IJIRST –International Journal for Innovative Research in Science & Technology| Volume 1 | Issue 7 | December 2014

ISSN (online): 2349-6010

Unipolar and Bipolar PWM Inverter

Anuja Namboodiri Harshal S. Wani
UG Student Assistant Professor
Power Electronics Engineering Power Electronics Engineering
Vishwakarma Govt. Engineering College, Chandkheda Vishwakarma Govt. Engineering College, Chandkheda

Abstract
Inverter is basically an interface between DC source like photovoltaic cell and AC networks. There are many inverter topologies
but output current distortion and efficiency are the two main parameters for the selection of inverters. Two such topologies are
described herein. In this paper, the SPWM (Sinusoidal Pulse Width Modulation) technique of unipolar and bipolar inverters is
presented and the models are simulated in MATLAB – Simulink. The H-Bridge inverter topologies (both unipolar and bipolar)
are made up of power electronic switches and are fed with constant amplitude pulses with varying duty cycle for each period.
The SPWM pulses are generated by comparison of two waves- a carrier wave, which is triangular in this case and a modulating
reference wave whose frequency is the desired frequency, which is sinusoidal in this case. This pulse width modulation inverter
is characterized by simple circuitry and rugged control scheme that is SPWM technique to obtain inverter output voltage control
and to reduce its harmonic content.
Keywords: Bipolar, Inverter, Over Modulation, PWM, Unipolar.
_______________________________________________________________________________________________________

I. INTRODUCTION
The basic inverter circuits performs the task of converting DC input power to AC output power. Inverter can be widely classified
based on many parameters but considering one of them based on the arrangement of the power electronic switches are –
Half Bridge Inverter and Full bridge inverter. A Full bridge inverter has two legs consisting of two semiconductor switches in
each of them with the load connected at the center points of the two legs.

Fig. 1: Full- Bridge Inverter Circuit

As seen in Figure1 four semiconductor switches S1, S2, S3, S4 are arranged with the load connected at the midpoints of the
two legs hence forming the letter H, so is the name H-Bridge inverter. Feedback diodes are provided for all the switches. DC
source Vs is supplied to H-Bridge. The switches s1, S2, S3, S4 can be switched in three different sequences
 When S1 and S4 are turned on +Vs is obtained at the output
 When S2nand S3 are turned on –Vs is obtained at the output
 When S1 and S2 or S3 and S4 are turned on together zero voltage is obtained at the output

II. PULSE WIDTH MODULATION

Variation of duty cycle of the PWM signal provides a voltages across the load in a specific pattern will appear to the load as AC
signal. A pure sin wave is obtained after passing the signal through a low pass filter. The pattern at which the duty cycle of a
PWM signal varies can be implemented using simple analogue components or a digital microcontroller. Either of the two basic
topologies generate sinusoidal PWM that controls the output of the inverter.
PWM signals find a wide application in modern electronics. Some of these reasons are:

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 Reduced Power Loss – switched circuits tend to have lower power consumption because the switching devices are
almost always off (low current means low power) or hard-on (low voltage drop means low power).
 Easy to Generate – PWM signals are quite easy to generate. Many modern microcontrollers include PWM
hardware within the chip; using this hardware often takes very little attention from the microprocessor and it can
run in the background without interfering with executing code.
 Digital to Analogue Conversion – The fact that the duty cycle of a PWM signal can be accurately controlled by
simple counting procedures is one of the reasons why PWM signals can be used to accomplish digital-to-analogue
conversion.
The desired PWM technique should have the following characteristics:
 Good utilization of DC supplies voltage possibly a high voltage gain.
 Linearity of voltage control.
 Low amplitude of low order harmonic of output voltage to minimize the harmonic content of output currents.
 Low switching losses in inverter switches.
 Sufficient time allowance for proper operation of the inverter switches and control system.
In SPWM (Sinusoidal Pulse Width Modulation) two signals are compared. The Modulating reference signal is sinusoidal and
the carrier wave is triangular. Gating pulses are produce by comparing the two signals and the width of each pulse is varied is
proportion to the amplitude of the sine wave . The frequency of the reference signal determines the inverter output frequency
and the reference peak amplitude controls the modulation index and the RMS value of the output voltage.

Fig. 2: Single Phase H-Bridge Inverter

The basic H bridge inverter circuit for both the schemes remains same. Consider the H bridge circuit comprising of IGBT
switches as shown in Figure2 for both unipolar and bipolar inverter

III. BIPOLAR PWM INVERTER

The upper and the lower switches in the same inverter leg work in a complementary manner with one switch turned on and other
turned off. Thus we need to consider only two independent gating signals vg1 and vg3 which are generated by comparing
sinusoidal modulating wave vm and triangular carrier wave vcr. The inverter terminal voltages are obtained denoted by VAN and
VBN and the inverter output voltage VAB = VAN-VBN. Since the waveform of VAB switches between positive and negative
dc voltages this scheme is called bipolar PWM.

