UNIT 3&4

DC - AC Switched Mode Inverters

Switch-mode(fully on or fully off) dc-to-ac inverters are circuits which pro-
duce a sinusoidal ac output ,whose magnitude and frequency can both be
controlled,from a dc input.

Applications
Inverters are used in applications such as adjustable-speed ac motor drives,induction
heating, standby aircraft power supplies, uninterruptible power supplies
(UPS) for computers, HVDC transmission lines,electronic frequency changer
circuits and running ac appliances from an automobile battery.

Figure 1: Switch-mode inverter in ac motor drive.

The dc voltage is obtained by rectifying and filtering the line voltage,by

the rectifier circuits. In an ac motor load, the voltage at its terminals is de-
sired to be sinusoidal and adjustable in its magnitude and frequency. This
is done by means of the switch-mode dc-to-ac inverter shown in Figure-1,
which accepts a dc voltage as the input and produces the desired ac voltage
output.

1
1 Introduction

Figure 2: Schematic for Inverter System

In this unit, we will discuss inverters with single-phase and three-phase ac

outputs.The input to switch-mode inverters will be assumed to be a dc volt-
age source.1 Such inverters are referred to as voltage source inverters (VSIs).
The simplest dc voltage source for a VSI may be a battery bank. Solar pho-
tovoltaic cells can be another dc voltage source. An ac voltage supply, after
rectification into dc will also qualify as a dc voltage source.
The other types of inverters, now used only for very high power ac motor
drives, are the current source inverters (CSIs), where the dc input to the
inverter is a dc current source.

The VSIs can be further divided into the following two general categories:

1.Square-wave inverters.
In these inverters,the frequency of the output ac voltage is controlled by
the inverter.The inverter doesn’t have much control over the magnitude of
output voltage.An additional dc-dc converter(eg, buck,boost) has be used to
control the magnitude of input dc volatage which inturn controls the mag-
nitude of output ac voltage.The output ac voltage has a waveform similar
to a square wave, and hence these inverters are called squarewave inverters.
Advantages
1. Very simple control logic
1
The achievable magnitude of ac voltage is limited by the magnitude of input (dc bus)
voltage. In ordinary household inverters the battery voltage may be just 12 volts and the
inverter circuit may be capable of supplying ac voltage of around 10 volts (rms) only. In
such cases the inverter output voltage is stepped up using a transformer to meet the load
requirement of, say, 230 volts.

2
 2. The power switches need to operate at much lower frequencies com-
pared to switches in PWM inverters.Hence switching losses are re-
duced.
Disadvantages
1. Square wave consists of harmonics which are odd multiples of funda-
mental frequency.Hence it is difficult to filter out these harmonics, as
they lie close to fundamental frequency.
2. External circuitry is required the control the magnitude of output
voltage.
2. Pulse-width-modulated inverters.
In these inverters, the input dc voltage is essentially constant in magnitude,
such as in the circuit of Figure-1, where a diode rectifier is used to rectify
the line voltage. Therefore, the inverter must control the magnitude and the
frequency of the ac output voltages. PWM techniques are characterized by
constant amplitude pulses with different duty cycles for each switching period.
In other words,the width of these pulses are modulated which gives the
name Pulse width Modulation.Note that output waveform is not a perfect
sinusoidal but a series of pulses.But the harmonic content of this waveform
will be such that, it will have a fundamental sinusoidal component + higher
order harmonics, which can be easily filtered out.2
Advantages
1. The output voltage control can be obtained without addition of any
external components.
2. PWM minimizes the lower order harmonics, while the higher order
harmonics can be eliminated using a filter.
Disadvantages
1. Switching devices used in the inverter are expensive as they must pos-
sess low turn on and turn off times(higher frequency switching)
2
In Fourier Analysis we represent the output waveform(periodic) as a sum of sinusoidal
waveforms (or a sum of ’partials’). The frequencies of the partials are multiples of the
fundamental frequency and are called the “harmonics”. Its not true in general that fourier
expansion will consists of fundamental component and ’ALL’ the harmonics. Depending
on the output wave shape and its different levels of symmetries, some harmonics can be
absent in the Fourier sum.(For eg: square wave has only odd harmonics due to half wave
symmetry). Similarly if we analyse the PWM output waveform, we can proove that the
lower order harmonics are absent whereas higher order harmonics are present due to high
frequency switching.

3
 2. Control circuitry can be complex.

Considering the important aspects, PWM Inverters are better than Square
wave inverters.

