Minimizing THD Using a Multilevel Inverter Integrated with MPPT
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Keywords
Modified Multilevel Inverter (MMLI), Total Harmonic Distortion (THD), Maximum Power Point Tracking (MPPT), Photovoltaic (PV) Systems, Boost Converter
Abstract
This paper presents a novel Modified Multilevel Inverter (MMLI) topology to reduce Total Harmonic Distortion (THD) in photovoltaic (PV) systems. Unlike conventional Cascaded H-Bridge Inverters, the proposed MMLI achieves higher output voltage levels using fewer switching components by optimizing the arrangement of voltage sources and switches. A Boost converter integrated with Maximum Power Point Tracking (MPPT) further enhances power conversion efficiency and system stability. This specific configuration has not been previously explored, offering a more effective solution for THD mitigation. Simulations conducted in MATLAB/Simulink demonstrate the inverter’s performance, with the 5-level MMLI achieving a THD of 28.99% and the 9-level configuration reducing it to 18.15%. These results confirm the superiority of the proposed topology in improving power quality and reducing system complexity. Moreover, the design eliminates the need for external filters, making it a cost-effective and practical option for grid-connected PV applications.
References
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[18] A. K. Bhullar, R. Kaur, and S. Sondhi, “Design of FOPID Controller for Optimizing AVR System using Neural Network Algorithm,” 2020 IEEE 17th India Counc. Int. Conf. INDICON 2020, 2020, doi: 10.1109/INDICON49873.2020.9342274.
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[20] M. Kermadi, S. Member, Z. Salam, J. Ahmed, and E. M. Berkouk, “An Effective Hybrid Maximum Power Point Tracker of Photovoltaic Arrays for Complex,” IEEE Trans. Ind. Electron., vol. 66, no. 9, pp. 6990–7000, 2019, doi: 10.1109/TIE.2018.2877202.
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[22] X. Meng, F. Gao, and T. Xu, “Optimized Design of Artificial Neural Network based Global MPPT for PV System under Partial Shading Conditions,” 2020 IEEE 9th Int. Power Electron. Motion Control Conf. IPEMC 2020 ECCE Asia, pp. 1729–1733, 2020, doi: 10.1109/IPEMC-ECCEAsia48364.2020.9368084.
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[24] T. R. Wellawatta and S. J. Choi, “Adaptive partial shading determinant algorithm for solar array systems,” J. Power Electron., vol. 19, no. 6, pp. 1566–1574, 2019, doi: 10.6113/JPE.2019.19.6.1566.
[25] A. Nikam, P. Ranade, and T. Goswami, “Diagnosis of Leprosy through AI-based Mobile Application,” 2022 OPJU Int. Technol. Conf. Emerg. Technol. Sustain. Dev. OTCON 2022, pp. 1–6, 2023, doi: 10.1109/OTCON56053.2023.10114031.
[26] P. Hu, A. Ukil, and N. K. C. Nair, “Maximum Power Point Tracking Algorithm Based on Adaptive Particle Swarm Optimization Under Partial Shading Conditions,” IECON Proc. (Industrial Electron. Conf., pp. 1–6, 2023, doi: 10.1109/IECON51785.2023.10311755.
[27] Y. Gopal, D. Birla, and M. Lalwani, “Selected Harmonic Elimination for Cascaded Multilevel Inverter Based on Photovoltaic with Fuzzy Logic Control Maximum Power Point Tracking Technique,” no. Mli, 2018, doi: 10.3390/technologies6030062.
[28] T. Abdelkrim, N. Bouarroudj, A. Lakhdari, B. Benlahbib, A. Borni, and K. Benamrane, “Design Novel Fuzzy Logic Controller of Photovoltaic Conversion Cascade Based Five Levels Inverter for Stand-Alone Applications,” Proc. - 2019 IEEE Int. Conf. Environ. Electr. Eng. 2019 IEEE Ind. Commer. Power Syst. Eur. EEEIC/I CPS Eur. 2019, 2019, doi: 10.1109/EEEIC.2019.8783315.
[29] A. Tiwari and R. Agarwal, “A comparative analysis of PI & FLC based grid connected PV system with power backup to improve power quality A comparative analysis of PI & FLC based grid connected PV system with power backup to improve power quality,” no. August, 2023, doi: 10.1088/2631-8695/ac9cb6.
[30] A. K. Rawat, S. Chandra, and V. K. Deolia, “An Optimal Approach for The Voltage Deviation Minimization in Grid Connected SPV and BESS Based System,” 2023 Int. Conf. Network, Multimed. Inf. Technol., pp. 1–6, 2023, doi: 10.1109/NMITCON58196.2023.10276162.
[31] A. M. A. Haidar, F. Ramli, and A. Helwig, “Analysis of Grid-connected Solar PV System Operation based on Energy Router Concept,” 2022 7th IEEE Work. Electron. Grid, eGRID 2022, pp. 1–5, 2022, doi: 10.1109/eGRID57376.2022.9990021.
