i

ABSTRACT
In this thesis, the elimination of harmonics in a Cascaded Multilevel
Inverter (CMLI) by considering the non-equality of separated dc sources by
using Firefly Algorithm (FFA) is presented. Solving a nonlinear transcendental
equation set describing the harmonic elimination problem with non-equal dc
sources reaches the limitation of contemporary computer algebra software tools
using the resultant method.


The proposed approach in this thesis can be applied to solve the problem
in a simple manner, even when the number of switching angles is increased and
the determination of these angles using the resultant theory approach is not
possible. Results show that the proposed method does effectively eliminate a
great number of specific harmonics, and the output voltage is resulted in low
total harmonic distortion.












ii

TABLE OF CONTENTS
CHAPTER NO TITLE PAGE NO
ABSTRACT i
LIST OF TABLES iv
LIST OF FIGURES vi
1 INTRRODUCTION 1
1.1. PREAMBLE 1
1.2. LITERATURE REVIEW 3
1.3. SCOPE AND OBJECTIVE 6
2 PROBLEM FORMULATION 7
2.1. INTRODUCTION 7
2.2. MULTILEVEL INVERTER 8
2.3. CASCADED MLI 11
2.4. HARMONICS IN POWER SYSTEMS 19
2.4.1. Effects of Harmonics 20
2.4.2. Sources of Harmonics 20
2.4.3. Symptoms of Harmonics 21
2.5. HARMONIC OPTIMIZATION 22
3 FIREFLY ALGORITHM 26
3.1. FIREFLY IN NATURE 26
3.2. PSEUDO CODE OF THE FFA 28
iii

3.3. FLOWCHART FOR FFA 30
4 RESULTS AND DISCUSSIONS 31
4.1. INTRODUCTION 31
4.2. MATLAP/SIMULINK 31
4.3 MATLAP PLATFORM 32
4.4 SIMULINK 33
4.5. SIMULATION RESULTS 33
5 CONCLUSION 40
REFERENCES 41














iv

LIST OF FIGURES

FIGURE NO TITLE PAGE NO
2.1 MLI Topologies 9
2.2(a) Cascaded Multilevel Inverter 11
2.2(b) Cyclic Switching Sequence 12
2.2(c) Switching Strategies to generate 13
+3V dc at load
2.2(d) Switching Strategies to generate 13
-3V dc at load
2.2(e) Switching Strategies to generate 14
+2V dc at load
2.2(f) Switching Strategies to generate 14
+2V dc at load
2.2(g) Switching Strategies to generate 15
+V dc at load
2.2(h) Switching Strategies to generate 15
-V dc at load
2.2(i) Switching Strategies to generate 16
0 at load
2.3 Output of an 11 level Cascaded MLI 16
2.4 Seven level Topologies 18
2.5 Inverter output and load voltage 23
4.1 Circuit Diagram of MLI 35
4.2(a) Output phase voltage (M=0.6) 36
4.2(b) FFT analysis for phase voltage (M=0.6) 36
4.3(a) Output line voltage (M=0.6) 37
v

4.3(b) FFT analysis for line voltage (M=0.6) 37
4.4(a) Output phase voltage (M=1) 38
4.4(b) FFT analysis for phase voltage (M=1) 38
4.5(a) Output line voltage (M=1) 39
4.5(b) FFT analysis for line voltage (M=1) 39
4.6(a) Output phase voltage (M=1.062) 40
4.6(b) FFT analysis for phase voltage (M=1.062) 40
4.7(a) Output line voltage (M=1.062) 41
4.7(b) FFT analysis for line voltage (M=1.062) 41


















vi

LIST OF TABLES

FIGURE NO TITLE PAGE NO

2.1 Component requirement for different MLIs 10
4.1 DC Voltage Levels 33
4.2 Output Switching Angles 34



















1

Chapter 1
INTRODUCTION
1.1 PREAMBLE
Multilevel voltage-source inverters are suitable configuration to reach
high power ratings and high quality output waveforms besides reasonable
dynamic responses. Among the different topologies for multilevel converters, the
Cascaded Multilevel Inverter (CMLI) has received special attention due to its
modularity and simplicity of control. The principle of operation of this inverter is
usually based on synthesizing the desired output voltage waveform from several
steps of voltage, which is typically obtained from DC voltage sources. There are
different power circuit topologies for multilevel converters. The most familiar
power circuit topology for multilevel converters is based on the cascade
connection of an s number of single-phase full-bridge inverters to generate (2s
+ 1) number of levels. However, from the practical point of view, it is somehow
difficult to keep equal the magnitude of Separated DC Sources (SDCSs) of
different levels. This is because of the different charging and discharging time
intervals of DC-side voltage sources.
To control the output voltage and to eliminate the undesired harmonics in
multilevel converters with equal DC voltages, various modulation methods such
as sinusoidal Pulse Width Modulation (PWM) and space-vector PWM
techniques are suggested. However, PWM techniques are not able to eliminate
lower order harmonics completely. Another approach is to choose the switching
angles so that specific higher order harmonics such as the 5th, 7th, 11th, and
13th are suppressed in the output voltage of the inverter. This method is known
as Selective Harmonic Elimination (SHE) or programmed PWM techniques in
technical literature. A fundamental issue associated with such method is to
obtain the arithmetic solution of nonlinear transcendental equations which
2

