Elliptical Space Vector PWM for Dual H-Bridge VSI
fed Two-Phase Induction Motor Drive
Bharat Kumar, Member IEEE
Department of Electrical Engineering
Indian Institute of Technology Madras
Chennai, Tamilnadu, India
Email: ee10s019@ee.iitm.ac
Abstract— Single-phase four-leg variable frequency PWM
drives have been traditionally generating balanced two-phase
output voltages resulting in a circular space vector trajectory
while feeding the two-phase induction motor (TPIM). Keeping in
view of the asymmetry in the auxiliary and main windings in the
TPIM, this paper suggests output voltages to be generated by the
drive in accordance with the windings asymmetry. This paper
proposes a new PWM algorithm for the dual H-bridge voltage
source inverter (HB-VSI) targeted at synthesizing an elliptical
space vector for driving the unsymmetrical TPIM. The elliptical
space vector generation is envisaged to minimize the MMF
imbalance thus leading to significant reduction in oscillations of
the motor electromagnetic torque. Analytical expressions are
developed for the dwell-times of the inverter switching devices
and the implementation is proven to depend entirely on the
instantaneous four phase reference voltages. The proposed PWM
algorithm is then simulated using Matlab/Simulink following V/f
control in the linear modulation ranges of the drive. The TPIM
when excited using the envisaged elliptical space vector shows the
improved MMF balance manifesting itself in reduced
electromagnetic torque oscillation and reduced speed ripple when
compared to the use of circular space vector.
Keywords—4-Leg Voltage Source Inverter; Dual H-Bridge
VSI; Elliptical Space Vector Modulation; Effective-time; Two-
Phase Induction Motor Drive.
I. INTRODUCTION
Single phase induction motors find extensive use in myriads
of house hold applications, air conditioners, heating and
ventilation systems, pumps, fans etc. to name a few [1]; in
spite of the current trend in the development of newer
machines such as permanent magnet motors, brushless dc
motors and their drives. Given the volume of single phase
motors installed in the field and the reducing trend in the cost
of power semiconductor devices, there has been growing
interest in the use of adjustable speed drives (ASDs) for single
phase induction motors [2] in the past several years. The most
investigated VSI topologies used in such ASDs are 2-leg, 3-
leg and 4-leg voltage source inverters [2], [3], [4]. Amongst
them the most popular 3-leg VSI structure though capable of
generating both balanced and unbalanced two-phase output
voltages [2], [4], [5], [7] - [9] it suffers from the disadvantage
of lower dc-bus utilization as well as the requirement of higher
current rating of switches in common leg [10]. The recent
work reported in [6] proposes discontinuous SVPWM
978-1-4673-8888-7/16/$31.00©2016 IEEE
Srirama Srinivas, Member IEEE
Department of Electrical Engineering
Indian Institute of Technology Madras
Chennai, Tamilnadu, India
Email: srsrini12@ee.iitm.ac.in
technique for balanced output, reduced switching losses and
current ripple.
The 4-leg topology having the highest dc bus utilization and
offering decoupled control of both the main and auxiliary
windings is reported extensively [2], [3], [4], [11]. In [4], a
unipolar SPWM technique is reported that has lower voltage
harmonics compared to the use of bipolar SPWM reported for
4-leg VSI [2]. Also, in [4], the VSI generates two-phase
unbalanced output voltage to drive the asymmetrical TPIM
load. In [3], a double carrier based SVM for this 4-leg VSI is
proposed and it also states that simple expressions for the
dwell times of the switching devices is difficult and the
implementation of SVM is both, complex and also difficult
with this modulation. SVM based PWM with simple dwell
time calculation and its implementation using effective time
period based concept [12] was recently reported for the 4- leg
inverter topology in [13]. But formulation in [13] is shown to
generate the balanced two-phase output only. Generation of
any unbalanced output voltages as desired out of 4-leg
topology (hereafter called as the dual H-bridge VSI) applying
SVM based PWM technique with an intent to reduce the
torque oscillation and hence speed ripple in a TPIM is the
subject matter of this proposed work.