There are various schemes to pulse-width modulate the inverter switches

in order to shape the output ac voltages to be as close to a sine wave as
possible. Out of these various PWM schemes,the sinusoidal PWM(SPWM)
will be discussed in detail in this unit.

2 CLASSIFICATION OF SWITCH-MODE INVERT-

ERS
Switch Mode Inverters can be classified according to different criterions.

They can be classified into VSI(voltage source Inverters) and CSI(Current

Source Inverters) according to the input dc source.

They can be classified as single-phase or three-phase inverters according to

number of phases they output.

Figure 3: Topology of a 1-phase and 3- phase full bridge VSI

4
Based on the circuit structure(topology), Switch Mode Inverters can be
classified into

1. Full-bridge Inverter

2. Half-bridge Inverter

Figure 4: Topology of a 1-phase half bridge and full bridge VSI

Half Bridge(Single Phase) Full Bridge(Single Phase)

The input dc voltage is split in Single capacitor is used across input
two equal parts through an ideal supply
and loss-less capacitive potential di-
vider.
Consists of one leg (one pole) Has two such legs/ Twice the num-
of switches/Half the number of ber of switches.
switches
Output voltage and output power The full-bridge inverter can produce
are half as that of full-bridge an output voltage and power twice
that of the half-bridge inverter with
the same input voltage.
Voltage across an open switch is Voltage across an open switch is
same as input voltage Edc same as input voltage Edc .
For ease of analysis of full bridge output waveforms , we imagine the dc
link capacitor to be divided into 2 capacitors with a floating midpoint ’O’.

5
 Figure 5: Analysis Equivalents of full bridge topologies

Based on the switching scheme, Switch Mode Inverters can be classfied

into

1. Square Wave Inverters

2. PWM Inverters

SPWM Inverters can be further classified based on the switching scheme

as

1. Unipolar Switching

2. Bipolar Switching

6
3 BASIC CONCEPTS OF SWITCH-MODE IN-
VERTERS

Figure 6: Topology of a 1-phase and 3- phase full bridge VSI

The typical power-circuit topologies of a single-phase and a three-phase volt-

age source inverter are shown in Figure-6.

Topology Description
Edc is the input dc supply and a large dc link capacitor (Cdc ) is put across the
supply terminals.3 Q1, Q2, Q3 etc. are fast and controllable switches(Assume
it to be transistor for the simple case)4 . D1, D2, D3 etc. are fast diodes
connected in anti-parallel with the switches.

Switches like transistor can only carry positive current. If the load is induc-
tive, there are times when the current has to flow in the opposite direction.
The diode gives this negative current a path to flow.

’A’, ’B’ and ’C’ are output terminals of the inverter that get connected
to the ac load.

3
The capacitor provides a low impedance path to high frequency components in source
current.
4
For medium output power applications the preferred devices are n-channel IGBTs

7
Operation(How to Get AC Output From DC Input Supply)

• The 2 switches in each leg are always operated complimentary.Otherwise

a direct shorting of source might happen.Hence,when Q1 is ON, Q2
will be turned OFF.

• At any time, in each leg , one switch will definitely be turned ON.5

• The conducting switch remains fully on having negligible on-state volt-

age drop and the non-conducting switch remains fully off allowing no
leakage current through it.

• When Q1 is turned ON,either Q1 or D1 will conduct depending upon

the direction of load current. If it is inductive load, current has to
be maintained in the same direction as previous instant.This might
force D1 to conduct till the current decreases and reaches zero. If
the load is resistive,Q1 will start conducting instantaneously.In both
cases, whenever Q1 is truned ON, either Q1 or D1 conduct causing
the potential of point A wrt point ’O’ as +0.5Edc .

• Similarly whenever Q2 is turned ON, either Q2 or D2 conducts,which

causes the potential of Point A wrt point ’O’ as −0.5Edc . .

Squrae Wave Operation(180 degree conduction)6

• The upper switches,Q1 and Q3 are turned ON with 180 deg phase
difference(ie,complimentary) for single phase operation.

5
Except for 120 degree conduction in 3-phase inverters, where both the switches are
turned OFF together, for certain duration.Hence 120 degree conduction lacks the maxi-
mum utilization of switches and is not very popular.
For other inverters,sometimes a deadtime is introduced, where both switches will be OFF
to prevent accidental shorting.
6
In 180 degree operation,each switch in a leg will conduct for half of the time pe-
riod.Simple square wave operation means 180 degree conduction.

8
Figure 7: Single phase o/p voltage VAB , for square wave operation.(For the
half bridge,the square wave max will be 0.5Edc and for full bridge it will be
Edc )

• The voltages of point A and point B(wrt ’O’) of the single-phase full
bridge inverter have same magnitude and frequency but their phases
are 180deg apart. Thus the load connected between these two points
will have a voltage equal to twice the magnitude of the individual
voltage.

• For 3 phase operation, the upper switches are turned ON with 120deg
phase difference7 , ie they are turned ON after T/3 seconds, where T
is the switching time period.8
7
This should not be confused with 120 degree conduction mode,which is about how
long a switch conducts
8
For periodic operation, time interval can be also be expressed in terms of angle.Time
period ’T’ duration corresponds to 360deg. ’X’ deg phase difference means a corresponding
time difference of (T/360)*X.

9
Figure 8: Three phase o/p voltage, for square wave operation.(For full bridge
ckt,Point ’O’ represents an imaginary midpoint of the DC capacitor, Refer
Figure 5)

• The voltages of the 3-phase inverter bridge, shown in Fig 8., are phase
apart by 120deg each.Here SW1 and SW4 are complementary switch
pairs in same leg, similarly SW3 and SW6

• For square wave opeartion,the switching frequecy determines the fre-

quency of the output square wave .The frequency of fundamental com-
ponent of square wave should be 50 Hz, hence the switching frequency
should also be 50 Hz(low frequency),which causes reduced switching
losses.

PWM Operation

There are different PWM techniques which essentially differ in the har-
monic content of their respective output voltages, thus the choice of a par-
ticular PWM technique depends on the permissible harmonic content in

10
the inverter output voltage. The sinusoidal PWM (SPWM) method is very
popular in industrial applications.

3.1 Sinusoidal Pulse Width Modulation Operation

The SPWM is explained with reference to Figure 9 , which is the half-bridge
circuit topology for a single-phase inverter.Full bridge can also be analysed
similarly using analysis equivalents.

Figure 9: Single Phase Inverter

• A high-frequency triangular carrier wave is compared with a sinu-

soidal reference of the desired frequency. The intersection of waves
determines the switching instants

11
Figure 10: SPWM illustration (a) Sine-Triangle Comparison (b) Switching
Pulses after comparison

• Vtri is the peak value of triangular carrier wave and Vcontrol that of
the control(also called reference signal), or modulating signal. The

12
 figure 22 shows the triangle and control signal with some arbitrary
frequency and magnitude. In the inverter of Figure 9 the switches
and are controlled based on the comparison of control signal and the
triangular wave which are mixed in a comparator.

• When sinusoidal wave has magnitude higher than the triangular wave
the comparator output is high, otherwise it is low.

Vd
Vcontrol > Vtri , S11 is ON ,Vout =
2
Vd
Vcontrol < Vtri , S12 is ON ,Vout =−
2

Figure 11: Output voltage of the single phase SPWM inverter.

Vcontrol
• The magnitude ratio of is called the modulation index (ma )
Vtri
and it controls the harmonic content of the output voltage waveform.
The magnitude of fundamental component of output voltage(Va01 ) is
proportional to ma .

Vd
Va01 = ma
2

13
 • The amplitude of the triangular wave Vtri is generally kept constant.Hence
the fundamental component of output voltage is controlled by control-
ling the the amplitude of the modulating sine waveVcontrol .

• A complete characterisation of SPWM inverter is shown in the figure

below.

Figure 12: Complete characterisation of single phase SPWM inverter.

A detailed description of the various inverters and their operation are pre-
sented below:

14
4 Voltage Source Inverters(Square Wave Opera-
tion)
9

A single-phase square wavetype voltage source inverter produces square

shaped output voltage for a single-phase load. Such inverters have very
simple control logic and the power switches need to operate at much lower
frequencies compared to switches in some PWM inverters.Single-phase in-
verters mostly use half bridge or full bridge topologies.

4.1 Single Phase Inverter(Full bridge)

Consider a single-phase full bridge inverter, shown in figure below.

Figure 13: Full-bridge inverter.

9
Simple Voltage Source Inverter in general means square wave operated Inverter.For
PWM operation it would be specifically mentioned as PWM Inverters.Remember both
are having the same topology, either full bridge or half bridge

15
16
Figure 15:

17
4.1.1 Practical Realisation of Switches
The switch currents in Fig. 8-2 show that the switches in the full-bridge
circuit must be capable of carrying both positive and negative currents for
RL loads. However, real electronic devices may conduct current in one
direction only. This problem is solved by placing feedback diodes in parallel
(anitparallel) with each switch. During the time interval when the current
in the switch must be negative, the feedback diode carries the current. The
diodes are reverse-biased when current is positive in the switch.