contain trigonometric terms and naturally present multiple solutions. This set of
nonlinear equations can be solved by iterative techniques such as the Newton
Raphson method. However, such techniques need a good initial guess which
should be very close to the exact solution patterns. Furthermore, this method
finds only one set of solutions depending on the initial guess. Therefore, the
NewtonRaphson method is not feasible to solve the SHE problem for a large
number of switching angles if good initial guesses are not available.
A systematic approach to solve the SHE problem based on the
mathematical theory of resultant, where transcendental equations that describe
the SHE problem is converted into an equivalent set of polynomial equations and
then the mathematical theory of resultant is utilized to find all possible sets of
solutions for this equivalent problem.
This method is also applied to Multilevel Inverters with unequal DC
sources. However, applying the inequality of DC sources results to the
asymmetry of the transcendental equation set to be solved and requires the
solution of a set of high-degree equations, which is beyond the capability of
contemporary computer algebra software tools. In fact, the resultant theory is
limited to find up to six switching angles for equal DC voltages and up to three
switching angles for non-equal DC voltage cases.
More recently, the real-time calculation of switching angles with
analytical proof is presented to minimize the Total Harmonic Distortion (THD)
of the output voltage of multilevel converters. However, the presented analytical
proofs only validate to minimize all harmonics including triples and cannot be
extended to minimize only non-triple harmonics that are suitable for three-phase
applications.
The harmonic elimination for multilevel converters by Genetic Algorithm
(GA) approach is only applied to equal DC sources and needs considerable
3

computational time. Moreover, this method has not succeeded to find switching
angles for some modulation indices which have solutions. This thesis presents a
modern stochastic search technique based on Firefly Algorithm (FFA) to deal
with the problem for equal DC sources.
In this thesis, the FFA approach is developed to deal with the SHE
problem with unequal DC sources while the number of switching angles is
increased and the determination of these angles using conventional iterative
methods as well as the resultant theory is not possible. In addition, for a low
number of switching angles, the proposed FFA approach reduces the
computational burden to find the optimal solution compared with iterative
methods and the resultant theory approach. The proposed method is used to
solve the asymmetric transcendental equation set of the harmonic minimization
problem of the Cascaded Multilevel Inverter.

1.2 LITERATURE REVIEW
MLIs have been drawing growing attention in the recent years especially in
the distributed energy resources area because several batteries, fuel cells, solar
cells or rectified wind turbines or micro turbines can be connected through a MLI
to feed a load or interconnect to the AC grid without voltage balancing problems.
In addition, MLIs have a lower switching frequency than standard PWM inverters
and thus have reduced switching losses. The development of MLI began in the
early 1980s when Nabae et al proposed the NPC pulse width modulated inverter.
Since then several multilevel topologies, namely the diode clamped MLI, the
flying capacitors MLI and cascaded MLI have evolved and are applied in
adjustable speed drives, electric utilities and renewable energy systems. Among
the three MLI topologies, cascaded MLIs have more advantages than the other
two. Cascaded MLIs require less component count in producing the same output
4

voltage levels. They do not require a large number of clamping diodes and flying
capacitors. They are easier to be modularized and soft switched and they do not
have the problem of neutral point voltage unbalancing.
Cascaded MLIs have been the subject of research in the last several years,
where the DC sources were considered to be identical in that all of them were
batteries, solar cells, fuel cells etc. In, a MLI was presented in which the two
SDCS were the secondaries of two transformers coupled to the utility AC power.
Corzine et al have proposed a MLI using a single DC power source and capacitors
for the other DC sources.
A method was developed to transfer power from the DC power source to
the capacitor in order to regulate the capacitor voltage. A similar approach was
later proposed in Cascaded multilevel inverters using single dc source by
Du et al. These approaches required a DC power source for each phase. The scope
of this thesis has been restricted to the cascaded MLIs with SDCS for each H-
bridge cell which is typically produced by using transformer/rectifier combination.
The hot point in MLI research is its control strategies based on PWM.
During the past two decades, variety of multilevel PWM methods have
been proposed and researched which have significantly promoted the development
of the field. Three multilevel PWM methods most discussed in the literature are
Multilevel SVPWM, carrier based PWM and SHE.
Carrara et al have successfully extended the basic two level sinusoidal
PWM techniques to MLI and have shown three different ways to position the
carrier waves. Calais et al analyzed the multicarrier PWM methods for a single
phase five level inverter. Most of the modulation methods developed for MLIs are
based on multiple carrier arrangements with PWM. The carrier can be arranged
with vertical shifts (phase disposition, phase opposition disposition and alternative
phase disposition PWM).
5

