Cascaded Connection of Sub-Multilevel Inverters Based on Switched Capacitors

This paper presents a cascaded sub-multilevel converter designed for photovoltaic applications. The proposed converter achieves high voltage gain while utilizing a reduced number of power electronic components. Two different methods for determining the DC source voltage levels are introduced, offering flexibility in system design. A comparative analysis with existing multilevel converter topologies highlights its advantages in terms of component count and voltage boosting performance. The results demonstrate reductions in the number of DC sources, power switches, diodes, and capacitors, contributing to lower system costs, a more compact structure, and simplified control. To assess the performance of the proposed topology, extensive simulations were conducted using PSCAD/EMTDC software, with the results confirming its effectiveness.