Three-Phase Inverter

Bassam A. Hemade
TA. Power System & Electrical Machines
Lecture Outline:
1. The Six-Step Inverter
2. PWM Three-Phase Inverter
3. Induction Motor Speed Control
4. Induction Motor Speed Control Inverter
The six Steps Inverter
• Next figure shows a circuit that produces
a three-phase ac output from a dc input. A
major application of this circuit is speed
control of induction motors, where the
output frequency is varied.
The six Steps Inverter cont’d
• The switches are closed and
opened in the sequence shown in
next figure.
• Each switch has a duty ratio of
50 percent (not allowing for
blanking time), and a switching
action takes place every T/6 time
interval, or 60 angle interval.

S1  S4
S2  S5
S3  S6
The six Steps Inverter cont’d
• With this scheme, the
instantaneous voltages vA0, vB0,
and vC0 are Vdc or zero, and
line-to-line output voltages vAB,
vBC, and vCA are Vdc, 0, or Vdc
The six Steps Inverter cont’d
The six Steps Inverter cont’d
• For an input voltage of Vdc, the output for an ungrounded wye-
connected load has the following Fourier coefficients

• The output frequency can be controlled by changing the switching

frequency. The magnitude of the output voltage depends on the value
of the dc supply voltage. To control the output voltage of the six-step
inverter, the dc input voltage must be adjusted.
Example
• For the six-step three-phase inverter, the
dc input is 100 V and the fundamental
output frequency is 60 Hz. The load is
wye-connected with each phase of the
load a series RL connection with R = 10
Ω and L = 20 mH. Determine the total
harmonic distortion of the load current.
Example cont’d
• Solution:

a) The amplitude of load current at each frequency is:

b) where Vn,L-N is determined as:

Example cont’d

c) The THD of the load current is computed as follows:

PWM Three-Phase Inverter
• Pulse-width modulation can be used for three-phase
inverters as well as for single-phase inverters.
• Basically, each switch is controlled by comparing a
sinusoidal reference wave with a triangular carrier
wave.
• The fundamental frequency of the output is the same
as that of the reference wave, and the amplitude of
the output is determined by the relative amplitudes of
the reference and carrier waves.
• 120o apart, when one switch in a pair is closed, the
other is open. Each pair of switches requires a
separate sinusoidal reference wave.
PWM Three-Phase Inverter cont’d
PWM Three-Phase Inverter cont’d
Induction Motor Speed Control
• The speed of an induction motor can be
controlled by adjusting the frequency of
the applied voltage. The synchronous
speed ωs of an induction motor is related
to the number of poles p and the applied
electrical frequency by:
• Slip s, is defined in terms of the rotor
speed ωr
Induction Motor Speed Control cont’d
• If the applied electrical frequency is
changed, the motor speed will change
proportionally. However, if the applied
voltage is held constant when the
frequency is lowered, the magnetic flux
in the air gap will increase to the point of
saturation. It is desirable to keep the air-
gap flux constant and equal to its rated
value.
• This is accomplished by varying the
applied voltage proportionally with
frequency. The ratio of applied voltage
to applied frequency should be constant.
Induction Motor Speed Control cont’d
Induction Motor Speed Control Iverter