A new configuration for multilevel converters with diode clamped topology

Due to the increased use of renewable energy and power electronic applications, more multilevel converters (MLC) are developed. A Neutral Point Clamped (NPC) inverter is one of the most used multilevel topologies for wind turbine (WT) and photovoltaic (PV) applications. One of the most crucial points in this type of converter is dc-voltage control. In this paper, a novel multi output dc-dc converter connected to a diode clamped topology is presented. This converter, for a given duty cycles, is able to regulate the capacitor voltage to provide an appropriate input voltage for NPC regardless of load changes which can avoid neutral point balancing problem in such converters. In addition, the presented topology is suitable for renewable energy systems to boost the low rectified output-voltage. In order to verify the proposed topology, steady state analysis, modelling and simulations are carried out.