o Introduction

o Voltage Source Inverters

 Performance Parameters
 Single-Phase Inverters
 Three-Phase Inverters
o Voltage Control Of Inverters
Single Pulse Width Modulation
Multiple Pulse Width Modulation
Sinusoidal Pulse Width Modulation
Modified Sinusoidal Pulse Width Modulation
o Current Source Inverters
o Conclusion
DC to AC converters are known as inverters. The function of an inverter is to
change a dc input voltage to a symmetric ac output voltage. The output
voltage waveforms of ideal inverters should be sinusoidal. For such outputs
the magnitude, frequency and phase should be controllable.
However, the waveforms of practical inverters are non sinusoidal and
contain certain harmonics (e.g. a variable speed drive draws high harmonic
currents of orders 5, 7, 11, 13). For low and medium power applications,
square-wave voltages may be acceptable but for high power applications
low distorted sinusoidal waveforms are required. With the availability of
high speed power semiconductor devices and advanced switching
techniques the harmonic contents of output voltage can be minimized or
reduced significantly.
Inverters are widely used in industrial applications such as
stand by power supplies and uninterruptible power supplies,
induction heating and adjustable speed drives which are the
most popular applications of inverters.
The input of an inverter may be a battery, fuel cell, solar cell or
other dc source. While the typical single-phase outputs are 120
V (60 Hz), 220 V (50 Hz), 115 V (400 Hz). For high power three-
phase systems, typical outputs are 220 to 380 V (50 Hz), 120 to
280 V (60 Hz) and 115 to 200 V (400 Hz).

A - Generator
B - Inverter
C - Electricity meter for injection
D - House connection point
E - Public electricity network
F - Electricity meter for consumption
G - Consumer load
How to choose an inverter for such solar system in the previous slide? The
choice may differ due to the power your house will consume. Let’s say 300
watts are needed for household appliances, TVs (up to 27"), VCR, desktop
computers, other mobile office equipment then an inverter with such
features shown below may be suggested.

Power (W) 300

Input voltage (V) 12-24
Output voltage (V) 110, 220, 230, 240
THD <3%
Power factor 0,97
Operational Environment Temp.(C) -10 to 40

Operational Environment Humidity 15-95%

Inverters can be classified into two types, single-phase
inverters and three-phase inverters. Each type can use
controlled switching devices such as BJTs, MOSFETs, IGBTs,
MCTs and GTOs. Inverters generally use PWM control signals
for producing an ac output voltage. An inverter is called voltage
source inverter (VSI) if the input voltage remains constant, a
current source inverter (CSI) if the input current is maintained
constant.
The output of practical inverters contains harmonics and the quality of an
inverter is normally evaluated in terms of the following performance
parameters. Harmonic factor of nth harmonic (HFn): The harmonic factor
which is a measure of individual harmonic contribution is defined as,

for n>1

Where V₁ is the rms of the fundamental component and Von is the rms of
the nth harmonic component. Total harmonic distortion (THD): The total
harmonic distortion which is a measure of closeness in shape between a
waveform and its fundamental component is defined as,
∞

=
= , ,…
Distortion factor (DF): THD gives the total harmonic content but it doesn’t
indicate the level of each harmonic component. If a filter is used at the
output of inverters, the higher order harmonics would be attenuated more
effectively. Therefore a knowledge of both the freq. and magnitude of each
harmonic is important. The DF indicates the amount of HD that remains in a
particular waveform after the harmonics of the waveform have been
subjected to a second-order attenuation. Thus DF is measure of
effectiveness in reducing unwanted harmonics without having to specify the
values of a second-order load filter and is defined as,

= , ,..
The DF of an individual (or nth) harmonic component is defined as,

Lowest order harmonic (LOH): The LOH is that harmonic component whose
freq. İs closest to the fundemantal one and its amplitude is greater than or
equal to 3% of the fundamental component.
The principle of single phase inverters can be explained with figure shown
here. The inverter circuit consists of two choppers. When only transistor Q₁
is turned on for a time T₀/2 the instantaneous voltage across the load V₀ is
Vs/2. If transistor Q₂ is turned on for a time T₀/2, -Vs/2 appears across the
load. The logic circuit should be designed such that Q₁ and Q₂ are not ON at
the same time. This is inverter is known as a half bridge inverter.
 The rms output voltage can be found from:
= =

And the instantaneous output voltage comes out as:

∞

=
= , , …

= = , ,…

Where w is the frequency of output voltage in rads per sec. Due to the
quarter wave symmetry of the output voltage along the x-axis, the even
harmonics are absent. For n = 1, the eq. above gives the rms value of
fundemental components as,

