A dual inverter for an open end winding induction
motor drive without an isolation transformer
Shajjad Chowdhury*, Patrick Wheeler, Chris Gerada, Saul Lopez Arevalo
The University of Nottingham
PEMC Group
Nottingham, UK, China
*eexsc12@nottingham.ac.uk
AbstractThis paper examines the use of a dual bridge
inverter topology for an induction machine drive application.
The paper considers the possibility of using a dual bridge
inverter with one bridge floating to generate multilevel output
voltage waveforms. The charging and discharging of the floating
capacitor will be controlled using redundant switching states.
The use of this topology can improve system efficiency and
converter volume. The paper includes analysis and modulation
of the converter topology as well as simulation and practical
results showing the converter operation.
KeywordsSpace vector; Open End Winding Induction
Machine (OEWIM); Dual inverte; Floating Bridge (FB); Main
Bridge (MB)
I. INTRODUCTION
This paper describes a novel power converter topology for a
three-phase motor with open ended windings. This machine
topology is considered as it has some advantages in motor
drive applications where redundancy and fault tolerance are
advantageous [1-3]. The use of a dual inverter bridge allows
the converter to emulate the waveforms seen in a three level
NPC converter [4-6] whilst eliminating the need for capacitor
balancing techniques. The advantages of dual bridge inverter
with respect to single ended inverters include:
Improved availability because fault tolerance can be
introduced.
Reduced voltage blocking requirements for some of the
power semiconductors
Inverters can share switching events leading to lower
individual device commutation frequencies.
Reduced switching losses for a given output waveform
quality
Dual inverter topologies have been considered in numerous
papers for different applications. Traditional dual inverter
topologies (using two isolated dc sources) are analyzed in [4-
12]. In these papers, different space vector modulation schemes
have been used to generate multilevel output voltage
waveforms. A block diagram of a traditional Open End
Winding Induction Motor (OEWIM) drive is presented in Fig.
1. It is possible to use of a single supply for dual inverters with
a common mode elimination technique [7, 13, and 14]. These
topologies use specific switching combinations that produce
978-1-4799-6735-3/15/$31.00 2015 IEEE
equal common mode voltages which cancel at load terminals.
Reduction in voltage levels and lower dc bus utilizations are
the main disadvantages of this type of topology.
A modulation technique to balance power between the two
inverters in a dual inverter system has also been proposed [15-
20]. This topology still uses an isolation transformer, the size of
this transformer can be reduced at the expense of reduced
modulation index. The floating capacitor bridge topology is
presented in [21] along with a control scheme to allow supply
of reactive power. Other authors [22, 23] have presented a
method to compensate for supply voltage droop in order to
keep the drive operational during constant power mode. This
topology also uses a floating capacitor bridge to offset the
voltage droop in high speed machines.
To remove the isolation transformer and achieve multilevel
output voltage waveforms, a dual inverter with a floating
capacitor bridge is considered. This paper also presents a
modulation scheme which only utilizes switching state
redundancies to charge and discharge the floating bridge
capacitor. The proposed modulation technique does not require
demand reference voltage generation to charge the floating
capacitor, thus eliminating the risk of creating unwanted
harmonics in the output voltage waveforms.
Fig. 1. Conventional open end winding IM drive topology
II. PROPOSED SYSTEM
A. Floating capacitor bridge inverter
The floating bridge capacitor dual inverter based topology
has previously been analyzed for different applications [21-24].
The circuit can be used to supply reactive power to a machine
and to compensate for any supply voltage droop. In both cases
the possibility of multilevel output voltage waveforms were not
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considered. In this paper the capacitors in the floating inverter red triangle as shown in Fig. 4. The other half of the triangle is
bridge is charged using redundant switching combinations to a mirrored image and this is then repeated around the state
remove the isolation transformer and to achieve multilevel diagram.
output voltages. Fig. 2 shows the block diagram of the dual
inverter with a floating bridge capacitor. Sources used here are
based on a ratio of 2:1. The use of this particular ratio permits
dual two level inverters to produce up-to a four level output
pole voltage waveform [20, 25].

