INVERTER

The word ‘inverter’ in the context of power-electronics denotes a class of power

conversion (or power conditioning) circuits that operates from a dc voltage source or a dc
current source and converts it into ac voltage or current. The ‘inverter’ does reverse of what
ac-to-dc ‘converter’ does (refer to ac to dc converters). Even though input to an inverter
circuit is a dc source, it is not uncommon to have this dc derived from an ac source such as
utility ac supply. Thus, for example, the primary source of input power may be utility ac
voltage supply that is ‘converted’ to dc by an ac to dc converter and then ‘inverted’ back to ac
using an inverter. Here, the final ac output may be of a different frequency and magnitude
than the input ac of the utility supply.
[The nomenclature ‘inverter’ is sometimes also used for ac to dc converter circuits if the
power flow direction is from dc to ac side. However in this lesson, irrespective of power
flow direction, ‘inverter’ is referred as a circuit that operates from a stiff dc source and
generates ac output. If the input dc is a voltage source, the inverter is called a voltage
source inverter (VSI). One can similarly think of a current source inverter (CSI), where
the input to the circuit is a current source. The VSI circuit has direct control over
‘output (ac) voltage’ whereas the CSI directly controls ‘output (ac) current’. Shape of
voltage waveforms output by an ideal VSI should be independent of load connected at
the output.]
The simplest dc voltage source for a VSI may be a battery bank, which may consist of several
cells in series-parallel combination. Solar photovoltaic cells can be another dc voltage source.
An ac voltage supply, after rectification into dc will also qualify as a dc voltage source. A
voltage source is called stiff, if the source voltage magnitude does not depend on load
connected to it. All voltage source inverters assume stiff voltage supply at the input.
Some examples where voltage source inverters are used are: uninterruptible power supply
(UPS) units, adjustable speed drives (ASD) for ac motors, electronic frequency changer
circuits etc. Most of us are also familiar with commercially available inverter units used in
homes and offices to power some essential ac loads in case the utility ac supply gets
interrupted. In such inverter units, battery supply is used as the input dc voltage source and
the inverter circuit converts the dc into ac voltage of desired frequency. The achievable
magnitude of ac voltage is limited by the magnitude of input (dc bus) voltage. In ordinary
household inverters the battery voltage may be just 12 volts and the inverter circuit may be
capable of supplying ac voltage of around 10 volts (rms) only. In such cases the inverter
output voltage is stepped up using a transformer to meet the load requirement of, say, 230
volts.

33.5 Classification of Voltage Source Inverters

Voltage source inverters can be classified according to different criterions. They can be
classified according to number of phases they output. Accordingly there are single-phase or
three-phase inverters depending on whether they output single or three-phase voltages. It is
also possible to have inverters with two or five or any other number of output phases.
Inverters can also be classified according to their ability in controlling the magnitude of
output parameters like, frequency, voltage, harmonic content etc. Some inverters can output
only fixed magnitude (though variable frequency) voltages whereas some others are capable
of both variable voltage, variable frequency (VVVF) output. Output of some voltage source

inverters is corrupted by significant amount of many low order harmonics like 3 rd, 5th, 7th,

11th, 13th order of the desired (fundamental) frequency voltage. Some other inverters may be
free from low order harmonics but may still be corrupted by some high order harmonics.
Inverters used for ac motor drive applications are expected to have less of low order
harmonics in the output voltage waveform, even if it is at the cost of increased high order
harmonics. Higher order harmonic voltage distortions are, in most ac motor loads, filtered
away by the inductive nature of the load itself.
Inverters may also be classified according to their topologies. Some inverter topologies are
suitable for low and medium voltage ratings whereas some others are more suitable for higher
voltage applications. The inverters shown in Figs. 33.3(c), 33.4(a) and 33.4(b) are two level
inverters as the pole voltages may acquire either positive dc bus or negative dc bus potential.
For higher voltage applications it may not be uncommon to have three level or five level
inverters.