Figure 16: Practical Realisation of switches S1, S2,S3,S4 and the conduction
cycle

18
4.2 Single Phase Inverter(Half bridge)

Figure 17: HALFBRIDGE INVERTER

The half-bridge converter of Fig. 17 can be used as an inverter. In this

circuit, the number of switches is reduced to 2 by dividing the dc source
voltage into two parts with the capacitors. Each capacitor will be the same
Vdc
value and will have voltage across it. When S1 is closed, the load volt-
2
+Vdc −Vdc
age is . When S2 is closed, the load voltage is . Thus, a square
2 2
Vdc
wave output with peak can be produced.Hence the same analysis as in
2
Vdc
the previous section can be done with voltage level changed to instead
2
of Vdc . The voltage across an open switch is twice the load voltage, or Vdc .

4.3 Three phase Inverter (Full bridge)

The most frequently used three-phase inverter circuit consists of three legs,
one for each phase, as shown in Fig. 29. Each inverter leg is similar to the
one used for describing the basic one-leg inverter in single-phase inverters.
Therefore, the output of each leg, for example vAN (with respect to the neg-
ative dc bus), depends only on Vd , and the switch status; the output voltage
is independent of the output load current since one of the two switches in
a leg is always on at any instant. In this section we will discuss the square
wave operation of 3 phase inverters corresponding to 180 deg conduction
mode, ie, each switch will conduct for 180 deg or half the switching Time
period.

19
Figure 18: Three phase inverter(practical realisation)

20
 21

Figure 20:
 The THD of both the line-to-line and line-to-neutral voltages can be
shown to be 31 percent from Eq. (8-17). An example of the line-to-neutral
voltage and line current for an RL wye-connected load is shown in Fig.
8-28e. The output frequency can be controlled by changing the switching
frequency. The magnitude of the output voltage depends on the value of the
dc supply voltage. To control the output voltage of the six-step inverter,
the dc input voltage must be adjusted.

5 Voltage Source PWM Inverters

5.1 PULSE-WIDTH-MODULATED SWITCHING SCHEME
Pulse-width modulation (PWM) provides a way to decrease the total har-
monic distortion of load current. A PWM inverter output, with some fil-
tering, can generally meet THD requirements more easily than the square
wave switching scheme. The unfiltered PWM output will have a relatively
high THD, but the harmonics will be at much higher frequencies than for a
square wave, making filtering easier.
In PWM, the amplitude of the output voltage can be controlled with the
modulating waveforms.
Reduced filter requirements to decrease harmonics and the control of the
output voltage amplitude are two distinct advantages of PWM. Disadvan-
tages include more complex control circuits for the switches and increased
losses due to more frequent switching.

Control of the switches for sinusoidal PWM output requires:

(1) a reference signal, sometimes called a modulating or control signal, which
is a sinusoid in sinusoidal PWM
(2) a carrier signal, which is a triangular wave that controls the switching
frequency.

5.1.1 Sinusoidal Pulse Width Modulation Operation

The SPWM is explained with reference to Figure 21 , which is the half-
bridge circuit topology for a single-phase inverter.Full bridge can also be
analysed similarly using analysis equivalents.

22
 Figure 21: Single Phase Inverter

• A high-frequency triangular carrier wave is compared with a sinu-

soidal reference of the desired frequency. The intersection of waves
determines the switching instants

23
Figure 22: SPWM illustration (a) Sine-Triangle Comparison (b) Switching
Pulses after comparison

• Vtri is the peak value of triangular carrier wave and Vcontrol that of
the control(also called reference signal), or modulating signal. The

24
 figure 22 shows the triangle and control signal with some arbitrary
frequency and magnitude. In the inverter of Figure 21 the switches
and are controlled based on the comparison of control signal and the
triangular wave which are mixed in a comparator.

• When sinusoidal wave has magnitude higher than the triangular wave
the comparator output is high, otherwise it is low.

Vd
Vcontrol > Vtri , S11 is ON ,Vout =
2
Vd
Vcontrol < Vtri , S12 is ON ,Vout =−
2

Figure 23: Output voltage of the single phase SPWM inverter.

Vcontrol
• The magnitude ratio of is called the modulation index (ma )
Vtri
and it controls the harmonic content of the output voltage waveform.
The magnitude of fundamental component of output voltage(Va01 ) is
proportional to ma .

