2022 4TH INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE ON CIRCUITS, CONTROL, COMMUNICATION AND COMPUTING (I4C-2022), 21 - 23 DECEMBER 2022
Active Front End Topology Based Three Phase
Inverter
Ramyesh B
PG scholar
Department of Electrical & Electromics Engineering
M S Ramaiah Institue of Technology
Bangalore, India
ramyeshbt@gmail.com
Abstract— End (AFE) topology based three-phase inverter
2022 4th International Conference on Circuits, Control, Communication and Computing (I4C) | 979-8-3503-9747-5/22/$31.00 ©2022 IEEE | DOI: 10.1109/I4C57141.2022.10057914
are presented in this paper. The inverter belongs to Infinite Level
(ILI) Multi-level Inverters (MLI) with Reduced Switch Count.
The circuit consists of three dc to dc buck converters connected
to the individual legs of the six switch three-phase inverter. Three
phase output is obtained at the output of the inverter without any
external filtering circuit. The dc bus utilization is also improved
by using third harmonic injection. The three-phase induction
motor is considered as load and performance is evaluated for full
load conditions. AFE based ILI reduces the switching and
conduction losses as only one switch is switching at high
frequency per phase.
Keywords— Active Front End, Three-phase Inverter, Three-
phase Induction Motor, Infinite Level Inverter, Harmonics
I. INTRODUCTION
A three phase power supply is a major source of electrical
energy for most industrial applications. It can be controlled for
applications such as pumps or mechanical movement using a
three-phase inverter. The output of the inverter is coupled with
an Induction motor drive. Three-phase induction motors are
the most widely preferred drive system for numerous
industrial applications. Conventional three-phase inverters use
different topologies to convert dc to ac power. But the output
of these inverters require filtering circuit because the number
of levels is fixed in Multi-Level Inverters (MLI), which in turn
increases the quantity of devices and complexity of the circuit.
The switching losses also increase with increase in levels.
Multilevel inverters are of the following types: Neutral
Point Clamped (NPC), Flying-capacitor and cascaded H
Bridge. NPC MLI requires a greater number of components to
overcome the problem of unbalanced capacitor voltages and
resulting losses [1]. Flying capacitor MLI can solve the
unbalance of capacitor voltage but significant algorithm is
involved [2]. But the limitations of these approaches were that
a greater number of units could not be added in cascaded
fashion to advance the performance of the circuit. As a result,
H-Bridge MLI were introduced, in which the circuits could be
cascaded to increase the number of levels and thus reduce
harmonic distortion in the inverter output [3], [4]. Some
advanced cascading H-bridge converter techniques were
introduced, which overcome conventional converter
shortcomings such as an increase in the number of switch
components [5] and [6]. Using CHB MLI, it was possible to
increase the quantity of levels in the output thereby improving
the sinusoidal nature of the waveform [7]. Various cascaded H
bridge designs for specific applications are available in the
literature [8–10]. Further work on the cascaded H Bridge
configuration was carried out to reduce the number of
components, as in [11]– [13]. But the complexity of the circuit
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S. Poornima
Assistant Professor
Department of Electrical & Electromics Engineering
M S Ramaiah Institue of Technology
Bangalore, India
sripoorni@msrit.edu
in terms of providing appropriate gate pulses to the switches
remains.
In order to switch the gate of the switching devices, many
methods are implemented. The pulse width modulation
(PWM) technique is the foundation for all other techniques. In
PWM technique, the switches are turned on and off at a set
frequency to generate an alternating waveform at the inverter
output terminals. Sinusoidal PWM is one such method in
which a sinusoidal reference wave with line frequency is
compared to a high-frequency triangular wave known as the
carrier signal, and switching occurs when they cross.
Moreover, multiple carrier waves were compared with the
reference signal as discussed in [14].
Recently, another method is being used in MLI called
Active Front End (AFE)-based topology. In AFE MLI, the dc-
