DC – AC Converter

Contd…..

3 Phase Six-step Inverter

Dr. Bishnu Prasad Muni

Vasavi College of Engineering, Hyderabad
Three single-phase half-bridge inverters can be connected in a bridge to form a configuration of three-phase
bridge inverter.

Alternately, three single-phase inverter with 1200 phase displaced waveform can be connected through three
single phase transformers to give three phase output.

For the three-phase bridge inverter there are two types of conduction depending on the control signal used to drive
the six IGBTs with 120˚ or 180˚ conduction. In 120˚, each IGBT conducts for 120˚ and in 180˚, each IGBT conducts
for 180˚.

Applications: AC Drives, UPS, FACTS, Custom power devices, Solar / Fuel Cell Inverters etc.
3-Phase Bridge Inverter
Realization of 3-phase Inverter by coupling three
Single Phase Inverter by Transformers
180o Conduction: Each IGBT conducts for 180°. Three IGBTs remain on at any instant of time.

When transistor Q1 is switched on, terminal ‘a’ is connected to the positive terminal of the DC input voltage.

When transistor Q4 is switched on, terminal ‘a’ is connected to the negative terminal of the dc source.

There are six modes of operation in a cycle and the duration of each mode is 60°. The IGBTs are numbered
in the sequence of gating the transistors (e.g., 123, 234, 345, 456, 561, and 612).

The gating signals are shifted from each other by 60° to obtain three-phase balanced (fundamental)
voltages.
Inverter

Load
Line-Line voltage in case of Delta Connected Load
There are three modes of operation in a half-cycle and the equivalent circuits are shown below.
Line-Line voltage in case of Star Connected Load
Harmonics Analysis of Six Step Waveform

The instantaneous line-to-line voltage vab can be

expressed in a Fourier series:

Due to the quarter-wave symmetry along the x-axis, both

a0 and an are zero.

Assuming symmetry along the y-axis at ωt = π/6, we can

write bn as:
As line voltage vab is phase shifted by π/6 (leading) and even harmonics are zero due to half wave symmetry,
the instantaneous line-to-line voltage vab can be written as:

Both vbc and vca can be written by phase shifting vab by 120° and 240°, respectively,

In line to line voltage, triplen harmonics (n = 3, 9, 15, 18 … ) would be zero.

The line-to-line rms voltage can be found from:

 The rms value of nth component of the line voltage is:

B y substituting n = 1, the rms value of fundamental line voltage can be written as:

The rms value of line-to-neutral voltages can be found from the line voltage,
Function of Free wheeling Diode:

With resistive loads, the diodes across the switches have no

functions.

If the load is inductive, the current in each arm of the inverter

would be delayed to its voltage as shown in Figure. When
IGBT Q4 is off, the only path for the negative line current ia is
through D1. Hence, the load terminal ‘a’ is connected to the
DC source through D1 until the load current reverses its
polarity at t = t1.

During the period for IGBT Q1 cannot conduct.

Similarly, IGBT Q4 only starts to conduct at t = t2.
Input DC Current:

Neglecting losses, the instantaneous power balance gives

where ia(t), ib(t) and ic(t) are the phase currents in a delta-connected load. Assuming that the AC output voltages
are sinusoidal and the DC supply voltage is constant vs(t) = Vs, we get the DC supply current for a positive
sequence

The dc supply current can be simplified to:

1200 Conduction

•In this type of switching, each IGBT conducts for 120°.

•Only two transistors remain on at any instant of time.
•The conduction sequence of transistors is 61, 12, 23, 34, 45, 56, 61.
• There are three modes of operation in one half-cycle

Equivalent circuits for a Y-connected load are shown below.

The line-to-neutral voltages can be expressed in Fourier
series as:
At any time, two load terminals are connected to the DC supply and the third one remains open. The potential of
this open terminal depends on the load characteristics and would be unpredictable.

As one IGBT conducts for 120°, the IGBTs are less utilized as compared with those of 180° conduction for the
same load condition. Thus, the 180° conduction is preferred and it is generally used in three-phase inverters.
180 Conduction

Fundamental component of O/P Line to Line voltage (RMS) = 0.78 x Vs

Fundamental component of O/P Phase voltage (RMS) = 0.45 x Vs

120 Conduction

Fundamental component of O/P Line to Line voltage (RMS) = 0.675 x Vs

Fundamental component of O/P Phase voltage (RMS) = 0.39 x Vs