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A New Switching Strategy for Pulse Width Modulation (PWM) Power Converters
Kyu Min Cho, Member, IEEE, Won Seok Oh, Member, IEEE, Young Tae Kim, Member, IEEE, and Hee Jun Kim, Member, IEEE

AbstractThis paper presents a new switching strategy for pulse width modulation (PWM) power converters. Since the proposed strategy uses independent on/off switching action of the upper or lower arm according to the polarity of the current, the dead time is not needed except instant of current polarity change. Therefore, it is not necessary to compensate the dead time effect and the possibility of arm short is strongly eliminated. The current control of PWM power converters can easily adopt the proposed switching strategy by using the polarity information of the reference current instead of the real current, thus eliminating the problems that commonly arise from real current detection. In order to conrm the usefulness of the proposed switching strategy, experimental tests were done using a single-phase inverter with passive loads, a three-phase inverter for induction motor drives, a threephase ac/dc PWM converter, a three-phase active power lter, and a class-D amplier, the results of which are presented in this paper. Index TermsDead time effect, power converters, pulse width modulation, switching strategy.

I. INTRODUCTION OWER conversion technology has recently been undergoing technological advances, greatly improving the efciency of power semiconductor devices that utilize such technology. Thus, enhancing energy usage efciency is also causing an increase in the demands of variable drive system of motors that use inverters, affecting the area of consumer electronics and other related industries. The usage of the three-phase ac/dc pulse width modulation (PWM) converter and the three-phase active power lter has also increased to maintain the high quality of the power source line. Generally, dead time is applied within switching signals to prevent shorting the circuit of the dc voltage source in using the bridge-type PWM power converter. This causes output voltage differences and phase deviations between reference and real values. To avoid causing detrimental effects to the control performance, it is necessary to compensate the dead time effects for the high performance, such as the vector control of the ac motor.
Manuscript received October 2, 2004; revised May 22, 2006. Abstract published on the Internet November 30, 2006. K. M. Cho is with the Department of Information and Communications, Yuhan College, Pucheon 422-749, Korea. W. S. Oh is with the Department of Electrical Engineering, Yuhan College, Pucheon 422-749, Korea. Y. T. Kim is with the Department of Electrical Engineering, Wonju National College, Wonju 220-711, Korea. H. J. Kim is with the Division of Electrical and Computer Engineering, Hanyang University, Kyunggi-Do 425-791, South Korea (e-mail:hjkim@hanyang.ac.kr). Digital Object Identier 10.1109/TIE.2006.888793

There are two ways to solve the dead time effect: the dead time compensation method and the dead time suppression method. There are many methods for dead time compensation [1][5]. Some of these methods are very useful in practical applications. Besides requiring a powerful microprocessor, such as a digital signal processing, however, such methods could not reduce the possibility of arm short in alternative switching. On the other hand, the methods for dead time suppression or minimization, which could fundamentally avoid the dead time effect, are suggested in [6] and [7]. In these methods, not only unnecessary switching actions but also the dead time is cancelled by using the independent on/off switching action of the upper or lower arm according to the polarity of the current. Therefore, the dead time compensation is not required for these methods. There are some drawbacks, however, in the practical use of [6], such as arm short at the instant of current polarity change. Moreover, small noise and current surge may cause the unexpected operation of the checking circuit for the current chattering, thus failing to produce switching signals. Finally, current intermittence usually occurs at the instant when current polarity changes in using the dead time minimization method of [7] because the method adopts sufcient threshold level in polarity detecting of real current and applies dead time from the instant of current polarity change. In order to reduce the current intermittence, another method is also proposed in [7], which adopts conventional switching method with the dead time around zero current. In that case, dead time compensation is needed. This paper presents a new switching strategy for PWM power converters. Since the proposed strategy uses independent on/off switching action of the upper or lower arm according to the polarity of the current, the dead time is not needed except instant of current polarity change. Therefore, it is not necessary to compensate the dead time effect and the possibility of arm short is strongly eliminated. And the current control of PWM power converters can easily adopt the proposed switching strategy by using the polarity information of the reference current instead of the real current, thus eliminating the problems that commonly arise from real current detection. In this paper, the detailed switching strategy of the proposed method is presented and the results of the experiment on the proposed switching strategy for the current control of a singlephase inverter with a passive load, a three-phase inverter for induction motor drives, a three-phase ac/dc PWM converter, a three-phase active power lter, and a class-D amplier are shown.