In this paper, the SVM using effective time concept is
developed to drive an asymmetrical TPIM where the locus of
the tip of the space vector traces an ellipse in one complete
cycle of modulation and the ratio of major to minor axes of the
ellipse depends on the extent of desired unbalance between the
main and auxiliary winding voltages of the TPIM. The
implementation of the developed modulation technique
depends entirely on the instantaneous phase reference voltages
derived from the reference space vector. The effective time
concept introduced in [12] - [13] is exploited to ease the
implementation tasks and rendering the time consuming
process of sector identification quite dispensable and also the
use of look up table is totally avoided.
II. FOUR LEG DUAL H-BRIDGE VSI FED TPIM
A. Four Leg Dual H-Bridge Inverter
Amongst the three main VSI topologies discussed earlier, in 4-
leg VSI [13] alone, the main and auxiliary windings can be fed
independently in a decoupled manner. The power circuit of the
dual H-Bridge inverter feeding the TPIM is shown in Fig.1.
 (0110) (0100),(1110)
V6 V2 (1100)
V5
S5 S7 S1 S3 2A 1B
Auxiliary
Vdc Winding
2 2B
1A
(0000) Vs
c (0111) (1010) θ (1000)
Vdc o b 2Ø a (0010) V3 (0101) Vo V1
(1101)
d IM (1111)
Vdc  3A
4B
2

Main
S8 S6 Winding
S4 S2 3B 4A
V7 V4 V8
(0011) (1011),(0001) (1001)

Fig. 1: Power circuit topology of the dual H-bridge VSI feeding a TPIM Fig. 2: Space plane of the dual H-bridge

This converter structure consists of dual H-bridge inverters proposed to accomplish generation of any unbalanced two-
powered by same DC bus but independently feeding the phase output voltages as desired.
auxiliary and main windings of the TPIM. The total no of legs
in the dual H-bridge VSI (Fig.1) being equal to four, the total
number of switching states possible with this topology will be III. PROPOSED PWM FOR ELLIPTICAL SPACE VECTOR
equal to 24 i.e. 16 and each switching state corresponds to a TRAJACTORY
voltage vector. The voltage space vector Vs, that can be The central objective of the space vector based PWM
synthesized by this dual H-bridge VSI can be given by [13]: proposed in this paper is to synthesize space vector whose
trajectory is not circular as it is usually done but an ellipse
𝑉𝑠 = 2 4 𝑣𝑎𝑜 . 𝑒 𝑗 0 + 𝑣𝑏𝑜 . 𝑒 𝑗 𝜋 2
+ 𝑣𝑐𝑜 . 𝑒 𝑗𝜋 + 𝑣𝑑𝑜 . 𝑒 𝑗 3𝜋 2 (1)
which is given by given by (3). In (3), the difference in the
major and minor axes depends on the asymmetry in the
where 𝑣𝑎𝑜 , 𝑣𝑏𝑜 , 𝑣𝑐𝑜 , 𝑣𝑑𝑜 are the four phase pole voltages of
machine windings of TPIM.
the dual H-Bridge VSI each being equal to +𝑉𝑑𝑐 /2 or −𝑉𝑑𝑐 /2
depending upon whether the top or bottom switch is turned on. 𝜈𝛼 2 𝜈𝛽 2 𝑉𝑑𝑐 𝑉𝑑𝑐
+ = 1 [ where 𝑎 = 𝑚𝑎 and 𝑏 = 𝑚𝑎 ] (3)
The 𝛼 − 𝛽space plane representations of all these voltage 𝑎2 𝑏2 2𝑛 2
vectors are shown in Fig. 2. The locus of the tip of the voltage
This is in contrast to the earlier work reported in [13] where
