Comparison of 2.3-kV Medium-Voltage Multilevel Converters for Industrial Medium-Voltage Drives

This paper compares the expense of power semiconductors and passive components of a (2.3 kV, 2.4 MVA) two-level, three-level neutral-point-clamped, three-level flying-capacitor, four-level flying-capacitor, and five-level series-connected H-bridge voltage source converter on the basis of the state-of-the-art 6.5-, 3.3-, 2.5-, and 1.7-kV insulated gate bipolar transistors for industrial medium-voltage drives. The power semiconductor losses, the loss distribution, the installed switch power, the design of flying capacitors, and the components of an sine filter for retrofit applications are considered.