to-dc converter is used in order to vary the input DC to the
inverter in a pulsating fashion. High speed switching is
implemented in the DC-DC converter and the AC inverter can
be switched at line frequency. Thus, reducing the number of
high-speed switches in each phase. The AFE based inverter is
designed in [15]. These MLI have no requirement for voltage
balancing in capacitors, and use a lesser number of
components in each phase. They also provide infinite output
levels as the output is as close to sinusoidal in nature as
possible. Thereby, the stress on switches is very low compared
to other MLIs. Even bidirectional rectifiers are implemented
with AFE to work like an inverter, as in [16], [17]. Further
circuits with H Bridge at the output of the DC-DC converter
are implemented in [18], wherein the number of components
is reduced considerably and the performance of the design is
very high. A further improvement was discussed in [19],
which concentrated the number of switches to the bare
minimum in each phase.
This paper presents an innovative three phase inverter with
Active Front Based topology where dc-dc converters are
implemented in each phase and connected to the individual
legs of the six switch three phase inverter circuit. The AFE dc-
dc converter is switched at high frequency to generate
pulsating rectified sinusoidal variation of DC supply while the
three-phase inverter is switched at line frequency in a three-
phase fashion to provide inversion of DC to AC. Hence only
three high speed switches are necessary and six switches of
the inverter are low speed switches. Thereby the losses
involved in switching is reduced due to decrease in number of
devices at high switching frequency. The output is also close
to sinusoidal in nature, which reduces harmonics and improves
the performance of the induction motor load. There is no
requirement for filtering the output of the MLI and it improves
the stability of the system. Since conventional inverters use six
switch topologies, this AFE based MLI can easily be
 .
implemented for upgrading conventional inverters to AFE
MLI topology.
Third harmonic injection is also implemented in this circuit
which enables higher DC voltage utilization and thereby
increases power throughput that can be delivered. The THD of
the circuit has been analysed and load torque ripple in the
motor is seen to be minimal due to sinusoidal nature.
II. AFE BASED THREE-PHASE INVERTER TOPOLOGY
The inverter is used to convert the pulsating or fully
rectified DC supply at each phase to a three-phase alternating
supply. The inverter output terminals are connected to a three-
phase Induction motor load. The inverter shown in Fig. 1.
consists of two switches at each separate leg as simultaneous
switching would short the DC supply. The switching is carried
out in a three-phase fashion wherein the first and second-layer
switches are closed for positive and negative values of phase
voltage respectively. Injection of third order harmonics as
shown in Fig.2 is chosen to enhance the throughput of the
output power. The DC supply to each leg of the three-phase
inverter is fed from individual DC-DC Buck converters. The Fig. 1. Three Phase Inverter
switches of the Buck converters get PWM high frequency gate
signals from the PWM generator. High frequency switching
happens only at the Buck converter and output of this
converter is full wave rectified DC supply. This enables the
output of the inverter to vary in a sinusoidal nature with as
many levels as the frequency of the carrier wave. In AFE
based circuits, the quality of the output sinusoidal nature is
contingent on the switching frequency of the DC-DC
converter. Higher the frequency of switching, the output gains Fig. 2 Three phase voltage waveforms with third harmonic signal injection
closer to sinusoidal nature. In contrast to Multilevel Inverters
(MLI), the output waveform stays constant for a very small
duration comparable to the time period of the high frequency
carrier wave. Hence the circuit is also called as Infinite Level
Inverter. The inductance of the machine windings contributes
to smoothening the inverter output current. The number of
voltage levels at the dc-dc converter output, is given by ratio
of carrier frequency (freqc) to the modulating reference signal
frequency (freqm) specified in [18].

