Different PWM Modulation Techniques Indexes
Performance Evaluation
A.Boglietti, G.Griva, M.Pastorelli, F.Profumo
Dip. di Ingegneria Elettrica Industriale
Politecnico di Torino
C.so Duca degli Abruzzi, 24
10129 Torino, Italy
Tel.: +39-11-5647127
F a : +39-11-5647199
Abstract
Fully digital ac drives with Pulse Width Modulated inverters
are becoming an industrial standard. For PWM inverters
several strategies are used. A complete review of the most
common carrier based strategies, as Sinusoidal PWM, Third
Harmonic Injected PWM, Discontinuousor Dead Band PWM
and Space Vector PWM is presented. The authors propose a
method based on "quality factors" to evaluate the gocxlness of
the different types of modulation.
Introduction
The voltage-fed square wave drives have been widely uxcl for
a long time in many low to medium power applications.
Recently, these types of drives have been almost completely
superseded by Pulse Width Modulation (PWM) drives. In
fact, in the variable voltage, variable frequency inverter
drives, the dc link can be kept constant by a front end diode
bridge and the fundamentaloutput frequency can be conuolled
within the inverter by using a PWM technique. The inverter
power devices are switched on and off many times within a
half-cycle in order to generate a variable frequency output
voltage which has low harmonic content. In the early days,
many different PWM techniques have been presented and the
"sinusoidal PWM" has been quite common. The analog
implementation is realized by a triangle carrier wave
compared with a sine wave reference signal and the cross-over
points determine the instants of commutation. The
amplitude of the fundamental output voltage can be varied by
variation of the modulation index. If the modulation index is
less than unity, only carrier frequency harmonics with
fundamental frequency related side bands appear at the output.
The voltage can be increased beyond the modulation index of
unity, and the maximum voltage is obtained in square wave
mode.
In symmetrical three phase systems if the three phase load
middle point is not connected to the ground, the reference
waveforms can be modified by the injection of third harmonic
components, in order to increase the fundamental of the
inverter output voltage. In the case of the Third Harmonic
Injected PWM about the 16% third harmonic is added to the
sinusoidal voltage reference wave and the modulation mode
index in the linear region of operation is increased by 15%.
In the case of the Dead Band PWM schemes the power
switches are connected to the positive or to the negative dc
rail for one third of the fundamental period. In this way the
average switching frequency can be reduced.
A different approach to PWM modulation is based on the
"space vector" representationof the references and the inverter
0-7803-1227-9/93/$3.o001993 IEEE
193
T.Adam
Dept.of Electrical Engineering
[Jniversity of Miskolc
Egyetemvms
3515 Miskolc, Hungary
Tel.: +36-46-366111
F a : +36-46-361740
voltages. It was shown that sinusoidal modulation generated
in a "space vector" represelltalioil has the advantages of lower
harmonics and of higher modulation index compared to the
three phase sinusoidal PWM method.
At the present time, in the inverter power range up to a few
hundreds kVA, BJTs and IGBTs are used. BJTs allow
switching frequencies up to a few kHz and IGBTs up to 20
kHz and the ratio between Uie switching frequency and the
maximum output frequency is quite high. As a consequence,
the sophisticated PWM techniques such as "selected harmonic
elimination" or "optimum PWM" are becoming less popular.
On the other hand, the "space vector" PWM modulators can
be also easily implemented either using a single chip
microcontroller or dedicated ASIC chips and seem to become
a standard for the new digital ac drives.
Basic Considerations
In order to vary the speed in ac drives, it is necessary to
control hoth the voltage and the frequency applied to the
motor terminals. The most common way is that to use an
inverter bridge, that consists of six switches which connect
each motor terminal to either the positive or the negative
rail of a constant dc voltage source. The basic principle is
irrespective of the type of the used power devices. However,
the maximum operation frequency is an important factor in
determining the modulation strategy to be used. hi practice,
two different families of drives are used:
1) open loop, constant V/f drives in which a steady
state sinusoidal voltage reference waveform derived by
the voltage/frequency characteristicis imposed;
2) closed loop drives in which dyncamically voltage
references are generated as the outputs of superimposed
loops such as current loops.
In the paper only open loop drives are considered and the
modulation techniques dealt with are related to voltage
control. In the following some basic considerations related
to the analyzed P W M techniques are summarized.
Sinusoidal Pulse Width Modulation tSPWM) [I]
The sinusoidal Pulse Width Modulation concept is quite
simple and is illustrated by Fig.1. It can be seen that the
pulses in the output waveform have a sine weighting
equivalent to the reference waveform. This method was
realized first with analog circuits, hut, at the present time,
digital implementations are preferred. The harmonic
analysis of this waveform shows a fundamental component
proportional to the amplitude of h e reference sinewave.
There are also harmonic components at the carrier frequency,
which are large and uncontrolled. The effect of the carrier
frequency harmonic reduces as its frequency increases since
the effect is limited largely by the motor reactances
(frequency dependent). The best choice of the carrier
frequency is therefore the highest at which the inverter
power devices can operate. The best practical
implementation of this scheme is by digital system using
up-down counters in place of the triangular waveform and
look-up tables to determine the reference value at any point.
Fig. 1: SPWM reference, carrier, and PWM waveforms.
Third Harmonic Iniection PWM (THPWML [2]
In order to increase the modulation index without
overmodulation, the so called third harmonic injection
modulation strategy can be used. The reference voltage is,
in this case, the sum of the fundamental and Ihe third
harmonic waveforms. The phase to ground voltages are
distorted by the third harmonic, but the line to line voltages
are sinusoidal. The reference wavefonn, v(t), in this case is
given by:
v(t) = m Vdc (sincot + a sin3cot)
2 two adjacent non zero voltage inverter states, each for a
where in is the modulation index and Vdc is the dc link
voltage and co is the operation pulsation.
The optimum value for a is 116. With this choice the peak
value of the reference waveform is reduced. The reducing
factor is 0.866. As a result, the fundamental output
waveforms can be increased about 15% without pulse
dropping. compared with the traditional sinusoidal
modulation. The method can he implemented easily in a
digital controller. In this case the wavefonns are stored in
an EPROM, and due to the symmetric features, only a
quarter of waveform has to be stored.
Dead-B"! PWM (DBPWM) r32
The DBPWM technique can provide both increased
modulation index, as the previous one, and a reduction in
the average switching frequency. It is based on the fact, that
any set of +2d3 phase-shifted functions can produce a
sinusoidal waveform if and only if they are composed of
pieces of a balanced three-phase system sine wavefonns.
The DBPWM reference waveform are composed by 120"
sinusoidal parts and a dead band time interval. During the
dead band interval the power devices of one of the three
phases are not switched. This results in a 33% reduction in
the average switching frequency compared to conventional
carrier based techniques. The reference curve can not only be
superimposed by third harmonic but also by a dc offset.
The reference waveform for one phase is shown in Fig2 and
it is given by the following equations:
2lr<tch
3 3
) (2)
\ I w t (rad)
-0.5.
-0.75.
Fig.2 Deal Band P W M reference waveform.
&ace Vector Pulse Width Modulation fSVPWM) 141.
Since digital ac drives are becoming an indusvial standard, the
traditional triangular carrier methods have been overcome by
the "space vector" representation more suitable for digital
implementation. The three phase inverter is constituted by
six switches and there are eight possible inverter
configurations: six active states and two zero states. In the
SVPWM the voltage reference veclor is synthesized by a
combination of the eight inverter states. In any switching
period, the voltage reference vector is approximated by the
certain amount of time. In addition, to keep the switching
frequency constant, the remainder of the switching period is
spent on the zero state. In order to compare the voltage
performance of the SVPWM with other PWM methods, the
"mean values" of the line to neutral voltages averaged over
one switching cycle must be evaluated. The line to neutral
avenge reference voltage is the following:
The average waveforms show that a nearly triangular third
harmonic component is added to the fundamental reference
voltage, without distortion of the line to line voltages. The
"space vector" representation is quite useful in digital systems
because the microprocessor can calculate on line the
switching instants and transfer them to a hardware modulator.
The major difference between sine-triangle PWM method and
the space vector PWM is the reference waveform. In the case
of the SVPWM, the maximum modulation index (in linear
conditions) is ahout 15% more than with conventional
sinusoidal PWM.
 -
Non sinusoidal supply motors drawbacks
In the previous paragraphs, we have analyzed different PWM
techniques. However, in any case, the PWM waveforms are
not purely sinusoidal. As a consequence, on the motor side
some unwanted effects are introduced. In this paragraph
some of these effects are reviewed.
Harmonic Losses. Harmonics in the voltage waveforms
applied to induction machines cause current harmonics to