SHE is also extended for MLIs. A different approach to the problem of
harmonic elimination for PWM waveform generation was used in. This approach
is based on the use of Walsh series expansion of PWM waveforms rather than
Fourier series. Walsh series were also applied for optimum PWM pattern in
induction motor. It is shown that the Walsh coefficients of a PWM waveform are
not only a function of PWM waveform angle but also of Walsh subinterval within
which the angle lies. It is pointed out that the algorithm has the restriction that
within a given interval, only one angle is allowed to vary and if there exists a
solution that requires two or more angles to vary in the same selected interval,
then such a solution cannot be detected by the method shown.
Chiasson et al used the mathematical theory of resultants to compute the
optimum switching angles. The expressions involved were high order polynomials
that could not be solved when the number of levels in the MLI became large. The
switching times (angles) are chosen appropriately such that a desired fundamental
output is generated and specifically chosen harmonics of the fundamental are
suppressed. In particular, the harmonic elimination approaches in produces a
system of non-linear transcendental equations that requires the Newton-Raphson
matrix method for its solutions.
SHE methods such as Newton-Raphson method and elimination by the
theory of resultant are complicated and time consuming. There are a few examples
of applications of GA for power electronics in the literature but only recently has
GA been applied to Multilevel Inverters. FFA a global search technique for
optimizing problem in is applied for optimizing the switching angles of MLIs in
this work.



6

1.3 SCOPE AND OBJECTIVE
In this thesis, Firefly Algorithm is proposed for the solution of selective
harmonic elimination problem. In this thesis work, Firefly Algorithm is used to
find the switching angles of the Multilevel Inverter to minimize particular order
harmonics. The proposed method is tested on an 11-level cascaded Inverter. The
results of the proposed Firefly Algorithm technique show the elimination of
selected harmonics in the output voltage of the Multilevel Inverter.




















7

Chapter 2
PROBLEM FORMULATION
2.1 INTRODUCTION
The problem of eliminating harmonics in inverter has been focus of research
for many years. If the switching losses in an inverter are not a concern (i.e.
switching on the order of a few kHz is acceptable) then the sine-triangle PWM
method and its variants are very effective in controlling the inverter. This is
because the generated harmonics are beyond the bandwidth of the system being
actuated and therefore these harmonics do not dissipate power. Multilevel
inversion is a control strategy in which the output voltage is obtained in steps thus
bringing the output closer to a sine wave and reducing the THD. The multilevel
VSI is popularly used in high power industrial applications such as AC power
supplies, static VAR compensators, drive systems etc. The outputs of MLIs are in
stepped form, resulting in reduced harmonics compared to a square-wave inverter.
To reduce the harmonics further, different multilevel SPWM and SVPWM
schemes are suggested in the literature; however these PWM techniques increase
the control complexity and switching frequency.
On the other hand, for systems where high switching efficiency is of utmost
importance, it is desirable to keep the switching frequency much lower. In this
case, another approach is to choose the switching times (angles) such that a
desired fundamental output is generated and specifically chosen harmonics of the
fundamental are suppressed. This is referred to as selective harmonic elimination
or programmed harmonic elimination as the switching angles are chosen or
programmed to eliminate specific harmonics.
SHEPWM has been intensively studied in order to achieve low THD. The
common characteristic of the SHEPWM method is that the waveform analysis is
performed using Fourier theory. The selective harmonic elimination problem is
8

formulated as a set of transcendental equations that must be solved to determine
the time (angles) in an electrical cycle for turning the switching devices on and off
in a full H-bridge inverter so as to produce a desired fundamental amplitude while
eliminating particular order harmonics. These transcendental equations are mostly
solved using iterative numerical techniques like Newton-Raphson method to
compute the switching angles.
This method is derivative dependent and may end in local optima; however
a judicious choice of the initial values alone guarantees convergence. As an
alternative solution to the harmonic optimization problem, Firefly Algorithm
(FFA) technique is presented in this work. FFA solves the same problem with a
simpler formulation and with any number of levels without extensive derivation of
analytical expressions.

2.2 MULTILEVEL INVERTERS
MLIs easily produce high-power, high-voltage output with the multilevel
structure because of the way the device voltage stresses are controlled in the
structure. Increasing the number of voltage levels in the inverter without requiring
higher ratings on individual devices can increase the power rating. The unique
structure of multilevel VSI allows them to reach high voltages with low harmonics
without the use of transformers or series connected synchronized switching
devices. As the number of voltage levels increases, the harmonic content of the
output voltage decreases significantly.
The MLIs synthesize a near sinusoidal voltage from several DC voltage
sources. As the number of levels increases, the synthesized output has more steps,
resembling a staircase wave that approaches a desired sinusoidal waveform. As
the number of levels increases, the output voltage that can be spanned by
summing multiple voltage levels also increases.
9

MLIs have many attractive features like high voltage capability, reduced
common mode voltages, near sinusoidal outputs, low dv/dt and smaller or even no
output filter, making the inverters suitable for high power applications.



Figure 2.1 MLI topologies (a) Diode clamped MLI (b) Flying capacitor MLI
(c) Cascaded MLI

The MLIs can be classified into three types as shown in Fig. 2.1:
i) Diode Clamped Multilevel Inverter
ii) Flying Capacitors Multilevel Inverter
iii) Cascaded Multilevel Inverter



10

Table 2.1 Comparison of component requirements for different MLIs
Inverter
Configuration
Diode clamped
MLI
Flying capacitors
MLI
Cascaded
MLI
Main switching
Devices
2(m-1) 2(m-1) 2(m-1)
Main diodes 2(m-1) 2(m-1) 2(m-1)
Clamping
diodes
(m-1)(m-2) 0 0
DC bus
capacitors
(m-1) (m-1) (m-1)/2
Balancing
capacitors
0 (m-1)(m-2)/2 0

Table 2.1 compares the power component requirements among three types
of MLIs having m levels in the output. This table shows that the same number of
main switches and main diodes are needed by the inverters to achieve the same
number of m voltage levels in the output.
Clamping diodes are not needed in flying capacitor and cascaded inverter
configurations while balancing capacitors are not needed in diode clamped and
cascaded inverter configurations. Implicitly, the cascaded MLI requires the least
number of components to achieve given number of voltage levels and hence a
sample cascaded seven level inverter is taken for study in this work.



