Shunt compensation for medium voltage distribution systems requires higher rating for voltage source converters (VSCs). Ratings of the semiconductor devices in a VSC are always limited; therefore, for higher rated converters it is desirable to distribute the stress among the number of devices using multilevel topology. Cascaded multilevel configuration of the inverter has the advantage of its simplicity and modularity over the configurations of the diode-clamped and flying capacitor multilevel inverters. Application of cascaded multilevel converters for shunt compensation of distribution systems has been described in Literature. This paper presents an investigation of five-Level Cascaded H – bridge (CHB) Inverter as Distribution Static Compensator (DSTATCOM) in Power System (PS) for compensation of reactive power and harmonics. The advantages of CHB inverter are low harmonic distortion, reduced number of switches and suppression of switching losses. A CHB Inverter is considered for shunt compensation of an 11 kV distribution system. Finally a level shift carrier PWM (LSCPWM) and phase shifted PWM (PSPWM) techniques are adopted to investigate the performance of CHB Inverter. The results are obtained through Matlab/Simulink software package. The proposed DSTATCOM is simulated for both linear and nonlinear loads.
Volume 11 | Issue 6
Pages: 130-138