The Analysis of Output filter for Grid Connected Single Phase Full Bridge Inverter Based on PSpice Simulation

Technique
P. Khamphakdi and W. Khan-ngern Faculty of Engineering and Research Center for Communications and Information Technology King Mongkut's Institute of Technology Ladkrabang (KMITL), Bangkok, 10520 Thailand. Phone/Fax: +662 737-3000 Ext.3322, E-mail: kkveerac@kmitl.ac.th, s4061029@kmitl.ac.th

Abstract
This paper presents the analysis of output filter for grid connected single phase full bridge inverter which is SPWM bipolar switching type. Voltage and current output harmonics are analyzed and corrected by low pass filter circuits. LC filter are designed and simulated on PSpice 9.1(student version) simulation technique based on the grid connection regulation in power quality issue. Keywords: Grid connected, inverter, PSpice, filter design

frequency 20-500 kHz is used in different power stages with mainly metal oxide semiconductor field effect transistors (MOSFETs) and insulated gate bipolar transistors (IGBTs) as switching elements for these PV inverter. This paper use single-stage pulse- width modulated (PWM) dc to ac converter topology (H- Bridge), directly coupled to the grid via a low- frequency isolation transformer and filters shown in Fig.1.

1. Introduction
Several governments and utilities worldwide promote the renewable energy such as Photovoltaic (PV), Fuel cell, micro turbines and other conversion technologies for distributed power (DP) generator. In Thailand, the PV station is built on many places of remote area residential, communal building. With the increased utilization of DP connected to the home, these power quality problems are expected to increase [1]. Distortion of sinusoidal voltage and current wave form caused by harmonics from grid connected inverter is one of the major power quality. The passive filters are the most conventional for attenuated the harmonics from the power grid connected inverter because it is easy to use without any addition control part. However, the filter design is quite difficult for calculation and material supports. This paper introduces the low pass filter design for the inverter by calculation and simulation with PSpice student version. This method benefits to reduce the design period.
Vdc filter

Lg

Vgrid

Fig. 1 Grid connected inverter topology 2.2 Inverter controllers and Harmonics [4] The sinusoidal PWM (SPWM) bipolar switching type is the most popular controller for the inverter. Before discussing the harmonics from inverter, it is necessary to define a few terms. The triangular waveform ( vtri ) in Fig 2. is switching frequency f s , which establishes the frequency that the inverter switches are switched. ( f s is also called the carrier or switching frequency). The control signal vcon is used to modulate the switch duty ratio with frequency f1 , which is the desired fundamental frequency of the inverter voltage output ( f1 is also called the modulating frequency), recognizing that the inverter output will not be a perfect sine wave and will contain voltage components at harmonic frequencies of f1 . The amplitude modulation ratio ma is defined as:

2. Theory
2.1 Grid connected Inverter Topology Distributed power and in particular PV inverters are currently based on single-phase self commutated voltage - source inverters for individual households. This inverter consists of different power stages, with high frequency and line- frequency transformers or even tranformerless design [2]. For increasing efficiency reasons, transformers less topologies have been proposed; isolation transformer is required for safety requirement. To comply with the IEC 61000-3-2 standard [3], these inverters use pulse width modulation (PWM) controllers to generate sinusoidal output currents. In practice, switching

ma =

V control

(1)

V tri

Where V control is the peak amplitude of the control

signal. The amplitude V tri of the triangular signal is generally kept constant. The frequency modulation ratio m f is defined as

mf =

fs f1

(2)

The RMS value output voltage of the fundamental frequency component ( Vo1 ) is defined as

2.3 Low pass filters design [5] A general use of a filter is to perform some frequency selective isolation between sources which is viewed as having a range of frequency components and a load to which we want to pass only some of those frequency components and reject others. The transfer function H ( j ) may relate the output and input voltages or current of the filter. In this case, we are concerned with the voltage transfer function relation vout and vin .

H ( j ) =

V out

(4)

V01 = 0.707 maVdc

(3)

Vin
Transfer function of LC filter is

The harmonics in the inverter output voltage waveform appear as sidebands, centered around the switching frequency and its multiples, that is, around harmonics m f , 2 m f ,3 m f and so on. This general pattern holds true for all values of

H ( j ) =

1 (5) LC ( j ) + j L / Rd + 1
2

ma in the range 0-1

The PWM harmonic contents are shown in Fig.3. This is the harmonics pollution. It will be attenuated by low pass filter for comply with standard.
vcontrol vtri

and we are only concerned with the behavior of the magnitude of this transfer function related to the circuit structure as shown in Fig. 4.
iin iout

vs (t )
0 t

vin

Filter

vout

Rd

Source
1 fs

Load

vo

vo1

Fig. 4 Insertion of filter between source and load to modify the spectral components of the source that appears at the load.
Vd t -Vd

Fig. 2 PWM with bipolar voltage switching

The LC filter type is the most often used filter on single phase AC because it is only two elements provides 20 dB/decade. A LC filter often works best in the dc mode if the load has switches, because a large L would face the dc supply and the large capacitor of high quality would provide low impedance for the switching frequency shown in figure 5.

