PWM Firing Scheme for Multilevel Inverter
PWM Firing Scheme for Multilevel Inverter
PROJECT REPORT
ON
“Implementation Of
PWM Based Firing Scheme For Multilevel Inverter Using
Microcontroller” Submitted in
partial fulfilment of
the requirements for the award of the
Diploma Engineering course
In
Electrical Engineering
By
S. Chandan
Regd. No: F22010002068
6th Sem. ELECTRICAL
Under the esteemed
guidance of
ER. JATIN KUMAR MISHRA
Prof. Dept. Electrical Engineering
CERTIFICATE
This is to certify that S. Chandan Redg No. F22010002068 student of
diploma in the Dept. of Electrical Engineering of Electrical branch has
undergone the project untitled “Implementation Of Pwm Based Firing Scheme
For Multilevel Inverter Using Microcontroller” is a bonafide work has prepared the
report by virtue of his diligence adherence and advices under our supervision and guidance .
The report is submitted in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the award of the
Diploma of Electrical Engineering during the academic year 2024 – 2025.
The project has not formed the basic for the award of any Diploma , Degree, Associateship ,
Fellowship or any other similar titles.
DECLARATION
I hereby declare that the project entitled “ Implementation of PWM Based
Finning Scheme For Multilevel Inverter using Microcontroller” is
submitted with own sincere effort for the partial fulfilment of the
requirement for the award of the Diploma of Engineering in Electrical
Engineering. The project has not formed the basis for the award of any
degree, associate ship, fellowship or any other similar titles.
DATE:
PLACE: ANKUSHPUR, BERHAMPUR Signature of Student
Also express my thanks to all my friend for their timely suggestions and
encouragements.
DATE: S. Chandan
PLACE: ANKUSHPUR, BERHAMPUR Regd No: F22010002068
ABSTRACT
2. Inverters
3. Applications
1. Pulse-Amplitude Modulation
3. Pulse-Position Modulation
1. Linear Modulation
4. Modulation Depth
Conclusion 22
Reference 23
CHAPTER #1
INTRODUCTION
Ac loads require constant or adjustable voltages at their input terminals. When such loads are fed
by inverters, it’s essential that output voltage of the inverters is so controlled as to fulfill the
requirements of AC loads. This involves coping with the variation of DC input voltage, for
voltage regulation of inverters and for the constant volts/frequency control requirement. There
are various techniques to vary the inverter gain. The most efficient method of controlling the
gain (and output voltage) is to incorporate pulse-width modulation (PWM) control within the
inverters. The carrier based PWM schemes used for multilevel inverters is one of the most
straight forward methods of describing voltage source modulation realized by the intersection of
a modulating signal (Duty Cycle) with triangular carrier [Link] Alternative PWM
strategies with differing phase relationships are:
Alternate phase disposition (APOD): Every carrier wave form is in out of phase with its
neighbor carrier by 180 degree.
Phase Opposition Disposition (POD): All carrier waveforms above zero reference are in
phase and are 180 degree out of phase with those below zero reference.
Phase Disposition (PD): All carrier waveforms are in phase
1. PROJECT OUTLINE
This project aims at generation of carrier based PWM scheme using POD strategy through the
means of an AT89C51 microcontroller. The salient features are:
Firstly, both the high-frequency triangular carrier wave & the sinusoidal reference signal
are being generated in the microcontroller.
A digital to analog converter (DAC 0808) is then employed for converting them into their
analog signal forms.
An opamp(KF351) based comparator then compares these two carrier & reference signals
to give us the desired sinusoidal pulse width modulated signal as the required final output
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1.2 INVERTERS
A device that converts DC power into AC power at desired output voltage and frequency is
called an Inverter. Phase controlled converters when operated in the inverter mode are called line
commutated inverters. But line commutated inverters require at the output terminals an existing
AC supply which is used for their commutation. This means that line commutated inverters can’t
function as isolated AC voltage sources or as variable frequency generators with DC power at
the input. Therefore, voltage level, frequency and waveform on the AC side of the line
commutated inverters can’t be changed. On the other hand, force commutated inverters provide
an independent AC output voltage of adjustable voltage and adjustable frequency and have
therefore much wider application.
