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Pulse-Width-Modulation Techniques: A Review

a b
R M Jalnekar MIETE & K S Jog FIETE
a
Department of Computer Engineering, Bharati Vidyapeeth's College of Engineering,
Katraj-Dhankawadi, Pune 411 043, India.
b
Department of Electronics and Telecommunication Engineering, Government
College of Engineering, Shivaji Nagar, Pune 411 005, India.
Published online: 26 Mar 2015.

To cite this article: R M Jalnekar MIETE & K S Jog FIETE (2000) Pulse-Width-Modulation Techniques: A Review, IETE
Journal of Research, 46:3, 175-183, DOI: 10.1080/03772063.2000.11416153

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 JETE Journal of Research
Vol46, No 3, May-June 2000, pp 175-183.

Pulse-Width-Modulation Techniques · A Review

R M JALNEKAR, MIETE
Department of Computer Engineering, Bharati Vidyapeeth's College of Engineering, Katraj-Dhankawadi,
Pune 411 043, India.
AND

K S JOG, FIETE
Department of Electronics and Telecommunication Engineering, Government College of Engineering, Shivaji Nagar,
Pune 411 005, India.

Pulse-width-Modulation techniques are used for, harmonic elimination and/or reduction

at the output of the inverter and simultaneously achieving the output voltage control.
Microprocessor based implementation offers many advantages hence stress is to develop PWM
techniques so that on-line micrQprocessor based implementation is easily possible. Different
PWM techniques like Square-Wave, Sinusoidal, Regular-Sampled, harmonic elimination PWM
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and the Regular-Sampled Harmonic-Elimination PWM are the available options for a designer.
Depending on the requirements, a suitable PWM scheme is selected. This paper reviews these
PWM techniques in details. Their theoretical development and harmonic plots (Harmonic
amplitudes versus Modulation index) are presented. The paper also compares all the PWM
schemes.

Indexing terms : PWM techniques, Carrier based PWM, Harmonic elimination PWM,
Modulation index.

Nomenclature vc (t) Equation of the carrier wave

vm (t) Equation of the modulating wave
tpw Pulse-width
Wm Angular frequency of the carrier wave
Tc Carrier time period
M Number of switches in one quarter cycle of the
t rk, t,f kth rising and falling edges
PWM wave
m" Modulation Index
p Number of pulses in one half cycle of the PWM
n nth harmonic wave

vn. ell nth harmonic rms and peak voltages vdc Supply voltage.

DIFFERENT PWM TECHNIQUES

I NVERTERS are widely used in motor drives and UPS
systems. It control the quality of the output delivered to
the load. The non-sinusoidal waveform of the inverter Broadly the PWM techniques are classified into,
results in increased copper loss, reduced power-factor,
motor derating, torque pulsation, motor fatigue and speed Carrier based PWM (CBPWM)
ripple etc. Use of LC filter is not recommended as they
They control the amplitudes of the lower order
increase the cost and complexity and reduce the efficiency
harmonics depending on the number of pulses per half cycle
and reliability. For a VVVF Inverter drive the filter design
used. They can be either Square wave PWM (SWPWM) or
is difficult. Pulse Width Modulation Technique serve the
Sinusoidal PWM (sin PWM). Carrier based PWM can use
dual purpose of harmonic reduction or elimination and
either leading edge, trailing edge or double edge modulation
voltage control within the inverter without any extra
depending on which edge is modulated. Most of the carrier
hardware cost. The complexity of the control circuitry is
based PWM schemes use double edge modulation as it has
reduced if microprocessors are used. They also offer
quarter wave symmetry.
advantages like universal hardware and flexible software,
low drift and noise problems and ability to modify the Harmonic elimination PWM (HEPWM)
software at a later date.
Also called programmed PWM (PPWM) technique. Can
Paper No 33-A; Copyright © 2000 by the JETE. completely eliminate certain number of harmonics
175
 176 JETE JOURNAL OF RESEARCH. Vol 46, No 3, 2000

