Abstract: | This paper presents an improved method of voltage utility factor (VUF) from 50 to 86.6% for a five‐leg inverter when two induction motors are driven in vector control and in a condition where the frequencies of the two motors are not very different, and the improved method of voltage utility is theoretically shown. Many modulation methods for the five‐leg inverter have been proposed, but the voltage utility factor is 50% in these methods. The voltage utility factor of the five‐leg inverter is lower than that of the three‐leg inverter as maximum voltage utility factor of the three‐leg inverter is 100%. © 2006 Institute of Electrical Engineers of Japan. Published by John Wiley & Sons, Inc. |