A Family of Single-Phase Single-Stage Boost Inverters

H-bridge inverter is a common topology used for single-phase applications. Due to its limited voltage gain, a two-stage power conversion with a front-end dc-dc converter is usually adopted to accommodate the low dc source voltage. Recently, single-stage boost inverters are gaining significant interest due to their higher power efficiency and compactness. This paper presents a family of boost inverters with continuous dc source current. By the incorporation of merely a power switch and a boost inductor to the first leg of H-bridge, voltage-boosting and 3-level generation can be simultaneously achieved within a single-stage operation. All potential topologies using the same number of components are derived. An extension to generate five voltage levels with voltage gain enhancement is also proposed. The operation of the proposed boost inverters is thoroughly analyzed. Simulation and experimental results are presented for verification.