INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF ELECTRONICS; MECHANICAL and MECHATRONICS

ENGINEERING Vol.2 Num.4 pp.(311-317)

MODELLING AND SIMULATION OF TWO-LEVEL SPACE

VECTOR PWM INVERTER USING PHOTOVOLTAIC CELLS AS
DC SOURCE

Ayse KOCALMIS BILHAN1 Erhan AKBAL2

1
Department of Electrical and Electronic Engineering, 23119, Elazig, Firat
University, Tel: +90 424 2370000,
2
Department of Informatics 23119, Elazig, Firat University

E-mail: [email protected]

Abstract- A space vector PWM method for a two level inverter is proposed in this paper. A two level inverter
using space vector modulation strategy has been modeled and simulated with a passive R-L load. Photovoltaic
cells are used as DC source for input of two-level inverter. Simulation results are presented for various operation
conditions to verify the system model. In this paper, MATLAB/Simulink package program has been used for
modeling and simulation of PV cells and two-level space vector pulse width modulation (SVPWM) inverter.

Keywords: Two -level inverter, space vector pwm, photovoltaic cell

1. INTRODUCTION
topology as voltage source inverters (VSI) and
Renewable energy source become one of the current source inverters (CSI). When load has
most widely studied electric power high impedance against to harmonic current,
applications since fossil fuels are decreasing VSI must be used there, while the load with
and oil prices and global warming are small impedances against to harmonic current
increasing. Hydrogen energy, wind turbines requires CSIs to be used. In this work, three
and photovoltaic cells are the most popular phase two-level inverter has been simulated in
renewable sources. A photovoltaic system has order to convert DC output power of solar
advantages such as being static and quite since panels [4 - 5].
it has no moving parts. So that, it has little Six switches are used to constitute a two-level
operation and maintenance costs. The output inverter where each phases are commutated by
characteristic of photovoltaic cells depends on only two switches [6].A schematic drawing of
parameters as temperature, the solar insolation a three phase six step inverter is shown in Fig.
and output voltage [1]. 1 Where the S1, S3 and S5 switches stand for
Inverters are power electronics devices which upper switches while S2, S4 and S6 switches
converter DC power to AC power [2]. In many are down switches. Three-phase output voltage
power electronic applications, it is desired to waveforms are generated by various switching
control output frequency and voltage level. AC combination of the switches in six step inverter
voltage can be produced at desired output resulting at output phase voltage waveforms as
frequency and voltage level by using inverters. +VDC/2 and -VDC/2 [7].
Recently, developments in power electronics In recent years, various pulse width
and semiconductor technology have lead modulation (PWM) techniques have been
improvements in power electronic systems [3]. developed beside inverters. The total harmonic
distortion of output voltage can be controlled
Inverters can be classified to two main
by PWM techniques. Also load current
waveforms can be controlled too.
 MODELLING AND SIMULATION OF TWO-LEVEL SPACE VECTOR PWM INVERTER USING
PHOTOVOLTAIC CELLS AS DC SOURCE
Ayse KOCALMIS BILHAN, Erhan AKBAL

+ 2. SPACE VECTOR PWM (SVPWM)

Two level inverters switching states are shown

S1 S3 S5 in Fig. 3.

100 110 010

VDC 0 1 1 1

a a a
b b b
S4 S6 S2 c c c

0 0 0
011 001 101
1 1 1
-
a a a
b b b
LOAD c c c

0 0 0
Figure 1. Two-level inverter 111 000
1 1

The most known PWM technique is Sinusoidal

a a
PWM (SPWM) technique [8-9]. In this b
c
b
c
technique, switching pulses are generated by
comparing a sinusoidal waveform with a 0 0

reference triangle waveform. The comparison Figure 3. Switching states of two level
waveforms and switching signals have been inverter
shown in Fig. 2.
In two level inverters, there are 23= 8 possible
states [10]. Two of them are (000 and 111)
zero voltage vectors and others are active
voltage vectors. "1" switching state represents
+VDC/2 and "0" switching state represents-
VDC/2 [11].
The principle of SVPWM method is that the
command voltage vector is approximately
calculated by using three adjacent vectors. The
duration of each voltage vectors obtained by
vector calculations [12];

