thd minimization of the output voltage for asymmetrical 27-level inverter using ga and pso methods

Multilevel voltage source inverters have several advantages compare to traditional voltage source inverter. these inverters reduce cost, get better voltage waveform and decrease total harmonic distortion (thd) by increasing the levels of output voltage. in this paper genetic algorithm (ga) and particle swarm optimization (pso) methods are used to find the switching angles for achieving to the minimum thd for output voltage waveform of the cascaded h-bridge multi-level inverters (mli). these methods are used for a 27-level inverter for different modulation indices. result of two methods is identical and in comparison to other methods have the smallest thd. to verify results of two mentioned methods, a simulation using matlab/simulink software is presented.