124 5 B ft ^ IS ^ ffi Vol.24 No.5 2003 ^ 10 M _________________________________________________________________ -OURNAL OF ZHAOQING UNIVERSITY ____________Oct.

2003

Comparison Study on Square-wave VSI and Two-step Level VSIs

LIU Chao-ying
(Department of Electronic Engineering, Zhaoqing University, zhaoqing city, 526061, China) Solar inverters

Abstract: This paper proposes the results of major parameters such as DF, THD, both in square-waveform voltage source
inverters (VSI) and in two-step-level VSIs. Comparison study shows that the quality of two-step-level VSIs is much better than those of square-wave VSI. Detailed calculating formulae and results are presented. Keywords!multi-level; inverters; THD CLCNumbersTM131.4 CIC: A ArticleID:1009-8445(2003)05-0001-06

Introduction
Voltage Source Inverters (VSI)are very popular devices. Not only they are used many standard electrical appliances

like lights, TV sets and electric drills away from the power mains, but also they are used in a wide variety of industrial applications, such as un-interruptible power supplies and variable speed motor drives. There are many types of VSIs. By the output waveforms, they can be divided into square wave output, pulse width modulation (PWM) output, and multilevel modulation output[1-5]. By the circuit topologies, they can be categorized as full-bridge, half-bridge and so on. The DC to AC inverter system is shown in Fig.1. Input Vi is from a DC power source and the output Vo is desired to be a sinusoidal voltage for a VSI, with zero DC component.
Vi (DC) inverter Vo(AC)

Fig.1 Inverter

Basic scheme and definition

Fig.2 is a basic scheme topology of push-pull type inverter which consists of two switching devices Q1 and Q2, and a

transformer T. Where C1, C2, L1, L2, D1-4 consist snubber circuits for Q1 and Q2 when they are switching from on to off. Gate drive circuit controls the state of the two main switches Q1 and Q2, and thus
ft0:2OO2O52O
(No.0174) %

makes the DC power E transfer into T and gets AC power on the output terminals. In the first half of one period, supposing Q1 is on and Q2 is off, a positive voltage is obtained on the load Rl. While in the last half period, Q1 is off and Q2 is on, a negative voltage is obtained. With repeated switching on to off or the vice-versa of Q1 and Q2 in a definite frequency, a continuous ac voltage is obtained across the load Rl,. Stepping up transformer T is used to boost the voltage and to isolate the input from the output. A practice inverter concerns with three aspects: (1) Fundamental frequency. (2) Amplitude of fundamental Vol. (3) Harmonic profile, or the quality of output.
"Ws

Fig.2 Power circuit of push-pull voltage source inverter The fundamental frequency depends on the gate driving frequency of Q1 and Q2. As mentioned previously, for a ideal VSI, the output voltage is a single-phase periodic signal of frequency fo within sinusoidal shaping. While as a practice VSI, the output voltage contains some high components except the fundamental frequency. According to the Fourier series, the fundamental voltage and the n-th harmonic is the function of output waveform vo(t). For a definite periodic voltage vo(t), the peak value of fundamental part is
T

.
0

Vi=2 ! v0(t)sinw0tdt

(1)

And the peak value of n-th harmonic is

T
T

Vn=2 | vo(t)sinnw0tdt
0

(2)

The root mean square voltage V^ of vo(t) is Vms= " (t)tdt (3)

A standard AC voltage is a purely sinusoidal and can be expressed as (supposing its frequency is 50Hz): V0(t)=Vmsin100"t So, for a standard AC voltage, VM=Vm, Vn=0. For the sake of measuring how much harmonic in a nonstandard periodic voltage, total harmonic distortion (THD) is defined as the ratio of the harmonic content to the rms fundamental voltage, ie: (4)

Where vims, Vi.ims, vn-ims are total, fundamental, and nth harmonic root mean square value of v0(t), respectively. Distortion factor (DF)is another parameter to measure the quality of the output voltage of VSI, which is defined as the ratio of fundamental content to the total rms. DF l.ims v ims there are
v

Obviously,

some relations between THD and DF.

