Introduction

Inverters are circuits that convert dc to ac.

More precisely, inverters transfer power from a dc
source to an ac load.
The controlled full-wave bridge converters can function
as inverters in some instances, but an ac source must
pre-exist in those cases.
The objective is to create an ac voltage when only a dc
voltage source is available.
Inverters are used in applications such as adjustable-
speed ac motor drives, ninterruptible power supplies
(UPS),and running ac appliances from an automobile
battery.
 THE FULL-BRIDGE CONVERTER

Note that S1 and S4 should not be

closed at the same time, nor
should S2 and S3.
Otherwise, shoot-through fault can occur!

Dead time should be inserted between

switching signals
THE SQUARE-WAVE INVERTER
The voltage across the
load is -Vdc, and current
begins to increase in the
load and in S1 and S2.

The current is expressed

as the sum of the forced
and natural responses

initial condition at t=0 for the current io(0)=Imin

The voltage across the
load is +Vdc, and current
begins to increase in the
load and in S3 and S4.

The current is expressed

as the sum of the forced
and natural responses

initial condition at t=T/2 for the current io(T/2)=Imax

An expression is obtained for Imax by evaluating the part

by symmetry
Power absorbed by the load can be determined from

Since the square each of the current half-periods is identical, only

the half-period needs to be evaluated

If the switches are ideal, the power supplied by the source must be the same as
absorbed by the load.
EXAMPLE 8-1
Square-Wave Inverter with RL Load
 Anti-parallel diode
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 (anti-
parallel) with each switch.

When IGBTs Q1 and Q2 are turned off in Fig. 8-3a, the load current must be
continuous and will transfer to diodes D3 and D4, making the output voltage -Vdc,
effectively turning on the switch paths 3 and 4 before Q3 and Q4 are turned on.
IGBTs Q3 and Q4 must be turned on before the load current decays to zero.
 FOURIER SERIES ANALYSIS

The Fourier series method is often the most practical way to analyze
load current and to compute power absorbed in a load, especially when
the load is more complex than a simple resistive or RL load.

load voltage load current

Power absorbed by a load with a series resistance is determined from

where the rms current can be determined from the rms currents at each of the
components in the Fourier series by
Zn is the load
where impedance at
harmonic n.

In the case of the square wave, the Fourier series contains the odd harmonics
and can be represented as
EXAMPLE 8-2
 Note how the current and power terms become vanishingly small for all but the
first few frequencies.

which agrees with the result in Example 8-1

 TOTALHARMONIC DISTORTION

The quality of a nonsinusoidal wave can be expressed in terms of total

harmonic distortion (THD),

The THD of current is determined by substituting current for voltage in the

above equation.

The THD of load current is often of greater interest than that

of output voltage.

This for THD is based on the Fourier series, so there is some in

using the Fourier series method for analysis when the THD must be determined.

Other measures of distortion such as distortion factor, as presented in Chap. 2,

can also be applied to describe the output waveform for inverters.
EXAMPLE 8-3
THD for a Square-Wave Inverter
Determine the total harmonic distortion of the load voltage and the load
current for the square-wave inverter in Examples 8-1 and 8-2.
 AMPLITUDE
AND
HARMONIC
CONTROL

The amplitude of the

fundamental frequency
for a square wave
output from of the full-
bridge inverter is
determined by the dc
input voltage

A controlled output
can be produced by
modifying the
switching scheme.
This output voltage can be controlled by adjusting the
interval on each side of the pulse where the output is zero.
 The Fourier series of the waveform is expressed as

Taking advantage of half-wave symmetry, the amplitudes are

the amplitude of the fundamental frequency (n = 1) is controllable by adjusting

Harmonic content can also be controlled by adjusting

If = 30 , for example, V3= 0

This is because the third harmonic can be eliminated

from the output voltage and current.

Other harmonics can be eliminated by choosing a value of which

makes the cosine term in Eq. (8-20) to go to zero.

Harmonic n is eliminated if
Amplitude control and harmonic reduction may not be compatible.

For example, establishing at 30 to eliminate the third harmonic the

amplitude of the output fundamental frequency at

and removes further controllability

To control both amplitude and harmonics using this switching scheme, it is

necessary to be able to control the dc input voltage to the inverter.
A graphical representation of the integration in the Fourier series
of Eq. (8-20) gives some insight into harmonic elimination.

The product of these two waveforms

has an area of zero, showing that the
third harmonic is zero.

Figure 8-6b shows the waveform

for =18 and the sinusoid of
w=5wo, showing that the
harmonic is eliminated for this value
of .
Other switching schemes can eliminate multiple harmonics. For
example, the output waveform shown in Fig. 8-6c eliminates both
the third and harmonics, as indicated by the areas of both
being zero.
EXAMPLE 8-5
Harmonic Control of the Full-Bridge Inverter Output
THE HALF-BRIDGE 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 value and will have voltage Vdc/2 across it.

When S1 is closed, the load voltage is +Vdc/2. When S2 is closed, the load
voltage is -Vdc/2.
Thus, a square wave output or a bipolar pulse-width-modulated output can be
produced.

The voltage across an open switch is

twice the load voltage, or Vdc.

blanking time
and feedback
diodes are
required
 MULTILEVEL INVERTERS
The H bridge inverter produces output voltages of Vdc, 0, and Vdc.

