Calculation of Power Loss in Soft Commutated PWM Inverters

A. Cheritil,K.Al-Haddad*, D.Mukhedkarl
&ole Polytechnique, Universite de MontrCal
C.P. 6079, Succ. A., Montreal (Qu6bec) H3C 3A7
&le de technologie suphiewe
4750. avenue Henri-Julien, Montreal (Quebec) H2T 2C8
TA.:(514)289-8874 Fax : (514)289-8950

-
Abstract In this paper the basic operation Power transisrors
of the soft commutated PWM inverter (SCPI)
and the auxiliary resonant commutated pole Power darlington transistors type Motorola MJ10016,
inverter (ARCPI) will be first reviewed. After 50 A, 500 V.
a more detailed description of the various loss Fall time : t f = 1 ps
mechanisms that arise in these configurations, Rate of current rise at turn-on di/dt = 40 A/ps
a theoretical estimation for a specific The collector emitter saturation voltage VSat taken from
application of all the losses will be given.
Finally, efficiency of these resonant the manufacturer data sheet shown in Figure 1 and can be
configurations will be compared to the approximated by :
efficiency of a hard switched P W M inverter Vsat = VCE + RCIC (1)
(HSPI). where VCE = 1.42 and & = 0.035
The W E vs IC characteristic is used instead of the VCE
I. lNTRODUCI?ON vs IC characteristic because the transistor operates in
antisaturation mode where VCE is forced to equal VBE at
Soft commutated DC/AC converters, based on the each instant.
principle of zero voltage switching (ZVS), have some
interesting features such as high frequency operation, low Power diodes
dv/dt and low EMI.
Since the concept of resonant DC link inverter Fast recovery power rectifiers, Motorola 1N3903,20A.
(RDCLI)[l]was first applied to an AC drive, numerous 400 V. The forward voltage drop given by the data sheet
articles have been published on the DC link approach [2-51. (Fig. 2) (for Tj = 25OC) can be approximated by :
Though, the RDCLI has the problem of subharmonics
generation due to the discrete pulse modulation and the V F = VD + RDIf (2)
problem of voltage stress (minimum of 1.4 p.u [3]),its where VD = 1.2 and RD = 0.008
overall efficiency is higher than a hard switched PWM Similarly, the recovered stored charge QR (Fig. 3) and
inverter(HSP1) [6]. the recovery time tn (Fig. 4) can be closely approximated
The soft commutated PWM inverter (SCPI) [7] and the for a di/dt = 40 A/p by :
auxiliary resonant commutated pole inverter (ARCPI) [8] Q&C) = -0.00131: + 0.5203 If + 15.28
have been introduced recently. In these converters the (3)
voltage stress is equal to the supply voltage and PWM t,,(ns)= -0.05911; + 7.12 If +362.16 (4)
technique which has found wide acceptance for controlling
harmonics content in power converters can be simply used. r w n ia - YY w i n i m ~ . w n a x wYOLIIO~

Both topologies use either ZVS or zero current switching

(ZCS) technique but they are not completely free of losses.
In fact, some switching losses are still present and
conduction losses are higher than the HSPI.
Since efficiency is a major objective in designing a
power converter, the primary intent of this paper is
therefore to outline and to evaluate each topology's loss
mechanisms. Using data from the commercially available
semiconductordevices, conduction and switching losses are Fig.1 Saturation voltage VI Fig.2 Diode forward voltage
collector current for the drop VI Ip
estimated, at different values of the modulation index, for
MJ10016
an output signal period. Total losses and efficiency of the
SCPI and the ARCPI will be compared to the efficiency of
the HSPI. III. HARD SWlTCHEDPWM INVERTER
A hard switched PWM circuit is shown in Fig. 5 and
II. SEMI"DUCT0RS CHARACTERISTICS ideal waveforms for a transistor switching an inductive load
are sketched in Fig. 6 and Fig. 7. During turn-on, the
The characteristics of the semiconductors used for loss
transistor is forced to switch from zero current to full value of
calculations are given next
load current and diode reverse current before its voltage can