vectors forms a square of side 𝑉𝑑𝑐 with the four zero vectors the tip of the space vector always traces a circle thus
sitting at the centre of the square (Fig.2). generating balanced output voltages. With modulation index,
B. Asymmetrical TPIM Model 𝑚𝑎 , defined as: 𝑚𝑎 = 𝑉𝑠,𝑚𝑎𝑥 𝑉𝑑𝑐 2, the maximum value of
From the dq-model of an asymmetrical TPIM in stator frame 𝑚𝑎 is 1, at 𝑉𝑠,𝑚𝑎𝑥 = 𝑉𝑑𝑐 2, where 𝑉𝑠 is the space vector given
of reference, the electromagnetic torque 𝑇𝑒 developed by the as 𝑉𝑠 = 𝑉𝑠 ∠𝜃 = 𝑉𝑠 𝑐𝑜𝑠 𝜃 + 𝑗 𝑠𝑖𝑛 𝜃 = 𝜈𝛼 + 𝑗𝜈𝛽 . In order that
motor with P no of poles is given as under [7],[8]: point (𝜈𝛼 , 𝜈𝛽 ) = (𝑉𝑠 𝑐𝑜𝑠 𝜃 , 𝑉𝑠 𝑠𝑖𝑛 𝜃) lies on the ellipse (3), the
Torque :𝑇𝑒 = 𝑃 2 𝐿𝑞𝑚 𝑖𝑞𝑠 𝑖𝑑𝑟 − 𝐿𝑑𝑚 𝑖𝑑𝑠 𝑖𝑞𝑟 (2) space vector, 𝑉𝑠 at any angle θ is given as

where 𝐿𝑑𝑚 , 𝐿𝑞𝑚 , 𝑖𝑑𝑠 , 𝑖𝑞𝑠 , 𝑖𝑑𝑟 and 𝑖𝑞𝑟 are dq-axes stator mutual 𝑉𝑑𝑐 1
𝑉𝑠 = 𝑚𝑎 =𝑓 𝜃 (4)
inductances, stator and rotor currents respectively. It is 2 𝑛2 𝑐𝑜𝑠 𝜃 2 + 𝑠𝑖𝑛 𝜃 2
reported in [4], [7]-[9] that the main cause of high oscillation
in 𝑇𝑒 is the asymmetry of the machine windings. The main With the derived space vector, 𝑉𝑠 , given by (4) and to be
theme of the present work is to minimize the torque generated by the drive with its locus tracing an ellipse, the
oscillations by adjusting the ratio of currents 𝑖𝑞𝑠 and 𝑖𝑑𝑠 in corresponding a-b-c-d voltage references for the four-leg of
accordance to the turns ratio „n‟ of the machine, where „n‟ the dual H-bridge VSI can be derived as:
being the ratio of auxiliary winding turns to the main winding 𝑉𝑑𝑐
∗
turns (also referred to as unbalance factor in this paper). This 𝜈𝑎𝑠 = 𝑉𝑠 𝑐𝑜𝑠 𝜃 = 𝑚𝑎 𝑐𝑜𝑠 𝜔𝑡 ;
2𝑛
means, the auxiliary winding (along q-axis) may be excited 𝜋 𝑉𝑑𝑐 𝜋
∗
with higher voltage (𝑣𝑞𝑠 ) than the main winding (along d- 𝜈𝑏𝑠 = 𝑉𝑠 𝑐𝑜𝑠 𝜃 − = 𝑚𝑎 𝑐𝑜𝑠 𝜔𝑡 − ;
2 2 2 (5)
axis) voltage (𝑣𝑑𝑠 ) and their ratio being equal to „n‟. In [13], 𝜈𝑐𝑠∗
= 𝑉𝑠 𝑐𝑜𝑠 𝜃 − 𝜋
𝑉
= 𝑚𝑎 𝑑𝑐 𝑐𝑜𝑠 𝜔𝑡 − 𝜋 ;
the space vector based PWM for 4-leg topology was proposed 2𝑛
𝑉𝑑𝑐
that could generate only balanced two-phase output voltages. ∗
𝜈𝑐𝑠 = 𝑉𝑠 𝑐𝑜𝑠 𝜃 − 𝜋 = 𝑚𝑎 𝑐𝑜𝑠 𝜔𝑡 − 𝜋 ;
In this paper, necessary theory is presented and the space 2𝑛
where use has been made of the relationship
vector based PWM using effective time concept [12], [13] is
𝑡𝑎𝑛 𝜃 = 𝑛 𝑡𝑎𝑛 𝜔𝑡 , 𝜔 = 2𝜋𝑓, 𝜔𝑡 = 𝛼
For understanding the dwell time calculations with the OFF : 𝑇𝑔𝑎 = 𝑇𝑠 − 𝑇𝑔𝑎 ; 𝑇𝑔𝑏 = 𝑇𝑠 − 𝑇𝑔𝑏 ;
proposed PWM, the entire space plane shown in Fig.2 is (10)
𝑇𝑔𝑐 = 𝑇𝑠 − 𝑇𝑔𝑐 ; 𝑇𝑔𝑑 = 𝑇𝑠 − 𝑇𝑔𝑑 ;
divided into four small squares numbered I, II, III & IV and
each square is further divided into two sectors as A & B. For a The simulated switching pulses for the top switching devices
typical situation depicted in Fig.2, 𝑉𝑠 falls in sector I-A, the S1, S3, S5, S7 of the four legs in two sampling time intervals in
three nearest space vectors comprising of zero vector V0 and sector-IA for the circular as well as elliptical cases are shown
non-zero voltage vectors V1 & V5 will be switched using the in Fig.4.