T1.V1  T2 .V2  T0 .V0  Ts .Vref

Figure 2. Two level sinusoidal PWM (SPWM) T1  T2  T0  Ts (1)
where V1, V2, and V0 are vectors that define
However it is difficult to regularly sampling of the triangle region in which Vref is located. T1,
sinusoidal waveform for digital application. T2 and T0 are the corresponding vector
For this reason, interest in other PWM durations and TS is the sampling time. In a
techniques has been increased. Selective two-level inverter, space vector diagram is
Harmonic Elimination PWM (SHEPWM), divided into 6 sectors (A-…-F). A typical
minimum current ripple PWM, third harmonic space vector diagram of two-level inverter has
injection PWM (THIPWM) are some been shown in Fig. 4. SVPWM for two-level
alternatives of the PWM techniques. However inverters can be implemented by considering
space vector PWM (SVPWM) technique is the following steps;
recently showing popularity for inverter  Sector identification,
applications.  Calculate the switching times, T1, T2, T0
 Find the switching states.

312
 MODELLING AND SIMULATION OF TWO-LEVEL SPACE VECTOR PWM INVERTER USING
PHOTOVOLTAIC CELLS AS DC SOURCE
Ayse KOCALMIS BILHAN, Erhan AKBAL

V3 V2
010 Sector B 110

Se
w

c
tor

tor
c
Se

A
Vref
V4 V0 V1
011 000 θ 100
111
V7
Se

V0

F
c

tor
tor

c
Se
D

001 Sector E 101

V5 V6

Figure 4. Space vector diagram of two-level inverter

Orthogonal coordinates to represent the 3- 2.2 Calculating the Switching Times

phase voltage in the phasor diagram. A three-
phase-voltage vector can be expressed as; Vref is calculated by using two active voltage
2 2
2 j j  vector and one zero voltage vector. If Vref is
Vref  Vd  Vq  Van  Vbne s  Vcn e s  (2) located in Sector A, Vref is synthesized by V1,
3  V2 and V0. According to this approach T1, T2
and T0 can be calculated as;
and θ angle is calculated by;
T1 = (4)
Vq
  arctan( ) (3)
Vd
T2 = (5)
where, Van, Vbn and Vcn are three phase
voltages and Vref (reference voltage vector)
rotates at angular speed of w = 2.π.f. T0 = TS - T1 - T2

2.1. Sector Identification If T1, T2 and T0 switching times for all sector
can be generalized, they can be calculated by;
Sector determination according to θ angle has
been shown in Table 1.
Tk = (6)
Table I. Sector Determination
Angle (θ) Sector where Vref is
placed Tk+1 = (7)
0° ≤ θ< 60° Sector A
60° ≤ θ< 120° Sector B
T0 = TS - T1 - T2
120° ≤ θ< 180° Sector C
180° ≤ θ< 240° Sector D where k = 1-..-6 (Sector A-..-Sector F) and
240° ≤ θ< 300° Sector E 0≤θ≤60°.
300° ≤ θ< 360° Sector F

313
 MODELLING AND SIMULATION OF TWO-LEVEL SPACE VECTOR PWM INVERTER USING
PHOTOVOLTAIC CELLS AS DC SOURCE
Ayse KOCALMIS BILHAN, Erhan AKBAL

2.3. Finding Switching States 3. MODELLING AND SIMULATION OF

TWO-LEVEL INVERTER
Switching states for Sector A has been shown
in Figure 5. MATLAB/Simulink packed program is used to
model and simulate the two-level inverter. Fig.
1
PWM A
5 shows Simulink model of the whole drive
0
system including a R-L load. “Angle
Calculation” block in Fig. 5 calculates θ
1
according to the demand inverter output
0 PWM B
frequency and modulation index. Then, the
1 sector in which the vector falls into according
0 PWM C
to rules given in Table 1 is found by using the
T0 /2 Tk T k+1 T0 T k+1 Tk T0 /2 value of θ in “Sector Determination” block.
Figure 5. Switching states of Sector A SVPWM block calculates the switching times
according to Eq. 6 and Eq. 7 and it generates
SVPWM signals as explained in Table 2.
All switching states has been given in Table 2.
Inverter block represents the two level inverter
Table II. Switching states for Two level model using ideal switches. Three phases R-L
inverter load is modeled as shown in Fig. 5.
PV Panel generates VDC voltage input of two-
level inverter and its model has been given in
Sectors Switching States Fig. 6. Two photovoltaic cells are used for
Sector A V0 V1 V2 V7 V7 V2 V1 V0 obtaining DC source of two-level inverter.
Sector B V0 V3 V2 V7 V7 V2 V3 V0 Each cell produces 110V for 500W.
Sector C V0 V3 V4 V7 V7 V4 V3 V0
Sector D V0 V5 V4 V7 V7 V4 V5 V0
Sector E V0 V5 V6 V7 V7 V6 V5 V0
Sector F V0 V1 V6 V7 V7 V6 V1 V0

