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Pulse width modulation (PWM) is a powerful technique for controlling analog circ uits with a processor's digital outputs.

PWM is employed in a wide variety of applications, ranging from measurement and communications to power control and conversion.

PWM is economical, space saving, and noise immune ref: Barr, Michael. "Pulse Width Modulation," Embedded Systems Programming, Sept ember Now a days most of the inverters available in the market utilizes the PWM(Pulse Width Modulation) technology. The inverters based on PWM technology are superior in many factorscompared to ot her inverters designed using conventional technologies. The inverters based on PWM technology has a lot of protection and control circui ts compared to the traditional inverters. ADVANTAGE OF PWM In a standard Inverter without the PWM technology, the output voltage changes ac cording to the power consumption of the load. The PWM technology corrects the output voltage according to the value of the loa d by changing the Width of the switching frequency in the oscillator section. As a result of this, the AC voltage from the Inverter changes depending on the width of the switching pulse. To achieve this effect, the PWM Inverter has a PWM controller IC which takes a p art of output through a feedback loop. The PWM controller in the Inverter will makes corrections in the pulse width of the switching pulse based on the feedback voltage. This will cancel the changes in the output voltage and the Inverter will give a steady output voltage irrespective of the load characteristics. PWM is employed in a wide variety of applications, ranging from measurement and communications to power control and conversion. In ac motor drives, PWM inverters make it possible to control both frequency and magnitude of the voltage and current applied to a motor. As a result, PWM inverter-powered motor drives are more variable and offer in a wide range better efficiency and higher performance when compared to fixed frequency motor drives. The energy, wh ich is delivered by the PWM inverter to the ac motor, is controlled by PWM signals applied to the gates of the power switches at different times for varying durations to produce the desired output waveform. 1.3 Pulse Width Modulation Usually, the on- and off-states of the power switches in one inverter leg are al ways opposite. Therefore, the inverter circuit can be simplified into three 2-position switches. Either the positive or the negative dc bus voltage is applied to one of the motor phases for a short time. Pulse width modulation (PWM) is a m ethod whereby the switched voltage pulses

are produced for different output frequencies and voltages. A typical modulator produces an average voltage value, equal to the reference voltage within each PWM period. Considering a very short PWM pe riod, the reference voltage is reflected by the fundamental of the switched pulse pattern. Apart from the fundamental wave, the voltage spectrum at the motor terminals con sists of many higher harmonics. The interaction between the fundamental motor flux wave and the 5th and 7th harmoni c currents produces a pulsating torque at six times of the fundamental supply frequency. Similarly, 11th and 13th harmoni cs produce a pulsating torque at twelve times the fundamental supply frequency [Dub 89]. Furthermore, harmonic currents and skin effect increase copper losses leading to motor derating. However, the motor reactance acts as a low-pass filt er and substantially reduces high-frequency current harmonics. Therefore, the motor flux (IM & PMSM) is in g ood approximation sinusoidal and the contribution of harmonics to the developed torque is negligible. To minimize the effect of harmonics on the motor performance, the PWM frequency should be as high as possible. However, the PWM frequency is restricted by the control unit (resolution) and the switching device capabilities, e.g. due to switching l osses and dead time distorting the output voltage. There are various PWM schemes. Well-known among these are sinusoidal PWM, hyster esis PWM, space vector modulation (SVM) and optimal PWM techniques based on the optimization of certain performance criter ia, e.g. selective harmonic elimination, increasing efficiency, and minimization of torque pulsation [Jen 9 5]. While the sinusoidal pulse-width modulation and the hysteresis PWM can be implemented using analog techniques, th e remaining PWM techniques require the use of a microprocessor. A modulation scheme especially developed for drives is the direct flux and torqu e control (DTC). A two-level hysteresis controller is used to define the error of the stator flux. The torque is compare d to its reference value and is fed into a three-level hysteresis comparator. The phase angle of the instantaneous stato r flux linkage space phasor together with the torque and flux error state is used in a switching table for the selection of an appropriate voltage state applied to the motor [Dam 97], [Vas 97]. Usually, there is no fixed pattern modulation i n process or fixed voltage to frequency relation in the DTC. The DTC approach is similar to the FOC with hysteresis PWM . However,

Copyright 2005 by Datadog Systems Uses for PWM: 1) To digitally create an analog output voltage level for control functions and power supplies. 2) To digitally create analog signals for arbitrary wa veforms, sounds, music and speech. Conclusion: PWM is the poor mans digital-to-analog converter (DAC). It has prob

lems not shared by other DACs, such as speed and instantaneous voltage output, but it is the least expensive way to get an analog voltage output from a microcontroller. Some other uses are to operate relays and solenoids that require high pull-in curr ent and more moderate hold current. Or for devices that require a lower operating voltage than your microcontroller, such a s a 1.5-Volt lamp. There are additional ways to improve PWM, such as using LC filters. Although they cost more, they will not d rop the voltage as do RC filters. Also, you can use two microcontroller I/O pins to mix on/off PWM with distributed PWM to obtain tw ice the resolution. These and other methods are discussed in the Datadog Systems PIC10F2XX tutorials.

Why the PWM frequency is important: The PWM is a large amplitude digital signal that swings from one voltage extreme to the other. And, this wide voltage swing takes a lot of filtering to smooth out. Wh en the PWM frequency is close to the frequency of the waveform that you are generating, then any PWM filter will also smooth out y our generated waveform and drastically reduce its amplitude. So, a good rule of thumb is to keep the PWM frequency much highe r than the frequency of any waveform you generate. Finally, filtering pulses is not just about the pulse frequency but a bout the duty cycle and how much energy is in the pulse. The same filter will do better on a low or high duty cycle pulse compar ed to a 50% duty cycle pulse. Because the wider pulse has more time to integrate to a stable filter voltage and the smaller puls e has less time to disturb it.

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