POWER ELECTRONICS LABORATORY

SEMESTER – 1(2019-20), ELP 851 PEEMD

ELECTRICAL ENGINEERING DEPARTMENT, IIT DELHI

EXPERIMENT NO. – 1
CYCLE 2

SINGLE PHASE INVERTERS

Submitted by:

Vishesh Kumar Sharma (2019EEP2642)

Mohit Sahay (2019EEP2311)
Udit Chibber (2019EEP2643)
 OBJECTIVE

(a) To study the performance of a DC-AC Single Phase Inverter with Triangular Carrier PWM

(b) To record AC voltage and current waveform, harmonic spectrum, THD, crest factor, rms
value, distortion factor, displacement factor and power factor, input DC current average value
and waveform in DC-AC single phase inverter.

(c) To simulate in PSIM, AC voltage and current wave form, harmonic spectrum, THD, crest
factor, rms value, distortion factor, displacement factor and power factor, input DC current
average value and wave form in DC-AC single phase inverter using same parameters.

THEORY

(a) An Inverter converts the DC electricity from sources such as batteries, solar panels or
fuel cells to AC electricity. The electricity can be at any required voltage. In particular, it can
operate AC equipment designed for mains operation, or rectified to produce DC at any desired
voltage. In one simple inverter circuit, DC power is connected to a transformer through the
centre tap of the primary winding. A switch is rapidly switched back and forth to allow current
to flow back to the DC source following two alternate paths through one end of the primary
winding and then the other. The alternation of the direction of current in the primary winding of
the transformer produces alternating current (AC) in the secondary circuit. Output of simple
inverter is a square waveform with fundamental sine wave component, 3rd harmonic and 5th
harmonic. The switch in the simple inverter described above produces a square voltage wave
form as opposed to the sinusoidal waveform that is the usual waveform of an AC power supply.
The sine wave that has the same frequency as the original waveform is called the fundamental
component. The other sine waves, called harmonics that are included in the series have
frequencies that are integral multiples of the fundamental frequency.

(b) The quality of output waveform that is needed from an inverter depends on the
characteristics of the connected load. Some loads need a nearly perfect sine wave voltage
supply in order to work properly. Other loads may work quite well with a square wave voltage.
There are many different power circuit topologies and control strategies used in inverter
designs. The issue of waveform quality can be addressed in many ways. Capacitors and
inductors can be used to filter the waveform. If the design includes a transformer, filtering can
be applied to the primary or the secondary side of the transformer or to both sides. Low-pass
filters are applied to allow the fundamental component of the waveform to pass to the output
while limiting the passage of the harmonic components. If the inverter is designed to provide
power at a fixed frequency, a resonant filter can be used. For an adjustable frequency inverter,
the filter must be tuned to a frequency that is above the maximum fundamental frequency.
Since most loads contain inductance, feedback rectifiers or anti parallel diodes are often
connected across each semiconductor switch to provide a path for the peak inductive load
current when the switch is turned off. The anti-parallel diodes are somewhat similar to the
freewheeling diodes used in AC/DC converter circuits. Waveforms that have steps of certain
widths and heights eliminate or cancel additional harmonics. For example, by inserting a zero-
voltage step between the positive and negative sections of the square-wave, all of the
harmonics that are divisible by three can be eliminated. That leaves only the 5th, 7th, 11th, 13th
etc.

(c) The required width of the steps is one third of the period for each of the positive and
negative voltage steps and one sixth of the period for each of the zero-voltage steps. Changing
the square wave as described above is an example of pulse width modulation (PWM).
Modulating, or regulating the width of a square-wave pulse is often used as a method of
regulating or adjusting an inverter's output voltage. When voltage control is not required, a fixed
pulse width can be selected to reduce or eliminate selected harmonics. Harmonic elimination
techniques are generally applied to the lowest harmonics because filtering is more effective at
high frequencies than at low frequencies. Multiple pulse-width or carrier based PWM control
schemes produce waveforms that are composed of many narrow pulses. The frequency
represented by the number of narrow pulses per second is called the switching frequency or
carrier frequency. These control schemes are often used in variable-frequency motor control
inverters because they allow a wide range of output voltage and frequency adjustment while
also improving the quality of the waveform.
 IMPORTANT PRECAUTIONS