dwell times T0, T1 & T5 respectively. These dwell times can be Circular Elliptical
obtained using the 𝛼 − 𝛽 components of 𝑉𝑠 (𝜈𝛼 , 𝜈𝛽 ) using a S1 S1
simple volt-second balance principle and given as:
S3 S3
(𝑐𝑜𝑠 𝜃 − 𝑠𝑖𝑛 𝜃)
𝑇1 = 𝑚𝑎 𝑇𝑠 ;
𝑛2 𝑐𝑜𝑠 𝜃 2 + 𝑠𝑖𝑛 𝜃 2 S5 S5
𝑠𝑖𝑛 𝜃 (6)
𝑇5 = 𝑚𝑎 𝑇𝑠 ; S7 S7
𝑛2 𝑐𝑜𝑠 𝜃 2 + 𝑠𝑖𝑛 𝜃 2

𝑇𝑜 = 𝑇𝑠 − 𝑇1 + 𝑇5 Fig. 4: Simulated switching pulses of the dual H-bridge inverter when Vs

lies in Sector I-A for circular as well as elliptical cases
where 𝑇𝑠 is the sampling time interval of the inverter drive. In
a similar manner, the dwell times for all the non-zero and zero IV. RESULTS AND DISCUSSION
vectors in the other sectors may also be calculated. The total
time called effective time 𝑇𝑒𝑓𝑓 for which the non-zero voltage
vectors feed the load can be shown to be: To validate the proposed algorithm, simulations are first
carried out using Matlab/Simulink and thereafter the proposed
𝑐𝑜𝑠 𝜃 PWM for the Dual H-Bridge VSI is implemented using V / f
𝑇𝑒𝑓𝑓 = 𝑇1 + 𝑇5 = 𝑚𝑎 𝑇𝑠 (7)
𝑛 𝑐𝑜𝑠 𝜃 2 + 𝑠𝑖𝑛 𝜃 2
2 control at constant switching frequency of 1.2kHz on an
Now with imaginary phase switching times Tas, Tbs, Tcs & Tds FPGA digital platform to drive an asymmetrical TPIM of
defined in [12],[13] as: 𝜈 ∗ ∗
rating: 1/4 hp, 220 V, 50 Hz, 2.5A, 1440 rpm, n = 1.21. The
𝑎𝑠 𝜈𝑏𝑠 input DC voltage of the Dual H-Bridge VSI is set in such a
𝑇𝑎𝑠 = 𝑇𝑠 ∗ , 𝑇𝑏𝑠 = 𝑇𝑠 ∗ ,
𝑉𝑑𝑐 𝑉𝑑𝑐 way that for ma equal to 1 (limit of linear modulation), the
∗
𝜈𝑐𝑠 ∗
𝜈𝑑𝑠 (8) motor main and auxiliary windings get excited with the RMS
𝑇𝑐𝑠 = 𝑇𝑠 ∗ , 𝑇𝑑𝑠 = 𝑇𝑠 ∗ voltage of 220/n V and 220 V respectively at 50 Hz. The block
𝑉𝑑𝑐 𝑉𝑑𝑐
In Sector-IA: 𝑇𝑒𝑓𝑓 = 𝑇1 + 𝑇5 = 𝑇𝑎𝑠 − 𝑇𝑐𝑠 = 𝑇𝑚𝑎𝑥 − 𝑇𝑚𝑖𝑛 diagram and close view of the experimental setup of the
In Sector-IB: 𝑇𝑒𝑓𝑓 = 𝑇2 + 𝑇5 = 𝑇𝑏𝑠 − 𝑇𝑑𝑠 = 𝑇𝑚𝑎𝑥 − 𝑇𝑚𝑖𝑛 FPGA driven Dual H-Bridge VSI feeding a TPIM is shown in
Fig. 5(a) and Fig. 5(b) respectively.
