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In recent years, multilevel inverters (MLIs) have emerged to be the most empowered power transformation technology for numerous operations such as renewable energy resources (RERs), flexible AC transmission systems (FACTS), electric motor drives, etc. MLI has gained popularity in medium- to high-power operations because of numerous merits such as minimum harmonic contents, less dissipation of power from power electronic switches, and less electromagnetic interference (EMI) at the receiving end. The MLI possesses many essential advantages in comparison to a conventional two-level inverter, such as voltage profile enhancement, increased efficiency of the overall system, the capability of high-quality output generation with the reduced switching frequency, decreased total harmonic distortions (THD) without reducing the power of the inverter and use of very low ratings of the device. Although classical MLIs find their use in various vital key areas, newer MLI configurations have an expanding concern to the limited count of power electronic devices, gate drivers, and isolated DC sources. In this review article, an attempt has been made to focus on various aspects of MLIs such as different configurations, modulation techniques, the concept of new reduced switch count MLI topologies, applications regarding interface with renewable energy, motor drives, and FACTS controller. Further, deep insights for future prospective towards hassle-free addition of MLI technology towards more enhanced application for various fields of the power system have also been discussed. This article is believed to be extremely helpful for academics, researchers, and industrialists working in the direction of MLI technology.

A highly popular alternative in medium voltage and high-power applications is multilevel converters because of their superior performance over conventional two-level converters. The most commonly used control methods in the case of multilevel inverters are sine pulse width modulation (SPWM) and space vector pulse width modulation (SVPWM) methods. Among these two control strategies, SVPWM has superior performance over SPWM in terms of DC bus voltage utilization along with a reduction in total harmonic distortion (THD) of line voltages. The classical SVPWM method has various drawbacks such as computational complexity for identifying the location of reference voltage vector, sector identification, region identification, memory requirement to store lookup tables for switching vectors. The novel simplified SVPWM technique is presented for cascaded H-Bridge multilevel inverter (CHBMLI) in this paper. This simplified SVPWM method has overcome the drawbacks of the classical SVPWM method. This new technique has been implemented into a five-level CHBMLI to evaluate performance and also to compare with the SPWM method. The simulation has been performed in MATLAB software.

This paper presents a new method for reducing the total harmonic distortion (THD) of photovoltaic (PV) systems by using an adaptive filter based on a predictive model. Instead of reducing the produced THD at each stage of the PV system, a one-step process is implemented at the end stage. The connection topology of the adaptive filter is similar to normal active and passive filters. The main difference is its ability to adjust the filtering coefficients while others cannot. The proposed method is applied to a single-phase standalone PV system by adopting least mean square (LMS), normalized LMS (NLMS) and leaky LMS algorithms to verify the validity of the proposed method. Various values of filter length and step size are evaluated, and results indicate that the proposed method can reduce THD in the current signal of the PV system significantly by using all of the mentioned algorithms. Different step sizes and filter lengths directly influence the effectiveness of the THD reduction, with small step sizes and long filters being the most effective. Amongst the algorithms, NLMS reduces THD the most, and LMS reaches the peak current value the fastest.

Different methods for galvanically isolated monitoring of the mains voltage waveform were evaluated. The aim was to determine the level of distortion of the output signal relative to the input signal and the suitability of each method for calculating active power values. Six fixtures were tested: two voltage transformers, an electronic circuit with a current transformer, a standalone current transformer, a simple circuit with optocouplers, and a circuit with an A/D-D/A converter with capacitive coupling. The input and output waveforms were mathematically analyzed by three methods: (1) calculating the spectral components of waveforms and the relative changes in their THD (total harmonic distortion) values, (2) determining the similarity of waveforms according to the size of the area bounded by the input and output waveform curves, and (3) determining the accuracy of the active power calculation based on the output waveform. The time difference in the zero crossing of the input and output signals was measured, and further calculations for the second and third method were performed on the zero-crossing time shift-corrected waveforms. Other aspects of selecting the appropriate type of monitoring element, such as power consumption or overall circuit complexity, were also evaluated.

This paper presents an innovative control scheme designed to significantly enhance the power factor of AC/DC boost rectifiers by integrating an adaptive neuro-fuzzy inference system (ANFIS) with predictive current control. The innovative control strategy addresses key challenges in power quality and energy efficiency, demonstrating exceptional performance under diverse operating conditions. Through rigorous simulation, the proposed system achieves precise input current shaping, resulting in a remarkably low total harmonic distortion (THD) of 3.5%, which is well below the IEEE-519 standard threshold of 5%. Moreover, the power factor reaches an outstanding 0.990, indicating highly efficient energy utilization and near-unity power factor operation. To validate the theoretical findings, a 500 W laboratory prototype was implemented using the dSPACE ds1104 digital controller. Steady-state analysis reveals sinusoidal input currents with minimal THD and a power factor approaching unity, thereby enhancing grid stability and energy efficiency. Transient response tests further demonstrate the system’s robustness against load and voltage fluctuations, maintaining output voltage stability within an 18 V overshoot and a 20 V undershoot during load changes, and achieving rapid response times as low as 0.2 s. Comparative evaluations against conventional methods underscore the superiority of the proposed control strategy in terms of both performance and implementation simplicity. By harnessing the strengths of ANFIS-based voltage regulation and predictive current control, this scheme offers a robust solution to power quality issues in AC/DC boost rectifiers, promising substantial energy savings and improved grid stability. The results affirm the potential of the proposed system to set new benchmarks in power factor correction technology.

