Analysis of a Cascade Asymmetric Topology for Multilevel Converters

In this paper a complete analysis of a cascaded asymmetric topology for multilevel converters is presented. This topology allows to synthesize five voltage levels with a reduced number of switches and capacitors when compared to the generalized topology or the most common symmetric topologies. The converter behaves like an hybrid converter with the advantage of working with only one DC bus. It appears as a very good and simple alternative to build five level converters with minimum number of switches and only one flying capacitor per phase. The proposal is tested with Pspice simulations in a STATCOM application.