depending on the number of switches per quarter cycle M.
Recently it has received wide attention. The two popular
schemes are simple HEPWM and regular sampled HEPWM
(RSHEPWM).
The PWM wave can also be bipolar or unipolar depend-
ing on whether the wave has two or one polarity in one
half cycle.
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SQUARE WAVE PWM (SWPWM)
The power device is switched M times in a given quarter
cycle [IJ_ All pulse widths are equal, proportional to m0 T,.
The modulation process is shown in Fig I and the harmonic
plot in Fig 2 for p = I and in Fig 3 for p = 5. Following
conclusions can be drawn.

Fig I Modulation process for MPSWPWM

12,-----------------------------------------------~

08

06

02

MOd.lndeJI. 12

Fig 2 Harmonic plot for MPPWM for p=l

••
••
07

II OJ . ••
IIIIM........
•• 07
•• ••
Fig 3 Harmonic plot for MPPWM for p=5
 JALNEKAR & JOG : PWM TECHNIQUES: A REVIEW 177

Only odd harmonics are present that have higher · vc(t)=(-1)~((2k-1)-4t/TJ (1)
amplitudes particularly at low output voltages for p = I. As
p increases, considerable reduction in the lower order (2)
harmonics is achieved. The higher harmonics are increased where the two waves intercepts we get the switching angles
which can be easily filtered. For large p the switching loss,
cooling requirement and cost of the power devices is Vc (tk) = vm (tk) and vc (tk + 1) = vm (tk + 1)
increased. Can be implemented on-line using micro-
processor. Using equations (1) and (2) we get,

SINUSOIDAL PWM

The modulating signal is sinewave and hence the name.

Can be natural sampled (NSPWM) or regular sampled Similarly for unipolar PWM
(RSPWM). (4)

Natural sampled PWM These equations are transcendental nonlinear and need off-
line calculations. When microprocessors are used the pulse-
This is the basic type of sin PWM. The modulation
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widths are calculated off-line for predefined values of the

process for bipolar and unipolar scheme is shown in Fig 4
and 5 respectively·. The switching angle equation for
BPPWM is derived as follows.
The equation of the Kth carrier wave and the sinewave
are given by
modulation index rna and stored in the microprocessor
memory using look up tables (LUT's).
The harmonic spectrum is superior but it suffers from
limited resolution, off-line calculations and large memory
requirement.

Fig 4 Modulation process for bipolar NSPWM

Fig 5 Harmonic process for unipolar NSPWM

 178 IETE JOURNAL OF RESEARCH. Vol 46, No 3, 2000

Regular sampled PWM Using equations (I) and (5) and noting that

The modulating signal is sampled at regular intervals (-I) 2k = + I, we get,

and the resulting step wave is compared with the carrier
wave to generate either the symmetric (SRSPWM) or
asymmetric (ARSPWM) PWM.
(6)
Symmetric RSPWM
Similarly for unipolar PWM
In SRSPWM £21 thesampling is done at the positive
peaks of the carrier wave at the rate of J;_ = (I IT). The
(7)
modulation process for bipolar and unipolar scheme is The rising and the falling edges are given by
shown in Figs 6 and 7 respectively.

For the derivation of the pulse-width equation the

modulating wave of equation (2) is sampled regularly at
tk =(2k- I) Tc 12 and the sampled amplitude is given by,
(5)
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(8)
The harmonic plots for bipolar and unipolar PWM are
shown in Figs 8 and 9 respectively. The following

conclusions can be drawn.