11

2.3 CASCADED MULTILEVEL INVERTER
The power circuit (Fig.2.2 (a)) consists of a cascade of N independent
single-phase inverters. These are of full-bridge configuration with SDCS, which
may be batteries, fuel cells or solar cells and are connected in series. Each FBI
unit can generate a three level output: +V
DC
, 0 or V
DC
by connecting the DC
source to the AC load by different combinations of the four switches of each FBI.
Using the top FBI as the example, turning on S
11
and S
41
yields +V
DC
output.
Turning on S
21
and S
31
yields -V
DC
output. Turning off all switches yields 0 volts
output. The AC output voltage at other FBIs can be obtained in the same manner.
The number of voltage levels at the load generally defines the number of FBIs in
cascade. The number of FBI units or DC sources N is (m-1)/2 where m is the
sum of zero level and the number of positive and negative levels in MLI output.
Each switching component turns ON and OFF only once per cycle i.e. at the line
frequency.

Figure 2.2 (a) Cascaded Multilevel Inverter

12

The main features of cascaded Multilevel Inverters are:
- For real power conversions from DC to AC, the cascaded inverters need
separate DC sources. The structure of SDCS is well suited for various
renewable energy sources such as fuel cell, photovoltaic cell and biomass.
- It can generate almost sinusoidal output voltage while switching only one time
per fundamental cycle.
- It can eliminate transformers of multi-pulse inverters used in conventional
utility interfaces and static VAR compensators.

Figure 2.2 (b) Cyclic switching sequence of a sample seven level inverter


13

Figure 2.2 (b) shows the cyclic switching sequence for a sample MLI. The
switching strategies to generate +3V
DC
,-3 V
DC
,+2 V
DC
, -2 V
DC
,+ V
DC
,- V
DC
,0 at
load are displayed in Fig. 2.2 (c) Fig. 2.2 (i). The Multilevel Inverters load
voltage V
a0
(Fig. 2.22(a)) is equal to the sum of the output voltages
(V
a1
,V
a2
,.V
aN
) of the individual FBI units.


V
dc
V
dc
S
11
S
21
S
31 S
41
S
12
S
22
S
32
S
42
L
O
A
D
S
13
S
23
S
33
S
43
V
dc
V
dc
V
dc
V
dc
S
11
S
21
S
31 S
41
S
12
S
22
S
32
S
42
L
O
A
D
S
13
S
23
S
33
S
43

Figure 2.2 (c) Switching strategies to
generate +3V dc at load

Figure 2.2 (d) Switching strategies to
generate -3 V dc at load
14

V
dc
V
dc
S
11
S
21
S
31
S
41
S
12
S
22
S
32
S
42
L
O
A
D
S
13
S
23
S
33
S
43
V
dc
V
dc
V
dc
V
dc
S
11
S
21
S
31 S
41
S
12
S
22
S
32
S
42
L
O
A
D
S
13
S
23
S
33
S
43
V
ao

Fig.2.2 (e) Switching strategies to Fig.2.2 (f) Switching strategies to
generate +2V
DC
at load generate -2V
DC
at load

15

V
dc
V
dc
S
11
S
21
S
31
S
41
S
12
S
22
S
32
S
42
L
O
A
D
S
13 S
23
S
33
S
43
V
dc
Vao

V
dc
V
dc
S
11
S
21
S
31 S
41
S
12
S
22
S
32
S
42
L
O
A
D
S
13
S
23
S
33
S
43
V
dc

Figure 2.2 (g) Switching strategies to
generate +V dc at load

Figure 2.2 (h) Switching strategies to
generate V dc at load


16


V
dc
V
dc
S
11
S
21
S
31 S
41
S
12
S
22
S
32
S
42
L
O
A
D
V
o
S
13
S
23
S
33
S
43
V
dc

Figure 2.2 (i) Switching strategies to generate 0 volts at load



Figure 2.3 Output of an 11 level Cascaded Multilevel Inverter
17


The use of transformers presents advantages particularly in terms of voltage
matching, protection and insulation. The transformer increases the cost and
reduces the overall efficiency of the compensator. These transformers
1) are the most expensive equipment in the system
2) will produce about 50% of the total losses of the system
3) will occupy a large area of real estate, about 40% of the total system
4) will cause difficulties in control due to DC magnetizing and surge over
voltage problems resulting from saturation of transformers and
5) are unreliable.
MLIs are an attractive option for a transformer-less series voltage sag/swell
compensator. The number of possible voltage levels at the output generally
defines the Multilevel Inverter topologies. The relatively low harmonic content of
the unfiltered output voltage, compared to conventional inverters, is also an
attractive feature. The voltage levels needed for compensation are provided in this
work by a sample single phase seven level inverter structure consisting of three H-
bridge inverters connected in series. The individual bridges are switched at line
frequency when voltage step control is employed. Hence switching losses are
reduced resulting in high efficiency and therefore operating costs of the
compensator are low.
The cascaded Multilevel Inverter has a separate DC source (V
DC
) for each
individual FBI. Each FBI unit can generate a three-level output +V
DC
or -V
DC
. The
Multilevel Inverter output voltage V
a0
in Fig. 3.2 is equal to the sum of the output
voltages of the individual FBI units (V
a1
, V
a2
,V
a3
) and can be controlled to
produce a staircase waveform similar to that in Fig. 2.3.

