Inverter Circuits

Provide a variable voltage, variable

frequency AC output from a DC input
Very important class of circuits. Extensively
used in variable speed AC motor drives for
example (see H5CEDR)
We have already seen how the fully
controlled thyristor converter can operate in
the inverting mode ( > 90
O
) - however that
is limited:
Can only invert into an existing AC supply
Voltages must already be present to
provide natural commutation of thyristors
The circuits we will look at here are much
more versatile and can provide an AC output
into just about any kind of load
Three phase and single phase versions are
possible - principles are the same
Basic Inverter Leg (1)
Basic building block is the 2-level inverter leg
Dont worry about where
current goes yet
O
DC Supply (E)
X
E/2
E/2
I
AC
D2
D1
Q1
Q2
Capacitor does not have to be split - O provides a
convenient place to reference voltages to for
understanding
Obviously never gate Q1 and Q2 at the same time!
- shoot through causes destruction
Normal mode is to use complementary gating for
Q1 and Q2
In practice a small delay must be introduced
between turning Q1 off and Q2 on (and vice
versa) to avoid shoot through due to finite
switching times
We will ignore the effect of this and assume
perfect switching
Basic Inverter Leg (2)
Output voltage depends on gated device only and
not on current direction
Circuit produces 2 voltage levels
Equivalent circuit:
-E/2 Q2 - Q2
-E/2 D2 + Q2
+E/2 D1 - Q1
+E/2 Q1 + Q1
V
XO
Conducting
Device
Direction of
I
AC
Gated Device
Not often used on its own - but provides basic
building block for other circuits
Single Phase Inverter
H-bridge (1)
Uses 2 inverter legs
- Q2 Q4
+ Q2 Q4
- Q2 Q3
+ Q2 Q3
- Q1 Q3
+ Q1 Q3
- Q1 Q4
+ Q1 Q4
Energy
flow
Polarity
of I
DC
V
AC
Conducting
Devices
Polarity
of I
AC
Gated
Devices
DC Supply (E)
E/2
E/2
I
AC
D2
D1
Q1
Q2
DC LINK
load
O
X
Y
Q3
V
AC
Q4
D3
D4
I
DC
Energy flow in both directions possible - circuit
can be used as a rectifier - see later
Single Phase Inverter
H-bridge (2)
V
XO
, V
YO
are 2-level waveforms (E), V
XY
can be a
3-level waveform
Note: this is called a 2-level circuit since
each leg is a 2-level leg
Circuit can produce +E, 0 and -E in response
to gating commands, regardless of current
direction
We can synthesize (on average) any waveform
we like by switching for varying amounts of time
between +E, 0, -E
For example, for variable DC we could use:
Q1, Q4 gated 0 < t < dT, Q2, Q3 gated dT < t < T
Average (DC) output = Ed - E(1-d) = E(2d-1)
Used like this (or similarly) circuit is called a
Chopper - see H5CEDR for application to DC
motor drives
Single Phase Inverter
H-bridge (3)
To get AC output, we could operate like described
previously, but dynamically vary the duty cycle (d)
to follow an AC demand
This is called Pulse-Width Modulation (PWM) -
see lhandout for what the waveform looks like
For this to be effective, the switching frequency
has to be an order of magnitude greater than the
demand frequency
PWM produces an output waveform with a
spectrum consisting of the wanted component +
distortion components clustered (sidebands)
around the switching frequency and its multiples
Single Phase Inverter
H-bridge (4)
Some sort of filtering action is required to extract
the desired component and eliminate the
distortion
To produce an AC voltage we could use:
For an inductive load that requires a smooth
current (eg an electrical machine), the machine
inductance provides the filtering:
Inverter Application
Examples
Single Phase
Three Phase
Single Phase Inverter
Square wave operation
Return to PWM later - simplest method of
voltage/frequency control is quasi-squarewave
Used to be very popular when power devices were
slow and high switching frequencies were not
possible
Gate each side of the bridge with a squarewave at
the desired output frequency
Adjust phase shift between the two sides to get
voltage control
See handout for waveforms
See handout on relationship between AC side and
DC side harmonics
PWM Techniques
2 Basic forms for single phase (H-bridge)
inverter
2-level PWM.
Each diagonal pair of switches is operated
together.
Output is either +E or E (hence name 2-level).
Gating pattern is Q1Q4 Q2Q3 Q1Q4.
3-level PWM
All possible (allowable) gating patterns are
used.
Output can be +E, 0 or E.
Generation of PWM gating pattern.
Easiest method to understand is Natural
Sampling (analogue method not often used
now)
Most applications now use a microprocessor,
microcontroller or DSP to generate the PWM
pattern using a digital modulation technique.
Natural Sampling 1
See handout for detail of comparison process
Definitions:

Comparator
+
-
PWM
Q1,Q4
Q2,Q3
Carrier Wave c(t)
Modulating Wave m(t)
Natural Sampling Generation of 2-level PWM
) (M Index Modulation
wave PWM of Amplitude
component modulating of Peak
:
) (M Depth Modulation
c(t) of Peak
m(t) of Peak
) (F ratio Frequency
Frequency Modulating
frequency Carrier
I
D
R
=
=
=
M wave For any PW
Natural Sampling 2
Frequency ratio (F
R
) can be integer (synchronous
PWM) or non-integer (asynchronous PWM).
It is normal now to keep the carrier frequency
fixed as the modulating frequency is varied
hence most PWM today is asynchronous.
Modulation Index (M
I
) tells us how large the
modulating frequency component at the inverter
output will be for a given DC link voltage.
Modulation Depth (M
D
) tells us how much we have
modulated the pulses by (compared to an
unmodulated 50% duty cycle carrier frequency
squarewave).
For Natural Sampling M
I
= M
D
(provided M
D
< 1)
Hence control of amplitude and frequency of the
modulating wave, provides direct frequency and
voltage control at the inverter output.
Spectrum of 2-level PWM: Modulating component +
sidebands around carrier frequency + sidebands
around 2 times carrier frequency etc see Handout
Natural Sampling 3
3-level use the same carrier for both sides of the H-
bridge, but invert the modulating wave (180
O
shift).
V
XO
and V
YO
are 2-level, V
XY
is 3-level.
Components clustered as sidebands around odd
multiples of the carrier frequency are in-phase in V
XO
and V
YO
and therefore cancel in V
XY
Other components are in anti-phase in V
XO
and V
YO
and therefore add in V
XY
3-level produces less distortion for given carrier
(switching) frequency see Handout

Comparator
+
-
PWM
Q1
Q2
Carrier Wave c(t)
Modulating Wave m(t)
Natural Sampling Generation of 3-level PWM
+
-
PWM
Q3
Q4
Comparator
-1
Digital PWM
Natural sampling is not suitable for a microprocessor
implementation.
Switching instants occur at the natural intersection
between a triangle wave and a sinewave.
Equation determining the switching instants has no
analytical solution (transcendental equation) and
can only be solved by iteration no good for real
time calculation.
Microprocessor implementation uses the Regular
Sampling method (or something similar).
There are no continuous modulating or carrier
waves.
Time is divided into a sequence of carrier periods of
width T
C.
The modulating wave exists as a series of samples,
sampled either every T
C
(symmetric PWM) or every
T
C
/2 (asymmetric PWM).
One pulse is produced within each carrier period.
Pulsewidth depends on either one sample of the
modulating wave (symmetric PWM) or two samples
of the modulating wave (asymmetric PWM).
Regular Sampling
Symmetric PWM
Let S
K-1
, S
K
, S
K+1
etc be the samples of the modulating
wave sampled at rate (1/T
C
).
Assume the modulating wave is scaled so that its peak
amplitude is unity.
T
C
T
C
T
C

T
C
/2

K-1

K-1

K+1

K+1
( )
( )
( )
depth Modulation the is
etc 1
4
1
4
1
4
1 1 1
1 1 1
D
K D
C
k K
K D
C
k K
K D
C
k K
M
S M
T
S M
T
S M
T
+ + +

+ = =
+ = =
+ = =
Simple equations define the pulsewidths
OK for real time digital implementation.
M
D
M
I
for regular sampling
Regular Sampling
asymmetric PWM
Let S
AK-1
, S
BK-1
, S
AK
, S
BK
, S
AK+1
, S
BK+1
etc. be the
samples of the modulating wave sampled at rate (2/T
C
).
Assume the modulating wave is scaled so that its peak
amplitude is unity.
T
C
T
C
T
C

T
C
/2

K-1

K-1

K+1

K+1
( ) ( )
( ) ( )
( ) ( )
depth Modulation the is
etc 1
4
, 1
4
1
4
, 1
4
1
4
, 1
4
1 1 1 1
1 1 1 1
D
BK D
C
k AK D
C
K
BK D
C
k AK D
C
K
BK D
C
k AK D
C
K
M
S M
T
S M
T
S M
T
S M
T
S M
T
S M
T
+ + + +

+ = + =
+ = + =
+ = + =
Asymmetric PWM produces less distortion than
symmetric PWM for a given carrier (switching
frequency)
M
D
M
I
as for symmetric sampling
PWM Miscellaneous
Choice of carrier frequency
Compromise depending on switching losses in the
inverter and output waveform distortion.
Also depends on the switching device technology
used.
Typical values: 16kHz (1kW), 5kHz (100kW), 1kHz
(1MW) assuming IGBT devices.
Other types of PWM (not a complete list)
Space Vector PWM
Similar to regular sampling, but derived from
the space-phasor representation of 3-phase
quantities. Popular in Vector controlled
induction motor drives (see H54IMD)
Optimised PWM
Spectrum of PWM is defined mathematically in
terms of the pulsewidths. Numerical techniques
are then used to calculate the pulsewidths to
meet a particular performance target.
For example: eliminate certain harmonics,
minimise weighted sum of harmonics etc.
Not popular except in some special
applications
3-phase Inverter
V
AO
etc are 2-level (E/2), V
AB
etc are 3-level
(E and 0).
Each leg is modulated using the same carrier,
but with modulating waves 120
o
apart (3-phase).
The large carrier frequency component in V
AO
etc cancels in V
AB
etc.
PWM control of inverter gives variable voltage
and variable frequency output.
Average power flow can be bidirectional if the
DC source can accept power input.
DC LINK
3-phase load
O
DC Supply
(E)
A B C
3-phase AC to AC
(rectifier - inverter)
Industry workhorse - made from a few kW to MW -
particularly for Induction Motor drives.
Unidirectional power flow since diode rectifier can't
accept power reversal.
Energy can only be extracted from motor (braking) if
some form of resistor is connected across the DC link
during this mode. Common practice in industrial drives
- known as dynamic braking.
AC supply current waveforms are poor because of
diode rectifier.
3-PHASE
SUPPLY
3-Phase
AC Load
RECTIFIER DC LINK
INVERTER