A nine‐switch inverter for driving two AC motors independently

Abstract This paper presents a nine‐switch inverter that can drive two AC motors independently. Recently, as an inverter that can drive them independently, a five‐leg inverter has been proposed. Ten switching devices are used for the five‐leg inverter, whereas only nine are used for the nine‐switch inverter. So, the nine‐switch inverter has the merit that one switching device can be reduced compared to the five‐leg inverter. Moreover, the maximum output voltage of the nine‐switch inverter equals that of the five‐leg inverter. In this work, we propose the structure of the nine‐switch inverter and a modulation method for the same, and validate the nine‐switch inverter by showing simulation results. Copyright © 2007 Institute of Electrical Engineers of Japan. Published by John Wiley & Sons, Inc.