by using power storage technique and with combining charged capacitors and dc source in series form, output voltage levels can be increased. This inverter is in a modular structure and has the ability of capacitor's voltage self-balancing. H-bridge inverter was not used at the end of the proposed converter and all elements tolerate a voltage stress equal to the amount of input dc source. This leads to remarkable decrease of total standing voltage and peak inverse voltage. Other advantage of the proposed inverter is its potentiality of performance in high-frequency applications. The modular form of the proposed inverter provides the potentiality of extension to higher voltage levels and eases the maintenance. Moreover, considering to the fact that the stress of all components of the suggested inverter is equal to the input source, the performance in high voltage is added to the characteristics of the proposed inverter. The nine-level structure of the proposed inverter is simulated and laboratory test is carried out for the verification of its performance.