Summary: | In single-phase inverter systems (grid-connected, Uninterrupted Power Supply systems or motor drives), the high quality Total Harmonic Distortion (THD) factor must always be considered, along with the utilization rate of the DC link. In cases when the supplying DC voltage is reduced, the output voltage can still be assured constant in a limited range by using over-modulation. Unfortunately, this operation incurs fundamental frequency related higher order harmonics’ force (especially the third is dominant) into the inverter output voltage, which is a huge drawback in almost all applications. This paper provides a comprehensive spectrum analysis of three-level output voltage in a single-phase inverter working in over-modulation regime. The output voltage is generated by triangular Sinusoidal Pulse-Width Modulation (SPWM) and, based on the analytical results of a frequency spectrum evaluation, the opposite third harmonic component in the modulator unit forces this component in the output voltage close to zero. Other remaining higher harmonics can be attenuated more easily by using a smaller filter. Although the voltage gain of the fundamental harmonic component is lower at higher over-modulation, such a solution assures lower THD in the wide inverter’s working range. The proposed SPWM procedure was validated experimentally.
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