Single Phase Inverter

The inverter is an electronic circuit that converts fixed DC supply to variable AC

supply. The inverter is used to run the AC loads through a battery or control AC
loads via AC-DC conversion. Inverters are also available as single-phase inverter
and three-phase inverters. Of course, in three-phase inverter more switching
operations are required. Let see the circuit diagram and working principle of
single-phase and three-phase inverters.

Single Phase Inverter

A single-phase inverter or also called as half-bridge inverters, converters DC

supply to single-phase AC supply. For this purpose, two switching devices are
used to convert DC to AC. Diodes, capacitors help the circuit to operate smoothly.

Single-phase Inverter Working Principle

As the name implies, half-bridge inverter, the output varies from +Vs/2 to -Vs/2.
As shown in the circuit, two switching devices are connected in one common
branch or also called a leg. This switching may be SCR, MOSFET, or IGBT.
Generally, we use MOSFET more commonly for high-frequency applications. One
more advantage with MOSFET is it has low switching losses but high conduction
losses.

Single Phase Inverter

As shown in the circuit, we have two switching devices S1 and S2. To obtain one
cycle of Alternating voltage, each device is triggered at one time. The other being
off at the same moment. For example, to obtain the positive cycle of Alternating
supply, device S1 is turned on, while S2 is kept off. Similarly to obtain a negative
cycle of alternating supply, device S2 is turned on while S1 is kept off. The output
wave is shown as below.

Output Voltage Waveform Half Bridge

As shown in the output figure, when S1 is conducting from 0 to T/2 the output
+Vs/2 is obtained. Similarly, when S2 is conducting from T/2 to T, the output -
Vs/2 is obtained. Hence the output alternates between +Vs/2 to -Vs/2, which is
regarded as alternating voltage. T is the total time period of the conduction of two
devices. It can be noted that the output voltage waveform is a stepped square
waveform. In inverters, we never obtain a sinusoidal waveform. The stepped
square waveform alternates between two values, which is considered as alternating
voltage. The same is for three-phase inverter also.