A review of various multilevel inverter topologies with reduced component count

In the recent years, newer topologies of multilevel inverters have been developed with reduced number of power electronic devices and their features have been highlighted. These topologies are divided into three categories of symmetric, asymmetric and hybrid and their numerous characteristics are tabulated. These configurations are capable of generating higher voltage levels and they have minimized the usage of passive filters to a great extent. A comparative study of these architectures in terms of the controller and the loads used by them has been tabulated. The popularly used modulation techniques are also mentioned. The usage of separate DC sources makes it possible to be used for renewable energy applications. And various modulation techniques used by these topologies are also discussed.