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MODULE: INVERTERS
INTRODUCTION refrigerators, fans, pumps, and general electrical equipment
including most small motors (except for some variable speed
A power inverter is a DC powered device that converts DC motors). For watching TV in the car, or for powering lights at
(Direct Current) power into AC (Alternating Current) power. the summer cabin, Modified sine wave output should be
The output is usually 120 VAC, 60 Hz (North American quite satisfactory.
domestic power) or 230 VAC, 50 Hz, International power.
The inverter performs the opposite function of a rectifier. The 3. Pure Sine Wave
electrical inverter is a high-power electronic oscillator. A pure sine wave inverter produces a nearly perfect sine
wave output that is essentially the same as utility-supplied
Key: Converts DC to AC power by switching the DC input grid power. Thus it is compatible with all AC electronic
voltage (or current) in a pre-determined sequence so as to devices. This is the type used in grid-tie inverters. Its design is
generate AC voltage (or current) output. more complex, and costs more per unit power.
Types of Inverter Output For any device that requires sensitive calibration, it is
advisable to use a Pure Sine Wave inverter.
1. Square Wave Pure or True Sine Wave inverters provide electrical power
The square wave output has a high harmonic content, not similar to the output of your wall plug, which is highly reliable
suitable for certain AC loads such as motors or transformers. and does not produce the electrical noise interference, which
Square Wave units are not efficient and could be harmful to may result from use of a modified sine wave unit. With its
some electronic equipment. Square Wave units were the "perfect" sine wave output, the power produced fully assures
pioneers of inverter development and, like the horse and that "sensitive loads" will be correctly powered, with no
buggy, do not figure on today's power inverter highway. interference.
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MODULE: INVERTERS
The quality of the inverter output waveform can be expressed
by using the Fourier analysis data to calculate the total Changing the square wave as described above is an example
exampl
harmonic distortion (THD). The total harmonic distortion of pulse-width
width modulation (PWM). Modulating, or regulating
(THD) is the square root of the sum of the squares of the the width of a square-wave
wave pulse is often used as a method
harmonic voltages divided
ded by the fundamental voltage: of regulating or adjusting an inverter's output voltage. When
voltage control is not required, a fixed pulse width can be
selected to reduce
duce or eliminate selected harmonics.
Harmonic elimination techniques are generally applied to the
lowest harmonics because filtering is much more practical at
The quality of output waveform that is needed from an high frequencies, where the filter components can be much
inverter depends on the characteristics of the connected smaller and less expensive. Multiple pulse-width
p or carrier
load. Some loads need a nearly perfect sine wave voltage based PWM control schemes produce waveforms that are
supply to work properly. Other loads may work quite wwell composed of many narrow pulses. The frequency
with a square wave voltage. represented by the number of narrow pulses per second is
called the switching frequency or carrier frequency. These
Advanced designs control schemes are often used in variable-frequency
variable motor
control inverters because they allow a wide range of output
There are many different power circuit topologies and control voltage and frequency adjustment while also improving the
strategies used in inverter designs. Different design quality of the waveform.
approaches address various issues that may be more or less
important depending on the way that the inverter is intended Multilevel inverters provide another approach to harmonic
to be used. cancellation. Multilevel inverters provide an output
waveform that exhibits multiple steps at several voltage
The issue of waveform quality can be addressed in many levels. For example, it is possible to produce a more
ways. Capacitors and inductors can be used to filter the sinusoidal wave by having split-rail
rail direct current inputs at
waveform. If the design includes a transformer, filtering can two voltages, or positive and negative inputs
input with a central
be applied to the primary or the secondary
dary side of the ground. By connecting the inverter output terminals in
transformer or to both sides. Low-pass
pass filters are applied to sequence between the positive rail and ground, the positive
allow the fundamental component of the waveform to pass rail and the negative rail, the ground rail and the negative rail,
to the output while limiting the passage of the harmonic then both to the ground rail, a stepped waveform is
components. If the inverter is designed to provide power at a generated
ated at the inverter output. This is an example of a
fixed
xed frequency, a resonant filter can be used. For an three level inverter: the two voltages and ground.
adjustable frequency inverter, the filter must be tuned to a
frequency that is above the maximum fundamental
frequency.
