European Journal of Scientific Research

ISSN 1450-216X Vol.49 No.2 (2011), pp.168-176

© EuroJournals Publishing, Inc. 2011
http://www.eurojournals.com/ejsr.htm

Double Carrier Pulse Width Modulation Control of

Z-Source Inverter

U.Shajith Ali
Department of EEE, SSN College of Engineering, Chennai, Tamil Nadu, India
E-mail: shajithali@ssn.edu.in
Tel: +91-044 -27475065; Fax: +91-044-27475063

V.Kamaraj
Department of EEE, SSN College of Engineering, Chennai, Tamil Nadu, India
E-mail: kamarajv@ssn.edu.in
Tel: +91-044 -27475065; Fax: +91-044-27475063

Abstract

This paper presents a novel carrier based PWM control method for the three phase
Z-source inverter by using two carrier and three reference waves. The boost factor is made
independent of modulation index. Here, for a constant modulation index, voltage gain can
be varied by changing the applied dc offset voltage of the carrier wave. The control
method, relationship between voltage gain and dc offset voltage are analyzed in detail. This
method gives highest voltage gain as compared to other conventional PWM control
schemes. Simulation and experimental results are presented to demonstrate the new
features.

Keywords: Z-source inverter, Current source inverter, Voltage source inverter, Double
carrier PWM, Total harmonic distortion.

1. Introduction
Traditionally power inverters can be broadly classified either as voltage-source inverter (VSI) or
current source inverter (CSI). They both suffer from the common limitation that they are either boost
or buck converter and cannot be a buck-boost converter. That is, their obtainable output voltage range
is limited to either greater or smaller than the input voltage. Also their main circuits are not
interchangeable and they are vulnerable to EMI noise in terms of reliability. Z-source inverters (ZSI)
have been recently proposed as an alternative power conversion concept as they can have both voltage
buck and boost capabilities. Figure 1 shows the main circuit of the Z-source inverter. It employs a
unique impedance network coupled between the power source and the converter circuit that consists of
a split-inductor L1 and L2 and capacitors C1 and C2 connected in X shape. This unique impedance
network allows the Z-source inverter to buck or boost its output voltage, and also provides it with
unique featuers that cannot be achieved in traditional power inverters.
Many pulse-width modulation (PWM) control methods have been developed and used for the
traditional three phase voltage source inverter. The traditional VSI has six active vectors when the dc
voltage is impressed across the load and two zero vectors when the load terminals are shorted through
either the lower or upper three devices. These total eight switching states and their combinations have
Double Carrier Pulse Width Modulation Control of Z-Source Inverter 169

spawned many PWM control schemes. On the other hand, Z source inverter has additional zero vectors
or shoot-through switching states that are forbidden in the traditional VSI, both switches of any phase
leg can never be gated on at the same time or a short circuit (shoot through) would occur and destroy
the inverter. The new Z-source inverter (ZSI) advantageously utilizes the shoot through state to boost
the dc bus voltage by gating on both upper and lower switches of a phase leg and produce a desired
output voltage that is greater than the available dc bus voltage. In addition the reliability of the inverter
is greatly improved because the shoot through due to misgating can no longer destroy the circuit. Thus
it provides a low-cost, reliable, and high efficiency single stage structure for buck and boost power
conversion. In [1], the operation principle and the shoot through duty ratio control using simple boost
control method have been described in detail.

