ABSTRACT
The classic multilevel converters, like the diode-clamped, flying capacitor, or cascade H-bridge, present modular structures. This chapter presents a systematic analysis of the classical multilevel topologies. The aim of this analysis is to give the basis to the development of new topologies with more voltage levels and reduced complexity. The systematic analysis, together with the introduction of a new method with a graphic representation of the switching states and the voltage levels, allows visualizing and understanding the behavior of multilevel converters. So, the first stage, near the DC source, has vertically connected basic cells, while the last one, near the load, has only one. So, the generalized topology is useful to understand the operation of multilevel topologies, but its practical implementation is not convenient when the number of levels increases. The diode-clamped multilevel topology preserves the structure and number of stages of the generalized topology.