18


Fig. 2.4 Sample Cascaded 7 level topology

The cascaded inverter structure is simple since no real power needs to be
supplied other than the losses. The DC sources are floating and no transformer is
required for coupling to the transmission system. For each FBI unit, the current
rating is the nominal current of the transmission system.
The AC output rating and therefore the DC source rating depend upon the
total compensation voltage required, the number of converters and the sharing of
19

the load voltage among individual units. One of the main advantages of this
topology, compared to other multilevel topologies, is the fact that the maximum
number of levels is only limited by isolation constraints. Its robustness and ease of
control are also advantages.

2.4 HARMONICS IN POWER SYSTEMS
One of the biggest problems in power quality aspects is the harmonic
contents in the electrical system. Harmonic in power circuits is created by non-
sinusoidal loads which are integer multiples of the supply frequency. The rapid
growth of power electronics has greatly increased the number and size of these
loads, with the utility and their control. Harmonics are unnecessary high frequency
voltages or currents flowing in a power system.
Generally, harmonics may be divided into two types:
1) Voltage harmonics
2) Current harmonics

Current harmonics are usually generated by harmonics contained in supply
voltage and depend on the type of load such as resistive load, capacitive load and
inductive load. Both harmonics can be generated by either the source or the load.
Harmonics generated by load are caused by non-linear operation of devices
including power converters, arc-furnaces, gas discharge lighting devices etc. Load
harmonics can cause the overheating of the magnetic cores of transformer and
motors. On the other hand, source harmonics are mainly generated by power
supply with non-sinusoidal voltage. Voltage and current harmonics imply power
losses, EMI and pulsating torque in AC motor drives. There are several methods
to indicate the quantity of harmonic contents of a periodic wave. One among them
is THD which is mathematically given by
20

1
2 n
2
n
H
H
THD

=
=
and defined in terms of the amplitudes of the harmonics H
n
at frequency n
0

where
0
is frequency of the fundamental component whose amplitude is H
1
and
n is an integer. Since any periodic waveform can be shown to be the
superposition of a fundamental and a set of harmonic components, by applying
Fourier transformation, these components can be extracted. The frequency of each
harmonic component is an integral multiple of its fundamental.

2.4.1 Effects of Harmonics
- Sudden increase in demand reduced capacity utilization and increased
energy losses.
- Increase in neutral current, overheating of motor windings, overloading of
diesel generator sets, fire hazards due to burning of over-heated cables.
- Saturation of transformers, frequent damage to switchgears and controls.
- Amplification of harmonic currents in capacitor banks and frequent failure
of capacitors.
- Inaccurate and excess recording by power/energy meters.
- Interference with communication equipment.
- Nuisance, tripping of circuits and interruption in production flow.
2.4.2 Sources of Harmonics
Non-linear loads like thyristors/IGBT based drives/Variable Frequency
drives
Induction heating furnaces
Arc furnaces
21

Battery Charging Rectifiers
UPSs
SMPSs
PCs
Electronic chokes in lights.
2.4.3 Symptoms of Harmonics
- Blinking of incandescent bulbs
- Flickering of fluorescent tubes
- Fuses blowing for no apparent reason
- Motor failures due to overheating
- Excessive neutral current.
- Neutral conductor and terminal failures
- Failure of electromagnetic loads
- Overheating of metal enclosures
- Power interference on voice communication

2.5 HARMONIC OPTIMIZATION
The output voltage for a sample cascaded seven level Inverter is shown in
Fig.2.4 for m=7 where m=number of steps in the positive and negative side after
including the zero levels also. Switching angles to eliminate 5
th
,7
th
,11
th
and higher
22

order are designed usually assuming that the peak fundamental output voltage is a
desired fraction of its maximum value. For any Cascaded Multilevel Inverter, the
output voltage is

Where

Due to the quarter wave symmetry along the x-axis in load voltage of
Fig.2.3, both Fourier coefficients A
0
and A
n
are zero. B
n
is defined as
B
n

4Vdc
= [
}
2
1
t
u
k
1
sin(nt)d(t) +
}
2
2
t
u
k
2
sin(nt)d(t) +. +
}
2
t
uN
k
N
sin(nt)d(t)]
( )
(

=
=
N
1 j
j
dc
n cos
n
4V
(2.2)

which gives the instantaneous output voltage v
a0
as
( ) t v
a0
e ( )
(

=
=
=

N
n
1 j
j j
dc
n cos k
n
4V
1
( ) t n sin e (2.3)
Where

Equation (3) provides the generalized Fourier series expansion of the output
voltage. If the peak output voltage

must equal to the carrier peak voltage

= (m-1) V
DC
. Thus the modulation index M is
( )
dc
cr
ac
cr
V 1 m
V
V
V
M
(peak)
(peak)
(peak)

