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Tuesday 17 April 2012

The Inverter


The Inverter

The Inverter Converts DC to AC. (From Direct current to Alternating current) An example of Direct current source is the battery. An example of Alternating current source is the generator or the mains power supply ie the Public utility Power supply.  AC can be rectified to get DC and DC can be rectified to get AC. The technique adopted or the components used or the design depends on the intended use of the final product or the application. Switches and devices that can operate as a switch are widely used for this purpose. The transistor, mosfet, (metal oxide seficonductor field effect transistor), oscilators, thyristors and other circuit elements can be used for this purpose.  In Electrical Power Engineering where high voltages and current are expected, thyristors are used for the design and construction of the inverter.

The output voltage is periodic. The waveform depends on the load and most times contains harmonics. At resonance for an RLC load,(resistive, inductive, capacitive) a sinusoidal waveform is achieved.  

Inverters are very useful in DC links for changing the DC voltage to AC voltage for connection to the existing AC Electrical Power Network. It is also used for the design and construction of UPS uninterruptable Power Supply Which is useful where power is not expected to fail. The UPS comes on when the mains Electrical Power System fails.

As stated earlier on, inverters convert dc Power to AC Power at some desired output voltage and frequency.

Some Applications are as follows:

Stand-by Power  Supplies
Uninterruptable Power Supplies UPS for companies and other sensitive systems
Variable speed ac motor drives
Aircraft Power Supplies
Induction heating
Output of DC transmission lines


The output voltage is non – sinusoidal. It therefore contains some harmonics. These effect the overall performance of the system.

We will take a look at the basic principle of operation of this inverter.

Output frequency

  ω = 2π/T  rad/s



Note that the Load Characteristics has to be taken into consideration. It is possible that the load could have some inductance and capacitance. If that is the case, the load voltage and current will not reverse at the same time. The output wave form of the load voltage and current depends on the load characteristics.

The diode in the circuit will permit load current to flow if this is the case. This is called the free - wheeling diode.

Disadvantage of the half bridge inverter.

It requires a three wire DC source.

The full – bridge inverter circuit is usually used when a single – phase ac output is needed.

Power Circuit.

Most Electrical Engineering Power Systems have some resistances, inductances and capacitances. As a result of this, it is important to investigate the response of the inverter to an RLC circuit.

Consider an RLC Load (series load) with a voltage source whose waveform is rectangular and which has an amplitude of V/2 [V] and a period T. The equivalent circuit is given as shown.
Vs = V/2 [V] : 0<t<T/2 [s]
                                                                       {#}
Vs = -V/2 [V] : T/2<t<T [s]

After a number of cycles of Vs the time variation of the of the would have settled down to a periodic form such that,

 io = Io1 [A] : t = T/2 [s]
io = - Io1 [A] : t = T/2 s  t = 0, T [s]

During the interval, 0<t<T/2 [s],

Vo = V/2 = VR +VL + VC [V]

Ie

V/2 = Rio + Ldio/dt + (1/C) 0t io dt  +  Vc0 [V]       {*}

Where
Vc0 is the voltage across the capacitor (ie the capacitive part of the load) at t = 0
Differentiating equation {*}  {divide by ‘L’ first}

(d2io/dt2 ) + (R/L) (dio/dt) + (1/LC)io = 0  A/s2       {**}  


Using initial conditions of eqn {#} a solution of the equation above {**} gives the load current expression io as a function of time.

NB: Since the Load voltage Vo is defined, the current values necessary for rating the inverter components can be obtained using fourier series.  

This means that it is not always necessary to determine an analytical expression for io.

A qualitative understanding of the time variation of io is helpful. Some waveforms will be shown below

(i)                  Underdamped Oscillatory Load Circuit
(ii)                Overdamped Case With Increased Load-Circuit Resistance
(iii)               Ideal Case for ‘RL’, ‘RC’,’R’ Load Situations

From the curves, it is obvious that the thyristors may start to conduct at different instants in the half cycle depending on the nature of the load.

To ensure that the thyristor starts to conduct when required, each is gated continuously throughout the half-cycle; as shown in the diagram.

Fourier Series can be used to write an expression for the output voltage. ‘Vo


Vo = Σ○○ (2V/nπ)sinnwt    [V]
        n=1              For  n = 1,3,5…………………….




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