INVERTERS

Alternating Current (AC) power supply is used for almost all the
residential, commercial and industrial needs. But the biggest issue with AC
is that it cannot be stored for future use. So AC is converted into DC and
then DC is stored in batteries and ultra-capacitors. And now whenever AC is
needed, DC is again converted into AC to run the AC based appliances. So
the device which converts DC into AC is called Inverter. The inverter is
used to convert DC to variable AC. This variation can be in the magnitude of
voltage, number of phases, frequency or phase difference.

Classification of Inverter
Inverter can be classified into many types based on output, source, type of
load etc. Below is the complete classification of the inverter circuits:

(I) According to the Output Characteristic

1. Square Wave Inverter

2. Sine Wave Inverter
3. Modified Sine Wave Inverter

(II) According to the Source of Inverter

1. Current Source Inverter

2. Voltage Source Inverter

(III) According to the Type of Load

1. Single Phase Inverter

A. Half Bridge Inverter
B. Full Bridge Inverter
2. Three Phase Inverter
A. 180-degree mode
B. 120-degree mode

(IV) According to different PWM Technique

1. Simple Pulse Width Modulation (SPWM)

2. Multiple Pulse Width Modulation (MPWM)
3. Sinusoidal Pulse Width Modulation (SPWM)
4. Modified sinusoidal Pulse Width Modulation (MSPWM)
(V) According to Number of Output Level

1. Regular Two-Level Inverter

2. Multi-Level Inverter

(I) According to the Output Characteristic

According to the output characteristic of an inverter, there can be
three different types of inverters.

 Square Wave Inverter

 Sine Wave Inverter
 Modified Sine Wave Inverter

1) Square wave inverter

The output waveform of the voltage for this inverter is a square wave. This
type of inverter is least used among all other types of inverter because all
appliances are designed for sine wave supply. If we supply square wave to
sine wave based appliance, it may get damaged or losses are very high. The
cost of this inverter is very low but the application is very rare. It can be
used in simple tools with a universal motor.

2) Sine wave

The output waveform of the voltage is a sine wave and it gives us a very
similar output to the utility supply. This is the major advantage of this
inverter because all the appliances we are using, are designed for the sine
wave. So, this is the perfect output and gives guarantee that equipment will
work properly. This type of inverters is more expensive but widely used in
residential and commercial applications.

3) Modified sine wave

The construction of this type of inverter is complex than simple square wave
inverter but easier compared to the pure sine wave inverter. The output of
this inverter is neither pure sine wave nor the square wave. The output of
such inverter is the same of two square waves. The output waveform is not
exactly sine wave but it resembles the shape of a sine wave.
(II) According to the Source of the Inverter

 Voltage Source Inverter

 Current Source Inverter

1) Current Source Inverter

In CSI, the input is a current source. This type of inverters is used in the
medium voltage industrial application, where high-quality current
waveforms are compulsory. But CSIs are not popular.

2) Voltage Source Inverter

In VSI, the input is a voltage source. This type of inverter is used in all
applications because it is more efficient and have higher reliability and
faster dynamic response. VSI is capable of running motors without de-
rating.

(III) According to the Type of Load

 Single-phase Inverter
 Three-phase Inverter
1) single-phase inverter

Generally, residential and commercial load uses single phase power. The
single-phase inverter is used for this type of application. The single-phase
inverter is further divided into two parts;

 Single Phase Half-bridge Inverter

 Single Phase Full-bridge Inverter

A) Single Phase Half bridge Inverter

This type of inverter consists of two thyristors and two diodes and
connection is as shown in below figure.

In this case, total DC voltage is Vs and divided into two equal parts Vs/2.
Time for one cycle is T sec.

For half cycle of 0 <t <T/2, thyristor T1 conducts. The load voltage is Vs/2
due to the upper voltage source Vs/2.

For the second half cycle of T/2 <t <T, thyristor T1 is commutated and T2
conducts. During this period, the load voltage is -Vs/2 due to the lower
source Vs/2.

Vo = Vs/2
By this operation, we can get alternating voltage waveform with 1/T Hz
frequency and Vs/2 peak amplitude. The output waveform is a square wave.
It will be passed through the filter and remove unwanted harmonics which
give us pure sine waveform. The frequency of the waveform can be controled
by the ON time (Ton) and OFF time (Toff) of the thyristor.

The magnitude of the output voltage is half of the supply voltage and
source utilization period is 50%. This is a disadvantage of half bridge
inverter and solution of this is full bridge inverter.

B) Single Phase Full-bridge Inverter

In this type of inverter, four thyristors and four diodes are used. The circuit
diagram of single-phase full bridge is as shown in below figure.
At a time two thyristors T1 and T2 conduct for first half cycle 0 < t < T/2.
During this period, the load voltage is Vs which is similar to the DC supply
voltage.

For second half cycle T/2 < t < T, two thyristors T3 and T4 conducts. The
load voltage during this period is -Vs.

Here we can get AC output voltage same as DC supply voltage and the
source utilization factor is 100%. The output voltage waveform is square
waveform and the filters are used to convert it into a sine wave.

If all thyristors conduct at the same time or in a pair of (T1 and T3) or (T2
and T4) then the source will be short-circuited. The diodes are connected in
the circuit as feedback diode because it is used for the energy feedback to
the DC source.

If we compare full bridge inverter with half bridge inverter, for the given DC
supply voltage load, output voltage is two times and output is power is four
times in full bridge inverter.

(V) According to the Number of Levels at the Output

 Regular Two-Level Inverter

 Multi-level Inverter
1) Regular two-level Inverter

These inverters have only voltage levels at the output which are positive
peak voltage and negative peak voltage. Sometimes, having a zero-voltage
level is also known as a two-level inverter.

2) Multilevel Inverters

These inverters can have multiple voltage levels at the output. The multi-
level inverter is divided into four parts.

- Flying capacitor Inverter

- Diode-clamped Inverter

- Hybrid Inverter

- Cascade H-type Inverter

Every inverter has its own design for operation, here we have explained
these inverter briefly to get an basic ideas about them.