(a) Ensure that the programmer circuit is energized first and de-energised last since it is a
sensitive equipment. Also ensure that external DC supply to gate driver circuit (15V) is provided
or else output waveform will not appear.
(b) Turn off the AC supply feeding the rectifier board when not required.
(c) Capacitor in the circuit will always retain a perceivable amount of voltage. So, before
you change any connections, this must be discharged. For this purpose, a discharge switch has
been provided close to the output of the rectifier board.
(d) Before energising the AC side again, make sure that the discharge switch is in the ‘OFF’
position. Ensure all connections are tight

CIRCUIT DIAGRAM

PROCEDURE

1. Firstly, connect the single phase supply power cords on the backside of the Single phase
inverter firing module, the dead band generator and the intelligent power module (IPM).
2. Make all connections as per circuit diagram. Then check whether the output of the
switches of same side are in same phase or out of phase. Ideally they should be out of phase
since no two switches of the same side should turn ON simultaneously so as to avoid short
circuit.
3. Check Dead Time of the switches using Oscilloscope to ensure that IGBT is working
properly and also as a safety precaution.
4. Now, switch on the PWM generator and set the values to 50Hz using press buttons on
the firing board, this will automatically change the modulation index (ie Amplitude) of the carrier
wave.
5. Switch on the Load and observe the performance of the single phase inverter for the
following three cases:

a) Variation of the load (with Vdc = 50 V, Frequency = 50Hz). Vary the

load from 50W to 250W and note down the different values in the observation table.
Observe the Load Voltage and Current, THD of the voltage from the Power analyzer
connected at the load terminals and the frequency of the carrier wave.
 b) Variation of the frequency (Vdc = 50V, Frequency = 40Hz). Vary the
load from 50W to 250W and note down the different values in the observation table.
Observe the Load Voltage and Current, THD of the voltage from the Power analyzer
connected at the load terminals and the frequency of the carrier wave.

c) Variation of the Voltage (with Vdc = 60 V, Frequency = 50Hz). Vary the load
from 50W to 150W and note down the different values in the observation table. Observe
the Load Voltage and Current, THD of the voltage from the Power analyzer connected
at the load terminals and the frequency of the carrier wave.

OBSERVATION TABLE

1. Variation of the load (with Vdc = 50 V, Frequency = 50Hz)

Ser Load Vdc Idc Vo rms Vo rms Io THD

(W) (V) (A) (V) (fundamental) (A) (%)
(V)
1 50 50.3 0.146 30.76 30.70 0.161 2
2 100 50.6 0.235 29.56 29.41 0.294 2.3
3 150 50.4 0.319 28.98 28.90 0.432 1.7
4 200 50.3 0.399 28.31 28.21 0.558 1.6
5 250 50.2 0.466 27.96 27.60 0.692 1.7

2. Variation of the frequency (Vdc = 50V, Frequency = 40Hz)

Ser Load Vdc Idc Vo rms Vo rms Io THD

(W) (V) (A) (V) (fundamental) (A) (%)
(V)
1 50 50.4 0.131 25.77 25.57 0.139 5.7
2 100 50.3 0.186 24.63 24.54 0.250 5.3
3 150 50.4 0.239 23.84 23.73 0.355 7.1
4 200 50.3 0.287 22.83 22.80 0.459 6.6
5 250 50.2 0.341 22.53 22.49 0.567 5.1

3. Variation of the Voltage (with Vdc = 60 V, Frequency = 50Hz)

Ser Load Vdc Idc Vo rms Vo rms Io THD

(W) (V) (A) (V) (fundamental) (A) (%)
(V)
1 50 59.8 0.173 36.56 36.22 0.187 2.2
2 100 59.8 0.271 35.07 34.95 0.350 2.3
3 150 59.7 0.369 34.22 34.05 0.508 1.9
 DIAGRAMS FROM OSCILLOSCOPE

DEAD TIME OBSERVED IN SWITCHES OF SAME ARM

Output Voltage and Current Waveform at Different Voltage and Frequencies

Output Voltage and Current Waveform at Different Voltage and Frequencies
Sinusoidal Output waveform with ripples being observed in DSO
 INFERENCE

After conducting the experiment, it has been seen that the load voltage of a single-phase
inverter is not a pure AC, but a rippled AC i.e. AC and superimposed harmonics component.
To minimise these ripples, the output is passed through an L-C filter. After using the filter, it
has been observed that the % of ripple voltage has reduced. A resistive load forming a non-
linear load and hence considerable amount of waveform distortion was seen in the utility
supply. It is also seen that with higher values of capacitor, ripples in the output current reduces
as more and more ripples in the source current flows through the capacitor.

CONCLUSION

Performance analysis of Single Phase Inverter was carried out during the practical. All objectives as
per manual were satisfactorily carried out and observations were tabulated.