= =
(2.4)
23

Load voltage
V
1
+V
2
+V
3
V
1
+V
2
V
1
V
1
+V
2
+V
3
V
1
+V
2
V
1
Inverter III Output
Inverter II Output
Inverter I Output
V
1
V
2
V
3
1 2 3

2


Figure 2.5 Inverter outputs and load voltage in a sample seven level inverter

Two predominating techniques in choosing the switching angles
1
,
2
,..
N

are to:
1) Eliminate the lower frequency dominant harmonics or
2) Minimize the THD.
The more popular and straight forward of the two techniques is the first,
that is to eliminate the lower dominant harmonics and filter the output to remove
the higher residual frequencies. Here the choice is also to eliminate the lower
frequency harmonics. The goal here is to choose the switching angles 0
1
<
24

2
<,..<
N
/2 to make the first harmonic equal to the desired fundamental
voltage V
1
(RMS) and specific higher harmonics of v
a0
(t) equal to zero. If the
application of interest is a three-phase motor drive or FACTS device, the triplen
harmonics in each phase need not be canceled as they automatically cancel in the
line-to-line voltage.
The switching angles
1
,
2
,
3
,
4
,
5
can be chosen such that the THD of the
output voltage is minimized. These angles are normally chosen so as to cancel
some predominant lower frequency harmonics. To eliminate 5
th
, 7
th
,
11
th
and 13
th

harmonics assuming that the peak fundamental output voltage is the same as its
maximum value, the following equations are solved for different modulation
indices, m=7,N=3 and V
DC
=100.
Cos (5
1
) + Cos (5
2
) + Cos (5
3
) = 0
Cos (7
1
) + Cos (7
2
) + Cos (7
3
) = 0
Cos (11
1
) + Cos (11
2
) + Cos (11
3
) = 0
Cos (13
1
) + Cos (13
2
) + Cos (13
3
) = 0
Cos (
1
) + Cos (
2
) + Cos (
3
) = (/2)M
This is a system of 5 transcendental equations with unknown
1
,
2
,
3
,
4
and
5
. To solve this set of non-linear transcendental equations, Firefly Algorithm
(FFA) technique is used.
The objective function which has to be minimized using FFA is given as,

*|
|

| (
|

||

||

|

)+ (2.5)

Newton-Raphson method is derivative dependent and may end in local
optima; however, a judicious choice of initial values alone guarantees
convergence. So optimization techniques like Firefly Algorithm (FFA) is
25

employed for minimization of harmonics in order to reduce the computational
burden associated with the solution of the non-linear transcendental equation of
the conventional SHE method. An accurate solution will be guaranteed with FFA
even for a higher number of switching angles than other techniques would be able
to calculate for a given computational effort. Hence FFA seems to be promising
methods for applications when a large number of DC sources are sought in order
to eliminate more low-order harmonics to further reduce
the THD.



















26

Chapter 3
FIREFLY ALGORITHM
3.1 FIREFLY IN NATURE
Fireflies or glowworms are the creatures that can generate light inside of
it. Light production in fireflies is due to a type of chemical reaction. This process
occurs in specialized light-emitting organs, usually on a firefly's lower abdomen.
It is thought that light in adult fireflies was originally used for similar warning
purposes, but evolved for use in mate or sexual selection via a variety of ways to
communicate with mates in courtships. Although they have many mechanisms,
the interesting issues are what they do for any communication to find food and to
protect themselves from enemy hunters including their successful reproduction.
The pattern of flashes is often unique for a particular species of fireflies.
The flashing light is generated by a chemical process of bio luminescence.
However, two fundamental functions of such flashes are to attract mating
partners or communication, and to attract potential victim. Additionally, flashing
may also serve as a protective warning mechanism. Both sexes of fireflies are
brought together via the rhythmic flash, the rate of flashing and the amount of
time form part of the signal system. Females respond to a males unique pattern
of flashing in the same species, while in some species, female fireflies can mimic
the mating flashing pattern of other species so as to lure and eat the male fireflies
who may mistake the flashes as a potential suitable mate. The light intensity at a
particular distance from the light source follows the inverse square law. That is
as the distance increases the light intensity decreases. Furthermore, the air
absorbs light which becomes weaker and weaker as there is an increase in the
distance. There are two combined factors that make most fireflies visible only to
a limited distance that is usually good enough for fireflies to communicate each
27

other. The flashing light can be formulated in such a way that it is associated
with the objective function to be optimized. This makes it possible to formulate
new meta-heuristic algorithms.
The firefly algorithm (FFA) is a meta-heuristic algorithm, inspired by the
flashing behaviour of fireflies. The primary purpose for a firefly's flash is to act
as a signal system to attract other fireflies. Now this can idealize some of the
flashing characteristics of fireflies so as to consequently develop firefly inspired
algorithms. For simplicity in describing our new Firefly Algorithm (FFA) [30],
there are the following three idealized rules. On the first rule, each firefly attracts
all the other fireflies with weaker flashes. All fireflies are unisex so that one
firefly will be attracted to other fireflies regardless of their sex. Secondly,
attractiveness is proportional to their brightness which is inversely proportional
to their distances. For any two flashing fireflies, the less bright one will move
towards the brighter one.
The attractiveness is proportional to the brightness and they both decrease
as their distance increases. If there is no brighter one than a particular firefly, it
will move randomly. Finally, no firefly can attract the brightest firefly and it
moves randomly. The brightness of a firefly is affected or determined by the
landscape of the objective function. For a maximization problem, the brightness
can simply be proportional to the value of the objective function. Other forms of
brightness can be defined in a similar way to the fitness function in genetic
algorithms. Based on these three rules, the basic steps of the firefly algorithm
(FFA) can be summarized as the pseudo code shown below.