Vd
Va01 = ma
2

25
• The amplitude of the triangular wave Vtri is generally kept constant.Hence
the fundamental component of output voltage is controlled by control-
ling the the amplitude of the modulating sine waveVcontrol .

• The triangular waveform,vtri is at a switching frequency fs , which

establishes the frequency with which the inverter switches are switched
(fs , is also called the carrier frequency). The control signal vcontrol
is used to modulate the switch duty ratio and has a frequency f1
, which is the desired fundamental frequency of the inverter voltage
output. (f1 is also called the modulating frequency), recognizing that
the inverter output voltage will not be a perfect sine wave and will
contain voltage components at harmonic frequencies of f1 .

• A complete characterisation of SPWM inverter is shown in the figure

below.

26
 Figure 24: Complete characterisation of single phase SPWM inverter.

• The harmonics in the inverter output voltage waveform appear as side-

bands, centered around the switching frequency and its multiples, that
is, around harmonics mf 2mf , 3mf , and so on. This general pattern
holds true for all values of ma in the range 0- 1.Hence by choosing high
values of mf , we can shift the harmonic components to high frequency
region, which can easily be filtered out.

5.2 PWM DEFINITIONS AND CONSIDERATIONS

1. Frequency modulation ratio mf.
The Fourier series of the PWM output voltage has a fundamental frequency
which is the same as the reference signal. Harmonic frequencies exist at and
around multiples of the switching frequency. The magnitudes of some har-

27
monics are quite large, sometimes larger than the fundamental. However,
because these harmonics are located at high frequencies, a simple low-pass
filter can be quite effective in removing them. The frequency modulation
ratio mf is defined as the ratio of the frequencies of the carrier and reference
signals,

fcarrier ftri
mf = =
fref erence fsine
Increasing the carrier frequency (increasing mf ) increases the frequencies at
which the harmonics occur. A disadvantage of high switching frequencies is
higher losses in the switches used to implement the inverter.
2. Amplitude modulation ratio ma.
The amplitude modulation ratio ma is defined as the ratio of the amplitudes
of the reference and carrier signals:

Vm,ref erence Vm,sine

ma = =
Vm,carrier Vm,tri
If ma ≤ 1, the amplitude of the fundamental frequency of the output voltage
Vo1 is linearly proportional to ma. That is,
Vo1 = ma Vdc
The amplitude of the fundamental frequency of the PWM output is thus
controlled by ma. This is significant in the case of an unregulated dc supply
voltage because the value of ma can be adjusted to compensate for vari-
ations in the dc supply voltage, producing a constant-amplitude output.
Alternatively, ma can be varied to change the amplitude of the output. If
ma is greater than 1, the amplitude of the output increases with ma, but
not linearly.

3. Switches.
The switches in the full-bridge circuit must be capable of carrying current
in either direction for pulse-width modulation .Feedback diodes across the
switching devices are necessary. Another consequence of real switches is
that they do not turn on or off instantly. Therefore, it is necessary to allow
for switching times in the control of the switches .

4. Reference voltage.
For a sinusoidal PWM,the reference voltage should be sinusoidal .It must be
generated within the control circuit of the inverter or taken from an outside

28
reference. The reference signal is not restricted to a sinusoid, and other
waveshapes can function as the reference signal.

There are 2 types of switching scheme in Sinusoidal Pulse Width Modula-

tion.The common type is Bipolar switching scheme and hence unless specif-
ically stated, PWM in general refers to ’Bipolar Switching scheme PWM’.

5.3 Bipolar Switching

Consider a single-phase full bridge inverter, shown in figure below.

Figure 25: Full-bridge inverter.

Figure 26 illustrates the principle of sinusoidal bipolar pulse-width mod-

ulation for the above full bridge inverter.It shows a sinusoidal reference signal
and a triangular carrier signal. When the instantaneous value of the sine
reference is larger than the triangular carrier, the output is at +Vdc , and
when the reference is less than the carrier, the output is at -Vdc :

vo = +V dc for vsine > vtri

vo = −V dc for vsine < vtri

This version of PWM is bipolar because the output alternates between plus
and minus the dc supply voltage.

