DC-AC Inverter

Inverter: is power electronic circuitry or device that converts a direct current (DC) to
alternating current (AC). This is achieved through a process known as switching. The DC
input is switched in a pattern that generates AC waveform, usually a square wave, modified
sine wave, or pure sine wave
The switching pattern is controlled by a microcontroller or a similar digital device, which
generate the frequency and voltage required at the output side. The result is an AC output
that can be used to power standard appliances that operate on AC power

Types of inverter
A typical single-phase inverter consists of several key components:

 DC source: This is the input to the inverter, typically a battery or solar panel.
 Inverter circuit: This circuit, usually composed of electronic switches such as
transistors or thyristors, is responsible for converting the DC input into an AC output.
 Control unit: This component, often a microcontroller, controls the switching sequence
of the inverter circuit to produce the desired AC output.
 Filter: An output filter is used to smooth out the inverter’s output waveform, especially
for modified sine wave and pure sine wave inverters.

Industrial Applications of Inverter

 An inverter is mostly used in uninterrupted power supplies (UPS). The function of
the power inverter circuit in UPS is to convert DC power to AC power.
 In industrial applications (i.e. controlling the AC motor drive’s by regulating
frequency and voltage , ASD, induction heating, etc.).
 In domestic appliances (like as refrigerators, air conditioning, etc), the inverter is
very essential for controlling the speed of the compressor and fan motor.
 The inverter is primarily used in solar energy systems and wind turbine systems.
 In electric aircraft and electric vehicles (EV), the power inverter is the most
important device for power conversion and regulation.
 Also, it is used in high-voltage DC (HVDC) transmission.
A generic schematic diagram of an air-conditioner with a variable-speed compressor/motor.

Schematic diagram of PV system.

Single-phase Full-bridge Square-wave inverter
A single-phase full-bridge inverter circuit is built from two half-bridge leg which consists
of four choppers as depicted in Figure. The
switching in the second leg is delayed by 180
degrees from the first leg. When transistor S1 and S2
are closed simultaneously, the input voltage VDC
appears across the load. If transistors S3 and S4 are
closed, the voltage across the load is reversed that is
- VDC. The Figure illustrates the output waveforms
for the output voltage and the switches current with
R load

The inverter output

waveform the with R
Load
Any periodic wave form can be represented by infinite series of sinusoids.
∞ ∞

𝑓(𝒕) = 𝒂𝒐 + ∑(𝒂𝒐 𝐜𝐨𝐬(𝒏𝝎𝒕) + ∑(𝒃𝒐 𝐬𝐢𝐧(𝒏𝝎𝒕)

𝟏 𝟏

Harmonics of square-wave, where 𝝎 = 𝟐𝝅/𝑻 ⇒ ⇒ 𝝎 = 𝟏

𝝅 𝟐𝝅
𝟏
𝒂𝒐 = [∫ 𝑽𝒅𝒄 𝒅𝜽 + ∫ −𝑽𝒅𝒄 𝒅𝜽 ] = 𝟎
𝝅
𝟎 𝝅

𝝅 𝟐𝝅
𝑽𝒅𝒄
𝒂𝒏 = [∫ 𝒄𝒐𝒔(𝒏𝜽)𝒅𝜽 − ∫ 𝒄𝒐𝒔(𝒏𝜽) 𝒅𝜽 ] = 𝟎 Odd function
𝝅
𝟎 𝝅 𝒂𝒐 = 𝟎 , 𝒂𝒏 = 𝟎
𝝅 𝟐𝝅
𝑽𝒅𝒄
𝒃𝒏 = [∫ 𝒔𝒊𝒏(𝒏𝜽)𝒅𝜽 − ∫ 𝒔𝒊𝒏(𝒏𝜽) 𝒅𝜽 ]
𝝅
𝟎 𝝅