Voltage Source Inverter:-

A single-phase square wave type voltage source inverter produces square shaped output
voltage for a single-phase load. Such inverters have very simple control logic and the power
switches need to operate at much lower frequencies compared to switches in some other
types of inverters, discussed in later lessons. The first generation inverters, using thyristor
switches, were almost invariably square wave inverters because thyristor switches could be
switched on and off only a few hundred times in a second. In contrast, the present day
switches like IGBTs are much faster and used at switching frequencies of several kilohertz.
As pointed out in Lesson-26, single-phase inverters mostly use half bridge or full bridge
topologies. Power circuits of these topologies are redrawn in Figs. 34.1(a) and 34.1(b) for
further discussions.

In this lesson, both the above topologies are analyzed under the assumption of ideal circuit
conditions. Accordingly, it is assumed that the input dc voltage (E dc) is constant and the

switches are lossless. In half bridge topology the input dc voltage is split in two equal parts
through an ideal and loss-less capacitive potential divider. The half bridge topology consists
of one leg (one pole) of switches whereas the full bridge topology has two such legs. Each leg
of the inverter consists of two series connected electronic switches shown within dotted lines
in the figures. Each of these switches consists of an IGBT type controlled switch across
which an uncontrolled diode is put in anti-parallel manner. These switches are capable of
conducting bi-directional current but they need to block only one polarity of voltage. The
junction point of the switches in each leg of the inverter serves as one output point for the
load.
In half bridge topology the single-phase load is connected between the mid-point of the input
dc supply and the junction point of the two switches (in Fig. 34.1(a) these points are marked
as ‘O’ and ‘A’ respectively). For ease of understanding, the switches Sw1 and Sw2 may be
assumed to
be controlled mechanical switches that open and close in response to the switch control
signal. In fact in lesson-33 (section 33.2) it has been shown that the actual electronic
switches mimic the function of the mechanical switches. Now, if the switches Sw1 and Sw2
are turned on alternately with duty ratio of each switch kept equal to 0.5, the load voltage

(V ) will be square wave with a peak-to-peak magnitude equal to input dc voltage (E )

AO dc .

Fig. 34.2(a) shows a typical load voltage waveform output by the half bridge inverter. V
AO

acquires a magnitude of +0.5 E when Sw1 is on and the magnitude reverses to -0.5 E
dc dc
when Sw2 is turned on. Fig. 24.2 also shows the fundamental frequency component of the
square wave voltage, its peak-to-peak magnitude being equal to 4dcEπ. The two switches of
the inverter leg are turned on in a complementary manner. For a general load, the switches
should neither be simultaneously on nor be simultaneously off. Simultaneous turn-on of
both the switches will amount to short circuit across the dc bus and will cause the switch
currents to rise rapidly. For an inductive load, containing an inductance in series, one of the
switches must always conduct to maintain continuity of load current. In Lesson-33 (section
33.2) a case of inductive load has been considered and it has been shown that the load
current may not change abruptly even though the switching frequency is very high. Such a
situation, as explained in lesson-33, demands that the switches must have bi-directional
current carrying capability.

Harmonic Analysis of The Load Voltage And Load Current Waveforms:-

The load voltage waveform shown in Fig. 34.2(a) can be mathematically described in terms
of its Fourier’s components as:
happens to be the switching frequency of the inverter switches. As can be seen from the
expression of Eqn. 34.1, the square wave load voltage consists of all the odd harmonics and
their magnitudes are inversely proportional to their harmonic order. Accordingly, the
fundamental. frequency component has a peak magnitude of2dcEπand the nth harmonic
voltage (n being odd integer) has a peak magnitude of2dcEnπ. The magnitudes of very high
order harmonic voltages become negligibly small. In most applications, only the
fundamental component in load voltage is of practical use and the other higher order
harmonics are undesirable distortions. Many of the practical loads are inductive with
inherent low pass filter type characteristics. The current waveforms in such loads have less
higher order harmonic distortion than the corresponding distortion in the square-wave
voltage waveform. A simple time domain analysis of the load current for a series connected
R-L load has been presented below to corroborate this fact. Later, for comparison,
frequency domain analysis of the same load current has also been done.