flow in both stator and rotor. These currents do not
contribute to the output torque, but increase the copper
losses in the windings and the core losses due to the high
frequencies. Two main factors determine the extent of
harmonic losses. First of all, the quality of the inverter
waveform and secondly, the leakage reactance of the
machine. Waveform quality is determined by the used P W M
strategy and a good waveform is one wilh minimum
harmonics of the lower orders. Harmonic currents are
reactance-limited, so the losses due to each harmonic are
proportional to its amplitude divided by the harmonic
number and in turn, inversely proportional to the motor
leakage inductance. Then, a good modulation scheme will
yield low values of the harmonics below the carrier
frequency, where the dominant h"nonics appear. IJsually a
pair of spectral lines is seen near this point with an
amplitude which is a large percentage of the fundamenul.
.- The pulsating harmonic torque
is generated by the interaction of the air gap flux harmonics
with different order rotor current harmonics. The air g y
flux h,armonic components are generally small, and the m a n
torque fluctuations are those due to the interaction of the
fundamental air gap flux with the harmonic rotor currents.
If the fundamental pu air gap flux, and the pu harmonic
currents, Ik, are known, the pu pulsating torque can be
calculated by:
The torque harmonic order is (k+l) for negative Lsequence
hannonic rotor currents and is (k-1) for positive sequence
harmonic rotor currents.
At the harmonic frequencies the stator and the rotor
resistance are negligible compared to the leakage reactance,
and the pu k-th harmonic stator current is given by:
where k is the harmonic order, Vk is the pu k-th hannonic
voltage, fl is the pu fundamental frequency, X is the motor
pu leakage reactance at the base frequency. As a consequence
the pu h,wnonic torque component are given by:
Acoustic Noise Ac motors supplied by an inverter produce
a higher level of acoustic noise than motors supplied by
sinusoidal voltages. This noise is related to the switching
195
pattem generated by the inverter, and is a direct result of the
harmonic currents flowing in the machine windings. These
cause vibration of the windings and torque pulsations that
occur at the harmonic frequencies, which are often in the
middle of the audible range where the human ear is most
sensitive. The harmonics generated by a square waveform
are mainly the 5th and the 7th. Both of these cause
vibration of six times the output frequency. At 50 Hz, for
example, this vibration is at 300 Hz and, although audible,
is relatively unobtrusive. At lower output frequencies the
noise can develop into an annoying cogging sound. PWM
inverters very often inject harmonics of a few kHz and cause
the motor to produce a whistling sound. At certain
frequencies, mechanical components may be stimulated into
resonances, which amplifies the sound.
Comparison of different PWM strategies
To quantify in some way the motors drawbacks presented in
the previous paragraph, some "quality factors" are defined in
this paragraph. If the motor is fed by non sinusoidal three
phase voltages, additional harmonic losses and torque
pulsations are produced. The "quality" of the modulation
strategy is determined by the harmonics amplitude and the
related frequencies. In fact, the lower frequency harmonics
have stronger effect on the machine perfonnance.
To evaluate the different modulation strategies several
quality factors could be defined. In motor drives
applications, the overall losses (front end bridge, inverter,
motor, passive components) play a key role on the drive
performance. Consequently, the quality factors related to the
motor losses seem to be good parameters to evaluate the
modulation goodness. The quality factors have been defined
using per unit (pu) parameters and quantities [SI, 161, [7].
r 1n s s- F
The stator hannonic copper loss is given by:
(7)
Since R1 can be considered independent by the frequency,
the stator copper losses are proportional to the Stator
Harmonic Copper Loss Factor GSHCL, defined as follows:
Rotor Harmonic Conner Loss Factor (RHCLF)
The skin effect, which is neglected in Eq.8, has to be
considered for the rotor harmonic copper losses calculation,
since the additional copper losses due to the skin effect are
generated primarily in the rotor. The per unit rotor
resistance as a function of the input frequency, can be
approximated by the following expression:
If the motor operates near the synchronous speed, the rotor
-
and stator frequencies are approximately equal, and the rotor h~
= PSHL + PRHL + PHEL + PSLL (17)
k =I
resistance can be given by:
where the PsH~,PRHL,PHEL, and the PsLLare the stator pu
R2k 55 (k R2 (10) harmonic copper losses, the rotor pu harmonic copper
losses, the end losses and the stray load losses, respectively.
The rotor harmonic copper loss can be calculated by: If RE, and RsL are known, the losses can be expressed using
the loss factors:

Substituting for R2k from Eq.10, the Rotor Harmonic

Copper Loss Factor ORHCL can be defined:
QRHcL= c+
k 1 (k f1)3n
The parameters R1 and R2 allow us to take into
consideration only the losses that are generated in the active
portion of the motor windings. In addition to these, the
stator and rotor end losses and stray load losses have to be
taken into consideration.
For a particular PWM drive, the minimisation of THL can
be used for selecting the optimum PWM strategy.
. .
IStOrtlon m1
The torque distortion is a further parameter that allows us to
compare different modulation strategies, if we take into
account the torque ripple and the connected mechanical
drawbacks. The Torque Distortion is defined by the
following equation:

ntc End J ,oss Factor (HELFl

The harmonic end losses are nearly proportional to the
frequency and can be expressed by: where Tk is the k-th harmonic torque amplitude and TaV, is
the avemge torque.

Simulation results
where REL is the equivalent end loss pu resistance, which
To compare the different PWM strategies some simulation
can be determined experimentally. The associated Harmonic
programs have been developed. As a first step the inverter
End Loss Factor OHEL, is defined by the following equation: switching states and the motor PWM input voltages have
been determined, according to the modulation strategy. For
(14) the induction motor a conventional two phase model has been
used. The motor is considered to operate at constant speed
and its air gap flux is considered to be sinusoidal with
Stray Load Loss FactodSLLFZ constant amplitude. The following tasks have been carried
The total stray load losses, can be taken into account by the out by the mentioned programs:
expression: 1) inverter switching states calculation;
2) three phase PWM input voltages and two phase (q,d)
input voltages calculation;
3) two phase (4.d) and three phase motor currents
and cutrent ripple calculation;
4) torque and torque ripple calculation;
5 ) Fourier analysis of the torque ripple;
where R ~ isL the equivalent stray load loss pu resistance and 6) quality factors determination.
can be determined experimentally. The Stray Load Loss The simulations have been carried out considering a constant
Factor CJSLL, is then defined as follows: V/Hz operation for an induction motor ac drive operating in
the linear region (i.e. mSl.0). As a consequence, the
modulation index is proportional to the output frequency. In
mu=
k
c. -
Vi
I (k f1)O"
our study, the output frequency fout has been set at 39 Hz
(i.e. m=l .O). A BJT inverter performance has been selected
and the switching frequency f,, has been set at 1.2 kHz. The
parameters of the test machine m rewrted in the Appendix I.
In general, for any particular machine the total harmonic Fig.3 shows the calculated motor current ripples. In Fig.4 to
losses can be expressed by the sum of the loss items defined Fig.7 the motor current trajectories in the d-q plane are
previously: represented. The torque ripple for each case under study, is
shown in Fig.8.

196
 To calculate the quality factors, the spectrum analysis has
been carried out by a FFT algorithm. The torque ripple
spectra are shown in Fig. 9 to Fig.12 for the different
strategies. In Fig.13 to Fig.16 the OSHCL, ORHCL, O K ~ E L ,
and CTSLLfactors are shown for the different modulation
techniques. The Torque Distortions have been calculated
from the torque ripple spectra and they are shown in Fig.17
for the different schemes:

SVPWhl

Fig.? TNPWM motor current trajectory.

DBPWM

Fig.6: SPWM motor current trajectory.

Fig.3: Motor current ripples.

Fig.4 SVPWM motor current trajectory. Fig.7: DBPWM motor current trajectory.

197
h

""I
401
z SVPWM
0 .1
W

THPWM

harmonic order

Fig.11:S P W M torque ripple spectrum.

n 0.12-

-
V
0.1.

0.08.
4
0.06.

n
E 401 DBPWM

harmonic order

Fig.12:D B P W M torque ripple spectrum.

Fig.8:Torque ripple.

--z I
0.12
0.0004
0.1

t. 0 . 4 0.0003
:: O8I
U
0. E
0 0.0002
0.
0.0001
0.

50 100 150 200 250

harmonic order
Fig.9:SVPWM torque ripple specuum. Fig.13:OSHCL factors.

I
. 0.1' 0.002
a
2 0.08 3.0015
4
0.06'
m
il 0.001
0.04 t?
0.0005

harmonic order
Fig.10 THPWM torque ripple spectrum. factors.
Fig.14:C~RHCL

198
 Stator Resistance 0.371 R
Rotor Resistance 0.415 R
0.012
Stator Leakage Inductance 2.7 mH
Rotor Leakage Inductance 2.7 mH
0.01 Main Inductance 84.23 mH
0.008
I
I
$ 0.006
Conclusions
D
0.004

0.002
In the paper a general overview of the carrier based PWM and
Space Vector PWM techniques is given. The complete
I
2 3 4 analysis and the obtained simulation results are reported. The
comparison of different PWM schemes shows, that the
SVPVM and the THPWM strategies can be considered as the
Fig.15: OHEL factors.
best PWM schemes from the harmonic losses point of view.
In the case of SVPWM we have the minimum losses and
torque ripple, the best torque spectrum and current trajectory.
On the other hand, the SPWM and DBPWM methods, which
cause higher harmonic losses, have similar performance.
However, in the case of DBPWM, the lower average
switching frequency, the associated lower switching losses
and the higher output voltage, related to the SPWM, have to
be taken into consideration.
I n conclusion, the SVPWM can be the most adequate
solution for high performance ac drives, since the realization
with a DSP or with <an ASIC is very simple.

Fig.16: OSLL factors.

References
[l] S.R.Bowes, B.M.Bird, "Novel Approach to the
Analysis and Synthesis of Modulation Processes in
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0.081 P [23 J.A.Hou1dswort.h. D.A.Grant, "The 1Jse of Harmonic
Voltage Distortion to Increase the Output Voltage of a
Three-phase PWM Inverter", LEEE T r m n s on
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0.0
Lr?, Appfxuums, vol. IA-20, no.5, Sept./Oct.,
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