Inverters can be broadly classified into two types based on their
operation:
Voltage Source Inverters(VSI)
Current Source Inverters(CSI)
Voltage Source Inverters is one in which the DC source has small or negligible impedance. In
other words VSI has stiff DC voltage source at its input terminals. A current source inverter is
fed with adjustable current from a DC source of high impedance,i.e;from a stiff DC current
source. In a CSI fed with stiff current source, output current waves are not affected by the load.
From view point of connections of semiconductor devices, inverters are classified as under
Bridge Inverters
Series Inverters
Parallel Inverters
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1.3 APPLICATIONS
Inverter designed to provide 115 VAC from the 12 VDC source provided in an automobile. The
unit provides up to 1.2 Amps of alternating current, or just enough to power two sixty watt light
bulbs.
An inverter converts the DC electricity from sources such as batteries, solar panels, or fuel cells
to AC electricity. The electricity can be at any required voltage; in particular it can operate AC
equipment designed for mains operation, or rectified to produce DC at any desired voltage.
Grid tie inverters can feed energy back into the distribution network because they produce
alternating current with the same wave shape and frequency as supplied by the distribution
system. They can also switch off automatically in the event of a blackout.
Micro-inverters convert direct current from individual solar panels into alternating current for the
electric grid.
An uninterruptible power supply is a device which supplies the stored electrical power to the
load in case of raw power cut-off or blackout. One type of UPS uses batteries to store power and
an inverter to supply AC power from the batteries when main power is not available. When main
power is restored, a rectifier is used to supply DC power to recharge the batteries.
It is widely used at domestic and commercial level in countries facing Power outages.
INDUCTION HEATING
Inverters convert low frequency main AC power to a higher frequency for use in induction
heating. To do this, AC power is first rectified to provide DC power. The inverter then changes
the DC power to high frequency AC power.
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HVDC POWER TRANSMISSION
With HVDC power transmission, AC power is rectified and high voltage DC power is
transmitted to another location. At the receiving location, an inverter in a static inverter plant
converts the power back to AC.
VARIABLE-FREQUENCY DRIVES
Adjustable speed motor control inverters are currently used to power the traction motor in some
electric locomotives and diesel-electric locomotives as well as some battery electric vehicles and
hybrid electric highway vehicles such as the Toyota Prius. Various improvements in inverter
technology are being developed specifically for electric vehicle applications.[2] In vehicles with
regenerative braking, the inverter also takes power from the motor (now acting as a generator)
and stores it in the batteries.
A transformer allows AC power to be converted to any desired voltage, but at the same
frequency. Inverters, plus rectifiers for DC, can be designed to convert from any voltage, AC or
DC, to any other voltage, also AC or DC, at any desired frequency. The output power can never
exceed the input power, but efficiencies can be high, with a small proportion of the power
dissipated as waste heat.
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CHAPTER #2
Figure 1(a)Analog signal, s(t). (b) Pulse-amplitude modulation. (c) Pulse-width modulation.
(d) Pulse position modulation
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2. PULSE-WIDTH MODULATION
In PWM the pulses representing successive sample values of s(t) have constant amplitudes but
vary in time duration in direct proportion to the sample value. The pulse duration can be changed
relative to fixed leading or trailing time edges or a fixed pulse center. To allow for time-division
multiplexing, the maximum pulse duration may be limited to a fraction of the time between
samples (Fig. 1c).
3. PULSE-POSITION MODULATION
PPM encodes the sample values of s(t) by varying the position of a pulse of constant duration
relative to its nominal time of occurrence. As in PAM and PWM, the duration of the pulses is
typically a fraction of the sampling interval. In addition, the maximum time excursion of the
pulses may be limited (Fig. 1d).
4. PULSE-CODE MODULATION
Many modern communication systems are designed to transmit and receive only pulses of two
distinct amplitudes. In these so-called binary digital systems, the analog-to-digital conversion
process is extended by the additional step of coding, in which the amplitude of each pulse
representing a quantized sample of s(t) is converted into a unique sequence of one or more pulses
with just two possible amplitudes. The complete conversion process is known as pulse-code
modulation. Figure 2a shows the example of three successive quantized samples of an analog
signal s(t), in which sampling occurs every T seconds and the pulse representing the sample is
limited to T/2 seconds. Assuming that the number of quantization levels is limited to 8, each
level can be represented by a unique sequence of three two-valued pulses
Page 6
PCM enjoys many important advantages over other forms of pulse modulation due to the fact
that information is represented by a two-state variable. First, the design parameters of a PCM
transmission system depend critically on the bandwidth of the original signal s(t) and the degree
of fidelity required at the point of reconstruction, but are otherwise largely independent of the
information content of s(t). This fact creates the possibility of deploying generic transmission
systems suitable for many types of information. Second, the detection of the state of a two-state
variable in a noisy environment is inherently simpler than the precise measurement of the
amplitude, duration, or position of a pulse in which these quantities are not constrained. Third,
the binary pulses propagating along a medium can be intercepted and decoded at a point where
the accumulated distortion and attenuation are sufficiently low to assure high detection accuracy.
