Patent ID: 9680395
Date: 2017-06-13
CPC Classifications: H02M,H02S,Y02E

Claim:
1. A five-level active neutral-point-clamping inverter for converting a bipolar direct current (DC) voltage (VDC+and VDC−) to a three-phase alternating current (AC) output voltage, wherein the inverter comprises: a first input terminal (P); a second input terminal (MP); a third input terminal (N); a first inverter output terminal; a second inverter output terminal; a third inverter output terminal; a first multi-state switching cell (MSSC) comprising three input terminals respectively connected to the input terminals (P, MP, N) of the inverter and a first MSSC output terminal connected via an inductor (La) to the first inverter output terminal; a second MSSC comprising three input terminals respectively connected to the input terminals (P, MP, N) of the inverter and a second MSSC output terminal connected via an inductor (Lb) to the second inverter output terminal; and a third MSSC comprising three input terminals respectively connected to the input terminals (P, MP, N) of the inverter and a third MSSC output terminal connected via an inductor (Lc) to the third inverter output terminal, wherein each respective output terminal of the inverter is connected to the second input terminal (MP) of the inverter via a respective capacitor Ca, Cb, Cc, wherein the first second, and third MSSCs each comprise a separate autotransformer (Ta, Tb, Tc), ach separate autotransformer comprising first and second end terminals and an intermediate terminal, wherein switching elements Sa wherein switching elements Sb wherein switching elements Sc wherein the switching elements Sji are bidirectional in current and unidirectional in voltage for jε{a,b,c} and iε{1,2,3,4}, and wherein the switching element Sji are bidirectional in both current and voltage for jε{a,b,c} and iε{5,6}.