A new hybrid active neutral point clamped flying capacitor multilevel inverter

This paper proposes a new five-level hybrid topology combining features of neutral point clamped and flying capacitor inverters. The proposed topology provides a tradeoff between different component counts to achieve a good loss distribution, avoid direct series connection of semiconductor devices, keep the balanced operation of dc-link capacitors while keeping the number of costly components such as capacitors and switches low. The required modulation strategy is developed and the operation of the proposed topology is studied. The features of the proposed topology are investigated and compared to other available topologies. Simulation results are provided to verify the performance of the converter for medium voltage applications.