Simulated switching pulses for the circular and elliptical
as*  bs* cs* ds* SVM cases are shown in Fig.4 which clearly reveals that
switching pulses for legs a and c are only getting changed
whereas the same for legs b and d are similar in the two cases
0 as expected. Further, the simulation and experimental results
for the TPIM driven with dual H-bridge VSI modulated by the
proposed PWM for a modulation index of 0.8, and n = 1.21
I-A I-B II-A II-B III-A III-B IV-A IV-B with their comparison with the circular (n = 1) case are given
0 45 90 135 180 225 270 315 360
in Fig. 6. The simulation and experimental results for main
θ
Fig. 3: Instantaneous reference voltages for the dual H-bridge
winding voltage and its harmonic spectrum for the two cases
[Fig.6] are shown to reflect good agreements with each other.
The auxiliary winding voltages and its spectra (not shown) in
Thus the calculation of effective-time can be shown to be the
elliptical case are similar to that of circular one as the auxiliary
simple task of identifying maxima and minima of imaginary
winding gets excited with full voltage corresponding to ma =
switching times in a particular sub-sector as elucidated in
0.8. The comparison of experimentally obtained winding
Fig. 3 and can be deduced from equation (8). And the final
currents [Fig.7(a)] in the circular as well as elliptical cases
switching times of the dual H-bridge using the effective time
clearly show the relatively improved symmetry in currents
concept for the ON & OFF sequences are given as under,
which is indicative of better MMF balance and hence lesser
where 𝑇𝑜𝑓𝑓𝑠𝑒𝑡 = 𝑇𝑜 /2 − 𝑇𝑚𝑖𝑛 is called the offset-time as
torque oscillations in the machine. The current trajectories for
introduced in [12]-[13], the two cases confirm not only the improved MMF balance
ON : 𝑇𝑔𝑎 = 𝑇𝑎𝑠 + 𝑇𝑜𝑓𝑓𝑠𝑒𝑡 ; 𝑇𝑔𝑏 = 𝑇𝑏𝑠 + 𝑇𝑜𝑓𝑓𝑠𝑒𝑡 ; but the machine is also found to draw reduced continuous
𝑇𝑔𝑐 = 𝑇𝑐𝑠 + 𝑇𝑜𝑓𝑓𝑠𝑒𝑡 ; 𝑇𝑔𝑑 = 𝑇𝑑𝑠 + 𝑇𝑜𝑓𝑓𝑠𝑒𝑡 ; (9) main winding current (x-axis) due to lower voltage fed to it in
elliptical case as compared to circular one. Further, the
 Fig. 5. (a) Block diagram of the proposed work (b) Close view of the experimental setup of Dual H-Bridge VSI feeding TPIM

Fig. 6: Simulated waveforms and spectra of main winding voltage for (a) circular (b) elliptical cases, experimentally obtained waveforms
and spectra of main winding voltage for (c) circular (d) elliptical cases for modulation index of 0.8 and 40 Hz frequency
 Fig. 7: (a) Experimentally obtained main and auxiliary winding currents with their trajectories in circular and elliptical cases,
(b) Simulated speed response with their steady state speed ripple (inset) in circular and elliptical cases for ma = 0.8 at no load
resulting oscillation in the motor speed at no-load and
synchronous speed of 1200rpm [Fig.7(b)] is also observed to
be reduced with the use of the proposed PWM for ma = 0.8
suggesting the reduction in torque oscillations in comparison
to circular SVM fed drive.
V. CONCLUSION
In this paper, a new PWM is proposed for a dual H-bridge VSI
topology capable of generating any unbalanced two-phase
output voltage to feed an asymmetrical TPIM. The PWM is
envisaged to generate an elliptical space vector trajectory
aimed at reducing the pulsations in the motor electromagnetic
torque and hence speed. With the proposed space vector based
PWM, a significant improvement in motor performance is
achieved in terms of reduced torque pulsation as indicated by
better MMF balance and lower steady state speed ripple. The
space vector being angle dependent; the corresponding
instantaneous phase leg references have been derived. The
PWM implementation is entirely dependent on the phase
reference voltages, which makes use of a simple effective-time
principle, thus making the computational task easy and totally
avoids sector identification, which is otherwise time
consuming. The proposed PWM is validated through
simulation as well as experimental studies and the results are
compared with the circular SVM generating balanced two-
phase output voltages which clearly demonstrate the
importance and need of the proposed PWM.
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