The Kth sample of the sine wave intercepts the 2Kth and
the (2K + I )th carrier wave thus, The pulse width equations are linear algebraic. Only
one multiplication (and an addition for bipolar PWM) is
required for the unipolar PWM. For calculation of the

--
Fig 6 Modulation process for bipolar SRSPWM

Fig 7 Modulation process for unipolar SRSPWM

 JALNEKAR & JOG : PWM TECHNIQUES: A REVIEW 179
"r---------------------------------------------,
10

0' 02 04
••
Mod.""'-•
•• 07
•• ••
Fig 8 Harmonic plot for bipolar SRSPWM p =5 for half bridge inverter
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.
01

I.
••

••
J..
IS

0.1 .. •• . .. ...
............ 0.7
•• 0.1

Fig 9 Harmonic plot for unipolar SRSPWM, p = 5 for half bridge inverter

switching angles one more addition (or subtraction) is (-1 ) k = + 1, we get,

necessary. On-line microprocessor based implementation
is possible. With unipolar scheme the inverter switching
frequency can be higher. The dominant harmonics in
BPPWM are 2p, 2p- I, 2p + I, 4p- 1, 4p + I and in
UPPWM are 2p- 1, 2p + I, 4p- I, 4p + I. The fundamental
The rising and the falling edges are given by
voltage increases linearly with the modulation index.
Maximum obtainable fundamental voltage is 90% of the
supply voltage.
t fk =KTc + tpw (sym)/2 + tpw (asym) (10)
Asymmetric RSPWM
The Harmonic plot is shown in Fig 11. The following
The sampling is done at both the negative and positive
conclusions can be drawn.
peaks of the carrier wave at the rate 2J;. 121. The modulation
process is shown in Fig 10. For the derivation of the pulse The pulse width equation is linear algebraic and on-
width equation the modulating signal of equation (2) is line microprocessor based implementation is possible. For
now sampled regularly at tk = (k- 1) Tc 12. calculating the switching angles additional overhead of
calculating the pulse-width of SRSPWM doubles the
The Kth sample intercepts with the Kth carrier wave.
number of calculations. This limits the maximum switching
Hence,
frequency. The fundamental output voltage increases
linearly. The .dominant harmonics are same as SRSPWM
but have decreased amplitudes for the same modulation
Using equations (1) and (5) and noting that index.
 180 IETE JOURNAL OF RESEARCH, Vol 46, No 3, 2000

HARMONIC-ELIMINATION PWM The swithcing angles a'k s are calculated to completely

eliminate particular harmonics. The fourier series for the
The HEPWM 12•51 can completely eliminate q harmo- bipolar wave can shown to be,
nics for number of switches per quarter cycle M = q + I. M
Typical bipolar and unipolar waves are shown in Fig 12. cn=-4Vdclnn[l+2 L (-l)kcosine(nak)] (II)
k=l
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Fig I0 Modulation process for bipolar ARSPWM

••r---------------------------------------------,
10

,..
I"
u

-- ..
II .. •• .
Fig II Harmonic plot for bipolar ARSPWM p =5 for half bridge inverter

