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EnergyProcedia
Procedia157 (2019) 000–000
00 (2017) 594–601
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Technologies and Materials for Renewable Energy, Environment and Sustainability, TMREES18,
Technologies and Materials for Renewable
19–21 Energy,
September 2018,Environment and Sustainability, TMREES18,
Athens, Greece
19–21 September 2018, Athens, Greece
Simulation and Implementation of a SPWM Inverter Pulse
Simulation The 15th and Implementation
International Symposium on ofDistrict
a SPWM HeatingInverter
and Cooling Pulse
Generator Circuit for Educational Purposes
Generator Circuit for Educational Purposes
Assessing the feasibility of using the heat demand-outdoor
E.A. Samiotis, D.T. Trigonidis, G.A. Vokas*, P. Papageorgas, A.G. Anastasiadis
temperature
E.A. Samiotis,function D.T. Trigonidis, for aG.A. long-term
Vokas*, P. district
Papageorgas, heat A.G. demand forecast
Anastasiadis
Department of Electrical and Electronics Engineering, University of West Attica, P. Ralli & Thivon 250, 12244, Aegaleo, Greece
Department of Electrical and Electronics Engineering, University of West Attica, P. Ralli & Thivon 250, 12244, Aegaleo, Greece
I. Andrića,b,c*, A. Pinaa, P. Ferrãoa, J. Fournierb., B. Lacarrièrec, O. Le Correc
Abstract
a
Abstract
IN+ Center for Innovation, Technology and Policy Research - Instituto Superior Técnico, Av. Rovisco Pais 1, 1049-001 Lisbon, Portugal
b
This paper aims to develop and Veolia Recherchean
implement & Innovation,
educational291kitAvenue Dreyfous Daniel,
for a Sinusoidal Pulse78520
WidthLimay, France (SPWM) inverter pulse
Modulation
c
generator
This papercircuit,Département
aims towhich
developSystèmes
can and Énergétiques
be used to educate
implement et Environnement
Electronicskit
an educational - IMT
EngineeringAtlantique, 4 rue Alfred
undergraduate
for a Sinusoidal Kastler,
students
Pulse Width 44300
the
Modulation Nantes,
structure
(SPWM) France
and behaviorpulse
inverter of a
SPWM’s
generator inverter pulse can
circuit, which generator.
be usedThe developed
to educate electronicEngineering
Electronics circuit is simulated and implemented
undergraduate students the using lowand
structure costbehavior
and reliable
of a
electronic parts. The
SPWM’s inverter concept
pulse is to offer
generator. under/postgraduate
The developed electronicstudents
circuit isthesimulated
opportunity
andtoimplemented
deeply understand
using lowhowcosta SPWM pulse
and reliable
generator
electronic works, by virtually
parts. The concept is andtopractically experimenting with
offer under/postgraduate studentsthe the
pulse generator itself
opportunity creating
to deeply the necessary
understand how a models
SPWM in the
pulse
Abstract
popular
generatorplatform
works, by of virtually
MULTISIM (Simulationexperimenting
and practically Tool of National
with the Instruments) and designing/constructing
pulse generator the respective
itself creating the necessary models inPCBthe
circuits inplatform
popular the also ofpopular platform(Simulation
MULTISIM of ULTIBOARD (Circuit
Tool of Design
National Tool of National
Instruments) Instruments). This work
and designing/constructing the isrespective
also usefulPCB
for
District heating networks are commonly addressed in the literature as one of the most effective solutions for decreasing the
engineers whoalso
circuits in the deal with platform
popular operationof and maintenance
ULTIBOARD (O&M)
(Circuit of Tool
Design inverters, because
of National it provides This
Instruments). a deeper
work isknowledge
also usefuland
for
greenhouse gas emissions from the building sector. These systems require high investments which are returned through the heat
understanding
engineers whoofdeal all operational characteristics
with operation of every stage
and maintenance of theofSPWM
(O&M) electronic
inverters, pulse
because it generator
provides of a an inverter.
deeper knowledge and
sales. Due to the changed climate conditions and building renovation policies, heat demand in the future could decrease,
understanding of all operational characteristics of every stage of the SPWM electronic pulse generator of an inverter.
prolonging the investment return period.
© 2018 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Ltd.
©The main scope of this paper isby to assess the feasibility of using the heat demand – outdoor temperature function for heat demand
© 2019
This
2018 The
is an
The Authors.
open accessPublished
Authors. by Elsevier
article under
Published Ltd.
the CC BY-NC-ND
Elsevier Ltd. license (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/)
forecast.
This The district
is an open of Alvalade,
access article under the located in Lisbon license
CC BY-NC-ND (Portugal), was used as a case study. The district is consisted of 665
(https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/)
Selection
This is an and
openpeer-review
access articleunder responsibility
under of the scientific
the CC BY-NC-ND license committee of Technologies and Materials for Renewable Energy,
(https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/)
Selection
buildingsand thatpeer-review
vary in both under responsibility
construction of and
period the scientific
typology.committee
Three weatherof Technologies and Materials
scenarios (low, medium, for Renewable
high) and threeEnergy,
district
Environment
Selection
Environment and and Sustainability,
peer-review under
and Sustainability, TMREES18.
responsibility
TMREES18. of the scientific committee of Technologies and Materials for Renewable Energy,
renovation scenarios were developed (shallow, intermediate, deep). To estimate the error, obtained heat demand values were
Environment and Sustainability, TMREES18.
compared with results from a dynamic heat demand model, previously developed and validated by the authors.
Keywords: Sinusoidal Pulse Width Modulation; Inverter; Simulation; Pulse Generator; Educational Kit
The results showed that when only weather change is considered, the margin of error could be acceptable for some applications
Keywords: Sinusoidal Pulse Width Modulation; Inverter; Simulation; Pulse Generator; Educational Kit
(the error in annual demand was lower than 20% for all weather scenarios considered). However, after introducing renovation
scenarios, the error value increased up to 59.5% (depending on the weather and renovation scenarios combination considered).
The value of slope
* Corresponding coefficient
author. increased on average within the range of 3.8% up to 8% per decade, that corresponds to the
Tel.: +302105381180
decrease
E-mail in thegvokas@uniwa.gr
address:
* Corresponding numberTel.:
author. of +302105381180
heating hours of 22-139h during the heating season (depending on the combination of weather and
renovation scenarios
E-mail address: considered). On the other hand, function intercept increased for 7.8-12.7% per decade (depending on the
gvokas@uniwa.gr
coupled scenarios).
1. Introduction The values suggested could be used to modify the function parameters for the scenarios considered, and
improve the
1. Introduction accuracy of heat demand estimations.
As known, inverters are devices that convert a DC source to a variable frequency/RMS value AC source.
© 2017 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Ltd.
As known,
Nowadays, due inverters are devices
to the excessive growththat convert a energy
of renewable DC source to a the
resources variable
use of frequency/RMS
inverters finds a value AC source.
lot of applications
Peer-review under responsibility of the Scientific Committee of The 15th International Symposium on District Heating and
Nowadays,
Cooling. due to the excessive growth of renewable energy resources the use of inverters finds a lot of applications
1876-6102 © 2018 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Ltd.
Keywords:
This Heat
is an open demand;
access Forecast; Climate change
1876-6102 © 2018 Thearticle under
Authors. the CC BY-NC-ND
Published license (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/)
by Elsevier Ltd.
Selection
This is an and
openpeer-review under
access article responsibility
under of the scientific
the CC BY-NC-ND licensecommittee of Technologies and Materials for Renewable Energy, Environment
(https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/)
and Sustainability,
Selection TMREES18.
and peer-review under responsibility of the scientific committee of Technologies and Materials for Renewable Energy, Environment
and Sustainability, TMREES18.
1876-6102 © 2017 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Ltd.
1876-6102 © 2019 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Ltd.
Peer-review under responsibility of the Scientific Committee of The 15th International Symposium on District Heating and Cooling.
This is an open access article under the CC BY-NC-ND license (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/)
Selection and peer-review under responsibility of the scientific committee of Technologies and Materials for Renewable Energy,
Environment and Sustainability, TMREES18.
10.1016/j.egypro.2018.11.224
 E.A. Samiotis et al. / Energy Procedia 157 (2019) 594–601 595
2 Author name / Energy Procedia 00 (2018) 000–000

