Single Phase Sine-Wave Inverter with High DC Bus Utilization Using Natural Compensation

In this paper, a new fixed frequency single phase sine-wave inverter topology - having high DC bus utilization - is presented. The main inverter uses six IGBT switches operating at low frequency in over-modulation mode to create a five-level voltage waveform; thus, having low switching losses with high DC bus utilization. A series active power filter (SAPF) using power MOSFETs helps to remove the major harmonic voltages. No isolated DC power supply is required across the SAPF that works on a simple feed-forward compensation (instead of feedback), based on the principle of natural compensation. The DC bus voltage needed for the SAPF is about half of the inverter, thus the SAPF has low switching loss even at the designated switching frequency. The switching frequency components of the SAPF remain in the output as they are not compensated, necessitating the use of a small filter at the output to attenuate them, to create a low total harmonic distortion output voltage with higher fundamental compared to the conventional schemes using Sinusoidal Pulse Width Modulation. The proposed inverter is suitable for fixed frequency backup power supply or other applications like renewable energy connection to the power grid.