 inverters, although more complex and costly, offer higher performance.
Each inverter type differs in the DC links used, and in whether or not they require freewheeling diodes. Either can be made to operate in square-wave or pulse-width modulation (PWM) mode, depending on its intended usage. Square-wave mode offers simplicity, while PWM can be implemented several different ways and produces higher quality waveforms.
Voltage Source Inverters (VSI) feed the output inverter section from an approximately constant-voltage source.
The desired quality of the current output waveform determines which modulation technique needs to be selected for a given application. The output of a VSI is composed of discrete values. In order to obtain a smooth current waveform, the loads need to be inductive at the select harmonic frequencies. Without some sort of inductive filtering between the source and load, a capacitive load will cause the load to receive a choppy current waveform, with large and frequent current spikes.
There are three main types of VSIs:
- Single-phase half-bridge inverter
- Single-phase full-bridge inverter
- Three-phase voltage source inverter
Single-phase half-bridge inverter
The single-phase voltage source half-bridge inverters, are meant for lower voltage applications and are commonly used in power supplies. Figure 9 shows the circuit schematic of this inverter.
Low-order current harmonics get injected back to the source voltage by the operation of the inverter. This means that two large capacitors are needed for filtering purposes in this design. As Figure 9 illustrates, only one switch can be on at time in each leg of the inverter. If both switches in a leg were on at the same time, the DC source will be shorted out.
Inverters can use several modulation techniques to control their switching schemes. The carrier-based PWM technique compares the AC output waveform, vc, to a carrier voltage signal, vΔ. When vc is greater than vΔ, S+ is on, and when vc is less than vΔ, S- is on. When the AC output is at frequency fc with its amplitude at vc, and the triangular carrier signal is at frequency fΔ with its amplitude at vΔ, the PWM becomes a special sinusoidal case of the carrier based PWM. This case is dubbed sinusoidal pulse-width modulation (SPWM).For this, the modulation index, or amplitude-modulation ratio, is defined as ma = vc/v∆ .
The normalized carrier frequency, or frequency-modulation ratio, is calculated using the equation mf = f∆/fc .
If the over-modulation region, ma, exceeds one, a higher fundamental AC output voltage will be observed, but at the cost of saturation. For SPWM, the harmonics of the output waveform are at well-defined frequencies and amplitudes. This simplifies the design of the filtering components needed for the low-order current harmonic injection from the operation of the inverter. The maximum output amplitude in this mode of operation is half of the source voltage. If the maximum output amplitude, ma, exceeds 3.24, the output waveform of the inverter becomes a square wave.
As was true for PWM, both switches in a leg for square wave modulation cannot be turned on at the same time, as this would cause a short across the voltage source. The switching scheme requires that both S+ and S- be on for a half cycle of the AC output period. The fundamental AC output amplitude is equal to vo1 = vaN = 2vi/π .
Its harmonics have an amplitude of voh = vo1/h.
Therefore, the AC output voltage is not controlled by the inverter, but rather by the magnitude of the DC input voltage of the inverter.
Using selective harmonic elimination (SHE) as a modulation technique allows the switching of the inverter to selectively eliminate intrinsic harmonics. The fundamental component of the AC output voltage can also be adjusted within a desirable range. Since the AC output voltage obtained from this modulation technique has odd half and odd quarter wave symmetry, even harmonics do not exist. Any undesirable odd (N-1) intrinsic harmonics from the output waveform can be eliminated.
Single-phase full-bridge inverter
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