in everyday lives; from a typical UPSs, that everyone might have in their homes, to whole Photovoltaic or Wind
Parks that produce MWh of energy. Other application examples of inverters are in Control Systems of AC Motors,
in all kind of Renewable Energy Systems, in Networks of Electric Energy Transfer Lines, in Production and Storage
of Electric Energy Systems, in Reduction of Harmonics Active Filters for Improvement of Electric Power
Quality, in Industrial Applications, as a major part of Static VAR compensators (SVCs) [1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 9, 12].
Many inverter topologies with various pulse generating techniques for all applications have been developed
focusing in higher efficiency, less harmonic content, interoperability and higher reliability [6, 7]. However, although
many different (mainly digital) pulse generating kits exist, they are rather insufficient and inadequate for educational
purposes of under/postgraduate students or O&M engineers as the step-by step formulation of the pulse generation
procedure is not always clearly depicted [11]. Therefore, the construction of a kit based in analogue comparators
(Op-Amp IC’s) and logic gates, whose “modus operandi” is way more understandable was attempted.
Initially in this paper, in Paragraph 2, the SPWM inverter basic principles along with the circuit schematics, the
considerations made and the simulation measurements using MULTISIM through the oscilloscope tool during the
simulation process are presented. In Paragraph 3 the used parts are listed and the PCBs made using
Multisim/Ultiboard are developed. After implementation, measurements at the PCB test points were taken and
presented along with their respective pictures-graphs obtained by a real oscilloscope. Furthermore, practical issues
encountered during the realisation process are presented and their respective solutions and improvements in the
prototype practical electronic circuit are provided. Results discussion and Conclusions are made clear in the last
Paragraphs 4 and 5.