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Fig. 1. One arm of the bridge-type converter. Fig. 3. Diagrams of the conventional dead time minimization method.

Fig. 2. Diagrams of the typical switching method.

II. A NEW SWITCHING STRATEGY A. Conventional Switching Method Fig. 1 shows one arm of the bridge-type power converter. of Typically, dead time is applied between switching signal and switching signal of to prevent switching device shorting the circuit of the converter arm, as shown in Fig. 2. is negative, however, is not activated alIn case current is applied because ows through though switching signal , if the current is continuous. Thus, the freewheeling diode is useless. In case the current is positive, switching signal switching signal is also insignicant for the same reason. If the polarity information of the current were known, therefore, the useless switching signal and the dead time would be cancelled. B. Dead Time Suppression Method Fig. 3 shows the switching pattern of the dead time suppression method. Dead time is applied within arm selection signal and from the instant that real current reaches the predetermined threshold level. This method works in the same way as the bank selection method for noncirculating-current-type cycloconverter does. Normally, the noncirculating-current-type cycloconverter is composed of positive bank converter that works in the positive current mode and negative bank converter that works in the negative current mode. Since we have to apply sufcient dead time to prevent the bank short in every instant of current polarity change, the current intermittence is occurred. Thus, the circulating-current-type cycloconverter is used to eliminate the current intermittence. As the same reason, the dead time suppression method still has as well as problem in the polarity changing instant detection of the real current and drawback of current intermittence. C. Proposed Switching Strategy Fig. 4 shows the basic diagrams of the proposed switching and represent current polarities, and strategy, where

Fig. 4. Diagrams of the proposed method.

are gate signals of the upper arm and lower arm, reand for the upper arm is spectively. Basically, the gate signal for applied when the current is positive and the gate signal the lower arm is applied when the current is negative. Thus, we have to know the polarity information of the current. Therefore, the dead time is not needed except instant of current polarity change. In order to prevent the arm short at the instant of current polarity change, dead time is needed. Since the dead time is prepared from the negative edge of the last gate signal instead of the negative edge of the ag signal that means the current is positive, the applied dead time duration should be eior zero. It can be seen ther less than the prepared dead time that the applied dead time is zero in the case of Fig. 4. Of course, sometimes the dead time will be applied at once in every polarity changing of the current. However, at that time the current is almost zero and the dead time effect is negligible. As a result, dead time compensation is no longer required while reducing the possibility of current intermittence and arm short. D. Detailed Scheme of the Gating Signal Generation The specic timing diagram for the generation of the proposed switching signal is presented in Fig. 5. After taking logic and , and can be derived. At every AND of and falling edge of these signals, the appropriate dead time are prepared. The gating signals of the upper and lower arms are then generated by (1) and (2) (1) (2) In Fig. 5, it can be seen that the dead time has been applied in Point A. The applied dead time is either the same as the prepared dead time or smaller. In Point Bs case, it can be seen that the

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Fig. 5. Specic timing diagrams for the proposed gating signal generation.

Fig. 6. An example circuit for the proposed switching strategy.

Fig. 8. Operating region without applied dead time.