Fig. 2. Block diagram of proposed floating bridge topology

B. Principles of operation
Fig. 4. Space vector of dual two level inverter (source ratio 2:1)
In order to show how the capacitor can be charged and
discharged the switching combinations can be analyzed. The
The current flow diagrams of different switching
dual inverter topology, shown in Fig. 3, is considered assuming
combinations are shown in Fig. 5. In the figure solid line
that each inverter is fed from isolated sources. The space vector
represents the current flowing paths and the dotted lines specify
diagram for the converter modulations is shown in Fig. 4.
open circuit. In the state diagram 1(+ - -), 2(+ + -), 3(- + -), 4(-
+ +), 5(- - +), 6(+ - +), 7(+ + +) and 8(- - -) are the switching
combinations for upper switches (S1, S2 and S3) of the two
level inverter legs, where `+` refers to the on state and `-` refers
S3 S2 S1
to the off state of power semiconductor switching devices.
Ic
Ib Numbers with a superscript (') denotes the switching state
Vdc Ia combination for second, lower voltage, inverter. It can be seen
A B C from the Fig. 5 that combinations (11') and (16') will result in a
S6 S5 S4 current through the capacitor form the positive to the negative
Open phase load

terminal, thus charging the capacitor. Combinations (14'), (15')

Capacitor bank
S3' S2' S1'
A B C
Vdc
2 voltage resides in outer hexagon then there are only two
S6 S5 S4
Fig. 3. Circuit diagram of proposed floating bridge topology (Capacitor bank
is charged to half of the main DC link voltage)
In Fig.4, the red numbered switching combinations
discharges the floating bridge capacitor, while the green
numbered switching combinations charge the capacitor and the
yellow numbered switching combinations hold the last state of
capacitor. To assess how these combinations will charge or
discharge the floating capacitor, the current flow for different
switching combinations are examined. To make the analysis
brief only one half of the sector is taken into consideration, the
and (74') will result in a current in the other direction and will
therefore act to discharge the capacitor. Combinations ending
with 7 (111) or 8 (000) will hold the capacitor's charge at its
previous state.
It is evident from the state diagram that if the reference
switching combinations in each sector to charge the floating
capacitor. This is insufficient to maintain the charge under all
operating conditions; therefore a restriction has to be imposed.
As a result the achievable voltage level is reduced (voltage
levels being equal to three level NPC converters) along with
lower than ideal DC bus utilization. The capacitor can charge
to half of the main DC link only if the modulation index (m) is
limited as shown in equation 1.
0 < m 0.6 (1)
Violation of the imposed restriction will cause the capacitor
voltage to collapse.

284

k2
k2

1
Vdc
k1 2
Vdc Vdc k1
3 3

Fig. 7. Sub sector identification

b 2 2
a = k2 = = b= m sin( ) (2)
sin( / 3) 3 3

2
k1 = m cos( ) m sin( ) cos
3 3
(3)
sin( )
k1 = m cos( )
3

3 Vref
m=
Vdc
(4)

TABLE I. SUBSECTOR IDENTIFICATION

Subsector Identification criteria

0 1 1
if ((k1, k2 ) < & (k1 + k 2 ) )
3 3
1 1 1
Fig. 5. The current flow for different switching state combinations if ((k1 , k 2 ) < & (k1 + k 2 ) > )
3 3
2 2 1 2
C. Modulation strategy if (k1 < & k 2 < & (k1 + k 2 ) < )
3 3 3
A decoupled space vector modulation strategy can be 3 2 1 2
adopted for this dual inverter floating bridge capacitor if (k1 < & k 2 < & (k1 + k 2 ) > )
3 3 3
topology. Switching combinations are selected in such a way
4 2
that generated voltages for each of the converters that are 180 if (k1 > )
degree phase shifted from the other, as shown in Fig. 6. The 3
voltages will add at the load terminal to match the overall 5 1 1 2
if (k1 < & k 2 > & (k1 + k 2 ) < )
reference. The combined reference voltage will be located in 3 3 3
sector 1 (subsector 7), which is shown in Fig. 7. 6 2 1 2
if (k 2 < & k1 < & (k1 + k 2 ) > )
3 3 3
7 2 2 2
if (k 2 < & k1 < & (k1 + k 2 ) > )
3 3 3
8 2
if (k 2 > )
3
V ref

V ref The switching sectors for the dual inverter are identified
using angle of the reference voltage. Each sector is 60 degree
apart from the adjacent one. First the angle of the reference
voltage is identified and then using a simple else if
statement is used to identify the sectors. The process of
Fig. 6. Space vector diagram of individual inverters identifying reference voltage subsector location is shown in