[2] C. M. Wolff et al., “Highly Efficient Perovskite-on-Silicon Tandem Solar Cells on Planar and Textured Silicon,” pp. 1119–1119, 2022, doi: 10.1109/pvsc48317.2022.9938735.
[3] P. Holzhey, M. Prettl, S. Collavini, N. Chang, and M. Saliba, “Towards Commercialisation with Lightweight, Flexible Perovskite Solar Cells for Residential Photovoltaics,” 2023 IEEE 50th Photovolt. Spec. Conf., pp. 1–1, 2023, doi: 10.1109/pvsc48320.2023.10359927.
[4] A. A. A. Hafez, “Multi-level cascaded DC / DC converters for PV applications,” Alexandria Eng. J., vol. 54, no. 4, pp. 1135–1146, 2015, doi: 10.1016/j.aej.2015.09.004.
[5] L. S. H. Kumar, K. A. Kumar, S. M. Babu, and B. L. Narasimharaju, “A Novel Current Fed Multi-Output DC-DC Converter for High Gain Applications,” 2023 IEEE 3rd Int. Conf. Sustain. Energy Futur. Electr. Transp. SeFet 2023, pp. 1–5, 2023, doi: 10.1109/SeFeT57834.2023.10245258.
[6] P. M. Rodrigo, R. Velázquez, and E. F. Fernández, “DC / AC conversion efficiency of grid-connected photovoltaic inverters in central Mexico,” Sol. Energy, vol. 139, pp. 650–665, 2016, doi: 10.1016/j.solener.2016.10.042.
[7] M. Abbassi, “DC / AC Conversion Efficiency of Grid-Connected Photovoltaic Inverters with Sensorless MPPT,” 2023 IEEE Int. Conf. Adv. Syst. Emergent Technol., pp. 1–6, 2023.
[8] A. Al Mamun, M. I. I. Sakib, K. F. I. Faruque, M. R. Uddin, and K. M. Salim, “A Grid-Tie Microinverter Design Based on Dual-Switch Flyback Topology for Solar PV Application,” 8th Int. Conf. Eng. Emerg. Technol. ICEET 2022, no. October, pp. 1–5, 2022, doi: 10.1109/ICEET56468.2022.10007209.
[9] F. Salem and M. A. Awadallah, “Detection and assessment of partial shading in photovoltaic arrays,” J. Electr. Syst. Inf. Technol., vol. 3, no. 1, pp. 23–32, 2016, doi: 10.1016/j.jesit.2015.10.003.
[10] M. A. Zuniga-Reyes, J. B. Robles-Ocampo, P. Y. Sevilla-Camacho, J. Rodriguez-Resendiz, O. Lastres-Danguillecourt, and J. E. Conde-Diaz, “Photovoltaic Failure Detection Based on String-Inverter Voltage and Current Signals,” IEEE Access, vol. 9, pp. 39939–39954, 2021, doi: 10.1109/ACCESS.2021.3061354.
[11] H. Li et al., “Applications of vacuum vapor deposition for perovskite solar cells: A progress review,” iEnergy, vol. 1, no. 4, pp. 434–452, 2023, doi: 10.23919/ien.2022.0053.
[12] S. Datta, A. Baul, G. C. Sarker, P. K. Sadhu, and D. R. Hodges, “A Comprehensive Review of the Application of Machine Learning in Fabrication and Implementation of Photovoltaic Systems,” IEEE Access, vol. 11, no. June, pp. 77750–77778, 2023, doi: 10.1109/ACCESS.2023.3298542.
[13] A. Chaudhary, S. Gupta, D. Pande, F. Mahfooz, and G. Varshney, “Effect of Partial Shading on Characteristics of PV panel using Simscape,” vol. 5, no. 10, pp. 85–89, 2015.
[14] A. Basalamah, H. Ma, H. Eren, A. S. Alghamdi, K. Kamil, and S. Y. Hartono, “Jurnal Nasional Teknik Elektro Comparing MPPT Algorithms for Improved Partial-Shaded PV Power Generations,” vol. 3, 2023.
[15] J. Ahmed and Z. Salam, “An Accurate Method for MPPT to Detect the Partial Shading Occurrence in a PV System,” vol. 13, no. 5, pp. 2151–2161, 2017.
[16] M. Arjun, V. V. Ramana, R. Viswadev, and B. Venkatesaperumal, “An Iterative Analytical Solution for Calculating Maximum Power Point in Photovoltaic Systems under Partial Shading Conditions,” IEEE Trans. Circuits Syst. II Express Briefs, vol. 66, no. 6, pp. 973–977, 2019, doi: 10.1109/TCSII.2018.2867088.
[17] M. Mansoor, A. F. Mirza, Q. Ling, and M. Y. Javed, “Novel Grass Hopper optimization based MPPT of PV systems for complex partial shading conditions,” Sol. Energy, vol. 198, no. January, pp. 499–518, 2020, doi: 10.1016/j.solener.2020.01.070.
[18] A. K. Bhullar, R. Kaur, and S. Sondhi, “Design of FOPID Controller for Optimizing AVR System using Neural Network Algorithm,” 2020 IEEE 17th India Counc. Int. Conf. INDICON 2020, 2020, doi: 10.1109/INDICON49873.2020.9342274.
