SG3525 Pure Sinewave Inverter Circuit

Last Updated on November 4, 2017 by Swag 360 Comments

In this post we learn how to make a SG3525 pure sinewave inverter circuit using a
straightforward PWM integration.

Using SG3525 for the Basic Modified Squarewave Version

We know that the IC SG3525 is designed to produce a modified sine wave output when used
in an inverter topology, and cannot be enhanced to produce a pure sinewave waveform in its
typical format.

Although the modified squarewave or sinewave output could be OK with its RMS property
and reasonably suitable for powering most electronic equipment, it can never match the
quality of a pure sinewave inverter output.

Here we are going to learn a simple method which could be used for enhancing any standard
SG3525 inverter circuit into a pure sinewave counterpart.

For the proposed enhancement the basic SG3525 inverter could be any standard SG3525
inverter design configured to produce an modified PWM output. This section is not crucial
and any preferred variant could be selected (you can find plenty online with minor
differences).

I have discussed a comprehensive article regarding how to convert a square wave inverter to
a sinewave inverter in one of my earlier posts, here we apply the same principle for the
upgrade.

How the Conversion from Squarewave to Sinewave Takes Place

You might be curious to know regarding what exactly happens in the process of the
conversion which transforms the output into a pure sinewave suitable for all sensitive
electronic loads.

It is basically done by optimizing the sharp rising and falling square wave pulses into a gently
rising and falling waveform. This is executed by chopping or breaking the exiting square
waves into number of uniform pieces.

In the actual sinewave, the waveform is created through an exponential rise and fall pattern
where the sinusoidal wave gradually ascend and descend in the course of its cycles.

In the proposed idea, the waveform is not executed in an exponential, rather the square waves
are chopped into pieces which ultimately takes the shape of a sinewave after some filtration.

The "chopping" is done by feeding a calculated PWM to the gates of the FET via a BJT
buffer stage.
A typical circuit design for converting the SG3525 waveform into a pure sinewave waveform
is shown below. This design is actually an universal design which may be implemented for
upgrading all square wave inverters into sinewave inverters.

As may be in the above diagram, the lower two BC547 transistors are triggered by a PWM
feed or input, which causes them to switch according to the PWM ON/OFF duty cycles.

This in turn rapidly switch the 50Hz pulses of the BC547/BC557 coming from the SG3525
output pins.

The above operation ultimately force the mosfets also to turn ON and OFF number of times
for each of the 50/60Hz cycles and consequently produce a similar waveform at the output of
the connected transformer.

Preferably, the PWM input frequency should be 4 times more than the base 50 or 60Hz
frequency. so that each 50/60Hz cycles are broken into 4 or 5 pieces and not more than this,
which could otherwise give rise to unwanted harmonics and mosfet heating.

PWM Circuit
The PWM input feed for the above explained design can be acquired by using any standard
IC 555 astable design as shown below:

This IC 555 based PWM circuit can be used for feeding an optimized PWM to the bases of
the BC547 transistors in the first design such that the output from the SG3525 inverter circuit
acquires an RMS value close to mains pure sinewave waveform RMS value.

Using an SPWM

Although the above explained concept would greatly improve the square wave modified
output of a typical SG3525 inverter circuit, an even better approach could be to go for an
SPWM generator circuit.

In this concept the "chopping" of each of the square wave pulses is implemented through a
proportionately varying PWM duty cycles rather than a fixed duty cycle.

I have already discussed how to generate SPWM using opamp, the same theory may be used
for feeding the driver stage of any square wave inverter.

A simple circuit for generating SPWM can eb seen below:

Using IC 741 for Processing SPWM

In this design we see a standard IC 741 opamp whose input pins are configured with a couple
of triangle wave sources, one being much faster in frequency than the other.

The triangle waves could be posibly extracted from a standard IC 556 based circuit, wired as
an astable, as shown below:
This forces the opamp to compare the two coinciding peaks of the waveforms and generate
SPWM or sinewave PWM consisting of a proportionately widening and narrowing PWMs in
each cycle.

When this optimized PWM is fed to the first circuit design causes the output from the
transformer to produce a further improved and gentle sine waveform having properties much
identical to a standard AC mains sine waveform.

However even for an SPWM, the RMS value will need to be correctly set initially in order to
produce the correct voltage output at the output of the transformer.

Once implemented one can expect a real sinewave equivalent output from any SG3525
inverter design or may be from any square wave inverter model.

If you have more doubts regarding SG3525 pure sinewave inverter circuit you can feel free to
express them through your comments.

UPDATE

A basic example design of a SG3525 oscillator stage can be seen below, this design could be
integrated with the above explained PWM sinewave BJT/mosfet stage for getting the required
enhanced version of the SG3525 design:
Complete circuit diagram and PCB layout for the proposed SG3525 pure sine wave
inverter circuit.

Courtesy: Ainsworth Lynch