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3764  ISSN: 2088-8708

constant switching frequency pulse width modulation (CSFPWM), the inverter switches are driving through
the pulse width modulation method of pulses generation using one of the two PWM schemes; unipolar
scheme and bipolar scheme. However, the disadvantage of the PWM technique is that the difficulty in
guaranteeing a low THD and low switching losses simulitanuosly. In other words, to have low THD,
switching frequency should be increased that will reduce the filter size as well. But increasing the switching
frequency increases the switching losses, this reduces the inverter efficiency. Whereas to improve the
efficiency, switching losses should be reduced by reducing the switching frequency, but this will increase the
current THD [14]-[16]. To manipulate the mentioned demerit of the constant switching frequency PWM
technique for inverter drive pulses generation, the researchers have proposed the variable switching
frequency pulse width modulation CSFPWM for enhancing the THD, switching losses, and more flexible
pulses generating as well [17]-[28].
In the studies of [17]-[19], random variable switching frequency pulse width modulation
(R-VSFPWM) have proposed for distributing the harmonics over a wide frequency band through adopting a
random carrier frequency variation during the fundamental frequency cycle. This technique is proposed to
have effectively suppressing the electromagnetic interference (EMI) noise in the power electronics
conversion system. Another type of variable switching frequency PWM technique is optimal VSFPWM
which have proposed to guarantee the minimum switching losses and the desired THD level in the output
current of the inverter.
Recently, a new type of VSFPWM technique which is the confined band VSFPWM (CB-VSFPWM)
has proposed in [24], and [25] for single phase inverters. The CB-VSFPWM technique has proposed and
analyzed through unipolar scheme. This technique facilitated the low pass power filter design and avoided
the restrict of the practical applications due to that the process of unconfined band of the switching frequency
variation had led to the possibility of a filter resonating, and distortion possibility of the load current due to
the pulse dropping by exceeding the maximum switching frequency limit [26]-[28].
Based on the above, this paper discusses and analyzes the effects of the bipolar PWM strategy on the
performance of a CB-VSFPWM inverter through a comparative study between the unipolar and bipolar
PWM schemes. The remaining sections of the paper are as follows: the methodology of the unipolar and
bipolar PWM schemes are explained in section 2. In section 3, the principle of the CB-VSFPWM is
explained. The analysis of the simulation results of the inverter voltage and current waveforms for the two
schemes through the CB-VSFPWM are shown in section 4. Conclusion of the study outcomes is discussed in
section 5.

2. BIPOLAR AND UNIPOLAR PULSE WIDTH MODULATION PWM SCHEMES

Pulse width modulation technique is a common technique to generate the driving pulses for the
inverter system due to the simplicity in controlling the inverter voltage by controlling the duty cycle of the
drive pulses. PWM based power electronics circuits and systems have many home and industrial
applications, such as; motor speed controller, inverter/converter systems, and many more. The PWM
inverters have many merits such as easy controlling the inverter output voltage, reducing the level of inverter
current harmonics, and simple controlling function [29]-[33]. A major type of PWM is sinusoidal PWM
(SPWM) which drive pulses can be obtained by one of the two strategies; unipolar and bipolar [34].

2.1. Bipolar SPWM

The process of implementing the bipolar sinusoidal PWM pulses generation for a single phase full
bridge inverter is explained in Figure 1. A sinusoidal signal of reference fundamental frequency is compared
with a triangular signal of carrier frequency. The value and the sign of the output voltage depend on the
instantaneous values of reference and carrier waveforms. The output voltage will be +Vdc or –Vdc
depending on the instantaneous values of the comparison levels of the reference and carrier signals as shown
in (1):

𝑣𝑜 = +𝑉𝑑𝑐 when 𝑣𝑠𝑖𝑛𝑒 > 𝑣𝑡𝑟𝑖

(1)
𝑣𝑜 = −𝑉𝑑𝑐 when 𝑣𝑠𝑖𝑛𝑒 < 𝑣𝑡𝑟𝑖

To have vo is equal to +Vdc, Q1, and Q2 are on, whereas to have vo is equal to -Vdc, Q3, and Q4 are on.
It is noticeable in bipolar scheme that the switching frequency of output signal is the same as the carrier
frequency signal.

Int J Elec & Comp Eng, Vol. 11, No. 5, October 2021 : 3763 - 3771
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(a) (b)

Figure 1. Single phase inverter with sinusoidal PWM scheme; (a) Full bridge inverter, (b) Bipolar PWM
scheme [34]

2.2. Unipolar SPWM

Figure 2 shows the process of implementing the unipolar sinusoidal PWM scheme for a full bridge
single phase inverter. To have a unipolar sinusoidal PWM scheme, the output is switched among three levels:
+Vdc, zero voltage, or -Vdc. In unipolar scheme, the output voltage also depending on the instantaneous
values of the the reference and carrier signals, the switch controls are as:

Q1 is on when vsine > vtri

Q2 is on when -vsine < vtri
Q3 is on when -vsine > vtri
Q4 is on when vsine < vtri

In unipolar scheme, the switch pairs (Q1, Q4) and (Q2, Q3) are complementary, and output voltage
alternates between +Vdc and zero, or between –Vdc and zero. It is noticeable in unipolar scheme that the
switching frequency of output signal is a twice of the carrier frequency signal.

Figure 2. Single phase full bridge inverter with unipolar sinusoidal PWM scheme [34]

3. CONFINED BAND VSFPWM WITH BIPOLAR AND UNIPOLAR SCHEMES

A new VSF PWM is proposed in [24], and [25] which is the confined band VSFPWM (CB-
VSFPWM). The CB-VSFPWM is confining the frequency spectrum within a desired frequency band
between a minimum switching frequency fmin and a maximum switching frequency fmax which equals to the
carrier frequency fc of CSFPWM technique as shown in (2), and (3):

𝑓𝑚𝑎𝑥 = 𝑓𝑐 (2)

𝑓𝑚𝑖𝑛 = 𝐵 ∙ 𝑓𝑐 𝐵 ∈ [0,1] (3)

Bipolar and unipolar schemes for confined band variable switching frequency PWM... (Hussain Attia)