The basic H bridge switching concept can be expanded to other

circuits that can produce additional output voltage levels.
These multilevel-output voltages are more sinelike in quality and thus
reduce harmonic content.

The multilevel inverter is suitable for applications including

adjustable-speed motor drives and interfacing renewable energy sources
such as photovoltaics to the electric power grid.
Multilevel Converters with Independent DC Sources
The Fourier series for the total output voltage vo for the two-source
circuit contains only the odd-numbered harmonics and is

The Fourier for this series are

Some harmonics can be eliminated from the output voltage waveform with
the proper selection of 1 and 2. For the two-source converter, harmonic m
can be eliminated by using delay angles such that
To eliminate the mth harmonic and also meet a modulation index
for the two-source inverter requires the simultaneous solution to Eq. (8-26) and
the additional equation derived from Eq. (8-25),

(8-27)

To solve Eqs. (8-26) and (8-27) simultaneously requires an iterative numerical

method such as the Newton-Raphson method.
EXAMPLE 8-6
A Two-Source Multilevel Inverter
The preceding concept can be extended to a multilevel converter having
several dc sources.

For k separate sources connected in cascade, there are 2k+1 possible

voltage levels.

As more dc sources and H bridges are

added, the total output voltage has more
steps, producing a staircase waveform that
more closely
approaches a sinusoid.

For a -source system as shown in Fig.

8-11, there are 11 possible output voltage
levels, as illustrated in Fig. 8-12.
Equalizing Average Source Power with Pattern Swapping

In the two-source inverter of Fig. 8-9 using the switching scheme of

Fig. 8-10, the source and H bridge producing the voltage v1 supplies
more average power (and energy) than the source and H bridge
producing v2 due to longer pulse widths in both the positive and
negative half cycles.
Equalizing Average Source Power with Pattern Swapping
Diode-Clamped Multilevel Inverters

A multilevel converter circuit that has the advantage of using a single dc

source rather than multiple sources is the diode-clamped multilevel
converter
In this circuit, the dc voltage source is connected to a pair of series
capacitors, each charged to Vdc/2. The following analysis shows how the
output voltage can have the levels of Vdc, Vdc/2, 0, -Vdc/2, or Vdc.
Diode-Clamped Multilevel Inverters

For the analysis, consider only the left half of the bridge,
With S1 and S2 closed and S3 and S4 open, V1 = Vdc.

The diodes are off for this condition.

Diode-Clamped Multilevel Inverters

For the analysis, consider only the left half of the bridge,
With S3 and S4 closed and S1 and S2 open, V1 = 0.

The diodes are off for this condition also.

 the voltage of the
Diode-Clamped Multilevel Inverters source divides
between the two,
For the analysis, consider only the left half of the bridge, thus reducing the
voltage stress across
S2 and S3 are closed, and S1 and S4 are open V1 = Vdc/2 each switch
The diodes are on for this condition. compared to
the H bridge
Diode-Clamped Multilevel Inverters

Using a similar analysis, the right half of the bridge can also produce the
voltages Vdc, 0, and Vdc/2. The output voltage is the difference of the
voltages between each half bridge, resulting in the levels
Diode-Clamped 7-levels Multilevel Inverters
The voltage across each capacitor is V,
producing the four voltage levels on 1/3
each side of the bridge of Vdc, 2/3 Vdc,
1/3Vdc, and 0. The output voltage can then
have the seven levels
 PULSE-WIDTH-MODULATED OUTPUT

Pulse-width modulation (PWM) provides a way to decrease the total

harmonic distortion of load current.

A PWM inverter output, with some , can generally meet THD

requirements more easily than the square wave switching scheme.

The PWM output will have a relatively high THD, but the har-
monics will be at much higher frequencies than for a square wave, making
easier.

Reduced requirements to decrease harmonics and the control of

the output voltage amplitude are two distinct advantages of PWM.

Disadvantages 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 this case and,
(2) a carrier signal, which is a triangular wave that controls the switching
frequency.
BipolarSwitching
UnipolarSwitching (1)
UnipolarSwitching (2)
PWM DEFINITIONS AND CONSIDERATIONS

The frequency modulation ratio mf is as the ratio of the

frequencies of the carrier and reference signals,

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.

The amplitude modulation ratio ma is as the ratio of the amplitudes of

the reference and carrier signals:
The amplitude of the
fundamental frequency of
the PWM output is thus
controlled by ma.
fundamental frequency of the output
voltage V1 is linearly proportional to
the output increases with
ma. That is,
ma, but not linearly.
PWM DEFINITIONS AND CONSIDERATIONS

The switches in the full-bridge circuit must be capable of

carrying current in either direction for pulse-width modulation just as
they did for square wave operation. 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 just as it was for the square-wave inverter.

The sinusoidal reference voltage must be generated within the control circuit of
the inverter or taken from an outside reference.

It may seem as though the function of the inverter bridge is unnecessary

because a sinusoidal voltage must be present before the bridge can operate
to produce a sinusoidal output. However, there is very little power required
from the reference signal.

The power supplied to the load is provided by the dc power source, and this is
the intended purpose of the inverter.
The reference signal is not restricted to a sinusoid, and other wave shapes can
function as the reference signal.
 PWM HARMONICS

BipolarSwitching

UnipolarSwitching
THREE-PHASE INVERTERS
The Six-Step Inverter
THREE-PHASE INVERTERS
The Six-Step Inverter
THREE-PHASE INVERTERS
PWM Three-Phase Inverters