-l

1
THD And DF V THD

DF
Jl

3 Parameters

calculation

3.1 Calculation on square wave VSI

v2 (t)in Fig.3 is the output voltage of a standard square wave VSI. The control scheme is relatively simple. At the beginning of one period, Ql is turned on and Q2 is turned off . At the center of one period, Ql is turned off and Q2 is turned on immediately. And at the end of one period, switching on Ql immediately just when Q2 is off. With repeating this processing, v2(t) is obtained on the load RL.

Fig.3 Square wave and quasi-square wave Its mathematic model can be expressed as follow: v2(t)El u(t)-2u )+u (t-T) Where u(t) is unit step function, Ei is the amplitude of v2, and T is the period of v2. Let T2!, v2(t) also can be expressed as v2(t)El[u(t)-2u(t-z )+u(t-2! )& The fundamental amplitude V2lof v2(t) is T V . l | v2(t)sinw0tdt = ] 0 The peak value of n-th harmonic V2nof v2(t) is V.n^ I v. (t) sinnwotdt =^W (n3 , 5, ' T { n!
)

And V2n0 for n2,4,6 .........., the root mean square

voltage V2rm ofv2(t) is

T ! v2 (t)dt =E V0 Thus , DF and THD can be derived as , DF,= 4 =0.9002

Jl

THD,= " @~l=0.4834 2 4

3.2 Calculation on quasi-square wave VSI

Vi(t) in fig.3 is the output waveform of a quasi-square VSI.The control scheme is a little bit complex than that of square wave VSI, because one of the main switch (Ql or Q2) does not turn on immediately after another one turns off. It turns on after a delaying of angle a instead. The mathematic model of this kind of inverter is u(t- a)-2u(#^+ a $-u%-,- a J+u(t-T+ a) Vi(t)=Ei The fundamental amplitude V(l and the rms voltage Vlrms of v((t) are T ^n=2 I vl(t)sinw0tdt = ^/Lcosa T 0 # T ",_=v 10 v( (t)dt =ei The distortion factor and total harmonic distortion are expressed as following; DFl=DFl(a) = , 4 cos a "2 a( b-2 a) THD = "2 e( f-2 g)-l6cos2 h l 4cos a Obviously, these two parameters are the functions of a. Using mathematic method, the optimum a can be obtained. Let iDFL= --------------- 4cosm - , 4sinr =0, that is ctg a= w-2 a. da ($-2 a) "2 o( p-2 a) "2 s( t-2 a) A reasonable solution for this equation is a=0.4052 or quasi-square VSI are DFl=0.96l and THDl=0.289.
CL=23.22.

At this angle, the major parameters of the

3.3 Class A two-step level VSI

The control strategy of two-step level VSI is adding another wedding at the primary side of the transformer, and the modulation method can be classified into two groups according to the output waveform. Class A $ equal step level unequal switching angles. Class B: equal switching angles unequal step level. Class A is commonly used in practice because the switching angles are relatively easy to be controlled in electronic method. However the step level needs to change the turns of the weddings and is hardly adjusted softly. Fig.4 is the pictorial of class A 2-step level VSI.

Fig.4 Waveform of class A 2-stq> level VSL The mathematic model for this VSI is
V3(t)=E3

u(t-a1)+u(t-a2)-u(t^+a2 "-u(t^+a1

( 0<t<T/2.)

Its and T 4E

fundamental amplitude V31 ,rms voltage V3rms DF3 are

"V 31 = 7
0

v3(t)sinw0tdt =(coaj+cosa2)
11

V
V=

T v2 (t)dt =E3&L (2"a&

ai3a$

3rms \/ ;

D" _ V31 _______ 2m (cosa&(cosa$) 3_ &2 V &2 N-a!-3a3 3rms DF1 is the function of at as well as a2. From equation pair dDF3 =o dal 'DF3 =l da$ that is sina2=3sinai So, the answer is, when a&=12.85o and a$=41.83 ,that DF3 reaches its optimum. DF3 =0.98676 THD3 =0.16436
=0

Conclusion
Table 1 gives the detailed comparisons of three VSIs. Study shows that their quality is getting better as their control and topology are becoming complex. Table 1 comparison of major parameters
Type of VSI Square wave Quasi-square 2-step level 1st angle 0 23.22 12.85 2nd angle N/A N/A 41.83 DF 0.900 0.961 0.987 THD 0.483 0.289 0.164

References:
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