Multilevel inverters and methods of controlling multilevel inverters

1. A method of controlling an inverter, comprising:

generating a neutral-phase reference waveform;

generating a neutral-phase midpoint compensation waveform using the neutral-phase reference waveform;

generating a neutral-phase compensated duty cycle waveform using the neutral-phase midpoint compensation waveform; and

generating neutral-phase switch command signals for switches of a neutral-phase of the inverter using the neutral-phase compensated duty cycle waveform.

2. The method as recited in claim 1 , wherein the inverter has a neutral wire and M-phases, M being greater than or equal to 3.

3. The method as recited in claim 1 , wherein generating a neutral-phase reference waveform comprises generating phase reference waveforms for each phase of the inverter.

4. The method as recited in claim 1 , wherein generating a neutral-phase reference waveform comprises generating the neutral-phase reference waveform using a pulse-density modulation technique.

5. The method as recited in claim 1 , wherein generating a neutral-phase midpoint compensation waveform comprises generating a phase midpoint compensation waveform for each phase of the inverter.

6. The method as recited in claim 1 , wherein generating a neutral-phase compensated duty cycle waveform comprises generating a phase compensated duty cycle waveform for each phase of the inverter.

7. The method as recited in claim 1 , wherein generating a neutral-phase compensated duty cycle waveform comprises subtracting one-half the neutral-phase reference waveform from a minimum of 0 and the neutral-phase reference waveform.

8. The method as recited in claim 1 , wherein generating a neutral-phase compensated duty cycle waveform comprises adding one-half the neutral-phase reference waveform to a maximum of 0 and the neutral-phase reference waveform.

9. The method as recited in claim 1 , wherein generating neutral-phase switch command signals for switches of a neutral-phase of the inverter comprises generating phase switch command signals for switches of each phase of the inverter using a phase compensated duty cycle waveform for each phase of the inverter.

10. The method as recited in claim 1 , further comprising connecting each phase of the inverter to a midpoint rail for equivalent periods of time during switching cycles of the inverter.

11. The method as recited claim 1 , further comprising:

receiving direct current (DC) at the inverter; and

inverting the DC power into alternating current (AC) power using the neutral-phase switch command signals.

12. A multilevel inverter, comprising:

a neutral-phase with a plurality of switches;

a direct current (DC) midpoint rail connected to the switches; and

a controller operatively connected to the plurality of switches and disposed in communication with a memory having instructions recorded thereon that, when read by the controller cause the controller to:

generate a neutral-phase reference waveform;

generate a neutral-phase midpoint compensation waveform using the neutral-phase reference waveform;

generate a neutral-phase compensated duty cycle waveform using the neutral-phase midpoint compensation waveform; and

generate neutral-phase switch command signals for switches of a neutral-phase of the inverter using the neutral-phase compensated duty cycle waveform.

13. The inverter as recited in claim 12 , wherein the inverter has a neutral wire and M-phases, M being greater than or equal to 3, and wherein the instructions further cause the controller to:

generate phase reference waveforms for each phase of the inverter;

generate a phase midpoint compensation waveform for each phase of the inverter using the phase reference waveforms;

generate a phase compensated duty cycle waveform for each phase of the inverter using the phase midpoint compensation waveforms; and

generate phase switch command signals for switches of each phase of the inverter using a phase compensated duty cycle waveform for each phase of the inverter.

14. The inverter as recited in claim 12 , wherein the inverter has a neutral wire and M-phases, M being greater than or equal to 3, and wherein the instructions further cause the controller to connect each phase of the inverter to a midpoint rail for equivalent periods of time during switching cycles of the inverter phases.

15. The inverter as recited in claim 12 , further comprising a multilevel DC link connected to the inverter.

16. The inverter as recited in claim 12 , further comprising a rectifier connected to the inverter.

17. The inverter as recited in claim 16 , further comprising a variable frequency AC power source connected to the inverter by the rectifier.

18. The inverter as recited in claim 16 , further comprising an AC bus connected to the inverter, the AC bus comprising an A-phase lead, a B-phase lead, a C-phase lead, and a neutral-phase lead.

19. A computer program product tangibly embodied on a computer readable medium, the computer program product including instructions that, when executed by a processor, cause the processor to perform operations comprising:

generating a neutral-phase reference waveform;

generating a neutral-phase midpoint compensation waveform using the neutral-phase reference waveform;

generating a neutral-phase compensated duty cycle waveform using the neutral-phase midpoint compensation waveform; and

generating neutral-phase switch command signals for switches of a neutral-phase of the inverter using the neutral-phase compensated duty cycle waveform.

20. The computer program product of claim 19 , wherein the instructions cause the processor to further perform the operation:

connecting each phase of the inverter to a midpoint rail for equivalent periods of time during switching cycles of the inverter phases.