Power Electronics

Lecture # 25

 Contents of Today`s Lecture:

 Inverter – A brief introduction

 Single Phase Half Bridge Inverter
 Performance parameters

1. Inverter - A brief introduction:

DC to AC converter is known as inverter. The function of an inverter is to change a dc

input voltage to a symmetric ac output voltage of desired magnitude and frequency.
The output voltage waveforms of ideal inverters should be sinusoidal. However the
waveforms of practical inverters are non-sinusoidal and contain certain harmonics.
Harmonics:
Harmonics are unwanted signals which occur at frequencies other than the desired
frequency. These harmonics result in distortion of the shape of the desired signal, hence
introducing losses into the system.
The harmonic contents of output voltage can be minimized or reduced significantly by
switching techniques. (As discussed in lecture 24)

Inverters are widely used in industrial applications.

1) Variable speed AC motor drives
2) Standby power supplies
3) Uninterruptible power supplies (UPS)

Types of Inverters:

1) Single phase inverters

2) Three phase inverters

 An inverter is called a voltage fed inverter if the input voltage remains constant.
 An inverter is called a current fed inverter if the input current is maintained constant.
1) Single Phase Half Bridge Inverter

A single phase half bridge inverter consists of two choppers (Q1, Q2) which are used for
switching purpose and a three wire DC source which is created by connecting two bipolar
capacitors of equal size Vs/2 in series with each other, together in parallel with the DC supply.
The circuit diagram is as under;

Principle of operation:

 When only transistor Q1 is turned on while Q2 is off for a time 0 T0/2, the
instantaneous voltage (v0) across the load is Vs/2.
 Similarly, when Q2 is turned on for a time T0/2 T while Q1 is off, the instantaneous
voltage -Vs/2 appears across the load.

When a transistor is off, its revers voltage is Vs.

Waveform:

Q1 is on

Q2 is on

From the above waveform, we can see that the output voltage v0 is square wave which is
dangerous for our hardware. From our previous knowledge, we know that square wave
contains odd harmonics which are undesirable for our system.

Objectives of inverter:

It is the prime objective of the inverter that the output should be AC and its shape should be
sinusoidal, but as we saw in the above waveform that we get square wave at the output
 which contains harmonics and this is harmful for appliances. So we have to eliminate these
harmonics.

Vdc = 0 As, we are getting AC at the output, so the average dc value of the output voltage is 0.

Vrms = √ ∫ ( )

 Vrms = Vs/2

The instantaneous output voltage can be expressed in Fourier series

Fourier Series:

A periodic function can be represented by an infinite sum of sine and/or cosine functions that are
“harmonically” related. The frequency of any “term” is an integral multiple (harmonic) of the
fundamental frequency of the periodic function.

Fourier Series of the instantaneous output voltage:

vo = 0 for n = 2,4,6… (even harmonics voltages are absent)
For n= 1;

Vo1 = Vpeak,1/ √

 Vo1 = 2Vs/ √ (sin 90 =1 )

 Vo1 = 0.45 Vs which is the rms value of the fundamental component of output voltage.

Performance Parameters:
Example 6.1: