International Islamic University Islamabad

Faculty of Engineering & Technology

Department of Electrical Engineering

POWER ELECTRONICS LAB (EE421L)

Experiment No. 13: FFT Analysis of PWM Inverters using MATLAB/Simulink

Name of Student: ……………………………………

Registration No.: ……………………………………..

Date of Experiment: …………………………………

Submitted To: ………………………………………,..

Experiment No. 13: FFT Analysis of PWM Inverters using MATLAB/Simulink Page 1
Objectives:
 To analyze the FFT for the output of half and full-Bridge PWM inverters.

 To evaluate the Total Harmonic Distortion (THD) in half and full-Bridge PWM inverters.

Equipment Required:
 PC/Laptop with installed MATLAB R2014a or advanced version

Theory:
An inverter is a circuit, which converts a DC power into an AC power at desired

output voltage and frequency. The DC power input to the inverter may be battery, fuel cell,

solar cell or other DC source. The AC output voltage and frequency could be fixed or

variable. This conversion is achieved either by controlled turn-ON and turn-OFF devices

(e.g. BJT, MOSFET and IGBT etc.) or by forced commutated thyristors, depending upon the

application. The inverters based on Pulse width Modulation (PWM) technology are

superior in many factors as compared to other inverters designed using conventional

technologies. PWM is used to keep the output voltage of the inverter at the rated voltage

(110VAC/220VAC) (depending on the country) irrespective of the output load.

In a conventional inverter, the output voltage changes according to the changes in the

load. To nullify effect caused by the changing loads, the PWM inverter correct the output

voltage according to the value of the load connected at the output. This is accomplished by

changing the width of the switching frequency generated by the oscillator section. The AC

voltage at the output depends upon the width of the switching pulse. The process is achieved

by feed backing a part of the inverter output to the PWM controller section. Based on the

feedback voltage, the PWM controller will make necessary corrections in the pulse width of

the switching pulse generated at oscillator section. This change in the pulse width of the

switching pulse will cancel the changes in the output voltage and the inverter output will stay

constant irrespective of the load variations. The block diagram of a PWM inverter is given in

Figure 13.1.

Experiment No. 13: FFT Analysis of PWM Inverters using MATLAB/Simulink Page 2
 Figure 13.1: Block Diagram of PWM Inverter

The output voltage waveform of an ideal inverter should be sinusoidal. The voltage
waveforms of practical inverter are however, non-sinusoidal and contain certain harmonics.
Based on the output waveforms, there are three types of inverters (sine wave, modified sine
wave or quasi sine wave and square wave inverters). Square wave or quasi-square wave
voltage maybe acceptable for low and medium power application; and for high power
application low distorted, sinusoidal waveform is required. The output frequency of an
inverter is determined by the rate at which the semiconductor devices are switched ON and
OFF by the inverter control circuitry and consequently, an adjustable frequency AC output is
readily provided.
To design an Inverter, many power circuit topologies and voltage control methods are
used. To filter the waveform (square wave, quasi sine wave or sine wave), capacitors and
inductors are used. Low pass filters, are used to reduce the harmonic components. The
harmonics content of output voltage can also be minimized or reduced significantly by
switching techniques. Resonant filter can be used if the inverter has a fixed output frequency.
If the inverter has adjustable output frequency, the filter must be tuned to a level above the
maximum fundamental frequency.
The quality of the output waveform from the inverter determines its efficiency. The
quality of the inverter output waveform is expressed using Fourier analysis data to calculate
the Total Harmonic Distortion (THD). THD is the square root of the sum of the squares of the
harmonic voltages divided by its fundamental voltage.

√V22 +V23+V24……….V2n
THD = …… (13.1)
V1

Experiment No. 13: FFT Analysis of PWM Inverters using MATLAB/Simulink Page 3
Square wave Inverter:
This is the simplest form of output wave available in the cheapest form of inverters.
Square wave has one positive amplitude and one negative amplitude as shown in Figure 13.2.
They can run simple appliances without problems but not much else. Square wave voltage
can be easily generated using a simple oscillator. With the help of a transformer, the
generated square wave voltage can be stepped up to higher values.

Figure 13.2

Modified Sine wave or Quasi Sine wave Inverter:

Modified sine wave is designed to simulate a sine wave since the generation of sine
wave is expensive. This waveform consists of a flat plateau of positive voltage, dropping
abruptly to zero for a short period, then dropping again to a flat plateau of negative voltage. It
then goes back to zero again and returns to positive as shown in Figure 13.3. This short pause
at zero volts gives more power to 50-Hz fundamental frequency of AC than a simple square
wave.

Figure 13.3

Inverters providing modified sine wave can adequately power ON most household
appliances. It is more economical but may present certain problems with appliances like
microwave ovens, laser printers, variable-speed fans, digital clocks and some music systems.
Instruments using SCR in the power supply section behave badly with modified sine wave.
The SCR will consider the sharp corners of the sine wave as trashes and shut OFF the
instrument.

Experiment No. 13: FFT Analysis of PWM Inverters using MATLAB/Simulink Page 4
Sine wave Inverter:
Alternating current has continuously varying voltage, which swings from positive to
negative as shown in Figure 13.4. This has an advantage in power transmission over long
distance. Power from the grid is carefully regulated to get a pure sine wave. Sine wave
radiates the least amount of radio power during long distance transmission. However, it is
expensive to generate sine wave in an inverter. Its quality is excellent and almost all electrical
and electronic appliances work well in sine wave inverter. The major advantage of sine wave
inverter is that all of the household appliances are designed to operate with AC sine wave.

Figure 13.4

Procedure:

Part 1: DC to AC Half-Bridge PWM Inverter

a. Construct the circuit of Figure 13.5 (Half-Bridge PWM inverter) in MATLAB/Simulink

or open the built-in circuit module available in MATLAB/Simulink’s examples.

b. Simulate the circuit and observe the waveforms of output voltage and current. Place the

snapshot of circuit diagram along with output waveforms in the lab report.

c. Do the FFT analysis for the above-mentioned circuit as demonstrated during the lecture.

Record the value of Total Harmonic Distortion (THD) and place the desired snapshots of

harmonics in your lab report.

Experiment No. 13: FFT Analysis of PWM Inverters using MATLAB/Simulink Page 5
 Figure 13.5: DC to AC Half-Bridge PWM Inverter

Part 2: DC to AC Full-Bridge PWM Inverter

a. Construct the circuit of Figure 13.6 (Full-Bridge PWM inverter) in MATLAB/Simulink
or open the built-in circuit module available in MATLAB/Simulink’s examples.
b. Simulate the circuit and observe the waveforms of output voltage and current. Place the
snapshot of circuit diagram along with output waveforms in the lab report.
c. Do the FFT analysis for the above-mentioned circuit as demonstrated during the lecture.
Record the value of Total Harmonic Distortion (THD) and place the desired snapshots of
harmonics in your lab report.

Figure 13.6: DC to AC Full-Bridge PWM Inverter

Experiment No. 13: FFT Analysis of PWM Inverters using MATLAB/Simulink Page 6