Performance of Single-phase DC Drive System Controlled

by Uniform PWM Full-Bridge DC-DC Converter

Abstract- DC drive systems controlled by pulse-width modulation (PWM) techniques
are expected to replace the conventional phase controlled systems. This is due to their
simple control, high reliability, low cost and fast response. This paper presents the
performance of a single-phase dc drive system controlled by uniform PWM full-bridge
dc-dc converter. Two different uniform PWM control techniques are considered; PWM
with bipolar voltage switching and PWM with uni-polar voltage switching. The overall
system is simulated using PSpice where the different modes of operation, circuit voltages
and currents and current harmonic spectrum are presented. The motor performance
characteristics such as current, speed and torque are also presented and discussed. This
paper presents the performance characteristics of a single-phase variable speed dc drive
system controlled by uniform PWM full-bridge dc-dc converter. The system was
examined and simulated for both a uni-polar and a bipolar PWM voltage switching,
where the converter waveforms and the motor performance characteristics were presented
and discussed.
I. INTRODUCTION
Up to now, single-phase and three phase systems have been dominated by thyristor line
frequency phase controlled rectifiers especially in large power ratings. Such converters
have the drawbacks of their poor input power factor especially when the firing angle of
the converter increases and the high harmonic content in the input ac line current due to
its discontinuous nature . Also, the current through phase controlled converters is
Uni directional, while the output voltage can reverse polarity. The two quadrant operation
with the reversible voltage is not suited for dc motor braking, which requires the voltage
to be unidirectional but the current to be reversible. Therefore, if regenerative braking is
required, two back-to-back connected thyristor converters can be used. This, in fact, gives
a capability to operate in all the four quadrants. Forced commutated converters with
PWM control have been developed and offered considerable performance improvements
over phase-controlled converters. For the same armature inductance, the ripple of the load
current and the zone of discontinuous conduction operation are reduced when compared
to conventional converters. Different PWM control techniques were later investigated in
order to reduce the amplitudes of the lower-order harmonics of the line current. PWM
control techniques also allowed the switching frequency to be raised due to the simplicity
of the control strategy and the availability of fast switching devices with reasonably
power ratings. However, this will be on the expense of the increased switching losses.

II. THE SINGLE-PHASE DC DRIVE SYSTEM

CONFIGURATION
Figure 1 shows the circuit diagram the single-phase dc drive system with a full-bridge
dcdc converter. Since the input bridge diode rectifier is uncontrolled, its dc output voltage
is of constant amplitude. The motor voltage can be controlled in magnitude as well as
polarity. Similarly, the magnitude and the direction of the motor current can be
controlled. Therefore, this drive system allows the operation to be in the four quadrants of
V-I plane, and the power flow can be either from the supply to the motor or from the
motor to the supply. Since the dc link current changes direction instantaneously, it is
important that the input to the converter be a dc voltage source with a low internal
impedance. This is achieved by inserting a capacitor filter as shown in Fig. 1 to provide
this low impedance path to the dc input current.

The full-bridge converter consists of two legs; each leg consists of two MOSFET
switches (MI, M2 and M3, &M4) and their respective anti-parallel diodes D1, D2 and
D3, D4). The switches in the same leg cannot be switched-on simultaneously to avoid
short-circuiting the ac supply. In single quadrant dc drive systems, the polarity of the
motor voltage is unidirectional, hence the switching device is pulse-width modulated by
comparing a switching frequency saw-tooth with the control voltage. In contrast, the
motor voltage supplied by bridge converters is reversible in polarity and, therefore a
switching frequency triangular waveform is used for PWM of the converter switches.
In the presented study, two uniform PWM control techniques are considered:

1. PWM with bipolar voltage switching, where switches MI, M4 and M2, M3 are treated
as two switch pairs where each pair of switches is turned on and off simultaneously.
2. PWM with uni-polar voltage switching, where the switches in each leg are controlled
independently of the other leg.