LINE

L1

LOAD C1

Fig. 3 Harmonics of SPWM with bipolar voltage switching (single phase)

Fig. 5 LC filter

3. Filter Calculation Methods [6] The filter design is shown in Fig. 6. First step is finding the best filter type. The second step is calculating the designed impedance from the lowest voltage (Vmin) divided by the highest current (Imax) where is Rd. The third step is to determine the filter cutoff frequency (Fo) following up the block diagram. The fourth step is equating the inductor (L) and capacitor (C) values from the second and the third step using the following equation Rd and fo respectively.
1. Find the Filter type

2. Calculate the design impedance form Rd = Vmin/Imax

3. Determine f0 3.1 Frequency at needs loss = f 3.2 Cut off frequency =

f0 =

f 2
dB / L

L = loss per octave for filter (12N) N = number of filters in tandem dB = loss required

4. Equate the component values

Rd 2 f 0 1 C= 2 f 0 Rd L=

5. Simulation with PSpice 5.1 Time domain mode show V, I, THDi, THDv 5.2 Frequency domain mode show frequency response 5.3 FFT mode show harmonics changing

16. The third part is Fast Fourier Transform (FFT) mode to show harmonics variation. If the harmonics attenuation is not enough, it will be redesigned. This paper shows the case study of filter design. The power condition can be seen in the Fig. 17 such as Vmin (Vo) = 56V, Imax (Io) = 5.3A, Rd = 10 . About filter design can be seen in the Fig. 6. Voltage and current waveform of output inverter without filter are shown in Fig.7. The harmonics and sideband spectra at switching frequency are shown in Fig. 8. These harmonic will be attenuated, so the frequency at need loss is 25 kHz (f = 25 kHz). The harmonic peak (Vo) is 76.45 V. The measured needed loss is 38 dB (20log (Vo)) and added 6 dB for head room [6], so loss required is 44 dB. The LC filter is selected, N = 2, fo = 7.2kHz, L = 0.22 mH, C = 2.2 uF. After that, the filter is simulated by the PSpice program. 4. Simulation with PSpice 9.1 (student version) THDi and THDv from simulation of inverter without filter are 24.2% and it should be less than 2% [1] The result from filter calculation methods are simulated on PSpice program. The LC filter is simulated. The simulated results in time response are shown on Fig. 8, Vorms = 56 V and Iorms = 5.3 A. Voltage and current waveforms with filter are improved. The THDv and THDi are deceased from 24% to 0.27% as shown in Fig. 9. The ac sweep mode is used as a source to see frequency response of filter as shown in Fig. 10, cut off frequency at 7.2 kHz. It can attenuate at 40 dB/decade. The FFT of inverter output voltage at 25 kHz is deceased from 76.45 V (in Fig.7) to 6.9 V (in Fig.11). The insertion loss of the filter is 20 dB. The load impedance (Rd) is changed value, less or more than the designed Rd, as shown in Fig. 12. When Rd is 100 , the overshooting is appeared. It causes voltage gain at cut off frequency about 20 dB and the spectrum at cut off frequency is increased from 11.2 mV to be 102.7 mV as shown in Fig. 13-14, respectively. On the other hand, while Rd is 1 , it causes voltage attenuation at cut off frequency, -20 dB and the spectrum at cut off frequency is deceased to be 3.2 mV as shown in Fig. 15.

Fig.6 Block diagram of filter design [6] Finally, the fifth step is to simulate with a PSpice program. It composes of three parts. The first part is time response of filter by operation in transient mode, as shown in Fig. 17 to check the harmonics attenuation and observe voltage and current waveforms. The second part is frequency responses of filter by operation in AC sweep mode as shown in Fig.

Fig.7 Transient response mode shows output voltage and current waveform without filter.

Fig.8 The FFT of inverter output voltage without filter. The frequency at needs loss (f), f =25 kHz and the value is 76.45 V.

Fig.11 Spectrum of output voltage at f = 25 kHz, deceased to 6.9 V.