Continuous
Sector Determination
2*pi*f w powergui
Angle Ta
Angle Sector Sector Ta
clock Van

Angle Angle Tb Tb
Calculation
Van

m m Tc Tc Vbn Vbn

SVPWM Vcn

V+ 3-Phase R-L Load

V+

Vcn
V-
V-
PV Panel
voltage
Inverter

Figure 5. Simulation block of whole system.

314
 MODELLING AND SIMULATION OF TWO-LEVEL SPACE VECTOR PWM INVERTER USING
PHOTOVOLTAIC CELLS AS DC SOURCE
Ayse KOCALMIS BILHAN, Erhan AKBAL

PV1 Simulation results have been given for various

PV module (I)
Vpv
operating using 1 kHz switching frequency and
1 a passive load. Photovoltaic cells are used for
V+
Vnv DC voltage supply of two-level inverter.

PV module (I) 500

Vpv

Vnv 2
V-
PV2

Vab (Volt)
Figure 6. Structure of “PV Panel” 0

4. SIMULATION RESULTS

Simulation results have been taken for various -500

operating conditions feeding a passive load for 0 0.05 0.1 0.15 0.2 0.25
Time (sec)
R=100Ω and L=0.1H. Switching frequency of Figure 7. The line output voltage waveform
1kHz was used in the model. DC link voltage for fo=10Hz and m=0.2
of the two-level inverter was taken as 220V
from photovoltaic cells. Simulation results 2
shown in Fig. 7 through Fig. 9 have been 1.5
obtained for modulation index of 0.2 and 1
output frequency of 10Hz. Fig. 7 illustrates 0.5
i (Amper)

output line voltage of the inverter (Vab) which 0

is applied to an R-L load. As can be seen the
a

-0.5
output voltage waveform has two levels.
-1
Corresponding single phase line current and
-1.5
three-phase line currents are shown in Fig. 8
and Fig. 9, respectively. Although 1kHz of -2
0 0.1 0.2 0.3 0.4 0.5
switching frequency is used the current Time (sec)

waveforms have sinusoidal shape. Figure 8. Single phase line output current
The line voltage waveform and its frequency waveform (ia) for fo=10Hz and m=0.2
2
spectra are demonstrated in Fig.10. As can be
seen the output voltage waveform has main 1.5

harmonic at 10Hz. The other harmonics are 1

around switching frequency.
i , i , i (Amper)

0.5
The simulation has been repeated for an output
0
frequency of 50Hz and modulation index of
c
b

-0.5
0.8. The results for the line output voltage and
a

single phase and three phase current -1

waveforms are given in Fig. 11, Fig. 12 and -1.5

Fig. 13, respectively. -2
The line voltage waveform and its frequency 0 0.1 0.2 0.3 0.4 0.5
Time (sec)
spectra are demonstrated in Fig.14 for 50 Hz Figure 9. Three-phase line output current
output frequency. As can be seen the output waveforms for fo=10Hz and m=0.2
voltage waveform has main harmonic at 50Hz.
The other harmonics are around switching
frequency.

5. CONCLUSION

In this paper a two-level inverter has been

modelled and simulated using
Simulink/MATLAB package program.