29
 The switching scheme that will implement bipolar switching using the
fullbridge inverter is determined by comparing the instantaneous reference
and carrier signals:
S1 and S2 are ON when vsine > vtri (vo = +Vdc )
S3 and S4 are ON when vsine < vtri (vo = −Vdc )

Figure 26: Bipolar pulse-width modulation. (a) Sinusoidal reference and

triangular carrier; (b) Output is +Vdc when vsine > vtri and is -Vdc when
vsine < vtri

30
5.4 Unipolar Switching
In a unipolar switching scheme for pulse-width modulation, the output is
switched either from high to zero or from low to zero, rather than between
high and low as in bipolar switching. One unipolar switching scheme has
switch controls in full bridge inverter as follows:

S1 is on when vsine > vtri

S2 is on when −vsine < vtri
S3 is on when −vsine > vtri
S4is on when vsine < vtri

Note that switch pairs (S1, S4) and (S2, S3) are complementarywhen one
switch in a pair is closed, the other is open. The voltages va and vb in Fig.
alternate between +Vdc and zero. The output voltage vo =vab = va - vb is
as shown in Fig.

31
Figure 27: (a) Full-bridge converter for unipolar PWM; (b) Reference and
carrier signals; (c) Bridge voltages Va and Vb ; (d) Output voltage.

32
6 THREE-PHASE INVERTERS(PWM)
In applications such as uninterruptible ac power supplies and ac motor
drives, three-phase inverters are commonly used to supply three-phase loads.10
The most frequently used three-phase inverter circuit consists of three legs,
one for each phase, as shown in Fig. 28. Each inverter leg is similar to the
one used for describing the basic one-leg inverter in single-phase inverters.
Therefore, the output of each leg, for example vAn (with respect to the nega-
tive dc bus), depends only on Vdc , and the switch status; the output voltage
is independent of the output load since one of the two switches in a leg is
always on at any instant.

Figure 28: Three phase Full bridge Inverter

10
It is possible to supply a three-phase load by means of three separate single-phase
inverters, where each inverter produces an output displaced by 120 deg (of the fundamental
frequency) with respect to each other. Though this arrangement may be preferable under
certain conditions, it requires either a three-phase output transformer or separate access
to each of the three phases of the load. In practice, such access is generally not available.
Moreover, it requires 12 switches.

33
 Figure 29: Three phase inverter(practical realisation)

6.1 PWM IN THREE-PHASE VOLTAGE SOURCE INVERT-

ERS
Pulse-width modulation can be used for three-phase inverters as well as for
single-phase inverters. The advantages of PWM switching are the same as
for the single-phase case: reduced filter requirements for harmonic reduction
and the controllability of the amplitude of the fundamental frequency.
Similar to the single-phase inverters, the objective in pulse-width-modulated
three-phase inverters is to shape and control the three-phase output voltages
in magnitude and frequency with an essentially constant input voltage Vd .

• To obtain balanced three-phase output voltages in a three-phase PWM

inverter, the same triangular voltage waveform is compared with three
sinusoidal control voltages that are 120 deg out of phase, as shown in
Fig. (30 (a)).The fundamental frequency of the output is the same as
that of the reference sinusoidal wave.

34
Figure 30: a) Carrier and reference waves for PWM operation for the three-
phase inverter(b) Output waveformscurrent is for an RL load.

In the above waveform ’o’ represents the imaginary midpoint of dc link

capacitor.

• As in the case of the six-step three-phase inverter, switches in Fig. 28

are controlled in pairs (S1, S4), (S2, S5), and (S3, S6). When one
switch in a pair is closed, the other is open. Each pair of switches
requires a separate sinusoidal reference wave. The three reference si-
nusoids are 120 degree apart to produce a balanced threephase output.
Switch controls are such that

S1 is on when va > vtri

S2 is on when vc > vtri
S3 is on when vb > vtri
S4 is on when va < vtri

35
 S5 is on when vc < vtri
S6 is on when vb < vtri

• It should also be noted from Figure (30 (b)) that an identical amount
of average dc component is present in the output voltages vAo and
vBo , which are measured with respect to the midpoint dc bus. These
dc components are canceled out in the line-to-line voltages. This is
similar to what happens in a single-phase full-bridge inverter utilizing
a PWM switching. In the three-phase inverters, only the harmonics
in the line-to-line voltages are of concern.

• The harmonics in the output of any one of the legs, for example vAn
in Fig. 31 (b), are identical to the harmonics for single phase, where
only the odd harmonics exist as sidebands, centered around mf and
its multiples, provided mf is odd.

• Some of the dominant harmonics in the one-leg inverter can be elim-

inated from the line-to-line voltage of a three-phase inverter, by suit-
ably choosing mf .

• A complete characterisation of 3 phase PWM inverter is shown below.

36
Figure 31: Three phase PWM Waveforms and Spectrum.

37