Practical implementation of modified converter

Renewable energy generation is becoming more popular in recent years. The most important part of this energy system is the DC-AC power converter. There are many types of power converters. Since the PV system supplies multiple DC sources from solar cells, the suitable type that's used in the PV system is the Multilevel Converters (MLCs). Another advantage of using MLC is that it gives a rated output voltage without using step-up transformers as well. Total Harmonic Distortion (THD) of the terminal voltage and load current decreases without using the PWM technique, because the output is in stairway form as compared with the traditional single stage square wave converter that has a high THD. This paper focuses on the cascaded Multilevel-DC Link (ML-DCL) converter-case study (seven levels) modeling, simulation, and practical implementation. As compared with the traditional types of MLCs, the ML-DCL converter can considerably decrease the number of power semiconductor switches, especially when the voltage levels increase to more than five. Simulation results using MATLAB Simulink are presented to confirm the performance of the cascaded ML-DCL converter and then experimentally validated using the Arduino board and the prototype circuit.