| Abstract: | This paper proposes a novel current‐source multilevel inverter, which is based on a current‐source half‐bridge topology. Multilevel inverters are effective for reducing harmonic distortion in the output voltage and the output current. However, the multilevel inverters require many gate drive power supplies to drive switching devices. The gate drive circuits using a bootstrap circuit and a pulse transformer can reduce the number of the gate drive power supplies, but the pulse width of the output PWM waveform is limited. Furthermore, high‐speed power switching devices are indispensable to create a high‐frequency power converter, but various problems, such as high‐frequency noise, arise due to the high dv/dt rate, especially in high‐side switching devices. The proposed current‐source multilevel inverter is composed of a common emitter topology for all switching devices. Therefore, it is possible to operate it with a single power supply for the gate drive circuit, which allows stabilizing the potential level of all the drive circuits. In this paper, the effectiveness of the proposed circuit is verified through experimental results. © 2008 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Electr Eng Jpn, 166(2): 88–95, 2009; Published online in Wiley InterScience ( www.interscience.wiley.com ). DOI 10.1002/eej.20475 |
