Analog Electronics Project

Power Inverter
Aim

 To create a power inverter circuit to convert DC to AC

square wave through the use of power mosfets and an
astable multivibrator

 To implement an overcurrent detection in the circuit

using op amps and shunt resistors
Component List

 IRF540N n channel power mosfet

 IRF9540 p channel power mosfet
 BC547B npn transistor
 Diode
 1 ohm 5W resistor
 NE555 timer IC
 LM358 op amp IC
 Resistors
 10K potentiometer
 DC supply
 Capacitors
Classification of The Circuits Used

There are three sub-circuits in our project. They are

 An astable multivibrator producing a constant
frequency 50% duty cycle square wave.

 An H-bridge circuit to facilitate DC to AC conversion.

 A current sense circuit to enable overcurrent detection.

 50% duty cycle square
IC 555 astable pulse
NOT gate
multivibrator using
mode BC547B
DC
supply

H-Bridge
Right
Left side
side
MOSFETS
MOSFETS

Block Diagram of AC signal

Power Inverter
NE555 timer IC as an astable multivibrator

 The 555 timer IC is used to provide a stable square wave

signal of constant frequency and 50% duty cycle.

 The output signal of the 555 timer is used to switch the

mosfets on and off.

 The frequency of the output signal was adjusted to

match that of the AC frequency of commercially
available AC supply.
• The on time of a 555 timer
IC is given by
• Ton = 0.693(R1+R2)*C2
• Toff = 0.693(R1)*C2
• To attain 50% duty cycle
Ton = Toff
• Diodes S1 & S2 are used to
bypass the resistor R1
during charging and
hence the equations
become
• Ton = 0.693(R2)*C2
• Toff = 0.693(R1)*C2
 To obtain 50Hz square wave the value of C2 was fixed to
10uF as per commercially available capacitor value.
 The value of R1 and R2 were determined from the
required on time of 10ms as 1.2K ohm
H Bridge Circuit

 The H bridge is realized using two p channel mosfets for

high side switching and 2 n channel mosfets for lowside
switching.

 P type mosfets turn on when Vgs is pulled to ground.

 N type mosfets turn on when Vgs is pulled up to Vcc.

Working of the H bridge
 To ensure that the two mosfets on the same side do not
turn on at the same time they are given the same signal.

 To facilitate the turning on of the mosfet on the other

side as to provide a complete circuit path the other side
is given an inverted input.

 The transistor Q1 is used to

invert the signal from the
output of the 555 timer.
Current Sense Circuit

 The current sense circuit is used to measure the current

flowing through the circuit in order to detect any
possible overload.

 The method of current sensing used is lower side current

sensing where the shunt resistor is placed near to the
ground in order to have a fixed ground.
 The first op amp is used in the non inverting configuration
to amplify the voltage appearing across the shunt
resistor.

 According to Ohm’s law the voltage across the resistor is

directly proportional to the current through the resistor.

 The output of the first op amp is fed to the second op

amp which is used as a comparator.
 The op amp U1 is used to
amplify the input signal
by a factor of 21.
 The op amp U2 is used as
a comparator and a
reference voltage Vref is
supplied to the inverting
terminal of op amp U2
using a 10K
potentiometer.
 By setting an appropriate
voltage level, when the
voltage at the non
inverting terminal goes
higher than that at
inverting terminal the
output goes high.
Final Circuit Diagram
Results

 A square wave ac signal was successfully generated

from a dc source using an H bridge and an astable
multibibrator.
 The 12V DC was converted to a 20Vpp AC signal.
 An overcurrent detection circuit was also successfully
implemented with a maximum current limit of 1.7A.
Conclusion

 The working principle of a simple power inverter was

successfully demonstrated.
 The design is only to demonstrate the working of a
power inverter.
 All modern power inverters use Sinusoidal Pulse Width
Modulation to achieve a pure sinusoidal AC signal than
a square pulse. They also feature far more circuitry for
feedback mechanisms and protection.
 References
 Great Scott Youtube channel : https://www.youtube.com/user/greatscottlab
 Danyk : http://danyk.cz/menic230_en.html
 H bridges Wikipedia : https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/H_bridge
 Electronics Tutorial : https://www.electronics-tutorial.net/dc-to-ac-inverter/
 Electronics-Tutorial IC 555 tutorial : https://www.electronics-
tutorials.ws/waveforms/555_oscillator.html
 Arduino Forums : https://forum.arduino.cc/