III. UNIFORM PWM DC DRIVE SYSTEM WITH BIPOLAR VOLTAGE

SWITCHlNG.
In this type of PWM control, the switch pairs Ml, M4 and M2, M3 are turned on and off
simultaneously, where one of the two switch pairs is always one. The uniform PWM with
Bipolar voltage switching control strategy is illustrated in Fig.2 for a switching frequency
of 1 kHz. The switching patterns are generated by comparing a triangular carrier
Waveform (Vd with a dc control voltage VJ). For closed loop control, this control voltage
represents the speed feedback signal. The switching patterns are generated in such a way
that when V2V, switches M1 and M4 are turned on otherwise, switches M2 and M3 are
turned on
Studying Fig.2 shows that the duty ratios of the switch pairs are given by:

This shows that the average motor voltage varies linearly with the input
control signal. Also, the motor voltage jumps between positive and negative so that this
switching strategy is referred to as the bipolar voltage switching PWM. It has to be noted
that the duty ratio can be varied between 0 and 1, depending on the magnitude and
polarity of the control voltage. Therefore, V can be continuously varied in a range from -
vd to +vd, while the motor current can be either positive or negative such that the dc
motor can be operated in the four quadrants of the V-I plane. The single-phase dc drive
system of Fig.1 is simulated using PSpice with an exact model of the dc motor. An
Expanded waveform
of the Werent switch currents are shown in Fig.3, where the negative values of currents
correspond to the current carried out by the anti-parallel diode.
The following modes of operation can be identified:

1. Powering mode: The motor current is supplied through M1 and M4 (for positive
motor voltage) or through M2 and M3 (for negative motor voltage).
2. Regenerating mode: When the switches are made off and the energy is returned back
to the supply through diodes D1 and D4 or through D2 and D3.
The motor voltage and current are shown in Fig.4, where the motor
voltage changes between vd and -vd and the motor current has its ripples in the order of
the switching frequency. It has also to be noted that the motor voltage has some ripples of
the order of the supply frequency. The ac supply current and voltage are shown in Fig.5,
while the harmonic spectrum of the supply current is shown in Fig.6 where the first
dominant harmonics appear at the switching frequency (1 kHz).
IV. UNIFORM PWM DC DRIVE SYSTEM WITH UNI-POLAR VOLTAGE
SWITCHING:
In the uniform PWM control technique with unipolar voltage switching, a triangular
waveform is compared with the control voltages V, and -V, to obtain the switching
patterns for the converter switches M1, M2 and M3, W respectively. The switching
patterns are such that when V>V, MI is on, and when -Vc>Vh M3 is on where switches
in the same leg have complement switching patterns. The switching patterns of the
uniform PWM control strategy for unipolar voltage switching are illustrated in
Fig.7.Examining Fig.7 shows that the duty ratios of the switches a1 and a2, and therefore
the output voltage V, are the same as those of the PWM with bipolar voltage switching
where the output voltage varies linearly with the control voltage.

The different switch currents are shown in Fig.8. Therefore, the following modes of
operation can be defined:
1. Powering mode: The motor current is carried out by the switch pair MI and W back to
the supply.
2. Free-wheeling mode: The motor current free-wheels through a power switch and a
diode such as M1, D3 or M3, D1 or M2, D1 or W, D2 where no power is drawn
from the ac supply.
3. Regenerating mode: This mode occurs during light load or breaking conditions where
the energy is returned back to the supply through diodes D1 and D4.

The motor current and voltage and the motor average voltage are shown in
Fig.9, where the motor voltage changes between zero Vc and Vd while the motor current
has ripples in the order of double the switching frequency. The ac supply voltage and
current are shown in Fig.l0. The harmonic spectrum of the supply current is shown in Fig.
11, where the first dominant harmonics appear at twice the switching frequency (2 kHz).

Therefore, if the switching frequency of the two PWM techniques is the

same, then the unipolar voltage switching results in a better output voltage waveform and
in a better frequency response, since the effective switching frequency of the output
voltage is doubled and the ripple is reduced. Also, it has lower rms ripple content in the
output voltage than that with bipolar voltage switching.

The motor current transient response for various values of duty ratios is shown in Fig.12,
where soft starting is achieved when the motor starts at a small duty ratio. The
corresponding speed response is shown in Fig.13. The motor torque-speed curves for
divergent values of duty ratios are shown in Fig. 14.
V. CONCLUSIONS

The performance characteristics of a single-phase dc drive system controlled by uniform

PWM full-bridge dc-dc converter has been presented. Two uniform PWM control
techniques have been investigated. The first one with bipolar voltage switching, while the
second one with unipolar voltage switching. For the same switching frequency, unipolar
voltage switching has a better output voltage waveform, lower rms ripple component in
the output voltage and the dominant harmonics in the ac supply current are shifted at
twice the switching frequency. The dc drive system also has a good transient performance
as the PWM control techniques exhibit a soft starting capability.
References
1) B. Bhat and R. Ghosh, ”Modes of operation, analysis evaluation of optimum filter
inductance for 3-phase fully controlled converter fed dc motor”.

2) M. Kocher and R. Steigenvald,”An ac to dc converter with high quality input

waveforms”.

[3]Rashid,”SPICE for power electronics and electric power”.

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