2. SPWM Inverter basic principles, considerations and simulation

The need of using SPWM except from PWM was created when inductive or resistive loads or even a
combination of them such as electric motors had to be driven and supplied by DC sources with clear, high quality
and highly efficient AC power supplies. Limitations on the harmonic content of voltage output were set by many
standards like EN50160. Using an H-Bridge topology inverter and by switching on and off the switches Q1, Q4 and
Q2, Q3, the exchange of a DC source (VIN) to an AC Voltage applied on the R-L-C load is achieved. Though, unlike
the PWM, the on/off procedure occurs faster and way more times over a period producing pulses with a constantly
changing width. This procedure provides the effect of a smoother RMS value change, thus creating a waveform
closer to a real AC one, in order to avoid the danger of causing damage to an R-L load like a motor. Controllable
semiconductor devices (Thyristors, GTOs, IGBTs, & MosFETs) are used in such DC/AC inverter circuits as shown
in Figure 1. Thereby, the only way for interaction with these circuits is by controlling the activation or deactivation
of these semiconductor devices. This can be achieved by low power circuits called Pulse Generators [2, 3, 4].

Fig. 1. An H-Bridge PWM Inverter Circuit demonstrated with parallel pair of Fig. 2. AC Output of a SPWM H-Bridge Inverter (where V
Diode – Semiconductor Device (MosFETs) is the voltage and B is the current on the load)

