Optimized Modular Step-Level Converter with Minimal Components Using Evolutionary Technique for Sustainable Power Solutions

Power electronic converters gains prommence in industrial automation. The converters role is inevitable in industrial environment and facilitates the power flow between source and load. The power semiconductor switches are used for the conversion of current or voltage from one form to another and controlled by a control unit. There are four classification of converters; rectifier converting AC to DC, inverters converting DC to AC, choppers converting fixed DC to variable DC and finally the AC regulators. High power requirement paves a way to the design of multilevel converter. The high power rating is the attractive feature of multi- level converter and plays immense role in renewable energy sector. The multilevel power electronics converter finds its applications in medium and high voltage grid (Lai & Peng 1996, Rodriguez et al. 2002, Tolbert et al. 1999). A wide number of applications are there for multilevel power converters, however some of them are as follows; locomotive sector (Stemmler 1993), static VAR compensators (Fujita et al. 1995), flexible AC transmission (Tolbert et al. 2000) and traction (Tolbert et al. 1998). The multilevel inverter gains importance in adjustable speed drives.