34.1.2 Frequency Domain Analysis

The square shape load voltage may be taken as superposition of different harmonic voltages
described by Eqn. 34.1. The load current may similarly be taken as superposition of harmonic
currents produced by the different harmonic voltages. The load current may be expressed in
terms of these harmonic currents. To illustrate this the series connected R-L load has once
again been considered here. First the expressions for different harmonic components of load
current are calculated in terms of load parameters: R and L/R (or τ) and inverter parameters:

dc link voltage (Edc) and time period of square wave (T). For the fundamental harmonic

frequency the load impedance (Z ) and load power factor angle (φ ) can be calculated to be
1 1
The algebraic summation of the individual harmonic components of current will result in the
following expression for load current.

Analysis Of The Single-Phase Full Bridge Inverter

Single-phase half bridge inverter has already been described above. The single-phase full
bridge circuit (Fig. 34.1(b)) can be thought of as two half bridge circuits sharing the same dc
bus. The full bridge circuit will have two pole-voltages (V AO and VBO), which are similar

to the pole voltage VAO of the half bridge circuit. Both V AO and VBO of the full bridge

circuit are square waves but they will, in general, have some phase difference. Fig. 34.3
shows these pole voltages staggered in time by ‘t’ seconds. It may be more convenient to talk
in terms of the phase displacement angle ‘Φ’ defined as below:

, where ‘t’ is the time by which the two pole voltages are staggered and ‘T’ is the time period
of the square wave pole voltages.
The pole voltage VAO of the full bridge inverter may again be written as in Eqn. 34.1, used

earlier for the half bridge inverter. Taking the phase shift angle ‘Φ’ into account, the pole-B
voltage may be written as

Difference of V and V gives the line voltage V . In full bridge inverter the single
AO BO AB
phase load is connected between points ‘A’ and ‘B’ and the voltage of interest is the load

voltage V . Taking difference of the voltage expressions given by Eqns. 34.1 and 34.14, one
AB
gets

The fundamental component of V may be written as

AB

th
The n harmonic component in V may similarly be written as
AB
3-Phase Voltage Source Inverter With Square Wave Output:-

The basic configuration of a Voltage Source Inverter (VSI) has been described in Lesson 33.
Single-phase half-bridge and full-bridge configurations of VSI with square wave pole voltages
have been analyzed in Lesson 34. In this lesson a 3-phase bridge type VSI with square wave
pole voltages has been considered. The output from this inverter is to be fed to a 3-phase
balanced load. Fig. 35.1 shows the power circuit of the three-phase inverter. This circuit may
be identified as three single-phase half-bridge inverter circuits put across the same dc bus.
The individual pole voltages of the 3-phase bridge circuit are identical to the square pole
voltages output by single-phase half bridge or full bridge circuits. The three pole voltages of
the 3-phase square wave inverter are shifted in time by one third of the output time period.
These pole voltages along with some other relevant waveforms have been plotted in Fig.
35.2. The horizontal axis of the waveforms in Fig. 35.2 has been represented in terms of
‘ωt’, where ‘ω’ is the angular frequency (in radians per second) of the fundamental
component of square pole voltage and ‘t’ stands for time in second. In Fig. 35.2 the phase

sequence of the pole voltages is taken as V , V and V . The numbering of the

AO BO CO
switches in Fig. 35.1 has some special significance vis-à-vis the output phase sequence.

Fig. 35.1: A 3-phase Voltage Source Inverter (VSI) feeding a balanced load
Fig. 35.2: Some relevant voltage
To appreciate the particular manner in which the switches have been numbered, the
conduction-pattern of the switches marked in Fig. 35.2 may be noted. It may be seen that
with the chosen numbering the switches turn on in the sequence:- Sw1, Sw2, Sw3, Sw4, Sw5,
Sw6, Sw1, Sw2, ….and so on. Identifying the switching cycle time as 360 degrees (2π

radians), it can be seen that each switch conducts for 180 0 and the turning on of the adjacent
switch is staggered by 60 degrees. The upper and lower switches of each pole (leg) of the
inverter conduct in a complementary manner. To reverse the output phase sequence, the
switching sequence may simply be reversed.
Considering the symmetry in the switch conduction pattern, it may be found that at any time
three switches conduct. It could be two from the upper group of switches, which are
connected to positive dc bus, and one from lower group or vice-versa (i.e., one from upper
group and two from lower group). According to the conduction pattern indicated in Fig. 35.2
there are six combinations of conducting switches during an output cycle:- (Sw5, Sw6, Sw1),
(Sw6, Sw1, Sw2), (Sw1, Sw2, Sw3), (Sw2, Sw3, Sw4), (Sw3, Sw4, Sw5), (Sw4, Sw5, Sw6).