782
begin to fall from the full value E. Similarly. during tum-
off, the voltage must complete its rise before the current can Assuming that :
begin its fall. - the load current has a constant amplitude Io during a
OR
bel:
switching cycle,
- all the resistive losses are negligible,
Bw
- the turn-off time tf is constant,
MO - thedi/dtisfixed
roo Conduction losses
,m Because of the half wave symmetry, conduction losses
are estimated for a half cycle as :
,@
* " 1 . a I ...
d l y dl 1blu.l
loo I ..yo, > .:a, I 4 *I
id
dlY,dt l l ' y i l
(x + $1/A0
Fig.3 Recovered stored charge Fig'4 dildt b I - d = l C Vsat Io tpw
QR vs di/dt Td2 i=+/L\e
where :
I, = Im sin (e - $)
To = is the period of the output signal
A 0 = 2~'T
TO
Replacing equations (l), (5) and (7)into (6) :
Fig.5 Hard switched PWM inverter

(1, sin 8 - $) -k a sin e A 0

2

0 (9)

Fig.6 Typical tum-on waveforms

for the HSPI
Fig.7 Typical tum-off waveforms
for the HSPI
RC 1% + a cos $1 (10)
Similar analysis applies for D2 and conduction losses &e
In such a circuit, losses result from : found :
conduction of Ti and D2;
turn-off of TI;
turn-on of Ti and reverse recovery of D2. R D 4I ~4l - ~3xa c o s $ ].
A sinusoidal current source of variable amplitude Im is
employed to simulate an induction motor. The load current
lags the fundamental of the output voltage by a constant Turn-off losses
angle of 36O which corresponds to a power factor of 0.8.
The duty cycle varies from 0.1 to 0.9 and a maximum Assuming h e a r current and voltage variations, the energy
output power of 3.5 kW is obtained. loss at turn-off is seen to be :
The regular sampling technique is used because the
pulse widths can be derived from a simple trigonometric (12)
. I

function. The pulse width may be defined as : Power turn-off loss for a whole cycle is equal to :
tpw = 1 (1 + a sin e) Tt (n+ (PYA0
2 (9 hum-off = - 1 %~,sin(e -+)
e =mot TO/2 i = q / A Q (13)
where oois the angular frequency of the output signal, Tt
is the period of the triangular carrier wave and a is the
modulation index.

783
 This configuration operates according to 9 sequences
shown in Figure 9. Typical waveform of inductor current
is given in Figure 10.
It is assumed that the turn-on loss and the loss due to
the reverse recovery of diodes are negligible.
where ft is the carrier frequency. Losses present in this converter are :
conduction losses due to the on-state of the
Turn-on losses : semiconductors.
turn-off losses due to the turn-off of T1 and T2.
When Ti is turned on while D2 is conducting the inductive resistive losses due to the resistance of the inductor
load current, current through Ti rises to the level of Io at a element.
rate determined by the switching characteristics of TI.
Current through D2 reverses (Fig.6) and continues to
circulate until the charge stored in D2 is recovered. At this
time, voltage across T1 falls to zero. Energy loss during
turn-on is thus :
Emm-on = 1E10 tr + EIotm + EQR
2 (16)
where :
tr =A
Wdt
Total turn-on switchin power loss :

Pturn-on = - 1
TO/2
(n + $ L O
c
i=$IAO
$4; tr + trr) + QR)

(71 -@be
2 (ImSin(e-+~~tr+trr)+QR)Ae
i = $lAO (17) Fig. 9 Equivalent circuits for the SCPI sequences
Due to the variation of Qr (3) and t,(4), no close
analytical expression can be obtained for turn-on power
loss and Pturn-on is calculated with the help of a
microcomputer program.