Fig.9 Output voltage and current waveforms of inverter with filter. Cut off frequency at fo= 7.2 kHz, L = 0.22 mH , C = 2.2 F , THD v= 0.27%, THDi = 0.27%

Fig.12 Frequency response of the LC filter by impedance variation. At fo= 7.2 kHz, Rd = 1 (attenuation = -20dB), Rd =10 (attenuation = 0dB) Rd = 100 (gain = 20 dB).

Fig.10 AC sweeps mode shows the frequency response of the LC filter. fo = 7.2 kHz, (Attenuation= 40 dB/decade).

Fig.13 Harmonic spectrum at 7.2 kHz, Rd = 10 , V7.2 kHz =11.2mV, THDv ,THDi = 0.27%

6. Conclusions The output filter for grid connected single full bridge inverter using LC filter designed step-by-step is presented. It is calculated following up the diagram and simulated by PSpice program where the calculating model is proposed to suit with both power quality and EMI issues. The voltage and currents harmonics are a good agreement with standard. The Pspice program is easy to use for studying and analyzing the basic filter. It helps to decease the time of filter design. Fig.14. Harmonic spectrum at 7.2 kHz, Rd = 100 , V7.2 kHz = 102.7 mV, THDv,THDi = 0.23%. 7. Reference: [1] Johan H. R. Enslin, Peter J. M. Heskes, Harmonic Interaction Between a Large Number of Distributed Power Inverters and the Distribution Network, IEEE transactions on power electronics, vol. 19, No. 6, November 2004. [2] G. J. Naaijer, Tranformer-less inverter cuts photovoltaic system losses, Electronics, pp. 121122, Aug.1980. [3] Limit for harmonics current emissions (equipment input current 16A per phase), 2004 [4] Ned Mohan,Tore M. Undeland, William P. Robbins, Power Electronics converters, Applications, and Design, Third EditionJohn Wiley & Sons, INC. [5] Clayton R. Paul, Anaysis of Linear circuits,Mcgraw-Hill international editions, electrical engineering series. [6] Richard Lee Ozenbaugh, EMI Filter Design, Marcel Dekker, INC. [7] Mark J. Nave,Power Line Filter Design For Swithced Mode Power Suppies, Van Nostrand Reinhold, New York. Mr. Pracha Khamphakdi, He received the degree of B.Eng. from King Mongkuts Institute of Technology Ladkrabang (KMITL) in 2001. He is working forward to M. Eng. at KMITL. His research interest is grid connected inverter and EMI on power converter Assoc. Prof. Dr. Werachet Khanngern, He received the degree of B.Eng. and M.Eng. from King Mongkuts Institute of Technology Ladkrabang (KMITL) in 1982 and 1988, respectively. He received his Ph.D. and DIC from Imperial Collage of Science, Technology and Medicine, the University of London in 1997 in the area of power electronics. He is also a technical committee no. 890: in EMC for the Ministry of Industry. Dr. Khan-ngern continues his research in the area of EMI & EMC and Power Electronic System.

Fig. 15 Harmonic Spectrum at 7.2 kHz, Rd = 1 , V7.2 kHz = 3.2 mV, THDv, THDi = 1.2 % 5. Results Analysis The PSpice simulation results can help to design and analyze the filter characteristic. The FFT of inverter output voltage shows the spectrum at 25 kHz with insertion loss about 20 dB. The unwanted harmonics output voltage of inverter have small value (THD < 2%) [1] enough to connect the grid, even though the waveform not pure sinusoidal waveform. Because some low order harmonics are appeared, the designers want to get rid of these harmonics. However, the criterion sets the cut off at least 10 times of the line frequency [6]. The load impedance is changed value more than designed Rd. It causes damping and harmonic at cut off frequency increased. In contrast, its value less than designed Rd, the harmonic at cut off frequency is deceased. These results are caused by quality factor (Q) of filter. If the Q is high, it will affect conducted emission resulting in an increase of conducted emission at the resonant frequency [7], so the concept and control of Q are very important in filter design with considering to the load impedance (Rd ). About types of filter example Pi, T, other L filter design, they can be used by this step, but the Pi and T filter have the loss per octave for filter is (2N+1)6 [6]. In the practical design, it will meet the problem about materials or component of filters such as component parasitic. This problem may be a black magic for filter design. The simulation program can be used for the filter design with a reasonable modeling.

Fig.16 Filter circuit for AC Sweep mode (Pts/Decade = 101, start freq = 1Hz, End Freq=1 MHz)

Fig.17 SPWM bipolar voltage switching inverter circuit for Pspice simulation (Power Condition for simulation Vdc = 100V, ma = 0.8, Vo = 56V, P0 = 300W, I0 = 5.3A Rd=10 , ftri = 25kHz, fcon = 50Hz)