Each of these combinations of switches conducts for 600 in the sequence mentioned above to
produce output phase sequence of A, B, C. As will be shown later the fundamental
component of the three output line-voltages will be balanced. The load side phase voltage
waveforms turn out to be somewhat different from the pole voltage waveforms and have been
dealt with in the next section.
Determination Of Load Phase-Voltages:-
Fig. 35.1 shows a star connected balanced 3-phase load. The three load terminals are
connected to the three output points (A, B, C) of the inverter. The neutral point ‘N’ of the
load is deliberately left open for some good reasons mentioned later. The load side phase
voltages VAN, VBN and VCN can be determined from the conduction pattern of the inverter

switches. With reference to Fig. 35.2, it may be seen that for 0≤ωt≤π/3, switches Sw5, Sw6
and Sw1 conduct. Under the assumption of ideal switches Fig. 35.3(a) will represent the
equivalent inverter and load circuit during the time interval 0≤ωt≤π/3. In the equivalent
circuit representation the non-conducting switches have been omitted and a cross (X) sign is
used to represent a conducting switch. For a balanced 3-phase load the instantaneous phase
voltage waveforms have been derived below for the following two cases (i) when the 3-phase
load is purely resistive and (ii) when the load, in each phase, consists of a resistor in series
with an inductor and a back e.m.f. In both the cases the equivalent circuit of Fig. 35.3(a)
hasbeen referred to derive the expression for load-phase voltage.

Fig. 35.3(a): Schematic load circuit during conduction of Sw5, Sw6 and Sw1
For case (i), when the load is a balance resistive load, it is very easy to see that the
instantaneous phase voltages, for 0≤ωt≤π/3, will be given by V AN = 1/3 Edc, VBN = -2/3

Edc, VCN = 1/3 Edc.

For case (ii), the following circuit relations hold good.

Fig. 35.3(b): Schematic load circuit during conduction of Sw6, Sw1 and Sw2
should be obvious that the fundamental component of the phase voltage waveforms will
constitute a balanced 3-phase voltage having a phase sequence A, B, C. It may also be
recalled that by suitably changing the switching sequence the output phase sequence can
be changed. The phase voltage waveforms of Fig. 35.2 show six steps per output cycle and
are also referred as the six-stepped waveform. A more detailed analysis of the load voltage
waveforms is done in the following section.

Current Source Inverter:-

Fig. 39.1: Single phase current source inverter (CSI) of ASCI type
The circuit of a Single-phase Current Source Inverter (CSI) is shown in Fig. 39.1. The type of
operation is termed as Auto-Sequential Commutated Inverter (ASCI). A constant current
source is assumed here, which may be realized by using an inductance of suitable value,
which must be high, in series with the current limited dc voltage source. The thyristor pairs,

Th & Th , and Th & Th , are alternatively turned ON to obtain a nearly square wave
1 3 2 4

current waveform. Two commutating capacitors − C in the upper half, and C in the lower
1 2
half, are used. Four diodes, D –D are connected in series with each thyristor to prevent the
1 4
commutating capacitors from discharging into the load. The output frequency of the
inverter is controlled in the usual way, i.e., by varying the half time period, (T/2), at which
the thyristors in pair are triggered by pulses being fed to the respective gates by the control
circuit, to turn them ON, as can be observed from the waveforms (Fig. 39.2). The inductance
(L) is taken as the load in this case, the reason(s) for which need not be stated, being well
known. The operation is explained by two modes.
Voltage and current waveforms