Power Electronics

Chapter 5 DC to AC Converters ( Inverters )

Applications of Inverters

Power Electronics

Conversion of electric power from DC type energy sources to AC type load

Battery Photovoltaic cell (Solar cell) Fuel cell

As a part of composite converter

AC-DC-AC frequency converter (for AC motor drive) AC-DC-AC constant-voltage constant-frequency converter (for uninterruptable power supplies) AC-DC-AC Converters for induction heating AC-DC-AC-DC switching power supplies
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Power Electronics

Outline
5.1 Commutation 5.2 Voltage source inverters 5.3 Current source inverters 5.4 Multiple-inverter connections and multi-level inverters

5.1 Commutation types

Power Electronics

Basic operation principle of inverters

uo
S1 S3

Ud
S2

io

Load

io t1 t2 t

uo

A classification of inverters
Square-wave inverters (are discussed in this chapter) PWM inverters ( will be discussed in Chapter 6)

The concept of commutation

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Power Electronics

4 types of commutation
Device commutation:
Fully-controlled devices: GTO, IGBT, MOSFET

Line commutation
Phase-controlled rectifier Phase-controlled AC controller Thyristor cycloconverter

Load commutation Forced commutation

Power Electronics

Load commutation

Condition: Load current is leading load voltage Application: capacitive load, synchronous motor
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Forced commutation (capacitance commutation)

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Direct-Coupled

With Coupling-Inductor

Power Electronics

Another classification of commutations

4 types of Commutations
Device commutation For fully-controlled devices

Self-commutation
Forced commutation

Line commutation

For thyristors

External commutation

Load commutation

Power Electronics

2 classes of inverters
Voltage Source Inverter (VSI) Current Source Inverter (CSI)

Power Electronics

5.2 Voltage source inverter (VSI)

+
V3 VD 1 C Ud V2 VD 2 V1 VD3

R io

L
VD4 V4

uo

Features
DC side is constant voltage, low impedance (voltage source, or bulk cap) AC side voltage is square wave or quasi-square wave. AC side current is determined by the load. Anti-parallel diodes are necessary to provide energy feedback path. (freewheeling diodes , feedback diodes)

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Single-phase half bridge VSI

Power Electronics

Ud 2

V1
VD io R
1

Ud
Ud 2

uo
VD

V 2

The current conducting path is determined by the polarity of load voltage and load current. (This is true for analysis of many power electronics circuits.) The magnitude of output square-wave voltage is Ud/2.
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Power Electronics

Single-phase full bridge VSI

Operation principle
+
V3 VD1 C Ud V2 VD2 V1 VD 3

R io

uo
VD 4 V4

The magnitude of output square-wave voltage is Ud. The effective value of output voltage (or fundamental output voltage) can be changed by changing Ud.
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Single-phase full bridge VSI

Power Electronics

Quantitative analysis
Fourier series extension of output voltage

4U d 1 1 t + t + t + sin 5 sin 3 sin (5-1) 5 3 Magnitude of output voltage fundamental component uo =

U o1m =

4U d

= 1.27U d

(5-2)

Effective value of output voltage fundamental component

U o1 =

2 2U d

= 0.9U d

(5-3)

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Single-phase full bridge VSI

Power Electronics

Output voltage control by phase-shift +

V3 VD1 C U
d

uG1 O
VD 3

t t t t io t1 t2 t3 uo t

V1 V2 VD2

uG2 O uG3 O uG4 O uo io O

R io

L
VD 4 V4

uo

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Inverter with center-tapped transformer push-pull inverter

Power Electronics

Load

io

uo

+
Ud V1 VD1 VD2 V2

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Power Electronics

Three-phase VSI

180o conduction Dead time (blanking time) to avoid shoot through

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Power Electronics

Three-phase VSI
Basic equations to obtain voltage waveforms
For line voltage For phase voltage of the load

U UN + U VN + U WN = 0

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Power Electronics

Three-phase VSI
Quantitative analysis
Fourier series extension of output line-to-line voltage
u UV = = 2 3U d 1 1 1 1 sin 11 t + sin 13 t sin t sin 5 t sin 7 t + 13 5 7 11 2 3U d sin t +

1 ( 1) k sin n t n

(5-8)

Magnitude of output voltage (line-to-line) fundamental component 2 3U d U UV1m = = 1.1U d (5-10) Effective value of output voltage (line-to-line) fundamental component
U UV1 = U UV1m 2 = 6

U d = 0.78U d

(5-11)

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Power Electronics

5.3 Current source inverter (CSI)

Features DC side is constant current, high impedance (current source, or large inductor) AC side current is quasisquare wave. AC side voltage is determined by the load. No anti-parallel diodes are needed. sometimes series diodes are needed to block reverse voltage for other power semiconductor devices.

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Power Electronics

Single-phase bridge CSI

Parallel Resonant Inverter
Ld A

Id

VT1 C LT1 LT2 R VT2 io uo L

VT3 LT3 LT4 VT4

Switching frequency is a little higher than the resonant frequency so that the load becomes capacitive and load current is leading voltage to realize load commutation.
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Three-phase self-commutated CSI

Power Electronics
120o conduction
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Power Electronics

Three-phase force-commutated CSI

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Three-phase load-commutated CSI

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Power Electronics

5.4 Multiple-inverter connections and multi-level inverters

Series connection of 2 single-phase VSIs

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Power Electronics

Series connection of 2 3-phase VSIs

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Power Electronics

Multi-level Inverters
3-level inverter

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