= = .
√
For an inductive load, the load current can’t change
immediately with the output voltage. If Q₁ is turned off at t =
T₀/2, the load current would continue to flow through D₂, load
and lower half of the dc source until the current falls to zero.
Similarly, when is turned off at t = T₀, the load current flows
through D₁, load and upper half of dc source. When diode D₁ or
D₂ conducts, energy is fed back to the dc source and these
diodes are known as feedback diodes.
Figure shows the load current
and conduction intervals for a
purely inductive load. If toff is
the turn-off time of a device
there must be a min. delay time
of td between the outgoing
device and triggering of the
next incoming device. Other-
wise short circuit conditions
may occur. Therefore, the max.
Conduction time of a device
would be ton = T₀/2 – td. For
succesful operation of inverters
the logic circuit should take
these into account.
For an RL load, the
instantaneous load current Io
can be found by diving the
instantaneous output voltage
by the load impedance
Z = R + jnwL. Thus, we get
∞

= ( − )
= , , …
+( )

Where . If I₀₁ is
the rms fundamental load
current, the fundamental
output power (for n = 1) is,
Note: In most applications (e.g.
motor drives) the output power
due to fundamental current is
generally the useful power and
the power due to harmonic
currents is dissipated as heat
and increases the load
temperature.

Assuming a lossless inverter,

the avg. Power absorbed by the
load must be equal to the
average power supplied by the
dc source. Thus we can write,
 Where T is the period of the ac output voltage. For an
inductive load and a relatively high switching freq., the load
current Io is nearly sinusoidal; therefore, only the fundamental
component of the ac output voltage provides power to the
load. Because the dc supply voltage remains constant Vs(t) =
Vs, we can write

Where V₀₁ is the fundemantal rms output voltage; I₀ is the

rms load current; θ₁ is the load angle at the fundamental
frequency. Thus the dc supply current Is can be simplified to,
The single-phase half-bridge inverter in Figure x.1a has a resistive
load of R=2.4 and the dc input voltage is Vs=48 V. Determine
(a) the rms output voltage at the fundamental frequency Vo1,
(b) the output power Po,
(c) the average and peak currents of each transistors,
(d) the peak reverse blocking voltage VBR of each transistor,
(e) the THD,
(f) the DF, and
(g) the HF and DF of the LOH.
A single phase full-bridge voltage source inverter (VSI) is shown
in figure below. It consists of four choppers. When transistors
Q₁ and Q₂ are turned on simultaneously, the input voltage Vs
appears across the load. If transistors Q₃ and Q₄ are turned on
at the same time, the voltage across the load is reversed and is
–Vs.
Following table shows the four switching states. Transistors Q₁, Q₄ act as the
switching deices S₁, S₄ respectively. If two switches, one upper and one
lower conduct at the same time such that the output voltage is ±Vs, the
switch state is 1, whereas if these switches are off at the same time, the
switch state is 0.

State State No. Switch Vao Vbo Vo

States

S1 and S2 are ON and S4 and S3 are OFF 1 10 Vs/2 -Vs/2 Vs

S4 and S3 are ON and S1 and S2 are OFF 2 01 -Vs/2 Vs/2 -Vs

S1 and S3 are ON and S4 and S2 are OFF 3 11 Vs/2 Vs/2 0

S4 and S2 are ON and S1 and S3 are OFF 4 00 -Vs/2 -Vs/2 0

The rms output voltage can be found from:

And the instantaneous output voltage comes out as:

And for n = 1, the rms value of fundamental component as:

The instantaneous load current Io for an RL load becomes ,

where
When diodes D₁ and D₂
conduct, the energy is
fed back to the dc source;
thus, they are known as
feedback diodes. Figure
shows the waveform of
load current for an a) Circuit
inductive load.
Neglecting any losses,
the instantaneous power
balance gives,

b) Waveforms
 For inductive load and relatively high-switching frequencies
the load current I₀ and the output voltage may be assumed
sinusoidal. Because the voltage remains constant we get,

Which can be simplified to find the dc supply current as,

The single-phase full-bridge inverter has a resistive load of
R=2.4 and the dc input voltage is Vs=48 V. Determine
(a) the rms output voltage at the fundamental frequency Vo1,
(b) the output power Po,
(c) the average and peak currents of each transistors,
(d) the peak reverse blocking voltage VBR of each transistor,
(e) the THD,
(f) the DF, and
(g) the HF and DF of the LOH.