Silicon carbide (SiC)-based switching devices provide significant performance improvements in many aspects, including lower power dissipation, higher operating temperatures, and faster switching; compared with conventional Si devices, all these features contribute to these devices generating interest in applications for electric traction systems. The topology that is frequently used in these systems is the voltage source inverter (VSI), but the use of SiC devices in the current source inverter topology (CSI), which is considered as an emerging topology, generates interest. This paper presents a method for improving total harmonic distortion (THD) in the currents of output and efficiency in SiC current source inverter for future application in an electric traction system. The method that is proposed consists of improving the coupling of a bidirectional converter topology, voltage current (V-I) and CSI. The V-I converter serves as a current regulator for the CSI, and allows for the recovery of energy. The method involves an effective selection of the switching frequencies and phase angles for the carrier signals that are present in each converter topology. With this method, it is expected to have a reduction of the total harmonic distortion, THD in the output currents. In addition, a comparative analysis between converters with all-SiC technology and converters with hybrid technology is realized, to verify the impact of the SiC devices in the power converters efficiency.

This paper presents a real-time simulation of a photovoltaic-based distribution static compensator (PV-DSTATCOM) using the Typhoon HIL 604 simulator, demonstrating its effectiveness in reactive power compensation, harmonic mitigation, and active power injection. The system seamlessly transitions between pure DSTATCOM mode, operating during night-time or when PV generation is zero, and PV-DSTATCOM mode, where it injects PV power while enhancing the power quality. A voltage source converter (VSC) regulated by an indirect current control strategy ensures improved power quality at the point of common coupling (PCC). Real-time simulation results under both balanced and unbalanced PCC voltage conditions validate the ability of the PV-DSTATCOM to mitigate power quality disturbances. Notably, the PV-DSTATCOM effectively reduces total harmonic distortion (THD), maintaining levels between 3.03%–5.58% under balanced PCC voltage and 3.95%–5.93% under unbalanced PCC voltage conditions, generally adhering to or remaining near the acceptable limit of IEEE-519 standards across varying solar irradiance levels and non-linear load conditions. Additionally, it maintains a near-unity power factor operation at PCC and stabilizes the DC-link voltage at 900 V (± 5%), ensuring reliable operation.

Grid-connected rooftop and ground-mounted solar photovoltaics (PV) systems have gained attraction globally in recent years due to (a) reduced PV module prices, (b) maturing inverter technology, and (c) incentives through feed-in tariff (FiT) or net metering. The large penetration of grid-connected PVs coupled with nonlinear loads and bidirectional power flows impacts grid voltage levels and total harmonic distortion (THD) at the low-voltage (LV) distribution feeder. In this study, LV power quality issues with significant nonlinear loads were evaluated at the point of common coupling (PCC). Various cases of PV penetration (0 to 100%) were evaluated for practical feeder data in a weak grid environment and tested at the radial modified IEEE-34 bus system to evaluate total harmonic distortion in the current (THDi) and voltage (THDv) at PCC along with the seasonal variations. Results showed lower active, reactive, and apparent power losses of 1.9, 2.6, and 3.3%, respectively, with 50% solar PV penetration in the LV network as the voltage profile of the LV network was significantly improved compared to the base case of no solar. Further, with 50% PV penetration, THDi and THDv at PCC were noted as 10.2 and 5.2%, respectively, which is within the IEEE benchmarks at LV.

With the increasing integration of renewable energies into power grids, their control and power quality are becoming the main focus of many research efforts. In a grid-connected photovoltaic system, the control strategy is necessary to efficiently use the solar energy as well as to ensure high power quality. This paper presents a study on the robustness of a Fractional Order PI controller based on the Particle Swarm Optimization algorithm (PSO-FOPI) in a grid-connected PV system. The controller used was integrated into the inverter to apply voltage-oriented control (VOC). Fractional order controllers have an additional degree of freedom, so that a wider range of parameters is available to provide better control. Parameter optimization of the FOPI and classical PI controllers are performed using the PSO algorithm. The performance of the FOPI controller is compared with that of the classical PI controller. A complete study of the behavior of the grid connected PV system is tested using MATLAB/Simulink. The simulation results show the performance and efficiency of the PSO-FOPI controller compared to the classical PI controller in terms of rapidity, stability and precision, as well as the THD reduction of the current injected to the grid for any variation of solar irradiance.

In this study, a novel water pumping module fed by grid interactive Photo-Voltaic with a bidirectional Power Flow Control was proposed. In addition to improving the pumping system’s reliability, a water pump is powered by a brushless DC motor drive. This method enables the pump to work at its maximum capacity for the entirety of that day, regardless of the weather. The entire system becomes more reliable as a result of the motor’s increased use of photovoltaic (PV) generated power for pumping applications. Maximum Power Point Tracking (MPPT) controller incorporating Machine Learning algorithm drives bridgeless greater static gain DCDC converter to achieve higher power generation point and increment PV efficiency. The PV array’s operation would be managed using the ML back propagation technology to capture the most electricity under any ecological circumstance. A BLDC motor is fed by a Voltage Source Inverter (VSI) that includes a DC bus controlled in both directions by a unit vector template (UVT) approach incorporated in a single-phase voltage source converter (VSC). Additionally, utilizing a PI controller to manage the DC capacitor voltage in the UVT controller at a particular level is not appropriate for the increased PQ capabilities. However, due to tuning problems with the current controller, this controller is unpopular. The aforementioned problems are resolved by employing a unique intelligent-based fuzzy logic controller that achieves good performance features. In this technique, the function of a PV array at its Maximum Power Point (MPP), as well as power quality enhancements and a decrease in Total Harmonic Distortion (THD) of the grid are accomplished. The proposed PI controller attains a significant voltage THD of 3.736. The PI controller, on the other hand, managed to achieve a load voltage THD of 2.629%. The ANFIS method, whose value is 1.739%, is discovered to have a lower THD than all remotes with improved features, it lessens abrupt swings while maintaining steady DC-link voltage.