28

3.2 PSEUDO CODE OF THE FFA
Begin FFA Procedure;
Initialize algorithm parameters:
MaxGen: the maximal number of generations
: the light absorption coefficient
r: the particular distance from the light source
d: the domain space
Define the objective function of f(x), where x =(x
1
, ........, x
d
)
T

Generate the initial population of fireflies or x
i
(i=1, 2... n)
Determine the light intensity of I
i
at x
i
via f (x
i
)
While (t<MaxGen)
For i = 1 to n (all n fireflies);
For j=1 to n (n fireflies)
If (I
j
> I
i
), move firefly i towards j; End if
Attractiveness varies with distance r via exp [- r2];
Evaluate new solutions and update light intensity;
End for j;
End for i;
Rank the fireflies and find the current best;
29

End while;
Print the results;
End procedure;

In the firefly algorithm there are two important issues of the variation of
light intensity and the formulation of the attractiveness

where r or r
ij
is the distance between the i
th
and j
th
of two fireflies.

0
is the attractiveness at r = 0 and is a fixed light absorption coefficient. The
distance between any two fireflies i and j at x
i
and x
j
is the Cartesian distance
as follows:

where x
ik
is the k
th
component of the i
th
firefly ( x
i
). The movement of a
firefly i is attracted to another more attractive (brighter) firefly j, is
determined by

)
where the second term is due to the attraction while the third term is the
randomization with being the randomization parameter. For most cases in the
implementation,

[]
30
















YES
START
Read inverter
data & FFA
data(nf,alpha,
beta0,del,irmax)
For all fireflies initialize
randomly

ij
= rand (0 to /2)
For all i=1 to nf
j=1 to ns
Iter = 1
Evaluate objective function for all
fireflies
F
i
= f(
i1
,
i2
,
ins
)
Rank the fireflies based on their
objective function such that the
firefly with minimum value of
objective function is ranked #1
n
ij
=
ij

A
i = 1
B
YES
NO
NO
is Iter >
itermax
Iter=Iter+
1
B
Print the first firefly
as the best solution.
STOP
beta = beta0 * exp( - gamma *
r
2
)
For all j=1 to ns

ij
= [
ij
(1-beta)]+[n
kj
beta]+[alpha(rand -0.5)]
is k >
i
k=k+
1
i=i+1
A
k = 1
Find distance between fireflies i
and k
r =
[

is i >
nf
YES
3. 3 FLOW CHART FOR SOLVING SHE PROBLEM USING
FIREFLY ALGORITHM
31

Chapter 4
SIMULATION RESULTS
4.1 INTRODUCTION
The nonlinear transcendental equation considering the non-equality of the
DC sources are solved by using Firefly Algorithm (FFA) technique. The
proposed algorithm is coded in MATLAB platform. The proposed algorithm
gives the global optimum switching angles for the 11 level Cascaded Inverter.
The 11 level Cascaded Multi Level Inverter used in this work was simulated in a
MATLAB/SIMULINK platform. Fast Fourier Transform (FFT) of the output
phase voltage and line voltage are plotted and given.
4.2 MATLAB/SIMULINK
MATLAB/SIMULINK is one of the most successful software packages
currently available. It is a powerful, comprehensive and user friendly software
package for simulation studies. A very nice feature of SIMULINK is that it
visually represents the simulation process by using simulation block diagram.
Especially, functions are then interconnected to form a SIMULINK block
diagram that defines the system structure.
Once the system structure is defined, Parameters are entered in the
individual subsystem blocks that correspond to the given system data. Some
additional simulation parameter must also be set to govern how the computation
is carried out and the output data will be displayed. The block diagram of a
sample five level Cascaded Multilevel Inverter is shown in the figure.



32

4.3 MATLAB PLATFORM
The MATLAB platforms consist of five main parts. They are,

a) Development Environment
It incorporates a set of tools and facilities, which allows the use of
MATLAB function and files. Most of these tools are of graphical user interface
in nature. It includes the MATLAB desktop, a command window a command
history, editor, debugger and browsers for viewing help, the workspace, files and
the search path.

b) The MATLAB Mathematical function library
This is a vast collection of computational algorithms ranging from
elementary functions, like sum, sine, cosine, and complex arithmetic to more
sophisticated functions such as matrix inverse, Eigen values, basset functions,
and Fast Fourier Transforms (FFT).

c) The MATLAB language
This is a high level matrix/ array language with control flow statement that
serves to process functions, data structure, input/output, besides it includes
object oriented programming.

d) Graphics
MATLAB has extensive facilities for displaying vectors and matrix as
graphs, besides annotating and printing the graphs. It includes high level
33

function for two-dimensional and three dimensional data visualization, image
processing, animation and presenting graphics.