III. SOFT COMMUTATED PWM INVERTER

The soft commutated PWM inverter is shown in Figure

8. Favorable switching conditions are assured for all the
semiconductors. The operating sequences of this Fig. 10 Inductor current waveform for the SCPI
configuration impose a natural turn-on of T1 and T2 when
capacitor voltage vc1 or vc2 reduces to zero respectively. Induaor current-expressions
Therefore, this converter is free of turn-on and reverse
recovery losses. However, turn-off of T1 and T2 is a hard Sequence 1 : b - t l turn-on oscillation, Fig. 9(a).
switched commutation unless adequate protection is iL1 = e-at iL10 (t = b) cos Ot (18)
provided. Capacitors C1 and C2 are non dissipative where a = R L / ~ L RL , is the inductor resistance.
snubbers and retrieve the switches from excessive turn-off
losses.
= e
iLio (t = b) is the initial value of current iL1 and

L(C1 + C2)
is the angular frequency.

u e n c e 2 : tl - t2 current increase Fig. 9(b).

i ~ =2iL1 (t = ti) + - E ( e('-
- h)h)
Fig.8 Soft commutated PWM inverter RL (19)
where q = VRL.

784
Sequence 3 : t2 - t3 current increase ,Fig. 9(c).
iL3 = & ( I - e - 0 - t 2 h )
RL

Sequence 4 : t3-t4 output voltage oscillation, Fig. 9(d).

i u = I, + e 4 t - t3) E sin w l (t - t3)
Z1
where

DC :
Clamping diode DC conducts excess current (iL - Io) from
4 to t7.
where
VT = VCE + VD, RT = RL + RC + RD and 22 =%
L
Current iL decreases because of the semiconductors voltage
Em = It: vf ( i ~ -5I,) dt +It5
k5
vf ( i u - I,) dt +

drop.
Seauence 6 : t5 - t,j turn-on oscillation ,Fig. 9(f).
iL6 = iL5(t = t5) e-a(t - t5) cos w(t - t5) (23)
Df, : Free wheel diode conducts total current (iL + I,)
Seauence 7 : t,j - t7 linear current decrease, Fig. 9(g). from t9 to t2 and Io - iL current from t2 to t3.

Sequence 8 : 0-tg output voltage oscillation, Fig. 9(h,i)

W-uence 9 : tg - to stationary (free.wheel)

.
Fig. 8(i)
Turn-off switching losses :
T i : Transistor Ti is turned off at t5 while conducting
Conductions losses :
the inductor current. Energy loss at turn-off is :

T i : Transistor Ti conducts the inductor current from t2

to t5. Total energy loss in a switching cycle is : where I u = i u ( t = t5)

ET1 =jtr VSat i ~ d+tIt: VSat iudt + It: VSat i~5dt

Total power loss :

(27)
Total power conduction loss for an output cycle is :
(n + cp)/AB
T2 :
hl c o d = : ETlAe
i = (PIA0 (28)
Resisiive losses :

The power loss in the resistance of the inductor element is

function of the r m s . value of the inductor current :
2
P = RLIL eff
Total resistive loss : n
(x + +)/A0
PRL=fL
It RLIZeE-Ae
i = +/A0
(39
Fig. 12 Equivalent circuitr for the ARCPI requencer

Compared to the soft commutated PWM inverter, the

auxiliary resonant commutated pole inverter uses an extra
current and voltage bidirectional switch in series with the
resonant inductance (Fig. 11). The role of this switch is to
limit the involvement of the auxiliary to the commutations
only. Consequently, less current circulates through the
inductor and as a result conduction losses will be reduced.
Fig. 13 Inductorcumnt waveform for the ARCPI

Induelor cment expressions

-
Seauence 1: to t l current increase ,Fig. 12(a).
iL1= E12 (1 - e-J71)

Fig. 11 Auxiliary resonant commutated pole inverter

RL (37)