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MODULE: INVERTERS
History connected to an AC power source, commutation occurs
naturally every time the polarity of the source voltage
Early inverters reverses. SCRs connected to a DC power source usually
require a means of forced commutation that forces the
From the late nineteenth century through the middle of the current to zero when commutation is required. The least
twentieth century, DC-to-AC AC power conversion was complicated SCR circuits employ natural commutation rather
accomplished using rotary converters or motor--generator than forced commutation. With the addition of forced
sets (M-G G sets). In the early twentieth century, vacuum tubes commutation circuits, SCRs have been used in the types of
and gas filled tubes began to be used as switches in inverter inverter circuits described above.
circuits. The most widely used type of tube was the thyratron.
In applications where inverters transfer power from a DC
The origins of electromechanical
hanical inverters explain the source power source to an AC power source, it is possible to use AC-AC
of the term inverter. Early AC-to-DC
DC converters used an to-DC
DC controlled rectifier circuits operating in the inversion
induction or synchronous AC motor direct-connected
connected to a mode. In the inversion mode, a controlled rectifier circuit
generator (dynamo) so that the generator's commutator operates as a line commutated inverter. This type of
reversed its connections at exactly the right moments to operation can be used in HVDC power transmission systems
produce DC. A later development is the synchronous and in regenerative braking operation of motor control
converter, in which the motor and generator windings are systems.
combined into one armature, with slip rings at one end and a
commutator at the other and only one field frame. The result Another type of SCR inverter circuit is the current source
with either is AC-in, DC-out. With an M-GG set, the DC can be input (CSI) inverter. A CSI inverter is the dual of a six-step
considered to be separately generated from the AC; with a voltage source inverter. With a current source inverter, the
synchronous converter, in a certain sense it can be DC power supply is configured as a current source rather than
considered to be "mechanically rectified AC". Given the right a voltage source. The inverter SCRs are switched in a six-step
six
auxiliary and control equipment, an M-G set orr rotary sequence to direct the current to a three-phase
three AC load as a
converter can be "run backwards", converting DC to AC. stepped current waveform. CSI inverter commutation
Hence an inverter is an inverted converter. methods include load commutation and parallel capacitor
commutation. With both methods, the input current
Controlled rectifier inverters regulation assists the commutation. With load commutation,
the load is a synchronous motor operated at a leading power
Since early transistors were not available with sufficient factor.
voltage and current ratings for most inverter applicatio
applications, it
was the 1957 introduction of the thyristor or silicon
silicon- As they have become available in higher voltage and current
controlled rectifier (SCR) that initiated the transition to solid ratings, semiconductors such as transistors or IGBTs that can
state inverter circuits. be turned off by means of control signals have become the
preferred switching components for
fo use in inverter circuits.
With three-phase
phase rectifiers, two or more rectifiers are
12-pulse line-commutated inverter circuit
sometimes
ometimes connected in series or parallel to obtain higher
voltage or current ratings. The rectifier inputs are supplied
The commutation requirements of SCRs are a key
from special transformers that provide phase shifted outputs.
considerationn in SCR circuit designs. SCRs do not turn off or
This has the effect of phase multiplication. Six phases are
commutate automatically when the gate control signal is shut
obtained from two transformers, twelve phases from three
off. They only turn off when the forward current is reduced to
transformers and so on. The associated rectifier circuits are
below the minimum holding current, which varies with each
12-pulse rectifiers, 18-pulse
pulse rectifiers and so on...
kind of SCR, through somee external process. For SCRs
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MODULE: INVERTERS