315
 MODELLING AND SIMULATION OF TWO-LEVEL SPACE VECTOR PWM INVERTER USING
PHOTOVOLTAIC CELLS AS DC SOURCE
Ayse KOCALMIS BILHAN, Erhan AKBAL

500 6
Vab (Volt)

0 4

ia, ib , ic (Amper)
-500 2
0 0.01 0.02 0.03 0.04 0.05 0.06 0.07 0.08 0.09 0.1
Time (sec)
0
(a)
100
-2
Vab (Volt)

-4
50

-6
0 0.02 0.04 0.06 0.08 0.1
0 Time (sec)
0 500 1000 1500
Frequency (Hz)
Figure 13. Three-phase line output current
(b)
waveforms for fo=50Hz and m=0.8
Figure 10. The line output voltage waveform
and its spectrum for fo=10Hz and m=0.2 500

Vab (Volt)
500
0

-500
0 0.002 0.004 0.006 0.008 0.01 0.012 0.014 0.016 0.018 0.02
Time (sec)
(a)
(Volt)

0
ab

300
V

Vab (Volt)

200

100

-500 0
0 0.02 0.04 0.06 0.08 0.1 0 500 1000 1500
Frequency (Hz)
Time (sec)
(b)
Figure 11. The line output voltage waveform Figure 14. (a)-The line output voltage
for fo=50Hz and m=0.8 waveform (b)-its spectrum for fo=50Hz and
m=0.8
6
The proposed control algorithm can be easily
4
applied in the two-level inverter It has been
shown that high quality waveforms at the
2
output of the two-inverter can be obtained even
i (Amper)

0 with 1kHz of low switching frequency.

Photovoltaic cell is one of the most known
a

-2 renewable sources. It has very width

application area. In this work, it has been
-4 shown that photovoltaic cells can be used as
DC source for inverters and it has efficient
-6 working area for power electronic applications.
0 0.02 0.04 0.06 0.08 0.1
Time (sec)
Figure 12. Single phase line output current
waveform (ia) for fo=50Hz and m=0.8

316
 MODELLING AND SIMULATION OF TWO-LEVEL SPACE VECTOR PWM INVERTER USING
PHOTOVOLTAIC CELLS AS DC SOURCE
Ayse KOCALMIS BILHAN, Erhan AKBAL

6. REFERENCES
[8] Z., Qing, L., Zhihui, C., Jian, “A novel 3-
[1] H. - L. Tsai, C.-S. Tu, Y. - J. Su, phase SPWM technique: instantaneously
“Development of generalized photovoltaic floating the neutral point”, Power
model using MATLAB /SIMULINK”, Electronics and Drive Systems Conference,
Proceeding of the World Congress on pp. 781-786, 2, 1997.
Engineering and Computer Science, ISBN:
978-988-98671-0-2. (Conference Paper) [9] I. Çolak, E. Kabalcı, R. Bayındır, S.,
Sağıroglu, “The Design and Analysis of a
[2] B., K., Bose, “Modern power electronics 5-Level Cascaded Voltage Source Inverter
and AC drives”, Prentice Hall Inc. 2002, with Low THD”, 9nd Power Engineering
(Book). Energy and Electrical Drives Conference,
Ankara, pp. 575-580, 18-20 March.
[3] N., Mohan, “Power electronics-converters, (Conference Paper)
application and design”, JohnWiley &
Sons Inc., 2003, (Book) [10] S., Mondal, J.,O.,P., Pinto, and B.,
K., Bose, “A neural-network-based space
[4] W., D., Hart, ” Introduction to power vector pwm controller for a threel-level
electronics upper saddle river”, N. J. voltage-fed inverter induction motor
Prence Hall, 1997, (Book) drive”, Industry Application Conference

[5] Y., Tadros, S., Salama, R., Höf, “ Three [11] A., Kocalmis, “Uzay vektör PWM
level IGBT inverter carrier based pwm kontrollü çok seviyeli inverterin
method”, 1992, (Book) modellenmesi ve benzetimi”, Master
Thesis, F. U., 2005.
[6] E. Deniz, “Uzay vector darbe genişlik
modülasyonu kullanan üç seviyeli H-köprü [12] D., Rathna Kumar, P., Lakshmana, T.,
evirici tabanlı D-statkom’un tasarımı ve Srinivasan, “A new software
gerçekleştirilmesi”, Phd Thesis, Firat implementation of space vector PWM”,
University, 2010. Proceeding of Southeast Conference, pp.
131-136, 8-10 April. (Conference Paper)
[7] R. Cordero, J., O., P., Pinto, J., Solares,
“New simplification of SV-PWM based on
conditional rotation of the reference
vector”, Power Electronic Conference
(IPEC), 2010, 2992-2999. (Conference
Paper)

317