Fig. 7. Diagrams at the polarity changing instant.

dead time has not been applied. In many cases, the dead time has not been applied. Fig. 6 shows an example circuit to generate the gating signals. It can be constructed simply with some additional ICs on the typical gating signal generator of conventional switching method with dead time. E. Characteristics of the Proposed Method If the increasing ratio and decreasing ratio of the current are similar in the short duration near the polarity changing instant, (3) is satised, as shown in Fig. 7 (3)

Fig. 9. The reference and real currents with the proposed gating signals in the current control system.

where is the duration of last gating signal for the upper is the free-wheeling duration. At the end of freearm and wheeling duration, gating signal for the lower arm has to be applied for supplying negative current. Thus the sufcient condition that does not require dead time is given by (4) where denotes the prepared dead time.

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Fig. 10. 100-Hz sine wave current response. (a) A case of 20-kHz switching. (b) A case of 200-kHz switching.

Fig. 11. Gating signals at the current polarity changing. (a) A case of 5-kHz switching. (b) A case of 200-kHz switching.

Fig. 12. Current waveforms in the case of 0.1-rpm drives. (a)Three-phase current waveform. (b) Encoder pulse waveform.

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When the triangular PWM is adopted, assume that the discan be represented by placement angle is , (5) where denotes the sampling period and represent the modulation index of the inverter output. Equation (5) is not affected from the back EMF of active load. From (4) and (5) we get (6) Thus, the sufcient condition that satisfy (6) for all range of , is given by (7) We can assume because the dead time, is very short compare with the sampling period, . Thus (7) can be modied as follows:

(8) Finally, (8) is represented using the displacement power factor as follows: (9) Fig. 8 shows the operating region without the applied dead time, which is evaluated according to the modulation index and load displacement power factor in the case of the single-phase inverter, which adopts triangular PWM. It can be seen that the dead time is not applied over the wide region even at the instant of current polarity change. Therefore, the dead time compensation is no more needed and the possibility of arm short is almost eliminated. F. Usefulness of the Proposed Switching Strategy for the Current Control System Current control is required in many applications of PWM power converters. In fact, current control systems are built-in in PWM power converters for situations that demand the highest performance, such as in the vector control system of ac motor drives, the ac/dc PWM converter system, and in the active power lter system for high-quality source line condition. Existing current control systems can easily adopt the proposed switching strategy that uses the polarity information of the reference current instead of the real current. Fig. 9 shows the reference current and real current with gating signals in the case of the proposed switching strategy. It can be seen that current control should be performed correctly and efciently to eliminate problems arising from real current detection.

Fig. 13. Current waveforms in variable speed drives. (a) A case of step speed changing of 600 rpm and 60 rpm. (b) A case of alternative drive of 600-rpm starting and dc breaking. (c) In steady states at 600 rpm. (d) In steady states at 3000 rpm.

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Fig. 15. Waveforms and spectra of the active power lter. (a) Waveforms of the converter current, the reference and real lter currents, and the input source current. (b) Spectra of the input source current. Fig. 14. Waveforms and spectra of the ac/dc PWM converter. (a) Waveforms of source voltage, input current, and output voltage. (b) Spectra of the input source current.

III. EXPERIMENT RESULTS Experiments were performed to verify the validity of the proposed switching strategy. The results of the experiment on the proposed switching strategy for the current control of a singlephase inverter with a passive load, a three-phase inverter for the induction motor drive, a three-phase ac/dc PWM converter, a three-phase active power lter, and a class-D amplier are presented below. A. Single Phase Inverter With Passive Loads The proposed switching strategy was applied to the current control of a single-phase inverter. A passive load with parameters of 2 mH and 8 was used. Fig. 10 shows a 100-Hz sine wave current response with a maximum current of 6 A in the cases of 20-kHz switching and 200-kHz switching. It can be seen that the current control of the inverter was done in good order, especially in the case of the

200-kHz switching, in which the real current produced a perfect sinusoidal wave. Fig. 11 shows the gating signals when the current polarity was changed. The proposed switching strategy is very useful for high-frequency switching, as shown in Fig. 11(b). B. Three-Phase Inverter for Induction Motor Drives The dc link voltage of 200 V and switching frequency of 15 kHz were adopted in the three-phase PWM inverter for various ac motor drives. Fig. 12(a) shows the three-phase current waveform of the inverter and Fig. 12(b) shows the pulse waveform of the rotary encoder in the case of 0.1-rpm drives. It can be observed that even speed drives as low as 0.1 rpm produce perfect current waveforms. Fig. 13 shows current waveforms in variable speed drives. The current control for motor drives was very well achieved. It can be seen that there is no current intermittence at the instant that current polarity changes, under the active load such as motor drive.