New pulses can then be generated and transmitted to the next such decoding point. This so-called
process of repeatering significantly reduces the propagation of distortion and leads to a quality of
transmission that is largely independent of distance.
5. WHY PULSE WIDTH MODULATION?
Pulse-width modulation (PWM) of a signal or power source involves the modulation of its duty
cycle, to either convey information over a communications channel or control the amount of
power sent to a load.
6. ADVANTAGES OF PWM
Using pulse width modulation has several advantages over analog control.
[Link] entire control circuit can be digital, eliminating the need for digital-to-analog
converters.
II. Using digital control lines will reduce the susceptibility of your circuit to
interference.
III. Finally, motors may be able to operate at lower speeds if you control them with
PWM.
When you use an analog current to control a motor, it will not produce significant torque
at low speeds.
IV. The output voltage control can be obtained without any additional components.
[Link] this method, lower order harmonics can be eliminated or minimized Along with
its output voltage control.
VI. As higher order harmonics can be filtered easily the higher order harmonics can be
minimized.
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CHAPTER #3
There are many forms of modulation used for communicating information. When a high
frequency signal has amplitude varied in response to a lower frequency signal we have AM
(amplitude modulation). When the signal frequency is varied in response to the modulating
signal we have FM (frequency modulation. These signals are used for radio modulation because
the high frequency carrier signal is needs for efficient radiation of the signal. When
communication by pulses was introduced, the amplitude, frequency and pulse width become
possible modulation options. In many power electronic converters where the output voltage can
be one of two values the only option is modulation of average conduction time.
Figure
Figure 3
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3.1. LINEAR MODULATION
The simplest modulation to interpret is where the average ON time of the pulses varies
proportionally with the modulating signal. The advantage of linear processing for this application
lies in the ease of de-modulation. The modulating signal can be recovered from the PWM by low
pass filtering. For a single low frequency sine wave as modulating signal modulating the width
of a fixed frequency (fs) pulse train the spectra is as shown in Fig 2. Clearly a low pass filter can
extract the modulating component fm.
Figure 4
Figure 5
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3.3 REGULAR SAMPLED PWM
The scheme illustrated above generates a switching edge at the instant of crossing of the sine
wave and the triangle. This is an easy scheme to implement using analog electronics but suffers
the imprecision and drifts of all analog computation as well as having difficulties of generating
multiple edges when the signal has even a small added noise. Many modulators are now
implemented digitally but there is difficulty is computing the precise intercept of the modulating
wave and the carrier. Regular sampled PWM makes the width of the pulse proportional to the
value of the modulating signal at the beginning of the carrier period. In Fig 5 the intercept of the
sample values with the triangle determine the edges of the Pulses. For a saw tooth wave of
frequency fs the samples are at 2fs.
Figure 7
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CHAPTER #4
In many industrial applications, it’s often required to control the output voltage of inverters for
the following reasons
There are various techniques to vary the inverter gain. The most efficient method of
controlling the gain (and output voltage) is to incorporate pulse width modulation (PWM)
control within the inverters. The commonly used techniques are
In PWM inverters, forced commutation is essential. The PWM techniques listed above differ
from each other in the harmonic content in their respective output [Link],choice of a
particular PWM technique depends upon the permissible harmonic content in the inverter output
voltage. Industrial applications PWM inverter is supplied from a diode bridge rectifier and an LC
filter. The inverter topology remains the same for a single phase inverter and for a three phase
inverter. But now the devices are now switched ON and OFF several times within each half
cycle to control the output voltage which has low harmonic content.
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1. SINGLE PULSE WIDTH MODULATION
In this control, there’s only one pulse per half cycle and the width of the pulse is varied to control
the inverter output. The gating signals are generated by comparing a rectangular reference signal
of the amplitude Ar with triangular carrier wave of amplitude Ac,the frequency of the carrier
wave determines the fundamental frequency of output voltage. By varying Ar from 0 to Ac,the
pulse width can be varied from 0 to 100 percent. The ratio of Ar to Ac is the control variable and
defined as the modulation index.