Figure 1: Z-source inverter

D L1

Sap Sbp Scp

C1

To
Load
Vo C2

San Sbn Scn

L2

2. Traditional Control Methods

For an output voltage boost to be obtained, a shoot-through state should always be followed by an
active state, i.e., shoot through states should be incorporated without affecting the active states. Thus,
minor modifications in the traditional three phase sinusoidal PWM technique will yield various PWM
control strategies for the ZSI. There are three available PWM control strategies for ZSI. They are
simple boost control, maximum boost control, and maximum constant boost control methods.
The simple boost control method employs two straight envelops equal to or greater than the
peak value of the three phase sinusoidal reference signals to control shoot-through duty ratio in a
traditional sinusoidal PWM. The circuit is in shoot through state when the high frequency triangular
carrier is greater than the upper straight line envelope or lesser than the lower straight line envelope. In
this method the voltage stress across the switches is quite high, which restrict the obtainable voltage
gain because of the limitation of device voltage rating. As during shoot through all the switches are
ON, switching losses are high.
The maximum constant boost control is quite similar to the traditional carrier-based PWM
control method, but this control method maintains the six active states unchanged and turns all zero
states into shoot through zero states. The circuit is in shoot through state when the triangular carrier
wave is greater than the maximum curve of the reference or lesser than the minimum curve of the
reference. This method turns all the zero states into shoot through state thus minimizing the voltage
stress across the switches. However it causes shoot through duty ratio to vary in each cycle, thus
increasing the ripple content in inductor current. When the output frequency is low, the inductor ripple
becomes significant and a large inductor is required. This increases the cost and size of the circuit.
170 U.Shajith Ali and V.Kamaraj

In maximum constant boost control method the straight envelops of simple boost control
method are replaced by two sinusoidal signals of three times the frequency of sinusoidal modulating
signals. Thus this method involves three reference sinusoidal signals and two shoot through envelopes.
The circuit enters shoot through state whenever the high frequency triangular wave is greater than the
upper shoot-through envelope or lesser than the lower shoot-through envelope. This method achieves
maximum boost while keeping shoot through duty ratio constant all the time, thus reducing ripple
content in inductor current.

3. Proposed Double Carrier Control

This method employs three phase sinusoidal reference signals, Va, Vb, and Vc and two triangular waves
of high frequency as carrier signals. One of the carrier wave is with zero dc offset value whereas the
other carrier wave is up-shifted to certain dc offset voltage to control shoot through duty ratio. Gating
pulses which are obtained by comparing lower triangular wave (with zero dc offset) and reference
wave is given to the upper leg devices of inverter circuit, whereas the pulses obtained by comparing
upper triangular wave and reference wave is inverted and given to the lower leg devices of inverter
circuit. Figure 2 shows double carrier control waveforms.

Figure 2: Double carrier control waveform

In the other control methods modulation index has to be minimum to get maximum boost
factor. But the voltage stress increases with minimum modulation index. This limitation is eliminated
in the newly proposed double carrier control method.
This control method has the following advantages over the other traditional control methods
• Unlike other methods, the boost factor is made independent of the modulation index.
• Number of shoot through states per cycle of carrier wave is increased when compared to
other methods.
• Switching loss is reduced as only one of the phase legs is gated during shoot through
states.
• It involves alternative active state and shoot through state and no zero states. Hence, it
reduces the ripple content in inductor current.
• The voltage stress across the switches is reduced as modulation index could be kept
high.
• This method enhances the fundamental voltage by reducing the total harmonic
distortion.
Double Carrier Pulse Width Modulation Control of Z-Source Inverter 171

Given its many benefits, this paper now examines the relationship of voltage boost and dc
offset voltage. Also the variation of boost factor with the voltage gain is presented in comparison with
other traditional control methods. The voltage boost and the voltage stress on the devices will be
investigated.

4. Voltage Stress and Boost

As described in [1], the voltage gain of the Z-source inverter can be expressed as,
Vac
= MB
Vo / 2 (1)
where Voc is the output peak phase voltage, Vo is the input dc voltage, M is the modulation index, and B
is the boost factor. B is determined by
1
B=
To
1− 2
T (2)
where To is the shoot through time interval over a switching cycle T , or To / T=Do is the shoot through
duty ratio.
Simple boost control method was used to control the shoot through duty ratio. In simple boost
control method, the obtainable shoot through duty ratio decreases with the increase of M as Do=1-M. In
order to produce an output voltage that requires a high voltage gain, a small modulation index has to be
used which results in greater voltage stress on the devices. Based on (1) and (2), the boost factor B can
be defined as
1
B=
2M − 1 (3)
For any desired voltage gain G, the modulation index can be used is
G
M =
2G − 1 (4)
The voltage stress under this modulation index can be calculated by
Vs = BVo = (2G − 1)Vo
(5)
In maximum boost control, the boost factor B is obtained as
π
B=
3 3M − π (6)
With this type of control method, the voltage gain can be determined by the modulation index
M
πM
G=
3 3M − π (7)
Thus for the given voltage gain G, the maximum modulation index is given as
πG
M =
3 3G − π (8)
and, the voltage stress is
Vs = πVo
3 3M −π (9)
In maximum constant boost control method, the boost factor and the voltage gain can be
calculated as
1
B=
3M − 1 (10)
172 U.Shajith Ali and V.Kamaraj