285
equations 2 to 4 and Table I. The equations are derived using TABLE II. SWITCHING COMBINATIONS
Fig. 7.The switching time is calculated using the volt second Sub Charging Discharging
balancing principle. An example of how to calculate the Sector Ta Tb Tc Ta Ta Tb Tc Ta
timings when reference voltage resides on sector 1 (subsector
1) is presented in equations 5 and 6. 0 88 11 22 77 87 84 85 88
1 11 22 23 74 84 85 16 74
2 11 16 17 84 84 16 17 84
Vref Ts (cos( ) i sin( )) = V1T1 + V2T2 + V3T3 5 22 23 27 85 85 23 27 22
(5)
III. RESULTS
Where,
A. Simulation results
2
V1 = Vdc e j 0 The proposed modulation scheme has been simulated using
9 MATLAB and PLECS. Fig. 9 shows the charging and
2 discharging of floating capacitor voltage. To obtain a
V2 = Vdc e j 60
9 multilevel inverter topology main bridge inverter is supplied
2 with 260 V dc and then the floating capacitor is charged to 130
V3 = Vdc e j 30 V. The system is connected to an open phase R-L load.
3 3 (6) Parameters of the load and induction machine are presented in
Table III.
Equations are then manipulated to find T1 , T2 & T3
Finally, a seven segment switching sequence is used to
modulate the reference voltage as shown in Fig. 8. In Fig. 8 a
superscript refers to the floating inverter legs. Switching
combinations are selected in such a way that when floating
capacitor voltage is lower than demand reference voltage the
charging combinations will be selected and it will choose all
the discharging combinations when capacitor voltage is higher
than the reference voltage. Table II presents the charging and
discharging switching combinations when reference voltage
resides in sector 1 of the vector diagram. As the outer hexagon Fig. 9. Charging and discharging of capacitor
is not used switching sequences for outer hexagon are not
presented in this paper.

Ta Tb Tc Ta Tc Tb Ta
4 2 2 2 2 2 4

Fig. 10. Phase voltage (Phase A - measured across AA Fig. 3)

Ts Ts
2 2
Ts
Fig. 8. Seven segment switching sequence (sector 1, subsector 1) Fig. 11. Phase current (Phase A)

A voltage of 30 Hz and 135 V is demanded from the dual

inverter at a modulation index of 0.6. The output voltage and
currents are shown in Fig 10 and Fig 11. It can be seen from

286
the simulation results that the floating bridge capacitor is
charged to the required value and the dual inverter system can
achieve a multilevel output voltage waveform.
B. Experimental results
To validate simulation results an experimental rig has been
built as shown in Fig. 12. The system has been tested with
static R-L load and as an open loop v/f controlled induction
machine drive.
Fig. 12. Experimental setup
To achieve both experimental results the main inverter is
supplied by a power supply unit to maintain a constant 260 V
dc link voltage. The aim of the floating capacitor voltage
control is to charge the floating bridge capacitor to half of the
main DC link voltage. To confirm the charging and discharging
control of the capacitor a slow step up and step down ramp
signal is applied to the capacitor voltage reference. To
demonstrate the control over capacitor voltage, first the
capacitor is charged and discharged to an arbitrary value. Fig.
287
13 shows the experimental result of charging and discharging
of floating capacitor voltage which suggests that capacitor
voltage follows the demand reference. The capacitor is then
charged to 130 V and a 30 Hz 135 V reference signal is
demanded for the load voltage. The output voltage and current
waveform for one phase is shown in Fig. 14 and Fig. 15 .
Fig. 13. Charging and discharging of capacitor
Fig. 14. Phase voltage across R-L load (measured across AA Fig. 3)
Fig. 15. Phase current (R-L load, phase A)
To demonstrate operation as a motor drive the dual inverter
topology is connected to an open end winding induction motor
with open loop v/f control. To charge the capacitor initially a
small voltage reference is send to DSP interface which
initialize the switching sequences and is able to charge the
capacitor to the required voltage. After charging the capacitor
to half of the main DC link voltage, a 14 Hz and 30 Hz
reference is demanded to operate the system in two level and
three level mode. Phase voltages and currents across the
machine winding (phase A is measured across point AA
shown in Fig. 3) are presented in Fig. 16 and Fig. 17. Fig. 16
and 17 suggest that floating capacitor has been charged using
switching state redundancies and that the control is able to
maintain the capacitor voltage at half of the DC link voltage as
long as the system is operating at a modulation index of less
than 0.6. Fig. 17 also shows that the system can achieve multi-
level output voltage waveforms when operating as a motor
drive.
 IV. CONCLUSIONS
A motor drive using an open ended winding machine and a
dual bridge inverter topology with a floating capacitor bridge
has been analyzed and demonstrated. The proposed system
charges the floating bridge capacitor to a ratio of 2:1 with
respect to main bridge DC link voltage amplitude. This
particular DC link voltage ratio allows the converter to achieve
multi-level output voltage waveform. The floating DC link
voltage is kept at a constant voltage by the means of charging
and discharging the floating bridge capacitor. This is achieved
by deploying a slow controller to switch between charging and
discharging redundant states of the converter. The proposed
system has been simulated and an experimental setup has been
used to validate the results. It has been shown that the proposed
system can charge the capacitor to the required voltage and can
achieve a multilevel output voltage waveform.

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