Performance Evaluation of a Grid-Tied 5-Level Cascaded H-Bridge Multilevel Inverter for Harmonic Suppression and Modular Control

The demand for energy-efficient and power quality-compliant grid interfaces has increased with the proliferation of renewable energy systems. This paper presents the performance evaluation of a five-level Cascaded H-Bridge (CHB) multilevel inverter interfaced with the grid. A comprehensive simulation study is conducted using MATLAB/Simulink, focusing on voltage waveform quality, harmonic content, and control strategy. The proposed system employs phase-shifted carrier pulse width modulation (PSCPWM) to optimize switching and minimize Total Harmonic Distortion (THD). The simulation results confirm that the multilevel inverter architecture significantly enhances power quality and meets IEEE-519 standards. This study reinforces the potential of CHB inverters for smart grid and distributed generation applications due to their modularity, harmonic performance, and scalability.