A SPWM Inverter is a device, as already mentioned, that converts a DC Voltage source to a desired frequency
or/and variable RMS AC Voltage, keeping the output harmonic content very low according to the Administrator and
596 E.A. Samiotis et al. / Energy Procedia 157 (2019) 594–601
Author name / Energy Procedia 00 (2018) 000–000 3

devices standard [10]. A SPWM inverter can be used to supply with energy mostly ohmic and inductive loads or
devices, while for only ohmic loads or devices a simple Pulse Width Modulation (PWM) Inverter can be used [3, 8].
The theoretical conversion of a DC Voltage to an AC Voltage by an H-Bridge SPWM Power Inverter is shown at
Figure 3, where it is obvious that the harmonic content of the output current is significantly and controllably reduced
in comparison to the one of a simple PWM inverter [2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7].
The proposed and implemented pulse generator is non-line-communicating, which means that it has a built-in
generator in order to generate the Sinus the cosine and triangle wave it uses for comparison. Consequently, the
working frequency of the Inverter is locked at almost 50Hz for the sinus, to imitate the frequency of the electric
power network, and its variable between 100Hz and 2kHz for the triangle wave. The entire philosophy of this pulse
generator for the SPWM inverter is based into two comparisons; a) triangle vs sinus and b) triangle vs cosine. Such
inverters are also used in autonomous P-V applications, where no electric grid is close to be connected with. The
designed circuit used both for simulation and the PCBs for the generator and the SPWM are shown in Figures 3 & 4.

Fig. 3. Generator Circuit designed in Multisim

 E.A. Samiotis et al. / Energy Procedia 157 (2019) 594–601 597
4 Author name / Energy Procedia 00 (2018) 000–000

Fig. 4. SPWM Circuit designed in Multisim

Using Multisim for the simulation procedure, it was found that a classical op-amp like LM412 (Low Offset, Low
Drift Dual JFET Input op-amp), which has a typical speed of 2μs according to its datasheet was not a good solution
for being used as a comparator due to is low speed compared to the comparator IC. On the contrary, LM360 (High
Speed Differential Comparator) has an astonishing typical speed of 20ns, almost 100 times faster than LM412 [11].
The comparison between the operation of LM412 and LM360 is shown in Figure 5, where the non-square pulse
using LM412 (green) is replaced by the almost perfect square pulse via LM360 (blue).

Fig. 5. LM’s 360 improved output compared with LM412

Following the SPWM methodology as described in [2, 3, 4] the triangle waveform (orange) with the sinusoidal
waveform (red) is compared as shown in Figure 6. From this comparison a series of pulses is obtained, Switch1 is
blue and Switch 2 is cyan that both of them are already driven through a not logic gate in order to obtain a better
series of pulses, as explained in Figure 5. Furthermore, the same triangle waveform (orange) is compared with the
cosine waveform (pink). From this comparison a series of pulses occurs, Switch 3 is black and Switch 4 is grey.
Again, those pulses are driven through a not logic gate for the same reason as described above. The final output is
consisted of the pulse’s series for each switch (SW1- blue, SW2-cyan, SW3-black, and SW4-grey).
598 E.A. Samiotis et al. / Energy Procedia 157 (2019) 594–601
Author name / Energy Procedia 00 (2018) 000–000 5

Fig. 6. Waveform comparisons and output pulses for controllable switches SW1, SW2, SW3, SW4

3. SPWM Implementation

3.1 Assumptions and Parts Used

In order to make a cheaper but not less reliable circuit Op-Amps without input and feedback resistors can be
used, instead of comparator chips. The components used for the logic functions are one op-amp of TI’s LF412 IC’s
and a NOT gate chip (74LS04). For the power supply several parts and regulators were used. Firstly, a 2x18 V/3A
transformer is used to reduce the AC voltage from the Electric Power Network. A full bridge rectifier (PB1010) is
used to rectify the voltage, while some capacitors are also used for filtering (Electrolytic of Various Values at 35V).
Finally, in order, to supply the logic gates and the op amp a LM7805 and a LM7905 voltage regulators are used.

3.2. Design of the PCB of the SPWM Pulse Generator Circuit

Using NI’s Multisim and Ultiboard, the circuits and the printed board circuits were designed as presented already
in Figures 3 & 4. The PCBs were finally carved with a CNC Router at Electrical & Electronics Eng. Dep. of UWA.
The PCB designs are shown in Figures 7 & 8 and the final boards after assembling and soldering in Figures 9a & 9b.