Switching conditions of T1 and T2 are similar to the u e n c e 2 : tl - t2 current increase (boost), Fig. 12(b).
SCPI configuration. Auxiliary switches T 1 and T'2 are iL2 = iLl(t = tl) + Eh (1 - t1Y~1)
ZCS switch type and assist T1 and T2 in their
commutations. Inductor L protects T1 and T 2 at tum-on
Because of the discharge
RL of mid-point capacitors and(38)
the
damping of the resonant circuit, the transistors T1 and T2
and turn-on losses are negligible. will not tum on at zero voltage unless inductor L is
The ARPI converter operates according to 10 sequences initially supplied with some extra energy.
(Fig. 12) and typical waveform of inductor current is If a constant delay is used as suggested in [81, the
shown in Figure 13. duration t2 - to is constant and the amplitude of iL at
t = t2 is fmed independently of the load current amDlitude.
Losses present in this converter are:
- conduction losses
- turn-off losses of T1 and T2
- inductor losses
Sequence 3 : t2 - t3 turn-on oscillation, Fig. 12(c).
i u = e a ( t - 12) [(iL2(t = t2) - I,) cos w(t - t2)
+ -Esino(t - t2) + I,
22 1
-
Seauence 4 :t3 4 current decrease, Fig. 12(d).
i u = i u ( t = t3) - Eh (1 - e-(t-t3YTl)
IO Id1 RL

Squence 5 : t4 - t5 cun-ent decrease, Fig. 12(e).

i u = Io - &( 1 - e-(t- b h )
RL

786
Sgg.wnce 6 : t5 - t6 powering, Fig. 12(f).
iL6 = 0 ET2 tum-off =
:t
('p - Io?
24C (48)
Seuuence 7 : t6 - t7 current increase (boost). Fig. 12(g). . is :
and total power loss

(49)

S m : t7 - tg turn-on oscillation, Fig. 12(h). Resistive losses :

i u = ea(t - t7) [(IO + iL7(t = t7)) cos W(t - t7) +
E sin W(t - t7) + I,
22 1
-
m n c e 9 : tg t9 current decrease, Fig. 12(i).
iL9 = iLg(t = tg) - (1 - e+ - t8)/71) v. SIMULATION RESULTS AND CONCLUSION
RL
In the simulation , the following values have been
Seauence 1Q: t9 - free wheel, Fig. 12(i). used :
E = 300v
iL10 = 0 Im(maX) = 26A
L = 20p.H,R~=O.2i2
Conduction losses
C1 + C2 = 0.01pF
After determining the current amplitude that circulates C3 + C 4 = 0.25j~F
through the semiconductors at each instant, conduction tf = Ips
losses are deduced in a similar way as in the SCPI di/dt = 4OAJp.s
configuration. In Figures 14, 15 and 16, losses are plotted separately
as a function of the modulation index. Total losses and
Turn-offlosses efficiency are shown in Figures 17, 18 and 19. Efficiency
is calcuhted from the input power and the total loss.
200
T i : When Ti is turned off at t7, it carries the current
bsses
10 + Ibl. I b i is the boost current and is equal to
(assuming a linear increase) : (w' 150 0 conduclion t a u
turn oll loss
I b l = ELL h 7 where ~7 = t7 - t6
.t
-0- Iurn-on loss
L la,
Turn-off energy loss is :
50

(46)
Total power loss is : 0 , . , . I . I .