(1)

Hence the instantaneous duty cycle of the dc-dc converter Fig. 3. DC-DC Buck Converter for each leg
varies with time in accordance to the rectified sinusoidal
waveform, which can be approximated to . Hence the III. MODES OF OPERATION
voltage equation at output of the dc-dc converter in R phase A. Three-phase switching
leg is written as:
(2)

(3)

(4)

Here is the angular frequency and is the input dc voltage to

the buck converter.

Fig. 4. Recreation of gate-pulses for three-phase inverter

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 .
The switches of the three-phase inverter are controlled by (12)
appropriately switching as the phase signal goes above +0.825
or below -0.825, switch ON the upper and lower leg devices as
shown in Fig. 4. This ensures that both upper and lower The switches and diodes of the dc-dc converter need to
switches of any leg are not turned on simultaneously as seen in withstand DC Source voltage VDC during (1-D)·T and DT
Fig. 5. The switching is also repeated for 180° conduction intervals respectively. These components are suitably selected
method by switching at ±0.01 (marginal dead band) as shown with rating more than 1.5 times than required, for safety. As
in Fig. 6. However, one upper switch and two lower switches the switching happens at high frequency, the TON and TOFF
of different legs or vice-versa may be turned on at some limits of these switches must be less, i.e., the switching
instances. The switching sequence of devices for 180° capacity ranges between 10kHz – 30 kHz optimally. The
conduction method has been tabulated below in which, for the current through switch when it is closed is given by
switch 1 signifies that it is ON and 0 means it is OFF. (13)
Similarly, the diode carries the same current when it conducts.
TABLE I. SWITCHING FOR 180° METHOD The capacitor carries the ripples along with the inductor
current. The maximum current of the capacitor is given by
Interval Q1 Q6 Q3 Q2 Q5 Q4
0° - 60° (14)
1 0 0 1 1 0
The switches of the inverter are switched at the line frequency
60° - 120° 1 0 0 1 0 1 of 50Hz which makes their selection much easier and required
120° - 180° 1 0 1 0 0 1 to withstand 0.707 times the line-to-line voltage rating of the
load. It is preferable to select twice this voltage value when
180° - 240° 0 1 1 0 0 1 selecting the IGBT. The current rating of the device must be at
240° - 300° 0 1 1 0 1 0 least two times more than rated phase current of the load for
safe operation.
300° - 360° 0 1 0 1 1 0

B. DC-DC converter switching

The Buck converters in each leg are switched at high
frequency by comparing the three-phase fully rectified
sinusoidal reference signals with high frequency triangular
carrier waveform for corresponding phase. The switch is
turned on when the magnitude of the sinusoidal signal exceeds
that of the triangular waveform. The current flows through the
switch, inductor, and load, but not in the diode as it is reverse
biased. In the OFF state of the switch, the current through the
inductor is allowed to continue flowing through the forward
biased diode and the load. The current iL rises and falls in the
ON and OFF states respectively as it freewheels through the
diode. By applying volt-second balance in one cycle of high Fig. 5. Gate Pulses for three-phase inverter switches at line frequency
frequency, it can be written as
(5)
(6)
The Inductor current when switch is closed is given by
(7)
⇒ (8)
Assuming to be less than 5% of per phase rms value of
load current requirement, the inductance can be estimated
from eqn. (8). For duty cycle D, as it is varying sinusoidally
over a cycle, it is a good estimate to assume it to be 50%. It is
a good practice to maintain L value with following conditions
(9)
Fig. 6. Gate Pulses for three-phase inverter switches- 180° conduction method
(10)
The ripple voltage across the capacitor is given by IV. THIRD HARMONIC INJECTION
(11) While switching the high frequency switches with a
sinusoidal reference signal, the maximum output voltage of
Assuming voltage ripple across capacitor to be less than 5% of fundamental is limited to 78.54% when modulation index is 1.
VC, the capacitance value will be In order to increase this fundamental beyond the amplitude of
level 1, third order harmonics must be injected. This will not

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 .
affect the performance of the inverter, as multiple of third
harmonic components are nullified in three-phase operation.
However, there will be significant improvement in the DC
voltage utilization as a 15% increase in maximum amplitude of
fundamental voltage has been obtained without reaching over
modulation.
Fig. 7. Flow of current through inductor when switch is closed
Fig. 8. Flow of current through inductor when switch is open
Fig. 9 Inductor voltage (V), Inductor current (A), Switch voltage (V) and
current (A) waveforms.
Analysis of third harmonic injection can be carried out by
addition of component with the fundamental
reference signals given by equations (2), (3) and (4). The
optimum k value of 0.1667 provides the required 15% increase
in amplitude. The fundamental output voltages can be now
expressed as
(15)
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Where takes values 0°, 120° and 240° for R, Y and B phases
respectively.
V. SIMULATION OUTPUT
The projected three-phase inverter is simulated in
MATLAB-Simulink with Specialized Power System library as
shown in Fig.10 . The load coupled to the output of the inverter
is a three-phase Induction motor has following specifications:
4000 VA, 400 V, 50 Hz and 2-pole machine. The parameters
are chosen referred to primary, Inductance for both Stator and
Rotor: 0.005839H. Resistance for stator: 1.405Ω, and
rotor:1.395Ω.
Fig. 10 Circuit Diagram of Proposed Inverter
The reference signal to the Buck converter is provided with
fully rectified pure sinusoidal and third harmonic injected
sinusoidal signals as shown for R Phase in the Figs. 11 and 12.
The envelope of signal covered by the latter is larger compared
to pure sinusoidal case, and hence more voltage throughput
will be obtained in that case. The phase voltage waveforms at
the induction motor terminals are shown in the Figs. 13 and 14
for pure sinusoidal and third harmonic injected cases. Though
the visible differences are minimal between the cases, the RMS
value is improved by this addition. The square wave forms are
smoothened at the edges due to the varying DC input to the
inverter.
Fig. 11. Reference signal and Gate Signal for fundamental input
Fig. 12. Reference and Gate Signals for Third Harmonic Injected Sinusoid
 .
Fig. 13. Output Phase Voltages (V) for pure sinusoidal case
Fig. 14. Output Phase Voltages (V) for third harmonic injected case
Fig. 15. Motor torque (Nm) and speed (rpm) variation with time
Fig. 15 shows motor speed and torque variation with time,
with full load torque applied to the inverter after the torque
stabilizes at 1 s. The induction motor performance is very
stable even in an open loop configuration at full load speed and
torque. The FFT harmonic study on the output voltage and
current waveforms in the stable region shows considerable
amount of fifth harmonic component. There is scope for
improvement to this circuit by reducing harmonics separately
for the three legs of the inverter by using filtering circuits and
harmonic suppressors. The circuit and FFT analysis of output
line voltage and output current are shown in the Figs. 16 and
17. The voltage THD is 29.06% while the current THD is
23.53% at full load.
As the harmonic distortion is limited at 5% as per IEEE
specifications, the engineers adhere the limits to avoid energy
losses and shorten equipment life. The harmonics of the
inverter output can be controlled by using active series or shunt
filter circuits, controllers, twelve or eighteen pulse converters,
DC choke, power quality monitoring equipment etc. At
simulation level, neural network based models are being
proposed for the same. The harmonic suppression technique
can be chosen according to the application requirements.
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Fig. 16. FFT Harmonic Analysis of line voltage (V) output
Fig. 17. FFT Harmonic Analysis of current (A) output
VI. CONCLUSION
The design and simulation of active front end topology
based three-phase inverter supplying a three-phase induction
motor load is presented in this paper. Three-phase sinusoidal
waveform with third harmonic injected component is used as
reference to generate alternating voltage three-phase output at
the inverter terminals, without any additional filtering circuit.
This circuit uses reduced number of components and only three
high frequency switches on the dc side. Thereby the
performance of the inverter is also improved. By injecting third
harmonic component, DC voltage level utilization is improved
by 15%. This design can easily be implemented in existing
three-phase circuits as the six switch three leg configuration is
widely used. The life of the circuit will be enhanced as the
switching in the inverter happens at line frequency. It will also
improve the reliability of the drive.
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