The harmonic content can be reduced by using several pulses in each half cycle of output
voltage. The generation of gating signals for turning ON and OFF transistors by comparing a
reference signal with a triangular carrier wave. The frequency Fc, determines the number of
pulses per half cycle. The modulation index controls the output voltage. This type of modulation
is also known as uniform pulse width modulation (UPWM).
Instead of ,maintaining the width of all pulses of same as in case of multiple pulse width
modulation, the width of each pulse is varied in proportion to the amplitude of a sine wave
evaluated at the centre of the same pulse. The distortion factor and lower order harmonics are
reduced significantly. The gating signals are generated by comparing a sinusoidal reference
signal with a triangular carrier wave of frequency [Link] frequency of reference signal Fr
,determines the inverter output frequency and its peak amplitude Ar,controls the modulation
index M,and rms output voltage [Link] number of pulses per half cycle depends on carrier
frequency .
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CHAPTER #5
This section of the chapter extends the principles of carrier-based PWM that are used for
multilevel inverter. One of the most straightforward methods of describing voltage-source
modulation is to illustrate the intersection of a modulating signal (duty cycle) with triangle
waveforms. There are three alternative PWM strategies with differing phase relationships:
Alternate phase disposition (APOD) – every carrier waveform is in out of phase with its
neighbor carrier by 180.
Phase opposition disposition (POD) – All carrier waveforms above zero reference are in
phase and are 180 degree out of phase with those below zero.
Phase disposition (PD)- All carrier waveforms are in phase
Page 13
Figure 8 (Switching pattern produced using the APOD carrier-based PWM scheme for a
five-level inverter: (a) Four triangles and the modulation signal (b) S1ap (c) S2ap (d) S3ap
(e) S4ap. )
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Figure 9.(Simulation of carrier-based PWM scheme using APOD for a five-level inverter. I.
Modulation signal and carrier waveforms (II) Phase “a” output voltage. )
Figure . Demonstrates the APOD scheme for a five-level inverter. The figure displays the
switching pattern generated by the comparison of the modulation signals with the four
carrier waveforms. Figure 9 Shows the output voltage waveform of phase “a” and it is clear
the waveform has five steps.
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5.2 PHASE OPPOSITION DISPOSITION (POD):
For phase opposition disposition (POD) modulation all carrier waveforms above zero reference
are in phase and are 1800 out of phase with those below zero.
The rules for the phase opposition disposition method, when the number of level N = 3 are
•The N –1 = 2 carrier waveforms are arranged so that all carrier waveforms above zero are in
phase and are 1800 out of phase with those below zero.
•The converter is switched to + Vdc / 2 when the reference is greater than both carrier
waveforms.
•The converter is switched to zero when the reference is greater than the lower carrier waveform
but less than the upper carrier waveform.
• The converter is switched to - Vdc / 2 when the reference is less than both carrier waveforms.
As seen from Figure, the figure illustrates the switching functions produced by POD carrier
based PWM scheme. In the PWM scheme there are two triangles, upper triangle magnitude from
1 to 0 and the lower triangle from 0 to –1 and these two triangle waveforms are in out of phase.
When the modulation signal is greater than both the carrier waveforms, S1ap and S2ap are turned
on and the converter switches to positive node voltage and when the reference is less than the
upper carrier waveform but greater than the lower carrier, S2ap and S1an are turned on and the
converter switches to neutral point. When the reference is lower than both carrier waveforms,
S1an and S2an are turned on and the converter switches to negative node voltage.
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Figure 10.(Switching pattern produced using the POD carrier-based PWM scheme: (a) two
triangles and the modulation signal (b) S1ap (c) S2ap (d) S1an (e) S2an
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Figure 11.(Simulation of carrier-based PWM scheme using POD. I. Modulation signal and
out of phase carrier waveforms (II) Phase “a” output voltage)
Also shows the implementation of the phase disposition (PD) scheme. Shows the carriers
waveforms are displaced out of phase and compared with the sinusoidal modulation signal.
Figure . (II) Shows the phase “a” output voltage waveform.
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5.3 PHASE DISPOSITION (PD):
In the present work, in the carrier-based implementation the phase disposition PWM scheme is
used.
Figure demonstrates the sine-triangle method for a three-level inverter. Therein, the a-phase
modulation signal is compared with two (n-1 in general) triangle waveforms. The rules for the
phase disposition method, when the number of level N = 3, are
• The N –1 = 2 carrier waveforms are arranged so that every carrier is in phase.
•The converter is switched to + Vdc / 2 when the reference is greater than both carrier
waveforms.
• The converter is switched to zero when the reference is greater than the lower carrier waveform
but less than the upper carrier waveform.
• The converter is switched to - Vdc / 2 when the reference is less than both carrier waveforms.
In the carrier-based implementation at every instant of time the modulation signals are compared
with the carrier and depending on which is greater, the definition of the switching pulses is
generated.
As seen from Figure, the figure illustrates the switching pattern produced by the carrier-based
PWM scheme. In the PWM scheme there are two triangles, the upper triangle ranges from 1 to 0
and the lower triangle ranges from 0 to –1. In the similar way for an N –level inverter, the (N-1)
triangles are used and each has a peak-to-peak value of 2/(N-1). Hence the upper most triangle
magnitude varies from 1 to (1-2/(N-1)), second carrier waveform from (1-4/(N-1)), and the
bottom most triangle varies from (2-2/(N-1)) to –1.
In Figure , the switching pattern of each device can be seen. It is clear from the figure that during
the positive cycle of the modulation signal, when the modulation is greater than Triangle 1 and
Triangle 2, then S1ap and S2ap are turned on and also during the positive cycle S2ap is
completely turned on. When S1ap and S2ap are turned on the converter switches to the + Vdc / 2
and when S1an and S2ap are on, the converter switches to zero and hence during the positive
cycle S2ap is completely turned on and S1ap and S1an will be turning on and off and hence the
converter switches from + Vdc / 2 to 0. During the negative half cycle of the modulation signal
the converter switches from 0 to -Vdc / 2. The phase voltage equations for star-connected,
balanced three-phase loads expressed in terms of the existence functions and input nodal voltage.
Page 19
Figure 12(Switching pattern produced using the PD carrier-based PWM scheme: (a) two
triangles and the modulation signal (b) S1ap (c) S2ap (d) S1an (e) S2an.)
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Figure 13(Simulation of carrier-based PWM scheme using the phase disposition (PD).
I. Modulation signal and in-phase carrier waveforms (II) Phase “a” output voltage.)
Figure . Shows the implementation of the phase disposition (PD) scheme.
Figure 13 (I)shows that two carriers waveforms are displaced in phase and
compared with
the sinusoidal modulation signal. Figure . (II) Shows the phase “a” output voltage
waveform.
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CONCLUSION
The background study regarding the various aspects of the PWM firing scheme was studied. The
carrier based PWM scheme using the POD strategy based on AT89C51 was simulated with the
help of “TOP VIEW SIMULATOR (1.2H)”. Hardware involving the power circuit of AT89C51
was fabricated. Power circuit of AT89C51 was interfaced with DAC0808 for the generation of
analog signal. The analog signals (sinusoidal and triangular) so generated were compared using a
comparator (KF351) thereby generating PWM waves which is fed as triggering pulses to the
inverters.
It’s to be noted that in this entire experiment DAC 0808, an 8 bit D/A
converter is used. Thus the resolution of the waves generated is not impeccable. Thus, it’s
recommended to use 12 or 16 bit D/A converter to get better wave forms.
Page 22
REFERENCES AND BIBLIOGRAPHY
3Muhammad Ali Mazidi and Janice Gillispie Mazidi, “The 8051 Microcontroller and
Embedded Systems, Pearson Prentice Hall Publication”.
7A. Tahri, A. Draou and M. Ermis, “A Comparative Study of PWM Control Techniques for
Multilevel Cascaded Inverters,” Applied Power Electronics Laboratory, Department of
Electrotechnics, University of Sciences and Technology of Oran, BP 1505 El Mnaouar (31000
Oran), ALGERIA.
9Leon M Tolbert (Oak Ridge National Laboratory), Thomas .[Link] (Georgia Institute of
Technology, School of Electrical and Computer Engineering, Atlanta),
10G. Sinha, [Link], “A Four Level Rectifier Inverter System for Drive
Applications” ,IEEE IAS Annual Meeting 1996, pp 980-987
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