M
G=
3M − 1 (11)
Here the duty ratio is kept constant and can be expressed as
To 3M
= 1−
T 2 (12)
The voltage across the devices can be expressed as
Vs = ( 3G − 1)Vo (13)
From (3), (6), and (10) it is clear that in all the traditional control methods for any desired
voltage gain G, the boost factor is dependent on the modulation index.
In double carrier control method, shoot through duty ratio Do is varied by varying the dc offset
voltage and it is derived as
3 Voff
Do =
2 Vt (14)
where Voff is the dc offset voltage and Vt is the carrier wave peak value.
Thus the boost factor can be calculated as
1
B=
Voff
1− 3
Vt (15)
Unlike other traditional control methods, in double carrier control the duty ratio depends only
on the dc offset voltage and hence completely independent of the modulation index as shown in (15).
In this method of control to get finite voltage gain, Do should be less than 0.5(Do<1/2). Thus Voff/Vt
should be less than 1/3. This concept is illustrated in figure 3 for modulation index M=1. In figure 3,
the curve shifts downwards as the value of M decreases for constant dc offset voltage representing the
reduction in voltage gain.
The voltage stress across the switches is inversely proportional to the modulation index. Hence
for a particular value of voltage gain G, the voltage stress across the switches can be kept lesser in this
method as the modulation index could be kept higher. Thus in this control method voltage gain can be
varied from zero to infinity for a particular modulation index just by varying the offset voltage of
shifted carrier wave. Thus the boost factor is made independent of modulation index in this method.

Figure 3: Voltage gain versus Voff/Vt

Double Carrier Pulse Width Modulation Control of Z-Source Inverter 173

The variation of the voltage gain with the boost factor is analyzed for all the PWM control
schemes and the comparison is shown in figure 4. The proposed double carrier PWM gives the highest
voltage gain as compared to other conventional PWM methods.
Figure 4: Boost factor comparison of different control methods

5. Simulation and Experimental Results

To demonstrate the validity of the control strategies, simulation and experiments were conducted with
the configuration the following parameters: Z-source network: L1 = L2 = 3mH, C1 = C2 = 1000µF.
Three sinusoidal waves with frequency 50Hz, displaced from each other by 120º are used as the
modulating signals. The switching frequency is 5 kHz and dc offset ratio is 15%. Modulation index M
is 0.8.
The simulated output line voltage and output current are shown in figure 5 for an input voltage
of 150V and RL load of 50Ω and 10mH.
Figure 5: Output line voltage and current waveforms
174 U.Shajith Ali and V.Kamaraj

For the above simulation parameters we have the following theoretical calculations:
The boost factor B = 1.818 and the line-to-line voltage is 154.3 V rms or 267.2 V peak.
The above theoretical values are quite consistent with the simulated results.
Harmonic analysis on the output line voltage and output current was performed and the total
harmonic distortion of output voltage was found to be 6.83%. Total harmonic distortion of output
current was found to be 6.04%. Harmonic spectrums of output line-to-line voltage and output current
are shown in figure 6 and figure 7.

Figure 6: Harmonic spectrum of output voltage waveform

Figure 7: Harmonic spectrum of output current waveform

Double Carrier Pulse Width Modulation Control of Z-Source Inverter 175

A laboratory model has been constructed. The same parameters used in simulation were used.
Figure 8 and figure 9 show experimental results. The firing pulses for the two switches in one phase
leg of the Z-source inverter are shown in figure 8. The output line-to-line voltage is shown in figure 9.

Figure 8: Firing pulses obtained in experiment

Figure 9: Experimental waveform of output line voltage

6. Conclusion
This paper presents a novel PWM scheme for controlling the output voltage of the three phase Z-
source inverter with high voltage gain for the given boost factor. In this method the boost factor is
independent of the modulation index. Thus desired voltage gain can be obtained by using maximum
modulation index, which in turn minimizes the voltage stress across the switches. The relationship of
voltage gain versus boost factor for various control methods is analyzed and compared. Simulation and
experiments were conducted to verify the control methods and analysis.
176 U.Shajith Ali and V.Kamaraj

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