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Fig. 16. Waveforms and spectra of the 1-kHz rectangular response. (a) Waveforms of the reference and real currents. (b) Spectra of the reference and real currents.

Fig. 17. Waveforms and octave analysis of music reproduction. (a) Waveforms of the reference and real currents. (b) Octave analysis of the reference and real currents.

C. Three-Phase AC/DC PWM Converter Fig. 14 shows the results of the experiment on the three-phase ac/dc PWM converter where the proposed switching strategy was applied. The parameters of the converter were 15-kHz switching frequency, 100-V input source voltage, 3-mH input lter inducoutput lter capacitance, 200-V output dc voltage, 250tance, and 50- load resistance. The input voltage and current waveforms were in phase and the input source current was sinusoidal, as shown in Fig. 14(a). Fig. 14(b) shows the input source current and its harmonic spectra. It was found that the total harmonic distortion (THD) of the input source current was only a small percentage through 200 harmonic orders. It can be seen that the current control of the ac/dc PWM converter was well done. D. Three-Phase Active Power Filter The experiment made on the three-phase active power lter was meant to check the reactive power compensation of the thyristor converter and was performed using the proposed

switching strategy. The system parameters were 100-V input line voltage, 3-mH lter inductance of the active lter input stage, 15-kHz switching frequency, 250- dc link capacitance, and 250-V dc link voltage, and the RL loads of the thyristor converter were 25 and 10 mH, respectively. Fig. 15(a) shows the waveforms of the thyristor converter input current, the reference and real currents of the active power lter, and the compensated input source current. It was observed that the real current follows the reference current well, while the resultant compensated current of the input source has a sinusoidal waveform. Fig. 15(b) represents the spectra of the input source current waveform showing excellent compensation characteristics. E. Class-D Audio Amplier In order to verify the effectiveness of the proposed switching strategy in the extra-high-frequency operation, a current-controlled class-D stereo amplier using a three-phase full bridge circuit was built and tested. The maximum switching frequency was set at 500 kHz.

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Fig. 16(a) shows the 1-kHz rectangular response and Fig. 16(b) shows the spectra of the reference and real currents, showing an excellent response over the audible frequency band. Fig. 17(a) represents the music sound reproduction response. The octave analysis of the music sound signals shown in Fig. 17(b) conrmed that original sound was reproduced well, with the reference sound wave matching the real sound wave.

IV. CONCLUSION In this paper, a new switching strategy for the PWM power converters is proposed. It is not necessary to compensate the dead time effect and the possibility of arm short is strongly eliminated. From the results of an experiment for the current control of a single-phase inverter with a passive load, a three-phase inverter for induction motor drives, a three-phase ac/dc PWM converter, a three-phase active power lter, and a class-D amplier, the validity and viability of the proposed strategy were conrmed. The proposed switching strategy is especially efcient in elds of current control system in which the polarity information of the reference current can be used without the problems entailed by real current detection. Moreover, even in cases of extra-high-frequency switching operation, good switching performance is still possible, underlining the viability of the proposed switching strategy for practical applications.

Kyu Min Cho (M06) was born in Seoul, Korea, in 1961. He received the B.S., M.S., and Ph.D. degrees in electrical engineering from Inha University, Incheon, Korea, in 1985, 1991, and 1994, respectively. Since 1995, he has been with Yuhan College, Pucheon, Korea, where he is currently a professor of the Department of Information and Communications. His research interests include communications power supply, electronic ballasts, switching techniques of power converters, and high-frequency power source for plasma applications. Dr. Cho is a member of the Korean Institute of Electrical Engineers, the Institute of Electronics Engineers of Korea, and the Korean Institute of Power Electronics.

Won Seok Oh (M88) was born in Seoul, Korea, in 1962. He received the B.S., M.S., and Ph.D. degrees in electrical engineering from Hanyang University, Seoul, Korea, in 1985, 1987, and 1994, respectively. Since 1994, he has been with Yuhan College, Pucheon, Korea, where he is currently a Professor of the Department of Electrical Engineering. From 2001 to 2002, he was with the University of Tennessee, Knoxville, as a Visiting Scholar. His research interests include switching techniques of power converters, and motor control applications. Dr. Oh is a member of the Korean Institute of Electrical Engineers, the Institute of Electronics Engineers of Korea, and the Korean Institute of Power Electronics

REFERENCES
[1] T. Sugegawa, K. Mizuno, T. Matui, and T. Okuyama, Fully digital vector-controlled PWM VSI-fed AC drives with an inverter dead time compensation strategy, IEEE Trans. Ind. Appl., vol. 27, no. 3, pt. MayJun., pp. 522559, 1991. [2] S.-G. Jeong and M.-H. Park, The analysis and compensation of dead time effects in PWM inverters, IEEE Trans. Ind. Electron., vol. 38, no. 2, pp. 108114, 1991. [3] J.-W. Choi and S.-K. Sul, A new compensation strategy reducing voltage/current distortion in PWM VSI systems operating with low output voltages, IEEE Trans. Ind. Appl., vol. 31, no. 5, pp. 10011008, 1995. [4] D. Leggate and R. J. Kerman, Pulse-based dead time compensator for PWM voltage inverters, in Conf. Rec. IEEE IECON, 1995, vol. 1, pp. 474481. [5] W. S. Oh, Y. T. Kim, and H. J. Kim, Dead time compensation of a current-controlled inverter using the space vector modulation method, Int. J. Electron., vol. 80, no. 2, pp. 277289, 1996. [6] R. P. Joshi and B. K. Bose, Base/gate drive suppression of inactive power devices of a voltage-fed inverter and precision synthesis of AC voltage and DC link current waves, in Conf. Rec. IEEE IECON, 1990, pp. 10341040. [7] J.-S. Choi, J.-Y. Yoo, S.-W. Lim, and Young-Seok, A novel dead time minimization algorithm of the PWM inverter, in Conf. Rec. IEEE IAS, 1999, vol. 4, pp. 21882193.

Young Tae Kim (M88) was born in Seoul, Korea, in 1960. He received the B.S., M.S., and Ph.D. degrees in electrical engineering from Hanyang University, Seoul, Korea, in 1984, 1989, and 1996, respectively. Since 1997, he has been with Wonju National College, Wonju, Korea, where he is currently a Professor in the Department of Electrical Engineering. His research interests include switching techniques of power converters, and motor control applications. Dr. Kim is a member of the Korean Institute of Electrical Engineers, the Institute of Electronics Engineers of Korea, and the Korean Institute of Power Electronics

Hee Jun Kim (M88) was born in Jeju, Korea, in 1954. He received the B.S. and M.S. degrees in electronics engineering from Hanyang University, Seoul, Korea, in 1976 and 1978, respectively, and the Ph.D. degree in electronics engineering from Kyushu University, Kyushu, Japan, in 1986. Since 1987, he has been with the School of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science, Hanyang University, Ansan, Korea, where he is currently a Professor. From 1991 to 1992, he was with the Virginia Polytechnic Institute and state University, Blacksburg, as a Visiting Scholar. Since 1988, he has been a Technical Advisor with the Dong-Ah Elecomm Company, Korea. His Fields of interest include switching power converters, electronic ballasts, soft switching techniques, and analog signal processing. Dr. Kim is a Fellow of the Korean Institute of Electrical Engineers, the Institute of Electronics Engineers of Korea, and the Korean Institute of Power Electronics.