Fig 12 Bipolar and unipolar HEPWM waves

 JALNEKAR & JOG : PWM TECHNIQUES: A REVIEW
Similarly for unipolar PWM,
M unit, the switching angles vary non-linearly with the
en=4Vdclnn L (-J)k+lcosine(nak)
k=l
To eliminate the nth harmonic we equate en= 0.
e 3 =e5 = .......................... en= 0
TheM equations can be solved using Newton method.
The M switching angles a k's are found out for all the
predetermined values of the fundamental voltages from 0
to Vmax in convenient steps depending on the desired
resolution. These switching angles are then stored in look
up tables. It is not necessary to eliminate the first M lower
order harmonics to eliminate the Mth harmonic. Any
desired harmonic can be eliminated at random.
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The results for eliminating the 3rd harmonic (M = 2)
are used from ref [3] for fundamental voltage values from
0.01 to 1.06 per unit. The Harmonic plot is shown in
Fig 13.
The fundamental voltage increases linearly. The desired
harmonics are completely eliminated. The scheme does not
have a defined modulation process and hence is not suited
for on-line microprocessor based implementation.
REGULAR SAMPLED HEPWM
The HEPWM exhibits some important characteristics
that can help to define the modulation process.
(A) Quarter wave symmetry.
(B) All switching angles are constrained to lie between
0 to 60 or 90 degrees.
(C) For fundamental voltages between 0 to 0.8 per unit,
the switching angles vary linearly with fundamental
voltage.
(i) The odd and even switching angles have parallel
characteristics with negative and positive slope
respectively.
(ii) All the switching angles converge at zero funda-
mental voltage with an angular separation given
by T, =2n I 3 (M + I).
0 Mod. Index.
Fig 13 Harmonic plot for HEPWM forM= 2
181
(D) For fundamental voltages between 0.8 to 1.15 per
(12) fundamental voltages.
(E) For fundamental voltages greater than 1.15 per unit
the harmonic solution does not exist.
Using the above characteristics the modulation process
forM >=3 has been defined 14 ·61. Two sine-waves, phase
shifted by angles q> 1 and q>2 are regularly sampled at the
center tk = KT" of the pulses of the HEPWM. This sampling
process results into switching angle equations given below,
(i) The switching angle equation for fundamental
vt>ltage between 0 to 0.8 per unit and for odd and
even k are given respectively by,
ak=(K+ I)TJ2-maTJ2sin[(k+ I)T,J2+q>Jl
(13)
a k = K TJ 2 + ma T,.l 2 sin [k TJ 2 + q> 2] (14)
where K= 1,2,3, ... , M
q> 1 = M TJ 2 and q> 2 = TJ4 (15)
(ii) For fundamental voltages between 0.8 to 1.15 per
unit the basic switching angle equation remains
the same. However the sampling period is different
and is given by,
T, = T, I 2 ( I +cosine ( x 2 n I 2)]
where x = (ma- 0.8) I 0.4 (16)
The variation of the switching angles with the
fundamental voltage and the harmonic plot for M = 5 are
shown in Figs 14 and 15 respectively. The results obtained
are same as HEPWM. The pulse-width equation is linear
algebraic and easy on-line microprocessor based imple-
mentation is possible.
The HEPWM offers some distinct advantages over the
carrier based PWM like reduced operating frequency of
the power devices by a factor of two, higher fundamental
output voltage due to the possibility of over modulation
and reduced size of the de link filter due to high quality
output voltage and current wave forms.
CONCLUSION
The amplitudes of the lower order harmonics for
SWPWM can be decreased by increasing p. The funda-
mental voltage increases linearly with the modulation index
for all the PWM schemes except SWPWM with p = I. The
NSPWM gives most superior harmonic spectrum but needs
off-line calculations hence when used the analogue
implementation is preferred. The SRSPWM, ARSPWM and
RSHEPWM can be implemented on-line using micro-
processors. The dominant harmonics in RSPWM are 2p,
 182 IETE JOURNAL OF RESEARCH, Vol 46, No 3, 2000

. r-==================5~
=3]
50

rF===~·
I'"
fm[-====~2
10
===1_]
01 0.2 0.3 o.4 o.s o.e 0.7 0.1 0.0
P., unit Fund. Vol&ltll.

Fig 14 Switching angle versus fund voltage M = 5

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....
.,
....
1..
1 u

II

•..
II
•• u
•. L--------------------------1
•• . .. ...
Fig 15 Harmonic plot for RSHEPWM M = 5, for three phase inverter