0.0 0.2 0.4 0.8 0,8 1,O modulatlonlndex

Fig. 14 Losses in the HSPI

250
bsses
(W) 200

Q condvcllon bsr
150
(47) -t
9
turn oll loss
resisllva bm
IO0
T2 : If U3 = t3 - is a constant duration, then current
amplitude at the instant t = t3 is : 50

iL2(t = t3) = = b3
L 0.0 0.2 0,4 0.6 0.B 1.0
Current flowing through T2 at the instant of modulatlon Index
commutation :
iT2 = I, - Io Fig. I5 Losses in the SCPI
Turn-off energy is hence :

787
 BO
bsses In a SCPI, reverse recovery losses are completely
(W) eliminated at the expense of an increase of both the
40 conducllon low conduction and the turn-off losses. The trapped energy
+ tum.oH loss in the inductor which is used for discharging snubber
30 +- losa
IOSISliV.
capacitors causes a large amount of conduction and
20 resistive losses. The experimentation of the SCPI
IO
reveals that this configuration is very robust it has an
inherent overcurrent protection, however, efficiency is
0 also an important factor to be considered while
0.0 0.2 0.4 0.8 0.8 1.0 designing a power converter. To improve the efficiency
modulallon Index
of this converter, the use of non-linear inductor [9] is
Fig. 16 Losses in the ARCPI under study.
300 The ARCPI has a slightly higher turn-off and
bsses
(W)
conduction losses than the HSPI but turn-on losses are
250 negligible. By adding two switches to interrupt the
inductor current once the commutation is over, losses
200
are reduced and considerable improvement of the
efficiency is observed at light loads. The turn-off
losses can be reduced further if the load current is
150
monitored and the auxiliary circuit is controlled with a
help of an adaptive delay control circuit.
IO0
0.0 0.2 0.4 0.8 0.e 1.0
VI. REFERENCES
modulallon Index
Fig.17 Total losses and efficiency of the HSPI
[l] D.M. Divan, "The Resonant DC Link Converter - A
New Concept in Static Power Conversion", IEEE IAS
Annual Meeting Conference Record 1986, pp. 648-
656.
[2] Y. Murai, T.A. Lipo. "High Frequency Series
0 lolallosr Resonant DC Link Power Conversion", IEEE IAS
Annual Meeting Conference Record 1988, pp. 772-
779.
[3] D.M. Divan, and G. Sbibinski, "Zero Switching Loss
Inverters for High Power Application", IEEE IAS
Annual Meeting Conference Record 1987, pp. 627-
0.0 0.2 0.4 0.8 0.8 1.0 634.
modulallonIndex [4] J.S. Lai, and B.K. Bose, "An Improved Resonant DC
Link Inverter for Induction Motor Drives", EEE IAS
Fig. 18 Total losses and efficiency of the SCPI
Annual Meeting Conference Record 1988, pp. 742-
110
748.
[q J. He, N. Mohan, and B. Wold, "Zero-Voltage-
losses Switching PWM Inverter for High Frequency DC-AC
Power Conversion", IEEE IAS Annual Meeting
1o1a11os8 Conference Record 1990, pp. 1215-1221.
90 * Olflclsncy [a D.M. Divan, G. Venkataramanan. R.W. De Donker,
"Design Methodologies for Soft Switched Inverters",
80 IEEE IAS Annual Meeting Conference Record 1987,
pp. 758-766.
70
[I A. Cheriti, K. AI-Haddad, L.A. Dessaint, T.A.
0.0 0.2 0.4 0.8 0.8 1.0 Meynard, and D. Mukhedkar, "A Rugged Soft
modulallon Index Commutated PWM Inverter for AC Drives", IEEE-
Fig. 19 Total losses and efficiency of the ARCPI PESC 90 Conference Record 1990, pp. 656-666.
[8] R.W. De Donker, and J.P. Lyons, "The Auxiliary
For the application considered and with the data used, Resonant Commutated Pole Inverter", IEEE IAS
we can conclude by considering the results obtained that : Annual Meeting Conference Record 1990, pp. 1228-
- In a HSPI, losses due to diode recovery are dominant 1235.
[9] R.W. Erikson, A.F. Hernandez, A.F. Witulski,
and at light loads the efficiency is affected.
R. Xu, "A Nonlinear Resonant Switch", IEEE-PESC
Conference Record, 1989, pp. 43-50.