Fig. 7. Pulse Generator PCB by Ultiboard  Fig. 8. SPWM Generator Circuit designed in Ultiboard
 E.A. Samiotis et al. / Energy Procedia 157 (2019) 594–601 599
6 Author name / Energy Procedia 00 (2018) 000–000

(a) (b)
Fig. 9 (a & b). The PCBs after the assembling and soldering

3.3. Graphs from oscilloscope at the test points

After assembling and soldering the PCB certain tests were made to ensure that the circuit works properly,
providing the expected results, similar to the simulated ones. The measuring instrument used was a GWInstek GDS-
1102A-U dual channel/100 MHz oscilloscope. In the 1st comparator, a sinus wave locked near 50Hz is compared to
a triangle wave variable for 100Hz to 2kHz as shown in Figure 10. In Figure 11 the output of the Opamp is used as
comparator. Blue is the output of the not gate when supplied by the yellow pulse (comparator output).

   
Fig. 10. Sinus and Triangle Comparison  Fig. 11. Output error of the comparator and the output of a not gate 
Due to the error mentioned before this output is supplied into a not logic gate and the output results/pulses that
are going to feed the S1 (yellow)and S2 (blue) mosfet H-bridge of the inverter shown in Figure 12. In the 2nd
comparator an inverted sinus also locked at near 50Hz is also compared to same triangle wave. Again, due to the
afore-mentioned error the output of the second comparator is also fed into a not logic gate and the output
results/pulses for feeding the S3 (yellow) and S4 (blue) mosfet H-bridge of the inverter are shown in Figure 13.
600 E.A. Samiotis et al. / Energy Procedia 157 (2019) 594–601
Author name / Energy Procedia 00 (2018) 000–000 7

   
Fig. 12. Output Pulses of the SPWM Generator for S1, S2 Fig. 13. Output Pulses of the SPWM Generator for S3, S4

4. Results discussion and proposed improvements

During the design, simulation and implementation process minor or major improvements were made. First to
mention the fact that using comparator chips and buck converters in power supply unit rather than voltage regulators
improved significantly the reliability of the designed circuits. Also, by using the LM360 comparator, the not logic
gate is not needed due to the dual output of the comparator (inverting and non-inverting output). Furthermore, the
internal wave generator of the SPWM is going to be fully variable to the amplitude and the frequency of the triangle
and the sinusoidal wave.
The most important issue of a SPWM inverter is that it can drive efficiently R-L loads such as variable rpm and
power electric motors. It cannot drive capacitive loads because in the positive half-period the capacitor drains power
from the source but in the negative half-period the capacitor returns that drained power to the source. Another
problem is that this generator has a fixed power and frequency output which is not ideal for running high power and
variable frequency motors such as the motors that the electric cars have.
Finally, despite the fact that in the simulation perfect pulses can be seen, into the oscilloscope several spikes due
to noise can be detected. The noise probably occurs due to the fact that the parts that have been used are not of high
grade (space, military, etc.), they are of commercial grade, and they are subside to environment conditions, some
defects of the power supply (PCB rust, humidity temperature etc.) and maybe some defects from production.

5. Conclusions

In this paper an educational kit (simulation & practical electronic circuit) for a Sinusoidal Pulse Width
Modulation type inverter is developed and presented. Initially, the electronic generation pulses circuit was designed
in a simulation software. Then the circuits were designed printed in PCB. After implementation of the pulse
generation circuits, a continuous experimentation took place having as result several minor or major improvements.
The operational results of this SPWM pulse generator were satisfactory, providing pulses exactly as the designed
ones during the simulation procedure through all the test points of the pulse generation circuits.
The use of these circuits is very is useful for educating electrical and electronic engineering undergraduate
students because a deep understanding of all stages of the pulse generation procedure is achieved. The Operation
and Maintenance engineers can have an additional tool for understanding the pulses creation of power electronic
part of the inverters and significantly improve their maintenance skills.

References

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