Bat algorithm based selective harmonic elimination PWM for an eleven level inverter

Abstract

Multilevel inverters are the vital drives in industry and new energy power schemes. Selective Harmonic Elimination (SHE) based inverters are the best choice for attaining the preferred fundamental component as well as for harmonic free electrical applications. Since the SHE-PWM methodology has non-linear and transcendental equations, finding the appropriate switching angles for this are so difficult. In this paper, Bat Algorithm (BA) is proposed to solve the switching angles for an eleven level inverter with dissimilar dc sources. This proposed algorithm is validated with thorough simulation for finding its viability and efficiency. The attained results prove that Bat algorithm is very effective than Genetic algorithm (GA) and Flower Pollination Algorithm (FPA) in removing the selective harmonics and in turn that leads to the minimization of Total Harmonic Distortion (THD) in the voltage output.