TABLE 1 Comparison of PWM schemes

Parameter SWPWM NSPWM SRSPWM ARSPWM HEPWM RSHEPWM

Pulse width Linear Transcendenta I Linear Linear Non-linear Linear

Equation Algebraic nonlinear Algebraic Algebraic equations Algebraic
Number of one Off-line One addition Double than Off-line Same as
Calculations multiplication calculations and multip. SRSPWM calculations SRSPWM
Dominant All odd 2p, 2p ±I, Same as Same as Eliminates q Same as
harmonics Harmonics 4p± l,p± 2, NSPWM SRSPWM harmonics for HEPWM.
p ± 4 etc. with increased with lesser M=q+ I.
amplitudes of amplitudes
the suppressed
harmonics
Remarks Rarely used Analogue On-line Superior No defined Modulation
implementation implementation spectrum than modulation process for
preferred ofCBPWM SRSPWM process HEPWM
 JALNEKAR & JOG : PWM TECHNIQUES: A REVIEW
4p- 1, 4p + 1, 2p- 1, 2p + 1 etc. The ARSPWM has reduced
amplitudes for the same harmonics at a given modulation
index. However the number of calculations are doubled
which limits the maximum switching frequency. There is
not much difference in the harmonic spectrum of UPPWM
and BPPWM except that the 2pth harmonic is very dominant
in the BPPWM that is completely absent in the UPPWM.
The BPPWM requires more number of calculations than
the UPPWM. The simple HEPWM has no defined
modulation process and needs off-line calculations. It
=
eliminates q number of harmonics if M q + 1. The
RSHEPWM has the limitation that the switching angle
equations are defined only for odd M >= 3. The choice of
a particular PWM scheme depends on the load, the
operating frequency, on-line/off-line microprocessor based
implementation, required voltage and frequency resolution,
and the particular harmonics that are to be eliminated.
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Comparison of the PWM scheme is given in Table 1.
REFERENCES
I. H S Patel & R G Hoft, Generalized Techniques of Har-
AUTHORS
R M Jalnekar, is presently working
as Professor and Head of the
Computer Engineering at BVCOE
Pune. He obtained BE (E&TIC) and
ME (E&T/C) from GCOEP Pune. He
worked as R&D Engineer at DB-
Electronics Pune and was
Technical-Director of Micro-Power-
Systems Pune. He worked as
Assistant-Professor and taught courses on Power-
Electronics for last ten years at BVCOE Pune.
He has worked on UPS-system, IGBT-based Motor-
Drives, SMPS and PWM-Converters. He is a consultant
to many small-scale industries. He has published several
133
monic Elimination, IEEE Trans lnd Applicat, vol IA-9,
pp310-317, 1973.
2. S R Bowes & R R Clements, Computer-Aided Design of
PWM Inverter Systems, lEE 129. pt B, no I, pp 1-16,
Jan 1982.
3. A Zuckerberger & Abraham Alexandrovitz Determination
of Commutation Sequence with a View to Eliminate Har-
monics in Microprocessor-Controller PWM Voltage In-
verter, IEEE Trans on lnd Elect, vol IE-33, no 3, pp 262-
270, August 1986.
4. S R Bowes & P R Clark, Transmitter Based Harmonic-
Elimination PWM Control of Inverter Drives, IEEE Trans
On lnd Applicat, vol 28, no I, pp 72-80, 1992.
5. H S Patel & R G Hoft, Generalized Techniques of Har-
monic Elimination and Voltage Control in Thyristorized
Inverters, Part-2- Voltage Control Techniques, IEEE
Trans lnd Applicat, voilA- 10, pp 666-673, 1974.
6. S R Bowes & P R Clark, Regular-Sampled Harmonic-
Elimination PWM Control of Inverter Drives, IEEE Trans
on Power Electronics, vol 10, no 5, pp 521-531,
Sept 1995.
papers and books· on Power-electronics. His field of
interest includes PWM-Techniques and signal-
processing. Presently he is working for his PhD in Power-
Electronics and likely to submit the thesis in Feb 2000.
He is a life Member of JETE, ISTE and BMESI.
* * * *
K S Jog, is working as Professor and Head, Electronics
and Telecommunication Department, Govt College of
Engineering Pune. She obtained her PhD degree from
Pune University. She is a Life member of ISTE, a Life
fellow of JETE and a member of IEEE. Her areas of
interest include Modelling, Image Processing and
Networking.