𝑽𝒅𝒄
𝒃𝒏 = [ 𝒄𝒐𝒔(𝟎) − 𝒄𝒐𝒔(𝒏𝝅) + 𝒄𝒐𝒔(𝟐𝒏𝝅) − 𝒄𝒐𝒔(𝒏𝝅)]
𝒏𝝅
𝑽𝒅𝒄 𝟐 𝑽𝒅𝒄
𝒃𝒏 = [ 𝟐 − 𝟐𝒄𝒐𝒔(𝒏𝝅)] , 𝒃𝒏 = [ 𝟏 − 𝒄𝒐𝒔(𝒏𝝅)]
𝒏𝝅 𝒏𝝅
𝟒 𝑽𝒅𝒄
𝑽𝒃𝒏 = 𝒘𝒉𝒆𝒓𝒆 𝒏 𝒊𝒔 𝒐𝒅𝒅 𝒐𝒏𝒍𝒚
𝒏𝝅
∞
𝟒 𝑽𝒅𝒄
The instantaneous output voltage in a Fourier series is 𝒗𝒐 = ∑ 𝒔𝒊𝒏(𝒏𝝎𝒕)
𝒏𝝅
𝑛=1,3,5,…

Even Harmonics: Even harmonics (2nd, 4th, and 6th) are less likely to occur at levels
detrimental to electrical systems. This is because non-linear loads normally generate odd
harmonics rather than even harmonics. Furthermore, when both the positive and negative
half cycles of a waveform are similar in shape, the Fourier series contain only odd
harmonics.
Odd Harmonics: Odd harmonics (3rd, 5th, and 7th) are more common in power systems
and are the ones which lead to severe consequences if they are not controlled. Each odd
harmonic is associated with one of the sequence component (positive, negative or zero).
The phase sequence is very important because it determines the effect of the harmonic on
the operation of the electrical equipment.
the Harmonic Effect on Induction machines can generate three different sequences which are
effect of stable operation of motor:
• 1, 7,13 are produce +ve sequence (a b c)
• 5,11,17 produce –ve sequence (acb)
• Triple harmonics: 3, 9, 15 produce zero sequence
• Lower order harmonics (3rd, 5th etc.) are very difficult to filter, due to the filter size and high
filter order. They can cause serious voltage distortion.
Spectra of Square Wave
 ∞
𝟒 𝑽𝒅𝒄
𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝐢𝐧𝐬𝐭𝐚𝐧𝐭𝐚𝐧𝐞𝐨𝐮𝐬 𝐨𝐮𝐭𝐩𝐮𝐭 𝐯𝐨𝐥𝐭𝐚𝐠𝐞 𝐢𝐧 𝐚 𝐅𝐨𝐮𝐫𝐢𝐞𝐫 𝐬𝐞𝐫𝐢𝐞𝐬 𝐢𝐬 𝒗𝒐 = ∑ 𝒔𝒊𝒏(𝒏𝝎𝒕)
𝒏𝝅
𝒏=𝟏,𝟑,𝟓,

𝟒 𝑽𝒅𝒄 𝟒 𝑽𝒅𝒄 𝟒 𝑽𝒅𝒄

𝒗𝒐 = ∑ 𝒔𝒊𝒏(𝝎𝒕) + 𝒔𝒊𝒏(𝟑𝝎𝒕) + 𝒔𝒊𝒏(𝟓𝝎𝒕) + ⋯ … …
𝝅 𝟑𝝅 𝟓𝝅
,

𝟒 𝑽𝒅𝒄
𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝐟𝐮𝐧𝐝𝐞𝐦𝐚𝐧𝐭𝐢𝐚𝐥 𝐑𝐌𝐒 𝐨𝐮𝐭𝐩𝐮𝐭 𝐯𝐨𝐥𝐭𝐚𝐠𝐞 𝒗𝟏 = ⇒ 𝒗𝟏 = 𝟎. 𝟗 𝑽𝒅𝒄
√𝟐 𝝅
Single-phase Full-bridge inverter with R-L Load

With an inductive load “i” is delayed behind the

voltage “vℓ” although the voltage wave is still a
square. At steady circuit conditions, the current
wave-shape becomes repetitive. The
current will grow up exponentially during the
positive half cycle from (-In) up to
(Ip) through: With an inductive load “i” is delayed
behind the voltage “vℓ” although the voltag
wave is still a square. At steady circuit conditions, the current wave-shape becomes repetitive. The
current will grow up exponentially during the positive half cycle from (-In) up to
(Ip) through:

For D3D4, D1D2 periods the inductor

energy returning to the source until the
current attains zero,
Shoot through fault and“Dead-time”
A short circuit occurs when the current in the circuit rises rapidly and the electrical
connection draws an excessive amount of current from the supply. The high current is due
to the short circuit is known as the shoot through. Same time the incorrect closing switches
in the inverter circuit would cause a short circuit from Vdc to ground (shootthrough)
• To avoid shoot-through when using real switches (i.e. there are turn-on and turn-off
delays) a dead-time or blanking time is implemented
• Either S1,2 or S3,4 at the same time
In practical, a dead time as shown below is required to avoid “shootthrough” faults, i.e.
short circuit across the DC rail.
• Dead time creates “low frequency envelope”. Low frequency harmonics emerged.
• This is the main source of distortion for high-quality sine wave inverter.
Amplitude and Harmonics Control
Quasi-Square Wave (QSW) Inverters
To reduce the harmonics order of the square wave inverter or to get a variable rms voltage of the
inverter output, QSW can be used. The QSW states are shown below:
The output voltage of the full-bridge inverter can be controlled by adjusting the interval of α on each
side of the pulse as zero. The Figure below shows the interval of α when the output is zero at each side
of the pulse in Figure indicates the inverter switching sequence
The amplitude of the fundamental frequency is controllable by adjusting the angle of α
Pulse-Width Modulation (PWM)
Pulse-width modulation provides a way to decrease the total harmonics distortion (THD) of load current.
A PWM inverter output with some filtering can generally meet THD requirements more easily than the
square-wave switching scheme. There are several types of PWM techniques to control the inverter
switching such as natural or sinusoidal sampling, regular sampling, optimized PWM, harmonic
elimination or minimization PWM and space-vector modulation (SVM). In PWM, the amplitude of the
output voltage can be controlled with the modulating waveforms.
Types of PWM Techniques
 Single-Pulse Width Modulation.
 Multiple-Pulse Width Modulation.
 Sinusoidal Pulse Width Modulation (SPWM)
 Selective Harmonic Elimination (SHE)
 Third-Harmonic PWM.
 Space-Vector Modulation.

When using PWM several definitions should be stated:

(i) Amplitude Modulation Ratio, Ma: The amplitude modulation ratio or also called as modulation index
is defined as the ratio of amplitudes of the reference signal to the carrier signal as given in equation

The Ma is related to the fundamental of sine wave output voltage magnitude. If Ma ≤ 1, the amplitude
of the fundamental frequency of the output voltage, V1 is linearly proportional to Ma. If Ma is high,
then the sine wave output is high and vice versa. This can be represent by

ii) Frequency Modulation Ratio, Mf: The frequency modulation ratio is defined as the ratio of the (
frequency of the carrier and reference signal as given in equation

Mf is related to the harmonic frequency. When the carrier frequency increases the frequency at which
the harmonics occur also will increase.
Bipolar Switching of PWM: The principle of sinusoidal bipolar PWM is illustrated as in Figure below.
The Figure shows a sinusoidal reference signal compared with a triangular carrier signal. When the
instantaneous value of the reference signal is larger than the triangular carrier, the output is at +VDC and
when the reference is less than the carrier the output is at –VDC. Thus the output alternates between
+VDC and –VDC supply voltage.
Unipolar Switching of PWM: The following Figure shows the process of implementing the unipolar
sinusoidal PWM scheme for a full bridge single phase inverter. To have a unipolar sinusoidal PWM
scheme, the output is switched among three levels: +Vdc, zero voltage, or -Vdc. In unipolar scheme, the
output voltage also depending on the instantaneous values
of the the reference and carrier signals, the switch controls
are as:
S1 is ON when vsine > vtri
S2 is ON when -vsine < vtri
S3 is ON when -vsine > vtri
S4 is ON when vsine < vtri
In unipolar scheme, the switch pairs (S1, S4) and (S2, S3) are complementary, and output voltage
alternates between +Vdc and zero, or between –Vdc and zero. It is noticeable in unipolar scheme that the
switching frequency of output signal is a twice of the carrier frequency signal.