4.4 SIMULINK
SIMULINK is an interactive tool for modeling, simulating and analyzing
dynamic, multi domain systems. It lets the user to accurately describe, simulate,
evaluate and refine a systems behavior through standard and custom block
libraries. SIMULINK models serve to access MATLAB, providing flexible
operation and an extensive range of analysis.

4.5 SIMULATION RESULTS
To obtain an insight on the proposed optimization technique, a MATLAB
simulation is carried out. The eleven level Cascaded Multi-level Inverter is
simulated using MATLAB/SIMULINK block sets. The harmonic elimination
problem of the Multi-Level Inverter was solved considering the non-equality of
the DC sources. The magnitudes of the DC voltage levels in the experiment are
considered as follows,
Table 4.1 DC voltage levels used in this thesis work.

V
DC1
V
DC2
V
DC3
V
DC4
V
DC5


120

94

85

82

76

34



Table 4.2 Output switching angles obtained using FFA and PSO.

Modulation
index (M)

SWITCHING ANGLES THD
% 1 2 3 4 5
0.6
FFA 36.8110 48.960 59.618 70.869 83.984 6.82
PSO 36.236 51.509 67.473 87.761 86.885 9.03
1
FFA 7.6400 15.341 26.058 36.920 57.174 4.79
PSO 26.174 45.868 57.055 65.102 75.331 5.71
1.062
FFA 4.8004 11.920 21.932 29.054 43.194 4.14
PSO 15.066 35.628 52.760 61.478 79.370 6.66


The above results are given with the following parameters of FFA and
PSO. The calculated switching angles by the FFA method and the corresponding
resulted objective function values are plotted with respect to the modulation
index (M) in Fig. 4.1 and 4.2. By changing the dc-side voltage, the switching
pattern has to be recalculated but, if not, there will be considerable harmonics in
the output voltage waveform. The simulink circuit diagram is shown below.
35



Figure 4.1 Circuit diagram for multilevel inverter

36

The output voltage waveform for different modulation indices and the
corresponding Fast Fourier transform (FFT) analysis are shown in fig(4.4 to 4.9).
The output phase voltage of the eleven level Cascaded Multi Level Inverter for
the optimum switching angle is given below.



Figure 4.2 (a) Output phase voltage (M=0.6) (b)FFT analysis for phase voltage
(M=0.6)
From the FFT plot of the phase voltage, it is observed that the 5
th
, 7
th
, 11
th
,
13
th
order harmonics are effectively minimized. THD is 43.92% with 3
rd
order
harmonic dominating more than 40% of fundamental.
37






Figure 4.3 (a) Output line voltage (M=0.6) (b) FFT analysis for line voltage
(M=0.6)
From the FFT plot of the line voltage, the triplen harmonics are
eliminated. Thus the total harmonic distortion further reduces. THD is 6.82%.

38





Figure 4.4 (a) Output phase voltage (M=1) (b) FFT analysis for phase voltage
(M=1)

From the FFT plot of the phase voltage, it is observed that the 5
th
, 7
th
, 11
th
,
13
th
order harmonics are effectively minimized. THD is 10.24%.

39





Figure 4.5 (a) Output line voltage (M=1) (b) FFT analysis for line voltage (M=1)

From the FFT plot of the line voltage, the triplen harmonics are
eliminated. Thus the total harmonic distortion further reduces. THD is 4.79%.
40






Fig-4.8 (a)output phase voltage (M=1.062) (b)FFT analysis for phase voltage
(M=1.062)

From the FFT plot of the phase voltage, it is observed that the 5
th
, 7
th
, 11
th
,
13
th
order harmonics are effectively minimized. THD is 10.24%.

41





Fig-4.9 (a)output line voltage (M=1.062) (b)FFT analysis for phase voltage
(M=1.062)
From the FFT plot of the line voltage, the triplen harmonics are
eliminated. Thus the total harmonic distortion further reduces. THD is 4.14%.

42

Chapter 5
CONCLUSION
Inverters are used to convert DC input voltage to AC output voltage of
desired magnitude and frequency. MLI structures have been developed to
overcome short comings in solid-state switching device ratings, so that they can be
applied to high voltage electrical systems. Cascaded type MLIs are taken for study
in this work since they have been the subject of research in the last several years,
where the DC sources are batteries, solar cells etc., SHE is implemented in chosen
cascaded MLI by pre-calculating the switching angles of devices such that
particular orders of harmonics are minimized. By employing Firefly Algorithm
technique and by using MATLAB, the formulated non-linear asymmetric
transcendental equations are solved to find the switching angles for minimizing
the harmonics.
The simulation results for output voltage and THD for the proposed
technique is evaluated. The principle of operation of a sample seven level inverter
non-carrier PWM technique for one phase is explained. Thus the harmonics in
the output voltage of the Cascade Multilevel Inverter by considering the non-
equality of separated DC sources is eliminated by using firefly algorithm. The
simulation results are provided for an under modulation (M=0.6), critical
modulation (M=1) and over modulation (M=1.062) an 11-level cascaded H-
bridge inverter to validate the accuracy of the computational results.






43

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