[19] M. Austin et al., “Optimizing Dynamic Legged Locomotion in Mixed, Resistive Media,” IEEE/ASME Int. Conf. Adv. Intell. Mechatronics, AIM, vol. 2022-July, pp. 1482–1488, 2022, doi: 10.1109/AIM52237.2022.9863276.
[20] M. Kermadi, S. Member, Z. Salam, J. Ahmed, and E. M. Berkouk, “An Effective Hybrid Maximum Power Point Tracker of Photovoltaic Arrays for Complex,” IEEE Trans. Ind. Electron., vol. 66, no. 9, pp. 6990–7000, 2019, doi: 10.1109/TIE.2018.2877202.
[21] S. Chaudhary and A. Singh, “Simplified Optimized Fuzzy Logic Controller for Maximum Power Point Tracking in PV Array under Partial Shading Conditions,” 2021 IEEE Mysore Sub Sect. Int. Conf. MysuruCon 2021, pp. 279–284, 2021, doi: 10.1109/MysuruCon52639.2021.9641647.
[22] X. Meng, F. Gao, and T. Xu, “Optimized Design of Artificial Neural Network based Global MPPT for PV System under Partial Shading Conditions,” 2020 IEEE 9th Int. Power Electron. Motion Control Conf. IPEMC 2020 ECCE Asia, pp. 1729–1733, 2020, doi: 10.1109/IPEMC-ECCEAsia48364.2020.9368084.
[23] J. Bai, Y. Cao, Y. Hao, Z. Zhang, S. Liu, and F. Cao, “Characteristic output of PV systems under partial shading or mismatch conditions,” Sol. Energy, vol. 112, pp. 41–54, 2015, doi: 10.1016/j.solener.2014.09.048.
[24] T. R. Wellawatta and S. J. Choi, “Adaptive partial shading determinant algorithm for solar array systems,” J. Power Electron., vol. 19, no. 6, pp. 1566–1574, 2019, doi: 10.6113/JPE.2019.19.6.1566.
[25] A. Nikam, P. Ranade, and T. Goswami, “Diagnosis of Leprosy through AI-based Mobile Application,” 2022 OPJU Int. Technol. Conf. Emerg. Technol. Sustain. Dev. OTCON 2022, pp. 1–6, 2023, doi: 10.1109/OTCON56053.2023.10114031.
[26] P. Hu, A. Ukil, and N. K. C. Nair, “Maximum Power Point Tracking Algorithm Based on Adaptive Particle Swarm Optimization Under Partial Shading Conditions,” IECON Proc. (Industrial Electron. Conf., pp. 1–6, 2023, doi: 10.1109/IECON51785.2023.10311755.
[27] Y. Gopal, D. Birla, and M. Lalwani, “Selected Harmonic Elimination for Cascaded Multilevel Inverter Based on Photovoltaic with Fuzzy Logic Control Maximum Power Point Tracking Technique,” no. Mli, 2018, doi: 10.3390/technologies6030062.
[28] T. Abdelkrim, N. Bouarroudj, A. Lakhdari, B. Benlahbib, A. Borni, and K. Benamrane, “Design Novel Fuzzy Logic Controller of Photovoltaic Conversion Cascade Based Five Levels Inverter for Stand-Alone Applications,” Proc. - 2019 IEEE Int. Conf. Environ. Electr. Eng. 2019 IEEE Ind. Commer. Power Syst. Eur. EEEIC/I CPS Eur. 2019, 2019, doi: 10.1109/EEEIC.2019.8783315.
[29] A. Tiwari and R. Agarwal, “A comparative analysis of PI & FLC based grid connected PV system with power backup to improve power quality A comparative analysis of PI & FLC based grid connected PV system with power backup to improve power quality,” no. August, 2023, doi: 10.1088/2631-8695/ac9cb6.
[30] A. K. Rawat, S. Chandra, and V. K. Deolia, “An Optimal Approach for The Voltage Deviation Minimization in Grid Connected SPV and BESS Based System,” 2023 Int. Conf. Network, Multimed. Inf. Technol., pp. 1–6, 2023, doi: 10.1109/NMITCON58196.2023.10276162.
[31] A. M. A. Haidar, F. Ramli, and A. Helwig, “Analysis of Grid-connected Solar PV System Operation based on Energy Router Concept,” 2022 7th IEEE Work. Electron. Grid, eGRID 2022, pp. 1–5, 2022, doi: 10.1109/eGRID57376.2022.9990021.
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Jul 31, 2025
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How to Cite
Andi Syarifuddin, Pakka, H. M., Halit Eren, Ahmed Saeed AlGhamdi, Umar, U., Widya Wisanti, & Amelya Indah Pratiwi. (2025). Minimizing THD Using a Multilevel Inverter Integrated with MPPT. Jurnal Nasional Teknik Elektro, 14(2), 63–72. https://doi.org/10.25077/jnte.v14n2.1257.2025
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Electrical Power and Energy
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