Neutral-point-clamped PWM inverter

摘要

A neutral-point-clamped PWM inverter arrangement for reducing output harmonic content. The arrangement includes a DC power source circuit having positive, negative and neutral terminals, a first group of switching elements connected at one end to the power source positive terminal, a second group of switching elements connected at one end to the power source negative terminal and at the other end to the corresponding switching elements of the first group, respectively, a third group of switching elements connected between the power source neutral terminal and the junctions of the switching elements of the first group and the second group, and a fourth group of switching elements connected in parallel with corresponding switching elements of the third group, respectively. Output terminals are connected to points where a switching element of the first group is connected to the corresponding ones of the second group to provide phase output voltages. The switching elements of the first to fourth groups are so controlled that the maximum voltage value is half the voltage applied by the DC power source circuit. The voltage across each phase output terminal and the neutral terminal changes first to the potential of the positive terminal, then to the potential of the neutral terminal, next to the potential of the negative terminal, again to the potential of the neutral terminal and once again to the potential of the positive terminal.